What I'm Watching: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3, Episodes 3 & 4 “Dennis and Dee’s Mom is Dead” and “The Gang Gets Held Hostage” (F/D-)

I gave this show another chance after last week’s unimpressive opener, but I think I am officially done now. The first episode is just dumb, and the style of humor here is simply to not give up with the joke until it has fully been played out as long as it can. That works sometimes, but more often than not, if it is not funny the first time around, it gets more than old by the time the scene has gone by. Danny DeVito is a bit too crazy with his general antics, and Stephen Collins is hardly funny, as opposed to what I had heard about the previous appearance of the “7th Heaven” star on this show. The second installment has some funnier moments, like the overplayed trailer bit where one of the hostage takers tells his brother to stab somebody, and he himself gets stabbed. All in all, the show’s token “inappropriate” nature is just not enough to sustain the ridiculous storylines and setups.