Movies - TV
A Season 1 It’s Always Sunny Episode Pitted The Cast Against Censors
By DANIELLE RYAN
In an interview with "Let's Shoot! with Pete Chatmon," series creator and star Rob McElhenney shared a huge challenge that “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” had with censors.
When the episode "Charlie Wants an Abortion" was pitched to FX, there was a pretty massive problem: you weren't allowed to discuss or even say the word "abortion" on TV.
McElhenney and the team pushed back. “If we can't communicate with one another then we're gonna fail. Now, we take that to the extreme, because we have extreme characters," he said.
Although McElhenney admits the writers could have handled the sensitive topic better, he prefers they try to discuss them and fail rather than not talk about them at all.
While abortion can be a sensitive topic, the episode doesn't make a stand about abortion rights. Instead, it focuses on how some characters, like Dennis, don't have an opinion.
Dennis ends up literally sitting on a fence between pro-choice and anti-choice protestors because he can't figure out which side will have women more likely to sleep with him.
It's a fun bit of commentary about people who try to “both sides” an argument and a great piece of early insight into Dennis's misogyny and generally sociopathic tendencies.