Posted in: FX, Hulu, Preview, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: always sunny, bleeding cool, cable, Charlie, Charlie Day, danny devito, dee, dennis, frank, fx on hulu, FXX, Glenn Howerton, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Kaitlin Olson, mac, Paddy's, preview, rob mcelhenney, streaming, teaser, television, trailer, tv

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Rob McElhenney's "Blue Steel Bitch"

Look, it's our job to cover FXX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – the fact that we also consider it to be the best sitcom running today is just the cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake of what we do (not sure where that was going but you get the idea). But we're also patient fans who understand that after 14 seasons maybe Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Danny DeVito want to stretch their creative legs a bit- whether it's Mythic Quest, A.P. Bio, or any other of a number of projects. But we would be lying if we haven't had our Paddy's radar up and running over the past few weeks- and we don't think we're alone. We've been reporting on how McElhenney's been on an Always Sunny vibe on Instagram the past few days (even as he continues working on the second season of Mythic Quest), between sharing video from downtown Los Angeles where the exterior of Paddy's pub is filmed to a look at how The Nightman is always looking. So how could we not be feeling a little hopeful- and in no way feeling like we're fanboy-projecting unrealistic expectations?

Since we're in no position to self-analyze right this minute, we're going to take a look to see… and what do we have here?!? A flashback post of McElhenney posing side-by-side with bus stop model Howerton- or as he refers to him, "this blue steel bitch" while tagging the location as Motown Philly. Is it just us? Do we have issues/ Yes- but that aside? McElhenney's got us feeling good with how the new year's looking:

While promoting the third season of A.P. Bio in the UK, Howerton explained to The Guardian how the series works to show the characters' flaws in a manner that shows them as they truly are, allowing the characters to be a target for satire because of them. "Certainly we've become a little bit more careful to make it clear that, while the characters can be misogynistic and racist and horrible, we the writers are not racist, misogynistic, and horrible people. If we were to do some of those episodes for the first time now, people would be like: 'Well, wait a minute, who are these people?' But people now know who we are, and they know that our intentions are actually to skewer this sort of behavior, not to celebrate it."

Bleeding Cool had the opportunity to ask Howerton about the upcoming 15th season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia during our one-on-one interview ahead of A.P. Bio Season 3 here stateside late last year. In the clip below, Howerton explains that the combination of pandemic-related delays and other projects that the cast is committed to (for example, the second season of McElhenney's Mythic Quest, Olson's upcoming Jean Smart-starring comedy, and the fourth season of A.P. Bio) has made it difficult to finalize a production ("at this point, it's more of a timing thing"). Though they may still be in the process of "trying to figure it out," Howerton expressed how excited and committed they are to a strong 15th run (saying "maybe even a sixteenth" at the time).

Heading into last summer, McElhenney revealed that writing was underway, though production timelines were in flux due to production shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. McElhenney was hopeful that they'll be able to "jump right into something new with 'Sunny'" soon. And he also made one thing clear: as long as the fans want it (and FX Networks wants to keep paying for it, which we now know they clearly do) then Paddy's will be keeping its doors open for some time to come. "How many years do I have on this planet? I'll do it forever. If people keep watching it and we keep having fun, why would we ever stop? It's my dream job. I never understand why people leave shows. I don't. I never understand that," McElhenney explained. "The show is what I dreamed of doing my entire life. I don't take it for granted. And if they keep paying me and the audience keeps watching it and I still love it… why would I ever stop?"

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