The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

You’re the best: Rob McElhenney

I don’t like to be too confident about things, but one thing I can definitely sincerely stand behind is that the Emmys have completely and unabashedly snubbed “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” every year since 2005, when the show first premiered.

But it’s not just an “I-can’t-believe-this-show-I-liked-didn’t-get-nominated” statement that dedicated fans give their favorite shows every year.  Given the show’s 9.4/10 user rating on IMDb, its 95% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes and another 9.5/10 user rating on Metacritic, it’s safe to say the show is nothing short of beloved, and you’d be hard-pressed to find the 5 or 6 percent who don’t agree.

So why isn’t this excellent show an Emmy favorite?  Well, I don’t have an answer for you; I’m just as outraged as you guys!

But here’s the thing: The show — despite lack of gold on their desks — has plunged forward without a hint of pretension or even any slight signal of caring about the Emmy’s, which is fine!  Totally fine!

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And then, this summer, when “the gang” — Rob McElhenney (Mac), Charlie Day (Charlie), Glenn Howerton (Dennis), Kaitlin Olson (Sweet Dee) and Danny DeVito (Frank) — returned to shooting the show’s seventh season, McElhenney purposefully gained 50-60 pounds just to write it into the show (and probably to make “Big Mac” jokes).

Which is why,
Rob McElhenney:
YOU’RE THE BEST!

If we didn’t know it from the pyrotechnics in Mac’s “Project Badass” tapes, his karate workshops in Charlie’s “Day Man” rock opera and Mac hilariously faking his own death by driving a car into a wall at full speed and then (while concussed) insistently buying a used wedding dress at a pawn shop, we know it now.

McElhenney reportedly worked with a “fat coach” to gain the weight the right way, just to provide an organically funny situation for his criminally in
shape and prideful Mac which is a perfect dissembling of the character.

To make matters more flawless, about the weight loss, McElhenney told TV Guide, “It came when I was watching a very popular sitcom, and I noticed the people were getting better and better looking as the seasons were going on; I always thought that what we were trying to do on ‘Sunny’ was the deconstruction of the sitcom.”

Now, if the Emmys pay attention to that quote, I feel like this is something they look for: a show that flies in the face of convention while packing and maintaining a ridiculous amount of laughs into every episode.

Though I’m positive that McElhenney and the rest of the show are more than satisfied with a rabid cult-following over the big prize, their new promos — with the show’s characters in extremely glossy, melodramatic situations (as is the fare of entertainment’s most self-conscious award-grabbers) — are great satire, obviously, but it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a glint of Emmy-longing behind the joke.

So wake up, Emmys! This is real!
For those of you who are worried, McElhenney’s weight gain was purely situational (for the show) and he said he’s lost most of the weight already, which means Fat Mac won’t be
permanent.

Ah, shucks.

But let’s not forget all the fun we had with Regular Mac either you guys.  Hell, if they do anything close to the court judge reading Mac’s dad’s butt-threats in a court of law, I’ll be satisfied
for life.

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You’re the best: Rob McElhenney