It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best (So Far)

Going back and watching Sunny's first season just shows how daring and intelligent the show has always been. The first episode sets up the irreverent tone of the show, with the risky "The Gang Gets Racist", and kind of doubles down from there. There's underage drinking, there's Charlie pretending to have cancer, and a touchy assessment of both sexual abuse and abortion rights.

It's all very well done, funny without being overly exploitative, but there are some major cracks in Sunny's first season that can't be ignored. For starters, there's the absence of Danny DeVito as the brilliant Frank Reynolds, who really holds the show together in future seasons. Most jarringly, though, is the lack of character development.

In its debut season, Dee isn't as crass as those around her, Charlie isn't his usual intense, rat-killing self, and Dennis is merely a narcissist, rather than the cruel sociopath he would soon become. Sunny's debut makes for some great and consistent laughs, but wasn't yet what the show was destined to become.