Sunny' brings life to cloudy Buffalo

Channel: FX

Grade: A-

While most days in Buffalo are overcast with a high chance of precipitation, FX parted the clouds on Thursday night and gave viewers a few rays of hope with the premier of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

The raunchy, insensitive and vulgar cult classic began its sixth season, and if the season debut is any indication, this year should be no holds barred.

The few fans that have watched the show from its pilot will rejoice as Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton have returned their minds to the gutter with hope that it will return the edge that the show missed for the past two seasons.

It might be hard for the show's writers and producers to continue coming up with new hot topics this season considering the show has already taken on heated issues such as abortion, the Israel-Palestinian conflict and dating the mentally challenged.

But season six took it back to the days when Charlie had cancer. After a few seconds of Mac (McElhenney) harassing the receptionist at the gym to let him in, he gives up just to run into his favorite transsexual, Carmen (Brittany Daniels, "The Game").

Mac flirts with her for a few seconds before her husband puts an end to Mac's hope of getting intimate with Carmen. The show then cuts to the title, "Mac Fights Gay Marriage."

There isn't much more needed other than the title to realize that the opening episode was going to cross a few moral lines, but that's just how the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" fans like it.

While Mac tries to break up Carmen's marriage, Day's character, Charlie, tries to persuade Frank (Danny DeVito, When in Rome) to form a civil union so Charlie can be put on Frank's insurance.

The two are led on a misguided venture filled with misconceptions and offensive stereotypes that add to the show's hilarity.

While Mac, Charlie and Frank make assumptions and enemies, Dennis (Howerton) and Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson, Leap Year) try to reignite long lost high school romances.

Dennis seeks out his high school fling in an effort to have feelings again. His shallow and self-centered ego not only wins over his former lover, but he also ends up getting hitched.

Throughout the episode, shots at the conservative viewpoint about marriage were abundant. Every joke seemed to be directed at the irony of tying the knot and how it doesn't change the dynamic of a relationship.

The show's writing seems to have returned to its elite status with the first episode of the season. The jokes are not as obvious as the previous couple of seasons and seem to have returned to the quick wit and demented morality that garnered the show fame in the first place.

McElhenney, Day and Howerton have rediscovered the writing abilities they lost a few years back, and, as a result, this season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" should be one of the best in the show's history.