FX's Thursday Night Sitcoms: Actually Funny

Last night, FX premiered its new comedy line-up: Starved, followed by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Starved highlights four neurotic New Yorkers-- kind of like Seinfeld, except darker, raunchier, and filmed like an indie movie. Starved is different from your average sitcom not only in the way it is filmed, but also in its level of crassness. It's not for the faint of heart: this episode included frank sexual scenes, obscured nudity, and not-at-all obscured vomiting. Although some critics found Starved to be too crude, we thought it was actually kind of funny. Starved has also been accused of not being politically correct. While that may be true, this show does not come off as making fun of eating disorders; in fact, it often evokes sympathy for the main characters. And we have to give Starved props for addressing what it's like to live in a body-image obsessed country. Of course, we can relate: we watched it with a stack of Double-Stuf Oreos and a tall glass of whole milk.

By the time It's Always Sunny came on, we had polished off our Oreos and were ready to count Philadelphia landmarks. We weren't disappointed: The ten-second theme song features a montage including the Ben Franklin Bridge, Lincoln Financial Field, Boathouse Row, Market Street and South Street. We were a little too busy looking for people we know in the background to pay a whole lot of attention to the plot. From what we saw, Sunny is silly, charming, and like the preceeding show, not-at-all p.c. The set-up is familiar: three guys and one gal hang out around town. Like the Seinfelders, they frequent a coffee shop-- a real one: Philadelphia Java Co. We were treated to lots of other shots around the Italian Market and Olde City. A whole scene was filmed on Penn's campus, and there was a Temple shout-out within the first couple of minutes. Really, this show blows Cold Case out of the water with Philly references. Philly is more than just a background in this show, so we kind of have to love it.