Season of television series
| It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | |
|---|---|
| Season 3 | |
 DVD cover | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| Release | |
| Original network | FX |
| Original release | September 13 (2007-09-13) – November 15, 2007 (2007-11-15) |
| Season chronology | |
| ← Previous Season 2 Next → Season 4 | |
| List of episodes | |
The third season of the American television sitcom series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered on FX on September 13, 2007. The season contains 15 episodes and concluded airing on November 15, 2007.
Season synopsis
The Gang's narcissism spins out of control, as usual. First they decide to do some good: Sweet Dee and Mac adopt a baby that was abandoned in a dumpster, Dennis volunteers with environmental rights activists, and everyone in the gang become vigilantes to solve Philadelphia's homeless problem. The gang then hatches several schemes to become famous: Mac, Frank, and Charlie try to be viral video stars by covering the local news while Dennis and Dee seek fame as spoiled, drug-addled club hoppers. Sweet Dee dates a local rapper mistakenly thought to be mentally disabled by Mac and Dennis, the two of whom start a band, but can't quite pinpoint their genre of music—especially when Charlie comes up with a raunchy, disjointed song about a mysterious creature who violates him in his sleep.
The Gang's jealousy and greed come roaring back when they fight over Barbara's inheritance, after she wills the house to Dennis. Dee gets jealous of her high school friend (who lost weight and has a successful career in fashion design) and decides to start her very own sweatshop. The entire gang struggles to compete with a local bar owned by a Korean man who looks like Kim Jong-il, and then decide to sell out by offering Paddy's Pub to a corporate chain. Two members of the gang find themselves on the wrong side of the law due to mistaken identity: Mac is suspected to be a serial killer after becoming distant from the gang and Dennis is mistaken for a registered sex offender after a real sex offender (who looks like a fatter version of Dennis) is released from prison due to overcrowding. Meanwhile, the gang sells some cocaine found in a pair of abandoned stereo speakers, forcing them to turn to crime and prostitution to earn the money back before some local Italian Mafia members "whack" (murder) them.
Finally, the gang is forced to save themselves from Charlie's mistakes. First, the McPoyles get revenge on the gang for revealing their false molestation charge (from season one's finale "Charlie Got Molested") and inadvertently shooting their brother Doyle (from this season's "The Gang Gets Invincible") after he was invited to the Eagles' training camp by taking all of them hostage in their own bar. Finally, Charlie's illiteracy screws over the gang when he accidentally puts the bar up as a prize for a dance marathon, and all the enemies made throughout the course of the series enter the contest so they can take the bar away from the gang. The gang won't let the bar go without a fight—but not before using dirty tricks on each other.
Cast
See also: List of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia charactersMain cast
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds / Wendell Albright
- Rob McElhenney as Mac
- Kaitlin Olson as Deandra "Dee" Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Recurring cast
Guest stars
- David Hornsby as Matthew "Rickety Cricket" Mara
- Jimmi Simpson as Liam McPoyle
- Nate Mooney as Ryan McPoyle
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Bonnie Kelly
- Sandy Martin as Mrs. Mac
- Lucy DeVito as Woman
- Artemis Pebdani as Artemis
- Brian Unger as The Lawyer
- Gregory Scott Cummins as Luther Mac
- Stephen Collins as Bruce Mathis
- Sam Witwer as Muscular Guy
- Judy Greer as Ingrid Nelson
- Kyle Davis as Lil' Kevin
- Richard Ruccolo as Corporate Rep
- Brittany Daniel as Carmen
- Tracey Walter as Bum
- Sklar Brothers as Fat Michael and DJ Squirrely D
Episodes
See also: List of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 1 | "The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby" | Jerry Levine | Charlie Day & Rob McElhenney | September 13, 2007 (2007-09-13) | IP03001 | 2.34 |
| Dee and Mac find an abandoned baby boy in a dumpster and try to look after (and make money off) him; Frank and Charlie get into dumpster-diving; Charlie is still trying to find out if Frank is his real father; and Dennis tricks an environmentalist into chaining himself to a tree to save it from being cut. | |||||||
| 19 | 2 | "The Gang Gets Invincible" | Fred Savage | Charlie Day & David Hornsby & Glenn Howerton | September 13, 2007 (2007-09-13) | IP03010 | 1.86 |
| When the Philadelphia Eagles hold open tryouts à la the movie Invincible, Mac, Dennis, and Dee make the event their own personal competition; Frank and Charlie go to a tailgate party, where Frank trips on LSD and make things worse between them and the McPoyle family from "Charlie Got Molested" and "Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody's Ass." | |||||||
| 20 | 3 | "Dennis and Dee's Mom Is Dead" | Matt Shakman | David Hornsby & Rob McElhenney | September 20, 2007 (2007-09-20) | IP03013 | N/A |
| Frank's ex-wife Barbara dies (for real this time), leaving behind a big inheritance that Frank and Dee will do anything to get; Mac, Dennis, and Charlie use Barbara's house as a men's club to make new male friends ("nothing sexual"). | |||||||
| 21 | 4 | "The Gang Gets Held Hostage" | Fred Savage | Story by : Lisa Parsons Teleplay by : Rob McElhenney | September 20, 2007 (2007-09-20) | IP03009 | N/A |
| The McPoyles hold the Gang hostage in Paddy's Pub while Frank crawls through the vents (homaging to Die Hard) to find his will, which Charlie hid. | |||||||
| 22 | 5 | "The Aluminum Monster vs. Fatty Magoo" | Fred Savage | Charlie Day & Glenn Howerton | September 27, 2007 (2007-09-27) | IP03007 | N/A |
| The Gang gets involved in the fashion-design world when Dee gets jealous of her high-school best friend (Judy Greer), who is now a successful boutique owner. Meanwhile, Frank restarts his old sweatshop business and coaches Mac on how to run one. | |||||||
| 23 | 6 | "The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation" | Fred Savage | Charlie Day & Scott Marder & Rob Rosell | September 27, 2007 (2007-09-27) | IP03006 | N/A |
| The Gang is at odds with a more-successful Korean pub owner who bears a striking resemblance to former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il; Charlie becomes involved with the owner's daughter (Tania Gunadi). | |||||||
| 24 | 7 | "The Gang Sells Out" | Matt Shakman | Charlie Day & David Hornsby | October 4, 2007 (2007-10-04) | IP03014 | N/A |
| When a restaurant chain offers to buy Paddy's Pub, the guys try to make the deal go through by showing the rep a good time; when Dee discovers she won't benefit from the deal, she quits her job at Paddy's (again) and pressures The Waitress to get her a job at a TGIFriday's-style restaurant. | |||||||
| 25 | 8 | "Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire" | Fred Savage | Story by : Rob McElhenney Teleplay by : Scott Marder & Rob Rosell | October 4, 2007 (2007-10-04) | IP03008 | N/A |
| The gang tries to become local celebrities by creating their own public-access news show and making it big on the hip club scene. | |||||||
| 26 | 9 | "Sweet Dee's Dating a Retarded Person" | Jerry Levine | Story by : Glenn Howerton Teleplay by : Scott Marder & Rob Rosell | October 11, 2007 (2007-10-11) | IP03002 | N/A |
| Dennis tells Dee that her new amateur-rapper boyfriend is mentally disabled; Frank, Charlie, and Mac start their own band but can't decide what type of music to play, especially when Charlie pens a disturbing song about being sexually molested by a strange creature called The Night Man. | |||||||
| 27 | 10 | "Mac Is a Serial Killer" | Jerry Levine | Story by : Charlie Day Teleplay by : David Hornsby | October 18, 2007 (2007-10-18) | IP03003 | N/A |
| Half of the Gang suspects that Mac might be the serial killer who's been terrorizing young women, especially when they notice how distant he's become; the other half tries to catch the serial killer themselves; meanwhile, Mac himself renews his relationship with Carmen (Brittany Daniel), the transgender woman from "Charlie Has Cancer". | |||||||
| 28 | 11 | "Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender" | Jerry Levine | Rob McElhenney | October 25, 2007 (2007-10-25) | IP03005 | N/A |
| Dennis' life goes downhill when the community mistakes him for a convicted child molester released from prison because of overcrowding; Mac and Charlie reunite with Luther (Mac's convict father) and freak out when they think Luther is murdering the people who put him in prison. | |||||||
| 29 | 12 | "The Gang Gets Whacked (Part 1)" | Matt Shakman | Glenn Howerton & Scott Marder & Rob Rosell | November 1, 2007 (2007-11-01) | IP03011 | N/A |
| When The Gang finds cocaine in a pair of speakers, they decide to sell it, only to learn that the cocaine belonged to some local mobsters who want it back. To pay off the debt, they buy more drugs and try to sell them at the country club. | |||||||
| 30 | 13 | "The Gang Gets Whacked (Part 2)" | Matt Shakman | Scott Marder & Rob Rosell | November 1, 2007 (2007-11-01) | IP03012 | N/A |
| The Gang must find a way to avoid getting "whacked off" when their plans to pay off mob members for missing cocaine go wrong: Frank pimps out Dennis to older women; Mac tries to do gruntwork for the mob; and Charlie and Dee stick to the plan to sell drugs but use them all themselves. | |||||||
| 31 | 14 | "Bums: Making a Mess All Over the City" | Jerry Levine | Charlie Day & David Hornsby | November 8, 2007 (2007-11-08) | IP03004 | N/A |
| Mac and Dee become vigilantes to solve the homeless problem. Meanwhile, after buying a junkyard police car to scare the homeless away from the bar, Frank and Dennis dress in police costumes and abuse the public while Charlie dresses as Serpico and tries to expose them. | |||||||
| 32 | 15 | "The Gang Dances Their Asses Off" | Matt Shakman | David Hornsby & Scott Marder & Rob Rosell | November 15, 2007 (2007-11-15) | IP03015 | 0.99 |
| Charlie inadvertently puts Paddy's Pub up as the grand prize in a radio dance marathon (in Mac's words to Charlie: "Your illiteracy has screwed us again"), so the gang must win the competition—against the enemies they've made so far in the series—to keep the bar. | |||||||
Reception
The third season received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 90% with an average score of 8 out of 10 based on 20 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "It's Always Sunny solidifies into a broader comedy during its third season, with the Gang coming into their own worst selves and the fictionalized Philadelphia they inhabit taking on a kooky life of its own."
Home media
| It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3 | |||||
| Set details | Special features | ||||
Technical specifications
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| Release dates | |||||
| Region 1 | Region 4 | ||||
| September 9, 2008 | March 9, 2011 | ||||
References
- ^ "Broadcast & Cable Nielsens: Week Ending September 16, 2007". Ratings Ryan. January 14, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- "Broadcast & Cable Nielsens: Week Ending November 18, 2007". Ratings Ryan. January 27, 2021. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3 (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
- "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3". Amazon. September 9, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
- "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – The Complete Season 3 (3 Disc Set) (DVD)". EzyDVD.com.au. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
