Season of television series
| It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | |
|---|---|
| Season 9 | |
 DVD cover | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Release | |
| Original network | FXX |
| Original release | September 4 (2013-09-04) – November 6, 2013 (2013-11-06) |
| Season chronology | |
| ← Previous Season 8 Next → Season 10 | |
| List of episodes | |
The ninth season of the American television sitcom series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered on the new channel FXX on September 4, 2013. The season consists of 10 episodes, and concluded airing on November 6, 2013. The ninth season was released on DVD in region 1 on September 2, 2014.
Cast
See also: List of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia charactersMain cast
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob McElhenney as Mac
- Kaitlin Olson as Deandra "Dee" Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Special guest cast
- Seann William Scott as Country Mac
Recurring cast
- Mary Elizabeth Ellis as The Waitress
- David Hornsby as Cricket
Guest stars
- Artemis Pebdani as Artemis
- Lance Barber as Bill Ponderosa
- Jimmi Simpson as Liam McPoyle
- Nate Mooney as Ryan McPoyle
- Andrew Friedman as Jack Kelly
- Chad L. Coleman as Z
- Mary Lynn Rajskub as Gail the Snail
- Jessica Collins as Jackie Denardo
- Ken Davitian as Snyder
- Peter Jacobson as Rotenberg
- Robyn Lively as Kerry
- Dave Foley as Principal MacIntyre
- Jeff Kober as Creepy Guy
- Oscar Nunez as Sudz Manager
- Tommy Dewey as Harris Marder
- Roddy Piper as Da' Maniac
- Josh Groban as Himself
- Jim O'Heir as Doctor
- Jimmy O. Yang as Tang-See
- Burn Gorman as Scientist
- Zachary Knighton as Random Guy
Production
On August 6, 2011, FX announced it had picked up the show for a ninth season. It premiered on the new FXX channel and moved timeslots to Wednesday nights.
On May 14, 2013, Rob McElhenney revealed that Game of Thrones series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss guest-wrote an episode of the ninth season. Charlie Day revealed it would be a Flowers for Algernon type of story about "Charlie getting smarter" in a Limitless style, and is called "Flowers for Charlie".
In addition, there is an episode called "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award", which mocks the show's lack of nominations for Emmys and other awards, a Lethal Weapon 6 episode follow-up, and a Thanksgiving special, which brings back Gail the Snail, The McPoyles and other enemies of the Gang. An animated sequence (inspired by a Pixar animation) was created for the 100th episode, "The Gang Saves the Day".
An Aaron Paul cameo was announced, but he was not able to appear due to scheduling conflicts.
Rob McElhenney revealed at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con that he had written an episode for this season involving the gang becoming contestants on the game show Family Feud. While Family Feud producers were receptive to the storyline, FX refused to allow the episode to proceed to production.
The season premiered on September 4, 2013, and contains 10 episodes. The series' landmark 100th episode aired on October 9.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95 | 1 | "The Gang Broke Dee" | Richie Keen | Charlie Day & Glenn Howerton & Rob McElhenney | September 4, 2013 (2013-09-04) | XIP09001 | 0.757 |
| Dee is suicidally depressed after realizing the guys were right about her looks and lack of talent. To snap her out of it, Dennis tries to find a man in her league while Charlie, Mac, and Frank encourage Dee to give her stand-up career another shot, which turns her into an overnight hit when the crowd loves her crude, self-deprecating jokes. | |||||||
| 96 | 2 | "Gun Fever Too: Still Hot" | Todd Biermann | Charlie Day & Glenn Howerton & Rob McElhenney | September 11, 2013 (2013-09-11) | XIP09005 | 0.606 |
| The gang again tangles with gun-control issues when Frank appears on a local-access talk show advocating the right to bear arms. | |||||||
| 97 | 3 | "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award" | Richie Keen | David Hornsby | September 18, 2013 (2013-09-18) | XIP09003 | 0.521 |
| In a clever jab at the show never being nominated for the Emmy Awards, the gang tries to make their bar worthy of a Philly Best Bar Award. | |||||||
| 98 | 4 | "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare" | Dan Attias | Dave Chernin & John Chernin | September 25, 2013 (2013-09-25) | XIP09008 | 0.458 |
| Dee and Charlie get roped into a pyramid scheme and try to get themselves out of it by scamming Ben the Soldier and others; Frank is stuck in a playground coil, but nobody rescues him because they think it's a trick. | |||||||
| 99 | 5 | "Mac Day" | Richie Keen | Charlie Day & Glenn Howerton & Rob McElhenney | October 2, 2013 (2013-10-02) | XIP09004 | 0.459 |
| Each Gang member gets his/her own day to do whatever they want with no complaints from the others, so Mac uses his day to give the others a religious experience, but they take a shine to his cousin "Country Mac" (Seann William Scott) who, unlike regular Mac, is honest about his homosexuality, doesn't push his religious beliefs on others, and treats the others with respect. | |||||||
| 100 | 6 | "The Gang Saves the Day" | Dan Attias | Dave Chernin & John Chernin | October 9, 2013 (2013-10-09) | XIP09007 | 0.509 |
| A robber bursts into the convenience store where the Gang are shopping and holds it up. While hiding in an aisle, Mac, Dee, Dennis, Frank, and Charlie each imagine how each of them would save the day. | |||||||
| 101 | 7 | "The Gang Gets Quarantined" | Heath Cullens | David Hornsby | October 16, 2013 (2013-10-16) | XIP09010 | 0.574 |
| After Frank announces that there's a flu epidemic in Philadelphia, the Gang quarantines themselves in the bar, where Frank becomes obsessed with purifying himself: he locks the others in a bathroom and overuses hand-sanitizer | |||||||
| 102 | 8 | "Flowers for Charlie" | Dan Attias | David Benioff & D. B. Weiss | October 23, 2013 (2013-10-23) | XIP09009 | 0.460 |
| A Flowers for Algernon-meets-Limitless parody finds Charlie being used as a test subject for a new intelligence pill that makes him smarter and more aware of his messed-up life, causing him to quit his janitor job. Meanwhile, Dee, Dennis, and Mac try to do Charlie's work but get sidetracked and high on gasoline; and Frank tries to bring Charlie back to his dimwitted self. | |||||||
| 103 | 9 | "The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6" | Dan Attias | Scott Marder | October 30, 2013 (2013-10-30) | XIP09006 | 0.427 |
| The Gang tries to find funding for Lethal Weapon 6 after Frank backs out due to creative differences. | |||||||
| 104 | 10 | "The Gang Squashes Their Beefs" | Todd Biermann | Rob Rosell | November 6, 2013 (2013-11-06) | XIP09002 | 0.535 |
| The Gang invites their enemies to Thanksgiving dinner so they can forgive them for everything they've done to them. | |||||||
Reception
Critical response
The ninth season received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 100% with an average score of 7.7 out of 10 based on 22 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dee hits rock bottom and Charlie gets smart in a consistently hilarious ninth season that proves the Gang doesn't need an award to be one of television's funniest ensembles."
Ratings
The first episode of the season premiered with the lowest number of U.S. viewers since it has been tracked for the show. This was primarily due to the new channel, FXX, being unavailable from many television providers. Many Suddenlink Communications franchises, although carrying the channel, have required the subscriber to buy a "Sports Package" in order to receive the network. Nonetheless, FX Network president John Landgraf said that "the numbers last night far exceeded our highest expectations" and that "To have just launched the channel three days ago and get these ratings is thrilling."
Home media
| It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season Nine | |||||
| Set details | Special features | ||||
Technical specifications:
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| ||||
| Release date | |||||
| Region 1 | |||||
| September 2, 2014 | |||||
References
- ^ Bibel, Sara (July 22, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia', 'The League' & 'Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell' to Premiere September 4 on FXX". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 26, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
- Lambert, David (July 9, 2014). "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Press Release Confirms Date, Package Art, Extras for 'Season 9'". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
- Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 6, 2011). "FX Renews Louie and Wilfred, Orders Two More Seasons Sunny". TVLine. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
- Goldman, Eric (March 28, 2013). "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League Moving to New FXX Cable Channel". IGN. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- Goldberg, Lesley (June 6, 2013). "FX's Upstart Network FXX: 7 Things to Know". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- McElhenney, Rob (May 14, 2013). "If ur wondering whether or not Benioff and Weiss wrote an episode of Sunny this year the answer is, of course, yes". Twitter. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- Lang, Derrick J. (July 22, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' Season 9 Spoilers Revealed At Comic-Con". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- Furlong, Maggie (August 2, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' Season 9: A Thanksgiving Episode, 'Lethal Weapon' Follow-Up And More". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- Chance, Molly (June 12, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Season 9: Charlie Day's 'The Waitress' spoiler". Zap2it. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- Hastie, Katie (August 14, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Glenn Howerton interview: 5 things we learned". HitFix. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Hayer, Chris E. (July 21, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' at Comic-Con: 'The Gang Broke Dee' premieres". Zap2it. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- Yanan, Travis (September 5, 2013). "Wednesday's Cable Ratings: "Duck Dynasty" Brings Home Another 10 Million Viewers". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
- Yanan, Travis (September 12, 2013). "Wednesday's Cable Ratings: No Stopping "Duck Dynasty" on A&E". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- Yanan, Travis (September 19, 2013). "Wednesday's Cable Ratings: "Duck Dynasty" Continues Its Reign for A&E". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
- @sonofthebronx (September 27, 2013). "9/25 FXX Always Sunny 458k viewers, 0.3 A18-49; League 445k viewers, 0.3 A18-49" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Yanan, Travis (October 3, 2013). "Wednesday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: "Modern Family," "Duck Dynasty" Lead Demo Race". The Futon Critic. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
- Yanan, Travis (October 10, 2013). "Wednesday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: "Duck Dynasty," "American Horror Story" Top Demos at 10 PM". The Futon Critic. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
- Yanan, Travis (October 17, 2013). "Wednesday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: "Modern Family," "Toy Story of Terror!" Top Demos". The Futon Critic. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- @sonofthebronx (October 25, 2013). "For 10/23/13 on FXX, #ItsAlwaysSunny 460k viewers, 0.33 A18-49; #TheLeague 420k viewers, 0.31 A18-49" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Wednesday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: World Series Finale Overshadows Competition". The Futon Critic. October 31, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
- @sonofthebronx (November 7, 2013). "#ItsAlwaysSunny 535k viewers, #TheLeague 477k viewers; each did a 0.33 in A18-49" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 9 (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
- Chandler, Chip (September 4, 2013). "Channel Surfer: Tonight's TV (with VIDEO)". Amarillo Globe-News. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- Porter, Rick (September 5, 2013). "'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' and 'The League' make solid debuts on FXX". Zap2it. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Press Release Confirms Date, Package Art, Extras for 'Season 9'". TVShowsonDVD. July 9, 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
