Apr 15, 2019 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney and Silicon Valley's Martin Starr had cameo appearances in Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 1 where they were killed on a Greyjoy ship.

The ninth season of the American comedy television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered on the new channel FXX on September 4, 2013.^[1] 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.^[2]

Cast[edit]

Main cast[edit]

• Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
• Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
• Rob McElhenney as Mac
• Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
• Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds

Special guest cast[edit]

• Seann William Scott as Country Mac

Recurring cast[edit]

• Mary Elizabeth Ellis as The Waitress
• David Hornsby as Cricket

Guest stars[edit]

• 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
• Chad L. Coleman as Z
• Artemis Pebdani as Artemis
• Tommy Dewey as Harris Marder
• Roddy Piper as Da' Maniac
• Josh Groban as Himself
• Jessica Collins as Jackie Denardo
• Jim O'Heir as Doctor
• Jimmy Ouyang as Tang-See
• Burn Gorman as Scientist
• Jimmi Simpson as Liam McPoyle
• Mary Lynn Rajskub as Gail the Snail
• Zachary Knighton as Random Guy
• Lance Barber as Bill Ponderosa

Production[edit]

On August 6, 2011, FX announced it had picked up the show for a ninth season.^[3] It premiered on the new FXX channel and moved timeslots to Wednesday nights.^[4][5]

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.^[6]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'.^[7]

In addition, there is an episode called 'The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award', which mocks the show's lack of Emmy or other award nominations, 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.^[8] An animated sequence (inspired by a Pixar animation) was created for the 100th episode, 'The Gang Saves the Day'.^[9]

An Aaron Paul cameo was announced, but he was not able to appear due to scheduling conflicts.^[10]

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.^[11]

The season premiered on September 4, 2013, and contains 10 episodes. The series' landmark 100th episode aired on October 9.^[1]

Ratings[edit]

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.^[12] 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.'^[13]

Episodes[edit]

DVD release[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abBibel, 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.
2. ^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.
3. ^Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 6, 2011). 'FX Renews Louie and Wilfred, Orders Two More Seasons Sunny'. TVLine. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
4. ^Goldman, Eric (March 28, 2013). 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League Moving to New FXX Cable Channel'. IGN. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
5. ^Goldberg, Lesley (June 6, 2013). 'FX's Upstart Network FXX: 7 Things to Know'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
6. ^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.
7. ^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.
8. ^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.
9. ^Chance, Molly (June 12, 2013). ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Season 9: Charlie Day's 'The Waitress' spoiler'. Zap2it. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
10. ^Hasty, Katie (August 14, 2013). ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Glenn Howerton interview: 5 things we learned'. HitFix. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
11. ^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.
12. ^Chandler, Chip (September 4, 2013). 'Channel Surfer: Tonight's TV (with VIDEO)'. Amarillo Globe-News. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
13. ^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.
14. ^Yanan, Travis (September 5, 2013). 'Wednesday's Cable Ratings: 'Duck Dynasty' Brings Home Another 10 Million Viewers'. The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
15. ^Yanan, Travis (September 12, 2013). 'Wednesday's Cable Ratings: No Stopping 'Duck Dynasty' on A&E'. The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
16. ^Yanan, Travis (September 19, 2013). 'Wednesday's Cable Ratings: 'Duck Dynasty' Continues Its Reign for A&E'. The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
17. ^@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.
18. ^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.
19. ^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.
20. ^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.
21. ^@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.
22. ^'Wednesday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: World Series Finale Overshadows Competition'. The Futon Critic. October 31, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
23. ^@sonofthebronx (November 7, 2013). '#ItsAlwaysSunny 535k viewers, #TheLeague 477k viewers; each did a 0.33 in A18-49' (Tweet) – via Twitter.
24. ^'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.

External links[edit]

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – list of episodes on IMDb
• List of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 9 episodes at TV.com
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at epguides.com

Mac From It's Always Sunny In Game Of Thrones Season

Ronald 'Mac' McDonald is a fictional character on the FX series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mac is Charlie Kelly's childhood friend and Dennis Reynolds's high school friend and later roommate.

Character overview[edit]

Mac is a co-owner of Paddy's, the self-proclaimed 'Sheriff of Paddy's,' and is generally the pub's most active manager. Mac is played by Rob McElhenney.

Mac frequently uses his signature line, 'What's up, bitches?' throughout the series. In many episodes, Mac will enter the bar announcing 'I've got news' or a variation of the phrase, to set the episode's plot in motion. The others rarely share his enthusiasm, but he usually convinces one of them to follow him, though often reluctantly. Throughout the series, Mac uses a 'puppy-dog look' when he is ashamed or when he proposes something reprehensibly shameful.

Name[edit]

For the first six seasons, Mac's full name was kept anonymous as a running joke, though in the season four episode 'Mac & Charlie Die,' Mac's father's name is listed as 'Luther Mac' on his parole papers and his mother is referred to as Mrs. Mac. In the episode 'Who Got Dee Pregnant?,' one of the McPoyle brothers refers to Mac as 'Macwell.' In the episode 'The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell' Mac, or at least Mac's 18th Century counterpart, is called 'McDonald,' suggesting that this is his surname. Mac's full real name, Ronald McDonald, is revealed in the season seven episode 'The High School Reunion'. Mac hates the name due to its connection with the spokesman of the popular fast food chain McDonald's as well as his old nickname, 'Ronnie the Rat,' which he obtained from ratting on fellow drug dealers in high school. Mac 'ratted' on drug dealers so he could become the main drug dealer of the school. He prefers to be simply called 'Mac'.

Description[edit]

Mac comes from a broken home; his father has been incarcerated for dealing meth and his mother is extremely apathetic and unemotional. Mac and his mother also own a dog named Poppins, who despite being extremely old and prone to eating poisonous objects appears to be practically indestructible. He sees himself as a karate expert and total 'badass'. Mac constantly seeks the acceptance of others, especially his parents, but his over-earnest efforts do not endear him to others. Earlier, under the impression that his father would possibly murder him after being paroled, Mac later receives a warm letter from his father, specifically requesting that Mac stay away from him. This letter is written as Mac's father fears that Mac's destructive tendencies could harm him. Dennis notes that the only reason Mac hung out with the popular kids in high school was because he sold them all weed and even then was considered an 'asshole.' Though Dennis reigns supreme as selfish and arrogant, Mac has made his fair share of selfish, inconsiderate decisions and observations.

Mac is considered by every member of The Gang to be a 'jerk' and is nearly always the first to start betraying the others, though he does usually stick with Dennis, who is his best friend and has known him longer than anybody in The Gang other than Charlie. Like Dennis, Mac sees himself as superior to the rest of The Gang and often attempts to prove his supremacy. For instance, in an attempt to impress Charlie and Dennis, he makes a series of 'Project Badass' videotapes that consist of various idiotic stunts set to music. He had a sexual relationship with a pre-op transgender woman named Carmen, for whom he claimed he was just 'putting in time' as he waited for Carmen's surgery.

Mac sincerely believes that he is an adept martial artist with 'cat-like reflexes' and usually wears sleeveless shirts to draw attention to his physique and exhibit his tribal tattoos. Despite his apparent fitness, Mac generally focuses his workout time on developing his, as Dennis called them, 'glamor muscles' and is largely the weakest member in The Gang, behind everyone but Dennis. Despite his enthusiasm towards karate, he is shown to have no real skills in the sport.

Religion[edit]

A Catholic, Mac is the only member of The Gang to profess a religious faith. In 'The Gang Exploits a Miracle,' Mac fears that the Lord will show his wrath if they continue to exploit a water stain in the bar that appears to depict the Virgin Mary. Throughout the series, Mac refuses to wear a condom during sex because, as he explains to Charlie, he went to Catholic school. Though Mac seems to care more about issues such as abortion, community activism, and parenting than the rest of The Gang, his views on such subjects are invariably twisted, ignorant, or prejudiced and his actions regarding them are always hypocritical and selfish. For instance, after pretending to be adamantly pro-life in order to attract a female activist, Mac later demands that she get an abortion when he thinks she has become pregnant by him. In another instance, Mac discovers that Carmen has married and had the operation to remove her penis. He then belittles Carmen and her husband by quoting the Bible to them and calling them gay; however, he only reacts so because he expected Carmen to call him after the operation so they could date again. Mac constantly drinks alcohol, like the rest of The Gang, and abuses other substances, such as poppers and glue. In recent seasons, Mac has sometimes expressed Anti-Semitism, from his rant about Mark Zuckerberg and 'his Jews' using Facebook and other social media to take over the world in 'The Anti-Social Network' and, in 'The Gang Group Dates,' telling a disgusted Frank and Charlie that he wants to make sure any women he might date are not Jewish.

Sexuality[edit]

While Mac has sexual exploits with various women, including two models in immediate succession ('America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest'), a long-running theme on the show is the ambiguity surrounding Mac's sexuality which culminates in him coming out as gay in season 12. In earlier seasons, this is manifested by his obsession with men's physiques and his reactionary religious views on homosexuality. In the final scene of the season 4 episode 'Mac's Banging the Waitress,' Charlie says to Dennis, 'Do you still get the feeling he wants to bang us? That's what this is all about,' after Mac tries to demonstrate how 'badass' he is by falling from the roof onto a pile of mattresses. In the season 9 episode 'Mac Day,' Charlie says, 'I know we've never said this as a group, but Mac's gay,' to which the rest of The Gang readily agrees. In Season 10, when Dennis is listing all of the delusions The Gang has about themselves, he tells Mac that 'you think that you're tough, and that you're straight.' After a pause, Mac retorts 'I AM tough!' Further, in episode 6 of season 10, 'The Gang Misses the Boat,' Mac convinces The Gang that he is sleeping with an attractive woman; however, they later discover that he merely paid her with angel dust to pretend they were together. She tells them that he 'couldn't even get it up' for her.

In episode 9 of season 11, Mac, while on a Christian cruise, discovers that two other male passengers are gay and sets out to 'convert' them. The two, however, 'convert' Mac within minutes. This supposed realization of his repressed homosexuality results in the end of his belief in God. After The Gang is informed by Mac of his new identity, they tell him they've known since the first day they met him and proceed to move on with their self-involved lives. In the season 11 finale, Mac and the rest of The Gang are trapped inside the ship's brig and Mac tries one last time to pray to God to save all of them from imminent death (as the ship has presumably capsized and the room is filling with water). They are released in the nick of time. Mac later explains to The Gang and an insurance claim agent that God does exist and he, Mac, is indeed straight, because his prayer was answered and no loving God 'would make' him gay. In episode 6 of season 12, the gang uses Mac's altered workout bike as evidence of his homosexuality during a legal arbitration. Mac is forced to admit his sexuality to win the dispute, but the gang expects him to return to the closet after the process is over. However, when given an opportunity to retract his admission, Mac finally decides to embrace his identity. In season 13 episode 10, Mac finally comes out to his father as gay. Despite his father disapproving of his sexuality, Mac is not ashamed by his own father's distaste for finding out he's gay.

It is implied throughout the show that Mac has feelings for Dennis, whom he tries to kiss on multiple occasions. Mac's potential feelings for Dennis are addressed by Dennis in season 13 during a sexual harassment seminar, in which Dennis tells Mac that 'it's not going to happen'.

Mac From It's Always Sunny In Game Of Thrones 2017

Weight gain[edit]

At the start of season 7, Mac has gained at least 60 pounds (30 kilograms) of fat, which he saw as a step to developing muscle ('cultivating mass' in his words) to go from 'a tiny twink to [a] muscle-bound freak.' In the episode 'How Mac Got Fat,' he goes into greater detail about his intentions, explaining that earlier, the Gang had decided to replace themselves with avatars to run Paddy's Pub so they could slack off. Mac's avatar was a bodybuilder. When Dee points out that the avatar doesn't look like him because he has more muscle, Mac starts gaining weight in an attempt to become the same size as the bodybuilder. Eventually the Gang drops the avatar plan and everything goes back to normal, but Mac is stuck with his dangerous weight gain. The rest of The Gang agrees he looks unhealthy—Dennis is personally outraged by the sight of his gut—but Mac is indifferent to their opinions despite developing diabetes as a result of his new eating habits.

The weight gain was real. Rob McElhenney has stated in interviews that he wanted to make Mac fat as his own way of fighting the trend of actors on TV shows getting more attractive as a show gains success (he specifically talked about The Big Bang Theory and how the nerdy lead characters were better-dressed and had trendier hairstyles as the show became a huge hit for CBS), and that it also made sense that Mac would be aging badly thanks to the reckless, selfish, and stupid lifestyle of which he and the rest of the characters are so proud.^[1]

To gain the weight for Season 7 in the healthiest way possible, McElhenney worked with a nutritionist recommended by professional baseball player Chase Utley (who had played himself in the Season 6 episode 'The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods').^[2] He ate an average of 5,000 calories a day during the weight gain, and lost the weight by returning to his normal eating and workout routines.

References[edit]

1. ^Molloy, Tim (August 10, 2011). 'Fat Mac: Rob McElhenney Goes Into Graphic Detail About 'Sunny' Weight Gain'. Reuters.
2. ^Gray, Ellen (August 8, 2011). 'Utley tip helped 'Sunny' star pack on pounds'. The Philadelphia Inquirer.