A Wedding and/or a Funeral...

 My post Tuesday night might have jumped the gun a little on making a prediction as to what the puppet plot is about, because the next morning, quite a few more photos were discovered in connection with the LinkedIn user's visit to set, revealing quite a bit more about what she saw being filmed!

The contents of these photos (which you can view on Instagram here, or see below) likely reveals that I was way off in my initial prediction of what a puppet plot could be (but hey, we can store it away for another day) as these new photos reveal not only the puppet himself, but the Kelly House, AKA Charlie's Mom's House (RIP) as a significant filming location (along with what appears to be a roof set)! 

These photos, understandably, blew up on social media among fans of the show, and so many comments and ideas about what all this could be about popped up throughout the day, I thought it would be fun to collect and compile the general thoughts/theories fans have come up with due to these new photos:

Mostly everyone seems to be in agreement that this set is a rooftop. Considering the surrounding blue screen (likely to be the Philly skyline you just can't replicate somewhere on-location in LA), the structure behind Mac jutting up and holding outdoor lights and satellite dishes, and the below photo showing a descending ladder and an industrial fan (for the creation of wind?), this seems to be a pretty solid deduction. 

But where, exactly, are they? And what's going on up there? 

Well, as we can see, the characters (excluding Charlie, who is of the Day variant in that photo and not Kelly) are wearing slightly disheveled tuxes, just like those we saw in Rob's parallel post from the bar, and those tuxes are also being worn in two other photo around the Kelly dining table:

Dennis and Mac are sat around the table with Uncle Jack (and the infamous puppet) but, interestingly, Charlie Kelly isn't seen in these photos either. This has led many to believe that whatever is going on in these scenes excludes Charlie. While he was wearing a matching tux in Rob's post, the only photo we see of him in this batch of filming photos is one in which he is on the same rooftop Mac and Dennis were on in his all-black, beanie outfit we first saw from LinkedIn:

The biggest factor dividing the theories as to what's going on here hinges on the idea of what the tuxes are being worn for—a wedding or a funeral? (A tuxedo is considered perhaps the only type of formal wear not appropriate for a funeral, however this is the Gang we're talking about, so we can't really rule out anything based on universal appropriateness.) Season 17's finale gave us a case for both events occurring this year, as Frank proposed only seconds before an in-memoriam for Lynne Marie Stewart played. While it has yet to be confirmed whether or not Season 18 will follow through on Frank's proposal or translate Lynne's death via the death of her character, there have been hints RCG intend to make Season 18 continuous, so fans are almost universally speculating based on one of these ideas, with many betting on both not only happening, but intertwining:

As Twitter user Boygeniusmac pointed out, we saw a champagne bottle and glasses in an earlier photo at Mac and Dennis' apartment, as well as the boys in suits in the bar. The tuxes and the champagne indicates that there was a celebration of some kind (and let's not forget this Season's graphic, confetti!), but the change in location with Uncle Jack seems to indicate that they're called over to the Kelly House for something related to Bonnie's death. She theorized that if this has something to do with Bonnie's will, the resulting roof moments (and Charlie's attire) could be related to a heist kind of plot taking place at the Kelly house, where the guys are all looking to obtain something valuable that was revealed in the will reading, screwing each other over in pairs. 

Tumblr user badn3w similarly theorized that a Frank wedding (or Dee & Dennis Birthday) might overlap with Bonnie's passing, with the guys celebrating in the bar only to rush over to the Kelly House upon hearing the news of her passing. They pointed out that if the celebration event was for Frank's wedding, then the culminating news that Charlie has lost his mother would send him into a flurry, and the resulting plot might be more uplifting, with Mac and Dennis being there for Charlie as he deals with losing Frank and his mom. 

Or, a resulting moment that's not as uplifting, as Tumblr user Sunnykeysmash theorized, "I thiiink maybe they had such a bad day (probably for bonnie's funeral?) that they want to jump off that roof."

But what about the puppet? That is where this all started, after all.  Well, Twitter user benkenobilover theorized that the doll could be Uncle Jack's representation of Charlie, which would explain Charlie's absence in the house and the puppet's matching tuxedo. (I definitely could get on board with this idea, especially seeing Uncle Jack is the puppeteer. If Bonnie is gone and Charlie has no reason to come around, this could be Uncle Jack's creepy way of coping.) Others think the puppet could be an heirloom of some kind, left by Bonnie in her will, while Tumblr user badn3w pointed out that the puppet could simply be Uncle Jack's latest scheme to lure in children... which, yeah. Fair assumption. But my favorite puppet theory came from Twitter user charliedayliker:

"Bonnie Kelly has passed away, but Jack Kelly claims that her ghost has possessed that puppet. There is a dispute with Jack Kelly on who should continue to live in Charlie's childhood home, and Mac and Dennis are attempting to negotiate with him (and the puppet) about the future of the house/its residents. This attempt is unsuccessful, likely due to the objections of the puppet, and Mrs. Mac is forced to move out of the house. Mac immediately moves her in with him and Dennis, creating a situation Dennis finds untenable. It's possible this leads to the scene with Mac and Dennis on the roof--maybe an argument about Mrs. Mac staying with them? Dennis hatches a plan with Charlie to trick Uncle Jack into believing that he was either wrong about the ghost haunting the puppet (by creating a separate haunting) or that the haunted puppet has changed its mind about the house. (In my wildest dreams, this scheme results in Uncle Jack's death)."

This sounds like a very fun "coping with death" episode; I would love to see it. 

(And I think it probably goes without saying that many are speculating that the scene on the rooftop with Mac and Dennis alone could be a romantic confession of some kind.)

My thoughts? Well, while I had already become emotionally invested in my puppet show PBS commentary episode idea, these photos have me rethinking a lot, especially given how much we have to work with and the varying theories other people have provided. 

First things first, I believe very strongly that these set moments are all confined to one location — the Kelly House. While the brick facade and green door are certainly indicative of Paddy's, they're also traits belonging to the Kelly house: 

In addition, the rooftop of Paddy's has been seen across numerous episodes, and the surface area is much wider than the room they've given on this new set, as well as the fact that the satellite dish affixed to the exit really belongs to residential property:

And... interestingly enough, the actual house the show uses as the exterior B-roll was sold in 2022, and the listing photos are still visible, revealing an actual roof deck juts out of the attic: 

This looks pretty similar to the set built for this scene (with the exception of the door being blue, but based on the photos in the listing, the real owners repainted the front door from green to blue, something Ms. Kelly never did), down to the wooden railing on the rooftop. I initially thought the railing part of the set was just built for the actors’ safety (ok, it’s for sure in part for the actors’ safety), but seeing this photo of the IRL deck makes the Kelly house even more of a damning location for this rooftop set. 

And given their wardrobe, the scene of Mac and Dennis on the rooftop most likely occurs during the same visit as the scene in which they're around the table with Uncle Jack and the puppet. (Mac is clearly holding something in this scene, and while it could be a prop, I am inclined to believe this is actually Rob holding a script based on crew members being visible on the monitors:

(In fact, I think all of these BTS photos were taken before/after "cut" was called.) 

However, this doesn't have me ruling out the theory that the guys are there in connection with some kind of will reading or estate planning due to Bonnie's passing, pulled in from a separate event that would call for tuxes (like others, the leading theory being Frank's wedding). 

(Something benkenobilover pointed out as well is that Mac is wearing a different tie (bolo) than he was in the picture Rob shared (bow), which could indicate that the actors specifically altered their wardrobes to match their Underage Drinking selves for the parallel... So it might be a real possibility that Charlie Day put on the tux for the photo despite Charlie Kelly not wearing one in any scene. In which event, this leads even more toward the idea that two plots have merged, with Charlie dealing with his mom's death while Mac and Dennis are dealing with Frank's wedding (hence the champagne in their apartment), and their roles either swapping for a minute or merging.)

I theorize that, once at the Kelly house, Mac and Dennis meet with Uncle Jack, who is an attorney and most likely the executor for (in charge of) Bonnie's will (I mean, the Gang did jail the only other attorney they know). The two of them learn of something regarding Bonnie's estate (or come up with an idea) that calls for a sidebar, and they retreat to the roof to speak alone. (Potentially, the puppet is the "something" related to the will, but, yeah, seeing it connected to Uncle Jack, I am appropriately worried that it's actually just a creepy child lure.) Following this, we see Charlie and Dennis in what I originally assumed were puppeteer outfits, but could also pass for spy/burglar outfits, on the same rooftop set belonging to the Kelly house. Based on the lighting through the monitors, it's clear that the scene with the two of them is set at night:

I think it's conceivable, then, that the two of them have returned to the house to steal whatever the "something" is that Mac and Dennis learned of. 

And just as my prior puppet plot idea was biased, this one certainly is too, because The Gang Gets Trapped is one of my favorite episodes and I've been dying for another heist plot.

Thanks to everyone who contributed their thoughts/ideas for what this episode could be! We could be close, but I know for certain that we haven't managed to deduce close to the actual insanity RCG have cooked up here... (But look, I'm keeping all of the submissions, and if anyone was right on the money, I'll mail you a script of your choosing.)

-Seth

Puppets in Philadelphia?

In late 2025, there were quite a few charity auctions popping up for Season 18 set visits (it's how we originally obtained speculation dates for when Season 18 would be filming!), and while these auctions all went far beyond the range of affordability for me, what I was able to be grateful for was the idea that there would be fans on set getting to experience filming, likely across the entire filming season, and hopefully some of those fans would be eager enough to share even just a little bit of their experience.

And hope springs eternal! Because in a recent LinkedIn post, a user took to the platform to share her experience of visiting the set as a gift from her husband for Valentine's Day. 

In the post, she shared that the two of them saw a behind-the-scenes taping, which included "some wild puppet action" and a look at a stunt area. She thanked Charlie and Glenn and shared a photo with the two of them, giving us another tantalizing peek into the bar this Season:

It's not unusual for Charlie to be dressed a little shabbily, but there's something about his outfit that made me second-guess if he was actually in character or not. Of course, on a closer look, that style of jacket and the shoes indicate he mostly likely is, but that beanie and those jeans throw me off! Glenn, too, while wearing a Dennis-style jumper and Dennis' shoes, is in matching black jeans. Honestly, they're both giving "stagehand" to me... and wait—did she say puppets??? Perhaps that read isn't too far off...

Sunny is well known for the current social and political commentary, and if you've been keeping up with the state of The United States recently, I'm sure your mind, like mine, jumps to make certain connections when hearing the words Sunny Commentary and Puppets—namely, Sesame Street. The most famous puppets around here since their debut in 1970 on PBS, the lovable residents of Sesame Street were recently cast out from their home due to the recent complete defunding of Public Media (or, as the Government puts it, "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization Of Biased Media") resulting in PBS shutting down. 

Of course, Netflix has stepped in to save Sesame Street, but that's likely neither here nor there for the Gang. I think we can be all but certain that the moment they caught wind of Sesame Street being cancelled due to being "biased media" they knew they would be the right choice to take over... And surely the Paddy's Pub Gang taking over public media messaging via puppets will result in way fewer biases coming forward! 

But of course... this is just speculation. All we know for certain is that there are puppets (and stunts!) involved in a scene which has Dennis and Charlie dressed in all black (like puppeteers).. and knowing Dennis' love for Fraggle Rock and Charlie's artistic, musical background, I am amped up for whatever this plot may be (whether actually related to PBS defunding, or something completely organic)! (Please, please, have a musical element...)

Any other ideas related to puppets and the guys in all-black? Could this be a solo Charlie and Dennis plot, or are the whole Gang involved? Might everyone's creative ideas butt heads? Or is this something that unites the Gang (but likely not their community...)? Let me know your ideas!

And, hey, is anyone looking to gift this guy a set visit for... *checks calendar for holidays between now and wrapping filming* ...Easter?

    (Haha, jk, I think I would last a total of 20 seconds on that set)

-Seth

More than 8 for 18!?

 Most, if not all of us, have seen in by now (and it's all but confirmed by the WGA, which remains mysteriously blank), but Rob "revealed" in an Instagram comment that Season 18 will have more than the 8-episode standard we've come to accept these last few seasons:

Some are happy (more episodes gives us more of the Gang!), some are worried (could a change in the standard indicate the end?), but I'm...confused. By all accounts, Season 18 shouldn't be able to have more episodes, because 8 is all they have left. 

In a Podcast released in early 2022 (just after Season 15 aired), Charlie Day revealed that FX only wanted to order Sunny for 8 episodes, but if they wanted more, they could do 16 in a Season, and the network would split them up to air 8 at a time...and so RCG went for batches of 8. Three have passed by, leaving us with only 8 to go. 

Interestingly, there was quite a bit of emphasis from Charlie on the fact that the Network only wanted 8 episodes at a time (in one of the Ireland Live Shows in early 2023, they brought this up again, recalling how they tried to negotiate 10 episodes from FX, but FX wouldn't budge), so if there are more than 8 episodes this season, that means RCG must have gone back to FX to renegotiate (extend/renew) their deal with the Network. 

What does this all mean then? Well, we're not quite sure yet. We don't even know how many more we're getting. Is it back to 10? Back to 12? Or perhaps it's just one extra, for a double premiere (never before seen with Sunny) or a double finale (not seen since Season 11)? Or, perhaps, a secret 9th episode we (the general public, more like) won't be aware of until a week after the "fake" finale?

But I will say, even one more episode has me optimistic regarding the future beyond Season 18. Since we know historically FX (Disney) has been resistant to giving them more episodes, they must have some kind of leverage, or promise, to deliver that granted them a better deal than they were able to get six years ago... or the Network agreed a "secret" 9th episode would be funny.. either or. I'd accept the latter because it would be funny as shit.  

Filming Begins! (with a hint?)

Wednesday, February 11, 2026 marks the start of filming for Season 18 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Rob has finally decided to give us a peek into its existence with an Instagram post!

Kaitlin and Glenn are also tagged in the post

The post was made by Rob and is a "joint post" with Charlie, Glenn and Kaitlin, clearly taken in Mac and Dennis's kitchen (which could either be where they're shooting, or a location chosen for the caption). But the location of the slate is less interesting than the brand new Season 18 logo on it.

It's hard not to believe there's a hint in this design, because when Season 17 began shooting, we got a few glimpses of that logo, and it featured a golden rose. While we didn't know it at the time, speculation brought us close to the idea that the rose meant something, and perhaps could be a reference to a theme or episode. As we now know, it was indeed that, a direct reference to the Season finale, The Golden Bachelor Live. So it's almost impossible for us not to immediately begin speculating on what the confetti could mean. 

Some are worried this could indicate "final," but to me, confetti is good news. It's thrown when celebrating good, or new, things. The New Year. Birthdays. Parades. Even Weddings...

And, interestingly, another photo of a different slate (also with the confetti logo and also in Mac and Dennis' apartment, confirming they are actively filming there) revealed a bit more of the first scene's surroundings, including what looks to be the neck of a champagne bottle:

From John Tanzer, on Instagram

(There also look to be champagne flutes to the left side of the frame...) 

This seems to indicate that the first scene they're shooting is a scene that calls for champagne, traditionally brought out for a celebration and potentially related to the confetti logo. (I emphasize potentially because this logo is for the entire season, not just this first scene, so it's a stretch to say the champagne glasses are indeed connected to the confetti). (It's also important to note that they don't necessarily shoot in order or air in the order they shoot AND we don't have an episode number attached to either slate, so this could be the first scene of episode 1 or the first scene of episode 8")

BUT if we do want to go out on a limb here and say they're carrying on from that big Season 17 finale moment into the first scene of Season 18, it is certainly not a stretch to believe the confetti and champagne are associated with a wedding [reception] between Frank and Sam (or perhaps for this scene, given the location and Danny's IG not being tagged in Rob's post, an after party). A wedding would definitely be grand enough to call dibs on this Season's design, and it would make logical sense given how Season 17 left off. (It's also something very interesting to throw us into and see how the Gang's relationships shift with someone new.)

However, it's also Sunny and they don't necessarily need to pick up from the end of 17, a crazy line from Frank about how Sam "didn't work out" would be enough to tie a bow on that plot. (Of course, I still expect the dynamics are altered this Season based on all of those last two episodes of 17.) So if this is something brand new (i.e. unrelated to last season), and the confetti is hinting at a different big episode of the season, I am personally rooting for either a New Years episode (though a NYE episode would likely delay Season 18's airing until late fall/winter) or one of the Gang's (*cough* Dennis and Dee *cough*) 50th birthdays (Charlie just celebrated his this Monday, and Glenn will celebrate his toward the end of filming)! 

Hopefully with a little time the episode titles will reveal what this is all about (as I don't see RCG sharing too many spoilers during filming this year, given how quiet the writers room was)!

Anyone have any other wishes for the grand confetti plot?

What’s going on with Season 18?

I know it feels like barely any time at all has passed since Season 17 aired its finale (especially given the amount of time we’ve had to wait between seasons for the past few), but Season 18 really is right around the corner! 

The writers room was set to come together in October, and although there have been no official/public confirmations of it existing (normally Rob, Charlie, and/or Glenn share at least a photo), I was able to get confirmation back in November from Mary Elizabeth Ellis that the writers room has indeed been under way. And at this point we should certainly hope so, since they allegedly start filming next week!* SEE EDIT BELOW

We received that information a few months ago, when an auction to visit the set revealed that they would be filming by January 26 (which is a Monday, and presumably the day they begin), but it was initially revealed to us by Danny Devito right after Season 17’s finale aired. And other than those two (admittedly small) scraps of info, there has been no noise on production for Season 18 beginning...

In fact, I can’t find any public evidence of the show being ready for and entering production at all. It’s not listed on any production websites, and the WGA, weirdly enough, hasn’t updated their producer credits for the upcoming season. They normally do this within a few weeks (ahead or behind) of the writing process beginning, so it’s weird that, 3 months in and 1 week out from filming, Rob is still the only person listed for Season 18 (as Executive Producer, a credit that’s been present since Season 17 entered pre-production).

However, it does seem to at least exist (in a ghost form). Taking a look at the site a little closer, the absence of credited creatives for Season 18 seems to be more of a glitch (or hidden) than it is a fact. I noticed that if you click on a certain writer’s individual page (take, Charlie Day, for example), they will be listed as involved in Sunny through 2026, with a comma (,) in place of some sort of credit: 

So I took the liberty of clicking through each of our Season 17 producers (as well as a few from the past) and was able to compile a list of people who seem to be attached to the upcoming Season, deep in the recesses of the WGA website. They are as follows:

Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, David Hornsby, Rob Rosell, Scott Marder, David Chernin, John Chernin, Ross Maloney, and Keyonna Taylor

This list seems pretty solid to me, however it's possible people will be added once script credits are submitted, so this isn't necessarily a final, all-encompassing list (and honestly I would take Scott Marder with a grain of salt, as he was also originally attached to Season 17 on the WGA before being removed prior to filming). 

But knowing Season 18 exists somewhere in the backrooms of the credit-side of the production world, we can at least assume things are happening behind the scenes, it’s just a wonder why we haven’t seen anything at all. Are things purposefully being kept under wraps? (Perhaps Rob feels guilty he accidentally spoiled the ending to Dog Track and has put everyone on lockdown, himself included, for this Season?) Or is everyone just sick of the internet in this day and age? (I’m less convinced of that being the reason, given the fact that RCG have all continued to post other interests to their Instagram accounts in the meantime, and most other productions are still being updated online). 

Perhaps, more importantly, could this silence be an indication of Sunny's run coming to and end with Season 18? (Do they want to keep everything fully private to avoid revealing they'll be ending with the end of this batch of Seasons? (In 2020 it was announced Sunny would run for 4 more seasons (15-18), and there has been no word since then on the show's continuation)). Or, is it the opposite? Could the delay in public credit posting actually be an indication that the show is working out a renewal deal? Wouldn't we expect RCG to share at least a photo from the final writers room if it really is the final writers room?

At this point, there's truly no way to know; everything falls in the grey zone of "unknown", but at least what we do know is that pre-production is well underway, and they're most certainly cooking up something good in there to pick up from where Season 17 left off.  And, despite the silence, we can only continue to operate under the assumption that those original dates we were given hold true, and filming begins next week. 

Which means we now have a real reason to keep our eyes peeled! On-location filming leaks, potential casting notices, crew members on the scene, maybe, hopefully, something from RCG, whatever the case may be, the series actively filming brings a much greater chance that we get a sneak peek at what's happening with Season 18. I’ll be sure to report right here if I see anything (be sure to check the Season 18 updates tab for everything we know!), and if you see anything, please make sure to share! (It might be the only thing we get, if this RCG lockdown continues!)

UPDATE 2/5/2026 - Per Production Weekly (a trusted and verified source), Season 18 is now confirmed to be filming Wednesday, February 11 - Wednesday, April 15! 

(Perhaps of some note, this timeframe is approx. two weeks longer than both Season 16 and 17's filming schedules, despite Season 18 containing the same number of episodes (8).)

Season 17 Ratings and Rankings - Was It Really “One of the best in years"?

As I expressed in my last post, Season 17 felt like one of the strongest, most cohesive seasons of all time, but that was just my opinion (well, and Rob’s…), so let’s take a look at where this season landed among viewers, statistically speaking:

Viewership 

Viewership was an interesting thing to keep an eye on this season, because it was the first time in over a decade that Sunny aired a new season on FX (beginning with Season 9, Sunny moved exclusively to FXX). However their return to FX was pretty uneventful, because no media outlet (well one, if you count this blog), nor the cast/crew, acknowledged it.  Even Sunny’s official advertising failed to mention their return to FX. Promotional posters and videos, including all of Season 17’s marketing on social media (which was mostly platformed on and formatted for Meta apps (Facebook and Instagram) this year), solely named FXX as its cable channel.

But despite the lack of advertising (which, is really on par for Sunny, regardless of what channel they are or aren’t on), people did tune into FX for the new season, splitting cable viewership for the entire Season across the two channels (which both aired the new episodes at 9:00pm EST, another first for Sunny, which had been airing new episodes at 10:00pm since Season 2). 

Cable

In every week except for one, more people tuned in to watch Sunny on FX than FXX (perhaps due to the lesser amount of advertisements for off-brand boner pills, or the movie lead-ins as opposed to hours of Family Guy or, you know, more people getting the channel), with the Crossover premiere leading a 3-season high in live viewership. And after taking an expected drop into the next episode (presumably by those who were tuning in just for Abbott), Season 17’s viewers stayed relatively consistent throughout its run:

Overall, total live viewers on FX & FXX (combined) averaged 280,000, peaking at 355,000 with The Gang Fucks Up Abbott Elementary (as previously noted) and dipping to a low of 204,000 with The Gang Goes to a Dog Track in the middle of Season 17s run. (A decrease in viewership between weeks is not atypical. The fact that numbers picked back up and stayed consistent through the finale is a great sign.) This 280k average is approximately 25,000 more viewers than last season pulled on average, and the highest since Season 14’s average of 299,000. (Even considering the bump Abbott’s viewers contributed to the premiere, if we drop that number to Coma’s viewership, the re-adjusted average still comes in higher than Season 15 and 16’s.)

Given Cable TV subscriptions have been on a steady decline for the past decade, an increase in the number of people tuning into Sunny on cable is a pretty exciting thing to see.

But since a large portion of television fans don’t subscribe to any cable service and instead wait until a show is available to stream, it’s important to also try and take a look at Sunny’s streaming statistics. I say try because Sunny streams on Hulu in the US, which does not share its viewership statistics (as a whole or for any given TV show). What they do provide us with, however, is a “Top 15” chart, highlighting the programs on their platform that have been deemed the “most popular” (determined by a non-disclosed, viewership formula that takes into account surge popularity due to new titles/episodes being added to the platform) for any given 24-hour period.

Streaming

Sunny began charting on Hulu’s Top 15 on July 10, 2024, the day its double-episode premiere was made available on the platform, and held a place on its charts every single day following (except for July 24) for over a month and a half, until August 26, 2025, 5 days after its finale had been made available:

(Only a gap in the trend line indicates Sunny was not present on Hulu’s Top 15.)

Peak streaming position was on Friday, July 11, just after its Wednesday, July 9 premiere, where Sunny charted at #2 on Hulu (#1 at the time being “Bachelor in Paradise” funnily enough, considering Sunny’s finale), and Sunny continued to peak around #5-7 each Friday throughout its run, following a new episode uploaded on Thursdays at 3am EST. (For a bit of added perspective, Hulu updates their charts at 3pm EST, so “Friday” is more indicative of how Sunny performed from 3pm EST on Thursday to 2pm EST on Friday, meaning most people were tuning in within 24 hours of a new episode being uploaded.) 

Unfortunately we cannot compare these numbers to any prior Sunny-Hulu streaming statistics, as Hulu only started sharing their “Top 15” in September of 2023, 2 months after Season 16 had finished airing. However, the TV shows that were regularly ahead of Sunny in the charts were mostly reality shows (such as Love Island, Project Runway, Master Chef, and the Bachelor in Paradise), so in terms of “competition” (admittedly there is little during the summer), Sunny was ahead of its pack, arguably one of the most popular comedies on Hulu in July and August. 

Now it’s not like any of this really matters, because viewership (on cable and, now more than it used to be considered, streaming) is mostly tracked to determine whether or not a show is performing “well enough” to get renewed for another season, and Sunny already has Season 18 guaranteed, which really isn’t that dependent on how many people are watching, anyway, if they want another season, they'll get another season. But it does interest and excite me (and maybe a few of you) as a fan to see how many people are actually tuning in to watch this show, 20 years in, and makes me happy to see it performed pretty well in that regard as compared to the last few years. 

Ratings

Of course, eyes aren’t the extent of it, the response to the episodes is arguably more important (though, again, not really that important to Sunny’s survival). So how did people respond to this season?

Reviews

Initial pre-season press reviews were very positive (Rotten Tomatoes shows 11/12 Critic reviews were positive, however I have been unable to track down who or what the negative critic review for this Season was), claiming Season 17 was the “funniest yet” and a “return to form.” These sentiments were definitely observed throughout the fanbase (consistently called "one of the best in years," on Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr, and even Facebook) as the episodes aired, and the praise was certainly reflected in viewer ratings:

Taking an average of the star ratings from both IMDb, a long-standing TV database which logs user ratings and Serializd, a newer more social media-based TV rating platform (both of which have at least 1,000 user ratings per episode from verified users), raitings for Season 17s individual episodes currently stand as follows: 

(Serializd rates out of 5 stars and, accordingly, the ratings were weighted (multiplied by 2) to align with IMDb’s ratings.) 

While Serializd users stayed within a smaller range (1.2) for their ratings than IMDb users did (2.1), the two platforms were not that far off from each other in almost all of their ratings for the episodes this season (in fact, Coma and EMTs had identical ratings between the two platforms). 

The two episodes with notable yet still relatively small differences are The Gang Goes to a Dog Track, which was rated 0.24 stars higher on IMDb than Serializd (based on written popular reviews, this can probably be attributed to the “gross out factor” of this episode) and The Golden Bachelor Live, which was rated 0.14 stars higher on IMDb (which might be attributable to the younger demographic on Serializd not caring as much about the Frank-centric episodes). 

Most notably, The Gang Fucks Up Abbott Elementary came in on a whole different level between the two platforms, sitting in the middle of the pack for Serializd users (almost an average between Dog Track and The Golden Bachelor Live’s ratings on the platform) and the way, way bottom for IMDb (Fucks Up Abbott is currently sitting in Sunny’s 5 lowest rated episodes across all seasons, with the lowest rated episode holding 6.6 stars). This major difference makes a little more sense once you look at the ratings graph on IMDb for the episode and notice how many 1-star ratings there are. The overwhelming negative response to the episode seems to be, not due to the fact that a few jokes are reliant on the first half of the crossover, but due to how much screen time the characters of Abbott Elementary are given. (It’s an understandable thing to be a little annoyed by, considering how we only get to see these characters for 4-ish hours every few years now, but a childish thing to bomb the episode’s ratings over.) On the flip side, many 5-star ratings on Serializd were from fans of Abbott Elementary who tuned in only for the crossover this season, so there is some skewing there as well.

So all things considered (the Abbott skew on either side and the fact that every other episode is rated within a quarter star of the other), the average between the two platforms is a fairly accurate idea as to what the “actual” viewer rating for each episode is, and given the fact that the average rating among all episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an 8.32, that means half of Season 17’s episodes come in “above average” (or well above, in the case of Prime Time, which currently sits in the Top 20 of highest rated episodes of the entire show):

The Average Episode Rating was calculated by taking the average of IMDb and Serializd's ratings of every single individual episode of Sunny and dividing by the number of episodes (177, including the DVD Christmas Special ).

And with half the episodes rated above average (and Dog Track hovering right below the line), where does that place Season 17, as a whole, amongst every season before it? Is it really “one of the best in years”?

In Comparison

Well…yes! (On an average, that is.) All of Season 17’s episodes average out to 8.30 (exactly the same average as Season 6’s), 0.04 points higher than Season 16 (the highest ranked of any Season after 12) and only 0.03 points below Season 2:

Looking just at IMDb ratings, Season 17 comes in 0.03 points lower than Season 16, but this really is easily attributable to the ratings skew the crossover saw on the platform. Considering the response to and ratings for the remainder of Season 17s episodes, I think it’s appropriate to claim that this season was met with more praise and positive reviews than 16’s (still great) season saw, which was the highest rated season since 12. And while obviously not among the top rated Sunny seasons of all time, Season 17's rating of 8.3 is right on par with quality Sunny, which has set an exceptional standard over the past 20 years (clearly visible by looking at the above chart and noticing the range across all 17 seasons' ratings spans only 0.79, with only 3 seasons dropping below an 8/10).

The claim that Sunny’s 17th Season is "one of the best in years" and still just as sharp and hilarious as ever definitely rings true with the viewers. Even if it doesn't fall in to the "top tier" of viewers' favorite seasons, it certainly showed a great mix of what Sunny has to offer (and still can deliver, 20 years in), with a highly-rated "classic" episodes in Mac and Dennis Become EMTs and Frank is in a Coma, a highly-rated experimental episode in The Golden Bachelor Live, and a highly-rated meta episode in The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time. 

These statistics being stated, I do believe that the cohesiveness of a season (and a strong through-line) can often trump where the average of all the individually-rated episodes will place it among others, so I'm interested to know: does this ranking for Season 17 align with your views on the Season as well? If you'd like to give your opinion (I am asking) please fill out this brief Google Forms questionnaire!