Last October I went to the Sunny in Philadelphia live podcast staging at Radio City Music Hall. It was a completion of a journey that started fifteen years ago with me thinking it was one of the stupidest shows I had ever seen.
It was a rainy Friday night. I was by myself at home with not much going on. It had been a hectic week at work and all I wanted to do was to sit at home, relax and disconnect myself from the world for a while. I turned on my television -which was rarely the case, as you may or may not know I am not a big television person- and started zapping through the channels looking for something to grab my attention. FX was one of those channels with some unusual creative programming, so it did not surprise me when I caught this odd show that was on: the characters were in the middle of a dialogue which seemed dumb at first glance. Then I remembered that I had seen a couple of clips from the show a few months earlier, and my initial impression was the same, so I paid little attention to it and kept moving on through the rest of the night.
The next day I woke up to clear blue skies and I went out to buy something special for the night. I had enjoyed my Friday, and since heavy rain was forecast starting in the evening, I wanted to stay home again and make Saturday equally enjoyable by cooking something special. Evening time came and I set myself in the kitchen. Once again, I turned the TV on, just to leave some noise in the background while I was preparing my special meal.
Automatic zapping mode went for a couple of rounds, until I do not remember how or why -as I did the night before- landed on FX. This time they were running a Sunny marathon. As I continued preparing my meal, I kept listening and glancing every now and then. I served my food and moved the TV so I could watch the show while enjoying my delicious special dinner. Do not ask me how, but three hours had gone by and I was hooked, and what were initially smiles, became bursts of laughing. “Now I get this show“, I told myself.
Every other person I know who is a Sunny fan, went through the same experience as I did, to greater or lesser degrees. It is a show that at first will not impress you, and will have you question why would something that stupid would air on television. But it has something you cannot put your finger on, that is there and attracts you, and you do not feel bad about particularly rejecting it. Then you start watching it, understanding, and appreciating the quality of the show, until you finally realize the show is nothing short of one of the best shows of all time: the acting is superb, the stories are creative and hilarious, and the overall production is excellent.
If you have not seen Sunny, you are missing a lot in your life. The aspect that I like the most is its realism (realism to an extent). Have you ever wondered of that one or two guys at your office or your socializing circle, who seem to be living their lives without any common sense, and disconnected from reality, and you and your coworkers / friends ask yourselves “What would it look like, to have four or five of those type of guys interacting with each other on a regular basis?” That is Sunny.
About ten years ago a reviewer summarized Sunny in a very quirky, yet accurate way: “Sunny is Seinfeld on crack.” Today, the gang keeps on and slowly but steadily, Sunny is finally gaining the praise and recognition it has always deserved.
HR