By Chris Snellgrove | Published
There are a lot of funny shows on TV right now. For my money (at least, not invested in Wolf Cola), no one can compete with it It's always sunny in Philadelphiais a long-running sitcom that started way back in 2005. Now, the award-winning show is set to premiere its 18th season on August 17, and fans are understandably excited. Most of that excitement dissipated, however, when fans of the fandom took a look at the show's latest ad.
Recently, It's always sunny in Philadelphia released a new poster to help promote the upcoming season. The poster also imagines the show's characters as beer tap holders. The ad looks sinister and more than a little surreal, and it didn't take long for fans to blame the ad's mysterious design on AI. Allegations that the game had suffered a production slump spread like wildfire across the internet. Finally, the show shut down these rumors in a straightforward way: by releasing a behind-the-scenes video showing how the controversial poster was created by real people.
Bad Art in Safety
Season 18 poster of It's always sunny in Philadelphia it is intended to emphasize the known characteristics of its unusual characters. For example, Dennis is a “golden lager” faucet handle to remind us that he is a golden god, and “Charlie's Rat Bash Draft” reminds us of his brutal annihilation in the bar. Frank, on the other hand, is the handle of the “Rum Ham Sour” which reminds us of his invention of the neat pigs. Psychologically, this is all very sweet and full of winking references to previous episodes. There's one problem: the fuzzy art makes everything look like AI slop.
Almost as soon as the poster dropped, fans started asking if it was made by AI. Most likely to disappoint many fans because the real power of It's always sunny it has always been human art at the heart of the show. It's an open secret that AI is being used by lazy creators who are willing to cut corners, lowering quality in the name of saving a few bucks. The fandom collectively began to ask the hard questions: are the best comedies on TV sold out, and was this AI loop an early warning that Season 18 was going to suck? Fortunately, the creators of the show put all our fears to rest by releasing a video showing how the poster was created.
Busting The AI Slop Myth
Video is the perfect way, showing exactly how the poster was designed. Releasing that video effectively silenced the rumours It's always sunny in Philadelphia accepts AI slop as part of its creative decisions. However, the video fails to answer another burning question: why do artists go with beauty that is inseparable from AI production? Frankly, no one would have blamed it in the first place if the poster hadn't been so weird. However, some fans are of the opinion that we all fell for a stunt that wouldn't even impress Thunder Gun.
You see, one of the themes is Season 18 of them It's always sunny in Philadelphia will examine “resistance to loss of work at the hands of working machines.” We don't know exactly how the show will explore that issue, but what better way to fix the fandom than to make everyone worry that their favorite show is now relying on AI? We may all have been worried that we might end up with the same conclusion that the program wants us to reach: that is, we should hatred beauty slop and strongly reject anywhere creators using AI as a shortcut.
If you're wondering how the system will deal with the downsides of workplace automation, you won't have to wait long to find out. Season 18 of It's always sunny in Philadelphia premieres August 17 on FXX. We can look forward to 10 more episodes of hilariously twisted entertainment that showcase everything from the dangers of conspiracy theories to some bad adventures with the McPoyles. And if we're really lucky, maybe Dennis and Mac will find their use for production AI: finally create another sequel Lethal Weapon!
