The Blu-ray Christmas spirit continues with the Fox Home Entertainment title It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas, released November 17th, 2009.

I can’t say that I have ever seen the show before receiving this Blu-ray Disc - the show airs on the FX cable channel.

The series follows four egocentric characters who run an Irish bar, and whose selfish views often lead them to make decisions with unfortunate repercussions.

This this Christmas episode, Dee and Dennis try to make Frank see the error in his ways with a ‘Christmas Carol’ type series of revelations, while Charlie and Mac try to find the true Christmas spirit, after discovering that their childhood memories of Christmas were far from ‘traditional’.

While I found the show to be fairly entertaining, the bickering between the characters did come across as shrill and wore thin at times.

The best part of the episode is a clay-mation sequence that mimics the style of some of the Christmas specials that aired a generation ago, with somewhat of a nasty twist.

It should also be noted that this show contains language that would not be heard on broadcast networks, and includes a scene with Danny DeVito naked - you have been warned!

The cast includes Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day as Mac and Charlie, Glenn Howerton and Kaitlin Olson as Dennis and Dee, with Frank played by Danny DeVito.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas was produced by Fred Savage from the Wonder Years.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 35 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

It must be noted that the original was not produced in high definition and the video has been up-scaled for this Blu-ray release.

The result will have many people wondering why a Blu-ray Disc was released at all and the fact that this is not a true 1080p image is pretty obvious at a glance.

Full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc showing the lack of image quality can be seen at the details page for It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas.

The main audio is a cut above DVD however, with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a single layer BD25, with 14.7 GB used and is coded for Region A and Region B.

There is a small selection of supplements, including a set of three deleted scenes featuring young Charlie and young Mac, presenting events that shaped their lives.

The disc also contains a behind the scenes ‘Making of’ featurette with cast and crew interviews and footage of the shoot, which actually took place in the height of summer.

Additionally you can sing Christmas songs with the cast with the Sunny Sing-A-Long featurette.

The show producers also have a brief introduction segment where they note that the disc features standard definition video that has been upconverted for the Blu-ray release.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas is quite entertaining and no doubt a great choice for fans of the show.

One has to wonder though, with no true 1080p source for this Christmas Special, why it received a Blu-ray release from Fox Home Entertainment - perhaps it is some kind of market test.

The retail price is $29.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $16.99, saving 43%!

Extras:

• Young Charlie & young Mac Deleted Scenes
• Behind the Scenes Making Of
• Sunny Sing-A-Long

Synopsis:

Ho, ho, heyooo! Christmas is upon us and the Paddy’s gang has got the spirit. Well, not really. For them, the holidays have always been a time of trickery, backstabbing, and disappointment. But this year things are going to be different as they are determined to rediscover the joy in Christmas. Join Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank as they embark on a holiday adventure filled with stolen toys, childhood videos, naked elves, and a bloody run in with Santa Claus that is guaranteed to blast Christmas spirit all over you!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.