It's Always Sunny with Seinfeld

There's a paradox that exists in my life.  It honestly just occurred to me today.  I have a general disdain for Seinfeld.  I never found it funny and I couldn't stand any of the characters.  I do, however, have an unending affection for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Therein lies the paradox. 

These two shows are basically the same damn show.  They are shows about nothing.  Character studies in which the characters show little to no growth at all.  Shows about jerks being jerks to each other and to other people.  They both find themselves in ridiculous situations because of their jackassery.  So why can't I stand Seinfeld but love Sunny?

Part of it likely has to do with my age.  Seinfeld started when I was eight years old and ran until I was seventeen.  Not only would I not have been allowed to watch it for most of that time, I was too busy being out in the world being a teenager.  Sunny  started in 2005 when I was twenty-four and it's over the top humor and grossness was basically targeted for me and the rest of my demographic.

Another part of it for me is that I never found any of the Seinfeld characters lovable.  They only ever exuded selfishness to me.  On Sunny I found that I had soft spots for basically everyone except for Dennis and Frank.  Mac and his naivety, Dee and her bad luck, and Charlie with his ignorance; never fail to make me laugh.  The only character on Seinfeld that I didn't mind seeing was Kramer who was definitely weird but seemed to be the only one with half a heart.
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It's certainly also the type of humor and the delivery.  Seinfeld is known for sarcasm and while I utilize sarcasm often, an entire show about it became annoying.  With Sunny though, it's a lot of fast talking and in your face humor.  There's definitely sarcasm but they don't use it as a crutch.  I'm not saying Sunny is perfect.  Honestly, I can't binge it for too long or it frustrates me.  There are times when the constant yelling over each other can get abrasive.  Also, while Danny DeVito is likely a lovely human being, his portrayal of Frank makes me incredibly uncomfortable in a gross kind of way.

Maybe I need to give Seinfeld another chance as an adult.  Maybe that's the problem.  I was too young to appreciate it then.  Or maybe not.  Maybe I'll just stick with Sunny and watch the smorgasbord of new and excellent programming that's available to me now.  If you've never seen Sunny I recommend you start from the beginning and don't try and pop in midway. 

I'm off to contemplate how I could have missed the similarities before.