Rob McElhenney Says Megan Ganz Is a ‘Genius’ for Writing This Iconic ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Episode
The real mastermind behind the sexual harassment seminar for all of Philadelphia’s shittiest bars wasn’t Dennis Reynolds — even he isn’t that brilliant and conniving.
Too often in entertainment, the hard-working writers and producers behind massively successful franchises like Always Sunny Podcast.
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But even before Ganz had the adoration of the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fandom, the veteran comedy writer and TV producer enjoyed the utmost respect of the show’s creator, Rob McElhenney, who recently ed in on a viral fandom thread to praise Ganz’ “genius.” After the Always Sunny superfan Seth, who runs the Paddy’s Pub Blog, went mega-viral with the perfect meme pulled from the Season 13 episode “Time’s Up for the Gang,” McElhenney and Ganz both showed up in the comments to reminisce about the time they taught America’s harassers how to cover their asses:
In “Time’s Up for the Gang,” Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank attend a sexual harassment seminar after Paddy’s Pub lands on a list of “shitty bars” where women say they have experienced sexual harassment. Over the course of the episode, everyone besides Dennis sweats through their clothes as a pair of increasingly exasperated educators explain to them that all of them have committed sex crimes, only for Dennis to reveal in the closing moments that he is the author of the Shitty Bar list, and he has a foolproof method of dodging accusations while still sexually harassing and assaulting to his heart’s content.
Critically, “Time’s Up for the Gang” aired barely a year into the #MeToo movement when powerful abs were still sweating like Frank at the thought of their victims speaking up and destroying their careers. However, the following years of American sexual politics ended up proving Dennis right — only the ugly and sloppy sexual predators ever suffered real consequences. The smarter, more methodical, more handsome monsters just developed better systems for navigating the hotter climate.
Perhaps this is where the true genius of “Time’s Up for the Gang” lies — even in 2018, Ganz knew that Dennis-type sex pests would be able to avoid blowback for their actions, and that even the dumber, less attractive abs would eventually figure out how to avoid accusations without actually changing their bad behavior. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Ganz got Dennis’ cell phone consent trick straight from the skeletons in Jared Leto's closet.
