The core trio behind It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia assured reporters at Friday's Television Critics Association press tour that their comedy, already renewed through a 10th season to air in 2014, has a very long shelf life.
Stars and executive producers Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day were adamant that an 11th season was still on the table, despite recent comments Howerton made in Rolling Stone about the show ending -- which he later called a misquote.
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"Not for sure," they said in near unison, when asked if they would end with 10. "I still feel like we're doing our best work," added McElhenney. "Yes, we're nine years into it, but we only do 10 episodes a season which allows us to be fresh."
The three, joined by fellow stars Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito, explained that the shorter seasons (10 episodes) and small production have made it a relatively easy job to tackle on top of their other work.
"I think at only 10 episodes a season, you really don't run the risk of burning out," said Day.
Case in point: the panel kicked off with a clip from an upcoming episode about gun control -- a subject the series tackled once before. McElhenney credited the evolving spectacle of hot button issues makes them easy to revisit and approach at different angles.
The 10th season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which moves to laugh-centric FXX when it returns in September, will bring the series' episode count to at least 114 episodes. Not only will that make it the longest-running comedy in cable history, it will match the number episodes produced at DeVito's iconic comedy, Taxi.
"I was just head over heels in love with them for some reason," DeVito said of his decision to join Sunny in the second season. "It's really a high point in my career."
