Ex-It's Always Sunny actress spills the beans

The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.

options

Ex-It's Always Sunny actress spills the beans

POSTED: Thursday, October 29, 2009, 7:17 PM

Filed Under: TV Watch

jordan.nonsociety.com

Reid

Jordan Reid isn't bitter ' anymore. The actress took to her Web site last week to publicly discuss her role in the development of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, from its nascent stages, as the original Sweet Dee.

A fresh-faced college grad straight off the bus in L.A., Reid knew no one expect old flame Rob McElhenney (aka Mac). They rekindled their romance and started to create a show based around four L.A, TV actors looking for their big break. Miraculously, FX picked up their DIY pilot, which evolved from It's Always Sunny on TV to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and gave them the cash to turn it into a real TV show. And that's when things went south for Reid:

Around that time, my relationship with Rob began to unravel, and I started to sense that I was on unsteady footing on the set, despite our 'all for one' pact. I was surprised to learn that Rob, Glenn and Charlie had all been made executive producers, while I simply remained the lead actress. I went very quickly from being at the center of the project to standing on the periphery, and'truth? It felt like it had everything in the world to do with my gender. To me, FX felt like a cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking old boys' club. I was welcome when I was the girlfriend of the creator, and once I wasn't'well'I was persona non grata ' and my role in creating their new pet project was forgotten.

So Reid was booted out in favor of Kaitlin Olson, who married McElhenney last year. Reid says she's gotten over it, but she's still gotta feel burned over the entire thing. Here's what annoys me: She says that she thinks she was squeezed out because of her gender, but she admits that it was her own meekness that prevented her from asking for a showrunner credit, which would have saved her job. More important is the role she would have played on It's Always Sunny. Sweet Dee is an integral reason why the show works. Rather than relegate the lone female to straight man status (like most sitcoms), Sweet Dee/Olson is just a ridiculous as the rest of the boys. Olson is also fantastic at what she does, as evidenced by her freakout scene in "The Waitress is Getting Married," or when she sings "Runaway Train" to the hitchhiker in "The Gang Hits the Road," or this:

h/t Videogum and Caitlin

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 7:17 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Previous Story: NOW SEE THIS: Monty Python reunites

Next Story: Have a True Blood-y good Halloween

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
What we're trying to do this weekend
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
Bradley Cooper promises he's not an asshole
Q&A with Goon’s Seann William Scott
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: