Charlie Has Cancer (Original Pilot)

"Charlie Has Cancer (Original Pilot)"
Information
Season	N/A
Episode	One
Writer(s)	Rob McElhenney
Director(s)	Rob McElhenney
Air Date	N/A

"Charlie Has Cancer", the Original Pilot of It's Always Sunny on TV, later adapted into the television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is an amateur television pilot made by Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, and Jordan Reid. "Charlie Has Cancer", along with the second episode of It's Always Sunny on TV, "Big Breasted Violence" were shot in November of 2003. The estimated production cost was stated to be somewhere between $85-200, which went almost entirely towards tapes for the cameras.

It's Always Sunny on TV was initially meant to take place in Hollywood, CA, and followed three novice actors; Rob, Glenn and Charlie played themselves, rather than the characters of Mac McDonald, Dennis Reynolds, and Charlie Kelly respectively.

After FX picked up the show, the choice was made to set the show in Rob McElhenney's home town of Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, and feature the owners of a local dive bar, Paddy's Pub, as the network decided there were already too many sitcoms set in L.A., and bar owners would have a similar amount of free time during the day. The script for the original pilot was adapted to fit into the new setting, and although it was again filmed as a pilot for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, aired as the fourth episode of the first season.

Cast

• Glenn Howerton as Glenn
• Charlie Day as Charlie
• Rob McElhenney as Rob
• Jordan Reid as Sweet Dee
• Mary Elizabeth Ellis as The Waitress
• Morena Baccarin as Carmen

Notes

• The majority of the released footage for the original pilot can be found in the bonus features of The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 DVD. Two full scenes, "Charlie Has Cancer" and "Rob (Mac) Meets Carmen", can be found in full, however, more footage can also be seen in a behind the scenes segment discussing its creation.
• At least five different versions of It's Always Sunny on TV exist; images of six DVDs were posted on Glenn Howerton's twitter, also revealing the existence of a second episode, entitled "Big Breasted Violence".
  • Of the six DVDs shown, two have their runtimes written on them; simply titled "Sunny", with its production code half-obscured across the top, the runtime is written as "32 min. version", presumably an earlier cut. Another, titled "Sunny Almost Final" has "24 min. version" written on it.
• Between the original pilot and 01x04, very little is changed in the opening scene, aside from Glenn's reason for visiting Charlie being to borrow sugar rather than a basketball, and having an audition to get to rather than keeping Mac and Dee waiting outside. This was the first scene Rob McElhenney originally penned; both It's Always Sunny on TV and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia were conceived from this singular scene.
• According to Charlie, their first attempt at shooting the pilot was just "not good". The prototype of the original pilot has never been released.
  • In this version, David Hornsby played the role of Mac, as they had a very limited crew, and Rob decided he would rather be behind the camera, as Hornsby was "funnier" than him.
• Jordan Reid and Rob McElhenney were dating at the time the original pilot was produced. After FX picked it up, Reid and McElhenney broke up, and she was replaced by Kaitlin Olson.
• In this episode Carmen is portrayed by Morena Baccarin, and appeared in the pilot as a favor to Glenn, as the two attended college together, and had briefly dated.
• This pilot was filmed primarily within Glenn Howerton and Jordan Reid's apartments.
• After finalizing the pilot, Rob, Charlie and Glenn attended meetings with representatives from FOX, HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, MTV, CBS, and FX.

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