This weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” was about as good as the show gets: Charlie Day brought his manic energy to the role of host, and the writers turned out several sketches that were both funny and topical. Throw in the solid 4.9 rating/11 share, and “SNL” — for one week at least — doesn’t deserve our usual mockery.

Take a walk with me through the best of Saturday night’s show, won’t you?

This was my favorite sketch of the night. Unlike the GOP presidential debate sketches that drag on for six minutes, this is a topical sketch that actually has a creative angle: namely, the inability of the Greek gods to handle money wisely. Jason Sudeikis plays Zeus, and he’s great when he plays a role as the not-quite-straight straight man. And you know me: I’m always down for some dolphin rape jokes.

The original with Zach Galifianakis was great, and it doesn’t lose a step in the second iteration. Charlie Day’s Dane Cook impression is serviceable, but I preferred Adam “Hawk Attack” Levine.

Nasim Pedrad has been nailing her Kim Kardashian impression for a while, but this is the first time it’s been applied to something relevant in the news. In a compact three minutes, this hits most of the things I find ridiculous or annoying about the Kardashians: Kris’s attention-whoring, Bruce Jenner’s frozen face, E!’s exploitation at every turn. Bonus points to Andy Samberg for playing Kris Humphries precisely as I’ve always viewed him.

Bill Hader’s Rick Perry impression was always okay in those interminable GOP debate sketches. But Bill Hader as drunk Rick Perry? AMAZING. (If you need context, I’ve included the relevant YouTube video below.)

As head writer, Seth Meyers is a popular punching bag among “SNL” fans. But I give credit where it’s due: Weekend Update was one of the highlights of the show this week.

Danny DeVito’s appearance was largely unnecessary, but I liked the song Charlie did at the end. I didn’t know he played piano and harmonica.

Question: will you watch almost six minutes of Kenan Thompson’s lousy Cee-Lo impression if it’s punctuated by Charlie Day in a dinosaur costume and Bill Hader as the rainbow-goateed Colonel Nasty? Because I will. I won’t like it, but I will.

The Seinfeld-referencing “writers’ sketch” closed the show. I liked it, but Day could have played it a little quieter.

Something about the face Charlie Day is making in this screengrab delights me.

Saturday Night Live (NBC, Saturday) – Charlie Day hosts. I’m looking forward to this one, guys. Hell, he even makes Maroon 5′s presence in the above picture tolerable. The man is truly a talent.

Chuck/Grimm/Fringe (NBC/FOX, Friday) – For reasons I can’t put my finger on, it makes a lot of sense that these three shows are lumped together on Friday nights. I’ve only seen one episode of “Chuck,” and none of the other two, but in my mind they’re kindred spirits.

Hairy Bikers (History, Friday) – Ew.

LSU vs. Alabama (CBS, Saturday) – Sometimes I like to sit back and wonder what college or coach I would have wanted to play for if I was a big time football recruit. The answer is Les Miles, and it’s not even close. I feel like he would have let me draw up nonsense trick plays in the huddle that featured like four reverses and ended with a lineman hucking the ball 60 yards downfield. That’s all I ask, coach.

Boardwalk Empire (HBO, Sunday) – I’m already incredibly behind on this show. I always intend to get caught up, but then I end up watching football or goofing around on Tumblr. Life is hard, you know?

The Good Wife (CBS, Sunday) – I started watching this show a while back. It’s pretty good. This and other in-depth reviews can be found at www.dangerguerrero.theinternet/tv/unhelpful

CSI: Miami (CBS, Sunday) – From TV Guide: “A masked assassin disrupts a poker game and kills one of the players.” I love that sentence. Like a masked assassin busting into a casino and murdering a poker player at a table WOULDN’T disrupt the game. “Look, I know you’ve got murdering to do, fella. But I’ve got a flush draw. Do it quietly or wait till after the hand.”

Embedded below are the promos that Charlie Day filmed with fellow Horrible Bosses star Jason Sudeikis for this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” episode. And even though there’s nothing particularly funny about them, I still loved every moment because Charlie Day is one of the funniest human beings on the planet. Between his his scratchy, high-pitched voice, off-kilter speech patterns, and the crazy, feral look in his eyes, the man could tell me my parents were killed in a chemical fire and I’d still laugh.

And yes, I’m completely aware that I’m entirely too excited about a show that disappoints me every week. Blame Charlie.

Ordinarily I find gag reels a complete bore, especially if they’re from a sitcom — I prefer to hear the jokes told correctly. But this gag reel from Season 6 of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (video below) definitely breaks the mold. Not only was I laughing through most of this, but it cemented my desire to just follow Charlie Day around non-stop and listen to him interact with the rest of the world. Everything he does is funny. I want to hire him to break the news to me any time someone in my family dies. “Ha ha ha, my parents were in a horrible car accident?!? Oh, Charlie, that’s too rich!”

[BuzzFeed]

FX has released a couple of new featurettes about Season 7 of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and by the looks of it, the show hasn’t lost a step despite its lengthy run. The season overview, above, has the following: two vomit scenes, shirtless Fat Mac, Frank trying to marry a hooker, Charlie working with young girls for a children’s beauty pageant, and more. I’m happy to report that everyone in the Gang is still a delightfully terrible person beyond redemption.

In the video below (“Filthy”), the cast goes over some of the more colorful language they’ve used. Lots of “assdick” and “dickhole” and “bitch,” but my favorite one might be “white stains.” Man, I love acquiring new dirty words. This must be how Picasso felt when he got a new tube of paint.

[via ScreenJunkies]

The Gang on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” — which returns for its seventh season on September 15 — means to do well. They really do. It’s just that Dennis, Dee, Mac, Charlie, and Frank’s good intentions often clash with the fact that they’re awful, conniving, despicable, racist, and misogynistic people. Their moral decrepitude makes “Sunny” one of the best sitcoms on TV, and its success has paved the way for FX to make other great comedies like “Louie,” “Archer,” and “The League.”

To tide you over until the premiere a month from now, here are the ten most revolting and rotten things the Gang from Philadelphia has done over the show’s first six seasons and 71 episodes, not one of which has anything to do with poor, dead-toothed Maureen Ponderosa.

10. Human Meat and Teabagging Cricket (“Mac and Dennis: Manhunters”)

Two things in this episode: 1) Because Dee and Charlie, in a rare plot together, keep eating his venison, Frank tells them that they’re actually eating human meat, and although the fake cannibals are disgusted, they don’t care and crave more human flesh. (It’s one of my favorite inter-Gang disgusting moments, because they’re usually destroying other people’s lives, not their own.) 2) After a few beers too many, Mac and Dennis agree that the only game worth hunting is an animal that can fight back. In this case, a human: Rickety Cricket. As if the poor bastard hasn’t gone through enough—Dee said she’d kiss him if he ate a horse turd, she didn’t; he quit being a priest for Dee, only for her to lose interest; the entire Gang got him addicted to crack—he now also watch for Mac and Dennis, who will teabag their prey when they catch him. Why teabagging? “What’s not to like? Cricket with a face full of pubes? Hilarious!”

9. Abortions for All, Abortions for No One (“Charlie Wants an Abortion”)

Mac falls for a girl named Megan that he meets at a pro-life rally. In an attempt to impress her, tells her about all the abortion-providing doctors he’s murdered over the years. Megan, who has seen The Passion of the Christ 12 times, is suitably impressed and the two have sex shortly after the rally ends. Mac tells Dennis that he should fake his convictions, too, because there’s plenty of fine tail on the pro-life side, but Dennis tries his luck with the pro-choice ladies instead, which results in eggs getting thrown at him. At the end of the episode, Megan tells Mac she’s pregnant (she’s lying), and he tells her to get an abortion (he’s not).

8. Makeover a Real Sh*thole (“The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition”)

Dee, after reading The Secret, tells the Gang that the key to happiness is to do good to others. In their warped minds that means making over a “real sh*thole” of a house, whose three non-English-speaking tenants have no idea what’s going on. All they see is a group of maniacs who barge into their home in the middle of the night, wearing all black and screaming through bullhorns, “WHERE’S YOUR WIFE?!? WHERE’S YOUR DAUGHTER?!?” The Gang starts smashing the family’s possessions and walls, while Dee speaks to the terrified mom, dad, and daughter in Spanish, saying, “Your house is no more. Your life is no more. We are extreme. Like television!” At least they tried to make her a taco bed…

Last week, we learned that the previously fit and rakish Rob McElhenney gained fifty pounds to play Mac on the upcoming season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” for no better reason than he thought it would be funny if his character got fat.

However, we hadn’t seen the results of McElhenney’s gluttonous, sedentary lifestyle until now — and they’re GLORIOUS. As you can see, he’s embracing the change by wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the official uniform of overweight men. Even his beard gained weight. And I can’t tell what he’s holding in his right hand — I studied the full-size photo to no avail — but in my mind, it’s a bottle of barbecue sauce.

(thanks for the tip, @ScottyKnoxville)

Because everyone in the TV industry is a no-good layabout with no work ethic, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of television news today. Because in Hollywood, a day near a holiday is the same thing as a holiday.

So, fine: if we can’t get good TV news, then I’m going ahead with this video of a Shih Tzu wearing shoes (via BuzzFeed). If you need a segue to the world of television, then just compare Shoe Tzu to Kitten Mittens from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Cue Charlie Kelly’s voice: Is your Shih Tzu making TOO. MUCH. NOISE?

And, for no good reason other than it’s from “Sunny” and I didn’t get a chance to post this when I first saw it: here’s Kaitlin Olson (Sweet Dee) talking about Glenn Howerton’s balls.

Today’s not exactly a dynamite day in TV news. David Letterman’s blackmailer is expected to plead guilty (he probably already did, actually), Andy Richter went on Regis & Kelly to talk about the NBC late-night debacle, and Tom Hanks said “big fat pussy” on Colbert while discussing “The Pacific.”

So, when my choices are these uninspiring stories or a huge collection of animated .GIF files from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” I have but three words for you:

Let’s. Chop. Cats.

It was impossible to find embeddable video of Charlie’s cold open for the hilarious “Kitten Mittens” episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and I’m pleased to announce that the entire episode is now available online at Hulu. I’ve embedded Charlie’s Kitten Mittens ad, but you’ll have the option of watching the rest of the episode after it plays. Y’know, in case you’re one of those weirdos without basic cable. My God, how do you people LIVE? Are you checking this website on an Apple II? Do you own a bicycle with a disproportionately large front wheel? I understand that some folks out there have tight budgets, but I’m telling you, there’s always money for cable. Just stop eating every day, fatty.