Comedy gets third season, DeVito sticking around

LOS ANGELES -- FX's patience with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" paid off last summer, and the network is in turn rewarding the show with a pickup for another season.

The show will produce 15 episodes in its third season, up from 10 last year. Emmy winner Danny DeVito, who joined the show last season as Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Dee's (Kaitlin Olson) adoptive father, will return for all 15 episodes.

"We couldn't be happier to bring back a group as talented as the 'Sunny' cast for a third season," says Nick Grad, head of original programming at FX. "We're encouraged with the ratings growth, we love the show and think that creatively, it's just hitting its stride. The fact that Danny DeVito is returning speaks highly about the quality of the writing."

DeVito won't be back just for this season, either. He signed a deal with FX that will keep him as a series regular through a sixth season of "It's Always Sunny," should FX decide to extend the show for that long.

"It's Always Sunny" also stars Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney (who created the show); McElhenney, Day and Howerton are also executive producers.

The show struggled some in its first season, drawing barely over a million viewers per week. Things improved some last summer, with first-run episodes drawing 1.3 million viewers -- a 15-percent jump over season one -- and a cumulative weekly audience of 3.1 million over four airings. About two-thirds of the show's audience falls into FX's target audience of adults 18-49.

"We're all thrilled to be coming back, and want to thank [network head] John Landgraf and everyone at FX for their support," McElhenney says. "We couldn't be happier that Danny is returning, and we really feel like the word is out about our show."

The show's third season is scheduled to premiere next summer.