Prime Time Animation Special

As I've stated earlier, there are two types of prime-time animated TV shows. There's a) the Simpsons, and b) everything else. So, without further adieu, here's my take on em:

The Simpsons- I was there at the beginning, when it was that "life in hell' guy's hat into the fray of Fox television. At the time, Fox was apparently so desperate for content that they made the bumper scenes of one of the "Tracey Ullman show"(remember her? No?) into a full half hour series. It became incredibly popular right away, on account that there wasn't anything like it before on television. It was also very funny and maintained this standard for a long time. This was owing to the sensibilities of its actual father, an SNL and David Letterman graduate named George Meyer. (If you've ever used a Simpson's quote, he probably came up with the line.)

Over the years, it hasn't gone downhill as much as become the victim of inescapable inertia. In any extended narrative, sooner or later your audience is going to know all they can know about the characters, their story, and their setting, and they're just going to lose interest. It's closer to its end then its beginning; the inevitable simpsons movie is looming. The thing I wonder is, did it ever have a backlash? I recall in the first few years some people I knew were just dismissive of it, but those were the people who didn't watch television anyways. At this point, hating the Simpsons is like hating air. Or as Bart Simpson put it best: "What's wrong with television? It gives us so much and asks of us so little?"

Venture Brothers- Currently my favorite animated show. Season 2 gives us answers to questions that were brought up in season 1 (How can the Venture boys, so naive and accident-prone, survive in their father's world? Who are Dean and Hank's mom, anyway?) and answers to questions we didn't have. F'r instance, how low will Rusty go to line his pockets? (He's running about neck and neck with Eric Cartman.) How much of a schmuck is Dr. Orpheus? (Pretty big a schmuck, really.) Is any cow of classic Saturday morning cartoons sacred? (Nope.) Will Dr. Girlfriend ever find true love? (ha-ha.) It leaves us on a cliffhanger both genuine and anti-climactic. (Is Dr.Girlfriend-well, Dr. Mrs. Monarch, now, actually-carrying Phantom Limb's child?) Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering about those earlier questions... 1) They can't. They're clones. and 2) Brock's predecessor.

South Park- Honestly, I've said all I need to say about South Park in an earlier post. With the finish of season ten, two points I made need to be reinterated: When Parker and Stone have a Libertarian axe to grind, the show suffers. Also, the season's best moments have the kids just being kids.

Futurama- Matt Groning's baby. It took me a while to get into it. My problem was the same as everyone else's. The show looked enough like 'The Simpsons' that you thought you were getting "The Simpsons in the Future", which clearly wasn't the case. Once I came on board, the Fox network in its infinite wisdom passively-aggressively moved it from time slot to time slot so the dropping rating would get it cancelled. I understand that it's been picked up again, but the post-cancellation 'family guy' fiasco leaves me a little skeptical.

Sealab 2021- Adult Swim wiseacres took a forgettable Alex Toth-designed adventure series from the early 70's, and with the judicious use of Flash animation, turned it into a goof fest. Unfortunately, one of the lead cast members, Harry Goz, passed away in 2003. Since then, the show came to a screeching halt. I'd recommend renting seasons 1 to 3, and passing on anything afterwards.

Beavis and Butthead/King of the Hill- A conspiracy-minded individual might think that Mike Judge was being deliberately surpressed by the Powers That Be. Office Space was one of the sharpest satires of the American workplace that I've ever seen, only trumped by the British t.v. series, The Office. The studio involved in its production, however, seemed bound and determined to drop it down a black hole. His last film, Idiocrasy, looks to suffer the same fate. Did Beavis and Butthead piss off that many people in high places? As for King of the Hill, it's more likely to bring a wry smile to my face than outright laughs. I should point out that Judge's take on suburban American values is dead on.

Family Guy/American Dad- When Seth McFarlane came up with 'Family Guy', it was dismissed by most people (myself included) as a lame Simpsons ripoff. After I broke down and starting watching it, It occurred to me that it really wasn't that bad for the first three seasons. One advantage McFarlane had over 'The Simpsons' is that he's not required to have his characters act in an ethical manner to reassure an audience. If hypothetically, Peter Griffin, the head of the Griffin clan in "Family Guy" were to have an affair with another woman, it wouldn't be as much of a shocker if say, Marge was to cheat on Homer. Mainly because 'Family Guy' is as indifferent to its characters' inner worlds as 'The Simpsons' is conscious of its characters' inner worlds.

However, one of the reasons the Simpsons is so popular is that it's world view is meant to reassure the viewers as well as entertain them. With 'Family guy', however, the sitcom family setup is just a framework to hang jokes on. If 'Family Guy's' writers thought about the implications of their setup, the show would become like one of HBO's 'prestige' series, like 'The Sopranos'. Think about this: Brian, the family dog, is witty, articulate, and yearning for a better living situation then he has now. As a result, he turns to alcohol to numb his feelings. Meg, the daughter, is anxious to be accepted by her peer group, but realizes that she has no personality characteristics that make her stand out. Stewie, the super-genius toddler is a latent homosexual. Once you start to delve into the deeper implications of these characters, you realize that depression, homosexuality and alcoholism aren't exactly grounds for broad comedy, which is what 'Family Guy' is supposed to be. A braver and more skilled person than McFarlane could mine these situations for laughs, but you couldn't get something like that on the FOX network. (Maybe the Edward Albee or Tennesee Williams network, perhaps?..)

And after their resurrection after season 3, the writing got even slacker than before. The 'manatee' gag is a symptom of this malaise. Here's an example: One of the pre-cancellation shows had as a plot Meg's attempt to be a 'flag girl' (sort of a sub-cheerleader) on her school's football team. During her first show, some popular teens bombarded the flag girls with raw meat. Later, during family dinner, Stewie serves her some dinner,"in the manner to which you're accustomed", by flinging meat in her face. Upset, Meg runs off crying. Stewie than says, "Come talk to me when you want to learn what cool really is..", then the scene changes to one of Stewie in a tuxedo, sitting on a stool, smoking a cigarette. (He's doing a recital of Elton John's 'rocket man' in the style of William Shatner's performance of it during a science-fiction awards ceremony in the early 80's.) As cruel as I've made it sound here, It's a pretty funny bit all by itself, but if you get the reference to the Shatner bit, it's funnier. It takes the show into a weird left turn, but it still references the plot.

Not so, once season 4 starts up. You could sum up the plot in a short sentence (Brian goes on a date) with the 'manatee' gags stopping the show dead in its tracks. Every gag can be summed up thusly:THIS EVENT THAT I AM FACED WITH IS MORE AWKWARD THEN THE TIME I DID THAT RANDOM EVENT IN THE PAST THAT HAS NO CONNECTION TO MY CHARACTER OR THE STORYLINE OF THIS SHOW WHATSOEVER. OH, AND IF WE CAN STICK A REFERENCE TO 80'S POP CULTURE IN THIS FLASHBACK, THE MORE OBSCURE THE BETTER, SO BE IT. At this point it smacks more of lazy writers than a t.v. show staking its own ground. I suspect that at this point in his career, Seth McFarlane views 'Family Guy' as more of an albatross hanging around his neck than the cornerstone of his professional life.

As proof, I'd point to 'American Dad', which is what McFarlane was working on when 'Family Guy' got cancelled.It's slightly better written, leaving me to suspect that 'Family Guy' is the recipient of any leftover gags that didn't make 'American Dad'. It has 'Family Guy's' improbable cast members: Where 'Family Guy' has the urbane dog and the evil-genius baby, 'American Dad' has the effeminate space alien and the Germanic pet fish. Thing is, once McFarlane came up with them, he didn't give them anything to do, making them largely redundant.

Boondocks- It's a good thing Aaron McGruder is himself black; any cracker coming up with shit this stupid would've got dragged out of his studio by the scruff of his redneck by Jesse Jackson and rightfully tarred and feathered.

Korgoth the Barbarian-This is, in animated form, the barbarian in a post-apocolyptic wasteland comic me and my friends drew in high school. (If you're under twenty-five and reading this, you and your friends probably drew manga crap. You're missing out, my young friend...) And unlike my efforts, it is awesome. When Korgoth (voice of Deidrich Bader from the Drew Carey show, perfect in every way) rips the skin from an aggressor by his pony-tail, throws alcohol on the exposed flesh, then sets it on fire, I howled like a baboon. And so will you. My only concern is that Adult Swim is still on the fence about it's existence as a series. C'mon, Adult Swim! This could be the greatest moment in your lives! What are you, homos? Fuck... If you'll excuse me, I'm now going to put on my jean jacket with my "Iron Maiden" logo sewn on, hop into my Mustang, blast classic "Led Zep" on my ipod and head to the nearest high school parking lot, smoking DuMaurier cigs and looking cool.

Metalocolypse, 12 oz. Mouse, Tom Goes to the Mayor- Kind of an act of aggression against an audience. If we make these shows unfunny, that's funny, right? You get the impression the mindset behind these is like a teenager forced to do a tedious chore around the house. "If I do a bad enough job on this, they'll never ask me to do it again!" Sure showed me, anyways.

Ren and Stimpy: the Lost Years-Series creator John Kricfalusi's constant harping against studio interference with his work has made him a pariah in the animation industry. And not without good reason. When Spike TV brought him on board, their order of 'Do what Thou Wilt' gave him what he wanted all along. Trouble is, John K. can't tell a story to save his life. And imagine the face of the t.v. exec who greenlit him. "It's crap, it's late, and it's over budget? Oh, this was a GOOD idea!" At this point in his career, any producer who considers dealing with him is going to see him as a bigger liability than an asset. All he's managed to do in his professional life is prove to t.v. execs that keeping creative control in their hands was the right thing to do all along...

Robot Chicken- Stop-motion blackout gags using action figures ("For the last time, they are not DOLLS!") as cast members. It's at it's best when it uses the actual B and C-list celebrities to comment on their own status quo. Creators Seth Green and Matthew Senrich keep the pace short and fast. Which is good, since the skits that go over a few minutes get really tedious. I understand that Senrich was responsible for those 'action figure photo-funnies' you'd see in Wizard magazine. Which was the only good part of that particular waste of trees.

SNL TV Funhouse- To me, Robert Smiegel, the creator of 'TV Funhouse' is one of the sharpest minds working in comedy today. He operates by way of a mental judo; he uses corporate entertainment's thoughtless use of catchphrases and hype against it that in a precise way that is fresh and startling. His 'Triumph the Insult Comic Dog' took the piss against such worthy targets as Bon Jovi and 'Star Wars' geeks.

In 'TV Funhouse', he uses the idioms of hacked-out commercial fare to comment on the way entertainment conglomorates force crap down our throats. The throwaway shorts like "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" and "Shazang" are pretty good, too. I'd like to take a moment, however, to highlight a couple of his masterpieces, "Behind the Disney Vault" and "Conspiracy Theory Rock".

"Conspiracy Theory Rock" uses the framework of those old "Schoolhouse Rock" cartoons to depict the connection General Electric and NBC have, and how G.E. exerts pressure on NBC to serve its own interests, contrary to the public good as they are. The thing is, this is the type of information you can get from the Nexus/Lexus database, and not from some nutbag with a website. Not surprisingly, the cartoon is abruptly cut off two-thirds of the way in...

"Behind the Disney Vault" turns around the skeevy stunt Disney pulls when it releases its classic films for a short while, then 'throws them into the Disney vault forever' or at least until Disney releases a new 'special-SPECIAL edition' four months later. Mickey takes two kids into the Disney vault, where they discover that Walt Disney not only froze his own head, but that of Vivian Leigh. (She was already dead!!) Plans for Disney's Civil War theme park (this is true, by the way...) and a bound and gagged Jim Henson (He wouldn't sell!) are also revealed. And of course, the version of "Song of the South" that Jew-hating, HUAC- ass-kissing, union-busting Unca Disney played at parties...(Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Zip-a-dee-ay! Negros are inferior in every way...)