Spider-Man: Don't Hide Abuse review

I never thought I'd ever go into PSA territory, but here we are. I'm certain other people had talked about this before but I'm sure someone somewhere covered what I covered.

This was the first in a four part video series called the Spider-Man Safety series, put out by the now defunct Learning Corporation of America. The series was never commercially sold, it was released to elementary with a lesson plan soon after, such is the way with mandated videos. Because schools were the only ones that got this, it became harder than necessary to get all four tapes, with three out of four still gone for good.

How they got Spider-Man for this is actually not as baffling as you'd think. Learning Corporation of America was owned by New World Communications. Wanna know what else they owned at the time? Marvel Productions. So it was just a matter of interest. More of these educational videos with popular characters are bound to exist somewhere, we had just recently found a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video where they sung praises for the preservation of archeological artifacts.

The tapes were distributed by Coronet/MTI Film & Video, and I assume Coronet is the same company that produced PSAs in the 50s/60s. I also assume Simon & Schuster had some involvement with this venture as the latter's logo is present in Coronet/MTI's logo.

Going into this, I want to focus on how the message is carried out along with potential nuances.

Nuances

The video series came out in 1990. Given that the first few years into a new decade still have traces of what occurred in the previous decade (why else do we have people who make the case that 2004 marked the true end of the 90s? Though I'd like to say late-2001 was when the 90s truly ended, but enough of that.) What I'm trying to say is that stuff like these would have a sense of corniness, and it comes with the territory. Fortunately, Spider-Man is known for his one-liners, so they could be more forgiveable.

When we first see him, he makes a crack about kids holding secrets, with the takeaway being "eating a whole packet of double fudge brownie cookies." Eh, a bit too forced for exploitation, and to be fair, throw a tin of salt and vinegar Pringles my way and you get the picture.

A big plus to this is that it shows abuse to the proper extent. While it plays into the stereotypes associated with abusive assholes, you kinda have to go with them when you're trying to educate children. By the way, I hate to single out race in this, but the family with the abusive one happens to be Mexican. I fear this would send the wrong idea if viewed by the wrong people, and I could imagine how something like this would be made these days.

The dad, like you'd expect, drinks heavily and hates to be talked back to, but on the upside he doesn't wear a wife-beater and isn't fat, so they didn't go full circle on the stereotypes. The victim in question is his daughter Maria, and her plight would be much more believable as a result (young ones have it the worst.) I know not why her dad beats her, or why he drinks so much, but my instinct tells me his boss isn't the cleanest spoon in the drawer.

After getting a bruise on the cheek and punching a swing, she meets up with her friends and we see an unavoidable issue. I'll let this image speak for itself.

Just know that every other kid resembles the one on the left.

The character designs aren't terrible by any means. Spider-Man looks like he should (and why wouldn't he be since Marvel produced this), but the differences between Maria and her friends is jarring. She looks like she has the bear minimum when it comes to visual aspects, but the others look like they were drawn at the last minute. The adults look closer to Maria's design so I dunno.

All else I could say about the visuals...

My lazy-eye senses are tingling.

Maria friends go to Spider-Man, knowing full well that Maria's bruises were well beyond simple falls, and that's one thing we all need to give this credit for, the kids aren't dumbasses here. The takeaway they get is a number for an abuse hotline, where (insert character with a resemblance here) calls it and gets more info on abuse in general.

I'd like to remind you that this came with a lesson plan, so I imagine students would have to take notes or would get pamphlets detailing what they saw. I can't be that hard on this since it was made to educate people, this was the best they could do.

And to anyone questioning why Spider-Man doesn't attack Maria's father, he only goes after criminals. Do people deserve to burn for falling from grace? Well I guess it depends on how far they go when they fall.

The takeaway from the call is that Maria should contact an adult she trusts to explain her issues, and one thing that throws me off is that a minister is suggested. I know it's a low blow, but there's a good reason ministers are often associated with... well you could guess. I won't even comment on breaking the "don't talk to strangers" doctrine because, hey, maybe Maria had met her neighbors through her mom? Like my nana did with her neighbors.

As a result of this, Maria goes to talk to one of her friends' mom and it ends on an okay, but realistic note.

If they had someone confront her father directly it wouldn't express the issue that well and would only serve as a wish fulfillment fantasy for most people. It at least mentioned all of the key notes of abuse in general, though I wish they went into more detail on the mentality of an abuse victim. They just go for the pedestrian level of, she's scared to tell someone in that her father would hate her. 

Maybe if they went into more detail on why the father treats her like crap it would be more interesting, but these PSAs have a very black and white mentality. My biggest issue is that I want to look into both sides more often than I should. Would that be an issue? Depends on the topic at hand, but for now I'm curious about Maria's father side.

Animation and other stuff

These educational pieces aren't renowned for their animation. Since these are often non-profit projects, that would translate to cutting corners however they could. That TMNT video I mentioned? While they got the cast from the 80s cartoon, they used leftover costumes from their concert era.

As mentioned before, the license was far from out of reach. Marvel Productions and Learning Corporation of America were both owned by the same company at this point, and even with that in mind... I think they would've been better off dressing someone in a Spider-Man costume and making it a live-action thing.

I never saw any Spider-Man cartoon, like, ever, but I don't need to see them to know how poor the animation is. This is Hanna-Barbera levels of poor, quick cuts and jerky movement, plus the character designs are inconsistent. The only one that looks on point is Spider-Man, probably because his face is always consistent. This wasn't produced entirely in house by the way, this got outsourced to AKOM. I don't know the extent of Marvel's budget, but I'm starting to feel nervous thinking about it.

The acting is an interesting kettle. Spider-Man's voice is just fine, but I'd like to classify the kids (the boys at the very least) as Peanutty. What I mean by that is that they sound like they'd fit right in on a classic Peanuts special. This occurs whenever you have a kid voice another kid. While it makes sense, when you pick up on it long enough, there's not much good you could say. Maria sounds okay though, at least she doesn't overact.

Overall

Kids wouldn't judge something like this so harshly. It's a relatable and important issue to talk about, but it's covered in a gritty wrapper. There're three more tapes in this series which have yet to surface, but now I'm curious. Do we see these kids again in the next few installments? Does Maria's dad get a redemption arc or become more of an antagonist? Can this technically be considered better than Screams of Silence?

Girlstuff/Boystuff review

For once, this came by total accident. I was looking for an episode of God, The Devil and Bob on Dailymotion and the channel that uploaded those episodes uploaded some of this show too, and I'm like daym... drops.

History

Girlstuff/Boystuff, tacky title aside, came out in 2002. It was produced in the UK, Canada and Hong Kong, but only really aired on the second. The show aired on YTV and, both surprisingly and supposedly, on The N. Aside from Daria and As Told by Ginger (I assume) in repeats, The N primarily stuck with live action, though they did stick their toes in twice, though one needs confirmation. Around the same year The N supposedly aired Moville Mysteries, and two years after they released their first original animated show O'Grady, from the same studio behind Home Movies and Dr. Katz. Hello future topic.

The animation was produced in Hong Kong through Agogo Media, a name I recognize from Horrid Henry, but don't take my word on that. Another producer I recognize is Decode Entertainment, aka the second part of what's now DHX Media, a company with an insatiable appetite for corporate acquisitions. As a result, our talent hails from Ontario, but there're only two actors I recognize, Drew Nelson who voiced Duncan in the Total Drama series and Bryn McAuley, who's basically everywhere.

Only other thing I could say about this show is that I have a gut feeling I've seen it before. As you're about to find out, this show could pass as a fever dream.

Premise

Basically a youth-oriented show, detailing life for pre-teens(?) teenagers(?), with stereotypes followed without question. It's like an alien's depiction of human life, well, going by the theme song anyways. The show itself is, sufficed to say, unable to peak its head out of the water. This has been done... better... even when compared to other shows like this. To illustrate, let's go over the characters, not by name but what they are.

Music fan, wannabe, nerd, vague, nature dork, fashionista, and these would be done better in other shows. Now to be fair, maybe the dialogue and structure wouldn't be that big of a turn-off. It could pass for noise or if you want some more slice-of-life stuff when you wore out your other options.

You know how most shows tend to feature those exaggerated fantasies? They occur here, coming as fast as they go, and warrant less than a word of mention. It's not very original from the premise to the structure, once you find another show like it, you'd move on and quick. It tries so hard to focus on minute stereotypes of what pre-teens are into, so if you encountered those things growing up it'd be boring, and if you didn't, you'd probably assume this show was written by a middle-aged pot-bellied man who shares Minions memes on Facebook or a woman who actually knew and watched NickMom.

Also the first episode had no ongoing conflict, did little to properly introduce the mains and I have no interest in seeing any more.

Style/Animation

Now I've seen worse, like I've said a million times. It's best not to judge the style too harshly, otherwise that'd inspire homogenization and living in fear that we'd piss people off over the quality-

Okay this is not good.

I'm incredibly mixed on this. On one hand, this looks like the jankiest thing I've seen since High Guardian Spice's announcement. On the other... it's unique. One reason I'm not so harsh on most ugly shows is because they stand out because they're ugly. We remember these shows because they're ugly.

The animation itself is ironically not too bad. Some ambitious transition shots occur and it's pulled off decently. So they knew what they were doing. I guess the art style is meant to be in a similar vein to doodles kids draw in their notebooks, or it's some geometric fashion that was popular at the time, if it's the latter, Bromwell High did something similar, and better, even the slice-of-life schtick. For the background, we have shapes that remind me of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari if someone used crayons to color the negatives. The colors don't clash, admittedly, and aren't the worst part of the style.

(que the obligatory it looks better than Regular Show and Adventure Time quip. Some fans of the former can get real butt-hurt.)

Overall

On the off-chance you're pissed off that all I do is give a borderline summary with some complaints and talk about the animation, look at it like this. For shows like these, that's all you can bring up, whether or not it does its stereotypical portrayals a bit more uniquely than others and how it looks since, hey, it's animation. I don't have the desire to bleach my eyes from looking at this, though I could say that this show resembles the perfect fever dream, I mean just look at it.

If you could stomach the art direction and want a reflection of a time far gone, and you've already finished As Told by Ginger and The Weekenders, you know what? Only watch this if time is not valuable to you.

Top 5 Favorite Shows

I would've done this sooner, but I had to work out the placements, plus there's one show I found that I don't want to sit on for too long, on the off chance someone beats me to the punch. This could be a good way for you to figure out where my tastes lie. It won't be easy for me, because it's so much easier to criticize, but I'll do my best.

#5: The Loud House

Much like how the Fairly Odd Parents is a show that I hate but I have a lot of episodes I like, The Loud House is the other extreme, where I like the show, but not a lot of the episodes. Aside from some exceptions on an episode basis, what saves this show for me is its characters and style. For the latter, it has an old-school look to it, and in spite of being produced with flash, it still pops. It reminds me of a more stable version of Schoolhouse Rock or some old slice of life comic. For the characters, while they embody archetypes, they are able to break from it. It may not seem like a big deal, but while most of the worst episodes occur because of what the sisters do, they're still likable to me.

#4: Invader Zim

I don't know how I got into dark humor, but I'm willing to bet it started here. Compared to what I've seen beforehand, this was the most unique show to me as a kid. Some scenes got to me, but now that I'm older, I have a stronger stomach for it and I can get behind the zany humor. Not to mention, it had a hell of a good finale.

This show had already been talked to death, so I'll just leave it at the fact that this is my favorite Nickelodeon show hands down.

#3: Titus

Basically an ill-known Fox sitcom from the early-2000s. I listed this show on an old outline determining my brand of humor. It's a collection of physical comedy bits with some clever verbal lead ins. For comedies, it's better to see them than to just explain them. Only reason this is lower is because its star turned out to be overly-political. Not cool.

#2: Night Visions

Much like how Invader Zim is my favorite Nickelodeon show, this is my favorite Fox show. Night Visions is a horror anthology show that aired in 2001. I like horror anthology shows, and this one hits the right notes for me. There're some corny lines here and there, but it gives this show a little extra identity. But the best thing about the show is its twist endings, I've been caught off guard a few times with each episode, and even if you sense a twist, you'd still be surprised where the twist would go.

The series is on YouTube, and I suggest you should check out an episode.

#1: Class of 3000

You surprised? To put it like this, this is one of the few shows where I managed to revisit every single episode I could. This musical show was hosted by Andre 3000 and aired on Cartoon Network in 2006. It got by through some incredibly good songs and featuring unique animations to go along with it. Not to mention, the characters are well realized, but I don't want to spoil too much for you.

This also ranks highly on my humor influence, with good visual gags and clever one-liners.

Carsey Werner Double Feature: Their Animated Efforts

Last time I talked about Carsey-Werner, I discussed adaptations centered around That 70s Show, and in regards to my ambiguous consensus on that comparison, I've made up my mind, That 80s Show is better than Days Like These, not by a whole lot, but better. I had also discussed the company in general in that entry, so I'll spare you a history lesson, on them that is.

It's hard to deny Carsey-Werner's effect on the sitcom industry. What started out as a simple production company had grown to the high heavens, bringing us popular sitcoms like The Cosby Show, A Different World, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Roseanne before it got ruined, and a slew of short-lived shows. While sticking with sitcoms, Carsey-Werner had always tried to experiment with different frameworks. They stuck with what they felt comfortable with, but they tried to expand a bit, giving up after try two. We've got a 2D cartoon and a 3D one, and since it's only two, let's get both on the chopping block.

God, The Devil, and Bob

I've brought this show up every time I brought up something related to NBC's animated shows. I already talked about Stressed Eric, I already talked about Father of the Pride, I actually talked about how elusive Sammy was, might as well kill two birds with one stone and round out NBC's prime time animated sitcoms.

If you watched Adult Swim in 2011 or if you're subscribed to Mr. Enter, you probably know about this show. God, The Devil, and Bob debuted in the summer of 2000 on NBC. I might've mentioned it before, but for reaffirmation, this got cancelled after four episodes, and not just because of bad ratings. Obviously religious protest had a hand in this too, more on that later.

The show was created by Matthew Carlson, who had done a fair bit, doing work for Malcolm in the Middle, The Wonder Years, Sons of Tuscon, created Camp Wilder and Men Behaving Badly and for better or worse, wrote the screenplay for Wagons East. With his vanity card, along with NBC's production house and Carsey-Werner, that rounds things out on a production basis.

The Sting

On the surface, we see personifications of God and the Devil, wagering the fate of the world and leaving it in the hands of a slow-witted but well-meaning man. Haven't heard that one before, that's real original, no seriously- I'm actually being serious, this is the first I heard of a plot like that.

What I get from this show is that our lead, Bob Allman, represents all of man, pun intended. Bob isn't perfect, none of us are, we all do the wrong thing but it doesn't define us as a whole. We don't want to be perfect, because perfection is as meaningless as a cliched sitcom dad, and Bob manages to climb out of that hole with some unintentional charm and strokes of genius

Of course we need to have the smarter by default wife to round things out, Donna. I will say this, while she just barely breaks dimensions, this is the first I've seen of a sitcom character going back to college, and I'm glad they didn't just make the show center on that. The kids are more interesting from a philosophical basis. We have Megan, the rebellious bitch who represents the extent of middle of the road evil and corruption, but deep down had just lost her way. Then we have Andy, a reflection of childhood innocence, and the luxury of being a damn good child character, smarter than we give him credit for and getting some of Bob's wit.

I first caught this show on Adult Swim, and given their scope of shows I imagined this would've been some Family Guy level shit, but then I learned it was picked up from NBC and I got thrown a bigger curve ball than the one I got from Freaks (the new one.) Rather than going for exaggerated takes for God and the Devil, they're actually played respectfully. God is a kind soul who would occasionally give in to his anger and the Devil maintains his evilness though temptation, some saying he's more bible accurate [citation needed].

Religious figures condemned this show, likely because they featured personifications of God and the Devil, often portraying the former as flawed and the latter as sympathetic, but let's be real, of all the religious shows out there, this has to be the least offensive out there, and hell, it inspires hope. It shows that even if we take the wrong path in life, we're not damned for doing so. We all fall, it doesn't make us bad, it makes us human.

And with that in mind, I'm glad Mr. Enter liked this show because then, he'd have to address the elephant in the room. The show's animation and overall style. By instinct, I imagine shows are produced like a year or few months in advance before getting sent to networks. But with this show, it either looks as though they made new episodes weekly and did the animation last, or they bothered to do it all themselves. No animation studio is listed at the end, aside from one called CW Animation, and by the initials, that's code for the animation was produced in-house, with the only outsourcing occurring for coloring the animatics.

The characters have a rough look, though it seems to only apply to the humans. Another nuance I picked up on is that while the backgrounds are drawn, in the Allman house and some outside areas, it looks as though they animated over live-action pictures. If you look close enough at most scenes set in the house you can notice a few, I found a live-action carpet and wall clock, as well as a picture of Andy, where he's pasted onto a picture of a car.

Look to the right

Look below

Now up.

That isn't to say the animation is terrible, more ambitious shots are pulled with ease. So the case for this, odd design, but good animation.

As far as acting goes, French Stewart voices Bob and does it well, James Gardner had enjoyed voicing God and Alan Cumming pulled the Devil off nicely. Nancy Cartwright and Kath Soucie appeared in this as well... just thought you should know that.

While this didn't get the attention Carsey-Werner wanted, I think they should be happy to know this got a bit of a critical re-evaulation over the years.

Game Over

Game Over was created by David Sacks, another someone who got by with a lot of shows. He wrote and produced for The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle (seems the best staff come from Malcolm in the Middle) and The Tick, unfortunately he was also involved with Regular Show at some point... presumably at gunpoint. And just to make up for that, he also executive produced Pig Goat Banana Cricket.

Producer wise, the show was produced by David Goestch, Jason and Ross Venokur. Goestch had involvement with Carsey-Werner in the past, doing work for 3rd Rock from the Sun and had recently worked on The Big Bang Theory. Jason Venokur had also worked on 3rd Rock so it's easy to see how they got involved, plus Jason also produced another Carsey-Werner show, Grounded for Life. Ross had wrote for the live action The Tick and hadn't done much noteworthy since 2005. Now, this accounts for their vanity card, and I assume the only other one belongs to Sacks.

Unlike God, The Devil and Bob where the studio who produced the animation isn't credited by logo, it is here. DKP Studios. For a quick background, DKP had produced the animation for Veggie Tales, later getting bought out by IDT Entertainment before becoming known as Jam Filled Entertainment. Plus they're Canadian, and for some irony, their work held up better than Mainframe Entertainment's.

Perhaps due to a lack of faith, this show turned up on UPN... two years before the network went belly up. I mean, I don't want to knock the network, they let creators get away with a lot more than the big three, but The WB was technically better than it. This lasted for five out of six episodes and didn't do so well critically. Shocker.

The Sting

Stop me if you've heard this one before. What is life like inside of a video game? If you said sitcom, can you land me a spot on Netflix? I wanna see how much my show ideas suck.

It's a sitcom centered on video game characters, post-gameplay. A race car driver tough guy who happens to be voiced by Patrick Warburton, a cleavage bearing wife with a Lara Croft-edge (and she's played by Lucy Liu), the rebellious daughter who's ironically more interesting than others like her by default when compared to lesser sitcoms (she plays volleyball in a hoodie and has a militant activist edge) and a son who walked off the music video for Pretty Fly (for a white guy), who happens to be voiced by E.G. Daily. They also have a talking animal, but you don't need to know about it.

In spite of being a video game-centered sitcom, going by the first episode the references to video games are far and in-between. The best you get are verbal references that have a 50/50 chance of fitting with an occurring joke, the worst was Crash Bandicoot just appearing on a Got Milk? billboard. If this was set in Georgia and that was a peach billboard it may've been more clever. They do attempt to do some visual video game ads, but these are marginalized to some quick jokes, as if the sitcom schtick is so sacred that straying from its genesis is the equivalent of fucking a pig. Since this is a sitcom with no overarching story, it just takes one episode, and since there're so few it's likely they haven't got their stride.

Nope.

Now, this is just going by first impressions. To sum up, the rebellious daughter is the most interesting character to me. The Patrick Warburton character is synonymous with Patrick Warburton, the guy is the epitome of typecasting, though I still like his work. Lucy Liu is easily the worst offender to me, I'd like to say her participation on the Charlie's Angels video game was false advertising, but maybe she really isn't that good of an actress. As for E.G. Daily, a key reason why I hate American voice actors is because they always put the same level of quality for everything they do, nothing's exciting with them anymore.

As for the animation... it's actually the highlight to it, for the most part. It has a good style, it looks and moves better than the average Splash/Moonscope/Mike Young CG cartoon, but okay, the faces, don't look directly into most of them on the closeups.

Esch.

Personally, I'd take this over DreamWork's animation, well, show wise. Speaking of which, I brought Game Over up when I reviewed Father of the Pride. Since both came out in 2004 and are both CG shows, which of these do I pref- this one.

Overall, both this and Father of the Pride are one in the game, generic sitcoms that only had the luxury of being CG animated. Both had ideas with potential that got squandered almost instantly, but for this... it had just a little more potential. This could've been the video game cartoon to end all video game cartoons, a commentary on gaming in general with sitcom aspects toned down or tweaked to fit the setting. But then it hit me, the produces and writers behind this probably had no gaming experience beyond- fuck it I doubt they even played a Tiger Handheld game, just read up about it and got input from gamers.

There're many directions this show could've gone, and as is I have a better time sitting through this than Father of the Pride, but it just took the safe route. Maybe they could've focused on the girl? People like her are marginalized to recurring protagonists and she could've broken a negative stigma if she had good writing to back her up. Maybe try Captain N's formula and fix it. Maybe do what they did here and work on making the jokes less juvenile, we wouldn't have that humor if we were conditioned to think it was okay. I don't complain about it, but I know it's wrong.

Final Thoughts

God, The Devil and Bob is the best of the two, easily. It had a unique premise and an equally unique execution. If you could find the show I recommend it. As for Game Over, though I've been negative and many of my points hold water... I've seen worse, I've seen Father of the Pride which is even more generic, heck, I've seen Penguins of Madagascar (and yes I hate that show too.) But I find it hard to recommend it to anyone. For gamers the references are surface level and for general audiences, you've seen these characters before, maybe not all at once, but you have. Patrick Warburton, the mom from Robotboy, Hayley Smith, Lil Romeo, Brian Griffin. But I'm bound to find worse.

Father of the Pride review

Father of the Pride review, or, Another Reason Why Wikipedia isn't Always Reliable

Before I get into the main topic, I want to make a bit of a correction. I stated in my Family Dog review that NBC never made a show for prime time in the early-90s. They actually did in 1992, but it was a pilot that never made it to series. It's The Jackie Bison Show, but whether or not I'll talk about it... don't hold your breath. At least I was clear in my fleeting mention of today's show in that review.

Personal Context

Just to get this out of the way, I knew about this show before Saberspark talked about it. I'd hardly consider him a reliable source (still can't believe he thought Fish Police was the most heinous of the unholy three), but when it comes to me, if I hate something it must be the greatest thing ever. I haven't seen his review, but my gut tells me he'd make at least one "thicc" joke and go on about the furry appeal, stay tuned. I dunno, I just couldn't get into him.

I found this show back when I first got interested in animated sitcoms, and yes, I did find out about this show through Wikipedia's "List of television shows considered the worst", yes they made citations of critics who were negative, but let me put it like this... critics gave Us positive reviews, and it was one of the most boring horror films I've ever seen. At best, this show was a disappointment, and yeah, I would consider Adult Party Cartoon to be worse than this. Another reason why I can't take the critics seriously on this... one of them compared the show to South Park. Oh, I get it, because South Park is a computer animated show with naked furry anthro animals with general sitcom vibes, with the connection being the humor. If you compare one show to another, you're probably desparate to trash another one.

History

Father of the Pride serves as NBC's last hurrah when it came to animated sitcoms, back in 2004. This coincidentally came out the same year as another CGI animated show, Carsey-Werner's Game Over, and... I'm stumped. Why not compare Father of the Pride to that? It'd make more sense than comparing it to South Park. That'd be like me comparing Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi to a colonoscopy, and I'm more interested in medical trivia than... whatever the fuck that show was. I did see one episode of Game Over, I'm working out whether or not to give it its own review or put it in a double-bill.

On the surface, it's a generic sitcom with an interesting shell. It's centered on a family of lions associated with Siegfried and Roy, with the father being part of the latter duo's live shows. At the very least, I can't say I'd forget the structure. The show was produced by DreamWorks Animation, the third of their animated shows at the time (they previously brought on Toonsylvania and Invasion America, which were both burned off within a season or so.)

The odds had been against this show since the start, with performer Roy Horn getting injured a year before while the show was in production. Also, since nothing else was on at the time, people decided to harp on the show for whatever reason. The show was meant to be aimed toward kids, but it got reworked during production and the rest is history.

As you'd expect, the show didn't make it past one season, but ironically, it's one of the most successful animated NBC shows on an episodic basis. Thirteen episodes aired on the network, with only two never seeing the light of day. To put this into context, as mentioned before The Jackie Bison Show never made it to series, but its pilot did air. Stressed Eric's first season aired on NBC and there were only eight episodes of it at large, God, The Devil and Bob only had four episodes aired on the network before it got cancelled, and Sammy only had two episodes that saw the light of day, and I'm one of two people who know of that show's existence.

Wherever I stand, I don't think everything needs a philosophical edge like that one guy I mentioned in my review of The Andy Milonakis Show review, and I don't give the idea that I think everything I don't know about is unholy like Saberspark. My question is, will this be entertaining to me?

The Humor and Other Stuff

I basically gave it away in the last section. It's a sitcom, starring anthros. Nude anthros. The setups are expected (father who hates his son-in-law, the main character, moves in and has a valuable memory that may get destroyed later in the episode.) Some adult jokes do surface, and I refer to it as adult jokes even in the context of a prime time sitcom, because these are often the most forced. There's one with three bikini-clad women, though it's mixed with a throwback to NBC's chimes.

For the rest of the jokes, its one of those "you've seen one you've seen them all" affairs. Nothing stands out from other sitcoms, hell, others that wound up getting more scorn had more originality than this on a sitcom basis (I like Glen Martin DDS, I don't care what anyone says.) The nude aspect is also an issue, though for me it's because there're little aspects that'd help differentiate the others on a physical basis (okay, it's a stretch, but they have the the most dissimilar similar looking characters.) Mild mannered and idiotic by default patriarch, his asshole of a father-in-law who's stuck in an entirely different decade of parenting, his supportive but smart by default wife, rebellious daughter and idiotic son. You've reinvented the structure.

Siegfried and Roy are the most interesting characters by default, and frankly, this show would've been better if it was centered entirely on them. They're the most interesting characters on this, but maybe it's because their style of sitcom isn't as beaten to death as the family sitcom. When was the last time we got a TV show about celebrities who gamble in Vegas? That would be original in prospect, even a gambling story in the episode I'm talking about peaks my interest more than the a-plot.

Remember that valuable item gag I mentioned early on? Yeah, it happens, but this time the wife makes things worse. Okay, I didn't expect that, you win this round. It's a zebra rug that gets ruined, and the husband and wife consider killing another one to replace it. I mean they way they go about it with snark (my kind of humor) barely brings this up to mildly interesting, and I'm not saying this is one of the worst shows of all time like some would lead you to believe, but those are some serious strikes against it, especially with some mediocre adult jokes and setups that don't take long to compare to others, but at the very least, this is nothing like South Park, whoever got that going should be made into chili and fed to Scott Tenormen.

What's left? Oh right, the voice talent. I basically recognize only four actors in the main cast, it stars John Goodman, Roseanne's lesser half, Cheryl Hines who might've been the live action Wanda and probably didn't give a shit in this, Orlando Jones and David Herman, who plays Roy. Yeah, Siegfried and Roy don't play themselves in the show, but that could've been a bullet dodge. For the rest, it's basically a free for all. Don Stark from That 70s Show, Andy Richter, Dom DeLuise, Lisa Kudrow, Jane Lynch, Julia Sweeney, John DiMaggio, Pauly Shore, Kelsey Grammer, Danny DeVito, David Spade, and this isn't the whole list I swear.

But most notably of them all, Donkey appeared in this, Donkey from Shrek appeared in this show. I mean they had every right to do so, but given what audience this show wound up being for, I think it'd be a while before we got a grander adult demographic from Shrek who'd catch on to the guest appearance.

The Animation

2004 was when television CGI became a bit more stable, as in this doesn't look as outdated as other CGI shows. It stacks up to DreamWorks' usual style, but hasn't really changed to a noticeable extent. I will say this, it does have better animation than Family Dog.

Overall

I would say this was NBC's own Family Dog as this was also a letdown of some extent, but honestly this show wasn't horrible. I mean sure, by all means it's generic, but I can see potential in it. Stay away from the lions and make a damn Vegas cartoon, preferably with humans. Once more, compared to other animated NBC prime time shows, this technically did better.

Overall, I prefer this to DreamWorks' Nickelodeon efforts, and yeah, I hate Penguins of Madagascar.

The Andy Milonakis Show review

I am 24, but until I hit my 40s, I doubt much will change about me. Going back into stuff like this can inspire creativity and an escape from monotony, and in this, I'm discovering more and more aspects about my past with television, though now I feel obligated to leave the 90s.

In my search, I found another blogger who goes into obscurities, and he has me licked on an analytical basis, to the point he finds meaning in an old episode of The Simpsons. Say what you will about what I find interesting, but I'm not the kind of person who watches stuff for deep meaning, I just want to be entertained, so my schtick is whether or not I find something entertaining along with some personal experience and whatever history I could find-

Okay, starting to ramble, 2005, washed up comedian who wound up in the crosshairs of a YouTuber at some point. Andy Milonakis.

History

I caught an episode of this show when it was new. My mom of all people showed me an episode, and bear in mind, this was before I had anything better to do. Part of me wasn't interested, and I wanted to say it was because I was following another show or network at the time, but that escapes me. All I recall is a false memory where I mixed up the production company logo with a variant that appeared on another show.

For a first time viewer, we were introduced to a kid who just so happened to get his own show, but for someone who googles on the daily, we learn that he was 29 at the time. Andy Milonakis had a growth hormone deficiency that made him look and sound younger than he actually was. After a viral video he posted in 2003, he wound up in the eyes of the benign tumor of comedy, well one of many, Jimmy Kimmel. Well, a writer for his show, and after a guest appearance, a TV series was essentially inevitable.

The Andy Milonakis Show aired for a single season on MTV in 2005, with two more coming out on MTV2 between 2006 and 2007 for a grand total of 22 episodes (eight for the first two and six for the last.) The short length and almost yearly gaps seem odd, but realistic when you get down to it (the second came during a network shuffle, plus there's the fact of working out a schedule and making new material, and the third was when Andy moved to Los Angeles from New York, I hate both areas, but if I had to choose... I prefer to be inside, and I'm not obligated to talk to people.)

Given the nature of the show, I imagine this wasn't a financial liability for Kimmel. Aside from a few guest stars, Andy was the only central star in this, with the rest of the cast being made up of roommates in his apartment, notably Ralphie who supposedly appeared on Girlfight five years beforehand (if IMDb's anything to believe, check out After Last Season's page and tell me if it's legit.) The rest of the recurring characters don't even have as much as a fleeting mention on IMDb for the record.

Structure

It's a skit comedy show. What constitutes as comedy for this is a number of childish antics which further the illusion of Andy's physical appearance not reflecting his true age. This would also correspond to the guest stars, and their inclusion amounts to just being there. Among our roster is Seth Green, Fat Joe, Lil Jon, Shaun White, Sarah Silverman, Hillary Duff (in arguably a better role than The Haunting of Sharon Tate), Paul Rubens, Akon, The All American Rejects, Nick Cannon (oh wait, he isn't anybody), John Stamos, Rob Schneider and even Kimmel (best I could say is that he didn't unleash Our Cartoon President onto the world, and that the rest of the guests came due to his connections alone.)

Another aspect of this show is its "man on the street" skits, I guess the joke is that people think he's a kid and don't go hard on him as a result. In the second and third season, there're animated segments which are more of the same. For those who don't get the joke, I imagine a lot of cartoon fans would consider them "the worst cartoon evar...R..."

The hardest thing about reviewing sketch comedy shows, especially ones with a formula, is that you can hardly think of much to say about it. The best you can say is whether or not it makes you laugh, regardless of what led to it. The jokes themselves are predictable, and there's a reliance on gross-out, if you believe Andy is a kid when watching these, you'd believe that a child made this and that's why it is the way it is, but once you find out the truth, the novelty'd fade.

But perhaps there's another edge to this show. While this came out the same year YouTube did, it was also around the time before YouTube shows became more mainstream, hell even in 2007 the most you'd get are brief funny videos and video game reviews. If I were to be so brave, I'd say this laid the catalyst for most comedic YouTubers [citation needed]. If this came out in 2007 on YouTube, it could've very well lasted for a lot longer (once you get a steady income with ad revenue you'd be making as much content as possible.)

And what of Andy nobody asked? Well while he doesn't have his show anymore, he has a very modest presence on YouTube and Twitch, though any notable things he was involved with are limited; he got into a spat with a CVS clerk due to her believing he was younger than he said he was, and he got into some beef with Memeology 101.

Overall

And yeah, I hardly have much to say about this show, once again all you can say about sketch comedy is if it's funny or not, and hey, maybe we all have different reasons to watch it. I watch it when I have nothing better to do, but it's not my humor. I'm not into gross out because it's predictable, and among the worst faults this show has is that its setups spell out what kind of skits we'd be in for. I can't knock the main actors because, yeah, for all I know they were just tenants in Andy's apartment at the time. Even the idea of tricking people in his crosshairs is lost because at best, the people who react to Andy are apathetic at best.

But there is a glimmer of hope for Andy. He is technically funnier than Jimmy Kimmel nowadays.

Exploring Mean-Spiritedness

Mean spirited is a popular buzzword used by contemporary reviewers, it has become well engrained into the lexicon of upstarts and fans everywhere, and like, well, anything really, it's very easy to exploit this. One out of every few reviewers is bound to knock the show or movie for how a certain character is treated, ramping it up to make the show or movie look worse than it actually is. I spoke positively, or not as negatively, of Stressed Eric, so a lot of you could guess where I stand on this.

So what is mean-spiritedness? From an outsiders perspective it's when the odds are well against a certain character when they don't need to be, characters get blamed for issues well out of their own control, they're treated poorly without reason, and this is often associated with flanderization. I understand why this is singled out, but my issue is where it's applied, often when the joke or point flies well above the reviewer's head. They can find some cockamamy meaning to a crappy episode of The Simpsons but they can't tell when something pokes fun at the living conditions of a white collar worker or when a boy gets slighted by his sisters they ignore the fact that, hey, maybe he had it coming. Then we have people who ignore whatever else may happen further down the line because one or two things were so traumatizing... just so traumatizing...

So I'm going to go over instances of mean-spiritedness in shows and movies I can name off the top of my head.

The Simpsons

Mean-spiritedness is often used as a desperate way to create conflict quickly, often sacrificing core personalities to do so. I take it the average writer has a one episode memory span.

I can't remember its name, but I know that one episode of The Simpsons where everyone hates Bart for screwing up at a baseball game. Now, even for other episodes like this, it was still stretched beyond reason. It feels like the writer came up with this episode to voice their hatred for Bart, and since this was a 21st century episode, any idea is a good idea for The Simpsons.

However, the town of Springfield knew when to quit and were willing to spend hours chucking the winning baseball at Bart until he caught it, and left him with the idea that he did it on his own. Okay, with so many misses and dismissals, Bart should've caught on, but I would've knocked this episode if they spat on Bart's body after he fell from the water tower.

If you want my opinion on an inexcusable mean-spirited moment in The Simpsons, I'd consider the b-plot for Moaning Lisa to be a certain level of vile.

WhoBob WhatPants

If you're curious about where I stand with the newer SpongeBob episode, well, new up until recently, I hate the ones I'm supposed to. I only disagree on House Fancy because Squidward came out on top at the end (but the fact they focus on the toenail scene proves my trauma theory.) Then again, we have that other SpongeBob episode where SpongeBob fashions his house after Squidward's and he slept happy, but that episode was far worse than House Fancy, at least with the latter he had a goal and achieved it.

This is another episode that reeks of a desperate reach for conflict. Out of nowhere, SpongeBob's friends call SpongeBob "idiot boy", and the provocation isn't out of nowhere, just the overall reaction. They really needed to give SpongeBob a reason to leave town, and the conflict is thrown away when he's given amnesia. So much for a dilemma of his friends realizing that they drove him away through their own fault. Not like what we had was anything of worth, the villain of the day was thwarted within minutes.

In my opinion, I think one of the more mean-spirited SpongeBob episodes has to be Hooky. To sum up without spoilers, mental trauma for the sake of pushing a moral. How is this okay?

Chicken Little

I'll make this brief. People hate Buck Cluck for some reason. I saw this movie a long time ago and I didn't pick up on anything. I think that because he furthered the embarrassment the main character faced at the start, people forgot all else. I'm calling underdog story on this, the best heroes are underestimated by everyone else.

Fairly Odd Parents

It's a Wishful Life is clearly the most infamous when it comes to mean-spirited FOP episodes. I made it through the few times I watched it. My personal gripe with this is that it goes for the most obvious subversion tactic and missed a good opportunity; a strong implication that Jorgen staged the whole thing to make Timmy realize that he doesn't need to do nice things just for recognition. I mean that moral was picked up, but there was a better way to lead them there.

If everyone was miserable without Timmy, then that would be more like an ego boost than anything else. Though if it were up to me, if anyone wished they didn't exist then the world would be shown as better off, and this episode would get a lot more flak. I still hate the preceding episode of this more, and I think the people who attack this episode take too many notes from Mr. Enter's earlier days.

Ed, Edd n' Eddy

This goes for a bulk of the series in my opinion, namely episodes that have the Kankers or Sarah in the main role. It sucks for me because of how predictable they are, the journey is meaningless, if I go on a perilous journey and all I find is a bag of rotten fish, I'd feel as though I went on a perilous journey just to get a bag of rotten fish. All I could say about the show in general, I hate the last season, I hate Edd even more, and I'm questioning if Eddy deserves half the flak he received on the daily.

Stand-outs for me are Your Ed Here, where Kevin blackmails Eddy when he finds out the latter's middle name, and frankly, what did Eddy do to deserve this? Please remind me, I don't want to get back into that episode. Smile for the Ed is equally wretched and frankly I find myself hating Kevin as much as Edd. Then there's the big one, Sorry, Wrong Ed, and I'm on the up and up with this. Everything that could be said about this episode has been said, and I question how good of a friend Edd is, especially given what he does later on down the road.

You can find plenty of Ed, Edd n' Eddy episodes on the Terrible TV Shows Wiki, and while I don't condone it given my philosophy on reviewing, it's cathartic coming from a former fan of the show.

Hey Arnold!

Arnold Betrays Iggy, okay it got the hate it deserved. There was no point to it, it practically (okay did) taint Iggy, certainly the weakest Hey Arnold! episode that doesn't involve Rhonda in the leading role.

Stressed Eric

Check out my review of that show for a better idea on what I think of it. To sum it up, my biggest gripe with the show is its predictability. But other than that, the characters are well realized. Eric does what he could to put up with his stressful life, the Perfects are insights to a better life, but they're mostly oblivious to the lessers, Eric's boss has his priorities straight and Eric's ex-wife is a bit of a cow, and you'd believe that he'd be better off without her.

Hospital is definitely one of the weaker episodes, but you can always go lower. It's really just a stab at the short-comings of life, inferiority complexes and how people can crumble under pressure.

The Loud House

The Loud House is one of the more polarizing when it comes to episodes perceive as mean-spirited, so much so that we had someone rewrite episodes on the wiki, and he got driven off. Hey, he tried to pass off a Dick Figures OC as something unique, good riddance.

Fair warning, I'm going to go through a couple of episodes here.

Of the more obvious episodes that people hate, we have Brawl in the Family, where apparently Lincoln is the cause of the sisters' misery. Wanna know the actual cause? Bad writing, leading to a bad episode. I get why people hate this, but the fact that people took it so far to the point of writing fan fiction is fascinating to me.

It's a Loud Loud Loud Loud House also got hated, I haven't seen it but I imagine the sisters were mean to Lincoln. I skimmed through a summary because I didn't feel like watching it, and by the end of it... the sisters learned their lesson, and they learned the benefits of working together, even splitting the spoils of what they worked hard to achieve in the plot. How dare people make mistakes and just so happen to take it out on Lincoln? Maybe some mental trauma would be enough to please these clods.

The Green House got hated as well, and I actually saw this one. It's an environment episode, and I guess the worst thing about it was that Lincoln had to give up his fun because the sisters wouldn't do the same. Personally, I hate any episode with an environmental theme, so I'd probably hate this episode by default. I do see what they were trying to do, they wanted to show that if Lincoln wanted everyone to be more respectful of the environment that he'd have to honor what he preached. Also, he had to use manipulation though cute polar bears to get his sisters on board.

No Such Luck, here're three words to inspire madness. Lynn believes Lincoln is bad luck and forces him out after a number of coincidental screw ups during her games. Lincoln wasn't bad luck, but didn't try to convince her so he could avoid going to most games (going by summary memory.) and after this, Lynn became a hated character. I disagree with the sentiment, Lynn screws up like everyone in this world, and it reflect camaraderie between her and Lincoln, where not every relationship is sunshine and farts (that aren't in the form of dutch ovens). I don't ship them (frankly Loudcest sucks.)

Lincoln Loud, Girl Guru is a personal choice for me, or at the very least something that should've got some flak. Lincoln essentially fought a losing battle throughout the episode, the girls laugh at him at first when he shares his plight, nothing ends that happily for him at the end. This episode cemented the fact that Lincoln at times gets what's coming to him, because he practically asks for it. He went into this thinking he knew how girls thought just because he had ten sisters, when there're more personalities than what they amount to.

In Conclusion

At best, mean-spiritedness comes about due to poor writing, or desperate reaches for conflict. It's a bit overblown, as if most people never encountered mean people that often, but from a professional standpoint I'm aware of how poor it can translate into most shows.

Stressed Eric review

We’ve all faced some level of stress from the COVID-19 fiasco. With the amount of deaths and how easy it is to get it, we all feel like we need to be on our toes. Sucks more when you’re obligated to work. So in stressful times, let’s go back to when stress came from life in general, across the pond.

Just to get this out of the way, Mr. Enter had reviewed this a while back, and was negative toward it. For me, I had seen the episode he reviewed before knowing about his review. I don’t like to take reviewers words over my own, hell, Saberspark thinks Family Dog has good animation and he singled out Fish Police among the trio of animated primetime flops. My first video from him fared as well as my second viewing of Family Dog.

Stressed Eric was produced in 1998 for BBC Two. The show was produced by Absolutely Productions, and no it’s not related to Abso Lutely Productions, who got called that to avoid confusion with the former company. This company was formed by principal actors from a sketch comedy show called Absolutely, and by default, some actors from that appear on this show as well (two I can easily peg, Gordon Kennedy who appeared in Red Dwarf, going by names I recognize, and Morwenna Banks, who I recognize from a guest appearance on The Critic.)

Another interesting thing to note on the producer side of things is the involvement of Klasky Csupo. I don’t know what led them to do this, but compared to their better known stuff, I can safely say the humans here look a bit more like actual humans, I mean, their mouths are where they need to be I guess. This only goes for the first season, with the animation later getting outsourced to Hungary.

Stressed Eric ran for two seasons between 1998 and 2000, the only other networks this aired on were TVNZ 2 in New Zealand, news to me as I imagine the country was more into regional programs, and it even aired on NBC in the US, more on that later. I’ve seen three episodes of this show, and I made it through to the end.

Plot (At Large)

Stressed Eric takes a look at the shortcomings of Eric Feeble, an officer worker, recent divorcee, father of a girl with a number of allergies and a mute boy with an eating disorder, lives next to doppelgängers for an extra stab, his au pair is always drunk, has a mean boss and an apathetic secretary, his wife phones him out of the blue most times- Okay, what doesn’t happen to this guy? It’s easy to see how this show would rub people the wrong way, like everyone’s out to get Eric and it blurs the line between relatable misfortune and sadism, but hey, people like to beat the shit out of cartoon characters, I don’t know what to believe anymore.

Going into this, I imagine this show would’ve had a sense of dread to it, but then I got properly acquainted to its humor. It’s not obvious, but it’s down to its wit and delivery. Not to mention, Eric is stressed, but not outright miserable, if he was he would’ve hung himself by now. His daughter Claire rubbed me as someone who would be afraid of everything, but like many young girls she is generally curious and most of her reactions are hardly fatal. The au pair has generic sitcom potential and some scenes with her do lighten up the tension, sometimes. The neighbors (Aptly titled the Perfects, bravo on subtlety), are generic overly perfect always fortunate individuals, though Eric’s ire seems to only extend to the patriarch, and appropriately so as he sees him the most often. He doesn’t seem to hold as much ire to Mrs. Perfect, at least from what I’ve seen on their one-on-ones. Lastly, Eric’s boss, Paul Power. Having got a good look at the guy, I can tell he practices a lot of restraint, he had moved Eric from different spots due to his stress affecting his quality of work, he doesn’t outright fire him and whatever happens on Eric’s end isn’t out of spite, but genuine work-related issues. Still a bit of a dick, but that’s the way the archetype goes.

For every episode, Eric’s stress boils down to one grand situation, and for every episode, something goes wrong toward the end, and a temple vein in his head goes off and strangles him. There’s no break from the formula to my knowledge, and maybe that’s why this didn’t last very long. The only thing preventing me from writing this off for that is, well, I guess nobody mocks Eric directly at his worst moment, the strangle occurs right at the end.

Animation

I didn’t see the second season, so I’m just gonna go by the animation in the first season. While it doesn’t have that signature Klasky-Csupo style most of the time, its movements are somewhere in the same ballpark, that is it harkens back to a time before computer programs took over, not that I care that much, I’d hardly consider Klaus to be a movie worth seeing. The designs are fluid, but they’re a bit rough around the edges, such is the way.

The environments are interesting though, featuring a dour color palette with oil-painted backgrounds. This helps convey a sense of monotony and slight dread, in other words this suits the theme of the show. Some errors do suffice, in the first episode, the boss’ hair changes from dark red to dark brown a couple of times.

But it’s not over yet

Remember how I said I’d save the show’s history on NBC for later? I’d say sit down, but this is unremarkable compared to other oddities on television then and now. Firstly, the context behind it. In my Family Dog review, I mentioned the big three’s history with animated programs. I talked about how NBC was late in the game when it came to prime time animated sitcoms, and that they basically dodged a bullet given what CBS and ABC dished out. NBC’s contributions were limited, but given that every animated sitcom they ever aired hardly made it past one season, I detect a lack of interest on their part.

Since this came out about a year after people declared The Simpsons jumped the shark, I think NBC decided to experiment a bit, but lacked the initiative to make something original. Don’t know what led them to pick this, it just happened. Is that why this warrants its own section? Nope, NBC wanted to make some changes, not much, just change the main actor and details on his upbringing.

In the main version, Eric’s voiced by Mark Heap, and in the NBC version he’s voiced by Hank Azaria. Interesting fact, Kathy Griffin appeared in Dilbert but couldn’t be credited due to an outstanding contract with NBC. I take it Fox is a lot looser when it comes to their stars. In this version, Eric is portrayed as an American who moves to the UK, and then we get the original premise. The dialog was altered to remove British allusions (basically Days Like These, but not as tacky.) The changes never affect the core plots, so it’s really just a different actor that’s the most noteworthy.

Compared to Heap, Azaria is… okay. Azaria isn’t a bad actor by any stretch, but he doesn’t hit the “about to burst from stress” notes Heap does. Though it isn’t terrible by any stretch, maybe a nuisance for those who hate unnecessary changes, but I’ve seen worse.

Overall

I think Enter just found a bad episode in the show. I’ve seen much meaner shows. Maybe this just hits too close to home for people who live like Eric does, maybe it’s just too cluttered when it comes to putting in misfortunes and we hardly have time to breathe, or maybe it’s because we know he’ll have a stress attack by the end of the episode.

All I know is that I saw that Stressed Eric episode Enter reviewed first and it never killed my interest in watching the show. It all depends on your kind of humor.

English version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_XKlp…

NBC version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-njd2M…

Family Dog review

I was going to make a review on a Fox show from the mid-2000s that shared the same name as a fighting game but had a radically different presentation, but as I got into writing that I realized that it would be close to filler at best, and that the show wasn't notable enough to fall under my radar. What took its place? Let's just say that this particular show, regardless of how you view it, is proof that even the best writers and directors aren't pure, it may have very well killed CBS' desire to air any more animated shows, and frankly, I'm surprised that nobody in this generation of reviewers had covered this yet.

History

To put this into perspective, we need the obligatory history lesson. The year is 1993, The Simpsons has just begun to gain traction and put their network on the same tier as the big three. Naturally, wanting to keep up their viewership, two networks reared their head into the ring, and given that none of the networks air animated shows anymore, it was a bust. ABC and CBS were the two, NBC opted out and in hindsight, they didn't miss much. ABC made their attempt through Capitol Critters, bankrolled through Hanna Barbera and Steven Bochco of NYPD Blue fame. CBS ironically went to Hanna Barbara as well with their effort, Fish Police.

Compared to the two, Capitol Critters, while not lasting a full season, had more episodes aired in its original run than Fish Police's completed episodes. To put this into perspective, Capitol Critters had a full season and seven out of thirteen episodes aired on its original broadcast. Fish Police had six episodes produced, and only half of them wound up airing in the US. Okay, technically Fish Police came first, but around the same year Capitol Critters came, CBS wanted to try again, and hey, with this attempt they aired the whole first season, all ten episodes..., and in return left a black mark on many respected writers involved, including Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg, and I'm not kidding on the latter. At the very least his production company was involved in Pinky, Elmyra and The Brain, and he reads the Washington Post.

Family Dog began as a segment on Amazing Stories, an anthology series Spielberg produced for NBC. Essentially a three-part episode, as well as one of the only segments on the show to be animated. This was apparently considered groundbreaking for the time, so much so that not even Wikipedia lists a reference making this point. It did turn up before the theatrical release of The Land Before Time, which brings that film down to almost the same level as its first sequel, (okay that's a stretch.) The original short was written and directed by Brad Bird, well before he made The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, with the animation and design being directed by a team led through Tim Burton. Overall production was done through Hyperion Pictures, who you may know as the producers of The Brave Little Toaster, and through their Jambalaya Studio label, they produced The Proud Family (which is in danger of becoming dated) and Da Boom Crew which was never in date.

And apparently, this short was so good, or perhaps it was because of Spielberg's involvement that CBS felt this was code for success. Funnily enough, NBC never bothered with this even though the short aired on a show they aired, but it's almost as if they knew a disaster was eminent, a cult disaster. Spielberg and Burton produced the episodes, with Animaniacs alumni Sharon Stoner and Paul Dini (though the latter is tied to far more notable stuff), and Nelvana was hired to produce the animation (interesting fact, Clive A. Smith, one of the three founders of Nelvana directed eight out of the ten episodes, with five being co-directed by Chris Buck, who would go on to direct Tarzan, Surf's Up (if you can remember that movie) and Frozen. This seems like it's the set up for the best TV show ever, and one that'd plant CBS as a strong figure in the animated sitcom genre, and I've gotta stop with the setups.

To put it all into perspective, this was the last time CBS tried to do an animated sitcom, point blank. ABC would try again a year after with The Critic, which would ironically go to Fox, and for the last time with Clerks: The Animated Series, but their treatment of it suggested they wanted to stick with the sitcom bug full time. While NBC never got on the bandwagon at the time, they did strike during the late-90s, starting with Stressed Eric (which varies in quality depending on your standards of animation), and continuing with God, The Devil and Bob (an underrated series), Sammy (which is basically gone forever), and ending with Father of the Pride, which is apparently one of the worst shows ever, but I'll get to that show another time. CBS hasn't had anything close to a cartoon since the early-90s, almost as if Family Dog tainted the prospect. It's essentially the Duke Nukem Forever of cartoons, hyped through name recognition, delayed and leaving behind a rotten final product. It was going to come out in 1991, even getting promoted during the Grammys, but got held back due to factors such as the outsourcing unit wanting to rework what they came up with. Technically, by name alone the original Amazing Stories segment predated The Simpsons, but as they show gained more traction, no other show could compete, and I'm being more harsh to this because, frankly, this sucks.

Aside from releases on Laserdisc and VHS, this has yet to receive a DVD release, and it's likely because two major companies, Universal and Warner Bros. worked on it while having it aired on a network owned by another major company, but since the former two came out by some means, I doubt copyright is a major factor here, I think they just want to bury this. They do have one edge over Capitol Critters, both were going to get SNES games, Capitol Critters didn't, but Family Dog did, for better or worse.

The Sting

At its core, it's a generic family sitcom, but through the perspective of a dog they may or may not love. That's it. Wacky dog shenanigans and some mean-spiritedness round out half an hour, and if you want some more perspective, the first episode had the dog suffering from thirst, with the family not even acknowledging it, even through to the end. The plot summaries of each episode are so vague, but the show is so barren that I imagine that the episodes themselves aren't that interesting.

I saw the first episode a while back, and I made it through a minute or so of the third episode before calling it quits, and all I got out of it was a cheap talk show parody and the dog getting allured by a female dog's sentient fart.

On the animation, from a certain perspective the looks like Ren and Stimpy tier artwork, without the wackiness (but maybe it's because I consider the average Spumco cartoon to be ugly as sin.) Does this entice you to check out the show? If you didn't have a full commercial to give you the summary, just this print ad, would you tune in?

As for the actual animation, it's not much better. In fact, compared to other animated projects Spielberg was tied to, *cough* *hack* *wheeze* Animaniacs *cough* *sputter* *death*, I can't even call it a letdown, one of the most prolific directors, relegated to putting his name on something that wouldn't even fly on a kids network. Say what you will about Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon, that actually had good animation, with a bad art direction, but the fact that it can outshine this regardless of quality really says a lot.

It tries to be wacky and uber-cartoony, but due to its budget it doesn't quite hit the mark. It kinda reminds me of the Beetlejuice cartoon. Now while it shares similar quirks, Beetlejuice was a much better cartoon overall. It took its limited animation resources and made it work, and hell, the writing was much better too. For a grander kick in the nuts, while this came out in 1993, the Beetlejuice cartoon came out in 1989. A cartoon produced by Nelvana in the late-80s looks better than a cartoon produced by Nelvana in 1993, with supervision by Steven Spielberg. How about another one? This looks worse than the shows it competed with at the time, Capitol Critters and Fish Police look better and were produced by a company that was infamous for gearing out shovelware incarnate shows.

On the surface, it seems like a forgettable show with a generic shell, but what really brings it down is the fact that major names were attached to this, there should've been no excuse for why this turned out so bad. The fact that this was the last animated CBS show to air in prime time speaks numbers on the impact it left.

All I could say about this show and big names in the animation industry in general is... everybody poops.

See an episode here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfuJWs…