Friday, January 18, 2013
An Update
Sorry if anyone has been reading this and no one has seen anything new. I'm planning to end doing my critic reviews here shortly, but if I change my mind, I'll keep adding here. I'm planning my next review to be a surprise for now, so I'll leave it alone. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sit Down, Shut Up (US FOX Series)
Does anyone remember the days of Arrested Development? Well, I don't, but I do remember hearing the greatest reviews about it, and I never got into watching it until just this year, along with the show I'm about to review. Why am I bringing Arrested Development up? I am giving a mention because both shows share a connection. The creator is Mitchell Hurwitz, and three major roles come in from Arrested Development. In Sit Down, Shut Up, we had Jason Bateman as Larry Littlejunk, the protagonist that seems saner than the other characters, Will Arnett as the goofy womanizer, Ennis Hofftard, and Happy Days star, Henry Winkler, as a small, but supporting character. Before I truly begin the review, I'll remind everyone the normal stuff that the reviews are entirely based on my opinion, and do not reflect those views of the FOX Broadcasting Company.
Back in 2009, Sit Down, Shut Up made its debut, with a very promising season. How delightful to see that it only had five episodes to air, considering that it HAD to start in April, and in the end, they only aired four of them before cancellation. Although they gave this show such a horrible chance, they LET Allen Gregory slide past with all episodes? Humanity is lost on this network. Anyway, I watched the show's very first episode, and I just remember it being incredibly strange, so I never decided to watch another episode until just a couple of months ago when I decided that I would do a Critical Clive video review on it. After giving the series another chance, I must say that it changed my opinion when I watched all thirteen episodes. The show is very addictive, the characters are just insane, and this is another moment where you can use a man to voice a leading female role. If Sit Down, Shut Up can do it, then I can't see why people get all fussy over Bob's Burgers doing it.
The series was somewhat similar to Arrested Development, not to mention that a few of the character traits seemed to transition. Along with similar character traits, we got plenty of new characters who were all given a fair chance, as most of the episodes focused on many sub-plots that all lead up to the main story. In example, Futurama has aired quite a few episodes that were very well received, such as Three Hundred Big Boys, and The Prisoner of Benda. That's for another review, I promise. With the characters receiving enough development, it was fun to watch them slightly grow a bit of intelligence, or just deteriorate themselves even further.
The characters are all set up as staff members at Knob Haven High School, so it can be considered a workplace comedy. All of the teachers can be considered very stupid, saving Larry, and the principal, Sue Sezno, voiced by Kenan Thompson, has to deal with it all. Sue attempts to bust the teachers by going out to Washington D.C. to explain why Knob Haven High School has such low scores. The result turned out to be the best episode of the series, plot-wise.
When I went by with each episode, I started to notice that the quality had a major improvement by episode three. What happened? As it turns out, the writers had changed after the first two, and I hadn't seen a terrible one since the second episode. Like I said in the former paragraph, the best episode is Mr. Hofftard Goes to Washington, which is when Sue Sezno attempts to explain the low test scores by blaming the teachers for their incompetence. Another great episode was Sue and Helen's High School Reunion, which had some of the wittiest dialogue from the staff. Sometime in the future, I may do a full review on some of the episodes, but only by popular harassment.
So that's Sit Down, Shut Up. In all honesty, this show deserves more recognition than it received. It was originally scheduled to air five episodes for the first season, but the fifth one was dropped as FOX was afraid that it would be too controversial. Given only four episodes, the show was promptly cancelled as FOX threw it around the death slot too much for its poor ratings, and the remaining nine episodes didn't air until much later into the year. It's really disappointing to see what happens to shows that actually have character quality. Family Guy is now milked for money, Cleveland Show is the worst show on FOX, Allen Gregory had some horrible characters for the premise, and yet Sit Down, Shut Up is gone. Futurama had some rather bad treatment, but with its amazing fan base over the years, it's great to see it return. If Sit Down, Shut Up was given another chance, would it deserve another season? I honestly poke the question around.
Since the show was only given a limited amount of episodes and MANY fourth wall gags, could it continue to stay funny? The fourth wall gags turned me off easily when I first watched it, but now I just ignore them and see the wittier side of the humor. Sit Down, Shut Up is sorely underrated, and if it still ran with its quality it redeemed, then I would have ranked it #3 of the best current running FOX Animation Domination shows. That's it for this review, I'll see you on YouTube for my next video review. Thanks everybody!
The series was somewhat similar to Arrested Development, not to mention that a few of the character traits seemed to transition. Along with similar character traits, we got plenty of new characters who were all given a fair chance, as most of the episodes focused on many sub-plots that all lead up to the main story. In example, Futurama has aired quite a few episodes that were very well received, such as Three Hundred Big Boys, and The Prisoner of Benda. That's for another review, I promise. With the characters receiving enough development, it was fun to watch them slightly grow a bit of intelligence, or just deteriorate themselves even further.
The characters are all set up as staff members at Knob Haven High School, so it can be considered a workplace comedy. All of the teachers can be considered very stupid, saving Larry, and the principal, Sue Sezno, voiced by Kenan Thompson, has to deal with it all. Sue attempts to bust the teachers by going out to Washington D.C. to explain why Knob Haven High School has such low scores. The result turned out to be the best episode of the series, plot-wise.
When I went by with each episode, I started to notice that the quality had a major improvement by episode three. What happened? As it turns out, the writers had changed after the first two, and I hadn't seen a terrible one since the second episode. Like I said in the former paragraph, the best episode is Mr. Hofftard Goes to Washington, which is when Sue Sezno attempts to explain the low test scores by blaming the teachers for their incompetence. Another great episode was Sue and Helen's High School Reunion, which had some of the wittiest dialogue from the staff. Sometime in the future, I may do a full review on some of the episodes, but only by popular harassment.
So that's Sit Down, Shut Up. In all honesty, this show deserves more recognition than it received. It was originally scheduled to air five episodes for the first season, but the fifth one was dropped as FOX was afraid that it would be too controversial. Given only four episodes, the show was promptly cancelled as FOX threw it around the death slot too much for its poor ratings, and the remaining nine episodes didn't air until much later into the year. It's really disappointing to see what happens to shows that actually have character quality. Family Guy is now milked for money, Cleveland Show is the worst show on FOX, Allen Gregory had some horrible characters for the premise, and yet Sit Down, Shut Up is gone. Futurama had some rather bad treatment, but with its amazing fan base over the years, it's great to see it return. If Sit Down, Shut Up was given another chance, would it deserve another season? I honestly poke the question around.
Since the show was only given a limited amount of episodes and MANY fourth wall gags, could it continue to stay funny? The fourth wall gags turned me off easily when I first watched it, but now I just ignore them and see the wittier side of the humor. Sit Down, Shut Up is sorely underrated, and if it still ran with its quality it redeemed, then I would have ranked it #3 of the best current running FOX Animation Domination shows. That's it for this review, I'll see you on YouTube for my next video review. Thanks everybody!
7.9/10
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Allen Gregory
Hey guys, welcome to my first review!
Today, I'm taking a look at a short-lived series from the FOX Broadcasting Company. Along with the big names on their network such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, even the incredibly awful Cleveland Show, along came a new animated show called Allen Gregory. With this being the newest cartoon to their block, what could go wrong? I'm sure people want newer humor on their weekly watching of television. After taking a full look at the pilot presentation on October 30, 2011, I must say that Allen Gregory was nothing like I had expected. I never have watched any of Jonah Hill's work before the show premiered, so I am not entirely sure what his level of humor is.
The first episode introduces us to the main characters. Allen Gregory DeLongpre is voiced by Jonah Hill, Allen Gregory's father, Richard, is voiced by French Stewart, Richard's gay partner, Jeremy, is voiced by Nat Faxon, and Allen Gregory's Cambodian-adopted sister, Julie, is voiced by Joy Osmanski. Something I've noticed about Julie is that her character and her voice seem very similar to the Daria Morgendorffer, a well-known character from MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-head and Daria. They have similar attitudes, and both characters show the lack of enthusiasm.
Moving on, I've got to say that I was rather confused with some of the humor. While I actually enjoyed the show, its humor was just very sick sometimes and it wasn't exactly that funny. The disrespect towards Jeremy jokes got very old, the jokes of a little boy fantasizing over an old, fat, disgusting woman was rather stupid, and the overall humor just didn't land like it should. You may be wonder, why do I like it if the humor is bad? Well, I don't rely too much on the humor. I'm mostly in for the story lines and characters. The show actually had some interesting episodes that were fun to watch, and I had a bit of enjoyment from it. The animation was actually really good, compared to most of the shows left on FOX. The characters were slightly amusing, but Allen Gregory and Richard, however, were just clones and since I liked neither one of them, they're off the list.
A big point I've noticed from Allen Gregory is that he acts like he's the main antagonist of the show, even though his main role is to be the protagonist. Again, very confusing! The main antagonist, I assume, is Allen Gregory's classmate, Joel. Allen Gregory attempts kissing his way for his respect, but of course, Joel keeps throwing him off. I'm not entirely sure if Joel is the main antagonist, as it looks like Principal Gottlieb shares the same hatred for Allen Gregory. I guess the real thing here is that there is no main antagonist, it's just characters.
Although the show is known for having a load of negative reviews, I actually liked it. I knew from the first minute that the show wasn't going to last long, and it was somewhat of a disappointment. The cancellation wasn't the main disappointment. The main disappointment was the lack of making a good show for many to actually like. That's how it started out for Bob's Burgers, another FOX animated comedy. It started out with negative reviews, and was lucky for a full second season renewal. That's for another review, though. Allen Gregory is long gone, and I know it'll never come back. It gets a small bit of approval from me, as I'm going to give it a 6/10 rating. Not too bad Jonah Hill, but I think you take your words too seriously when you say "We're not a show that's gonna win a bunch of Emmys or get 20 million viewers a week. But we totally stand by what we do and aren't gonna change that for anything. Our central love story is between a six-year-old kid and a hideous 80-year-old lady, you know? I feel really prideful that we got that on the air."
That's all for this review!
Today, I'm taking a look at a short-lived series from the FOX Broadcasting Company. Along with the big names on their network such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, even the incredibly awful Cleveland Show, along came a new animated show called Allen Gregory. With this being the newest cartoon to their block, what could go wrong? I'm sure people want newer humor on their weekly watching of television. After taking a full look at the pilot presentation on October 30, 2011, I must say that Allen Gregory was nothing like I had expected. I never have watched any of Jonah Hill's work before the show premiered, so I am not entirely sure what his level of humor is.
The first episode introduces us to the main characters. Allen Gregory DeLongpre is voiced by Jonah Hill, Allen Gregory's father, Richard, is voiced by French Stewart, Richard's gay partner, Jeremy, is voiced by Nat Faxon, and Allen Gregory's Cambodian-adopted sister, Julie, is voiced by Joy Osmanski. Something I've noticed about Julie is that her character and her voice seem very similar to the Daria Morgendorffer, a well-known character from MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-head and Daria. They have similar attitudes, and both characters show the lack of enthusiasm.
Moving on, I've got to say that I was rather confused with some of the humor. While I actually enjoyed the show, its humor was just very sick sometimes and it wasn't exactly that funny. The disrespect towards Jeremy jokes got very old, the jokes of a little boy fantasizing over an old, fat, disgusting woman was rather stupid, and the overall humor just didn't land like it should. You may be wonder, why do I like it if the humor is bad? Well, I don't rely too much on the humor. I'm mostly in for the story lines and characters. The show actually had some interesting episodes that were fun to watch, and I had a bit of enjoyment from it. The animation was actually really good, compared to most of the shows left on FOX. The characters were slightly amusing, but Allen Gregory and Richard, however, were just clones and since I liked neither one of them, they're off the list.
A big point I've noticed from Allen Gregory is that he acts like he's the main antagonist of the show, even though his main role is to be the protagonist. Again, very confusing! The main antagonist, I assume, is Allen Gregory's classmate, Joel. Allen Gregory attempts kissing his way for his respect, but of course, Joel keeps throwing him off. I'm not entirely sure if Joel is the main antagonist, as it looks like Principal Gottlieb shares the same hatred for Allen Gregory. I guess the real thing here is that there is no main antagonist, it's just characters.
Although the show is known for having a load of negative reviews, I actually liked it. I knew from the first minute that the show wasn't going to last long, and it was somewhat of a disappointment. The cancellation wasn't the main disappointment. The main disappointment was the lack of making a good show for many to actually like. That's how it started out for Bob's Burgers, another FOX animated comedy. It started out with negative reviews, and was lucky for a full second season renewal. That's for another review, though. Allen Gregory is long gone, and I know it'll never come back. It gets a small bit of approval from me, as I'm going to give it a 6/10 rating. Not too bad Jonah Hill, but I think you take your words too seriously when you say "We're not a show that's gonna win a bunch of Emmys or get 20 million viewers a week. But we totally stand by what we do and aren't gonna change that for anything. Our central love story is between a six-year-old kid and a hideous 80-year-old lady, you know? I feel really prideful that we got that on the air."
That's all for this review!
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