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!
