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
