Howling at a Concrete Moon
Nov. 20th, 2006 07:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatIt's time for my weekly review of Fox's Sunday night block of animation. (Okay, it's not exactly weekly, since there aren't new episodes every week. But it's weekly during sweeps months, I suppose.)
The Simpsons: I thought the episode was pretty good, mostly because of Moe, who's one of the few characters I think has actually gotten somewhat funnier as the series has progressed. (Milhouse would probably also be on the short list of such characters.) There were some good jokes at the writers' conference as well, although I probably would have appreciated them more if I'd read anything by the authors involved. I do think, however, that they wasted potential by turning it into another tired plot where one character takes credit for another's work, especially when we just saw this same basic theme used in the carpentry episode. I'm sure there were plenty of more interesting places they could have taken the idea of Moe as a poet. So, yeah. Good concept, characterizations, and incidental jokes; but not so great as far as the central conflict went.
American Dad: Probably the best of last night's batch. (Wow, I never thought I'd be saying THAT back when the show was in its infancy.) I like that they reused Debbie, although there have been episodes since her introduction where Steve was trying to hit on other girls, so I'm not sure whether we're supposed to see the episodes as taking place in a different order than the one in which they were shown or what. The funniest bit was probably the Japanese cartoon characters in the vasectomy clinic, but I also enjoyed the subplot of Roger posing as a college professor by imitating clichéd "teacher inspires passion for learning" movies.
Family Guy: Not one of the better ones this week. I did think the preacher and the kids' reaction to his obvious pandering were funny, but I kind of think they could have gone even farther over the top than they did. I don't know. Maybe that's kind of a dumb complaint ("It's not wacky enough!"), but they probably could have done a little more with the idea. Also, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje pointed out, didn't Meg already lose her virginity to Jimmy Fallon a few seasons ago?
The Simpsons: I thought the episode was pretty good, mostly because of Moe, who's one of the few characters I think has actually gotten somewhat funnier as the series has progressed. (Milhouse would probably also be on the short list of such characters.) There were some good jokes at the writers' conference as well, although I probably would have appreciated them more if I'd read anything by the authors involved. I do think, however, that they wasted potential by turning it into another tired plot where one character takes credit for another's work, especially when we just saw this same basic theme used in the carpentry episode. I'm sure there were plenty of more interesting places they could have taken the idea of Moe as a poet. So, yeah. Good concept, characterizations, and incidental jokes; but not so great as far as the central conflict went.
American Dad: Probably the best of last night's batch. (Wow, I never thought I'd be saying THAT back when the show was in its infancy.) I like that they reused Debbie, although there have been episodes since her introduction where Steve was trying to hit on other girls, so I'm not sure whether we're supposed to see the episodes as taking place in a different order than the one in which they were shown or what. The funniest bit was probably the Japanese cartoon characters in the vasectomy clinic, but I also enjoyed the subplot of Roger posing as a college professor by imitating clichéd "teacher inspires passion for learning" movies.
Family Guy: Not one of the better ones this week. I did think the preacher and the kids' reaction to his obvious pandering were funny, but I kind of think they could have gone even farther over the top than they did. I don't know. Maybe that's kind of a dumb complaint ("It's not wacky enough!"), but they probably could have done a little more with the idea. Also, as
bethje pointed out, didn't Meg already lose her virginity to Jimmy Fallon a few seasons ago?
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 01:29 pm (UTC)I think I'd actually agree with your assessment of this week's American Dad. And, yeah, the Vasectomy Clinic was hilarious. Roger's part was pretty good, too, to be honest. I like that he's actually getting more and more out of the house. And that he learned his lesson at the end. Respect is for losers.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-21 06:59 pm (UTC)Yeah, keeping him inside all the time kind of limited his potential for plots. Of course, now they have to use the cartoon cliché of everyone falling for a really bad disguise, but that doesn't bother me too much.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 07:23 pm (UTC)The Grimace shit cracked me up though. Times like these I wish I had my screen cap abilities again.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-21 07:04 pm (UTC)Her "correction" to Peter's story about Luke being gay was titled something like, "Luke Perry is straight (not that that did me any good)." So I don't think that worked out for her.
The Grimace shit cracked me up though.
"Lois, the HAMBURGLAR steals hamburgers. Grimace is Ronald McDonald's autistic friend."
From what I've read, though, Grimace DID once steal milkshakes. He also had extra arms. Was his kleptomania somehow linked to his extra appendages? Who knows? In the Hamburglar's case, I think he's lashing out due to his inability to communicate verbally.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 10:56 pm (UTC)I agree that American Dad has been pretty decent lately. We used to hate it but it's been really funny lately.
I took the Jimmy Fallon episode as not being part of the normal storyline since really, Meg was hot, and who would buy that?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-21 07:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, a lot of people seem to think that. I guess it needed some time to build up steam and establish its own identity (as opposed to how it seemed at first, which was essentially a subpar copy of FG with an alien instead of a talking dog).
I took the Jimmy Fallon episode as not being part of the normal storyline since really, Meg was hot, and who would buy that?
Good point. Still, if Peter could join the Beautiful People's Club after getting liposuction, then why not?