The AD Review - Regular Show Special

While Animation Domination is on an extended hiatus, I’d thought I’d take the time to examine some other options the Cartoon Connoisseur can enjoy (during the rare heartbeats when BBC Three isn’t showing Family Guy). And while I’m eventually going to get round to some of the true greats (mainly Archer) I’m going to start out with something a little bit different: Cartoon Network’s Regular Show.

Regular Show

Created By: J.G. Quintel

Starring: J.G. Quintel, William Salyers, Sam Marin, Mark Hamill

Number of Episodes to date: 82

Dates Aired: September 6 2010 – Present

Watch if you like: South Park, Adventure Time, Clerks, The Mighty Boosh

 

Cartoon Network, everyone’s favourite channel in the late 1990’s, has recently made loads of headway into the ‘adult’ cartoons market. While of course Adult Swim has been in a roaring trade for a number of years, the Channel has been spending time making cartoons which, while still suitable for children, appeal to young 20-somethings who grew up on a diet of Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Lab and Powerpuff Girls. And whilst their biggest, most gigantic break out hit has been Adventure Time, my personal favourite of the lot is the remarkably quirky Regular Show.

Regular Show has the most basic of sitcom setups. Two slacker friends, Mordecai (a talking Blue-Jay) and Rigby (a talking Racoon) work as groundskeepers in a large city park, and will do everything in their power to goof off, annoying their supervisor Benson (a talking Gumball machine).  And by that enclosed brackets character description you can probably guess this is not really a down to earth kind of show. Other workers in the park include Skips (an immortal Yeti), Pops (an old fashioned lollypop man), Hive-Five Ghost (a ghost with hair in the shape of a high five) and Muscle Man (a green, vaguely human like creature). Together they face down various supernatural threats that attack the park, usually taking the form of demons, Death, super beings, or sinister men with beautiful blond hair.

  

As you can tell, this show is a far cry from the family-based fun of Animation Domination, and sounds as if it wouldn’t be out of place in Cartoon Network’s typical programming. But Regular Show separates itself from its stable-mates, by making clear that it’s being written for a student-aged audience. This isn’t just in its use of stronger language and subject matter (which we’ll come to later) but at the root of the very programme; in the relationship between it's two main characters.

Mordecai and Rigby are like every 23 year old you know. One’s frustrated, lovesick and lazy, the others goofy, obnoxious... and lazy. They’ve known each since they were kids, and are already pretty fed up of their station in life. They’re procrastination stems not from mischief, but from frustration and the inability to act like adults. In short, they represent exactly the sort of people who are watching shows like Regular Show!

Other Cartoon Network shows are based around childen. The channels earlier attempts at ‘older audience’ cartoons, Chowder and The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack (where creator J.G. Quintel was creative director) still featured the problems of little kids (even if they featured drunken old men and sugar-momma whales). Perennial stoner favourite Spongebob Squarepants, although detailing the daily life of an adult going to work, is clearly still in child in mental ability. Regular Show specialises in plots driven by adult problems, like paying the rent, girlfriends and dealing with your jerk of a boss. Sure, it’s not exactly The Wire, but it's still a recognisable adult setting.

The writers push the language barrier in a variety of amusing ways. Mordecai and Rigby speak with a range of strange quirks, from their trademark OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!, to bursting into song at regular intervals. It’s a simple way of keeping the dialogue fresh, and the pair likable, even if they're arguing. Their also not adverse to mild swearing, and the sheer ‘getting crap past the radar’-ability of the programme often makes my jaw drop. I never thought anyone would say ‘pissed off’ on Cartoon Network!

With this keystone in place, the programmes humour lets rip with traditional Cartoon Network affair, though again a little more complex. Like every 'short form episode' series, each story follows a similar structure: Mordecai and Rigby face a problem they will try to shirk out of. They eventually take the easy road, but are confronted by a supernatural force. They work together to defeat it, learning some lesson as they do. This formulaic structure is often played around with however, and a fair amount of continuity is maintained across episodes; so the pair doesn’t often make the same mistakes twice.

The programme storytelling has certainly broadened over the seasons, and this is down to the tremendous cast of secondary characters. Park Manager Benson is the grumpy old boss in the classic sitcom style, and the animators really manage to push his fury to new heights every week (check out the above video to see what I mean!). However, despite being a gumball machine, he’s one of the more restrained characters in the series. My favourite is Skips, played by the ever-talented and lovable Mark Hamill. He often acts as Chef did on South Park, dispensing wisdom, and kicking ass when needed. Pops is an old timey gentleman, son of the Park's owner, who naivety and old fashioned sentiments make him the most sympathetic character. Muscle Man and Hive-Five Ghosts are another pair of groundskeepers, even more obnoxious than the star duo (“You know whose also even more obnoxious than the star duo... MY MOM!). This isn’t even mentioning the secondary characters, or the many original villains that appear throughout the series. It’s fair to say the series has the best cast outside of The Simpsons.

What’s even better is the programme has no problem in deploying its rich mythology. The Season Four opener, the two part ‘Exit 9b’ was an ‘Avengers’ style affair, with every villain from the series uniting as an army, and a massive battle taking place (as well as introducing a brand new regular, Thomas the Faun). That the show's quirkiness is used and celebrated takes it away from the Cartoon Network mold, and into the realms of South Park or The Mighty Boosh, where weird and wonderful events are as much a part of its appeal as the jokes. Anyone who loves these series, (or indeed slacker comedies like Community or the works of Kevin Smith), will love Regular Show. It’s a charming, well made series, which everyone should check out. Below I’ve linked five of my favourite episodes to start you off! Grab your chips and dips, and enjoy!

Free Cake

Mordecai and Rigby go to ridiculous lengths for free cake, which include jepardising Skips chances at immortality.

http://gorillavid.in/yve0gsqke70i

The Unicorns Have Got To Go

A group of obnoxious unicorns arrive in town. Horn jokes all round...

http://gorillavid.in/2bn5rutzkrjb

A Bunch of Baby Ducks

Mordecai and Rigby adopt a group of baby ducks, teaching them all their lazy ways. And defending them from Duck Pedophiles...

http://gorillavid.in/lll80h6cgft6

Crusin'
Mordecai and Rigby borrow the golf cart in the hopes of picking up chicks...

http://gorillavid.in/rjdjpgkj6jxc

Exit 9b (Parts 1 and 2)

An epic battle through time itself, where a legion of enemies descend on the park; and only new intern Thomas can save the world...

NEXT WEEK: Another break in the Animation Domination Schedule means I'll be turning my eye to a far less colourful series; the deep, dark, Bible Bashing world of Morel Orel...

The AD Review – 07/10/2012

Massive delays in posting this, due to becoming a qualified cheesemonger (a shockingly accurate statement). This week saw an overall improvement across the board, with a range of witty Halloween specials across all five series. I’ve added on my South Park review as well, but am saving the promised Regular Show/Adventure Time show coverage for the next post (as Animation Domination took a massive two weeks off air!)

 

 

The Simpsons – S24E510 ‘Treehouse of Horror XXIII’

After last week’s dead on arrival episode, the annual Halloween Special brings The Simpsons straight back into its new silver age. This time there are four tales, thanks to an extended opening sequence dealing with the Mayan Prophesy. From there, we go into a fun little story about the Springfield Haledon Collider, which creates a black hole that Lisa takes home. It’s a pretty by the numbers story, but I loved the ending, where Springfield is sucked through the hole into another dimension, and meet some trash worshiping aliens (who naturally praise the Microsoft Zune).

Next we have the best story of the set; a Paranormal Activity parody. Though coming perhaps a few years too late, it’s an excellent spoof that is genuinely terrifying in places. I really loved possessed Marge, and Homer’s oblivious attempts to seduce her. The end is again great, although perhaps a little too adult compared to the rest of the episode. In any case, it’s a much more solid spoof than previous years efforts, but in future I’d like to see some more recent blockbusters being undertaken (a Simpson’s version of The Hunger Games would be incredible!)

The last segment is defiantly the most ambitious. It’s a Back to the Future parody, where Bart travels to the 70’s to buy a vintage comic book. While there he meets teenage Homer and changes history so Marge marries the infamous Arty Ziff. The main problem with this segment is that’s it’s referencing a 25 year old film, so immediately feels a little dated. That said, it makes the clever decision to have Bart emerge in the events of the classic episode ‘The Way We Was’. It’s a lovely touch that makes the story a lot more memorable than it could have been. The final sequence, featuring an army of time displaced Homers,was an excellent left field surprise.

This is the best Treehouse of Horror in years. Let’s hope the regular episodes can keep things this consistent.

8/10

 

Best Bit: ‘Crush-a them! In the name of Jebus!’

 

Worst Bit: Back to the Future isn’t the freshest Zeitgeist to be taking on...

Family Guy  - S11E190 ‘Ratings Guy’

Family Guy, despite another middling episode in general, proved to have some amusing moments this week; probably because it riffed on one of the series all time classics, ‘PTV’. Sadly though, despite commercials to the contrary, it wasn’t at all Halloween based; a shame given that themed episodes are quite a rarity on this programme, and when used correctly make a nice change; which at this point Family Guy could use.

Nowhere is this more obvious then in the opening minutes. The family take a trip to the Quahog fire station, and we get the usual FG level of banter about Fireman and how they’re so very silly. Oh, and then it just stops. Yep. Family Guy seem to have realised they suck at telling stories and just stopped trying. A very disjarring start.

Swiftly moving on, we find out that the Griffin’s have been selected as a new ‘Nielson Family’, whose TV watching habits contribute to television ratings. Tom Tucker goes to great lengths to get them watching Channel 6 News (included a pretty good gag of the newscaster sans-moustache), and the power goes to Peter’s head. He steals more Nielson boxes, and eventually counts for three million viewers. His habits change the face of TV, and it’s up to Peter to put things right.

There’s lots of fun moments in this storyline; I loved Jon Hamm guest starring on a Star Wars themed episode of Mad Men, and it’s a shame we didn’t spend more time getting a look at more of Peter’s changes (such as adding another tree to One Tree Hill). I also enjoyed the board meeting at the climax, with cameos from J.J. Abrams and Dick Wolf, which were both very witty. And hey, they even managed to actually get Dan Castellaneta in for a Homer Simpson appearance (ironically, a moment that’s ripping off a South Park joke.)

But among these moments are some truly bad material; along with the boring fire station scenes, there’s a horrific cutaway involving Peter in a shooting, which should have really been edited out; its in very poor taste. The other Family members are very much in the background, and the supporting cast don’t get any good lines at all.

‘Ratings Guy’ is perhaps as good as we can expect from Family Guy nowadays. There’s a lot of decent jokes here, compressed between some lazy attempts at shock humour and even worst storytelling. But it’s still an ok effort, and at this point in the shows run, that’s something to be noted.

6/10

 

Best Bit: I’ll give it to the board meeting. Not exactly original punchlines, but ably delivered.

 

Worst Bit: The massacre is shocking in its inappropriateness. 

The Cleveland Show – S4E66 ‘Escape from Goochland’

Poor old Cleveland Show returns for a surprise fourth season premier. This program is pretty unloved, which in my opinion is perhaps a little unfair. Forever in the (fading) shadow of its parent Family Guy, The Cleveland Show quickly mastered elements that the original never properly touched on – namely thought out storytelling and a good cast of secondary characters. It’s never been particularly brilliant, but neither has it been overly awful; at best it’s a fun spoof of family sitcoms like ‘My Wife and Kids’ or ‘The Jeffersons’. Escape from Goochland won’t convince you to watch religiously, and it was hardly anything to shout about; but neither was it a total train wreck. You’ll perhaps forgive me if this review is a little bit short because of that.

The first thing I liked about this episode is, like last week’s American Dad, it gives a female character a bigger role. Now, Roberta is in no way the brilliant, well rounded character that Hailey is, but it’s nice to see her being used for once. She encourages her boyfriend (the kinda funny, kinda not) Fedeline Jones to go to a football game with Cleveland, leaving her and Junior to go out playing pranks dressed as their parents. Once at the game, Cleveland destroys a rival’s car, forcing him and his friends to escape the enemy town, and fight a gang war on the streets of Quahog.

And that about it to be honest. The jokes within are all fairly solid; some fun stuff with a theremin, a Katy Perry costume (with foam squirters) and a great ending with Cleveland and Donna mistaking each other for Prostitutes.  But there’s no ‘wow’ moment here; nothing that sets this series apart from the other four programmes in the block. It’s a shame, as there’s often a lot of effort put in animation wise in this series; but I can’t really call it must watch television. Perhaps its natural home is just as background TV, rather than something worth going out your way to see. 

6/10

 

Best Bit: I did like the Prostitute Joke at the end; I don’t think you could pull that off with any of the couples on others shows.

 

Worst Bit: The Ballgame was dull; just ‘rival town’ jokes we’ve all seen before.

Bob’s Burgers S3E24 ‘Full Bars’

Once again Bob’s Burgers curries all my favour, with another fantastic episode centered on the kids. Bored of the meagre pickings from trick-o-treating in town, the Belcher children head to the neighbouring ‘King’s Island’, which is filled with rich people wielding bounties of chocolaty goodness. Unfortunately, it’s also the sight of the annual ‘Hell Hunt’ (not Helen Hunt), where the local teenagers through pee-filled water balloons at the town’s youngsters. Que lots of haunting hi-jinks, in certainly the most Halloween-y of the evenings programming.

This episode was a candy-coated treat from top to bottom; from Gene’s ‘Queen Latifah in her U.N.I.T.Y. phase’ costume, to the fun ‘Warriors’ parody the island adventure escalates too. There isn’t a single line out of place, (“There’s a lot of carrots in that stew...”)and the kids storyline comes together so well. The only oyster cracker in the goody bag comes from the slightly underwhelming B-plot, where while attending Teddy’s Halloween party, Bob’s accidently kills a beloved pet hamster. What could have been a fun Agatha Christy parody soon gets very drawn out and kind of paints Bob as an uncaring SOB. It’s one of the few times where the shows relaxed pace and style should have been exaggerated, but it’s still not enough to diminish the strengths of this episode. 

Another classic episode which shows Bob’s Burgers has earned its new three year tenure on FOX!

9/10

 

Best Bit: The sheer amount of banter Gene produced (“How does this not topple your economy?!”/”I can pee on myself! I don’t need handouts!”/”If there’s one thing a wiener hates, it’s hot sauce. I learned that the hard way!”). Also, the closed Year Round Halloween store was a great blink-and-you-miss-it moment.

 

Worst Bit: Teddy’s repetitive pining after his hamster.

American Dad – S8E135 Killer Vacation

Like its cousin Family Guy, American Dad seemed reluctant to join in the early October spirit of Halloween. Instead we had a more relaxed episode revolving around the family’s tropical vacation. Structurally, this played out as a series of B-plots instead of one overriding story, which made for an uneven episode, even if I did have some good moments.

The best jokes this week came from both the Hailey/Jeff story, and Roger’s latest disguise as a widowed golden girl. His scheme was hardly the alien’s most vicious ploy, but him messing around with a retired gentlemen was still fun. Hailey and Jeff’s quest for renewed sexual passion was also amusing, with a fun ending (and excellent use of mayonnaise).

Stan and Francine are also stuck in a rut, though this one defiantly from a storytelling perspective. Stan is once again putting his work before his marriage, leading his wife to take a stand. This is a storyline that this show has done to death, and nothing really new is seen here (though I did like the sudden appearances of the ‘helpful’ gardener). It wasn’t a bad plot, but really just going through the motions.

Finally, Steve’s desire for adventure is met by a charming English fellow, who leads him on an expedition across the island, in search of a nudist colony. The companion turns out to be a total moron (“You sound like Hugh Grant the movie star, but you’re stupid like Hugh Grant the person!”), and Steve blunders into a number of death traps on his advice. It’s kind of funny, but gets old, since American Dad normally punches a little higher than slapstick. The island misadventures turn out to be a bit reminiscent of the last holiday episode The Vacation Goo, so again get tired pretty quickly.

All in all an ok episode, but not American Dad’s strongest moment. I hope something a bit more ambitious is waiting in the wings (and the wait’s longer now... we’ve got three weeks of Cleveland Show to get through first... sigh...)

7/10

 

Best Bit: “Jeff, you have mayo on your back...” And the murder of several dolphins.

 

Worst Bit: The dolphin murdering is the best part of Stan/Francine’s dull adventure.

So this week Bob’s Burgers comes out on top, though it was a pretty strong week all round. It’s going to be a long wait for the next set of episodes, so my advice would be to catch up on Bob’s Burgers now; it has way more chance of being around in three years time than any of the other shows!

BONUS REVIEW CORNER!

South Park – S16E232 ‘Raising the Bar’

Remember last week when I hoped these new episodes would reflect Trey and Matt’s new creative passion. Well my hopes have paid off. Big Time!

‘Raising the Bar’ is perhaps the most side-splittingly brilliant episode of South Park since perhaps ‘Elementary School Musical’ in Season 12. It constantly excelled at delivering fantastic sight gags, parody and brilliant one liners, nestled in with some fantastic meta-examination of the series. It also has one of the best twists in storyline the show’s ever delivered.

At its heart, the episode is a traditional Cartman-centric episode, though one which wisely moves into some other directions so as to keep the pace going. Cartman finally admits he’s fat, and invests in a ‘Rascal’, along with many of South Park’s obese citizens. While he creates havoc around town , Kyle begins questioning the root of the problem, leading to a South Park adaption of trash-TV sensation ‘Honey Boo-Boo’. The parody itself isn’t quite as cutting as it could be, mostly because Honey and her mother are portrayed exactly as featured on the real program. But the point is made that the whole country seems to have no shame when it comes to enabling obesity (least of all Token Black, who launches his own Honey Boo-Boo rip-off featuring Cartman), and it falls to America’s favourite pioneer to save the soul of the country...

The sudden appearance of the S.S. James Cameron and the titular director is a masterstroke, which saves the episode from turning into just another Cartman episode. I love Cameron’s portrayal, diving into the Mariana Trench in an attempt to ‘raise the bar’, whilst his crew sit around bored; and forced to listen to Cameron’s own theme tune (an instantly hummable tune, similar to the one written for Russell Crowe in ‘The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer’). It’s actually a fairly respectable portrayal of the Director, who actually succeeds in his mission, but not before a lovely reflective scene from Stan and Kyle. Here they ask whether South Park itself is to blame for the lowering in moral values, harkening back to its earlier days when it was criticised for shock humour and foul language. It’s a great little side note in an episode that really makes you think about the type of media were consuming, rather than just making fun of it.

Overall, this episode is an absolute triumph. Its humour ranges from simple sight gags (such as Cartman moving around on his Rascal while delivering one of his trade mark rants) to the utter brilliance of James Cameron’s portrayal. It shows South Park truly back on form, with an astounding mix of parody, gross out humour and clever reflection. If the following episodes are half as good as this, this could turn out to be the best season of South Park in at least a  decade.

10/10 

 

Best Bit: A tie between James Cameron’s theme song, and Michelle Obama’s attack on ‘Obesity’.

 

Worst Bit: The Honey Boo-Boo parody could have been more scathing. But at least it was accurate...

NEXT WEEK: While Animation Domination takes a 3 week break, I’ll cast my eye over Regular Show.

The AD Review - 30/09/2012

For a number of years now, I’ve been consuming the output of Fox’s ‘Animation Domination’ programming block using the various wonders of the internet. Every week it’s been a steady diet of Family Guy, Simpsons, American Dad, Cleveland Show and, recently, Bob’s Burgers. I’m a massive fan of American animation, and that most of my studies revolved around live action programming  meant that watching these shows gave me a nice break.

For a long time I’ve wanted to write a combined review of these series, since despite them all basically featuring the same set up in terms of setting and cast (and often sharing the same writers) the individual programmes really vary in subject matter; as well as quality. Each week I’ll review each show separately and choose a winner out of the four that are shown (Family Guy and Simpsons are always on, but the other three rotate – there was no Cleveland Show this week for example). As I go on, I hope to better compare the programmes to one another, but for now I’ll just be reviewing them separately. I’ll eventually put together  rankings table to show how each show is faring against the other.

I’ll also include mini reviews on other currently airing adult series, such as South Park. These won’t be part of the main articles, as I feel their target audience and ways of storytelling are so different, it’s unfair to compare them to the other shows. But it is important to take note of them, since their influence often impacts the five Fox Shows.

So without further hoo-hah, let’s get down to it, with the reviews for 30/09/2012.

 

The Simpsons – s24e509 ‘Moonshine River’

The 24^th season gets off to a shaky start, with effectively a straight remake of an earlier, far more memorable episode. Bart, desperate to reunite with one of his (apparently) many ex-girlfriends, encourages the family to take a trip back to New York City (“But you love New York, now that your least favorite buildings have been obliterated... old Penn Station and Shea Stadium!”). Zooey Deschanel plays the object of his affection, one of many of Cletus’s the Slack-Jawed-Yokel's brood, who has up-sticks to have a go at being a Breakfast at Tiffany’s parody. Together, they take part in some Big Apple style adventures, whilst Marge and Lisa go in search of ‘high culture’.

The main problem with this episode is that it commits the two cardinal sins of the more unsuccessful Simpson's episodes; a tendency to treat Bart and Lisa as teenagers and jokes mainly consisting of call backs to earlier episodes. That most of this reminiscing is referring to very average episodes (such as the Sarah Silverman starring ‘Stealing First Base’) is not a good thing. (In fact, multiple guest stars play returning parts in this episode; Natalie Portman, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Hathaway... why on earth weren’t they used properly?)

The rest of Springfield’s cast is sidelined apart from the opening acts ‘First Springfield Grand Prix’ (running simultaneously with the ‘Tour de Springfield’ and major road works), but most just turn up to bleat the odd line then move on. Normally in a ‘Simpsons visit’ episode this would be ok, but sadly the New York jokes fall flat on their face. Marge and Lisa’s culture tour goes nowhere, and there’s none of Homer’s hatred of the city is properly portrayed.

The whole episode is a complete waste of time and talent, from the amazing guest cast, to the iconic location... even a Charlie Sheen cameo! I only hope this is just the producers cutting all the rot from the Season 24 apple before it starts proper.

 

3/10

 

Best Bit: Apart from Bart’s line above, the couch gag was cute, as was Homer’s belief he’s descended from Fievel from An American Tale

 

Worst Bit: The Shakespeare in the park scene above all. Is Shakespeare really a set piece that represents New York City?

Family Guy – S11E189 ‘Into Fat Air’

Another dull effort comes from this week’s Family Guy. Of course, unlike with The Simpsons, this is something we’ve come to expect, and it’s therefore not quite the disaster that Bart’s adventure was. But it still feels like another disastrous waste of talent.

This week the Griffin clan make another one of their trademark leaps in storytelling and decide to climb Mount Everest, thanks to being ridiculed by a snooty family. Peter's misadventures never really work as well when transposed to another setting. Whilst the Simpsons usually get a lot of material from Homer’s ‘Americanisms’ when introduced to a new environment, Family Guy sticks to the same style of jokes no matter where they are. Case in point is when they arrive at the village; they don’t parody the actual culture, rather make a few (smile-worthy) sight gags involving Donkeys. You’d imagine the mountain climb itself would be perfect fodder for Peter’s antics, but they have relatively little trouble, and it’s just business as usual.

Like all story driven Family Guy’s, the plot is weak and the characterisation worse. The whole impetus for climbing the mountain is simply to get back at the snooty family rather than to achieve anything of real significance. Twists in the narrative, like going back to rescue their rivals, only transpire when the show needs more running time; not because they’ve learned a lesson or bonded as a family. The potentially major turning point where, they find and consume the corpse of their rival's frozen child, is almost immediately forgotten. It’s just a cheap attempt at shock humour.

I know Family Guy has never really been a programme to involve rich storytelling, and really its episodes work best when the plot is just used to hang some inspired jokes on. This doesn’t really happen here, although there are some funny moments. Brian being treated and acting like a dog is always hilarious, and there’s an excellent cutaway featuring Stewie’s disastrous trip to Las Vegas. But these are the only real gems in the mud. Yet again, Family Guy has failed to tell a decent story-driven tale, or successfully hide it inadequacies with good humour. On reflection, it should really be scoring less than the Simpson episode; except I can only be disappointed so many times. I’ll give it the extra point for the Las Vegas scene, and resume hoping for another week this shell of a programme can one day replicate its past successes.

4/10

 

Best Bit: The Vegas Sequence. The Donkey and the Weed-Wacker also got a smile.

 

Worst Bit: It was all pretty dull, but the cannibal scene stands out as particularly unfulfilling.

Bob’s Burgers S3E23 ‘Ear-sy Rider’

Ok this is more like it. Before we begin, it’s fair to say I’m totally in love with Bob’s Burgers. I devoured the first two seasons about a week ago, and I was hungry for more when this episode came on. So maybe I was a little bit more relaxed in my criticisms then I was with Simpsons/Family Guy. But then again, Bob’s Burgers is a complete breath of fresh air compared to these other programmes, and its humour so unlike its stable-mates.

The story begins well with a horde of bikers arriving at the restaurant to mourn their departed leader. Bob’s Burgers always does well with introducing new characters, as they're always central to the plot, rather than showing up for a one shot joke. The destructive yet well meaning Chapter Leader and his gang are no exception, and have quite a heart behind their rough exterior. Meanwhile, Louise has her trademark bunny ears stolen by a local teenager, and goes into meltdown. The kids are certainly the most programmes most  consistent characters in terms of big laughs, so it’s always great when one of them takes centre stage. Occasionally, this can sometimes limit the input of the other two, but this week Tina and Gene are still firmly in the action. Louise begins a campaign to get her hat back, which escalates into the town parents blaming one another for ‘the neighbourhood going to crap’. It eventually comes down to a faceoff between the bikers and concerned parents in the middle of the restaurant.

It nice to see the A and B plot’s of the episode intertwine so well, with the teenagers father helping a biker give birth. It’s a case of a well written story being placed above the need to tell quick fire jokes. The best banter comes at the end, where Louise boos her father’s heart warming speech. Indeed, Bob isn’t in this episode much, but that’s OK. Unlike in all the other animation domination shows, he’s the only dad that acts as the ‘straight man’ rather than the genesis for comedy. This totally works to the shows advantage; I love when Linda announces free beer for everyone,with the cheers muffling out Bob's disappointment at the lack of business.

This episode highlights everything that’s great about Bob’ Burgers; strong storytelling, great characters and amusing little witticisms spread throughout. However, now the programme seems to be getting its formula down, I’m looking forward to seeing it getting a little more ambitious. I wouldn’t want the small town feel to get away for the programme, but I think it can allow itself a few more outlandish affairs, such as the excellent ‘Burger Boss’ episode. It is of course important to note that this ‘Third Season’ is actually the next half of Season 2, since Fox only showed 9 episodes last year. With its recently confirmed full order for an entire new season after these episodes, I’m looking forward to seeing how Bob’s Burgers capitalises on its successes and continues to push the quality of storytelling in Animation Domination.

8/10

 

Best Bit: Louise booing the traditional heart warming speech.

 

Worst Bit: Her attempts to simply grab the hat back drag on a little.

American Dad S8E134 ‘Love, AD Style’

American Dad starts off playing things safe with a traditional ‘Roger’ centric episode. I enjoyed this storyline, because it combined two of my favourite parts of the series; Roger’s increasingly large attic-based bar, and the character of Hailey. Hailey and her husband Jeff are my favourite characters on American Dad, possibly in all of the 'McFarlane-verse'. Every other female in his work is often completely sidelined to make way for the trio of male characters that lead the cast of each series (I don’t think Meg has had a line in weeks; I don’t think Roberta’s has actually been seen in years).

Once Hailey broke the cliché of ‘environmentally conscious rebellious teen’ she quickly gained a variety of strong storylines, leading up to her marrying Jeff (who’s hilarious and really should be used more; he's sadly missing from most of this week). Since then, they’ve taken a backseat in the series for more Stan-Steve-Roger shenanigans, so when they get to appear proper it’s a treat. This episode starts with Hailey taking a job as a singer in Roger’s bar, and  Rachel McFarlane’s singing voice is incredible in these scenes; she’s as every bit talented as her brother.

Of course, this is properly a Roger centric episode, and it's not long before the story quickly shifts into him pining after Hailey's affections. It’s interesting to watch his antics provide the A-plot this week, as he was often used in backup stories last season. This extra time is given over to more of his usual psychopathic tendencies, as he desperately tries to get Hailey out of his system. He perhaps spends a little too long attempting to woo  her and the episode drags a little here, but when he finally takes action, it’s spectacular. He flat out shoots Hailey in the chest, and then proceeds to keep her prisoner Misery style. It ends in one of the most violent images the series has ever produced, which would be wrong to spoil here; but it’s brilliant.

However, as funny as it was, the show is getting a little samey; at several times in the episode I predicted the jokes before they happened. Sometimes this was only for little moments, like the fate of the honeymooning rats; but chiefly it was for the entire B-Plot. Here Stan attempts to sell his SUV for the exact price of $15,000, and predictably gets out of hand. It’s still very funny, but his increasingly eccentric plots are something we've seen multiple times before. I’ll chalk this up to a one episode thing though; this series has always given us amazing twists in the past, so it can have a week off. Indeed, I really liked some of the less noticeable things this episode did, such as using Steve as a side character; proof that he can still be funny even when not the centre of attention. Maybe they should do it more with Roger to avoid his shtick getting stale.

It’s another strong debut for American Dad. Not a classic, and a little too similar in places, but still strong and full of life.

8/10

 

Best Bit: Rachel McFarlane’s singing voice. But joke wise, the ending’s pretty strong, if messed up.

 

Worst Bit: Roger’s pining goes on a bit... but is mostly hilarious throughout.

So this week we have a tie for first place score wise. It’s tough to choose an overall winner, because both Bob’s Burgers and American Dad had their quality moments. But overall, I think I’ll give it to American Dad; Bob’s is still on the rise, and I feel confident that it’s only going to get better. American Dad meanwhile deserves praise for keeping its quality up into its eighth season; something that at this point, Family Guy and Simpsons can only dream of.

Bonus Reviews:

 

South Park – S16ep231 ‘Sarcastaball’

South Park resumes its 16^th season this week with an episode starring two of its most popular characters; Randy Marsh and Butters. It’s been a difficult time to be a South Park fan recently, with Trey and Matt’s recent creative crisis in the aftermath of the ‘201’ ruckus (and portrayed in the heart breaking 'You’re Getting Old'). Luckily, the triumph of The Book of Mormon on Broadway seems to have  rejuvenated them, and I’ve been hoping this season would see South Park back on form. But while this episode was hilarious, it stands as one of the very few South Parks I feel may have gone a bit too far across the line of decency.

Most of this episode appears to be parodying the NFL, and as a born and bred Englishmen, this means relatively little to me. The main storyline was still quite funny; Randy sarcastically suggests American Football is made more safe, and accidentally turns the whole sport into a game of being nice to one another.  There’s a lot of good banter in this episode (I loved Cel Lo Green’s cameo; “I’m a big fan of all your hit song!”), and whilst it’s not the most outrageous Randy’s ever been, but makes for a fine episode which I’m sure is even funnier if you follow American football. But Randy misadventures aren’t the problem here. The problem is his star player...

For years, Butters Stotch has been the butt of some of South Park cruellest jokes. Often he’s just a brilliantly written pathetic little kid who we all feel sorry for. But this episode finally gives him the chance to do something right, as his happy personality makes him the perfect sarcastaball player. And when his teammates start to flag, he offers them the secret of his success; the special warm goo that comes out of him when he’s having happy dreams...

So yeah, this episode basically turns into children and sport’s stars everywhere drinking a 9 year-olds semen. Yeah...

Ok, so South Park has done stuff like this before, but that doesn’t make it less gross. It takes a lot for me to feel uncomfortable (the only South Park I’ve turned off during was Eat, Prey, Queef) but this almost had me stop watching. I’m glad I didn’t, because the joke was then repeated and ramped up to the point where it became funny again, but it still wasn’t great watching. I think it was more that it was Butter’s... samples being used that made it so cringe worthy. What’s more, the fact he has no idea what he’s doing because his Dad doesn’t want to explain puberty to him is also nasty. Sometimes the Stotch’s exaggerated abuse of their son can be funny, but here it fell flat. I just felt mortified for the kid.

So this wasn’t exactly my favourite South Park episode. But what it did show was this program hasn’t lost its knack for sick twisted humour, and finding new ways to offend people. It was still a solid episode, and it makes me look forward to watching the rest of the season (with next week promising a full roasting of the monstrous Honey Boo Boo...)

7/10

 

Best Bit: Randy’s blink and you miss it manslaughter. Fantastic.

 

Worst Bit: “Save that... for later...”

 

Robot Chicken – S6EX5 ‘DC Comics Special’, 101 ‘Executed By the State’, 102 ‘Crushed by a Steamroller on my 53^rd Birthday’, 103 ‘Punctured Jugular’

Robot Chicken is also back on Adult Swim, and has already done a lot of good work in improving on the painfully unfunny fifth season. The opener, a ‘DC Comics Special’ ala the previous Star Wars episode was sadly a bit of a disappointment. Probably due to Warner Bros influence, it’s not quite as biting as it could be, and certain jokes seem pretty forced. Sequence such as the Zoo Crew’s funeral, or the Legion of Evil’s boring meetings, never truly sizzle as they should. Neither do the constant ‘Aquaman sucks jokes’, which feel like a wet fish to the face. Hopefully they may do a second set to have a go at getting it right.

However, the series proper has just gone from strength to strength. With a snazzy new title sequence, they’ve mercilessly parodied everything, from Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Starbucks logo and Mary Poppins (who’s being accused of drugging children). Almost all the episodes have hit their punchlines right out of the park. I particularly love the G.I. Joe sketches, which feature C.O.B.R.A being taken down by Seal Team Six. Robot Chicken is back to being the perfect time filler show, and all praise to its creators for getting it back on track!

Scores: 5/10 (DC Comics Special), 8/10 (Executed By the State) 10/10 (Crushed by a Steamroller on my 53^rd Birthday/Punctured Jugular)

Next week more of the same, plus the return of Adventure Time and Regular Show...*

(*Ok, so their not really adult animation... but what do you care, your reading about cartoons!)