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Mike Judge’s new animated sitcom, The Goode Family, premiered on ABC last night and he should probably rename it The Yikes Family because YIKES. Here is the opening sequence, you know, the portion of the show that really draws people in and says “you’re going to want to stay around because there is more where this came from.” Best foot forward, etc.
HUH? Two minutes worth of jokes about political correctness AND a Diddy joke thrown in as a bonus? Was this show written in a cave? In 1992? (UPDATE: was this show ripped off in a cave? In 2005?)
Admittedly, I have mixed feelings about Mike Judge. To help place my reaction to The Goode Family in the historical context of my reaction to previous Mike Judge projects, here are my opinions reduced to reductive mono-syllables:
Beavis and Butthead: Great
Office Space: Good
King of the Hill: Blah
Idiocracy: Great
As you can see, I am not a SUPERfan, but I obviously have enjoyed plenty of his work. I’m just setting up the very real possibility that I could have liked The Goode Family if it was even halfway decent. Idiocracy, for example, has lots of weird problems as a movie, and it looks like it was filmed inside of a cardboard box, but in the end it is very funny, and so it wins. The Goode Family does not win. It is easily the worst thing he has ever done. Let’s talk about why:
WHO IS THIS SHOW FOR?
The show is about a post-hippie hyper-liberal family who have turned their front lawn into a compost heap, know the political affiliations of every supermarket in town, and separate two-ply toilet paper into single ply if they accidentally buy the luxury rolls. Sure. Lord knows there is plenty of hay to be made with the left. The best intentions often sound silly and naive when explained or embraced by someone who doesn’t really understand what they’re talking about. And we’ve all made fun of the dude in the peasant blouse playing with devil sticks to an Enya soundtrack on the south quad. Over-the-top extreme liberals are funny just like everything extreme is funny. And NPR jokes are the funniest jokes.
But these jokes fall flat. For one, they’re totally dated. People recycle now, Mike Judge. People also drive hybrid cars. Neither of those things are inherently silly or make a good wink-wink nudge-nudge punchline. People shop at Whole Foods and they use reusable shopping bags. Lots of people. But here is The Goode Family‘s expert take on that situation:
Perfect, a sweatshop joke is already a winner, always, but when it’s used in conjunction with a character’s status anxiety, with the implication being that the sole reason for doing any of the environmentally conscious or culturally engaged behaviors and activities that the Goode Family do throughout the episode is really just a desperate attempt to win some kind of popularity contest. Nice. I know this is supposed to be humorous, and that in comedy exaggeration is key, but come on. For one, no one actually gives a shit what bag anyone’s carrying (An Inconvenient Bag joke? Seriously?) and second of all, since I suppose I belong in some part to the community being mocked, I’m capable of pointing out that reusable bags never cost anything near $10. They’re affordably priced as an encouragement to consumers to use them. And wait, am I really supposed to believe that a vegan woman who has installed solar paneling on her home and won’t even drive her hybrid for fear of what it will do to the environment has never heard of reusable shopping bags? Because of course she has.
But all of this really takes us back to the question of who this show is for, because if it’s for people who don’t know about urbane, pretentious, liberal living, then these broad stereotypes are probably hilarious, or at least reinforcing of previously held misconceptions. But with an audience like that, you don’t need to get as specific as this show does. Jokes about organic produce and Al Gore are probably enough. The wealth of detailed, highly targeted jokes on this show actually requires an audience of the people it’s making fun of, which as I already mentioned is not impossible, but then you have to actually get it right. Earlier in the Whole Foods section there is a sign of things that are good for you to eat and things that are bad for you to eat, and “farm raised catfish” keeps jumping between the two columns. That’s kind of funny. I actually get that. But the rest of the jokes just feel like they’re demonizing the wrong targets. The Goode family represents an over-enthusiastic dogma of extreme liberalism, yes, but people like that usually have some idea of what they’re doing. They’re not complete retards like these characters. So who am I supposed to be laughing at? The retards?
Maybe not. Because later in the episode the Goode family goes up against envangelical Christians, and it turns out they are the enemy. Boo evangelical Christians! Sure, except that I’m not even done figuring out how I feel about the Goode family. They’re heroes now? But two minutes ago they were ridiculous buffoons? And yes, I recognize that the ridiculous buffoon inevitably turns into the Mike Judge hero, but this show is just too loaded and confused about its underlying philosophy to work that subtle magic. The buffoons aren’t likable, and the buffoonery isn’t funny, and so their heroism is unearned. Sorry, buffoons.
In short: bad.
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They stole that collard greens joke from the Office (see, “Diversity Day”). Lame.
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Lay off King of the Hill – it’s subversive, funny & clever…you know, the opposite of your comment.
aha the GOOD(e) family … very allegorical. touché, Mike Judge.
I think this show is for liberals not in the way The Colbert Report is for liberals – more in the way Margaret Cho’s comedy is for Korean people:
Look at how ridiculous we all are, everybody. We really live like this and it’s hilarious and we’re so self-aware we can laugh at our own absurdities, get it?
eh.
“THE OFFICE DID IT” is the new “SIMPSONS DID IT”.
Oh! And what makes that worse is the fact that Steve Carrel’s wife plays the old man’s daughter. Seriously.
i actually think king of the hill is terribly underrated. and i think the point of both king of the hill and, i’m assuming b/c i haven’t watched it, this show is to present characters that are immensely unlikeable in certain contexts (e.g. hank hill, peggy hill) but have them behave “likeably” in other situations without the cliched transformative i’ve-learned-my-lesson moment. kind of like michael scott. but, again, i haven’t watched this show so maybe i’m completely off.
Cosign about King of the Hill… king of the hill is good for a couple laffs and it’s a nice chill vibe when it’s not that funny. This does look bad, however.
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I saw a promotional EPK for this show a couple of months ago and the two other non-Mike Judge producers looked as though they thought that they had come up with the funniest and most subversive idea. Mike Judge needs to keep making live-action movie gold and not bother with animation that doesn’t look great and simultaneously tries too hard to be funny and unfunny.
I’m going to blame ABC, just like I blame ABC for making Scrubs terrible (aided by Comedy Central who felt the need to air it about 13 hours a day). I actually really liked King of the Hill (I’m a Texan, so I know those guys) and B&B, which were Fox and MTV. ABC is too family oriented for the Judgester
i dislike the look of mike judge animation. the only time i didn’t mind it was in beavis and butthead as it suited those characters and the world they lived in.
To borrow a line from Jerry Seinfeld, I’m not offended as a vegetarian, I’m offended as a comedian.
As someone who’s a politically active Leftie but who often pokes fun at his fellow Lefties, we are certainly ripe for being mocked as much as any other group… but this looks like Mike Judge is half-assing it. Really sad given that he has the talent to make a great show when he wants to.
I am a huge fan of King of the Hill. Probably one of my top 5 favorite shows. It’s first few seasons were kind of slow and boring, but then it really hit a stride. As a series it has more character development and continuity than any other sitcom I’ve watched. The show and characters often reinvented themselves in surprising ways (the Megalo Mart explosion, Peggy becoming paralyzed, Joseph being ‘rebooted’ due to puberty, Cotton’s death, Bobby and Connie’s relationship, Nancy giving up on cheating on Dale with John Redcorn, Peggy’s sanity being questioned openly, the Souphanousinphone moving in, Luanne’s transition from a homebody to college student to wife and mother, etc.) and it’s tone can shift dramatically between episodes (Japan, Y2k, etc).
And the individual episode ‘subjects’ often approach subjects in a way that is more intelligent and practical than other satires. The conservative beliefs of the Hill family are either used to make a straw man or a real argument, depending on Mike Judge’s (usually slightly right leaning) opinion on the topics at hand. It requires a lot of warming up to, but once you ‘get’ the characters it’s really fun to watch.
That said, The Goode Family was one of the most unwatchable things I have ever seen. The jokes were text messaged in and the political polarity of the show was confusing and stupid, and seemed just as extreme as the characters it was making fun of. Though there were a handful of concepts that, abstractly, could be interesting (the fact that they’re too poor to be proper liberals, the daughter and grandfather’s relationship with the mother, and the differences between the husband and wife’s motivations for their beliefs) they were buried under a terrible, terrible, terrible jokes. “WWAGD? … What Would Al Gore Do?” Uhg.
I don’t understand how it’s even possible for this show to happen. It’s like George Lucas creating a new Star Wars trilogy and somehow intentionally making it lack all the subtly and enjoyableness of the originals. It’s the same dude! Mike Judge. You’re better than this. Someone would make a bad joke on the show, and then I would hear Mike Judge’s voice (the dad) and it made my head spin. How is he even allowing this show to happen!
Anyway, it was terrible. But. I think I’m going to force myself to watch it. It’s future will most likely be a quick cancellation or a dramatic overhaul, and either one would make me happy, for different reasons. (I love watching bad shows get bad endings… Did anyone else watch Reaper? Perfect shitty ending.)
Thank you for writing all that so I didn’t have to. King of the Hill, in its peak seasons, is a really brilliant, funny, sweet show. (Totally admit to crying to some of those endings.) This show is really disappointing. The idea of being too poor to be liberal is so ripe for great long running jokes and observations and character development. But these scenes look like some failed pilot from 2004, back when 9,000 books were being written about the red/blue divide.
And I love Reaper. The finale was great but that last scene was a total fail. You have Michael Ian Black in ANGEL WINGS and you’re not going to use that at all? woof.
you started the keyboard cat meme, so i won’t even bother reading this – i just accept it as irrefutable doctrine.
This comment is so flawlessly written that it doesn’t even matter what it’s about.
Will you marry me?
Agreed.
KotH has (had?) the capacity to create episodes of both brilliant satire and total goofiness. For an example of the former, see the episode where Peggy becomes a real estate agent and sells all the houses in a Hispanic neighborhood to hipsters (because that area of town is “like sooo real“) which causes the Hispanic families (one of which is friends with Hank) to be unable to afford their homes.
For an example of the later see the dog dancing episode which contains this line from Bobby: “Well, what was I supposed to do? Not dance with a dog?”
Wow, that’s a lotta words, Brad, and I completely agree. But I wouldn’t be so hard on Judge, though. Seems like it’s more of his friends’ show and he just lent his name to it.
By the way, if I wrote my college entrance exam with half the passion that you put into this post, I would have dropped out of an Ivy League school instead of a state school.
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Whelp then it’s a good thing I only said it in a comment on a blog and not in a pilot airing on a major television network written by professional writers.
No Greg Daniels = gone in 3 episodes
Have to agree with some pro-King folks here. It was generally well written and decent, with characters that have actual moral foundations which are lacking in most programming these days. Instead FOX makes way for another cartoon laced with bad jokes about misogyny, homophobia and intolerance from talking dogs, goldfish and now apparently bears.
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That might be true. I lived in Texas and it’s like my favorite show. And Texas is like my least favorite state.
I can answer your question about who this show is for: my uncle, apparently, since he specifically called my mom and told her to watch it. So, I guess it’s basically for know-it-alls?
No, it’s for dumb people who think they’re smart. OH M GOD, it’s for Peggy Hill. Meta.
Yeah, the most I’ve ever seen a reusable bag sell for was $2, just one way in which this show bears no resemblance whatsoever to reality, as Gabe said. I suppose media outlets like this and blogs like “Stuff White People Like” are supposed to guilt “contemporary affluent whites” for…something….pretension? Whatever. I think no matter what it is that you do, if someone “calls you out” on it then you automatically feel some semblance of shame, even if it is absurd to do so.
Judge is obviously just trying to be topical at the expense of WELL-EARNED LAFFS. I like King of the Hill because even though it focuses on a specific “type” of American, it doesn’t limit the characters to their stereotypes, they are very nuanced and sympathetic. (OH AND IT IS FUNNY.) Whereas this looks like an exaggerated and static portrayal of a group of Americans who don’t actually do anything despicable and probably don’t merit this kind of unbalanced ridicule because in the end, they are dull. And why is their main nemesis “Evangelicals”? As if America is categorically a constant struggle between Obama-loving Whole Foods junkies and Evangelicals?
It sucks that King of the Hill had to leave to make room for the fucking Cleveland Show, and that this show is probably a result of Judge not having to work on KotH anymore. So let me just be the first to assert that we can blame everything that’s wrong about The Goode Family on Seth Macfarlane. Worst!
Not to be Professor Goode Family, but I think only the wife’s nemesis was evangelicals, not the rest of the family. She’s being a hippie to lash out against her red-blooded-american father, the husband is just a hippie because he was raised that way. And I think the daughter and dog are just forced to be that way by the parents. And then Ubuntu is just a bad character. Sigh. Why am I still thinking about this show. Forget it Brad, it’s Goode Family town.
Okay.
Gotta agree with the King of the Hill defenders, here. I got hired as an animator on that show out of college, and at the time was like, “Meh. King of the Hill. Which one’s the mom again?” And this was like season 8. Then I was completely blown away at how underrated and underappreciated it actually was/is. The characters are ridiculously solid, and the situations from episode to episode consistently put the characters in really oh-that-would-drive-him/her-nuts conflicts. Blah blah blah. I really thought my opinion of that show was “blah”, too, until I was sitting at a desk drawing the characters and actually being forced to watch it. Now it’s like in my top 5. And I would definitely not say that of other shows I’ve worked on since, so that’s not some “too close” bias or anything, either.
Hey. I saw some of your cartoons on YouTube before. Small Internet.
It is a small web after all.
Blasphemy, King of the Hill slays everytime
i did not even crack a smile during the goode family, it was trying too hard to be funny and i couldn’t tell if they were making fun of liberals or siding with liberals
That skin tight shirt bothers me.
The commercial made me laugh, because the whole “being judged at a grocery store for not having re-usable bags” thing has definitely happened to me before. Couldn’t be arsed to watch the show though, only so many ways to spin a joke from that yarn.
Wyatt Cenac worked on King of the Hill for three years! His name is in the credits and everything! And everyone loves the office right? Right. Well Greg Daniels was the co-creator and longtime head writer for King of the hill from its inception up to when he left for the office, King of the Hill is pretty damn good and it has a lot of the humor you see in all of our faves like the office and the simpsons and the daily show. I used to hate it but that was before i started paying attention and being smart. So i think you people who don’tlike it should give it another chance. Cenac Attack bitches!
I live in London and I loved ‘King Of The Hill’. Wasn’t always great but some episodes are up there. Sounds to me like some of you made a fast decision early on and never properly gave it a chance.
As for this, I loved the vegan dog going nuts. How could you not find a starving dog funny (fish bones aside)? He’s like Staines!
Give a show a couple of episodes at least!
I thought the same thing when I saw it: Who is this for? I consider myself a pretty big liberal (though admittedly not as much on environmental issues) and even I didn’t understand half the references. How are conservatives supposed to? Conservatives aren’t going to laugh at stuff they don’t understand, even if its making fun of their enemies, and liberals aren’t going to laugh because, no matter what anyone says, no one likes to laugh at themselves. Asking hardcore liberals to laugh at this would be like asking hardcore Christians to laugh at an entire show based around the Flanders family. Its not funny when the jokes are making fun of your beliefs, especially when they are a gross exaggeration. So who exactly is supposed to like this?
Yeah fuck you, King of the Hill is great
Beating a dead horse here, but King of the Hill=really fucking great.
And fuck that dude who made fun of that other dude for saying KOTH had a “chill vibe.” How else would you describe it’s, err, chill vibe?
I second that.
oh ugh, bummer dude. also: you guys all know king of the hill is over right?
I don’t understand all the vitriol King of the Hill gets. I never really watched it when it was on, but whenever I see reruns it cracks me up. I think I didn’t get into it because it started when I was a teenager, and I think maybe you have to be more of an adult to get it.
So, up here in Portland, OR. hippy central, the big giant chain stores sell reusable bags for 99 cents. Lots of good liberal stuff is more expensive. Organic food is more expensive. Those fun wooden Brio train sets I used to have cost about as much a a Nintendo Wii. Re-usable bags are not expensive. Also you can just bring a backpack or duffle bag.
It’s hard to relate to something when the fundamental details are so wrong.
Does anyone remember this? (2:00) It foreshadows both shows.
It seems pretty obvious that this show is for the “Stuff White People Like” crowd, which likely includes many videogum readers. This show was more slightly above average than bad.
Also, reusable bags can be $10+.
?Nice Guy?? is to Creep what ?Regular Guy?? is to Goode Family Watcher. Allow me to illustrate:http://regularthoughts.blogspot.com/
…now you can take a long hot shower and try to forget…
I hadn’t even heard of this show. I’m late to this post so I’ll be brief.
1) KotH actually is pretty awesome. (I am from TX, though.)
2) This show was kind of bumpy, but this is the pilot, right? Maybe it’ll straighten itself out. But what do I know. I liked Sit Down, Shut Up.
3) Office Space >>>> Idiocracy (though both are good)
Mike Judge is known for making comedy that promotes a conservative ideology.
http://www.isteve.com/Film_Idiocracy.htm
So, I doubt this film is meant for liberals or progressives to poke fun at themselves.
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King of the Hill is great. It grows on you as you get into it. This show, on the other hand, sucks. The characters just don’t feel real. The thing about Mike Judge’s comedy is that it’s easy to imagine any of his characters existing and being real people (even Idiocracy is, in a fantastical, deeper-truth sort of way, totally believable). With The Goode Family it’s only too obvious that these are just caricatures set up for the easy laugh. I got the impression that the highly specific stuff was Judge and crew’s attempt at nailing that authenticity he’s famous for, but they failed miserably because they don’t really have the personal experience and understanding to draw from like they did on King of the Hill.
I think the intended audience is people in the more traditionally conservative red-meat type parts of America who are currently feeling the slow creep of “progress” and liberalism and vegan stuff and so on, so they recognize it fairly easily and can even acknowledge some kind of human truth behind it (Democrats’r good folks too, y’all, etc., sorry). But the green left is still mostly alien to them, and while they have a growing familiarity with it, they certainly don’t consider themselves part of it and don’t really want to be, either.
On the other hand, it’s probably just sloppy television.
Watch The Goode Family – Season 1 Episode 1 | http://www.virallity.com/link/146265/The-Goode-Family-Season-1-Episode-1/
1. King of the Hill is an excellent show. Period.
2. All the people who are obviously offended because they relate closely to the characters in this show, but are hiding behind a thin veil of “well this show just sucks in general” need to shut up. Get over yourselves. Not everything has to be politically charged. Is okay to enjoy this show without questioning its political leanings.
3. Its not that great but there were a few funny parts, and I am definitely willing to give the show a chance to grow into something great like King of the Hill. You can’t really write off a whole series coming from someone like Mike Judge based on a pilot.
The problem seems to be that none of you know how to interpret something that makes an over-the-top, well considered mockery of you, the liberal middle class PC crowd. The best cue that recordingDR is right in his analysis is that you (the author) chose the word “demonizing”. Nobody was being demonized. People were being made fun of. Get over yourself.
“People shop at Whole Foods and they use reusable shopping bags. Lots of people.”
See, this is why it’s funny. Most people — the vast majority actually — do NOT shop at Whole Foods. Indeed, most places don’t even have access to a Whole Foods store. And most of the people who live near one do, in fact, laugh at those who shop there. What is probably funniest, in fact, is the Goode Family’s obliviousness to just how silly they are — which is what makes your reaction to it so priceless.
They’re not complete retards like these characters
I live in a big liberal stronghold, and they are complete retards like these characters. They are not as good as others or as smart as others. Liberals really should be required to have a hall pass to go to the bathroom by themselves.
Anyone see episodes 2 & 3? Pretty good, IMO.