‘The Goode Family’: Animation Continues to Save Political Satire on TV
by John Scott LewinskiSince the election of Barack Obama, aggressive political parody has been hard to come by outside of Comedy Central. But, as noted here on Big Hollywood, ABC and Mike Judge are taking on political correctness and progressive activists with The Goode Family.
When Bush and Cheney left office, they became old news. Mocking them now is like making Eisenhower jokes, but that doesn’t stop the occasional hack like Wanda Sykes trotting out tired material. And Obama seems off limits lest anyone wants to look like a buzz kill during the ever-lengthening, forced-fed honeymoon. In fact, the only show that really dared effectively to venture into political mockery consistently this season was South Park.
Mike Judge
And spare me any mention of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Both shows kiss the Democratic ass (the donkey, I mean) all week until they realize how biased they’ve become. Then they scramble around to make fun of some minor Dem Congressman for 30 seconds and applaud their own objectivity. Meanwhile, Stewart rages at every conservative cause he can find with the furor (not the wit) of Murrow until he’s called on it. Then he scrambles back into his hole screaming, “I’m only a comic!”
Fortunately, The Goode Family levels the satirical skills of Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill) at the taboo supporters of global warming, racial hypersensitivity, animal rights and any other cause over-hyped by self-righteous busybodies.
When critics say it’s the wrong time to make such jokes, it’s exactly the time to make such jokes.
The Goodes live an obsessively “green” existence while obsessing over political correctness until they’re tied in knots. In other words, Judge isn’t attacking cleaning up the environment or treating others with respect. That’s all well and “goode.” He’s teasing those who over-think such choices so much and devote themselves to such thinking so blindly they lose sight of their own well-being and why they were doing it all in the first place.
It’ll be interesting to see how well a show does that deliberately ribs people who often lack a sense of humor. If the reviews we’re seeing so far are any indication, the hard left media had its nose turned up with a collective “You dare to offend me, sir…” before they even saw a screener.
Let’s hope this new show is a success because those same smug critics don’t dare touch a show like South Park because it’s too big for such a tussle. Only decent ratings will get the whiny pundits off Judge’s back now.
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The reluctance of the late night comics to poke fun at the current White House is summed up in this mock headline: "Late Night Comedians Break Obama Joke Silence; Mock President’s Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage, then Compete for His Hand in Matrimony." The full article is here:
http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/05/late-night-co...
Apparently Mike Judge and his cohorts on this show are the ThoughtCriminals of the day. I wonder how long they can hold out before being forced to confess to their crimes.
They may have to make a cartoon similar to the one Bin Laden "made" in the south park episode about Mohammed. "I am the President Bush and I love to crap"
I actually enjoyed it. I loved the humour.
Very good first episode. I hope the ratings are high. Loved the bug-eaten squash the dad was holding at the beginning of the episode.
"It's just a cartoon," Remember how many times when we heard that, after the outcry by the right regarding, Bevis & Butt Head or South Park? Not that it will make any difference to the left now.
I watched the first episode and came away with mixed feelings. The swipes at the PC crowd were all in the form of one liners and snide remarks while the main thrust for the episode concentrated on the theme of teenage abstinence. All of the jabs at the PC crowd revolved around the theme of how ridiculous teenage abstinence was and included scenes of women talking about their daughters sex lives in the supermarket openly while making fun of the purity dance.
Sure they poked fun at the DMV, black guy giving a white guy a license with race shown as African American. He was from South Africa, all the while their supposedly vegan dog was going around the neighborhood making snacks out of everybody else's pet, but still the central theme revolved around making fun of a conservative Christian value.
Once they make the central theme an all out bash fest of liberal PC nonsense then they will be on the right track, instead of just using them as throwaway lines.
Make fun of Obama and they will take away your auto dealership.
There's very little that appeals more than lampooning the self-righteous:
http://www.mcphee.com/items/11948.html
I enjoyed the show, especially Che the dog and the grandfather. Hope we see more of them. The outrage over flag pins was pretty funny.
I loved the concept for the show and I wanted to love it. I only ended up liking it, but I will watch next week. Loved the neurotic Mrs. Goode; found the promise ring bit a bit dull. Still, the show is a lot funnier (and edgier) than most of the stuff out there. And any show that makes fun of Al Gore is worth watching.
Aw, you poor little victim
I wanted to like it, but didn't find it very funny. I also don't know how they can go forward without repeating the same basic jokes week after week.
now YOU are being too sensitive
be nice, now, auntie… we are talking about something close to your little left wing heart- cartoons.
You probably still watch all your 'Captain Planet' re-runs- no 'Clutch Cargo' for you.
People seem to misunderstand the nature of a pilot: they're usually very broad because they are trying to get the series picked up. As time goes by they refine the show.
I liked it. I didn't think it was the best show ever (as others have mentioned, South Park (when it's on target) is probably the best show at mocking left-wingers) but it made me and my wife laugh and roll our eyes at each other because we know lefties like that. Doesn't everybody? I think the son is a pretty poorly-written character as he stands, and the 'rebellious daughter' angle is a bit played out, but otherwise the characters were funny.
Best line: "I'm sorry I used so much gas, dad." "It's okay, son. The important thing is that we feel guilty about it."
Actually they were making fun not of the absitinence crowd actually twice they went out of their way to say these women had higher self esteem, made more money, had happier marriages, and graduated with higher grades and degrees. They were making fun of the PC crowd's rejection of a good value (patriotism and abstinence) that ultimately proves to be better for their children but the PC crowd doesn't care because it's not trendy and being cool is all they care about.
The show really brutally painted liberals as hollow people who mindlessly follow each other not out of any real interest in doing something good but simply because they do not want to look bad in front of their similarily sheep-like peers. That was what I took from it.
I got a chance to watch the show last night. Very funny, but they look and sound like my neighbors. Judge still has a way to go,though, before he can match the San Francisco "smug" moving over South Park.
I agree the son is a bit bland but may be able to develop. The basic problem is going to be the overall likability of really aggravating characters. They well pretty well have to make Bliss the protagonist (similar to how Bobby was in King of the Hill) because the rest of the family is simply annoying. Imagine the fun they could have with Bliss falling for a Conservative Christain.
I am tired of the usual white-man-bad-woman-good shtick. Hot blonds with large breasts are common place – thanks to bleach, surgery, and a credit cards. So the only shock value is animal sex or partially naked gay sex. Hollywood is facing an entertainment bankruptcy.
I laughed several times. Good, not great. Solid start.
The most devastating scene, IMO, was in the grocery store when it showed all the groupthink and the intense pressure to conform. The smug self-righteousness was DEAD ON. The killer line at the end was (paraphrased) "Attention shoppers, the driver of the SUV is in Aisle 4. He's wearing a baseball cap."
Idiocracy should be viewed by every American. A discussion period should follow the viewing….This guy gets it….We will all be too stupid to function without our celebrity Totus telling us what to do.
Anti– your victim mentality feeling competition?
WeaponX, you're exactly right. That's how I read the whole 'abstinence' angle of the episode.
You are still here? Talk about thick.
I listen to the Obama – no matter what he does, it's for the greater good – crowd, I think of Idiocracy. We did not accept everything Bush did as gospel – just in case Auntie or any other lemming thinks we followed, lock step – we didn't. But these people are accepting of everything their lefty prophets, like Al Gore and Obama, are shoving at them and the look totally ridiculous and a little scary that they are this blind, but they are very fun to watch. And any caricature of that is also fun to watch. I live up near Seattle and you can just sit at a coffee shop and see lots of Goode families, for real. Also very funny.
ditto!
Agree with Siberian, good not great. I hope Judge gets a chance at building this show.
For an eco-hypocrisy fix, click here:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d6ad04ce4/eco-c...
Where's the pie?
once again, auntie did not deliver on the yummy goods. We need to go to ACORN rallys and hold up PIE NOW! signs in order to get her to fill our order…
Stewart and Colbert drool because they make fun of our guys! Mike Judge rulez because he makes fun of their guys! We're not just as biased as everybody we complain about! Yay us! Libs drool!
King of the Hill achieved the highest possible quality for the type of show that is clever and aware without being mean or snarky. It was so refreshing to watch. It leaned a little conservative on the whole, but it wasn't afraid to gently mock the sensibilities of the characters it is clearly affectionate toward. In contrast with South Park, which I love but which is also mean in the extreme, King of the Hill is a masterpiece of a show that can be hilarious by ribbing instead of punching. It was a show that, unlike most modern animated fare that isn't for children, did not have a chip on its shoulder or an overwhelming sanctimony, which make it infinitely better than Family Guy, for example. Mike Judge can eviscerate his subjects when he wants–and that looks like it might be the case with The Goode Family–but my favorite work of his will always be King of the Hill. It might be my favorite animated show of all time.
Even if they were making fun of Evangelicals, it's fair game. I thought it rounded out the show and didn't paint it as a "right-wing" diatribe.
Really liked how Ms. Goode turned the tables in this scene, rescuing herself, after being eyed with contempt by her eco-enlightened peers for forgetting her reusable bags…
"Reusable bags are made in sweatshops, you know…"
Judge would be smart to setup back-and-forth second-guessing like this, on subjects like recycling (and the energy consumed and pollution created by recycling processes) … would be very thought-provoking and cognitively-dizzying.
EDIT: vvv Cranky and me on same page…
The grandfather was voiced by Bill Murray's big brother, Brian Doyle-Murphy. I think the character's resemblance was intentional too. I like the talent they have. Remember David Herman from MadTV and Office Space?
I loved her comeback when she decided to not have paper or plastic. "Burlap bags are made in sweatshops." The entire checkout line squirms.
I think I am going to have to rewatch the pilot when ABC posts it online.. I only caught the last 15 minutes but thought they were pretty funny.
I was just confused as to why a White South African would have been called Ubuntu… it didn't make too much sense to me so it was only mildly humorous… but maybe I am taking that too literally…
I once watched a student/hippie type berate a convienience store clerk about carrying some brand of something. I was right behind him in line.
I was furious but did nothing. One of my greatest shames was not butting in and telling the kid to screw off and stop bothering the nice minority guy.
Would you believe that this was on Haight St. near the Panhandle?
You all love to nail John Stewart, I think, because he is smarter than you. But you cannot say he tows the left line. He railed on Obama for flip-flopping last Monday and it was not in a delicate fashion either.
I have been a fan of Judge longer than Stewart and Colbert. But I like the CC boys more. Can't we all just get along? I loved "Idiocracy" and "B&B Do America" more than "Half Baked". Its a wash over all.
If you start picking fights with Stewart and Colbert you're going to vindicate the Left. I used to love Olberman, until he decided he wants Obama's love child. I had hoped his contempt went both ways. Sadly, I can't stand him anymore. If you take anything away from this, take away that I, a balanced individual think you should stop the name calling and just give them less to crack jokes about so they start picking on their own.
Stewart is a hater – narcissistic and shallow-minded – but gifted otherwise with a quick wit and instincts for playing an audience. Colbert likewise. These guys are masters at cashing in on people's facile prejudices.
Thing about them is they choose easy, PC-approved targets – whites, Christians, businessmen, capitalism, Republicans, "the system."
Judge, by contrast, has never been a hater. He just recognizes a species of hypocrite that in our society goes almost invariably uncriticized.
Gotta give him credit: His target here is a PC taboo. Environmentalists are the modern world's equivalent of the righteous and irreproachable religious sect.
Well I personally like the Dog, since they are not feeding him, Said dog is doing what dogs use to do, go out and collect there own meat. And since the Dog is killing and eating other peoples pets, is name Che. And we all know what a murdering piece of work he was. It make a lot of sense to me, most would not get it. I wonder how they are going to address this missing pets thing. I should be a hoot to watch.
"Stewart and Colbert drool because they make fun of our guys! Mike Judge rulez because he makes fun of their guys! We're not just as biased as everybody we complain about! Yay us! Libs drool! "
Wipe your mouth, you're drooling.
Hey, don't blame ME!
You and yours support this kind of behavior.
If you can't take the heat, get back to the kitchen and hustle us up that pie!
In the meantime, we shall continue to laugh heartily.
Even Ol' Lonesome Joe knows Hopey can't get off of mainlining teleprompter, from the speech he gave at the AF Academy.
We find that hilarious!
Siberian Khatru, great song.
Didn’t see the first show, however my TIVO is set and ready, can’t wait.
I do want to see this show continue. I think it would benefit from a character that was outside of the loop of the believes of the Goodes just to have a reaction to the weirdness of them. Nice start for a show being so lampooned.
The "gas" line was one of my favorites
Feeling guilty about using the gas, and the SUV guy in aisle 4 were the best two lines of the show, and I liked the show better than I thought I would.
I wonder, though, if they'll put the abstinence "documentary" in its "Michael Moore" style in future episode. It'd be interesting to see how they play that.
See you all at the minority convention in Memphis.
And another thing… speaking of animated series.
I wonder if Comedy Central has the cahones to do a series called "Lil Barry". Don't count on it.
Good start, potential to get better. King of the Hill became good as the characters were developed, this is the same type of show. Hank Hill's references to Tom Landry were funny not so much because Tom Landry is funny, but because it revealed something of the quirks in Hank's personality.
Your point about how they 'appear' to their peers was proven when they were hiding from the camera while at the church, so they woulnd't be seen there.
"You all love to nail John Stewart, I think, because he is smarter than you."
Stewart has a team of writers to do his thinking for him. I guess that makes him smarter than you, too.
I think the show has a lot of promise, but being a summer fill-in, I'm not sure it will get a chance to see it through. All great comedies need 10-15 episodes to find their legs so I hope it will get that chance.
Like others my favorite part was the grocery store scene. The only way that could have been better was to see the apples decline in quality as they became more "correct" and expensive.
Naming the dog Che is brilliant. Here we have a homicidal dog terrorizing every animal in the neighborhood. Sound like any dictators to you?
I liked the jokes about the produce and the bags (and not ashamed to admit I've got a trunk full), but it didn't bowl me over. Considering it got whupped in the overnights by something on Univision called "Cuidado con el Angel," it seems like its total viewership is posting in this thread. They shouldn't have put it anywhere near the NBA playoffs.
I just watched it online. Not bad. I'm a sucker for uncomfortable racial humor.
It needs some more time to develop and I agree with the previous posters who said all the humor seemed to come from a "PC checklist." I say future episodes should revolve around a single topic, as opposed to throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
And being a Mike Judge project, when is the great Stephen (Bill/Milton) Root gonna show up?
I think he built a straw man over the over the top purity rite, but in truth, the daughter didn't want to have sex, the parents learned that that was an ok position, even though those who promoted abstinance wore those 'hated' flag pins and crosses.
It was a delight to see the sheep mentality of the leftists skewered at the supermarket, the "I support our troops and their opponents" ridiculed, and racial hypersensitivity taken down.
Hopefully the show will get better now that the introductions to the characters is done.
LIked the hapless black neighbor who is just going along with his crazy white neighbors.
"Memphis."
It seemed to me that the show took the moonbat meanie greenies to task for their BS while giving the dingbat retarded-right crowd a good dose of the same medicine.
As a libertarian I find both groups noxious and in need of a good comeuppance. I'm glad that the show didn't try to pander to anyone, it gave the spankings where the spankings were needed.
Brian Doyle-Murray is very funny, most notably in Caddyshack. I remember David Herman. He also showed up in Idiocracy as one of the members of the Cabinet. Maybe in the future, Office Space and King of the Hill alum Stephen Root will voice one of the characters.
Ugh. Just watched it on hulu. I wanted to like it, but it just wasn't funny. Reminded me of an old parody of an SNL skit on the Simpsons where Krusty was on SNL. The skit was "The Big Ear Family". Everyone had really big ears, and every joke was that they had big ears and Krusty was getting made at the audience because the audience stopped laughing after it got old after about 10 seconds. Same here. I get it. They're wacko environmentalists. It's not that funny to keep pointing out that the big ear family has big ears or that the wacko environmentalist family is wacko environmentalists.
Maybe they named him that when they adopted him. Seems like the Goodes would be the type of people to pick an ethnic African name before they even met the baby.
Can comedy kill Obama’s green lies? I think we will find out.
I thought the first episode was really funny. I hope this show finds a huge audience!
but did you not feel the desire to take a screencap of the Goode Family and paste the faces of libs you know over the faces of the toons?
There are people crawling on the face of the Earth just like that.
The pilot was bland because they had to get it under the razor wire fence of political correctness. Threw them a bone about chastity pledges so the media wouldn't curl up in their beds with their binkies.
We got a lot of criers out there, semi appeasement is needed to save our eardrums.
The first time I watched it, I liked it, but found it a bit stiff. The second time through with the Ladyfaire, who is a bit more liberal than I, she and I both laughed out loud.
Perhaps we conservatives are hoping so desperately hard for a good show that we find it hard to enjoy one when it shows up.
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