‘Goode Family’ Canceled, Too Left for ABC
by S.T. Karnick
Proving once again its claim to the hotly contested title of Stupidest Television Network, ABC has canceled “The Goode Family” and “Surviving Suburbia,” continuing their business strategy of desperately trying new things and failing to give them a chance to succeed.
No wonder the cab/sat USA Network actually beat ABC (and the CW network) in the national ratings last week. USA’s formula of original series with unusual but likable characters and sound values carries consistently impressive audience appeal.
Although the ABC cancellations were expected–given the fact that the network had brilliantly moved both series to Friday night, a network television Dead Zone, thus guaranteeing that the shows would not be able to generate an audience over time–they nonetheless prove that ABC hates anything with decent values and ideas and cannot appreciate good, solid entertainment with real sense (Castle being the rare exception).
Expertly produced by Mike Judge (”Beavis and Butthead,” “King of the Hill,” “Office Space”), the animated sitcom “The Goode Family” expertly satirized the conformist, braindead nature of much Green thinking and brilliantly identified the movement’s evolution into a commercialized lifestyle. Judge and co. also made merciless fun of countless other aspects of lefty conventional thinking, such as the passion for being seen as encouraging homosexuality and supporting public radio and other big-government nonsense.
They accomplished all this, moreover, while managing to make the central characters likable in spite of the silliness of their pursuits, by emphasizing their good intentions.
Naturally, Disney-owned ABC, widely known as the “gayest” network and a tireless promoter of statist hedonism, couldn’t tolerate the program once it realized what Judge and co. were actually delivering.
Given the high expense of animated shows, it’s unlikely that “The Goode Family” will be picked up by a cable network. It would seem perfect for Fox, of course, but that network seems committed to destroying the last semblances of taste and common sense in this society through its presentation of Seth McFarlane animated shows such as “Family Guy” and “American Dad.”
Like “The Goode Family,” the Bob Saget sitcom “Surviving Surburbia” was a sprightly, often satirical comedy which promoted sound values. Naturally, it couldn’t last on the network that has long promoted itself as the youthful, innovative, clever alternative but has in fact become a stagnant, boring bastion of statist hedonism.
Coming after the cancellation of the interesting and appealingly unconventional police comedy-drama “The Unusuals,” the jettisoning of “The Goode Family” and “Surviving Suburbia” show that even as it plunges ever-further into the ratings basement, ABC refuses to deviate from its evident mission of pushing modern liberalism instead of providing good, appealing television.
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110 Comments
I hope someone else picks it up…..need to see more episodes!
I got rid of my TV/cable service 3 years ago, and I haven't missed it one bit.
I do Netflix. Now I watch what I wantto watch instead of what THEY want me to watch.
Nothing on TV is worth 70 bucks a month.
I can say anything that points fun at the left will be relegated to the garbage heap….Which is truly pathetic… but being that the left has POWER over ALL (99%) of the media this will happen time and time again…..
Yup. Only good things on ABC are Lost and Castle. CBS has NCIS, the various CSIs and How I Met Your Mother, FOX still has Dollhouse and Bones, but they are a network intent on giving us a taste of good programming only to drop it like it's hot (Terminator, New Amsterdam, etc.) NBC has Chuck, and everything else we watch is on USA.
The Goode Family was one of the shows I tivo'ed. I liked it, but it did not quite have the charm or the characters that King of the Hill enjoyed. I agree that Mike Judge did a good job presenting the issues surrounding liberal/environmental ideology, but I am not convinced that it had the legs for a weekly sitcom. To do it right, it would need to find the right cable network and then really take the gloves off, i.e. South Park or Family Guy. But then, no tv executive would want to be near it….Youtube anyone???
[...] Read More: August 18th, 2009 | Tags: ABC, Big Hollywood, Goode Family | Category: Entertainment, Left all the way | Leave a comment [...]
[...] ABC canceled The Goode Family. What did they expect after dumping it to Friday nights. Oh well. Kudos to ABC for jumping ship and not allowing it to gather a following. [...]
Could not agree more about Family Guy and American Dad. They crossed the line between humor and just trying to be offensive several seasons back and I have not watched them since. I do not find McFarlane funny, witty, or even edgy. I do find him tiresome and a tad boring as shock will only take you so far.
Speaking of NBC. How is it that Universal can successfully run USA which has some great series on it, but almost completely tanks with NBC? Even Sci-Fi, for all of it's stupid decisions, has some redeeming shows.
It seems that ABC has some ex SciFi execs working for them.
Fox is paying seth macfarlane $100 million for 3 shows. I'm sure they've got a couple of bucks for Mike Judge. How about giving him his old King of the Hill time slot?
Someone will pick it up. Maybe even cartoon network. They revived Family Guy.
I hate to say it by The Goode Family…sucked. I watched every episode in hopes that it might improve, but it didn't. It was a great premise, with a lot of great ideas, but it didn't produce any quality episodes. I hope someone picks it up and gives it another chance, but with the ratings that it was getting, ABC had little choice.
At least we still have King of the Hill reruns. Hank was as stalwart and unapologetically conservative a character as there ever was on TV. While they did poke fun at him he was almost always proved right and never had to "change".
Given the choice of resurrecting either I'd say bring back Hank!
ABC: the All Barack Channel.
I agree with you about Castle. The first season was cute. I expect it to get cancelled as a result. Most "free" network shows I like tend to be on CBS since they traditionally have done dramas for older audiences. Most of the shows I liked get cancelled though. To name a few: E-Ring, The Agency; Smith; The Unit; 11th Hour. I like N.C.I.S. but do we really need an L.A. version or three C.S.I.'s? I do like Mentalist; Simon Baker does a great job with that character. ABC seems to me like a "Desparate Housewives" kind of culture.
Say, someone in the business on the left coast or in N.Y., do television networks actually have to TURN a PROFIT? Is it, how should I say this, *neccessary*? Can the just exist strictly as propaganda arms fro the DomocratSS? Could a broadcasting disaster like ABC ever actually fail? Could we be witnessing the end of primetime news on so-called major networks? Did anyone foresee a day when a cable channel would out-draw a so-called major?
I had this argument years ago with a leftist professor of broadcast communications when I told him the info he was teaching concerning ratings was outfdated due to the expolsion of cable and cable exclusive content. He scoffed…
It's now SyFy. They changed the name to appeal to women and get rid of the quote "nerd audience."
"They changed the name to appeal to women and get rid of the quote "nerd audience."
I thought they were after the spelling impaired.
CBS also has the brilliant "The Big Bang Theory".
Expected BS, but BS nonetheless (or crap of bull as it may be).
Didn't even think about it till Karnick tied them together above, but ABC actually had the makings of another Friday night family theme on its hands (what'd they call it in the 90s when Sabrina, Urkel and Duffy & Somers' Step by Step aired?). F'in f-balls!
I like the Goode Family, as least it tried to show the "funny" side of being PC. Oh how I long for the days of "All in the Family, or Sanford & Son. Whatever happened to letting people laugh at themselves?
I like the Goode Family, as least it tried to show the "funny" side of being PC. Oh how I long for the days of All in the Family, or Sanford & Son. Whatever happened to letting people laugh at themselves?
Somebody used to make wagon wheels and buggy whips. they will be saying the same thing about network TV and soon. I know I give up on them. With 24×7 Talk radio and the Internet, who needs them?
ABC has Scrubs now and NBC has The Office and 30 Rock (I know it's not for everyone but I think it's hilarious).
ABC also has a show called Better Off Ted which has featured some good satirical gags, including a plot about the "greening" of the company and how big the project becomes even though no one has any idea what it is.
I, too, was disappointed to see Fox cancel The Sarah Connor Chronicles. (And damn ABC for cancelling Pushing Daisies!)
Three words: Turner. Classic. Movies.
Sometimes I think they just want to get rid of the audience.
Our whole family watched The Goode Family every week. We truly enjoyed the hilarious, well made, family oriented shows. The Goode Family was a relief from the trash that passes for television now. We really hope it gets picked up on another network. We'll follow it where ever it goes.
I am going to miss the Goode Family. It was a funny, witty show that did'nt stoop to the "shock value" type comedy that is so overused in today's movies and television shows. I am not a lib but I have to say that the show was not mean spirited, unlike Family Guy, American Dad and the Simpsons. To be honest I am surprised it lasted as long as it did. I hope another station picks it up or maybe like an earlier poster reported, ABC runs it in the summer months.
NBC has some great shows. Chuck and Friday Night Lights balance out a lot of crap.
I'm almost 100% certain the idiots at ABC killed off Better Off Ted. Please tell me I'm wrong about that!
I guess ABC thinks that keeping Stossell on board is enough to be fair and balanced.
The Goode Family failed because it for some reason didn't work. It was too forced into its premise and didn't flow that well. Judge is a genius, probably my favorite writer/director, but unlike the Family Guy, King of the Hill and South Park, the Goode Family was all politics all the time where as those shows have built characters first and then deal with politics. I also have to say as a conservative that I didn't always feel it put forth our message, just ridiculed liberals which I loved. However the liberals were still always the good guys. But even for something I love to see like liberal liberal it came off as preachy…when South Park does it they make a much better case. The best conservative show ever is King of the Hill (also Judge) but most people don't even realize it because it flows so naturally.
I don't know for a fact. I'm harboring hope it comes back but I suggest you check for yourself to be sure.
I've been saying the same thing since the writer's strike. If they really wanted to do something, they would have gone completely online. It's gonna happen anyway.
My favorite line from The Goode Family:
Bliss: "I'll get a job"
Gerald: "Ugh! that's so…Conservative."
ESPN
Nice one. Mine, as delivered brilliantly by David Koechner:
Cranky: You know what I think’s funny?
[throws lesbian customers out the door]
Cranky: Oh, look, the parking lot’s got two mommies!
I agree with you Walker.
Although I liked the show and the way it poked at the the whole earth mother lefty movement, it just wasn't as strong as Judges previous efforts.
Big fan of Mike Judge and what he was doing with Goode Family, but it just wasn't there.
It was a one-joke show……and the one joke wasn't very funny even if you wanted to laugh at their pc/lib dumbness.
ABC Family (which has very few "family" shows compared to the network's two previous owners) is guilty of this as well. The Middleman deserved much better. The last episode wasn't even made, so they're releasing it as a graphic novel.
Agreed. I rarely watch tv anymore and if I do it's only for the 5 minutes it takes me to put in a dvd or play a videogame instead.
I don't know if you can count Scrubs anymore as that show jumped the shark a few years ago (even before the big "war in Iraq" episode) and 3/4ths of the cast (including the main character) will be gone for the upcoming 9th season.
Anyone else find it a bit ironic that the biggest anti-government character on TV is on a show on NBC?
Ron Swanson in 2012
Yes! I forgot the Big Bang Theory! Bastards moved it past my bedtime, though.
True… just putting it out there.
I honestly have no idea what to expect from the new season at this point.
Double damn ABC for canceling Pushing Daisies! Good point.
i loved the goode family, one of the animated shows we watched and enjoyed each week. i do enjoy the family guy/american dad cartoons also, sometimes feel guilty for laughing, but i really liked the message of the goode family (even tried to get some of my liberal friends to watch it). was a comical and non-confrontational look at the double standard in the left and not ANOTHER one poking fun at the right, all while not being offensive. i will miss it and hope it returns. ABC can $uck it.
Same here. I still liked the show up to now, I just tended to notice more clunkers than there used to be. On a side note, I'm not sure how big of a Bill Lawrence fan you are, but another great tv show that was cancelled after 1 season was a show called Clone High.
Ironically, it was absolutely hilarious and witty and was actually on MTV (to this day it's the only show they've done in the last 20 years I've liked). Bill Lawrence created and wrote the show, and coincidentally the whole main cast of scrubs did the voices, with the exception of Judy Reyes, whatshisname that plays Dr. Kelso, and the guy that plays Ted. Everybody else is in it.
You can find it for less than $20 on dvd on amazon (usually), and it's totally worth it.
And yet they killed off Mystery Science Theater 3000 because it wasn't sci-fi enough.
And yet they killed off Mystery Science Theater 3000 because it wasn't sci-fi enough. Who the f__k are they aiming for?
And yet they killed off Mystery Science Theater 3000 because it wasn't sci-fi enough. Who the f__k are they aiming for?
Parks and Recreation, right? The actor who plays Ron is great… one of those guys that makes me laugh just the way he gives the other actors deadpan stares, like "Why am I here with these idiots?"
Hey Latino4Liberty,you've got me going. What character are you referring to on NBC?
Okay,I tracked it down to Parks and Recreation which I don't watch as I figured it was another 30 Rock left fest..
I wondered when Goode first came on if there was enough material to make it through the first year…boy, did Mike Judge prove me wrong. It was evolving nicely with character development and the Goode family was starting to take root – on it's way to becoming a TV staple. ABC could have had a winner – but THEY DON'T now. Thanks for nothing ABC.
I watched 4 or 5 episodes of "The Goode Family". Just didn't enjoy it. The characters seemed weak and it lacked punch. Not surprised it got canceled.
I was pretty POed they canceled Life on Mars as well. What a crock ABC is!!
30 Rock switches every few weeks and becomes fair but on bad episodes it becomes really lefty. At it's best the liberal Liz is just as goofy and screwed up as Jack and it becomes one of the funniest shows on TV. The episode where she realizes her feminist mentor is joke was one of the best skewering of liberals on TV in a long time.
I agree with both of you, but I feel that the show would have come around given enough time. Those characters need time to find their audience. The show was way too subtle to have instant appeal. The characters on "King of the Hill" were so good because they had 13 seasons to grow on us. If you go back to the first season, it was mostly Hank and some yahoos. It took time for us to love them all.
Agreed. That character is great. I hope they expand his role next season.
I was amazed that "The Goode Family" even got on the air. So, I am going to appreciate what I got and not dwell on what I won't.
To be honest, I didn't like the first season of King of the Hill all that much. But by the end of the second season, I was a die hard fan. I would have loved to see how this show evolved.
By getting rid of Mystery Science Theater 3000, they satisfied only Satan.
I kinda have to agree, while I watched the pilot and thought it made some clever jokes (particularly about organic foods being so high only the wealthy could afford them on a regular basis), I think its premise was obvious from the start and this reduced both the quality and quantity of the material they could use. Fact was, it was only going to appeal to people who already agreed with what it had to say. "King of the Hill" was a little more subtle, I think, and that was a good show.
Ah, did they cancel 11th Hour? Too bad, I liked that show. I never cared for Smith but I do remember The Agency and that was good, too. As for C.S.I. (the original), I think it pretty much shot its bolt after they replaced Grissom with Fishburne. It was getting beat by The Office in ratings several weeks in a row which has never had very high ratings even though it is an AWESOME show (shout-out!).
The only TV shows that I have my HTPC recording are Royal Pains, Burn Notice (USA) and NCIS (ABC). I'm gonna stop recording Royal Pains since I can't seem to force myself to sit through an entire episode, and the writing on NCIS is getting kind of old. Nothing else of the scripted, episodic shows seems to be interesting to me. (And the "unscripted" shows are just downright terrible)
(To be honest: Discovery, TNT, USA, Spike, (the idiotically renamed) SyFi, Comedy and History are really the only things that I watch with any consistency)
I am a conservative Hollywood filmmaker. You all are wrong about The Goode Family. The show didn't get canceled bacause of politics. It got canceled because the ratings sucked. They sucked to start, and they sucked worse and worse as the season wore on. The network gave it a shot, and PEOPLE DID NOT LIKE THE SHOW.
Ditto American Carol.
People did not like the show because . . . it wasn't very good, no pun indended. I watched nearly every episode. I got the humor. But the jokes were not funny enough to sustain the show. Worse, the characters were just not as interesting or inventive as King of the Hill or Office Space. Go ahead and hate me for saying this, but American Dad and Family Guy are funnier. Much funnier. Those shows are still on because people like them, and find them funny. Goode Family was basically a one-joke show. Gerald is a liberal pussy. Okay, we get it. Har har. That does not make a show.
Some people here will say that we "must support" any work done by a conservative. BIG MISTAKE. The solution is to help creative conservatives produce better entertainment. And the liberals have a lot to teach us in that area.
I'm enjoying ABC's Defying Gravity, but I suspect that's going to get cancelled, too. ABC also has Flash Forward the V remake on their fall schedule, both of which look interesting. The show I'm most looking forward to coming back is NBC's Chuck, starring Zachary Levi, who went on tour to visit the troops, and BigHollywood's Adam Baldwin.
(Way off topic, cause I'm a geek)
I'd love to know what that script is that, after you post a message, the background color of your post fades from some color, in this case yellow, to transparent.
(/end geeky usurpation of normal dialog)
You have a point Ken. It probably would have improved over time. But nowadays TV shows aren't given much of a chance to find an audience. You're either a big hit right out of the box, or you are cancelled. Networks don't want to nurture a show anymore.
ABC cancelled "Pushing Daisies" as well. The are on my sh*t list
Loved Journeyman. Wish NBC had gotten rid of Heroes and kept Journeyman but I'm glad they kept Chuck. Enjoyed The Unusuals, Pushing Daisies, and Life on Mars, too. Neither NBC nor ABC are giving me any reasons to watch new shows because they all inevitably seem to get cancelled. They should probably switch to the Japanese drama format. In Japan, they run 11-12 episode dramas that have a beginning, middle, and end like a mini-series. As an added bonus, because they come to an end, anything can happen, making them a lot less predictable than most American shows. If they are really popular, they do a special and/or a sequel. If the networks did that, they'd be making shows that were guaranteed to have an ending and could be sold fairly inexpensively on DVD as a complete series and viewers wouldn't have to worry about getting hooked on a show that's just going to get cancelled. Lower risk all around. Learn from other countries, people.
It wasn't great but it wasn't awful. I can't say I'm surprised it was cancelled.
Did you notice the bumper sticker on their car: "We support the troops and their opponents."
You mean it was still ON? After the first episode they moved it and never told anybody where it was on the schedule. I thought it was cancelled months ago. If I'd have known it was on Friday nights, I'd have watched.
A lot of anime last more episodes than that. Besides, the MyTV Network tried that (following the Spanish novella style, but still pretty similar) when it first came out, but there has to be a reason they're just reruning shows other networks dropped (and wrestling). I'm just sorry PaxTV/Ion doesn't have any original shows anymore, either.
Wait, are you sure? Last I heard, it was picked up for another season that won't air until next summer. If you're right, this is a humiliating kick in the crotch.
Props for mentioning the cancelation of The Unusuals. That was the best show I had seen in a long, long time. I was gutted when they canceled it. Worst cancelation since Journeyman.
Edit: Drat. I see confirmation now. At least Altschuler and Krinsky are vowing to fight on.
The Goode Family was too timid to be funny. As a Black conservative, I wanted to laugh at liberal misgivings. But the lame plots chased their tails about silly stuff like green bags. And what was up with the White African adopted kid Ubuntu. Judge and Altschuler lack the balls to write actual Black characters into modern America?
It's 2010, maybe they'll figure out Black people don't live in the separate ghetto-verse they fantasize about or wanna ignore.
Really mediocre. Embarassing.
You know its ironic but a show like the Goode family which showed Liberals as a stable famiily group despite their 'leftist" values even if it allowed conservatives to mock the silliness of their concepts would allow for the far left to be seen as more mainstream.
I was enjoying the Goode Family. I don't think it had the makings of a classic comedy, but it was good light entertainment. I'll be sorry to see it go.
I will miss the Goode family. It was not as good(e) as I hoped but it was getting better. I hope somone else picks it up. Also, I have to disagree about American Dad. Although they take many shots at the right there are a few hidden gems of shots they take at the left. My favorite is when is when the dad informs the gay neighbors, which want to have a kid, that they "can't make a baby by rubbing two sticks together".
I saw the first two episodes. Didn't care to watch any others of the series because I was bored out of my mind. Sorry, but I really didn't like any of the characters no matter how much the show made fun of them. What it needed was a Conservative family living in a New England Liberal suburb trying to "fit in". That would have been hilarious because I might have actually cared for the family and they could still make fun of the liberals.
ABC has Scrubs now and NBC has The Office and 30 Rock (I know it's not for everyone but I think it's hilarious).
ABC also has a show called Better Off Ted which has turned out to be pretty fun and satirical, including a plot about the "greening" of the company and how big the project becomes even though no one has any idea what it is. Another episode had a story where the company installs sensors that turn on and off lights and other gadgets based on light reflectivity of the person in the room, except it can't detect black people. So they install separate water fountains, etc. (It was funny on the show; I can't write that well.)
I, too, was disappointed to see Fox cancel The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And damn ABC for cancelling Pushing Daisies! Can't Bryan Fuller get a break?!
I've heard of it but I've never seen it. I'll have to check it out one day.
(I know what you mean re: MTV. I think I've watched about six hours of MTV in my life.)
I think Bill Lawrence also worked on Spin City which I used to watch, though I kinda lost interest after Michael J. Fox had to leave the show.
We started watching the Goode family on hulu.com. Maybe it's time for a show to go exclusively on the internet. We'd still watch it for sure.
As for the politics, I think Mike Judge is pretty hard to pin down. He believes in personal responsibility, but just as much, compassion and goodness–and common sense too. Those are pretty much what America is supposed to be about… or so, I've always thought.
The earliest King Of The Hill episodes look prettty forced and stilted also,
Takes a little time to find that 'flow'. Hope they get that time on another network.
they canceled The Unit?!?
First, Glenn, congratulations on Fatty (and the weight loss)! Checked out the website and remembering when you were getting this off the ground, glad you were able to get it produced and, more importantly, released. Definite kudos!
Now to the Goode stuff and weird to see your sad-sack, whoa-are-us mentality never quite f-f-f-ades away, eh? While we agree more support from the conservative financial end needs to get behind the creative types, I still think it doesn't t hurt to g-g-g-g-get out and push behind them a little more than usual. Also, completely disagree with American Dad, which I've never found funny at all (talk about one note), and Family Guy's just gotten meaner and meaner of late. How very, hmmm, modern liberal.
I thought The Goode Family, while still finding its feet, was far better than most shows currently passing themselves off as original programming, hilarious in more spots than expected, usually courtesy Brian Doyle Murray's character. Sure, Gerald was a lib pussy, but not like he was the only character on the show, even showing guts when necessary. Dave Herman blessedly tweaked Ubuntu's voice as the show went on, too, taking him from a Neddy (Venture Bros.)-like simpleton to someone with more warmth and less dunderhead. No sense bitchin' and moanin', though, but it was nice to see Altschuler and Krinsky will fight the good fight with their show.
Oh, who am I kidding? I'm still ticked ABC yanked Slacker Cats before its full run played. Filthy as it was, not that it belonged on ABC Family, but even though it skewed left that show took aim at everything … plus had a kick-ass voice cast.
That episode also has one of my favorite lines when Tina Fey spots a guy on the street with a gun and Carrie Fisher (playing the mentor) says, "Oh, don't worry, he's not a cop."
And oddly, it was the only prime-time show to acknowledge the passing of William F. Buckley.
The show failed because no-one watched it, pure & simple. They moved it the Friday graveyard after it tanked in its' original slot. It's all about demand. But the injustice of its cancellation PALES before the cancellation of "Kings!"
To me, the real problem was simply this: it just wasn't as funny as "King Of The Hill." Yeah, it got a lousy time slot too, but even if it was given a prime slot, I doubt any difference would occur. I mean, the grandpa on that show was just no Cotton Hill ("I got no shins!"). In other words, these characters just didn't feel authentic. They might be good caricatures of the liberal stereotypes that constantly annoy us, but that was about it. Not that many memorable characters. Oh well, there always the new Mike Judge movie "Extract" starring Jason Bateman. Hopefully that will do good business.
Personally, I still enjoy a good buggy whip. But it's an acquired taste.
As to "network" television, yeah, it's kind of a dinosaur. I watch very few shows at their scheduled broadcast times, between video streams on the computer and dvds from Netflix. Modern life.
That being the case, it seems unwise to cancel something based on its timeslot market share. They could air a show at midnite Sunday and people would still watch it on their own schedule. If it was worth watching.
Maybe Judge was trying to make a point about white liberals not having any real associations with the minorities whose interests they claim to represent?
That's just a guess; I never watched the show so I don't really have an opinion about it.
Funny. I absolutely hated "Kings".
I never watched "The Goode Family".
Now both are gone. I can't get enough "Survivor" and "Dancing with the Stars". I didn't realize I had that kind of power, but the networks seem to do exactly what I desire them to do.
Now if I could just get the "All Salma Hayek" network off the ground.
I'm deffinantly not happy about the cancelation of The Goode Family. I thought the show was brilliant!
it needs a network with no or less censorship..
"The Goode Family" was a one-joke show that lacked the humor
and Texas moral underpinnings that usually distinguish Mike Judge
projects. I'm not surprised it failed. Nobody here has said much
about "Surviving Suburbia" yet . I've always admired Bob Saget's
comedic talents, and this show was surprisingly funny for network
TV. I knew that wouldn't be sustainable either, considering the
network 'powers that be' at ABC. Surprised it made it past the pilot.
Best part of the show if you ask me was the dog.
Otherwise, not a whole lot of strong characters.. I'd say even Luanne from _King of the Hill_ was better written than most of the _Goode_ characters..
Interesting that disney a "family channel" lost the ability to do any family sitcoms or family oriented shows well?
I do agree USA and sci fi as well as HBO orginal programing is kicking the networks ratings…… Why get invested in any new show since all the major networks are quick to pull the plug…..
Oh, once it earned, like, the worst ratings EVER I knew the writing was on the wall for "Kings." But me and the other 9 viewers watched it faithfully until the end. Sigh. Ah well, at least "Sons of Anarchy" is coming back next month!
Me and the other 9 viewers watched "Kings" faithfully until the end. Sigh. Ah well, at least "Sons of Anarchy" is coming back next month!
You all are making good points here, but I am talking about depth of characters. Perhaps Mike Judge could have developed the peripheral characters, but other than grandpa, I did not see much richness here. The annoying girlfriend at the One Earth store was one-dimensional. The black guy was not that interesting. With King of the Hill, we had Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer– these guys were characters. And we can't forget John Redcorn and his love child, Bobby's best friend and the Laotian family. Just too much richness to compare. I never saw how the Goode Family could compete with that and stay true to their subject matter. Let's face it…environmentally conscious, vegetarian soccer moms are kind of boring.
I, too, was liking the Mentalist, until I saw an interview with Simon Baker (Parade magazine, last page) a few months ago. Here is a cut/paste from the article:
"Baker’s been living in the United States for 13 years. Knowing how fiercely Aussies love their own country, I off-handedly asked him, “Any interest in becoming an American?”
Simon stopped talking, stared at me, and said, “Funny you mention it.” Then he dropped this unexpected news:
“The morning after your election in November, I said to my wife Rebecca, ‘You know, I’m thinking about becoming an American,’ and then she said that she felt the same way.
“I don’t follow sports here,” he said. “But politics has sort of taken its place. I followed the race closely. It’s a tricky area, because I don’t want to be offensive, and I had no party loyalty. But electing Obama was this country being very grown-up. It was such a positive step for the U.S. to become a part of the world again after the last eight years."
I haven't watched it since.
[...] } …if I had TV, but “Goode Family” done got [...]
I think Ubuntu was a white kid because it better illustrated his parents' oddly-placed racism; they were disappointed that they had adopted a white kid. If the Goodes were as egalitarian as they believed themselves to be, they wouldn't have cared what color Ubuntu's skin was. To me, Ubuntu was breakthrough gem on the show, a kid adopted simply so he could be flaunted by his vacuous, white parents.
I Tivoed the Goode Family and liked it, but it seemed a little forced to me, to every week find some redeemable quality in their ridiculous left/green/diversity/vegan lifestyle.
The last place we were stationed (military family) we had to have satellite, and the sat co. didn't include ABC. My sister kept asking me if I'd tried X show, and I'd just have to respond that I'd never heard of it. (I did, however, watch Lost online…)
Then we got stationed in DC, and the cable here carries ABC. I watched shows that I had only heard of, like Castle, The Goode Family, that Samantha one…
Now, ABC's stupidity makes me wonder why I cared about not having their channel previously…
Interesting. I quit scanning Parade Magazine. Of course, if I refused to watch anything with a liberal actor or director, I would end up boycotting pretty much all film and television. I try not to be a hypocrite, but so far have reserved my wrath for those who seem to go out of their way to rub my nose in their politics or be particularly disrespectful while still expecting me to support their careers.
I may give him a pass this once since he is an Aussie and may have gotten lured into saying something provacative or trying to fit in with HollyLib. I am sure he gets influenced by the crowd he is forced to hang out with. At least he recognizes that talking politics has the potential to offend. If he makes a habit out of bashing conservatives, then I say to hell with him.
It wasn't funny. Not even close.
That's a shame…I like the show. It's not quite as good as King of the Hill…but still better than the majority of the junk on ABC. I hope another network picks it up. I'd like to see more of The Goode Family!
Go watch the first season of KING OF THE HILL it sucked ass, but after a while people got used to it…and the Simpson's could go on forever, but the first couple of years it was unwatchable…and I agree maybe it is time for shows to be only on the INTERNET…I watch TV shows and Movies via the Internet on a GIANT monitor…HD INTERNET…T.V. started dying a long time ago….
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