Inexplicable TV Review: American Dad, somehow the best MacFarlane project

The Smith family.

I’ve always had a soft spot for American Dad, the animated show that was Seth MacFarlane’s first sort of spin-off after the (eventual) success of Family Guy. But while I loved the initial pilot episode, with the world’s oldest dog, it sometimes slips from my attention, and then I scramble to catch up on episodes.

Unlike Family Guy, which has gotten more disgusting as its gone on, American Dad has mostly stayed at the same “ew” factor. Yes, there are lowlights, like when Roger decides he has to go live in the South to become a real country singer. But for the most part, the show stays focused on the Smith family’s exploits in the D.C. area.

It’s interesting how the two shows have developed. Family Guy is almost nihilistic in its pursuit of gags and jokes. There’s little continuity from episode to episode, and things just get more crude and “shocking” as time goes on.

The problem I’m alluding to from the quote usage there is that because you know the show is going to go for the most horrible thing, it’s seldom surprising when they actually do it. Family Guy has also shifted away from the experimental vibe it has a few years ago, when it was doing bottle episodes and murder mysteries. (By the way, it makes me feel old that I’ve been writing about this show on-and-off for six god damn years. Holy hell.)

American Dad has essentially slotted into the role that The Cleveland Show used to take, a show that I liked. There is just a bit more of a focus on character development vs. gross-out gags. It probably helps that American Dad is now on TBS, which cares a little bit less about ratings than a traditional broadcast network like FOX.

One trait from Family Guy that is still used strongly on American Dad though – unusual voice acting choices. You wouldn’t expect Patrick Stewart to be on this show, but he’s always great as CIA director Bullock, and they get him to say some ridiculous things. Then again, he was also great on Extras.

Want to support Steve’s blogging? Then purchase something via the Amazon clickthru link for Your Parents Basement, Steve’s other project! To read all of Steve’s past Inexplicable Movie Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable TV Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable Video Game Reviews, click here! And for Inexplicable Book Reviews, go here!

Inexplicable TV Review: Gotham is bat ess insane

The Gotham season two crew.

Warning: Spoilers follow for seasons one and two of Gotham.

If you’re a fan of cheesy and pulpy-bad television, then do yourself a favor – Start binge-watching Gotham. Holy hell! It’s an incredible mixture of legitimately good acting and character portrayals, which is then contrasted with long, boring character arcs and over-the-top camp. The show is so up its own ass with Fake Seriousness, like a badly done version of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies,

Let’s start with the good – Individual characters and their respective story arcs on Gotham are compelling. There is (future commish) Gordon’s literally psycho ex-girlfriend Barbara Keane, Theo Galvin’s nutty sadist sister, the plucky teenage Selina Kyle (Catwoman), the Eartha Kitt-inspired Cat Mooney as played by Mrs. Will Smith, Ed the Riddler, and even one-shot characters like Pyro Girl and Girl With Bird Claw are more interesting than they need to be.

However, when it comes to the recurring appearances, two of them clearly have Boss status. Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, alternates between pathetic, pitiful and terrifying. He was played by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns, but Robin Lord Taylor just brings the creepiness in a much more plausible way.

Secondly, B.D. Wong is getting to ham it up wayyyy more than he ever did on Special Victims Unit. He plays Hugo Strange, the demented leader of Arkham in the second season. He’s always in control, and he’s a much more compelling puppet-master than Galvin, who functioned in that role for some of seasons 1 and 2.

Speaking of… The biggest fault of Gotham is that it is tied, unfortunately, to the Batman mythos, and at times, it feels more like an anchor. If you liked Muppet Babies, this show is essentially Gotham Babies. Bruce Wayne knows everyone he will fight as Batman at age 15ish, apparently. Also, Bruce Wayne at 15 is way less interesting than Bruce Wayne as Batman, similar to how Kermit isn’t awesome as a toddler frog. (Okay – Muppet Babies was still a decent show.)

The main lead of the show is Ben McKenzie as (future commish) James Gordon, and he’s just involved in too much ridiculous stuff. He’s broken out of prison, been framed for a slew of crimes, and basically just operates as a vigilante himself. One of the stronger points of the movie is usually that Gordon is portrayed as contrast to Batman, but in Gotham, his background and past activities are arguable way nuttier than whatever Batman is going to be involved in.

Also, while I like Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock – Gordon’s partner – he’s marginalized in this series. It’s hard for him to play the unhinged, “knows a guy” and stretches the ethics cop when Gordon is working as an enforced for a mob boss anyway. The police force in Gotham is so ridiculously crooked that it’s hard to take any plotlines involving it seriously.

So! Do your best to enjoy Gotham for the nutty, pulpy plotlines, but don’t expect it to dramatically rival any of the best superhero stuff. Nolan’s Batman movies are better if you’re looking for Super Serious Acting, or the animated series from the 1990s, and if you want camp, Adam West is your answer.

No, I haven't watched Glee yet.

My love of Glee is now widely-known, which is somewhat concerning because I am a 26-year-old man. It's sad enough that I love the show, but it's worse when everyone knows and one of two things happens:

1) They razz you about liking it. Typically, my defense is that it is so different from everything else on television that it appeals to me. I am also a sucker for harmony and (some) pop songs, and I especially like when they do covers. I love listening to covers, whether they're by Richard Cheese, The Dan Band or Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

2) They keep asking if I've seen the latest episode, since they're a fan of the show too. This normally isn't TOO much of a problem, but this week, I've been ridiculously busy with work stuff and other stuff. As a result, I've barely had time to sleep, never mind watching Glee. I might try to sneak it in tonight, but I have to lay out a 12-page high school newspaper and then I have a meeting for coffee tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., followed by police coverage and another meeting at 2 p.m.

Soooo... things are pretty tight for me. And I really want to see them do the time warp again - it's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right, after all.

p.s. Drew Carey totally did it first.

Dear FOX, stop letting monkeys plan your television schedule.

Generally, I like FOX. Well, not their news product, or their tendency to cancel great shows even if their ratings haven't caught up to where they should be. (I did think that Alyssa Rosenberg brought up a good point on her blog when she noted that FOX gives chances to a ton of weird shows that the networks don't want to touch, so they are going to have a higher cancel rate as well. I'm not sure when she said this, so instead, let me just plug her blog in general here.) But in general, I like several of their programs.

I do not like their scheduling habits though. I'm not sure why, but they consider it a good idea to air a couple episodes, then take three weeks off. I imagine that this practice started because, back in the day, FOX aired a lot more live sports in the middle of the week, when they had less live programming. They still don't run a full programming slate, since they aren't active in the 10 p.m. hour, or late night.

Also, this practice was more defensible in the past because it allowed people to catch up on shows if they missed some episodes. For example, if you did miss the wonderful first four episodes of Glee this year, they are being replayed in repeats now. However, you could have just watched them on Hulu or downloaded them from iTunes or... uh... other sources. In this wonderful digital age, you don't really have to wait for shows to be re-broadcast.

With that in mind, FOX, here is what I suggest - Just run shows in order from start to finish. The only exception should be if there is a holiday, in which case, sure, run a repeat or a holiday special. Let me actually see new episodes of Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and Glee in proper order instead of breaking them up with repeats. Thanks!

Note: I included random pictures from Robot Chicken because I like Robot Chicken. Deal with it!

This week on Glee: Kurt, Sam, Artie, Brittany and scissoring

Oh, Glee. Glee, Glee, Glee. First off, there was an utterly ridiculous scene in the first 10 minutes, as Santana and Brittany were making out and talking about scissoring. Second, Rachel looks great with bangs. Third, it was cool to see Mike Chang actually get involved in an episode besides dancing. (Even if he really can't sing at all.) And finally, Quinn (and especially her eyes) looked great as she was cleaning slushie off the new quarterback, and I loved how tense her scenes were.

Regarding the actual plot itself, I like that they addressed one of my biggest issues with the first season - that everybody but Kurt's dad realize he was way too aggressive with Finn. Kurt's dad nailed him on it, which I thought was an awesome bit of follow-up.

I also like how Sam and Finn were bantering about Rachel and Quinn. "She's a couple inches shorter and she talks a lot more, but I love her." Well said, Finn, well said. I enjoy all the subtle touches like that; they really help to round out the entire episode. Santana is awesome as well, and I like how evil and aggressive she is. And also, why did Quinn wear her cheerleading outfit on her date to Breadsticks with Sam? Why was Brittany wearing hers too? And was it just me, or was Breadsticks an obvious spoof of The Olive Garden?

One thing that is annoying, and that I'm sure they'll address eventually, is Artie portraying himself as a victim at every opportunity. Since Brittany is my favorite character, I'm annoyed that he hurt her. How DARE you, Artie! And speaking of, here are the awesome Brittany quotes from last night:

On Puck getting sent to juvenile hall: "He might be the dumbest person on the planet and that's coming from me."

Will: What's a duet? Brittany: A blanket.

About Artie: "I know, for a while I thought you were a robot."

To Artie: "I just want to get you in a stroller."

To Santana: "I'm mad at you... but you're still so hot."

Artie: I thought I was over somebody, but I still think I have feelings for them...
Brittany: The Clintons?

While about to have sex with Artie: "You're on the football team now anyway, so we would have gotten around to this at some point."

"I was going to order one really, really long piece of spaghetti like Lady and the Tramp... I've been practicing nudging a meatball across the table with my nose."

-----

Danielle: Heyyy, hope you don't read this e-mail before you see the episode!

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It brought back all the perfect hilarity and awesomeness while only putting in a few serious moments - Kurt dealing with being lonely, Artie and sex.

I thought Mercedes and Santana's duet was great. And when they were talking beforehand about doing the duet and Santana keeps calling her Weezy.

The other duets were great too - I like that they didn't just do a bunch of typical duets. Kurt's self-duet was very... Kurtish, haha, and I thought Tina and Mike's duet was unique. Rachel and Finn's determination to throw the competition was great too, like when they were getting all fake indignant.

This episode also made me love Rachel again. She was starting to be super annoying the first two episodes, but I just loved her in this episode. That was the Rachel I like.

And of course we can't forget Brittany and Santana making out and bringing up scissoring! Not that I'm completely surprised. I'm glad Artie told Brittany off for treating him the way she did. But the fact that she felt bad was good to see. It was cute in the end when she was moving the meatball with her nose all by herself. I guess also kind of sad, lol.

And Sam! The fact that they made his character a football player but this wicked awkward nerdy guy was great. I hang out with a lot of nerdy guys, so I've been around the cringe-worthy moments when they're trying to be cool and then say the weirdest things. Him and Quinn could be really cute together. When Puck comes back, the confrontation with Sam should be interesting.

At The Commercials: Axe washes your balls.

I have a couple thoughts about this commercial, and I'm sure you've been eagerly awaiting all of them. In no particular order:

- Much like my previous review of SoBe's oral sex commercial, this one is a little too "on the nose" for me. (Although, "on the tip" might be a better description.) Seriously, it's a gag revolving around the word balls. This two-minute version is shrunk (no pun intended) to 30 seconds on television, but even then, the joke wears thin by the end of the commercial.

- I am a fan of Jaime Pressly in this commercial. I don't mean her acting; I mean her look. She resembles Kelly Ripa in it, who I'm also a fan of, except that Ripa now has like 40 kids, and that's weird for me to think about. Pressly is playing a fake former tennis star in the commercial, which is confusing to me. Can't you just bill her as Jaime Pressly, hot actress? Why go through the subterfuge of having her be a tennis star?

- There is another version of this commercial that airs before 10 p.m., and on the more conservative networks. (i.e. NBC and FOX air the clean version during NFL games, but Adult Swim airs the "balls, balls, balls!" version.) This seems like a supreme waste of money to me, since the commercial doesn't make a ton of sense without the references to balls. If you want to see that version, you can click... on your television, because it's not on the Internet, it seems.

- People really like posting this video to YouTube. There are like six different versions of it, even though in most of them, the sound is so shitty you can't hear anything. People just love talking about balls, it seems. (Oh ho, now I make joke about balls too! Oh ho!)