We’ve got some fresh meat … er, new Guest Clacking coming at you today. Cameron Archer is a freelance writer from Ontario. He writes for his site at URBMN and has also contributed to blogcritics.org.
I didn’t enjoy The Goode Family‘s pilot episode. As a longtime King of the Hill fan, The Goode Family felt like a weaker King of the Hill with political leanings reversed. Ubuntu came across as an idiot savant, while Gerald and Helen Goode were ciphers. The pilot had a subplot about purity rings, something South Park covered to greater comedic effect in its thirteenth-season premiere.
Having followed the show since the pilot, I have a higher opinion of The Goode Family. Ubuntu is more an awkward enigma at this point. Gerald is more competent than his employer, the Hank Hill of academia. The Goode Family is starting to feel like King of the Hill without being its blown-up negative. It’s just too bad no one watches the show.
ABC is finished with The Goode Family (the finale airs tonight). Being the weakest performer on the Friday night gulag will do that to a show. Even Mike Judge concedes that ABC was not the best network for the show. I do think Mike Judge’s newest cartoon would be better on King of the Hill‘s longtime home, FOX. Anemic ratings aside, that move could honestly help The Goode Family. Here’s why:
The Goode Family has been paired with Surviving Suburbia. Even when King of the Hill aired 7:30 PM Sundays on FOX, it was part of a coherent animation block. Being the lead-in to The Simpsons isn’t a bad gig, the more realistic yin to Homer Simpson’s yang. I see less connection between a satire about the politically correct and a standard-issue sitcom starring Bob Saget. It’s hard to see an overlap between the two shows’ audiences.
There’s precedent for the move. The Critic moved to FOX after its run on ABC. Granted, FOX’s version of The Critic was off-model — character redesigns, more broad-based humour, overall quality lacking relative to the ABC run. The show was still funny, since that show had Franklin Sherman and his Guernica-fighting antics.
There was the rumour earlier this year that King of the Hill would move to ABC, so The Goode Family could feasibly move to FOX. It’s not rare for a modern animated sitcom to find a home on another network or cable channel — Home Movies found success on [adult swim], while The PJs was on WB for a season. Futurama‘s direct-to-video revival helped it get on Comedy Central. Animated sitcoms just have that staying power.
FOX is the only broadcast network that can handle an animated sitcom. I admit that statement isn’t always true. Sit Down, Shut Up recently moved from 8:30 PM to 7:00 PM before FOX yanked it off the air. Come fall, Sit Down, Shut Up will live out its run getting its ass kicked by Saturday Night Live. Family Guy and Futurama weren’t treated well by FOX during their first runs, but they’ve endured.
At the same time, FOX is the only broadcast network with some degree of success airing animated sitcoms, since Futurama managed a four-season run and Family Guy 1.0 went three seasons. Capitol Critters and Clerks, both ABC shows, can’t make the same distinctions. Let’s not forget Creature Comforts‘ three episodes on CBS.
Hell, as much as I miss Dilbert, that it lasted two seasons on UPN is a minor miracle. It seems like FOX, [adult swim] and (to a lesser extent) Comedy Central are the only places where adult-themed animation can flourish on a more than minor scale.
It’ll give FOX a standby if The Cleveland Show fails. As popular as Family Guy and American Dad! are, Seth MacFarlane’s not infallible. His live-action series starring Rob Corddry, The Winner, was a low-rated misfire. If The Cleveland Show bombs, FOX is on hook for 35 episodes.
King of the Hill will have lasted fourteen seasons on FOX by the end of its run, so floating The Goode Family to see if it can become more than “overt political correctness is stupid” is not a terrible strategy. Judge’s track record with animation — he’s had at least one series on the air since 1993 — is fairly strong. I’d like to see how The Goode Family does in the slot between The Simpsons and Family Guy, since 90 minutes of Seth MacFarlane could get tiresome real fast.
The Goode Family will most likely finish out its run in two weeks and then blip from the television landscape. I’m not saying The Goode Family is as good as Kings, but it’d be a shame if The Goode Family ends up the latest rusted car on the ABC parking lot. It at least has more to offer than Surviving Suburbia.
Clacked by Guest Clacker
on Aug 07, 2009 @ 14:30 EST5EDT
You could also add Father Of The Pride to your list of other networks failing at animation.
Or Clerks, the list is very long.
I did mention Clerks.
I didn’t mention God, the Devil and Bob, Stressed Eric, Fish Police, Family Dog, The Oblongs, Mission Hill or Game Over. The list of prime-time animation failures post-Simpsons is depressing to read.
I don’t know how I missed that!
However the best example of how cartoons stay favorites for so long would have to be The Jetsons. The show ran for 25 episodes in 1962 and then 20+ years later had 50 more episodes made. The odd thing is I have never seen the newer episodes even through I’m an 80s kid.
they should just keep KOTH on the air. great show… i’m going to miss it.
ABC did have some success with Dinosaurs (although it wasn’t a cartoon). It lasted 4 seasons and actually made it to syndication
The Goode Family simply had the worst pilot I saw in ages. I made it two solid minutes into the pilot and then turned it off in disgust. I made it through the whole “Sit Down, Shut Up” pilot so go figure how bad TGF really was for me.
On the other hand I guess it was at a disadvantage since I stopped watching KOTH last season. I simply couldn’t take it anymore it all became so repetitive…
The Goode Family were very much a subject of their time.. In a way, it’s going to be a nice time capsule like watching the 70’s Hanna Barbera effort ‘Wait Till Your Father gets Home’.
Most likely, this will end up on Adult Swim and perhaps become another Oblongs…