Reviews

I honestly try to give each show at least three chances to make me laugh. I sincerely did with "Family Guy," boy there's a waste of my life that'll never come back. Here I watched three episodes of Family Guy and I maybe chuckled twice and then later realized one of the jokes I found remotely funny had already been done by the Simpsons. Well, I did the same with "American Dad." I sat through a full three episodes of this drivel. I might have found something to laugh at if I didn't see recycled clichéd jokes or jokes that were obvious from a mile away.

It's funny the creators of the Simpsons come up with another smash split-your-side treasure like "Futurama" which for some moronic reason Fox decided to cancel, and yet you have Family Guy which is basically the "Simpsons" with subtle enough changes to try and disguise the fact it is a blatant rip-off and Fox actually puts on another show of this very low caliber.

I heard that most of the scripts for "Laverne and Shirley" were rejected "I Love Lucy" scripts. You gotta wonder, is "Family Guy" and "American Dad" where rejected "Laverne and Shirley," "Happy Days," "Mork and Mindy," "Three's Company," and other clichéd stereotypical shows scripts have gone. It's pretty obvious. Well, the stuff they don't borrow from "Simpsons" and "Married With Children" that is.

I can see Seth whateverhisnameis pitching this show to Fox.

Seth: I have an idea about an animated average family that get into a lot of wacky adventures.

Fox: Like the Simpsons? Seth: No. The Dad of this family will be a sports loving beer drinking loud mouth moron who's stupidity gets him into all kinds of trouble.

Fox: Like Homer Simpson? Seth: No. This guy will have hair and wear glasses and have a different name. The Mom will be long-suffering and have a weird voice.

Fox: Like Marge Simpson? Seth: No. Her voice will be whiny and annoying and unpleasant to hear. There will be three kids one of them a baby.

Fox: Like the Simpson kids? Seth: No. The oldest one, a boy like Bart Simpson, won't get into trouble he'll just be annoyingly stupid with an annoying voice to match. The middle one, a girl like Lisa Simpson, will be boring as hell, but the baby for some unexplainable reason will be super smart and always getting into trouble. Like Bart and Lisa but it will be one person. And people will be able to understand him which won't make any sense since he's just a baby. See they'll be different than the Simpson's kids. Also I'll threw a talking dog into the mix who is smarter than the rest of the family but oddly still hangs around them. See that'll really make it different than the Simpsons? Fox: Good Lord, we can rip off an already popular show and sell double the advertising space and DVD's. Brilliant. You're copying the Simpsons but with just enough changes to fool the sheep.

Seth: Well, thank you. I've already got enough third-grade potty humour and sexual innuendo lined up for a couple of season's worth of scripts. That way people will say it's "fresh, cutting edge and outside the box," plus we can watch the first couple of seasons of the Simpsons and change the wording to a lot of their jokes, people won't remember that far back. Of course we won't be able to get any real name brand stars for guest appearances because they always go on the Simpsons or King of the Hill. So to save on the budget we'll have the same couple of people imitate stars, they won't even have to change their voices.

Fox: Brilliant, we have a deal. Now we just need a "King of the Hill" rip-off and life would be grand.

This film isn't shocking, isn't entertaining, isn't humorous, isn't dramatic, isn't really anything. Most boring contrite thing I have ever come across-literally. What was the purpose of this film? To waste money and time I suspect. What's with all the comments about either loving it or hating it or guaging reactions? Since when is out and out boredom a reaction? I think the filmmaker needed to look at the dailies on a daily business or at least have been in the editing room when the editing was done on this film. I honestly can't believe this person actually saw a finished copy of the movie before it was released otherwise why would they want their name associated to it? Oh, well, I'm glad the local video store was offering free copies before throwing them away, otherwise I would have been highly angered to have paid the $1.50 rental fee for this hack waste of celluiod.

Do I ever miss Candid Camera. That show actually showed some imagination in regards to the pranks they pulled. Of course if I was 10 years or younger, I might find Punk'd a good show. But now that I think about, I would still have to pity myself.

Believe me, I am an immense fan of the practical joke. Having had many pulled on me as well as coming up with some good ones myself, so I can't understand how anyone can take the fine art of practical joking and reduce it to something so lame and pathetic. I think the makers of this show forgot that practical jokes are supposed to be funny and fun for all involved. Not just for themselves without including the audience or victims.

Hopefully with all this DNA and stem-cell research going on, someone will be able to bring Allen Funt back. Until then I can't stand watching this lame second-rate sitcom reject trying to mug it up for the camera when there is really nothing to mug about at all. Truly sad.