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Reviews
Bunsen Is a Beast (2017)
What Happened to Butch Hartman?
This show is extremely bland and generic. When I first heard this was made by Butch Hartman, I was pretty shocked to hear that the guy who made The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, managed to make such a forgettable, one-dimensional show, featuring a concept that's been done hundreds of times before.
The animation is lazy, even for Flash. The characters have no personality and they all fall into stereotypes, that we've seen many times before. Unlike with FOP and DP, we get no introduction to the show, and no explanation as to how Bunsen came to be and how he entered the life of Mikey. The first episode just starts, with them already being friends, expecting the audience to just accept the fact that a boy is friends with a monster.
The main villain, Amanda, is very dull and her main goal is to get rid of Bunsen. Her motive to do this is unclear and apparently non-existent. Every character plays the role of someone like the villain, comic relief, best friend, love interest, etc. but none of them do anything new with it. Every episode is just as bland as the characters, lacking any intriguing stories or funny jokes.
I find it amazing that such a bland show came from such an amazing writer. At least most of the time, when good writers go bad, you can tell they're at least trying to do something new. This time, it seemed like he just came up with the idea off the top of his head and produced the overall, idea for the series in a couple minutes. Bunsen is a Beast is a very mediocre and unfunny show and if you gave it a chance, you'd find yourself bored to death, halfway through the first episode.
The Real O'Neals (2016)
A Real Good Show
The Real O'Neals is a really funny, entertaining show that can be enjoyed by many, whether they're part of the LGBT community or not. The show is not an emmy-award winning work of art. It's just a moderately likable show with some good jokes and interesting stories. I'm saying this because this show has a history of being negatively criticized by organizations such as The Catholic Church and One Million Moms just because of the obvious political standpoint it has. The show should be judged by it's actual content as opposed to its messages.
The Real O'Neals mainly focuses on Kenny O'Neal, a homosexual teenager coming out of the closet in a highly religious family. This is a very relatable character, especially in this day in age. Many people are coming out of the closet and some at the age Kenny is. As a bisexual, I think that Kenny is a wonderful character. He may act kind of stereotypical at times, but in a minor way. It's not really offensive, it's just kind of a tacky way. However, it can be argued that the reason for this is because he takes great pride in his sexuality and wants to go around, letting everyone know what he is.
Aside from that, the other characters of the show and the situations they're in are very interesting. Pat and Eileen's divorce is dealt with in a funny and lighthearted way. However, the two of them seem to have absolutely no conflict with each other. The only negative interactions they have are minor arguments that a happily married couple would have in the exact same way, so it's hard to believe that they're getting a divorce. Some divorced couples can tolerate each other like this, sure, but if they're forced to live in the same house and take care of the kids the same way a mother and father would, it would seem unlikely that they're doing so well at not being reminded of their problems.
Shannon and Jimmy, while being cliché characters, a dumb jock and a smart girl, are given a new twist, when put into situations involving Kenny, a character with a trait that's relatively new to television.
The show relies on a lot of stereotypes on Catholics, but they do a good job at avoiding the satire technique, where they make the opposing point of view look like an evil, hateful idiot, by giving Eileen (the Catholic who's mainly against Kenny's homosexuality) an actual personality, good reasons to feel the way she does, and also having her change her ways in a meaningful and realistic way so she's not just a static antagonist.
So, the show is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Not in the slightest. It's not fantastic either. It's just a good show and one would enjoy watching it whenever a new episode comes out. It's a good show and it deserves a little more decency.
Malcolm in the Middle (2000)
Malcolm in the Middle is as genius as Malcolm himself
Malcolm in the Middle is undoubtedly, one of the greatest of it's genre. Everything about the show is very intelligent and well-done. Each member of the family has a relatable personality, and a fitting role in the show. The writing style of the episodes, right down to the very editing of shots and camera angles is very intriguing and good at keeping the viewers glued to their screens, and the situations that the characters are put in have great potential, which is always fully reached. No matter which demographic you belong to, Malcolm in the Middle is a show that you will enjoy on any level between occasional viewer to die-hard superfan.
The choice of personalities for each character is brilliant. Alone, every individual member of the family can strongly hold up an entire scene on their own and together, a combination of every two characters makes for a unique interaction and a hilarious duo for their own plot for an episode. Our title character, Malcolm is a relatable and likable main character alone, as well as the voice of reason to Reese's stupidity, The guy who Dewey looks up to, the guy who looks up to Francis, the sworn enemy of Lois, and a loving friend of Hal.
The jokes are always spot-on and over the course of an episode, at least one will hit hard and get a genuine laugh. The comedy varies from observational comedy, to slapstick, to dark comedy, to gross-out, to awkward comedy, to satire and never uses too much of one type at a time.
The stories of the episodes are always intriguing and aren't afraid to go too far with making it too unrealistic, dark, nonsensical etc. because they can handle making it go to those extremes in a well-written way. They always do something new and the way the plots play out are never expected and can't be compared to the plot of an episode from a different show or movie. The plot dynamic of the episodes usually consist of the serious main story, and a comic relief B plot. Malcolm is usually the center of the main story and the side plot is either Francis getting caught up in his antics at his current job, or Hal being thrown into a huge situation, that he just had no idea how to handle. The stories always work and we get just enough of both stories at a time, as well as wrapping them up nicely and uniquely.
The overarching stories of the show, for the most part, are pretty mediocre. Francis' many jobs over the series starts off really well, but could be played out better, with the main flaw being that his entire role in the show vanishes by Season 6. Episodes with Cynthia Sanders, who was supposed to be a major character, are inconsistently scattered about and widely spread apart, with the plot traveling very quickly every time she appears. However, the lack of characters like this are usually for fiscal reasons as opposed to writing and they still manage to make the plot lines impactful enough to be remembered and loved, so the stories are really nothing to sneeze over and fall neatly under "average" on the scale of good and bad.
The show also has a handful of satirical episodes, tackling topics such as religion, censorship of literature and artwork, birth control, feminism, modern day racism, politics etc. and makes it subtle enough to be an episode alone. It doesn't blatantly make fun of those who disagree with it, and it does a swell job at not being offensive, even if you disagree with the point the episode proves.
The careers of some famous actors were launched by this series, including Bryan Cranston and Frankie Muniz, who play Hal and Malcolm, respectively and their actors have won many awards and acclaim for their performances in certain episodes, usually for their performance, their comedic routine, or their way of handling their role in the episode. Lots of familiar faces also make appearances in the cast of side characters, including Jason Alexander, Robert Loggia, and Bea Arthur and although they only make guest appearances, they go down in Malcolm in the Middle history for being such memorable one-time characters.
Malcolm in the Middle belongs in the hall of fame, for it well-deserved awards and critical acclaim and even if you're only going to watch one episode, the show deserves to be checked out.
The Cleveland Show (2009)
Better than Old Family Guy
At first glance, you'd probably look at The Cleveland Show and instantly think that this is just a black version of Family Guy. However, it's really not like that at all. The Cleveland Show came out around the time when Family Guy started to get old and unfunny and while Family Guy died somewhere around it's ninth season, it's comedic gold and interesting characters lived on in The Cleveland Show. Unlike Family Guy, The Cleveland Show doesn't constantly resort to gross-out humor and random cutaway gags. Not to say that those jokes never appear in the show, but on the few occasions that they do, they can actually be pretty funny. There are some meaningful interactions between the characters of the show and the show has a lot of continuity and overarching story lines. The show is actually so good, that it's even better than Family Guy, even if you compare it to Family Guy, back to when it was in it's prime.
Cleveland isn't a blatant Peter Griffin clone. His personality is the same as it was when he was a character in Family Guy. He's a bit more of a laid back and mellow kind of guy who doesn't take life too seriously. The relationship between him and Donna isn't your typical "Stupid guy acting like a moron, while his wife rolls his eyes at him" kind of relationship. When Cleveland does something stupid, there is actually a good reason for him to have made that mistake and even after the deed is done, you can see why he's still sticking to his guns, because what he did isn't really all that bad. However, you can still understand why Donna would disapprove, so when they argue, there's really no officially telling who's right and who's wrong. Not only this, but sometimes Donna does something ridiculous that Cleveland disapproves of and it plays out the same way. This kind of role reversal never happens in Family Guy and is what keeps The Cleveland Show going strong.
Cleveland Junior and Roberta have personalities and situations that would never apply to Chris and Meg. Junior may be an unpopular loser who occasionally gets made fun of like Chris, but what makes this funny is his delightful feelings and positive outlook on the situation. Junior doesn't seem to be hurt by the fact that he's a social outcast, but when things do go too far, he handles the situation with optimism, rather than anger. There's also a reason for him to be made fun of, which is due to the fact that he's a nerd who plays with children's toys, so you get where the bullies are coming from. Also, unlike Meg, his family never makes fun of him at all, so if he's having trouble at school, his family will always be there for support. On Roberta's side, she is very popular and loved by all, which balances out Junior's nerdiness. She doesn't act like a stereotypical stuck-up snob, because we can actually get some insight to what her life is like, and see that she has some genuine issues, adjusting to Cleveland being her new dad and we can actually see her as someone, suffering problems as opposed to a teenager moaning and bitching about nothing.
Rallo is probably the only character who's really a clone of Stewie. He's a trash-talking baby, who uses a bunch of black slang words and stuff, but he's a bit more toned down. He's kind of the lovable asshole of the show, who acts like a jerk, but still has some kind of a comedic charm to some his antics as well as getting punished at the end of the episode.
The Cleveland Show is also not afraid to put some overarching stories in the show. Immediately starting at the first episode, a story arc involving Robert (the true father of Roberta and Rallo) begins. Roberta and Rallo dislike Cleveland for not being their real dad and don't take him seriously. Robert makes himself competition for Cleveland, trying to spoil the kids, including Junior with a bunch of fancy stuff, trying to buy their love and be a better father than Cleveland. This continues as a recurring theme for the entire season, so it can be taken seriously. The stories and interactions really kick off in Season 3, but it's best not to spoil anything.
The style of comedy may have some cutaway gags and sexual humor here and there, but there is a variety of other jokes too. There's clever word play, running gags, references, etc. Family Guy is afraid to tell a joke that doesn't shock the audience, at the expense of being seen as lame, so every clever pun has to be followed by another character calling the other guy out on making such a dumb joke. The Cleveland Show, however, doesn't care about that and is willing to shamelessly go dive straight into any kind of joke they can think of. Also, the jokes are balanced out nicely with the storyline, so you can actually take a dramatic plot line seriously, without having an annoying joke kill the emotion.
That The Cleveland Show was cancelled is a real shame, because it really didn't deserve it. It has a similar style of comedy as Family Guy back when it was good, and it also has some meaningful character interactions and story lines like American Dad. Both of those are mixed together and balanced out perfectly in The Cleveland Show, so it's really worth watching. It doesn't end with a respectable finale, due to its abrupt cancellation, but it still makes for a wonderful ride along the way.