I love The Simpsons. I've been watching the show for many of the 20 years it's been on the air. Yeah, not every season has been great, but I think it's recently started to find its stride again. So I was excited for the season premiere.
The episode was co-written by, and co-starred comedian Seth Rogen, who I greatly enjoy in his various film roles. So I guess my expectations of this episode were a little higher than they should have been. Don't get me wrong, the episode still had plenty of funny moments - mostly because I'm a nerd and all the nerdy humor involving Comic Guy appealed to me - but it wasn't hilarious from start to finish. There was no secondary story, which was a little strange, and aside from Homer the Simpson's family didn't play much of a role. The beginning of the show was definitely the strongest part of the show - once Rogen's character, a Hollywood trainer to the stars, showed up, the show went downhill a little bit. The character he played was amusing, and they did a pretty good job of poking fun at Hollywood (they usually do), but they simply couldn't keep up the momentum they had built up at the beginning of the episode.
What got me was the line that was bleeped out of the show - I think that's a Simpsons' first, if I'm not mistaken. It wasn't just the curse that bleeped out, but the whole rest of the line. I guess the FOX censors didn't want to take any chances with the FCC. It was odd, but still hilarious. There were also some great sight gags, of course, mostly involving some movie posters.
Overall, it was a solid episode. Entertaining, but not fantastic.
When I first heard about this show, I was like, "They're giving Cleveland a show? He is the most boring character on Family Guy!" Needless to say, my expectations were low. I just didn't see how they could create an entertaining show with such a dull secondary character.
Well, the show was about as boring as I anticipated. The show started off with some scenes with the Family Guy characters back home in Rhode Island before he left town intending to head for California, but once Cleveland and his son packed up their car and drove off they left the humor behind. I did enjoy how they used the Cleveland in the bathtub joke one last time - also, Stewie's line: "He's getting his own show?" probably summed up the thoughts of most viewers. I know it did mine.
What started with weak, lame theme song, continued with fifteen minutes of lame, boring characters and lame, boring attempts at humor. Maybe there's some potential with his red neck neighbor across the street, the other two neighbors, including a bear named Tim, just seemed uninspired sidekicks. As for the family, they were pretty dull - and I already can't stand the foul mouthed kindergartner. Also, what the hell happened to Cleveland Jr.? He goes from hyper-active 8 year old to fat 14 year old? He was another character that had me checking the clock, waiting for the show to end.
The only laughs in the show aside from the beginning scenes were some the Family Guy like flashbacks.
So I guess in the end my expectations were met - The Cleveland Show was a boring show centered around a boring character. I know I'll be tuning out in the future.
That leaves Family Guy, which has been, in my opinion, declining in recent seasons. It tries to be cutting edge and offensive sometimes, going more for a shock than a laugh. Last night, however, the show was the clear winner, as the episode where Brian and Stewie found themselves in a variety of different universes was funny from beginning to end. I normally complain when a show uses certain characters too much - and that's certainly the case with Stewie and Brian, but in this case I don't mind. They interact so well, and are always entertaining to watch.
There was something to make me chuckle in each dimension the duo visited in the episode - including a dimension where Brian was a real dog and Stewie a real baby. There was also a dimension where everything was drawn Disney style - the animation was great, as was the accompanying song about pie - but I kept waiting for the scene to end badly and couldn't really enjoy it too much. Sure enough, it ended horribly, making me cringe. But that's Family Guy for you. Can't have an episode of Family Guy without it.
But overall I'm looking forward to what lies ahead for The Simpsons and Family Guy this season. As for Cleveland, I wonder if he'll stick around. And if not, will he return to Family Guy? I hope so. That'll always be his home to me.
