As the 2014-15 TV season opens, we will be checking on the state of television comedy, old and new. Check out this space the day after most comedy premieres throughout September and October.
Here’s the thing: If the creative team behind Family Guy was going to do a crossover with The Simpsons, they were going to do it, and we (for the most part) weren’t going to like it.
Criticism of this project is like the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. Not only have FXX’s resurrection of Simpsons classics made Family Guy seem even more obsolete as a pale imitation of the former lately, but the fact is, the latter has cruised (as it calls out in this very episode) on ironic detachment and rape jokes for the better part of the last decade.
So what do you make of an endeavor like this?
Much like all of the nice things we say about the recent Simpsons episodes we hate, the animation was really well done. Most of the meta gags got a smile out of me, but… that’s really all there was. It was an hour of Family Guy being, essentially, Scary Movie. “Hey, look at this thing that’s typically assumed about the relationship between our shows!” “Yes, that thing is true!” for 60 goddamn minutes (including commercials).
Again, I know that this had to happen and had to be the way that it was, and I don’t begrudge Family Guy for trying and I know it’s beyond the point to expect… anything of this. That said, it really did feel like the show was just checking off boxes for an hour. Also, this is kind of irrelevant, but did Hank Azaria’s voices seem off for most of this episode to anyone else? There I go again, complaining about something that was made to baffle anyone who would complain about it.
All of this was kind of a shame, because the episode of The Simpsons that led off Fox’s revamped-ish Sunday comedy block was rather sweet and rather cute in the way that any decent Simpsons episode since around 2005 or so has been. The “character death” was obviously going to be overhyped and end up being someone nobody really cared about, but the show managed to build a nice little story around it.
The show always gets a lot out of the idea that Krusty the Clown is someone who absolutely, compulsively needs to perform, and it makes sense that his relationship with his father (played by Jackie Mason, who sounds nothing like he sounded when he first did this voice 22 years ago) would be as strained as it is. Of course, that’s getting back to the formula that made the show work so well all those years ago: An excellent set of gags that went along with a story built from character.
“Clown in the Dumps” didn’t really have much in terms of jokes — though the parody of Comedy Central’s roasts was a nice touch — but it showed you things that made Krusty tick and gave you a sweet ending that made sense between Krusty and Rabbi Krustofsky. When given the choice between Family Guy-style overkill and modern Simpsons‘ penchant for schmaltz over a one-liner, I’ll take the latter every time.
You could argue Fox made a really smart move in putting these two overhyped cartoons around the season premiere of the recently relocated Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which developed into one of TV’s best half-hours in the latter part of its first season. Keeping Brooklyn in between these two shows takes a little bit of the pressure off, and guarantees a boost in ratings from Fox’s moribund Tuesday nights. Considering it came after a football doubleheader, only the post-post Super Bowl episode of the show has had more exposure.
The premiere of the show had to juggle a bunch of stuff, along with showcasing pretty much every character to what was presumably a new audience. You see the checklist, much like Family Guy, hit throughout the episode. Amy’s a control freak, Boyle is weird, Andy Samberg still sings, and so on. It also had to handle Peralta (Samberg) returning from undercover duty.
Basically, the episode didn’t really hold together as an actualized thing, but it was definitely the funniest of the three Sunday night shows. I am slowly heading to a place with Brooklyn Nine-Nine where there are certain gags I am a sucker for. I know there’s no real reason Boyle and Amy showing up for work in the same outfit is particularly original, but for some reason it cracks me up. Ditto Amy, Rosa and Terry in the bouncy castle.
It helps that Andre Braugher is around to keep everything grounded, or even driven below ground. I’ve often joked that Captain Holt is basically “Officer Hank Hill” but he really is a very funny, nuanced character.
I really hope that Brooklyn Nine-Nine can grow out of the cartoons and stick around for a while. Sunday wasn’t its best showing, but it was certainly at least trying for something fresh.