The Bunny Ears War

Bob's Burgers, S03E01

 Louise battled with a teenager who stole her bunny ears hat.  The family was granted a favor from a group of bikers who visited Bob's restaurant after the funeral of their leader.

I think it was wise of them to start of the new season with a story about Louise, who tends to have the better stories.  I didn't love this story, but I did like seeing Louise a little unhinged and fighting with an older boy who she was beating at his own game until he took her hat.  I was just surprised that Louise didn't do anything physical to him while she was stalking him to get her hat back.  I would have at least expected her to take a bat to his knees or something.  She may be small, but she is quite vicious.  So to see her struggle to get it back seemed unlikely to me.  I mean, she's been known to do crazier things.  I suppose her thinking that she could get the bikers to cut off the boys ears falls within the more likely range.  But still.  Louise is just a little girl but I expected more of her nonetheless.

There's not much more to say than it was a sort of stupid resolution at the end with Mudflap giving birth and making the two quarreling families and the biker gang make up with each other.  I was pretty happy that Louise booed Bob for saying that they should all work to be better neighbors.  Ugh.  I would have rather seen that stupid teenager's parents get beat down! What a rip.

Well, I don't expect to like this show any better this year.  It still is a wonder that so many people like it.  Maybe its comedy is over my head or maybe the characters are too endearing to the majority of people.  I just don't get it, but I'll still watch because it's something to look at before the Seth MacFarlane hour starts.

You Just Got Rallo-ed!

The Cleveland Show, S03E17

Rallo took his new fondness for pranks too far when he ruined a powerpoint presentation for Junior and got him kicked out of the Freedom Scouts.  Cleveland tried to teach him a lesson by making Rallo think that he had to spend 6 months in juvenile hall for exposing Junior's naked photo in public, but it backfired when Rallo ran off to the woods to escape.  Junior later used some of his scouting skills to save Rallo, earning himself a renewal membership into the scouts and the title of youngest chief scout.

I liked Rallo's pranks, particularly when he kept replacing signs for the men's bathroom and Cleveland kept falling for it.  He even fell for it when it was on his car door!  Didn't expect that.  I also liked the first prank that Rallo pulled on Cleveland.  When Cleveland was examining the can he pointed out several things that would alert anyone to the fact that it wasn't a real can of nuts.  Rallo was lucky that he picked such a good first victim.  If Cleveland hadn't been such a moron to think that something made out of plastic (or cloth) was a real snake, Rallo might have gotten bored with pranks and moved onto something else.

Before Cleveland tried his punishment, I liked seeing Donna fail to remove all the fun from Rallo's room.  He had every kind of electronic to connect to the internet or provide him with games or music that you could think of.  He was also denied playing poker and dressing up like Al Sharpton (adorable).  Even just sitting in his underwear, Rallo still could entertain himself with just his imagination, which is admirable.  You'd think a kid with that much technology savvy would forget that his mind can be the best toy of all.

Junior (and Donna) remarked that Cleveland's plan to teach Rallo a lesson was the worst idea ever.  I don't think so.  I have to side with Cleveland that he can't be blamed that his technique worked too well to scare Rallo (I guess it was seeing Jaden Smith in the video that really got to him).  Someone should have taken care to make sure that Rallo couldn't run away before they could tell him that it was all a prank.  Still, I'm sure that Rallo would be just as angry and would have thought of an equally crazy revenge scheme like faking his own death.  I just like the idea that Rallo being 5 years old had no bearing on the law applying to him.  He was treated like an adult for the most part, which in most cases Rallo already acts like one.

Another good moment was when Cleveland asked where Rallo's name came from.  It was revealed that it came from Sanford and Son.  I like that.  Gives Rallo's character a little more coolness.  To tell the truth, I had wondered where his name came from too.  It's not the most common name, but it is one that sounded so familiar.  Glad that they explained that one.

The last thing that I really liked was when Cleveland was looking for Rallo in the woods.  He saw some footprints and had a funny line:

Footprints!  My tracking badge taught me that footprints are left by feet!  ...These badges are very basic.

Which made it even funnier when he found some of Rallo's gag gum a little later and it snapped on his finger:

 Ow!  I've been Rallo-ed!  Wait--Rallo!  My thinking is very basic.

I like when they have these self-aware jokes, as if they are saying what the viewers are thinking.  They do that quite often in the Seth MacFarlane shows, but it still manages to stay funny because you don't really know when they are going to point out something for you before you have a chance to even think about it.

Of course, an episode about Junior and Rallo is almost guaranteed to fall into my favorites.  I wish that Rallo had even more pranks, though.  But after looking at his family at the dinner table, it looked like he had had plenty of them that we didn't get to see.  I think one of the best things besides the jokes was that Roberta was safely tucked away at the mall where we didn't have to think about her.  Unlike Meg who is a pariah because of popular trend to outcast her, Roberta is just so vapid and irritating that it is practically necessary to push her to the background.  I'll welcome any story with any of the other characters over a story about her, so I'm grateful for that.

Yeah, No One Wants Cleveland's Life

The Cleveland Show, S03E16

Cleveland, depressed about the humdrum of his shitty life, met a new coworker who quickly becomes his new best friend.  Donna demanded that Cleveland not see her anymore, but Cleveland, of course, ignored ier and continued their friendship until Donna caught them and threw a frapp in his face.  Thanks to Rallo and Junior making an online video of the attack, a famous producer named Willy Nilly came to whisk Cleveland off to Hollywood to make more videos.  Instead of Cleveland getting fame, he got another man trying to steal his life and his wife, but Cleveland easily showed the man that being Cleveland Brown is not the fantasy that he first imagined.

Rather than be glad to hear one of my favorite songs from a movie, I was dismayed to hear Cleveland singing the words to "Mad World." It's like going to karaoke and listening to someone butcher a song (or purposely sing in a way to mock it).  I liked the depressing montage, but I wished they had used a song I didn't know, so I hadn't been tempted to shout "Boo!!" the whole time.  If they bought the rights to use the song, why not let the original artist sing it.  That would have made the opening fabulous.  Instead, I have to complain about Cleveland singing again.  I have never liked one damn song he has ever done (or any of the songs in Seth MacFarlane world).

After Cleveland made an attractive new friend, the story moved in a way I didn't expect.  I mean, a woman clearly more attractive than Donna (and fun) came along, and they were getting closer without her consent, yet that matter was forgotten pretty much as soon as Rallo and Junior's video made Cleveland famous.  I would have thought Cleveland and the girl might become even creepily closer or something might happen romantically between the two to prove Donna's point.  No, her point got across when Willy Nilly became her friend and Cleveland got jealous.  I was a little annoyed it turned out this way (don't care to see Donna treated like she's all that), until Cleveland stopped feeling sad for himself and gave Willy a Cleveland reality check.  The best part of him showing him how bad his life is was when he showed him how he starts each day.  The kids were acting crazy, especially Rallo who was naked and hitting the wall with a hammer while saying "Hammer Time!"  I loved Willy Nilly and Cleveland's remarks after that:

[Willy Nilly] Whoa!  Why are they even awake?

[Cleveland] They're always awake!

It didn't take Cleveland long at all to show that no one in their right mind would want his life, even if Donna was a part of it.  More so the latter because Donna was seen without her wig, saggy boobs practically to her knees, and bits of all the boiled eggs she eats in her teeth.  Okay, I know Cleveland needed to make a point, but damn!  I didn't think they could make Donna look worse than she did in that episode with the man girdle.  I just don't understand why she needs to look so bad--she's not that old.  But I guess having the two kids and the stress of doing it alone can do that to you.  Yeesh.

I guess it was nice that the glamor-less life that Cleveland has can help him stop a celebrity from taking over his life and prove his wife right at the same time.  Although, I guess she wasn't right because Cleveland's coworker had no plans to move in on him, but I guess it's good enough he learned that it can be uncomfortable to see one's partner with a person of the opposite sex.

I was hoping that Rallo and Junior would have a little more screen time after their video had so much success, but no such luck.  It was a pretty good Cleveland-centered story, though, and I guess it was because the idea of anyone wanting to be Cleveland was absurd enough to be amusing.  You'd probably have to be a drunk living in a gutter to think that Cleveland was living the good life.

Peter and Brian: True Blue Friends

Family Guy, S10E17

Basically, the answer to the question that no one was probably wondering beyond Stewie was given last Sunday:  Are Peter and Brian friends of convenience or friends through and through?  Well, through the magic of science, Peter and his buddies are thrown into a world by themselves where a spoof newspaper article makes the others think that Peter is an evil, human-destroying alien.  It was very interesting to see how these four would get along if their memories were wiped and they were the sole residents of the world.  It was a little eerie in a Twilight Zone-like way and funny in the regular Family Guy way.

I think what I liked the best was when Quagmire was trying to teach Brian "gimme paw," and it took forever.  Brian contrasts his normal dog qualities by blurting out some pseudo-intelluctual crap afterwards before Quagmire tells him to shut up.  No surprise that the deep-rooted hatred that Quagmire has for Brian still manages to seep out even though they don't have their memories back.  Two other gags that I enjoyed were Peter pulling out the Chex Mix to see if anyone else was around, and the revised "Who Else But Quagmire?" joke ("Who Else But Shirt Pants?").  However, I will say that the oddity of their situation and whether the mystery would be revealed was a lot more interesting to me than the comedy in this episode.

What I didn't particularly like was the "shock" joke this time.  There was a cutaway to a gorilla petting a kitten next to a pile of dead ones it had already torn to bits.  So gross.  It's very hard for me to laugh at a dead animal or one suffering in a bloody manner.  I would have preferred that Peter had just told us that had happened rather than us having to see the death pile.

Also, I didn't much care for the ending of this episode where the girls were put in the same scenario as the guys, but all they were doing was fighting and pulling each others' hair.  Apparently they hadn't even tried to name each other.  What bullcrap.  As if women would naturally just hate each other and not work together.  I think women would fight less if men were out of the picture.  Damn you, Seth MacFarlane, and your anti-women position.  Sometimes when I stop to think about it (which I do more now that he has more than one show where I can compare the women characters he's made), it irritates me how women are represented in SF world.  But then again, it's just a cartoon.  It's nothing to march about.  Still, I wish he would have a women character who wasn't in a position where it seemed like she was ranked lower than her husband (or father).

Anyway, I was a little touched by how deep Peter and Brian's friendship turned out to be.  Brian may be an asshole most of the time, but he does love Peter, and the feeling is mutual.  Brian took a damn bullet for him.  Sometimes you might question whether Peter has a heart, but seeing his best friend die before his eyes and all the tears, you know that his love for Brian is more than that of a pet.  It's a nice change of pace because they haven't really had a moment where if you were soft-hearted enough you might just say, "Aww" while watching Family Guy.  They used to have touching family moments like this in the first season, but the eventually disregarded this for a general feeling of tolerated hatred among the family (or indifference, at best).

Although this episode reminds me a little of when Stewie killed Lois (it all turned out to be a simulation), I still thought it was good in general.  I wouldn't mind more of this style where things are unusual for a reason you can't determine right away, nor would I mind a little more sentimental stories (if not to offset all the stories where the characters are being jerks to one another).  We're fast approaching the end of this season, and I'd hate to see it end with me disliking more episodes than I liked.

Damnit, That Is A Scary-Ass Robot!

Family Guy, S10E16

This episode was mostly about Peter and Chris going to a fat camp where some of the boys were strangled to death by a mysterious killer, but the Stewie and Brian sidestory was the stronger of the two for me.  Although, unlike most episodes lately, I thought this one was funny overall.  And best of all, the end sort of tied the two stories together.  I don't mind if these kinds of stories run parallel to each other without intersecting, but I like them better when the writers think of a way they can connect in some way.

I didn't expect Peter to make Chris enter the hot dog contest (nor for him to win--I mean, they didn't really train or anything), but I guess a story with Chris in it was overdue.  The best thing is that they addressed that Peter was just as overweight as his son, and he joined Chris at the fat camp for teenagers.  But did anyone else notice that Barry from American Dad was there too?  I asked my sister if that was him, and she just thought it was my imagination, but if you listen to the voice, it's the same guy.

I don't know how I felt about Patrick coming back.  Since this wasn't the first time I have ever watched this show, I knew it couldn't be that easy that he was the killer they were looking for.  It was funny that when Peter was suggesting Patrick might be the killer, he mentioned his role in some musicals, and they showed how bad he was at patter singing (which I didn't know what that style was called--I always learn things from this show).  Even though the murders had nothing to do with Patrick, he disappears at the end for some reason.  Did he run off to kill more fat guys?  Will he show up in another episode?  Hopefully his next appearance will more exciting than last Sunday's.

I didn't have a clue who the killer was until they noticed that the kids getting killed looked like Chris.  I guess I totally forgot about Yamamoto, the only person it could be.  Glad it wasn't someone random, but not someone so obvious that they were practically yelling it (like him leaving hotdogs behind each time he killed--that would have been cheesy).

Now, about Stewie's very rational fear of the Queen album cover.  Oh, my God!  That is one freaky robot!!  I'm not a fan of Queen, so it was the first time I was seeing it too.  I'm sure if that album was laying around somewhere, I would turn it over so I wouldn't have to look at it.  This made the fact that Stewie nearly crapping his diaper each time Brian brought it out even funnier because I understood his fear.  Apparently, Seth MacFarlane had been disturbed by this robot back in the day (according to his twitter).  I can't believe how far Brian went to scare Stewie, though.  I never thought he would manage to get the image inside of the lotto ticket.  Man, those writers are clever.  The jack-in-the-box one was a little more predictable because there was no way those writers were going to do what you expected (thus the lotto ticket) and have the scary thing inside of the box.  That would be too easy.  Overall, I thought Brian did an excellent job of screwing around with Stewie.

I even thought it was funny that Stewie was almost going to kill himself because he was so afraid of that robot coming to get him.  Luckily, Brian stopped him before we had to see baby brains on the walls and gets Stewie to realize that it's just some art, not some kind of message of the future.  Finally, things came full circle when Stewie was able to use the album cover to give Yamamoto a heart attack and save Chris.  However, I didn't like how the actual robot gave Stewie a thumbs up.  Eww--that thing is so unsettling!  But I applaud Family Guy for recognizing this and exaggerating it in a humorous way.

Oh, yeah.  I almost forgot about my favorite cutaway.  Peter was talking about understanding scary teens.  At first it looks like he might reveal that scary teens just want love, but once the boy shows his vulnerable side, Peter beats the crap out of him.  Whatever I might say about this show, it is genius in throwing out violence when I least expect it.

This might be my favorite episode yet this season.  Although, I can't remember all of the others, so I might have to contradict myself later if I take the time to look at the older ones.

Do We Really Care About Mort?

Family Guy, S10E15

This week's episode was about Peter and Quagmire helping Mort commit insurance fraud while Joe tried to get to the bottom of the "accident."  I have nothing against Peter and Quagmire adventures (and even Joe as long as he's in the background), but I have no desire to watch any story that deals mainly with Mort.  He's just annoying and not in a good way where he bothers others to hilarious rage.  Of course, I was even less happy with this setup because I knew that it wouldn't involve Stewie at all (yes, I know--I just love those Seth MacFarlane babies).  The little guy only had 2 scenes in this episode, and it wasn't enough to compensate the boredom I felt through most of it.

If I had to pick the part I disliked the least, it would be when Peter was trying to interrupt Joe's investigation by texting him about dinner arrangements.  Joe's frustration over the endless messages about each detail of it were easy to relate to; who hasn't gotten to the point that they wanted to throw their phone after being beaten by an array of texts?  As a joke it wasn't bad, but wasn't that good either.

Another thing that almost had me smiling was Joe wondering if Chris might be his friend.  However, Peter didn't think it was possible since Chris would be afraid of him:

He thinks you're a transformer that broke halfway through.

I like that only because I like anything that will poke fun at Transformers, a show I've disliked since childhood.

I guess this show doesn't want to always do things so typical, because Peter did, for once, buy something random that wasn't insane (Lois yelled at him for his superfluous spending habit, but it was nothing like the "Petercopter") like a lawnmower.  That led to a steak bone getting stabbed into Quagmire's forehead, but nothing too incredible by Family Guy standards.  I don't mind if they want Peter to act a little normal and then have something extraordinary happen to him, but this time it was almost a story you could see on another show and could be done in the same fashion.  I come to this show for stories that go down roads that you would never think.  Sort of how I used to depend on The Simpsons for that before they got too old.  Where am I supposed to go now if FG ain't gonna bring it?

FOX Sunday night was a let down this week.  After being without them for a week, I was ready to be entertained with some of my favorite current animated shows.  Now I'm wondering if I'll like these shows better if a month went by before I watched again.  I might just have too much on my plate at the moment to appreciate the gems in front of me.  However, I'm tempted to give Napoleon Dynamite another chance if things keep going like this.  Perhaps, watching that crap will have the same effect as when I gave Allen Gregory a go.  I was happy to get back to The Simpsons and Seth MacFarlane world after that.

Wrestling For Some Good Material

American Dad, S7E12

I have a hard time deciding anything to discuss about Sunday's American Dad because it just didn't do anything for me comedy-wise.  Which is strange because usually when Roger and Stan are battling each other, it usually turns out to be a little crazy.  Instead, there was just a desperate Stan trying to hold onto a teenage sports record, while Roger more or less did things by the book to shatter that record and get his own little museum in their house.  This was ridiculous in not the good way. 

 The only thing I sort of smiled about was when Roger was leading Francine and Stan out of the Stan museum and showed them a CD:

Make sure to check out our Stan Smith pan flute rain forest music. Each song sounds the same, yet somehow manages to be worst than the last.

That joke was on point.  I'm surprised that there weren't more good jokes from Roger, considering he was doing a sport that required him to lay on top of people.  He had a few sexual references here and there, but nothing too creepy that you had to laugh at to hide your discomfort.  And that is what makes Roger a great character usually, but I felt like in this episode he was pretty tame by his standards.  I thought Roger locking Barry into a freezer to only have him roll out into the gym on fire was almost funny.  But it wasn't enough to get me to laugh.

 They stretched out a gag about the principal betting on ridiculous things (like when a girl would get her period--eww!) to the very last seconds of the episode where he was betting on preschool children coloring within the lines.  They wouldn't have needed to do this if the episode had been funny enough itself, but they wanted to add in that extra joke before they were done.  It just made me think that the 30 minutes would have been better spent on an episode about the principal's gambling problem rather than the Stan and Roger wrestling match.

I'm really wondering if the Seth MacFarlane shows have lost their charm with me or if they are just going through a rough patch of episodes.  I'd like to think that I still enjoy random violence, obscure references, and obscenity just for humor sake, but I really haven't liked anything in SF world lately.  I did like that Stan as an old man one, so I guess I shouldn't be too quick to judge, but I think that I should consider pulling one or two of these shows from my primary TV routine.

Pappa Wheelie Is A Failure

Sunday brought an almost on point episode of American Dad.  S07E10 was mostly about Roger and Steve's fake detective agency where they took on real cases.  Steve has a problem telling people bad news and can't seem to do so with their clients nor with Stan, who is so bored that he wants to join their fun.  I think that when they first introduced the duo, Wheels and the Legman, I liked the idea, but this time I felt a groan coming on.  I'm not sure if it had to do with Stan getting involved as Poppa Wheelie.  He is a terrible addition to the duo, somehow more useless in the group than Teddy Bonkers, the teddy bear secretary.
Francine, Haley, and Claus are also trying to get a picture up on Cute Pet Pics, but that story only had value as a mild distraction from the main story.  I smiled a little when Claus was having a photo shoot and J-Pop was playing.  He even had one photo where he looked like a typical anime girl.  The music made me feel like I was hanging out decorating purikura (photo booth).

The best part of the episode was the end, really.  Papa Wheelie was kidnapped by Bonkers, but it all turns out to be a plan that Stan came up with all along.  Steve unravels the fake detective facade by yelling at Roger that Bonkers couldn't have done it because he was just a stuffed animal.  I laughed when he said that they had missed several calls thanks to letting an inanimate object handle their front desk.  Another good moment was when Stan revealed that the severed finger he had sent to them was just a fishstick without the breadcrumbs on it.  Ha.  Steve goes on to tell everyone the bad news after that, starting with Stan and ending with Dane Cook.  However, Stan tells Cook that he is hilarious, to my surprise.  What?  That just had to be a joke of the unexpected, rather than the show's real opinion.  Because Seth MacFarlane just hates everything.  I mean, he has a few things that he deems incredible enough to be worthy of his respect, but those are rare. 

Lastly, I'll report a small smile when Steve tells one client that his grandfather's legacy is just a bag that glows when you open it.  I'll give you writers points for that one.  I knew it had to be something stupid (other than something actually valuable), but that one was out of my range of expectations.

American Dad is usually the weakest of the 3 MacFarlane shows for me, and this week's episode was no exception.  I think Roger is a strong character, but the rest of them are usually a bore that he doesn't shine as much.  What wacky costume will Roger wear next week?  There's no telling, but you know that at some point he going to make a sexual reference and probably creep us out in an amusing way.  We better see more of that in the 11th episode.

A Hollywood Agent Is A Meh Job

Episode 13, season 10, of Family Guy wasn't very interesting to me.  Peter decides to move to Hollywood to become Tom Tucker's agent.  I think it's crazy that Lois doesn't really put up much of a fight, but with Peter, why would you bother?  He'll do whatever he wants whenever he wants.  You could say the same about Homer Simpson, maybe, but I feel like Peter is even more selfish and random about the sorts of endeavors he choose to do.  Anyway, Peter ultimately drops Tom for James Woods (not him again--damnit!!), who later drops Peter.  It's amazing how boring his little time in Hollywood was.  There was nothing really glamorous or funny about it.

What was mildly brow-raising was Chris dating a girl that looked just like Lois.  Um...was this the week for mommy issues, Seth MacFarlane?  Lois is oblivious for a while until Bonnie points it out again (because when Stewie and Brian talk, you have to ignore them).  I'm surprised that things turned out all right without it getting too weird or emotions bubbling over dramatically like this show is known for.  However, all it took was a talk with Chris (about his girlfriend's infidelity), and Lois set him straight.  Huh.

The little twist that made me gasp (if it's a good Family Guy episode, there's at least two of them) was that Lindsay's rebound guy after Chris was Quagmire.  He had her dressed in Lois' clothes.  Oh, God.  I should have seen that coming, but I didn't.  And apparently he had been using Mort as a Lois substitute before her.  Man.  Quagmire is such a creeper.

I hate saying this, but we needed more Stewie and Brian.  Or Peter's adventure needs to be grander and stupider.  This one was just selfish and boring.  And we don't need any guest stars unless they are going to be in the cutaway scenes.  Please, Family Guy, no more James Woods!