Monday, September 11, 2006
(12:57 PM) | F. Winston Codpiece III:
F. Winston Reviews: Season Premier of Fox Sunday Night
Mr. Kotsko has graciously re-hired me as The Weblog's Freelance Review Columnist. Although he was typically passive-aggressive about this tense comment fight, he recognized the quality of my previous reviews and the gaping hole in The Weblog's lineup once my function was eliminated.My task today is a grim one: to review the season premier of Fox Sunday night. Simply put, it was mediocre nearly to the point of unwatchability. The Simpsons premier, over-hyped throughout the summer, was little more than an exercise of filling in the gaps of the background of one of the many characters in the show's bloated cast. Viewers were subjected to a dull opening sequence starring Otto the bus driver, who had been justly neglected for the past several seasons. Formulaically enough, this sequence only served to lead into the main plotline of the episode, a power struggle in Springfield's mob family -- including the unexplained introduction of Fat Tony's son, named (surprise!) Michael. Godfather references were frequent and stale, with the only redeeming factor being a sequence in which Bart and Homer brandish various weapons. One can only hope that next episode, they give the Sea Captain a son and go with a pirate theme -- then they can finally close up shop, having exhausted every possible plotline.
It goes without saying that American Dad was awful -- the show has been little more than a lobotomized version of Family Guy from the very beginning. The main plotline of attempting to turn an African refugee camp into a summer camp was predictably "offensive." The only worthwhile story arc was that involving Roger the alien and Francine posing as an academic couple -- predictably, the Family Guy crew are at their best writing for a dandyish, socially isolated character with an oddly-shaped head.
Family Guy is the only show in the lineup that still shows promise, although the cut sequences this episode were not as good as those in the past -- of course, who expects them to top the argument between a caveman and his wife? Stewie was out of character, having decided to become overly dependent on Lois rather than attempting to kill her, and the episode suffered for it. Yet the conceit of a prostate exam as sexual assault was something that every male viewer could empathize with, allowing Peter to reassert himself as the primary character after being consistently upstaged by Stewie for several seasons. And of course, Rick Santorum isn't the only one who hopes that Brian the Dog will one day be able to make sweet love to Lois, after missing his chance while Peter was lost at sea a couple years ago.
Obviously I turned off The War at Home as quickly as I could -- unfortunately, I was still subjected to the first few syllables of the main character's aggressively unfunny opening monologue. One wonders why they don't just give up and use this final slot for reruns of Life on a Stick.
In short, viewers are best off checking Fox's schedule to see when Family Guy will be on, and perhaps waiting a couple months for the new Simpsons episodes to be put into syndication.
