Behold! The Worst Cartoon Show of all time

[mr3urious]

I'm seriously considering that the new [adult swim] show Mr. Pickles is a good contender for one of the worst. Sure, the concept of a satanic dog protecting a boy who gets into trouble in a Lassie parody (yep! A Lassie parody in 2014) has merit, I was treated to every single thing wrong with adult animation at once. Ugly character designs for ugly's sake, "shock" humor that amounts to lame poop and rape jokes, and over all, "let's be offensive and not clever instead of funny." Thing is, I'm sure that the AS audience is completely desensitized to shock/offensive humor (as I am), and the entire show comes off as a cliche storm of adult cartoon tropes.

I really do miss the days of clever adult animation that didn't amount to a bunch of cheap sex and drug jokes like Dilbert, Dr. Katz, and The Critic, though I think we've seen a bit of a turnaround with shows like Archer, Rick & Morty, and Bob's Burgers that put a strong emphasis on plot and characters. That Netflix-exclusive show BoJack Horseman, about a bitter washed up anthro horse voiced by Will Arnett living in a universe where humans and furries living side by side, looks pretty promising, too.

Superjail is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I really like the quality of the Flash animation (courtesy of Augenblick Studios and later Titmouse) and some of the characters (namely the Warden and Jared), though the elaborate murderfests get a little tiring after a while. Which is why I liked the 2nd season's more focused plots and characterization.

 

[Drtooth]

Rick and Morty is a surprisingly cerebral show considering the Doc and Mharti short it was based off of... even then, it managed to have a subtle nod of satire. There's a lot of good stuff on AS like Black Dynamite and Venture Bros. Shows that are devoted to satire and or character development. Heck, even Robot Chicken manages to make a clever sketch once in a while (The Baloo Identity is quite good). Mr. Pickles is just throwing tired adolescent jokes against the wall. I doubt there's any turn around that can make the show watchable. While I do think the premise sounds reasonable, it just devolved into everything I've ever seen in an adult cartoon ever, lazily slopped out. The jokes were cheap too. Baby shaking...hilarious Poo jokes? Check... even the one joke that would have been funny about how Soy contains estrogen was botched. You can tell a show is really bad when they can't even make a funny joke work.

By contrast, I don't care much for Squidbillies, but I wouldn't bother saying that I hate it or that it was really bad. Just...everything Family Guy, ATHF, and the like already ran into the ground barfed back up. Especially the lame juxtaposition of gross/sexual/violent things in a 1950's squeaky clean environment... ugh. I am by no means offended by these jokes. The shock out of every single one of them is gone.

Superjail is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I really like the quality of the Flash animation (courtesy of Augenblick Studios and later Titmouse) and some of the characters (namely the Warden and Jared), though the elaborate murderfests get a little tiring after a while. Which is why I liked the 2nd season's more focused plots and characterization.

I agree. I want to like it, I don't hate it, but the slaughter gets repetitive. But the Warden is such an interesting character that I can't bring myself not to watch it.

 

[mr3urious]

I agree. I want to like it, I don't hate it, but the slaughter gets repetitive. But the Warden is such an interesting character that I can't bring myself not to watch it.

Though I do see some satire in SJ, at least. That of the brutalities of the American prison system.

 

[Drtooth]

And ones of other countries that are even more brutal.

I also have to say I'm no fan of China, IL either. But the difference between the reaction I got from that vs. Mr. Pickles is essentially the difference between biting into a sandwich and saying it doesn't taste that good vs biting into a sandwich and spitting it out while loudly going "BLEEEEHHHHHH."

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

I used to love qubo as a kid.

 

[mr3urious]

Especially the lame juxtaposition of gross/sexual/violent things in a 1950's squeaky clean environment... ugh.

And even that sort of thing was done better with Morel Orel, with a lot more religious satire thrown in along with it.

 

[Drtooth]

That's what it is. Morel Oral with the religious satire surgically removed.

And yes, I'd love to put Wild Grinders on this list too, but I've bludgeoned that dead horse enough. NFL Guardians of the Rush Zone is also terrible, but in a so bad it's good way. Especially considering what's going on with the NFL lately. It makes the show even more inappropriately hilarious.

 

[Drtooth]

Ugh... I can't believe I'm saying this, but by no means do I think Mr. Pickles is the worst adult cartoon out there anymore. No. There is one that's just... I want to say foul, but I don't feel like making the pun. While I think that Pickles is aesthetically unpleasing, full of lazily added crude jokes, and blows a decent concept on said crude, unclever jokes, at least it strives for something and has a concept. Plus, I gotta admit, I like the dog himself, just not anyone else in the entire series. But really, I wasn't prepared for the true awfulness of an FX cartoon that I'm sure no one has ever heard of.

Stone Quackers.

There it was after a hilarious new Archer, and a pretty funny Lucas Bros (it's alright a show I guess, even though it's pretty dang close to Regular Show with Pot references... those bros are funny and had me rolling in 22 Jump Street).... an ugly show about ducks, I guess? I can't even place the concept besides drugless stoner "comedy" with duck characters. Seriously, know how I said Mr. Pickles has crudeness as it's guide? That's something! This show is just plain freaking BAD! The jokes are still adult for adult sake, but in a meaningless, mindless, directionless way. Seriously, I can't describe anything about it... it's so... well, I take back Mr. Pickles being lazy. This was just directionless. Seinfeld nothing, this was a show that not only was about nothing, it had nothing to say, no reason to exist. But there it is... bad show about ducks.

And for the record, cartoon ducks are one of my favorite things. I even, yes, even dig Breadwinners (I think Gene Grillo's turning it around). A cartoon about ducks shouldn't be this awful. A bunch of non-jokes in a plotless jumble of a series that probably only got on the air because of favors and nepotism. I try hard not to give high standards to adult animation. They're not all going to be Rick and Morty, or even something like Aqua Teen Hunger Force that embraces it's craziness and refuses to make sense on purpose... but this is just a lazy dump of a cartoon show, and probably the worst thing I've ever seen. At the moment. Though I can't imagine anything worse. Not even Fanboy and Chumm Chumm or Wylde Grynderzzzzz.

 

[mr3urious]

So, FXX revived Lucas Bros.? That show was all right, but Axe Cop and Golan the Insatiable are two Fox ADHD shows I would have liked to see be uncancelled over it.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't see why they just ended Axe Cop. That was the actual popular series of the bunch. Then again, they had, what? like five episodes? Maybe if they had more episodes it would have got better viewership. It's still on, in those same five reruns. If the show was a failure, it was their cheapness that did it in. Personally, I don't mind that they gave Lucas Bros another go. It's that they greenlit that horrible Stone Quackers show. That show has no reason to exist. It's awful on every level.

I dunno if there's any stock to this.. but somehow there's a mention of making new Axe Cop episodes on the way. If that's true, they're certainly copying adult swim's tendency of 2 year long or more periods between seasons of shows. Whatever. Just put all the money and effort behind the entire series of Stupid Ducks and get the 3 seconds of Axe Cop animation out of it.