Galavant "Thoughts"

[Muppet Master]

Bad news, Galavant didn't do so well.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2016/01/04/tv-ratings-sunday-jan-3-2016/

It premiered to a series low, the only good news is that it's making The Muppets look better. At least those pathetic replacements for Brooklyn Nine Nine and The Last Man on Earth completely failed on FOX though.

 

[Drtooth]

While I don't really want to admit it, I did kinda like Boarder Town, but I really don't think there can be much more the show can do. You'd think in an era where not racist racists propping up a demagogue pandering expressly to them a show about a racist boarder worker having to deal with illegal immigrants would be relevant, but I guess the jokes aren't that funny when real life is far more cartoony. In a bad way of course. I give it credit for being even handed in the satire, making fun of racist far righters and far lefters who care about idiotic crap and act more PC than they are. But overall, it was clear this wasn't going to be successful. But hey, it's better than Mr. Pickles on every level. That's a low bar, though.

As far as Galavant's ratings, I knew they weren't going to be good. As long as they can get through the season, that's what the show was designed to do. Why, the ratings will jump up when Once Upon a Terrible Disney Fan Fic comes back on. Figures. The good show is seen as gimmicky and Audience Alienating, but the one that... well... that thing is the successful series.

 

[mr3urious]

While I don't really want to admit it, I did kinda like Boarder Town, but I really don't think there can be much more the show can do. You'd think in an era where not racist racists propping up a demagogue pandering expressly to them a show about a racist boarder worker having to deal with illegal immigrants would be relevant, but I guess the jokes aren't that funny when real life is far more cartoony. In a bad way of course. I give it credit for being even handed in the satire, making fun of racist far righters and far lefters who care about idiotic crap and act more PC than they are. But overall, it was clear this wasn't going to be successful. But hey, it's better than Mr. Pickles on every level. That's a low bar, though.

I agree in that Bordertown isn't great, but not as awful as I thought. I don't see why they had to make the white family a bunch of straw redneck conservatives (especially with their fat beauty pageant daughter at a time when Honey Boo Boo has begun to fall out of relevance), though I do like how Ernesto remains the bigger man, doing things like inviting Bud and his family to his party, so that makes him a lot more likeable. I hope they make that Mexican smuggler in the beginning a recurring rival for Bud, too.

 

[Drtooth]

I look at American Dad and how it was mainly created because Seth MacFarline and the others that really created it were ticked the heck off that Bush got a second term. How at the beginning of the show it was just all about making fun of how much of a straw conservative Stan was, and making him the biggest jerk on the show. Then you see how they pretty much started to abandon it and make Stan more sympathetic (and Roger more of a monster) as the show went on. While Stan being conservative was still a thing, the writers decided to have wackier adventures instead of ranting and the show immediately got much better.

I can't help but feel that this show wants to be American Dad with a far right dad and his leftist daughter constantly butting heads, and the show's theme of illegal immigration its hook. I just don't think the hook is going to hold the series together unless it takes the same sharp turn American Dad has. And even when AD was ranting about conservatives being in power, they went for the full circle of issues. The first episode pretty much got all they could out of the subject matter, and even then that was hit or miss (the bit about the tourists screwing around in Mexico was essentially the only good joke they had there about it). This show has been in the pipeline since forever, and it really got produced around one of the off years where illegal immigration wasn't the topic. It's always been around, and there's always been opinions, but it didn't become a big thing again until Trump. Even then, according to an interview the show runners and writers were shocked that happened well after they finished the pilot.

The Honey Boo-Boo bit clearly comes from this being an idea kicked around for a while. I'm sure that if this were more timely, they wouldn't have added that in. Also, it really feels like Hank was going for a Homer Simpson impersonation for the main character's voice (he sounds like a cross between Hank impersonating Dan and his own Comic Book Guy character), so there's that. The son doesn't seem to be necessary to the show at all, and all it does is reinforce the Family Guy quotient of teen boy, older teen girl, and wacky baby. Sure, all Fox's cartoons have a 3 child family (AD basically has Roger as the third child and Klaus as the wacky talking animal), but the other cartoons really manage to keep them different. The Belcher kids, especially. But the son just comes off as a dude-bro version of Chris.

But overall, the show isn't bad. It's meh with hints of pretty good depending on where the show goes, but I don't see it doing as well as any of the other Fox cartoons. Even if the show were good, I'd rather see it quietly go away and give the slot to Bob's Burgers until Football season is over and the slot goes back to LMOE. Shame that of all Fox's cartoon sitcoms, Bob's is the one that gets the most buzz lately (Tina and anything Tina related especially...her Pop figure was a large seller), but it gets the least respect from its home network. Guess it really does play better on adult swim. Didn't bother with the Cooper's Guide to Life thing, it was opposite Galavant. Didn't look interesting, though.

 

[Muppet Master]

To be honest I actually laughed a lot during Borderown, though it was more of a case of so bad it's funny, most of the character voices were so weird they were funny, and the plot was so absurd it had me laughing. I do like their political take until that Last Man Standing show that has a main goal of making fun of the liberal side. I will tune in for the last two episodes before it goes on hiatus, probably will be cancelled before it even returns though.

Sad about Galavant though, but if it stays at a series low, ABC might give it a pity renewal, heck that stupid teen drama that's usual there got barely higher for it's season finale, it can't really be called a success anymore, and matched it's series low, and might even end up in deep water if ratings dip a little more, so there's hope for Galavant, but not much.

 

[Drtooth]

The wackier, cartoonier gags were the better part of Boarder Town. But then I just can't not think of American Dad, especially since the show was created by a former AD show runner. AD's earliest episodes wanted to be Family Guy to the point of it being a meh copy, but thankfully it came into its own quickly. I feel that if this show were to actually last, maybe future episodes would balance the wackier gags with more surreal ones and tone down the political rants and jerkitude of the characters and then it will become something more. I just don't think it will have the time to.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm impressed. Sure, they basically made lots of meta references about how they were darn lucky to be renewed at all, but it seems they learned their lesson from The Neighbors. They kept just a little of it open in case they get a surprise renewal, but other than that they wrapped everything up without tossing a monkey wrench in there to make an infuriating cliffhanger for leverage to get the series to be renewed. So the series has reached a satisfying conclusion, and if somehow it did continue there's still some story there left to tell.

Also, points for bringing Weird Al back for the finale.

 

[Muppet Master]

They managed to patch up all the storylines, and it was pretty good, though it has zero chance of getting a season 3 renewal, at least they didn't leave off on a cliffhanger, and hilarious how Weird Al broke the fourth wall in that last song, really funny.