You Ever Notice...and What's the Deal...

[Drtooth]

While I'm not a fan of Phantomstrider's videos, I managed to bother my way through this one about Worst sitcoms that's...ehhhh.

Other than a couple easy shots like Geico Cavemen and Heil Hone, I'm Home, I have to give him credit for calling out The Brady Bunch. Even commented on it. And also for mentioning the abysmal "Man Up" and how it's exactly what's wrong with everything not Hotel Transylvania related Adam Sandler has done since the early 00's. Personally, I think it's easy to call out kidcoms are crap since they really don't strive to do anything worthwhile most of the times (and Nicky Ricky Whatever it is and Dawn is far less clever, more cliche filled, and worse written than Henry Danger).

Personally, I think a dive into the worst sitcoms ever requires a bit more research, as failed sitcoms are plentiful, and a lot of them were failures for a reason, while others are just disappointing losses that could never break the mainstream. There were some very painful trends back in the 80's and 90's, for example. Gimmicky family sitcoms trying to cash in as if they were more ALF type shows for the 80's. And for the 90's, those terrible Friends/Seinfeld clones that I can barely remember the names of but know exist.

 

[D'Snowth]

I honestly felt like the Geico Cavemen had potential, even before they did have their own "sitcom," but the problem is, as with almost all shows today, was far too much executive meddling and network interference: they had to rework the premise so many times that by the time it went to air, it fell flat. Why? Well, remember back in the 70s, how the network was always so frightened by THE ODD COUPLE because they were afraid that the entire show was an implication that Felix and Oscar were representations of gay men? Well, that's pretty much what went down with the Cavemen: the network kept being afraid the Cavemen were representations of racially oppressed black people. Seriously. I understand the original pilot for the show was supposed to be the Cavemen trying to join an exclusive country club (run by the dad from the first two HOME ALONE movies), but they weren't allowed in because they were black, I mean, cavemen. Then, there was a concern that the characters were too much like the Munsters: totally out of place with the rest of the world, yet they think they fit right in and that everyone else around them are the weird ones . . . that apparently didn't work either. So, after all was said and done, we ended up with what we ended up with: a flat, stale, unfunny sitcom about cavemen who happen to live in the modern world. It also didn't help that the show was a modern single camera sitcom as well with no sounds of laughter - live or simulated - and very minimal music cues.

 

[Drtooth]

I honestly feel that the show Son of Zorn can take the same basic concept and do it right. The problem with the Geico Cavemen series is that besides the allegories to racism, clumsy ones at that, they didn't have talent and rushed the show out to cash in off the popularity of the commercials and didn't develop anything that they didn't say in 30 second intervals. And even then, it's Geico's usual schtick, taking something that was basically a one off joke and running with it to the point of just instantly recognizing them is the joke.

At the end of the day, the premise was a bunch of easily offended racial stand ins trying to find their place in a world where they can't fit in. And they really could have made a statement about racial injustice and disharmony, but when it's a bunch of white guys as the stand ins, it muddies the message. Plus, let's face it...they did sitcomy hijinx instead of quality writing.

But what makes me roll my eyes is the fact there was another failed sitcom based on a commercial. Baby Bob. I want to say he was from some sandwich franchise that wasn't Subway. He wasn't one of the Investment Babies they had at one time for something. And it was basically what you'd expect. An unfunny series about a talking baby, and the jokes were all about baby stuff and name dropping preschool shows (Baby Bob once woke up screaming about how he had a dream Bert's eyebrow fell off). It was the only show I know of that referenced Arthur, outside of Disney's Doug. And yet it wasn't even the only talking baby sitcom.

No...there is another...

This was a thing back in 1991 to cash in off the popularity of the Look who's Talking franchise. And it lasted 2 seasons!

 

[D'Snowth]

But what makes me roll my eyes is the fact there was another failed sitcom based on a commercial. Baby Bob. I want to say he was from some sandwich franchise that wasn't Subway.

Oh, I think Quizno's, or whatever they're called, is what you're thinking of - or at least, that's what popped into my mind as soon as you mentioned Baby Bob.

But hey, if we're going to rag on shows that were essentially based on commercials, that's a common complaint from those who don't like SPACE JAM, that it was essentially a commercial disguised as a movie for commercials that featured Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny (and Marvin the Martian, I think).

 

[Drtooth]

But hey, if we're going to rag on shows that were essentially based on commercials, that's a common complaint from those who don't like SPACE JAM, that it was essentially a commercial disguised as a movie for commercials that featured Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny (and Marvin the Martian, I think).

Yeah. That 90's Looney Tunes/NBA thing that stretched out past the Hair Jordans and into things like Sprint and McDonalds. I think I may have o ne of those collectors cups somewhere, but I TOTALLY have a French Fry wrapper with Porky Pig as a referee on it. Though I'd admit, at least with Space Jam, it's a movie with a plot and it doesn't take itself too seriously. But it's still a lot less fun than the commercials ever were.

But back to bad sitcoms... There's such a wealth of forgotten buried trash that I want to drudge up but even I tend to forget. Stuff that didn't even have enough episodes to reach syndication in even the cheapest of syndicated packages. One that will always be a blistering level of forgetibility is the Bronson Pinchot playing a sitcom alien vehicle Meego. I can't even remember how bad it was, but...yeah...it was bad. Balki as a space alien should have been the basis for at least cheap escapist comedy, but no...no. And I beleive Geena Davis had a crappy sitcom that lasted a season barely that was just...a flat collection of family sitcom cliches. All I can remember is they made a "Who let the Dogs Out" joke. That's the only significant thing I remember.

And frankly, much as I hate Hanna Montana, to pretend that is the worst Disney sitcom? Even I don't buy it. Sure, it's basically a show based on the same cliche of hiding ALF from the Ochmonics, or Major Nelson trying to hide Jeannie from everyone especially his boss. It's a show made to sell soundtracks of Miley in character and out of character singing songs written by the same guys. It's not a good show, but...

Jessie is the more cloying piece of garbage. And while Disney was forcing Miley down in the movie Bolt and as a random character that really added nothing to the Emperor's New School cartoon. She wasn't outright terrible in either (the again, I'm not a huge John Travolta fan, but loved him in Bolt as well). But Jessie...oh man...

Jessie is part of the Marvel Universe. Her show is real and taking place in the same universe Spider-Man exists. Just...just... *&&%^%!

 

[minor muppetz]

But what makes me roll my eyes is the fact there was another failed sitcom based on a commercial. Baby Bob. I want to say he was from some sandwich franchise that wasn't Subway. He wasn't one of the Investment Babies they had at one time for something. And it was basically what you'd expect. An unfunny series about a talking baby, and the jokes were all about baby stuff and name dropping preschool shows (Baby Bob once woke up screaming about how he had a dream Bert's eyebrow fell off). It was the only show I know of that referenced Arthur, outside of Disney's Doug. And yet it wasn't even the only talking baby sitcom.

No...there is another...

This was a thing back in 1991 to cash in off the popularity of the Look who's Talking franchise. And it lasted 2 seasons!

And in the 1960s, there was another short-lived show on the "baby's thoughts are heard" concept called Happy.

I watched both Baby Talk and Baby Bob, and I liked them. When Baby Bob was on the air, it seems everybody I talked to about it either hated it or wasn't aware of it (hardly anybody I went to school with seemed to know what I was talking about when I talked about the show).

 

[D'Snowth]

That's what it was like for me in school in regards to Rocko and Cow and Chicken: all the other kids hated both of those show.

 

[D'Snowth]

Remember that episode of RECESS where T.J. was having a fit over that one kid in school who didn't like him, and he went through so many odd little stunts to get him to like him? Then there was that one moment where T.J. decides *** for tat, and tells the other kid he doesn't like him either, to which the other kid responds with something to the effect of, "What a relief! Now you don't have to invite me to your birthday party this year!"

That rings so true to life, because when you were growing up as a kid, how many times did your mother make you send invitations to your bullies, and other kids who didn't even like you? And even when you reason with them that doing such is pointless, their rebuttal is usually, "their feelings will be hurt if you don't invite them." But if they don't like you, how would not inviting them to your party hurt their feelings? In the above mentioned RECESS scene, that other kid was ecstatic at the thought of not getting anymore invitations from T.J.

 

[D'Snowth]

I tried to use a recent event as an opportunity to speak out about an issue that people like myself have to face, but it backfired horribly. Even so, I've been thinking about it more and more, and I've realized something that's just as bad, if not worse:

So, have you ever noticed that so many of these big YouTube celebrities with huge channels, and tons of subscribers are always begging for more? I mean, these people have millions of subscribers watching them sit around and talk about what they did today, and yet they always make it a special point in each of their videos to beg for more subscribers, like "Please, please, please subscribe! I need more subscribers! I'm still under 3,000,000, help me reach 3,000,000! Pleeeeeease!!!" And you know what? People just do it. They just subscribe, like it's no big deal, and then their following grows and grows to outrageous proportions.

So, why is it that when someone like me tries to advertise anything, we get crucified for it? Granted, in the nearly nine years I've been producing original content on YouTube, I've never once ever asked for subscribers, but prior to YouTube, whenever I would try to advertise something, that only resulted in making enemies because people would accuse me of shamelessly and desperately crying for attention. So, what's the double standard here? How come it's okay for some people to grovel and beg for more attention, but for others (like me) you just so much as ask and you're public enemy number one?

 

[fuzzygobo]

Some people are addicted to the approval of others, which is not the healthiest thing.