Never seen those before. This crap looks far more at home on Adult Swim or Comedy Central. Can't believe the channel that gave us Sopranos, The Wire, or Game of Thrones is now pandering to the fratboy/stoner demographic that the adult animation industry has pandering to for two whole dacedes. For the love of integrity HBO, don't feed into the Animation Comedy Dark Age, and gives us something like Spicy City or Spawn again.
shareI wouldn't write a show off just because it's animated. Archer is, IMO, a great show with some very subtle, dry humor that goes over the heads of the stoner crowd (spoken as an ex-stoner. Unless I'm watching Rick&Morty. I apologize for nothing)
Animation is a medium that we've considered synonymous with cartoons, encompassing anything from Bugs Bunny to Family Guy. Animation will hopefully evolve to the point it's taken more seriously than "Adult Swim" fare.
That said, this show in particular does look like Adult Swim fare.
Truth be told, as much as I dislike this humor ghetto Western animation has been stuck in, there are some comedies that I adore (Rick & Morty, South Park, Bojack Horseman, etc.) I'm not saying that things that are of the caliber of Bugs Bunny or Family Guy don't have a right to exist, but why does most "adult" animation need to be a funny frenzy? Where's our animated James Bond or Star Trek? Why do children get more creativety and diversity in thier animation selection than us adults? What ever happened to stuff like Aeon Flux, The Maxx, Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, or the works of Raph Bakshi?
By the way, I'm by no means writing this particular show off for the reason that it's animated. If anything, I'm criticizing it because I enjoy the medium, and I feel this unfunny, deadpan, cliche ridden mess will keep feeding this narrow perception of animation to mainstream audiences, and it just cheapens the art form in general.
Oh man, can't believe I forgot about Bojack. That show is way more drama than comedy, IMO, if it wasn't for the anthropomorphic animals/animal puns, it would be dark as hell. It is sad that cartoons these days are pretty much regulated to comedy. I went through an anime phase, and loved how there were hundreds of genres to choose from.
I think this is a bit of a panic move by HBO. Besides Game of Thrones, they don't have that much new/noteworthy programming, while Netflix is killing it with House of Cards, Bloodline, Narcos, Marvel programming, and they have a slew of other dramas in the pipe line. HBO just hasn't been keeping up.
This obviously just isn't another average animated comedy. Duplass brother's attached and the trailer seemed pretty great.
sharePanic move? I really don't think HBO expects Animals to become their next hit, they're just trying to diversify with their development slate, giving chance to obscure comedies that will most definitely not attract a lot of viewers, just like they've been doing for the last decade or so.
shareHave you ever actually hung out with a stoner? I'm pretty sure stoners like Archer lol. I'm not trying to be a turd but Archer's humor isn't that complex or subtle. Plus when I get stoned I actually notice way more little things and nuances than I would have if I was sober. All I'm saying is you can't minimize a whole group of people into cliches and stereotypes.
Just watched this show on HBOgo even though it apparently doesn't air until tonight and it's pretty generic and average in my opinion.
I wouldn't write a show off just because it's animated
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