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Herc Says Mike Judge’s THE GOODE FAMILY Is Good Enough!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
A new animated comedy from “Beavis and Butt-head” creator Mike Judge and fellow “King of the Hill” writer-producers John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, “The Goode Family” looks at a clan virtually paralyzed by its desire to be as politically correct as possible in a highly PC neighborhood.
Lending voice to the project are Judge, Nancy Walls Carell, Linda Cardellini, Dave Herman and Brian Doyle-Murray.
Some parts are funnier than others, and some of it doesn’t make a lot of sense; wouldn’t a family obsessed with political correctness have learned decades ago that “African-American” is the new PC gold standard for labeling U.S. blacks?
The funniest thing about the pilot is a subplot about the Goodes’ pet, a dog driven to eat the pets of neighbors by his owners’ insistence on keeping him on vegetarian diet. But I also found laughs in the Goodes’ adopted teen son, who also has difficulty fully embracing to the family’s bleeding-heart regimen.
ABC has scheduled “Goode” after “Wipeout,” its huge goofy obstacle-course hit, and I can see how those who laugh at the reality pratfalls (and “Talk Soup” vet John Henson’s color commentary) might be plenty inclined to stick around for Judge’s latest effort.
“Goode” is good enough to get a season pass on my DVR.
Entertainment Weekly says:
… both smart and not very funny. …
The New York Times says:
… The voice of the patriarch, Gerald Goode, an administrator at a community college where even students qualify for tenure, is provided by Mr. Judge, who could not have improved on his tone of narcoleptic earnestness if he had apprenticed for “All Things Considered.” He is exceptionally funny in the role (as he was playing Hank in “King of the Hill”), and a lot of the writing is too. …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… A sitcom premise is a kind of booster rocket, meant to get the show into orbit. It's there to serve the characters rather than the other way around, as is largely the case here. "The Goode Family," which is nicely acted and well animated, works best when the cultural potshots give way to the more basic human needs of its characters: a mother's desire to be close to her daughter, or to her father (Brian Doyle-Murray as the resident voice of political incorrectness), in spite of "a lifetime of crippling negative comments," and a father's willingness to go outside his comfort zone to make his son happy, as when Ubuntu joins the football team. There's a show there.
The Chicago Sun-Times says:
… If you passionately loved "King of the Hill," you will cautiously like "The Goode Family." Tiptoe into it if necessary.
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… Skewering the holier-than-thou can be hilarious, but joke after joke, episode after episode, it all gets a little too predictable. The Goodes ask WWAGD - What Would Al Gore Do - but of course they do, right? All of this was done essentially in reverse with "King of the Hill," and to better effect. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… As a comedy, it's not-quite good enough. "Goode" is smart but not as funny as its creators imagine …
The Newark Star Ledger says:
… while the jokes may be funnier than "King" has been in a long time, the new show also feels more uneven and strained. …
The Miami Herald says:
… a scathingly funny report from the front lines of America's culture wars. … will do for PC what 30 Rock does for corporate capitalism or Lost for commercial air travel: Leave it in ruins. …
The Boston Herald says:
… The production company behind “The Goode Family” is Media Rights Capital, which programmed CW’s Sunday night right into oblivion and is responsible for such dreck as the Bob Saget show “Surviving Suburbia.” The company finally has produced a decent show. Let’s see how long it lasts.
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… the best bits of the series are those that let the characters deliver the punch lines, not become one, and there aren't quite enough to go around. …
Variety says:
… a smart, wryly funny animated comedy … Ultimately, there's no substitute for amusing scenarios like the one with the dog, and clever writing, which "The Goode Family" boasts in abundance. " 'The View' is on," Gerald says trying to cheer up Helen, who's confused about what to tell Bliss regarding abstinence. "The pretty one is saying crazy stuff again." …
“Wipeout”: 8 p.m. Wednesday. ABC.
“The Goode Family”: 9 p.m. Wednesday. ABC.
“From The Earth To The Moon,” the entire extra-packed signature edition, has fallen to its lowest price ever: $11.99!! People were paying $49 for this set last year. 
The first 10 seasons of “Cheers,” one of the four funniest sitcoms ever forged, with Woody and Norm and and Lilith Sternan and Nick Tortelli, have fallen for the moment to $15.99 each!!
“From The Earth To The Moon,” the entire extra-packed signature edition, has fallen to its lowest price ever: $11.99!! People were paying $49 for this set last year.
The first 10 seasons of “Cheers,” one of the four funniest sitcoms ever forged, with Woody and Norm and and Lilith Sternan and Nick Tortelli, have fallen for the moment to $15.99 each!!
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Oh yeah.
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more tv bullshit...fuck it im cutting off my cable those sojns of whores
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Wannabe japanese game show.
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"is saying crazy stuff again." Heheheheheh. Hasselbeck is a loon.
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How long until we start feeling the effects? Time to pick up a new show or two that I haven't gotten into yet and dive into some episodes. Mad Men, True Blood, Dollhouse - here I come!
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When it got all religious.
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Still, I'll give this a go.
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That people don't kill themselves on Wipeout. Maybe they simply edit out the ones who do.
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and lasted all those years. This show actually looks good.
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Or did it just stop this year? I was kind of hoping that show would have gotten a decent sendoff, it certainly deserved it. As for "The Goode Family," I'm not terribly optimistic because the jokes might be funny I can tell just by looking at it I won't get emotionally attached to those characters. King of the Hill had great charactes, especially Hank who reminded me of my own Dad at times. Plus it wasn't afraid to make the wives look foolish. I was kind of sick of seeing shows where the woman is virtuous one hundred percent of the time, this felt more like a real relationship as tv marriages go. The only one I like better, Homer and Marge of course. Can you honestly find a married couple on TV (or in movies for that matter) who are more in love?
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The animation style sucked
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Hear Abby Elliott but not see her? No thanks, but I do love non-KOTH Mike Judge.
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I liked Wipeout much better as MXC with the dubbed announcing. As for Goode, lampooning the PC crowd may be good for a while, but it seems to be a limited target. The beauty of KOTH is that Hank Hill stubbornly tiptoed into the 21st century, despite his fear and loathing of ALL things not of his 1950ish viewpoint.
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is like saying South Park looks like construction paper cutouts, so its not worthy of attention. Stupid.
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I wish I cared that much about my lawn.
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I'm sure I'll at least LIKE The Goode Family. Mike Judge, in MY opinion, is batting 1.000
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Even the damn dog was depressed. Rednecks are not funny, you may giggle first, but in the end you feel sorry for their backwards way of life!
Jesus for 2012! -
... I mean, that's basically the gist of this series, right?
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Maybe the humor was too subtle for most here? The show had a 14 year run, they must have gotten some things right. Damn FUX for just tossing it in the garbage without so much as a series finale. Rupert Murdoch really is Satan.
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I haven't watched a show on ABC in years, but I'll give this a try.
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A lot of the country identified with that show, especially in the midwest. A number of the characters were rednecks and weirdos but the show never condescended to them. As for adapting to the 21st century, a lot of what Hank was averse to was pretty much understood to be ridiculous by everyone. Not that there weren't some things at his expense (the pimp episode and his reaction Bush's weak handshake were hysterical). California should be so lucky to get the same treatment from Mike Judge that he gave to Texas.
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Sounds kind of like that.
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could it have been just as funny live-action?
of course, bobby would have grown up... but aside from that, why did it need to be a cartoon?
still sorry it was cancelled. -
A couple of years ago this happened.
Hard to find the story now, but you knew goddamned well some wise ass used Dale Gribbles pseudonym to play with the reporter. -
and not a moment too soon.
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Yep.
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well, now that the president is black, do you really want to call him "african-american"? he's not president of "africa-america".. if anyone gets to be "american", it's him
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May 27, 2009 5:18:35 PM CDT
Did you guys see that one episode of King of the Hill
by dapper swindler
...where this far out and liberal new concept comes to Arlen. And Bobby embraces it immediately. And then Peggy eventually embraces it. Meanwhile Hank is skeptical. Then after Peggy and Bobby have gone overboard with the new thing, Hank sets out on a mission to prove that this new thing is bad and he must expose it. Finally, at the climax the new thing blows up and everyone sees just how bad it really is. And everyone learns that the status quo was really the best thing and new things are always bad. ??????
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But I've seen plenty of new age stuff that got lampooned. Yoga, idiotic alternative teaching methods, everybody-gets-a-trophy sports teams, soccer. Crazy stuff that never catches on for a reason. God forbid anything positive be portrayed in Texas. Next thing you know you're gonna tell me "Tender Mercies" was born again crap simply because the main character finds some religion.
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....no. But I did like the one where Hank is able to embrace the new thing, while maintaining his general way of life, thus resulting in a happy, moderate marriage of conservatism AND progressiveness.
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Don't remember that one... but that could be because I stopped watching KotH after the 3rd episode when I realized Mike Judge expended every ounce of creativity in his body on Office Space and was doomed to dryheave out half-baked movie ideas and startlingly unfunny animated dreck for the remainder of his career. Too bad, really...
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A dimensional ensemble of characters and stories with heart... neither condescending nor pandering to the Types portrayed and utterly culturally relevant during the whole Cracker Zeigteistm (the Bush Era), and Funny. I even like the crude animation style (a notch above Beavis & Butthead). Better than most live action sit-coms by a mile, it has more in common with convention comedy than it does with stuff like Family Guy or Aqua Teen Hunger Force. KotH was one of the few artifacts of those years that I will look back on with fondness. Mike Judge understands human beings and the human condition like few others and he's naturally funny. And Idiocracy was amazing. Etc. etc etc
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gets a formulaic "family" primetime "cartoon"! YAY! Hey it worked for their wacky neighbor Mr. Anderson! Stop wackin' in my camper and watch. This is very original, I tell yuh wut.
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Judge gets a free pass for life from me for OFFICE SPACE and IDIOCRASY alone. However, how many ancillary "Beavis & Butt-head" characters is he planning on mining for their own series? First, he slightly altered the "Mr. Anderson" character (but used the same voice and mannerisms) for "King Of The Hill". Now, it appears he's doing virtually the same thing with "Mr. Van Dreisen" for this show. Is there a funny gym teacher series in the pipeline, too?
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A wise decision. Stick with wuts safe, Mr. Judge. Like selling propane. You'll never go wrong.
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I'm not even being sarcastic. That character was awesome. But if he has to have a family I hope their really screwed up and he has a heart attack at the end.
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Uh uhuhuuhuhuhuhhh
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"Since the election we can all wear flag pins now!" Liberals everywhere aren't going to like being so viciously skewered finally...this show is a freaking riot! Thank God for Mike Judge!!
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KOTH was grounded in authenticity and realism. This is not. The Hills seemed like areal people. These are just straw liberals. Nobody really acts or talks like this. It's like a right wing fantasy of what liberals are like. Very disappointing. I've been a fan of everything Mike Judge has ever done, but this looks like a fail so far. It's just fatuous potshots at strawman lefties.
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but it was pretty funny. The flag pin stuff was hilarious. Plus, the fact the white kid from South Africa is considered an African-American is awesome. I assume this episode will be a bit over the top since it's a pilot, but so far so good.
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May 27, 2009 8:37:48 PM CDT
"Liberals everywhere aren't going to like being so viciously ske
by napoleondynamite
"Skewring" only works if it's based on truth. This show is not. That stupid flag pin line has nothing to do with reality. Fuck, conservatives are stupid.
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Please tells us the reality about the flag pin? Our President chose not to wear one until he was a viable candidate for election. It's certainly an issue worthy of satire.
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I told you you guys would get upset. Fucking awesome.
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I know several leftists who are this terminally clueless.
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How dare they mock the Memphis conventions.
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Everything you guys think you know about "liberals" is what you hear on Limbaugh and Hannity, and read in Ann Coulter books. You guys probably thought that Ben Stein Creationism movie was hilarious and incisive too, didn't you?
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I started dealing with southern Americans as a result of my job, after that I realized that the show is sheer genius.
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It's not supposed to be realistic, it's supposed to be a satire. It's making fun of you liberals, and your dearly bleeding hearts.
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...and it'll probably get better as it goes along, but it needs to actually be a little tougher on its main characters; they aren't so much skewered as marshmellow bombed. And, part of what was so cool about "King of the Hill" is that it portrayed characters who you don't really get to see on primetime TV that much - if you see them at all they're usually the bad guys. With "The Goode Family", it's just not as interesting to watch white liberals, since TV is pretty much nothing but that - this series could almost be called "The Lisa Simpson Show". If you want to see white liberals really get skewered. I recommend watching "Trading Spouses" or the "Fiction" segment of Tod Solondz's "Storytelling".
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Please. Come to New York where Ben and Jerry's once opened a store completely staffed by homeless people. Yummy. Or where a white guy told me that the time he was yelled at on the street by Hebrew Israelites made him more aware of what black people must go through every day.
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thats' the only nugget of truth I could find in all that blather up above. so there...
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The dog stuff was great, but I also appreciated it because stuff from this POV is sorely lacking on television. And I've known people who live like this...
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I thought it was going to be THE GOOD LIFE/GOOD NEIGHBORS (BBC show from the 70's) filtered though Judge but it really was it's own thing, although I did think there for a minute Andy Dick was doing the voice of the Dad. South African adopted son and the dog were the best parts. Wish the animation style differed a little from KOTH unless he's planning on a crossover or something to help end KOTH (i.e. the Dad's glasses are the same "make" as Hanks, their black neighbor looked a lot like the hispanic co-worker of Hanks voiced by Trejo)...Brian Doyle Murphy should have had more, assuming he will as it goes along
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has a character who is very liberal and is embarrassed by his fellow liberals, because that is basically me.
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May 28, 2009 2:25:27 AM CDT
King of the Hill, the best non-50s cartoon ever made...
by jackpumpkinhead
...as evidenced well by the number of imbeciles who "hate" it (i.e. are too moronic to understand it) - each of them no doubt a lover of "Family Guy" - so here's to the hopeful return of the best show. But this sounds funny, too. I hope they'll jab the Teleprompter in it often, too; will he speak in Austrian?
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There's a first. Kudos to you, Herc. Kudos.
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Despite being on MTV, Daria was an under-appreciated spinoff.
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My favorite episodes of KOTH was when he did skewer losers who abused loopholes in governemnt laws, i.e. the American Disabilities Act and overreliance of school bureaucrats to pump kids up with ADD meds. This was comparable to Zucker's trite American Carol, one note and lazy, a trait I never associated with Mike Judge.
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I really admire the characters who, despite their flaws, are there doing the best they can in the proverbial "world they never made." They're GOOD PEOPLE, at the core, the core group of characters, and Hank is an admirable man - fully-realized, too, which is rare for American TV, much less animated fare. I was always impressed that the writers never EVER sacrificed the characters for the story - or vice-versa. The characters in that show are a lot bigger and deeper than initial glance might lend you to believe - they all have their "arcs" to quote the LOST/BSG fans. Incidentally, I've heard rumblings that with the collapse of SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP almost instantly, KING OF THE HILL may be back after all ...
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Satirize right-wingers, it's based on fact. Satirize left-wingers, it's totally unrealistic. Got it.
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sad to see FOX cancel this, and what a butt fuck if we don't get a "farewell" episode.
I, for one, love the absolute brainlessness of "Wipeout". After watching six episodes of The Wire yesterday it was refreshing to see a bunch of idiots fall down. Yin to my Yang.
The Washington Post gave "TGF" a hummer (and two articles) in yesterday's edition. I'll watch, for sure, but it's gonna take a lot to best KOTH. I'm about as far removed from Hank Hill as can be, but I still love the guy!
I'd love to see a B&B spinoff featuring the gym teacher...KICK ME IN THE JIMMY!!! -
Thought Goode family has a solid foundation but felt most of the jokes fell flat because there were just WAY too many crammed in. They probably felt that was the best way to show who these people are, and to establish the concept...but it felt like WAY WAY too many attempts at humour right off the start. Most of the funny stuff I thought was more story related and not forced...like how their adopted african baby is white, or how the daughter rebels by chosing abstinence and going to a charity ball, or the bit about flag pins. But I agree that some of the jokes about their extreme political correctness felt forced and made them seem more stupid than extreme leftist. I'll probably watch again to see if they can find the right balance. Plus, although I am a lefty myself, it is refreshing to see this show as a balance to shows like Family Guy and King of the Hill which were more about right-wingers and/or rednecks. Oh, and it is my guilty confession that I enjoy me some Wipeout. I try NOT to like it because it is so cheap and such a weak idea, but then someone gets punched in the face or takes a crazy fall and I'm hooked.
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Either you get it or you don't. It transcends description at times. How can you explain the awesomeness of the Ghost of Buckley bouncing on his trampoline with LuAnne? Or the scene where Hank's insurance is in limbo for 24 hours, and the block becomes a disaster without him (killer bees, grease fires, panicky neighbors)? I still watch King on repeats. I haven't watched Simpsons in years. I never liked Familiy Guy. I saw this Goode premiere and it had it's moments. I'll tune in again for the 3 weeks it is likely to run.
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That show ran 11 seasons, generated billions in syndication revenue, and even maintained a loyal audience when they dumped it on Saturday nights and at the end they completely screwed the fanbase and the show's staff with a weak season finale and a black screen at the end thanking everybody.
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I was watching a Married With Children retrospective (A&E, or E, or whatever) and it mentioned that the cast got the call the show was cancelled the day after the season finale aired. Yet I'm certain I watched that season finale knowing it was the series finale. I believe I watched it because it had been advertised as such (had stopped watching the show a few years earlier). I remember after watching it what a lame way to end such a long-running series.So, who is right? Am I right in remembering the last episode as being advertised as the Series Finale? Or was the documentary right in saying the show was cancelled after the last episode had aired?
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The one about collard and colered greens was in an office episode during Michael's Diversity Day where he basically has the same conversation with Stanley. so theres that.
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Not bad, but it does seem like a caricature of how conservatives perceive liberals, whereas King of the Hill seemed to sympathize more with its characters. Hank never had any of the more over-the-top conservative stereotypes (I don't recall him being overly crazy about guns and God, or displaying any overt racism) while the Goode Family so far appears to ONLY be liberal stereotypes. However, we're only one episode in and I see potential for the family to go through similar character development, where they realize that maybe their way isn't always the best way.
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What was that like? I suppose on one end you could say it was a lot of people who were totally employable but had wrecked credit or whatever, and the other end you have the more hilarious situation of whacked out derelicts trying to serve you tooty fruity only instead calling you a devil dog and throwing what you hope is chocolate in your face.
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I don’t remember much advertising for the finale (they had basically dumped the show in a garbage time slot to justify terminating it) but I clearly remember the finale having a black screen that said something to the effect of “thank you for a million laughs.” It was definitely filmed like a season finale and not a series finale so the abrupt nature of the cancellation seems believable but I swear they included that small addendum at the end. I distinctly remember being pissed that such a small token gesture was all the show got after being such a cash cow for Fox.
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You should also be offended by Stan Smith on American Dad. No conservatives act like he does.
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I could barely get through 10 minutes of this painfully unfunny drivel. I'm thinking that Mike Judge has intentionally made an animated series destined for a quick cancellation simply because he's tired of making a weekly show yet is required to fulfill the contractual obligations he evidently signed while in a drunken stupor. I'll be waiting for Extract.
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Maybe Judge is using these liberal caricatures to show conservatives that our core values are basically the same. By the end of the show, it was made clear that the parents didn't actually WANT their daughter to have sex. Most right-wingers seem to think that informing your children about birth control is the same as encouraging them to have sex, and the Goode Family answered that quite nicely by the end of the episode. I look forward to seeing how they handle other such cultural issues. Abortion would be interesting, but I don't see ABC going there.
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Re: Stan Smith, I suggest you check out FreeRepublic. On the contrary, I don't think American Dad goes far enough in lampooning hardcore conservatives.
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It performs so poorly it doesn't even get to AIR its fifth episode. What was so wrong with it? I think you all wanted to hate it just because it wasn't Arrested Development. Did you watch it though? The jokes they made were EXACTLY the kind that Arrested made. It was as close to being an animated AD as you could be. Anyways, I loved it, and I also highly enjoyed Goode Family, and if SDSU has to be gone, hopefully this won't be canceled like so many other great things.
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And it's crazy how so many people hate it! It has the most real characters anywhere on television, that are defined to an insane degree. I am happy to see there is at least some love for it here.
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Persona wise, they're both pretty much the same if you watched last night. He comes off as wanting to be p.c., but he's not unlikeable.
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Compared to Peter anyway. They're both buffoons but at least Stan's motivated. Peter just seems content to act like he's five, and Homer already did that and much better.
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If they had any hopes for it, they would've waited until Fall. It's DOA. Also, KOTH has 6 more episodes set for after the World Series. So, hopefully, we'll get a proper send off.
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This show is totally unfunny. Politically correct people need to be shafted, no doubt, but this show is not doing it. Maybe next time.
The characters look so weird! The wife looks about 40, the husband looks about 20, the daughter looks about 30, and the fat kid looks older than the husband. If you want to see it, do it now, because it's not going to last. -
I see what you're saying, but Stan Smith is portrayed pretty inconsistently. Sometimes he'll be shown talking to his gun like his best friend. But later he goes OOC and becomes so gay-friendly that he tries being gay. Those freepers would never do that
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Not bad. IIRC, King of the Hill sounded like a boring concept and didn't really knock my socks off in its pilot. (Looking back on it now, it even seems "slower" than the curent KOTH.) Yet that turned out great.
As to why some people detest KOTH, I don't know. I'm not going to play the "maybe you're not intelligent enough to get it" card, because I hate it when people say that about a TV show. It may legitimately be a cultural thing. You may need to have a passing familiarity with Texas or suburban American culture. -
Just watched it. It had the typical awkward pilot start but got much better by the end. I'll watch a few more. And to the naysayers: I have to shop at Whole Foods because of food allergies, and these people *do* exist.
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Because it sucked. I did watch it and I wish I could get money back from someone. And I wasn't expecting AD, I was expecting another failed attempt for American TV to copy a foreign show.
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The character designs were REALLY ugly and off-putting. Don't need to see a permanently nipped-out male character.
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A little sketchy at first but it got better. It has potential provided it develops more affection for the characters. I'm glad they're not jabbing at just one lifestyle here, it wouldn't shock me if there is an abstinence movement like that out there somewhere. We already have purity rings being marketed by Disney. The expression the dogs face kills me, poor thing just looks desperately hungry all the time.
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Sure it petered out at the end but anything that pokes fun at the tree-huggin' bunny-lovin' Birkenstock babies is awesome in my book. Hopefully it will follow the same path that Dollhouse did...first two episodes blew but then got interesting by the end of the season.
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And smiled about a dozen more. As sitcoms go, that's pretty much a home run, for me. My favorite: "We can't shop there -- they don't even have a mission statement!"
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