The Goode Family Sends Up Liberal Sacred Cows
A new TV show pokes fun at a family with a hybrid car, a vegan dog named Che, and bumper stickers which say, "Support our troops and their opponents."
Father Gerald, on the other hand, may look clueless at times but he’s the one who actually lives up to the liberal label, opening his mind to new experiences.
Oh, if only more live-action liberals could walk in this animated fellow’s footsteps.
But a subsequent episode may spell trouble for the young series. The show’s second installment isn’t nearly as funny or as razor sharp as the first 30 minutes.
Judge isn’t listed as a writer on episode two, and his presence might be mandatory to keep Goode at the high level it needs to survive.
Adopted son Ubunto — he’s a white South African, much to his parents’ initial dismay — decides to join his school’s football team.
“You mean tackle football, like in the movies?” Gerald asks.
The episode does draw some ideological blood. Daughter Bliss wants to change her last name when she learns being white gives her almost no chance to win a college scholarship. And poor Ubunto can’t throw a pot to save his soul, a peaceful pastime endorsed by his family. But he learns his immense size makes him a natural for gridiron glory.
“Everyone in there looks like me,” Ubunto says while pointing to a football magazine found by his father, a neat tweak to identity politics.
The Goode Family still need to grow its characters if it hopes to succeed, since tweaking liberal stereotypes will only provide so much material and structure.
One way to do just that is to use Grandpa (Brian Doyle Murray) more in the future. He’s the voice of anti-PC reason in the show, and he could provide just the right culture clash material to give the program a stronger impression.
The series may not get that chance. Networks are all too eager to pull the plug on a new series, and Judge has a track record of creating cutting edge content only to see it given little respect by its backers.
Think Office Space and Idiocracy, the latter getting so little support from its studio that a movie poster wasn’t made for its brief theatrical release. So enjoy the subversive beauty of The Goode Family while you can.
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Christian Toto is a freelance writer and film critic for The Washington Times. His work has appeared in People magazine, MovieMaker Magazine, The Denver Post, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Scripps Howard News Service. He also contributes movie radio commentary to three stations as well as the nationally syndicated Dennis Miller Show and runs the blog What Would Toto Watch?
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38 Comments
1. Ed Wallis:Based on the success of B&B and King of the Hill (not to mention the hilarious trailer!), I suspect Mike Judge will have considerably more success than, say, David Zucker had with “An American Carol.” I wish him the best.
May 27, 2009 - 2:23 am 2. D-wah:Thanks for the heads up–I’ll catch it. Let’s hope it doesn’t get censored. Sounds pretty daring for the self righteous libs to allow–they don’t have ANY sense of humor when it comes to their darling ideology–to them it’s their religion you’re poking fun at. Hence the mantra–the right is all racists and bigots and homophobes. When their bubble bursts they got nothin’.
Loved the bumper sticker “Support our troops, and their opponents.” All those one-liners are LOL good and spot on.
I just don’t think the famously intolerant left will take it. They can shout us down, mock us, ridicule us, but don’t you dare to try that on them. And certainly not in public or in their darling mainstain media. Let’s see what happens, but “Goode” on Mike Judge!
May 27, 2009 - 4:02 am 3. logdon:I am a sixty plus Brit whose favourite ongoing tv show right now is Family Guy. Closely followed by American Dad.
Comedy in Britain has now become too much of a victim of it’s own left wing prejudices whereby it’s ok to insult royalty, elderly people, Christianity*, heterosexuals*, the working class, in fact anything and anyone who is so resigned to this cacophany of puerile disparagement as to offer no resistance. Joke about a black, muslim* or gay*, though and you run a serious risk of arrest. Or personal physical attack.
It has happened and is getting worse.
FG is a complete antidote to this stifling censoriousness and a breath of truly wonderfully anarchic fresh air.
Once we were pretty good ourselves at this sort of stuff, Python, Rising Damp, Black Adder and Faulty Towers all entering the rough and tumble of true satire.
Not anymore as the sinister powers that be clamp down on all which does not suit their appalling tick box mentality of diversity and suitability.
Twelve years of a socialistic government has resulted in 3,000 new laws being passed, many aimed at repression and nanny state interferance.
Steady yourselves America, it’s now heading your way as the One Horseman of the US Apocolypse, scythes his way through your freedoms and much vaunted spirit of individualism and personal effort.
We are in the middle of the biggest shakeup of political activity as our voter anger boils over.
Our ultra nationalistic BNP party is making huge gains as people turn away from PC and government snoopery thus proving Newton action and reaction to be correct, once more.
Good! We are aching for freedom and by God we are now demanding it.
As long as your maverick animators can make money for Hollywood they are accepted. Seems like the US has not quite rolled over yet and these guys are still in action doing what humourists have been doing since the first man cracked a grin.
Making us laugh.
May 27, 2009 - 4:15 am 4. cedarhill:Seen the ads. The show will bomb. Libs won’t like it since they’re genetically unable to look at anything they disagree with and conservatives won’t watch it because it’s just plain not funny. It may be the first show in TV history to have a minus viewer audience.
May 27, 2009 - 4:16 am 5. BPT (Australia):Very funny – it is about time the major TV networks threw a bit of meat to Americans and the world.
May 27, 2009 - 4:48 am 6. Banned by Huffpo:I’ve been waiting for this series; thanks for the reminder.
May 27, 2009 - 5:11 am 7. Telly:Leftists aren’t the only ones who watch TV, and I think this show could have a big following. The writing will decide. If the jokes stay good, and the show is funny, it will succeed, whether goody-goodes like it or not.
May 27, 2009 - 5:16 am 8. eon:Actually, this show might have a much better chance of survival on a cable channel such as Comedy Central. “South Park” has been skewering sacred cows of the right and left for almost a decade, and is in no danger of cancellation. Plus,it’s more likely that Judge’s at times trenchant wit will survive there, as opposed to having to be toned down to please Broadcast Standards at ABC.
Although considering what they consider “funny” on regular “live-action” sitcoms, that may not necessarily be true anymore. Rather like the famous poem from Punch re English newspaper reporting;
“It is useless to attempt to twist
or bribe the British Journalist.
“But considering what that worthy’ll do
unbribed, there’s no occasion to.”
clear ether
eon
May 27, 2009 - 5:32 am 9. D-wah:3. logdon. Great comment. Have you discovered Iowahawk? If you like satire, this guy’s a genius! iowahawk.typepad.com Read his archives, just brilliant! Cheers!
May 27, 2009 - 5:48 am 10. miriam:Mike Judge is brilliant, but I wonder why he’s not sticking with the animated format, it has worked so well for him on all his other shows, I don’t know if real actors will be as funny.
May 27, 2009 - 8:22 am 11. Christian Toto:Miriam, this is an animated show. He does go the live action route for his movies, though. Let me know what you think of “The Goode Family.”
May 27, 2009 - 12:14 pm 12. karbon kenny:Get yourself all the free carbon offsets you want in preparation for the debut of ‘The Goode Family’.
http://www.freecarbonoffsets.com
You will be glad you did.
May 27, 2009 - 12:31 pm 13. thestupidwhiteguy:Can’t wait!
Of course, we invented enviro-parody!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1a4af347eb/eco-commando-episode-1
May 27, 2009 - 1:31 pm 14. "progressive"watch:An absolutely facinating concept for a program,and one that would help cure or counter the mental maladies brought on by the lib-left syndrome. But whatever else Mike Judge is,he must be a courageous individual willing to face an onslaught alone. Whoever teases the lib-left sacred cows must deal with the secred jackal reviewers and the sacred hyena media.
May 27, 2009 - 2:37 pm 15. Roderick Reilly:“”"”"I am a sixty plus Brit whose favourite ongoing tv show right now is Family Guy. Closely followed by American Dad. “”"”
Odd, since you identified yourself as a Brit who’s tired of lefty lampooning of ordinary people. Seth McFarlane’s infantile, cruel caricaturing of Christians, “rednecks,” and others can be nauseating. However, the shows do have their inspired, and very funny moments.
May 27, 2009 - 2:54 pm 16. Roderick Reilly:Network TV is not as monolithically “leftist” as many people imagine. ABC in particular provides a forum for people like John Stossel and Jake Tapper.
I’ve also noticed cracks in the liberal narrative on network shows, such as “Law and Order” detectives being skeptical about AGW while investigating a carbon-trading and biofuel scam. “The Goodes” will thrive if it has the same whimsical, sympathetic/empathetic approach as did “King of the Hill.”
And, oh yes, I’ll watch to see leftism skewered.
May 27, 2009 - 3:02 pm 17. Robert King:This reminds me of an Onion-style parody piece entitled “Cap-and-Trade Bill Expanded to Develop Markets in Household Radical Environmentalists”. Check it out here:
http://www.optoons.blogspot.com/
May 27, 2009 - 3:41 pm 18. rrpjr:I’m afraid the show won’t work, though not for lack of sharp writing. The problem is suffusing the story in the PC Goode’s rather than using them as a comic foil to a more sensible/skeptical/sarcastic character or family. As it is, this will wear people down in 15 minutes. I’m surprised Judge didn’t see it.
May 27, 2009 - 4:00 pm 19. Ron:Thanks for letting us know about this – I had not heard an inkling about it. It may just be something worth turning on the tube for. Sorry to nitpick, but the adopted (South African) son’s name is spelled Ubuntu (like the Linux OS).
May 27, 2009 - 4:57 pm 20. JasonS:The same idea was executed quite brilliantly in the UK during the 90’s in adult comic “Viz” which I believe was on sale in parts of the US too.
The strip was called “The Modern Parents” and featured the exploits of progressive lefties Malcolm and Cressida, who were forever trying to impose their kooky left wing lifestyle on their son Tarquin – who saw right through the whole thing and longed for a normal childhood (he wasn’t allowed to play with guns or eat hamburgers etc).
My favorite line came after Malcolm took Tarquin to a male bonding session at the local community center, where a group of emasculated left wing wimps broke down in tears as they poured their hearts out (one sobbed as he recounted how he once fantasized about riding a Harley Davidson, etc). When it came to the kid’s turn, he launched into a string of abuse and called them beardy-weirdies, pansies, girls, pathetic losers etc. On the way home in the car, an angry Malcolm said to his very satisfied looking son:
“You know we don’t believe in guilt Tarquin, but if we did, I hope that you’d be feeling very ashamed of yourself right now young man.”
May 27, 2009 - 5:53 pm 21. JasonS:Here’s a small snipped from The Modern Parents in case anyone’s interested:
http://www.tfheaven.free-online.co.uk/modernparents.jpg
May 27, 2009 - 5:57 pm 22. trainer:The dog was funny…the rest, not so much
May 27, 2009 - 6:40 pm 23. HonestJon:The liberals ain’t gonna like this show!
The premise seemed to be a take-off on the VanDriessen (sp?) character from Beavis & Butthead.
Had some clever moments-especially the part where Helen is trying to find out what to call the black guy so as not to offend him…
regards
May 27, 2009 - 6:46 pm 24. Steve007:I thought it was pretty funny. I’ll watch it next week.
May 27, 2009 - 7:19 pm 25. Banned by Huffpo:Liked Ubuntu and the dog; the rest of it was too close to reality to be really funny. But it’s a start.
Solar panels, organic food, gas use guilt, closet boozer . . . I give it 13 episodes, then it hits Fox.
May 27, 2009 - 7:37 pm 26. G Alston:So much for the leftist MSM theory. Here’s a heretical thought: maybe the media aren’t leftist. Maybe they’re centrist.
May 27, 2009 - 8:05 pm 27. HonestJon:24. Steve007: Looks like Wednesdays at 9pm. I suppose I’ll have to add that to Desperate Housewives.
The dog was good. I get like that too if I haven’t eaten something that was previously bleeding in a couple of days.
The comment about now that the election is over we can all wear flag pins was a great shot at Michelle O.
regards
May 27, 2009 - 8:33 pm 28. Jeb:If it’s funny people will watch regardless of who’s being lampooned. If it is not funny it will disappear in short order.
May 28, 2009 - 12:20 am 29. CorgiGirl:I watched this, and it was hilarious ! Mike Judge is brilliant.
May 28, 2009 - 2:07 am 30. antonio:Screw Family Guy ever since Seth McF put McCain-Palin camapign buttons on SS troops in an earlier episode.
May 28, 2009 - 2:41 am 31. happy1ga:I missed it, is it available online anywhere? Really hope Fox or someone picks it up, (if it’s Goode,ha ha ), if ABC decides to bail. I love Mike Judge comedies! I was a big B and B fan. Still am, I guess!
May 28, 2009 - 5:30 am 32. stuggo:Like, ‘An American Carol’ I wanted it to be funny, but it wasn’t. I may watch it a couple of more times, but I do not see the smugness of the left as being the least bit funny.
May 28, 2009 - 8:15 am 33. zanne:I am sticking with South Park as my favorite. They stick it to everyone.
May 28, 2009 - 9:12 am 34. chris in Toronto:I watched it and liked it, but felt that it was trying to find its balance. My favourite part was the women folk going on about being best friends with their daughters and how Helen (is that the mom’s name?) felt so guilty. The send-up was really goode and honeste. Will it last? I don’t know: it’s a hard row to hoe, if you ask me, trying to parody that which is already a parody. Personally, I’d like them to be a lot more ruthless in pointing out the idiocy of the left and their nonsense, but that would probably kill them where they stand. So to speak.
May 28, 2009 - 10:29 am 35. Jerry:The firts show was worth a number a number of good laughs for my wife and me. Certainly better than the average sitcom.
May 28, 2009 - 2:18 pm 36. mike:King of the Hill is my favorite show. I’ll check out this one too.
May 28, 2009 - 6:34 pm 37. Maggie:I watched and was confused by the harsh treatment of Christians.
May 30, 2009 - 7:20 am 38. virallity:Watch The Goode Family – Season 1 Episode 1 | http://www.virallity.com/link/146265/The-Goode-Family-Season-1-Episode-1/
Jun 1, 2009 - 2:54 am