Posted on 05/28/2009 9:30:19 AM PDT by mnehring
People of color, sexually repressed religious fanatics, and reusable grocery bags were a few of the main subjects of tonight`s season premiere of The Goode Family, a new animated comedy made by the creator of King of the Hill and Office Space. This satirical spoof of the environmentalism craze documents a family of four who live by the slogan “WWAGD (what would Al Gore do)”. While this show made fun of typical conservative values such as abstinence, country music, and flag lapels; it also made fun of those who make fun of conservative values. Even though the show clearly has a political flavor to it, it is sure to make both conservatives and liberals laugh out loud.
The show started out with a few neighborhood moms perplexed about what was the current PC label for African Americans. Mrs. Goode was convinced that there was an annual convention every year where all of the minorities got together and decided what was the accepted label for that year. The episode then progressed and later expanded on the issue of the mother/daughter relationship of the family.
The issue of environmentalism as a fad was addressed when the Goodes hit the organic grocery store, which they chose to shop at even though the store across the street had some very tempting sales. As she went to check out, Mrs. Goode, who had forgotten her reusable grocery bags, had to weather the judgmental attitudes of the other women waiting in line. (We all know that we have shelled out the 99 cents per bag just to feel good about ourselves, but we never seem to remember to take them with us when we go to the grocery store). These kinds of social memes are manifest in the world of grocery shopping moms, and the show definitely brought out its truly ridiculous nature.
The season premiere also dealt with the mother-daughter relationship in terms of talking about sexual activity. The Goode daughter, Bliss, wasn`t sexually active and resented her mother for throwing condoms and contraceptive pills at her. She decided to join a chastity club and pledged her virginity until marriage, which consequently enraged her mother. Mrs. Goode referred to people who promote abstinence-only birth control as "sexually repressed religious fanatics" who negatively influence her daughter`s view on sex. The girl`s cross necklace and flag lapel were zoomed in upon and scorned by Mrs. Goode. Throughout the episode, the entire family promoted the concept of not being judgmental to others, except when it came to crazy religious people who take vows of chastity.
The show was filled with cultural political references, such as the dad’s fear of being seen at the chastity ball because he works in academia, a hybrid adorned with liberal bumper stickers, and two-ply toilet paper being separated in order to save paper. While the political positions of the show’s writers were unclear to me, it was apparent that they were simply trying to poke fun at fads, political correctness, and typical stereotypes of both sides of the aisle. This show might very well offend anyone without a sense of humor. However, to those of us who laugh at mainstream attempts to follow liberally promoted fads, this show is sure to be seen as a laugh-packed thirty minutes of hilarity.
We watched this last night and it was hilarious. They got in one or two digs at conservatives to “keep it fair” but the main theme of the show was bashing environmentalists and “good” liberals.
I watched it last night.
Rather disappointed...
On a scale of 1 to 5 , I give it a 3 and may watch it in the future.
Meaning, DU hated it!
I do wonder what DU thought.. Pop culture is starting to turn on the neo-Hippies.
I would give it a 2.. I have to watch it some more to like it..
The blond-haired adopted son being African-American was hysterical.
They forgot to check the box saying they wanted a black african baby so they got a white one from south africa, but he was still dressed in traditional african garb.
I'd also give it a 2.
The show is pretty weak when you compare it to a South Park treatment of environmentalism/global warming, etc.
Ha! It'll be a cold day in hell....
I will miss King of the Hill.
George Strait, truly a gracious man with loads of talent.
A 3 out of 5 rating is about right in my opinion, too. Pretty funny but not hilarious.
Did anyone notice that the black neighbor looked kinda Hispanic? Aside from the ‘fro of course. His moustache looked like that of a typical day laborer gardener.
And I don’t think I like the Ubuntu character.
I give it 4 out of 5. Some really good stuff.
“I don’t like them, they wear flag lapel pins”...”Its ok dear, since the election we can all wear flag lapel pins”
“Dad, Im sorry I used so much gas”...”Well, whats really important son is that you feel guilty”
Mom to black neighbor: “Do you guys have a meeting somewhere where you, like discuss what hairstyle you’re going to use next year?, like the afro...which was a really good one”
Perplexed black neighbor, pauses a second, then answers: “Yes... This year the meeting is in Memphis”
My only complaint is that the animation is poor. The script was a riot.
I keep them by the door, I keep them in the car, I keep them on the passenger seat and still I forget to take them into the grocery store.
Pretty Good show...It was funny when they were trying to decide what to call black people.........
It won’t last long...
I too will Miss King of the Hill. If there were a channel that showed nothing but King of the Hill, Seifeld and Married with Children that would be AWESOME!!
Ha! “This year the meeting is in Memphis”. I live in Memphis and I love it when we get made fun of. The last episode I saw of King of the Hill had the whold clan in Memphis for the annual Propane convention and Mr. Strickland and his long lost son were going to go out on the town. One of them asked what the bad part of Memphis was called and the other answered...Memphis.
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