Posted on 10/30/2005 1:19:13 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
FANS fearing that "The Boondocks," the wildly scathing, racially charged comic strip, will lose its bite when it appears on television next week need not worry. Within the first 10 seconds of the new show of the same name, viewers will be offered the following Molotov cocktail of social criticism: "Jesus is black, Ronald Reagan is the devil and the government is lying about 9/11."
Since its national debut six years ago, the strip, about two black children living in white suburbia, has slaughtered its share of sacred cows, eviscerating everyone from Condoleezza Rice and Strom Thurmond to 50 Cent and Ralph Nader. President Bush has been a frequent target. As a result, the strip has been suspended, banished to editorial pages and dropped from some newspapers (it currently appears in more than 300).
Trying to translate that incendiary spirit into great television will be a challenge, an expensive challenge at that. Cartoon Network pays Sony Pictures Television, producer of the series, an estimated license fee of $400,000 per episode. Add to that the millions the network has spent on marketing, including many billboards in New York and Los Angeles trumpeting the show's premiere on Nov. 6 in the late-night "Adult Swim" block, and "The Boondocks" becomes the most expensive show the network has made.
"We don't have a lot of money, so we decided that for this year, we're going to put every dime we have into 'Boondocks,' " said Mike Lazzo, senior vice president of programming and production at Cartoon Network.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Is Harvey Birdman the defense lawyer that defended the Scooby Doo gang for marijuana use? And Dr. Benton Quest with child neglect? I stumbled across that one night- it was hilarious.
Dilbert is just wonderful, even if it's declined as Scott Adams has moved further from the workplace (for the first half-decade or so, he was working and writing the comic).
My favorite set is where Dogbert becomes a radio talk show host to promote his, "unique conservative viewpoint that people are basically idiots who deserve to be mocked" which, I think, just about sums it all up.
The good thing about this is that ratings are hard to gin up, and advertizers won't pay for no ratings.
"Gee, I don't know, no one's asked me..."
'Boondocks' is a sacred cow.
I TiVo a few Adult Swim shows (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost, Brak Show, Harvey Birdman.) TiVo will know my "appreciation" for Boondocks, with 3 or 4 thumbs down.
Just another Time-Warner company "get out the vote" effort for the Democrats.
As if readers needed one more reason NOT to buy the New York Times ...
Adult Swim is definitely on it's decline. It's kind of sad, but it's not what it was a couple of years ago.
It started with Tom Goes to the Mayor. It was so unfunny that I stopped watching Adult Swim as regularly because I just couldn't sit through the show. Shows like Stroker & Hoop and Squidbillies are too mediocre to be worth the effort to turn on the TV, and Harvey Birdman has worn thin.
Family Guy and Futurama have been re-run over and over for too long now, and need to be replaced (Unless they have a new Family Guy episode to show).
The latest is 12oz. Mouse, which not only looks like it was drawn by a 5-year old, but appears to have been written by one as well.
Aqua Teen Hunger force and Sealab 2021 are still the best original shows Adult Swim had, but I haven't seen a new episode of either in a long time. Robot Chicken and Venture Bros are the lone holdouts right now.
...so when we go belly up after the colossal failure this will be, we can paint America as inherently racist for 'causing' our bankruptcy over a comic geared toward African-Americans. Then since we don't have a lot of money, our debts will be forgiven and we'll go in a completely new direction.
BTW Jesus is Arabic, Ronald Reagan is dead and further from the devil than Hillary Clinton, and, for the most part, the government has no clue about 9/11.
Mending fences with M-80s and masking tape.
Best episode is a take off of the Glenn Close film, Jagged Edge, and deals with a mad bomber, the Unibooboo. Harvey Birdman defends BooBoo the bear, wins the trial--and then finds out he's really the bomber--warped, demented, brilliant.
I guess it makes sense to put on the Boondocks then... I'll have to take Cartoon Network off channel skip and check out adult swim one of these days... or maybe not!
I haven't watched Adult Swim regularly in about 9 months. I love Aqua Teen and Sealab, but Sealab's off the air and ATHF has lost some of its spunk. I used to kinda like Family Guy, but I'm boycotting MacFarlane after "Christians don't believe in science" new episode and Anti-American Dad. Tom Goes to the Mayor was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. I don't understand why people think men wearing makeup is funny. It's painful.
Adult Swim is going to tank further w/ this Boondocks. They underestimate the size of their right of center viewers, and for the most part those who would watch something like Adult Swim, already know about it. They aren't going to increase their market share, they will shrink it, and these Boondock episodes are supposed to be about half a million per episode. Stupid stupid stupid business decision.
Cartoon Network is really going downhill.
We all just want our Brak and Home Movies, but they can no longer be found. Instead they are intent on offending us with crap like this, the Oblongs, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and American Dad.
Oh boy, you ain't kidding.
I had high hopes for the show from the ads--the show looked really quirky and funny. It just tried too hard to be irreverent and outrageous, and practically screamed: "We're an irreverent cult cartoon!"
Worst of all, it was boring.
I'll give "Boondocks" less than a season before it's yanked from Cartoon Network. And any other group that tries to pick the show up.
This could occur due to indiference, boycott or large E-Mail and/or Letter Campaign.
Jack.
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