TBG TV: FOX's Animation Domination – 04/11/2010

Sunday's Rankings (5-3-2-1 scoring)

(1) American Dad ("Cops & Roger") - According to my archives, this is just the second "win" of the season for American Dad. And, even with my write-up, I can't remember anything about this show's other first place episode. Here, two tired sitcom clichés ("emasculated male" and "fish out of water") set up an awesome barrage of 1980s references. The beach sprinting scenes from Rocky III have been asking to be skewered for almost 30 years. Roger's flippant dismissal of Police Academy was a nice wink-and-nod, but ANY show that incorporates this song into a training montage will win the week…every week.

(2) The Simpsons ("American History X-cellent") - It was a fairly steep drop-off from the top. An episode focused on an imprisoned Mr. Burns paired up with an intentional satire of the unintentionally satirical "John Coffey" character from The Green Mile should've been a lot better. While the jailhouse tomfoolery had its moments (The Book of Charles Manson, for example), nothing else could find its footing. The plot development for Smithers seemed…not quite right and contrary to his passive loyalist roots (hell, even the character's voice work seemed off). And, the Bart and Lisa "ant farm" stuff was transparent filler.

(3) Family Guy ("April in Quahog") - This was one of those episodes that really exposes the show as a loose hodgepodge of nonsense stuck together with Scotch tape made of flashbacks and sidebars. There were three different plots clumsily stumbling across my screen (Peter sits on a jury, the end of the world is nigh, Peter must reconcile with his kids), each one quarantined into its own eight-minute act and none of them more than just barely watchable. A few gags worked, though: the Orion Pictures dig, the Muttley laugh and the closing credits X-Box sequence ("I'm not a douchebag, I'm new.")

(4) The Cleveland Show ("Gone with the Wind") - Fart jokes. Almost every 30 seconds. If I could place this episode fifth in a four-show week, I would.


MVP: Roger (American Dad) as a corrupt cop with a haircut not unlike Chet's in Weird Science takes the fake trophy for the week.

Quote of the Night: "When it comes to hitting people in the head with a baseball bat…I'm 'The Natural'. LAUGH!" - Roger


Current Standings

The Simpsons – 63
The Cleveland Show – 50
Family Guy – 40
American Dad! – 35