I, like many Channel Awesome fans, was heartbroken when Doug Walker announced the retirement of the Nostalgia Critic in 2012, and was skeptical about the show that would take its place: a drama/comedy show about three characters who make low-budget remakes of famous movies. I didn't like the first episode when I saw it, but I noticed the positive fan reaction to it and figured that the only reason I didn't like it is because I was blinded by my Nostalgia for the Critic. I ignored it for some time, before going on to watch more episodes after seeing how much Doug's fans were loving it. I'm still not impressed.
First of all, the jokes just aren't funny. The humor seen in the show is just corny, predictable, poorly-timed, and awkwardly delivered. I know comedy is subjective, but the jokes in this show made me cringe.
And where the comedy was not funny, the drama was not compelling. The characters are really just cardboard cutouts the writers gave unrealistically, exaggeratedly tragic backstories (the process was basically, "Take every tragic event you can think of and put it all into one character.") Many of the show's non-comedic moments just have the characters preach about the evils of Hollywood and celebrity with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face — and while they may have legitimate points here and there, the message isn't helped by the inappropriately-timed jokes or the show's use of strawman villains like the Swede Actors' Guild or the creepy family (who were allegedly meant to be a satire on the Nostalgia Critic character despite having fuck all in common with him.)
The show also tried to deal with issues surrounding feminism, sexual abuse, and LGBT acceptance, and while I wholeheartedly agree that these topics need to be addressed more in popular culture, I didn't particularly care for how they were handled here. The issues as presented lacked any semblance of nuance and were just as exaggerated as everything else, which is the wrong route to take if you're aiming for serious drama. If I'm being completely honest, the way these issues are portrayed — between the token female being a stereotypical "angry feminist" and Doug's character being prone to heavily fetishized behavior — just came across as insincere pandering... especially since the "Not So Awesome" document exposed the Walker brothers as being heavily complicit in the very practices they spoke out against here, like mistreating workers, enabling sexual predators, and contributing to a hostile work environment that forces gay people to stay in the closet.
(As an aside, though, Rachel DID NOT DESERVE to get fucking DEATH THREATS just for sharing her thoughts and experiences through her character... seriously...)
"Overly Serious and Pretentious" Sums it Up
I, like many Channel Awesome fans, was heartbroken when Doug Walker announced the retirement of the Nostalgia Critic in 2012, and was skeptical about the show that would take its place: a drama/comedy show about three characters who make low-budget remakes of famous movies. I didn't like the first episode when I saw it, but I noticed the positive fan reaction to it and figured that the only reason I didn't like it is because I was blinded by my Nostalgia for the Critic. I ignored it for some time, before going on to watch more episodes after seeing how much Doug's fans were loving it. I'm still not impressed.
First of all, the jokes just aren't funny. The humor seen in the show is just corny, predictable, poorly-timed, and awkwardly delivered. I know comedy is subjective, but the jokes in this show made me cringe.
And where the comedy was not funny, the drama was not compelling. The characters are really just cardboard cutouts the writers gave unrealistically, exaggeratedly tragic backstories (the process was basically, "Take every tragic event you can think of and put it all into one character.") Many of the show's non-comedic moments just have the characters preach about the evils of Hollywood and celebrity with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face — and while they may have legitimate points here and there, the message isn't helped by the inappropriately-timed jokes or the show's use of strawman villains like the Swede Actors' Guild or the creepy family (who were allegedly meant to be a satire on the Nostalgia Critic character despite having fuck all in common with him.)
The show also tried to deal with issues surrounding feminism, sexual abuse, and LGBT acceptance, and while I wholeheartedly agree that these topics need to be addressed more in popular culture, I didn't particularly care for how they were handled here. The issues as presented lacked any semblance of nuance and were just as exaggerated as everything else, which is the wrong route to take if you're aiming for serious drama. If I'm being completely honest, the way these issues are portrayed — between the token female being a stereotypical "angry feminist" and Doug's character being prone to heavily fetishized behavior — just came across as insincere pandering... especially since the "Not So Awesome" document exposed the Walker brothers as being heavily complicit in the very practices they spoke out against here, like mistreating workers, enabling sexual predators, and contributing to a hostile work environment that forces gay people to stay in the closet.
(As an aside, though, Rachel DID NOT DESERVE to get fucking DEATH THREATS just for sharing her thoughts and experiences through her character... seriously...)