TheGoodeFamily-related stories
Posted Oct 29th 2009 8:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
The Goode Family -- the Mike Judge show ABC did everything it could to kill -- has a new home at Comedy Central.
According to Daily Variety, the
cable network will air all 13 episodes of
the animated comedy that ABC canceled last summer. That's good news for fans of a show ABC buried in its line-up -- moving it around like a pea under a nutshell until it finally put the Goodes out of their misery.
At the time, the show was embraced by fans of
Beavis & Butthead and
King of the Hill as a worthy sardonic successor to Judge's animated quiver. But, critics often attacked its mockery of political correctness and progressive politics. Some pundits went so far as claiming such a show was inappropriate in the era of Obama.
In other words, it's only censorship when your side is the one being silenced.
Continue reading Comedy Central is 'Goode' to Mike Judge with new deal
Posted Aug 10th 2009 2:01PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Animation, Cancellations, Reality-Free
Every time
The Goode Family aired on ABC, it felt badly out of place -- right up until its cancellation. Now, its producers are hinting that the show will live again on another network.
ABC canceled Mike Judge's latest animated series last week. It was hardly a shock considering the network moved it around its schedule more than a Three Card Monte dealer shifts the Queen of Hearts. ABC looked for a place to bury the Goodes -- then they killed them.
But, on the show's
Facebook page, show-runners John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky claim the show will return on a new network.
Continue reading Goode Family producers pledge to return
Posted Aug 9th 2009 12:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Animation, Reality-Free
It looks like
The Goode Family and Surviving Suburbia won't be surviving. ABC confirmed that Friday night's airings of both episodes season finales are in fact their respective series finales. I've sampled both series at one point or another in their runs, and this fate was inevitable.
It was great seeing the "other" Bob Saget get some TV time, but
Surviving Suburbia just wasn't good television. Maybe if you're a television fan who's never seen a family sitcom, then the formulaic plotlines and dialogue won't bother you. In a way, I had the same problem with
The Goode Family.
However, with the latter, it seemed like they had the potential to grow into something better. I think in the beginning they were too bogged down by their schtick: a family of do-gooders, recycling and living green and all of that crap.
Continue reading It's bad news for The Goode Family and Surviving Suburbia
Posted Jul 29th 2009 11:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Animation, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
Mike Judge doesn't strike anyone as the kind of guy who's created a legendary animated duo and a cult hit movie. And, you certainly wouldn't size him up as a creative mind with two active series on first-run network TV.
The native-Texan is just too unassuming, soft-spoken and self-deprecating to show up at Comic-Con International last week to discuss TV's
The Goode Family and
King of the Hill alongside his new feature film,
Extract.
But there he was in Press Room 28e, preparing for his panel and eyeing the
Mythbusters Comic-Con bag I'd just picked up on the convention floor.
"I've got to get me one of those bags before I go out there," Judge said.
On behalf of a grateful TV Squad nation, I offered him mine. He accepted the bag graciously. Then we begin the interview.
Continue reading Mike Judge: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Jun 5th 2009 1:34PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Ratings, Reality-Free
Despite
glowing reviews from our own Danny Gallagher, it looks like
The Goode Family is moving. Specifically, it's moving to
Friday nights at 8:30 P.M., which is affectionately known by some as the "death slot". No specific reasons for the move are given, but the words "super low ratings" are used in the article to describe its first two weeks, so that could be a clue.
I did catch the premiere episode of the show online and thought it was cute and an interesting 180 degrees from the
Hank Hill lifestyle that Mike Judge has been working with for 13 years.
Of course, ABC has been cruel to good animated shows before (coughcough
Clerkscoughcough). The show isn't canceled yet, but I give it six episodes. I actually think the show would have fared better on Fox, or given Judge's attempt from this show to skewer extreme liberals, perhaps on Fox News. It probably would have worked better than
The 1/2 Hour News Hour.
Posted Jun 5th 2009 10:02AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Animation, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
The premiere episode of ABC's
The Goode Family didn't do a great job of giving its titular family the kinds of three-dimensional emotions and motivations that make them more than just two-dimensional characters.
It seemed to doom the whole series to the bland, predictable taste of a tofu hot dog.
Last Wednesday's double feature of
Goode Family episodes gave the family and even some of the lesser characters more depth and funnier situations.
The Goode Family may not be so bad after all.
Continue reading The Goode Family gets gooder with episodes two and three
Posted May 31st 2009 10:29AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming
Surviving Suburbia just can't catch a break. It starts as a high profile return vehicle for Bob Saget over on The CW. Hell, the guy even hosts their fall preview. But it never shows up. So production company ABC snags it and puts it on their air this past winter. But only for a bit before yanking it. Don't worry, they said, it'll be back this summer; which translates as we're burning off the rest of the episodes. And now they're not even doing that!
So I hope you like
The Goode Family, because effective immediately
Surviving Suburbia is being yanked in favor of back-to-back Goode. I'm thinking online or DVD may be the only chances left to see the last of
Suburbia, if anyone even cares. It's not all bad news, though. Apparently to make us feel better about losing Bob (he's still narrating
HIMYM so he's still got a job for awhile), they're bringing back the already renewed
Better Off Ted with new episodes starting June 23 at 9 Eastern. Maybe with less competition, the goofy workplace comedy can find the audience it deserves.
Posted May 28th 2009 3:03AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Animation, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
Just one look at Mike Judge's
The Goode Family feels like Hank Hill and his clan are staring into a periscope that's peering into the Bizarro World. The only thing missing on the Goodes are goatees, including the dog.
It's just too parallel not to notice, and it's an unfair assumption to make. Even though they are from the pen of the same creators, they seem like two completely different shows on the surface. But the similarities end after the premiere episode.
The biggest difference is the first episode of
King of the Hill was a gaff-guzzling vehicle for FOX, and
The Goode Family's pilot felt more like a smart but bold-lacking hybrid for ABC.
Continue reading The good, the bad, and the ugly on the Goode Family
Posted May 13th 2008 9:07AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Reality-Free
ABC released its 2008-09 prime-time schedule this morning during a press conference call conducted by Steve McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment. I listened in and got the rundown:
Returning: Boston Legal, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Grey's Anatomy, Lost (Midseason)
, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, Ugly Betty, According to Jim (Midseason)
, Samantha Who?, America's Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor (Midseason)
, Dancing With The Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Supernanny, Wife Swap, Saturday Night College Football, Primetime: What Would You Do? Out: October Road, Notes from the Underbelly, Men in Trees, Big Shots, Carpoolers, Cashmere Mafia, Cavemen, Miss/Guided, Women's Murder Club, Oprah's Big Give
New: Life on Mars, The Goode Family (Midseason)
, Scrubs (Midseason)
, Opportunity Knocks, Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Project (Midseason)
Continue reading The Upfronts: ABC
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