[4.8/10] Sigh. Maybe this revival was a mistake. It’s really hard to get a T.V. show, let alone a sketch show, consistently good when you have a continuous production going. It’s even harder to try to recapture the magic years later when your crew has moved on and your comic stylings have shifted and the medium is different and all the other things you have to contend with in bringing a show back to life.
Because this episode has a lot of things that remind me of the original recipe Mr. Show. There’s setups and payoffs, like David Cross’s brother Donnie appearing sans context in the cold open, only to have it be part of a major sketch and a book end to the episode. There’s little callbacks, like David’s dollar sign eyes. There’s connective themes with sharp commentary, like an omni-benevolent deity declaring himself to be an “amazizng mom.” And there’s even some no-punches pulled societal jabs.
But it’s all just more clever than it is funny. That’s not so bad, in concept, but it leaves me walking away from most of these sketches going, “I see what you did there” rather than actually laughing at anything.
The “Amazing Moms” skit is pretty meh. There’s the kernel of a decent idea about neerdowell family members treated with the same esteem as genuine hard workers, but it’s pretty thin. I like the linkage about the hollistic medicine “doctor” doing an E.R. like emergency run. The follow-up sketch, featuring David betting Bob actually money that Bob will screw up his surgery is a solid enough high concept premise, but gets pretty broad. Honestly, I liked the link that followed -- which featured everyone in similar O. Henry-esque situations -- much better.
The Country Music parody was pretty weak. The idea of a song about down home heartland-lovin’ guys actually need numerous exotic items despite protesting the contrary is a moderately amusing idea, but it’s just one joke without much in the way of twists or turns for three minutes.
The only skit with real teeth here is the one where a kid has had a near death experience, reports that he went to Heaven to cheers from an adoring audience, only to get boos when he says he saw Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer there because the Lord loves all his children. There’s a sharp observation there about how people like the idea of an all-merciful, all-loving and forgiving God, but also blanche at what that idea would entail. But even it takes a long while to get to the point.
And man, the “Salesman” sketch was the pits for me. It recalls a pair of my least favorite Mr. Show skits -- the Recruiters and the Make A Wish knockoff, which go for similar down-to-earth vibes but end up just dragging a mildly funny premise out until it’s a chore. The Glengary Glen Ross parody is a nice idea, but there’s not enough comedic meat on the bone in the skit to justify it.
Again, the ending has connective bookends that are neat, if not overwhelming, but on the whole, this episode is pretty thin broth.
While it’s cool to see this gang back together, after four episodes, only one of which was really good, it’s hard to call the reunion worthwhile. You can see these folks trying, putting together a program that feels similar in some ways to their old sketch comedy show, but also not quite getting there.
I wasn’t always enamored with the original show -- it too was hit and miss despite its reputation -- but eventually it found a rhythm and a style, and four episodes, almost twenty years later, is both too much time, and not enough, for Bob & David to find that again.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-08-14T03:34:02Z
[4.8/10] Sigh. Maybe this revival was a mistake. It’s really hard to get a T.V. show, let alone a sketch show, consistently good when you have a continuous production going. It’s even harder to try to recapture the magic years later when your crew has moved on and your comic stylings have shifted and the medium is different and all the other things you have to contend with in bringing a show back to life.
Because this episode has a lot of things that remind me of the original recipe Mr. Show. There’s setups and payoffs, like David Cross’s brother Donnie appearing sans context in the cold open, only to have it be part of a major sketch and a book end to the episode. There’s little callbacks, like David’s dollar sign eyes. There’s connective themes with sharp commentary, like an omni-benevolent deity declaring himself to be an “amazizng mom.” And there’s even some no-punches pulled societal jabs.
But it’s all just more clever than it is funny. That’s not so bad, in concept, but it leaves me walking away from most of these sketches going, “I see what you did there” rather than actually laughing at anything.
The “Amazing Moms” skit is pretty meh. There’s the kernel of a decent idea about neerdowell family members treated with the same esteem as genuine hard workers, but it’s pretty thin. I like the linkage about the hollistic medicine “doctor” doing an E.R. like emergency run. The follow-up sketch, featuring David betting Bob actually money that Bob will screw up his surgery is a solid enough high concept premise, but gets pretty broad. Honestly, I liked the link that followed -- which featured everyone in similar O. Henry-esque situations -- much better.
The Country Music parody was pretty weak. The idea of a song about down home heartland-lovin’ guys actually need numerous exotic items despite protesting the contrary is a moderately amusing idea, but it’s just one joke without much in the way of twists or turns for three minutes.
The only skit with real teeth here is the one where a kid has had a near death experience, reports that he went to Heaven to cheers from an adoring audience, only to get boos when he says he saw Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer there because the Lord loves all his children. There’s a sharp observation there about how people like the idea of an all-merciful, all-loving and forgiving God, but also blanche at what that idea would entail. But even it takes a long while to get to the point.
And man, the “Salesman” sketch was the pits for me. It recalls a pair of my least favorite Mr. Show skits -- the Recruiters and the Make A Wish knockoff, which go for similar down-to-earth vibes but end up just dragging a mildly funny premise out until it’s a chore. The Glengary Glen Ross parody is a nice idea, but there’s not enough comedic meat on the bone in the skit to justify it.
Again, the ending has connective bookends that are neat, if not overwhelming, but on the whole, this episode is pretty thin broth.
While it’s cool to see this gang back together, after four episodes, only one of which was really good, it’s hard to call the reunion worthwhile. You can see these folks trying, putting together a program that feels similar in some ways to their old sketch comedy show, but also not quite getting there.
I wasn’t always enamored with the original show -- it too was hit and miss despite its reputation -- but eventually it found a rhythm and a style, and four episodes, almost twenty years later, is both too much time, and not enough, for Bob & David to find that again.