So we have a new comedy series on the BBC. I thought it was going to be the same stuff as everything else on the BBC, with only a couple of sets and a mismatched pair of comedians making quips at each other.
What I got was one of the most interesting shows this year. Think Muppets, but filthy and with an anarchic Family Guy twang thrown in for good measure and you’re half way there.
The show follows the misadventures of animals like the metrosexal fox Nelson having a forbidden romance with a chicken, Marion the Persian cat facing surgical castration at the vets or the dippy Afghan Hound Destiny trying to get sent to a dog obedience class to try and get with the bad dogs. And there’s a musical number where a cockney fox sings a song called “F**k the chickens.” Where he compares them to illegal immigrants…
Yeah, it’s not exactly got a cogent, linear plot. But that never stopped people watching Family Guy. It’s the jokes that matter. So the question is, is it funny?
Oh… Hell… Yes!
I knew I was going to have at least a few laughs when I saw one of the trailer clips about poor Marion’s plight which left me laughing helplessly for a good minute.
This show has some serious teeth, and it doesn’t mind laying into its guest stars like Toby Anstis or anyone they don’t particularly like, like Michael Buble.
The puppetry and effects aren’t particularly groundbreaking, but they do a perfect job of making the jokes funny and the characters likeable. I don’t know why, but I always find myself more impressed by the simpler effects where you can see how it’s done. I played both Final Fantasy 13 and Final Fantasy 6 at around the same time, and I found FF6’s opening more impressive when it cracked out the Mario Kart style faux 3D than any of the shiny CGI shite that FF13 offered. It’s not the size of the budget that counts, it’s how you use it, and The Mongrels uses it to crack a few utterly filthy jokes, who could ask for anything more? Someone like James Cameron or Michael Bay probably would, but they’re twats.
I’ll be watching to see how the rest of this series pans out; if you’re British you can check out the episodes Here on BBC iPlayer. I’m afraid my lovely non-British readers will have to wait for the DVD release in August or see if they have a Hulu release or something.
It’s good to see a series that tries to do something a little different considering the BBC is usually as tight as a ducks arse with the TV Licence money. It’s not the second coming of Firefly or anything, but it’s a good way to spend a Tuesday night if you can get the TV free from Big Brother for five fucking minutes.
The michael bublé joke was terrible, i wasnt laughing before and after the bublé ‘joke’ i turned it off, mainly because it was insinuating that bublé has a high voice which is ridiculous because i think everyone with a brain cell knows he’s a crooner; the joke may have worked if justin bieber was targeted but as it was it was probably genuinely the worst joke (that was actually supposed to be funny) that I’ve ever seen in a sitcom. And overall the whole thing was trash anyway, expect the views to fall dramatically next season.
I take it you’re a fan of Michael Buble then?
I do have a slight man crush on him yes, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a terrible show anyway, it was just a matter of time before I turned it off but the bublé joke triggered it.
I think I might be in love with this show, the why did the chicken cross the road joke had me in stitches. Going to buy it on dvd
It was the Jews and Badgers that joke that really got me. That and the fact I find the rats in the transitions adorable.