Mr. Birchum

It's really just not a funny show so far. There wasn't a single part in either of the first 2 episodes where I or my wife laughed out loud. The only entertaining character in the show really is Tyler Fischers. This was built up for so long and there was so much hype but it's just very disappointing. They might have been better off if the show was only 18-20 minutes instead of almost 30. The failure to land on the jokes makes those extra minutes that much more grueling. I really hope they're listening to the critiques and attempt to fix it. I'll keep watching the next few episodes to see if it gets better but so far I'm very disappointed.

This show is so awkward. As soon as it starts, the shoddy animation and ugly character designs are instantly apparent. Also, all the voice acting is slow and poorly paced. It feels like someone put a normal cartoon on 85% speed, as if it's slowing down everything to pander to an imagined low IQ audience.

One thing to note, is that it's clear that star and creator Adam Coralla, is just using this show to air out his grievances with the modern world. Every situation is Corolla making up some straw-man figure and sardonically mocking them. It's a sad power fantasy. There's literally a guitar sting when a character mocks the Green New Deal, it's embarrassing. Carolla even writes in a black-friend character whose sole job is to agree with everything Mr Birchum says. The theme song is a shameless rip-off of 'King of the Hill', and its animation style is like a super-low-rent 'F is for Family'.

'Mr Birchum' feels about 3 decades too late. All the jokes about downtrodden and tired teachers were done better in 'Daria'. Mr Birchum is just a duller Mr DeMartino, and the daughter is just a rip-off of Louise from 'Bob's Burgers'. The comedy is akin to a wine-mum minions meme. All the jokes are derivative and lazy, there's even a cat-on-the-internet joke and a DMV gag! Despite thinking that it's edgy and offensive, 'Mr Birchum' is less offensive than all the shows it's ripping off. Even the pathetic 'Lady Ballers' had more nerve than this show. You're more likely to be offended by an episode of 'Futurama' than this dreck.

The episodes are too long 25+ minutes is way too much for what this show is. The fact that they didn't cut it down to 15 or even 22 minute chunks just shows how overly confident and arrogant this project is. A smarter, more mature creator would have the wherewithal to cut the weaker jokes and keep the comedy short and snappy. There's a reason adult swim episodes are 11-15 minutes. How does Carolla still not understand this after a career in comedy?

It pales in comparison to 'Drawn Together', the best thing Corolla was ever a part of, in terms of humour and transgressive-ness. 'Drawn together' is a very progressive show, so I wonder if Carolla feels a bit insecure that DT will be his main legacy.

This whole experience is just sad and cringe. It's the tv equivalent of the "old man yells at clouds" joke from 'The Simpsons'.

I already knew from watching the trailer, several issues. One is the terrible casting, unoriginal plot, and cringeworthy jokes. I only give it a credit because it features Patrick who played Puddy on Seinfeld and Joe on Family Guy. But Patrick? If you're familiar with Netflix, you'll know many of their original adult animated series (with a few exceptions) have awful taste in humor including Hoops and Paradise PD. Now, if an 11- to 14-year-old teen, you might find these shows enjoyable and laugh, and if so, Mr. Birchum is all yours but for adults, this show is a mere exception to the rule of "humor is subjective", it's just not there.

Plot

Mr. Birchum attempts to navigate a world he doesn't comprehend. He's confused by his gaming streamer son, Eddie, annoyed at his selfie-taking students, and is constantly at war with the school district's appointed "J. E. D. I." Mr. Karponzi.

Cast

Brett Cooper, Adam Carolla, Jay Mohr, Roseanne Barr and.....Megyn Kelly?! Yep, look up what these people have in common, go on.

Verdict

Ack! Where do you start here, I mean really?

First of all let me say that according to certain political "Commentators" (Man I hate that term so much) this is an anti-woke show that's intentionally not PC to strike back at the "Libs". Okay, you're aware of how many non PC shows are out there successfully right? Have you heard of South Park? Family Guy? Monkey Dust and more? This isn't something new, you haven't broken the mold, you've just replicated what already exists while denying its existence in an attempt to change the narrative and make out that censorship is rife and it's not possible to make such a show.

Now putting this foolishness aside what actually is Mr Birchum? Well it's not as mean spirited as I expected, it doesn't antagonize on the scale I thought it would. It tries to play it straight while occasionally throwing childish digs at certain demographics in the most juvenile way imaginable. The quality? Simply not funny, and I mean that unbiased it's just not funny but then look at who wrote it and put on your best surprised face. South Park is in bad taste often, but it's well written and funny this is the opposite end of the scale and is just head scratchingly stupid.

When I was a kid there was this crass childrens show called Round the Bend which was full of poop and fart jokes which naturally appeal to simple minds. Mr Birchum is an adult version of that, it's unfunny and quite frankly stupid but those of the less bright nature may get a kick out of it.

Rants

Resisting the urge to have a good rant here as I fear once I get started I'd melt the keyboard with frenzied fingers. What I will say is I despise the word "Woke", it's lost all meaning. The only people I hear using that word are simply using it totally out of context to describe anything they don't like. Woke is not new, we used to just call it being a respectful human being. Cancel culture is not new, we used to just call it consequences to your actions. Being a white knight is not a new thing, we used to just call it defending someone. How did these things become bad? We're in the age where meanness and cruelty are celebrated and decency is met with confusion and anger. Diversity is a good thing, if you disagree you might want to take a deep breath and engage with the reasons you feel that way.

The Good

Nothing springs to mind

The Bad

Some awful human beings involved in its creation Deeply unfunny Nasty snarky moments that come across very childish The very intentions of the shows existence are just foolish.

Nothing really that new.

Same old jokes, tired, overused, animation style.

I really wish these low-budget "idea without a concept" animated shows would find a NEW animation studio to use. They all look exactly the same.

There's no "style" here... no flair.. Flair examples since the studio CLEARLY has no idea.... Simpson's coloring and non-human shapes.. South Park's "cardboard" characters. Rick and Morty's non-realistic human figures. Solar Opposites off-kilter characters and settings, etc. You know CREATIVE animation. Not just standard human figures and oh, throw in a talking dog, or some other animal, too...

This is one of those shows where someone (Carolla and company) has some random idea for a sitcom, but doesn't have the money or can't raise the money for an actual live action sitcom..... so they take the cheap route.. animation. But there's no real point in it being animation, since it's just supposed to be "real life" situations. Animation mimicking live action because you can't afford live action is boring and pointless.

It's more of the same.. nothing inventive or original. Including the idea behind the show.

Just a low budget way for those behind the scenes to think they can make money with minimal effort and then rendered by an overused animation studio with next to zero artistic creativity.