For a number of years, Family Guy and American Dad were these brilliant, irreverent shows from Seth MacFarlane that were bold and outrageous and disgusting and horrific and wildly funny. And then at a certain point - somewhere around the same time Seth created the tedious Cleveland - the air went out of both shows.
I haven't watched anything from Seth for tears (except the cute Ted movies), but I thought I'd check out his new show and see if it was any good. But while not *terrible*, it's also not especially interesting.
The show is about a racist white guy and his Mexican-American neighbors in a border town that, in the first episode, passes a anti-illegal immigrant law.
A number of white people seem to think the show is racist against white people, but I'm pretty sure having one racist white guy in a series that has other non-racist white people is not a very good example of a racist system that won't give the white man a break. Also, these people must never have seen a Seth MacFarlane series before.
If you've seen Seth's shows, you won't be surprised by the cheap, easy jokes about alien probing and child pageants, nor by the extremities of its political correctness, nor by its jaundiced view of humans. And if you remember when Family Guy stopped being funny, you won't be surprised that this is only mildly amusing.
Ultimately, nothing in Bordertown is surprising. And that's the problem.
