Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is a terrific comedy series with well written episodes and a star studded comedic cast. It's a very fun show that will surely please any die hard fans of the original 2001 movie, it has all the same goofy, slapstick and straight up ridiculous humour that people have come to expect from Showalter and Wain. It definitely had many noticeably flaws that bothered me, although they may not have been of huge concern to many others, first off I wasn't very found of all eight episodes taking place in one day, it's fine for a movie, but not for eight episodes that are all thirty minutes each, I think it would have given the writers more creative freedom to have each one take place in a different day instead, revolving on their first week of camp. Also, the jokes about the age gaps of the actors and their characters was overused, it was already stated with their clothing and personalities, it didn't need to be stated so often, with characters mentioning they were "too young to drink alcohol" or a girl mentioning she just started her period, I think if they do have another reunion it would be better for it to be set years after the events of the first movie, possibly with the cast taking control of Camp Firewood. The cast is definitely a delight, there isn't a single member from the movie who dosen't return, Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Marguerite Moreau, Michael Ian Black, Elizabeth Banks and Janeane Garofalo, just to name a few, are all back in action, and some great new characters, played by the likes of Jason Schwartzman, John Slattery, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm, among many others, and somehow none of them end up feeling underused. However, my favourite part of the whole series had to be Christopher Meloni, who actually wasn't my favourite character in the first movie (that being David Hyde Pierce, who sadly only features in two episodes, both times very briefly), but he steals every scene he is in this time around, and Gene is as cool as he's ever been. It definitely had many imperfections, but Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is still a great laugh that gets better for each episode, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good comedy series.

During the summer of 1981, we follow the campers of Camp Firewood on their insane first day.

Best Performance: Christopher Meloni Worst Performance: Michael Showalter (as President Reagan)

Best Episode: Day is Done Worst Episode: Campers Arrive

When I saw this pop up on Netflix I was intrigued by the cast. It had to be funny right? I tried to watch the first couple episodes and left midway through the second. I didn't know if it was because I did not see the movie or what. It just did not seem funny or nostalgic. That was a few months ago, fast forward to this summer and I saw that the WHAS 10 years later was out. So I decided to check that out, just to see if it was anything better. I don't know why but I found it hilarious, I loved the first episode so much I immediately stopped watching and went back and started watching the original series, then the movie that started it all. Maybe I didn't get it the first time or the "10 years later" premise sparked a renewed interest. The idea of these older comedians playing kids was magic and their naivete made it priceless. For whatever reason you gave up on it from the start, try it again, you might be glad you did.

I had no expectations prior to watching this hilarious show. It borrows campy humor elements from Hot Shots, Police Academy, Scary Movie series, etc...I loved the original WHAS movie, this is great!!

In 2001, 'Wet Hot American Summer' introduces a group of relatively unknown young comedic actors. Some of them played teenage camp counselors despite being too old. Fifteen years later, most return to play the same characters in a prequel during their first day at Camp Firewood in the summer of 1981. The time bending silliness of that construction is boldly inventive and utterly hilarious. On top of that, this eight-episode Netflix series doubles down and goes even more ridiculous. The plot is insane. The jokes are even broader. The original confused me on my first viewing. Its satirical take isn't consistent enough and the varying range of comedy left me a little discombobulated. The original is inconsistently awkward funny but this time around, the gang is going completely nuts. They are not holding back and it is glorious.

WHAS:FDoC is awesome. Its not really a series of 30m stand alone episodes, its much better digested as one looong movie which is easily watched over a couple sessions. Fortunately netflix makes this easy.

The show is a lot of fun. As with the movie, its not really easy to describe. Its part parody but often played very straight and not even necessarily for the joke. There's a lot of the show (and movie) which come across as a straight forward camp storyline. Some of the jokes miss. Some a predictable. But when you put it all together its a TON OF FUN. There's goofy stuff. There's creative bits. There's wonderful cameos. Amazing setpieces. Perfect music. And a lot of laughs. It also manages to poke fun at at least five or six movie/TV themes (camp films, courtroom drama, rock bio, military, coming of age, etc).

It should be noted that the finished product is really pretty amazing given the limitations of schedule and trying to recapture the look/tone/feel of a movie made many years ago. They do some VERY creative camera-work and editing to stretch each actors involvement to feel like everyone was there the whole time.

So...check it out..and stick with it. The first few episodes are pretty straight forward..then stuff gets wacky around ep3 and doesn't let up. Its awesome!!