Game Over

My husband and I (late 30's), just rented this video and found it to be extremely funny and well written. It's a shame it is still not in production. We had never heard of this show previously or would have watched it regularly. I feel that the target audience may have brought it's premature demise. Being the parents of teenagers, we found the humor on target and not at all stereotypical. I could have seen this show doing quite well in the ratings had it been lined up with "That 70's Show" or "Simpsons" which have a wide range of viewers. I'm not a video game player like my husband but still found the hidden game references entertaining. The storyline also had a moral to it which could have been under appreciated by the younger set.

Created by some of those behind 3rd Rock from the Sun and starring a decent lineup of voice actors, we follow 'Rip' Smashenburn (Patrick Warburton), a video game race driver who by day drives in circles in his own game, but by night heads back to his average sitcom family, with his Tomb Raider inspired wife Raquel Smashenburn (Lucy Liu), and two teenage kids. All 3D CGI animated, the show looks quite terrible given its 2004, nearly a decade past the likes of ReBoot, which itself followed a similar plot from within a video game and was one of the earliest 3D rendered shows, which makes this one seem even worse. Not only does Game Over look dated, but its jokes and subject matter are more than questionable. An "adult" sitcom, the jokes are never truly vulgar, but there is certainly a lot more tasteless sexual humour than I expected, and some surprisingly gross moments, although at the same time plays it safe more often than not. The jokes are also quite dated and superficial, even for the time it aired, with very little actually having to do with video games, and more just making a family sitcom but that takes place in a game, however even that isn't consistent or fleshed out. The references themselves tend to be for that older audience, meaning the games noted were themselves a decade past their prime when this even aired, again with the jokes being more of the "remember this existed?" form than anything clever. Although was cool to see Oddworld or Crash Bandicoot show up even if just for a second. Only 6 episodes airing before its quick cancellation, I was secretly hoping for more from this one, but yeah it honestly its just really bad, and not in any good ways.

Game Over follows the life and times of the Smashenburn family, a typical traditional family save for the fact they are video game characters(kind of). The family consists of family patriarch and racecar driver Rip(played by Patrick Warburton), mom/wife/secret agent/archaeologist Racquel(Lucy Liu), cynical mopey and activist daughter Alice(Rachel Dratch), wannabe rapper Billy(Elizabeth Daily) whose gimmick is speaking in incomprehensible "urban" slang and mindlessly following whatever the current trend is at the moment, and lastly Turbo(Artie Lange) a cigar smoking, binge drinking, philandering schemer who scores what few laughs there are to be had in the show and is more or less the show's equivalent of Bender from Futurama.

None of the characters really make much of an impression and it's all on the part of the writing. Despite the show taking place in a world whose basis is "after the game ends" we never get much of an idea as to how the world operates nor are there many jokes about video games or the surrounding culture/fandom attached to them. Racquel is probably the most defined human character if only because of the surreal nature of her job that involves taking monkey statues composed of various elements from temples and other obstacles that are reasonably well animated and have some entertainment value, but they're humorous dry spots in this alleged comedy. Rip is more or less the Homer Simpson/Al Bundy archetype but drives a car(badly) and his inability to keep his car in tact for the entirety of a single race is something of a running gag I suppose. Billy and Alice never really go beyond their surface level identities and they're basically used to go through traditional sitcom motions be it stories involving going on first dates or losing your "identity" when others copy you.

The show is credited with its creation to David Sacks and the writing team has had success in other shows such as 3rd Rock from the Sun and The Big Band Theory, but the show feels like it has little to no understanding of its subject matter save for a few points. There are some references here and there to Pong, Frogger, and asteroids, and there are some walk on cameos by characters and mascots such as Crash Bandicoot and the Oddworld Inhabitants, but the most indepth piece of video game parody comes from Turbo who with his lechery, scheming and generally bad behavior I guess is supposed to be a parody of Sonic the Hedgehog type characters like Bubsy the Bobcat, Aero the Acrobat, and Gex. This illustrates the underlying problem with the show, namely that it doesn't seem to know anything about video games past the early to mid 90s. If they were going to do a show like this, then they should've tried to at least make an attempt to stay at least somewhat relevant.

The one point of praise one can say for Game Over is that it is a nice looking show. The geometry and polygons are well rendered and do well to avoid the uncanny valley(save for some scenes) and the characters are expressive and move with fluidity. With that said however the show's art direction is severely lacking when compared to reboot with rather bland and uninspired environments and an overall lack of creativity in its characters and settings.

Game Over has a decent enough premise, and a talented cast who has done good work elsewhere, but its technical competence does not make up for its poor writing and bland characters.

The series premiered last night, mostly to chilly reviews, but that should really come as no surprise. All of the subtleties would have been completely lost on the majority of television critics, who are well into their forties or older, and probably haven't played a video game since the first wave of Arcade Games hit the market, twenty-five or so years ago. Ironically, these are the same critics who laud and applaud The Simpsons for fast-as-lightning sight gags, and subversive humor. I'm sure that the series' target audience (gamers 15- 35) did enjoy it, and that demographic alone can probably sustain the show, but it will be a shame if that's the case. It's about time a show tackled the stereotypes of the games played by kids and teens (and adults -great Vice City gag last night!), and perhaps this will make certain adults aware of the content of the games that they blindly buy for their children, regardless of the age recommendation on the box. While it isn't necessary to have played any of the games being addressed, it certainly helps, and the obvious targets are plentiful; The buxom female action hero, and overly hip skater games took a punch last night, as well as DOA Volleyball, Pokemon, and the portrayal of Asians in VG media; and this was only the pilot. The opportunity to tackle current events hasn't even been addressed -can you image a CG Kobe Bryant pantomiming that ridiculous apology on the sidelines of an animated basketball game, while a young lady polishes a HUGE diamond ring, which happens to be the prize that Mom Smashenburn is seeking? Or a ski-masked #32 stabbing players in an animated football game, only to be arrested by a platoon of SOCom Navy Seals wearing George W. Bush masks as the real George W plays cheerleader at the John Madden Superbowl (I won't even go into the half-time show!)? And these aren't even my below-the-belt suggestions! (Producers take notice: I've got dozens of these gems -call me!) Celebrity cameos alone could be huge.

Marcy Carsey has previously helmed some amazing, groundbreaking shows, and this is a show where the possibilities are truly endless. That said, I was somewhat surprised by the level of violence (Thomas in the pet store for instance), and the language seemed a tad inappropriate for the time slot, but it does reflect the games portrayed, and I'm all for pushing the envelope if it's done cleverly.

Another attempt to look behind the screen of videos games comes up short against "Reboot".

Granted, it matches Mainframe's animated classic series in the technology, but for all it's attempts, it comes up short with lackluster gags, lame jokes and also ran dialogue. The pilot offers no real difference in this show and a dozen other live TV sitcoms that have failed for being nothing more than copies of other sitcoms. Adding the aspect of digital animation doesn't change the fact that it's nothing new.

Sorry guys, spend your quarters on better writers. In fact, you may want to considering spending less on the technology and more on the writers.