Delocated

I wish it was never canceled because it might be the best thing Jon Glaser has ever done.

Jon is the ultimate likable moron, oblivious to any social norms. This is classic deadpan humour at its best. You have to laugh out loud as Jon Glaser keeps a straight face with the ridiculous things transpiring around him. Wearing a ski mask and talking with a voice pitch shifter add to the hilarious hijinks. Its funny watching the more normal characters reacting to Jons crazy ideas and behaviour. This is so different then most comedy shows. Its good to see something fresh and original get a chance to grow. If its not you style of humour go back to mainstream sitcoms and let the fans of this show enjoy this offbeat gem.

I went into this unaware of anything except for the title and the basic premise. After watching all 3 seasons (and the epilogue episode) I feel I can give a fair opinion of the show; for the most part, it sucked. Its problem seems to be that it wants to be random but only half tries most of the time. This is perhaps why Season 2 is the best, since it succeeds in gaining a great balance between dialogue, story, and being random but ultimately being cohesive (the best example of this, and the best episode overall, is Season 2 Episode 5 "Jon He Does It" AKA the prank episode). The end of the series is completely underwhelming and makes you question why you even watched this at all; the "reveal" of Jon's face and all of the events that come before it seem like an attempt to clear up as much of the story as possible, when story was never all that important (there are inconsistencies between episodes, whatever allows that week's story). I'm sure most people would have been happy to have left certain threads dangling, since that seemed to be the nature of the show established in the very first season (e.g. the unexplained changing of the characters who hang around Jon). It still gets a 6 out of me (which keeps flickering to a 5) because it does have genuinely funny parts and I feel that if I was more of a fan of reality television I would be laughing even more. It seems to rely on subverting the tropes of that genre as humour in and of itself far too often but the fans of reality shows are too busy watching the new Kardashian's Toddler Shore shows to bother with anything else so who are these jokes actually for?

You have to understand how extreme this show actually is. Their aesthetic is a wonderful reflection of reality television and the real world. Think of it like this. The deadpan humor is gonna be a lot funnier when you realize that sometimes, peoples grip on reality can be fractured. Jon is borderline insane, but comes off as a quirky character, due to the nature of the programming. But in reality, there are too many people who can't appreciate that attitude we see on reality TV in average real life situations, in which Jon is constantly finding himself in. Visiting his girlfriends house and meeting her family while still being "on" for the cameras, the embarrassment the people around him feel, and how it goes over time. In this situation, Jon's reality show really has no hope. It follows the wreckage something like witness relocation can wreak on a family, while be reminded of the surreal quality of television truly invading and exploiting the private lives of people. It's absolutely insane just how understated the insanity is. Because it's completely serious, that's the point. You just gotta be aware of the elements of the show, and how they carry each other to become an enriched fan of the show. But, at the same time, you can just lay back and let it carry you along without a thought and with it's dead pan delivery, contrasting characters, you'll find plenty of reasons to be entertained.

This show is coming from the people to blame for Wondershowzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel. If you haven't seen those, maybe you want to check them out before trying to watch this.

The show is about somebody in witness protection on TV, which is obviously ridiculous. Being the only person walking around NYC in a ski mask with a voice-modulator at all times is pretty obvious. The show is goofy and absurd, obviously. I think he's voice sounds funny as hell the way it is, same thing with Xavier's voice, and sometimes that alone is enough to make me laugh.

If you aren't into this kind of stuff, then you're not, and you should stick to some laugh-tracked sitcom on ABC or something. Not as good as Wondershowzen or Xavier, but still a show worth watching.