Allen Gregory

Always a fan of good animated comedy, I tuned in Allen Gregory to see what it held for me. Before the show even started, there was a "not suitable for children under 14" blurb, which gave me hope that this might be the new South Park - raunchy and scatological, but also inventive and funny.

The reality is much, much less. The humour (such as there is) is of the cruel, taunting variety, and the title character lacks any characteristics that make him sympathetic or likable. Set up as an intelligent overachiever by the show's promoters, he comes off more like an arrogant, impolite poseur with no compassion whatsoever for his fellow human beings.

Perhaps he gets this from his home situation, or perhaps he has managed to become this out of touch with reality all on his own. At any rate, the result is not worth watching.

Allen Gregory serves as both a working title and pun: Allegory, with several significant connotations. The show provides allegories based on contemporary social discourse and commentary. As such, some of the jokes will go over most of the audience's heads. However, for those in the audience aware of the implications of social sitcom scripts, "Allen Gregory" provides subtle (and not so subtle) nudges regarding gay marriage, political dichotomy, gender disaggregation, and other sociological factors. Each joke is smartly written, with close attention paid to both comedic transitions and subtext of material. As a result, Allen Gregory is worth watching for both its simple punchlines and greater sociological implications.

The previews for Allen Gregory seemed to offer some promise of a cartoon series ripe with witty sarcasm and humorous cynicism. It seemed like it might be comparable to Southpark or Family Guy (before the show started declining, that is).

Unfortunately, the actual show itself is crude, crass, possibly controversial (I say "possibly" because I'm sure some people will be put off by the open-armed acceptance of gay couples...but I am not one of them), and even outright disgusting (some people will be VERY put off by the sex fantasy Allen Gregory has about his 60+, overweight principal...and I AM one of those people).

The premise is simple: a spoiled rich kid, used to being home schooled by his "gay" stepfather (who we find out later, actually isn't gay at all, which only serves to add a new level of disturbing to this already messed up show) is sent to a regular school where he openly insults everyone he comes across and lives in a fantasy world where he believes he's the center of attention for all.

Some of the lines in here were good for a chuckle or two...but about half-way through the show everything seems to just go rapidly down hill. I admit I watched the first episode out of curiosity. Curiosity having been satisfied, this is NOT a show I will be watching future episodes of.

All in all, what could have been a decent cartoon in the hands of someone OTHER than Jonah Hill turns out to be a major waste of time for those of us unfortunate enough to have sat through the first episode's half hour run time.

I saw this show with low expectations, not expecting it to be that great knowing how FOX's Animation Domination has gone terribly down hill, and in all honesty, it's not terrible. I absolutely love the dead-pan, sarcastic, somewhat subtle humour. Reminds me a lot of the show Home Movies, a favourite show of mine. I love the fact that an adorable 7 year old kid acts like a rich young adult, to the point that he is oblivious that he is a child. The fact that his parents are two gay men is awesome, I mean come on it's 2011, about bloody time this happened. Not sure why people are putting this show down so much, it's not absolutely terrible. It maybe be out there, a bit rude, offensive, but hey, depending on the way you look at it, it can be quite funny. Sure it may not be the best show on TV, but it's a sign that comedy might be heading into a better direction. A direction of humour that isn't so silly and in-your-face like a lot of American comedy has been the past few years.

I've read a large amount of criticism for this show and have been trying to figure out why there is such widespread hatred towards it.

The most prominent issue seems to be its 'meanness.' The reviews available at the time have all berated the lack of redeeming qualities in Allen, wondering why he can't learn a lesson or be the misguided soul that we eventually feel sympathetic towards. They're crying out for the tried and true formula attributed to each one of these characters in thousands of comedies gone before. One of the reasons Allen is so great to watch is to see him completely humiliated, by who we'd usually consider to be the bullies, and feel a sense of justice only to see his delusion go even further, to which the response is laughter of disbelief. This is definitely not the feel good, life affirming romp that everyone wants to see. You don't feel sympathy for the main character but that emotion manifests in other characters such as Julie (Allen's adopted sister) and Jeremy (His father's life partner). In fact I really began to like Jeremy's character; a once straight man with a family who, for all appearances, should be a strong, confident man but has been completely subdued by a person who borders on psychopathic. Maybe he's staying with him to save Allen from becoming a duplicate or maybe it is just one of those relationships. We'll have to wait for the characters to be fleshed out.

The performances are brilliant. Jonah Hill has fantastic phrasing and delivery as always and really suits the fast paced dialogue. French Stewart gives an equally great performance as Allen's manipulative father along with a personal favourite, Keith David, who's velvety smooth voice is always a joy to hear ;) Some of the humour can rely on shock a bit too heavily but the dialogue really stands out at times with its characters making small remarks that get lost in the sea of, usually, Allen or Richard's obnoxiousness. They represent a type of person perfectly and the frustration of the supporting characters is definitely felt.

If you're a stalwart fan of comedians such as Michael Mcintyre, that make you go "Oh my life is like that!" or require your main characters to learn a life lesson while backed by soft piano music then you will probably hate this show. But if you're not looking to befriend fictional characters, you may find an enjoyable show with some brilliant dialogue.