Dinosaures

This show was fantastic, really funny with the baby being the funniest character, he was always hitting Earl Sinclair on the the head with a frying pan and saying "Not the Mamma". Its just a shame the cancelled it and you can't get the videos anymore.

Just like my favorite romance movie, the Princess Bride, or even Rocky and Bullwinkle for that matter, here's a show that's clearly written for two completely different audiences- the kids that love them, and the parents that watch with them. If you want the most cutting example of this, watch the Dinosaurs episode in which a Barney-like animal (a Hippo, if I remember right?)hosts a daytime TV kiddie show, but he's really a manipulative bad guy when the TV cameras are off. Throw in the French Resistance, complete with horrible Clouseau-like frrrrench accents, and, well, you get the idea. Absurdist humor at it's best. I guarantee you'll laugh at this one.

One other noteworthy episode is the last one- it appears that they knew that the show was cancelled, so they put together a parting shot; very different in tone from the rest of the series. Thank goodness this series FINALLY came out on DVD. Now I can throw all those videotapes away.

Watch this with your kids, if you have any. In the words of Baby dinosaur, "AGAIN!!!!!"

'Dinosaurs' was a great show, it really was. And not some copycat on 'The Simpsons.' I was quite young when the show began and ended, and it was an all time favorite of mine. I loved it b/c it was so funny. Many episodes had messages about our society today. Even though I was little, and there were some things I didn't get, I still remember those shows. Like this one episode where Earl, the dad, went and bought the two animals, considered delicacies, for his and Fran's anniversary. It turns out that they are the last of their kind, so Robbie tries to protect them. Sadly, Earl's boss eats them. But not before Robbie persuades them to reproduce and when Earl comes home with a heavy heart and trying to tell Robbie and tragic news, the adorable offspring hatch from their eggs. Or two episodes where Earl is arrested for bad parenting and the one with Robbie being head or the household. This show was good, but it was underrated and now, not even a decent number lousy fan site is out and about with it.

This show ran the gamut from really bad to really amazing. I for one never was a fan of the obnoxious baby (no, I don't gotta love you), but the rest of the characters were very well-done. Several episodes were hilariously spot-on.

Fran & Earl getting their marriage license renewed ("Earl, let's go upstairs and pretend it's Thursday" is a line I *still* quote to this day).

Robbie "coming out"...as a vegetarian. ("I can't be an herbivore! My dad's a carnivore, my mom's a carnivore..." "Well, it's not necessarily hereditary.").

Robbie's howling (featuring Robbie buying the "So You Want to Learn to Howl" 8-track).

The two-episode "Nuts to War" ("What happened to your eye?" "A pointed stick with my name on it." "Gee, what are the odds?").

And although the finale was extremely heavy-handed and depressing, I give them credit for doing a completely unexpected and serious one instead of the traditional "and they all lived happily ever after".

Best self-referential joke: Real watching sock puppets on TV. "Hey, Fran, you gotta see this. Sure, they're puppets, but they're really funny." To which Fran says, "Forget it - I'm not watching puppets." Probably the reason the show didn't make it.

Dinosaurs is one of my all time favorite comedy shows. Especially the baby (I'm the baby, gotta love me!) is great! The best episode is the one in which the baby turns 2 years old and he becomes out of control. Earl and Fran call the babysitter and what follows is one of the best parodies I've ever seen along with Eekpocalypse Now from the Eek the Cat show (but you gotta have seen 'the Exorcist' for this one). 'The power of rice compels you!'

See it and see it again... and again... and again. (Even the re-runs are funny as hell!)