Dilbert

This is a great, hilarious riot of an animated series. It's a shame that it got canceled after only two seasons, though. That's mighty unfair, I think. Although I don't have a lot of things in common with my father, one thing I do have in common with him is that I often love the same movies/TV shows he does - Clint Eastwood movies (he likes the westerns while I like his more modern-day urban stuff like "Dirty Harry"), "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," "King of the Hill," and this show are a few examples. "Dilbert," based on the popular satirical comic strip by Scott Adams, centers on the titular character, a stereotypical office drone and his bizarre and/or annoying co-workers. This same set-up may or may not have been influenced the popular comic strip "Milton," which in turn inspired the cult Mike Judge movie "Office Space" (1999). Have a laugh on "Dilbert." You won't regret it.

Before the review, a brief plot summary: Dilbert is a skilled and somewhat slow-witted enguineer living in an insane world. Everyone is either a genious or a moron. He lives with Dilmom, who is more advanced in technology then he is, Ratbert, an optomist rodent who longs to be loved, and Dogbert, a cynical, arrogant canine with a dream of ruling the world. Every day is garbage day, and the garbage man is the world's smartest. At work, where the name constantly changes from Path-Way to E-Tech to Path-E-Tech (pathetic), he toils away in his cubicle under a clueless pointy-haired boss, accompanied by the rude and sarcastic Wally and quick-tempered and powerful Alice. Others include Catbert, the Evil Director of Human Resources, Asok, the mild-mannered Indian intern, and Loud Howard, the big mouth. With clever humour, the show tells zany stories about how Dilbert tackles stock market problems, corporate insanity, junkie dwarfs, and realligned satellites.

Scott Adams has been writing the "Dilbert" comic strip since 1989. He has since then added several colorful characters, and finally, with the help of Larry Miller, he brought it to the small screen. Unfortunatley, somehow it landed on one of the worst networks on TV: UPN. Not Comedy Central, not Fox Network, UPN. Adams and Miller provided it with it's only good series ever.

The animation is clever and looks exactly like it was lifted from the comic books, except now Dilbert has a mouth. Oh, but when any of the characters' mouths are closed, they vanish. ;-) It combined the humour of "The Simpsons" and "Futurama" with the hilarious insanity of "Monty Python". To me, this is better then either of Matt Groening's overrated series. Dilbert is not a beer-swilling overweight idiot. He is an ordinary person in a twisted world- something we can all relate to. Plus the jokes are funny. Throughout the entire episode the plot is strung with wit and charm.

Some of the jokes, in fact, aren't even funny. But it's just the way the characters say them that splits your sides. Daniel Stern (Marv in the first two "Home Alone" films) gives the title character a slightly nasal and questioning voice. Gordon Hunt (father of popular actress Helen Hunt) provides Wally with a thick nasal and sarcastic voice. Kathy Griffin ("Suddenly Susan") lends her voice to Alice, an angry, teeth-gritted voice. Chris Elliot ("Osmosis Jones") was originally to be thrown off the cast because his voice was so similair to Stern's, yet he does an awesome job at giving Dogbert an arrogant and calm demonaur. Maurice LaMarche (voice of another supersmart character, the Brain) and Jackie Hoffman (huh?) are also excellent at The Garbage Man and Dilmom. Tom Kenny (the mayor from "Powerpuff Girls") lends his voice to Ratbert and Asok, and Tress MacNeille is several supporting characters.

The guest appearances are great. Billy West, like Tress MacNeille, guests throughout, only as the same character, a marketing guy. Stephen Hawking plays himself in "The Informercial", in which the Gruntmaster 6000 (a product named, designed and manufactured throughout the first season) is tested in Texas and creates a black hole. Jason Alexander ("Bob Patterson") appears throughout as Catbert. Buck Henry suprises Dilbert fans as Dadbert, who has been at the "all-you-can-eat" cafe in a mall resteraunt since 1979, and Jeri Ryan cameos in that episode as a Seven of Nine Alarm Clock. Wayne Knight is a security guard. Gilbert Gottfried is a troll. Steve Austin, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld all guest, as well as several others.

Unfortunatley, UPN made yet another mistake. Instead of keeping their only good show, they moved it to a horrible time slot which soon got it cancelled. Some of the episode descriptions are hilarious. Dilbert fans will recognize the small, muddy country of Elbonia in "Elbonian Trip" and "Hunger". In another, the company is overrun by downsized (literally) employees hooked on dry erase markers. When he drinks from the boss' cup, Dilbert loses "the knack" and throws all the satellites out of orbit, throwing the world back into medevil times. And when Dilbert must prevent Y2K, he learns the company's fate is in Wally's hands (and Loud Howard cries, "THAT'S IT! WE'RE ALL FARMERS!")

Quotable, hilarious, and recommended. Adams, don't let it get to you. Just take the show to Comedy or Fox. Then it'll soar.

I once said that Futurama is my favourite cartoon. I stand by that, but Dilbert comes a very close second. The eclectic range of characters, from Dilbert himself, to his Machiavellian roommate Dogbert, to Wally, a leech disguised as a human being, to Asok, the put upon intern, to Alice, the feminist engineer with no feminism about her to Loud Howard, the man with the mouth. Above all this you have the wisdom of the Pointy-Haired Boss, and the truly evil whims of Catbert.

I cannot insist how good this show is, only that every time the Boss says something, or Asok is placed in a position of misfortune or Loud Howard claims to know something, you find your find yourself laughing. Take a look for yourself.

I just recently had the opportunity to watch Dilbert. My brother came home with the DVD Collection. It took me about a week to watch all 30 episodes but I was hooked from the very first one.

When I was about to start high school, I applied to a special business high school and got in. But turned them down to go to regular high school with my peers. For years since I was so grateful that I decided not to go to that business school, I didn't want a office job when I got older, I didn't want a 9 to 5. But after watching Dilbert, I'm craving that experience. That life seems so exciting for some strange reason. So now coincidently I had made up my mind to be a Public Administration major before the show and its Cubical life and opted out. I'm so happy that I found Dilbert. Its weird but I look forward to it.

Well my brother left, and took the collection with him. So I, on Sunday, scoured my newspaper and found the comics, searched for Dilbert and ripped it out. It's now hanging on my wall. I love the humor of Dilbert because its so honest. But my favorite thing of all is the opening sequence, it took me a while to figure it out, but Dilbert is what we become in life.

I'll treasure my Dilbert learning experience for life.

The show was a non stop laugh riot, much like the comic strip. The show perfectly captured the spirit of the comic strip, which is why it was so good. Unfortunately, the show got axed and taken off the air. Despite what people who didn't like the show would say, it was not cancelled because of the writing. Lousy programming is what really did the show in. When U.P.N. moved the series to that terrible time slot for it's second season, ratings dropped hard and fast. The show really was worth watching.