Les Oblong

"The Oblongs" is a wonderfully done series about a screwed up deformed family. We're not laughing at them, but with them. The characters recognize that they are not perfect and make the most of it. Last nights episode saw Milo striving to fit in and be "cool". Every kid in America has gone through that. Why not make fun of it by using buckets with ham labels on them? This series makes my stomach hurt from laughing for thirty minutes straight! True, the jokes are crude, but that's what makes them funny! I recommend it to anyone who can put aside reality for half an hour and realize that life is hilarious and meant to be laughed at!

I don't understand why more people don't like `The Oblongs.' It seems exactly like the kind of lowbrow humor that I can't stand and everybody else likes. But I find myself in somewhat of an infatuation with the show, while most people don't seem to like it or haven't even heard of it. I'm hoping it will catch on.

The show involves a poor family of mutants who live in The Valley area of Hill Valley. (All the rich folk live The Hills.) The father, Bob, has no arms or legs. The mother, Pickles, has no hair (she usually wears a wig) and is an alcoholic. The oldest brothers, Biff and Chip, are conjoined jock twins who are tough on the home front but losers elsewhere. The only daughter, Beth, is like a cross between something from a Tool video and the French children's book character Madeline. Their youngest son, Milo, suffers from numerous maladies associated with modern children but is endlessly chipper and the most focused-upon child. Milo is often seen with his Valley companions; Peggy, whose head is a hemisphere with beaver teeth at the bottom; Helga, whose appearance and demeanor are connoted by her name; Mikey, who has long saggy butt cheeks; and Creepy Suzie, who is, well, creepy but in a fun way.

After I had heard the description of the show I was sure I wouldn't like it. And if I read the description I just wrote, I probably wouldn't understand the show's appeal. But the show works, very well, and for two reasons.

The first is the dialogue crackles with sharp, bizarre wit. The show doesn't rely completely on gross out gags. Here is one exchange between Beth and her father that makes me laugh every time I hear it:

(The Oblongs home is very cold because the town has shut off their heat in an attempt to blackmail them)

Beth: I think I'm catching ammonia.

Bob: That's pneumonia, honey.

Beth: (Shaking her head) It's too cold for silent P's.

Every episode you get a few great lines like that that leave you howling and assure you the writers' interests aren't strictly to try and push the envelope.

The other main reason `The Oblongs' works so well is that even though they're mutants, the Oblongs function as a normal family unit and love each other. Pickles and Bob are deeply in love (she gave up life in The Hills to marry him) and have a healthy sexual relationship. They're concerned parents who want the best for their children even if they sometimes aren't sure how to go about it. The children feud in an amiable fashion and remind me a lot of my siblings and me when we were younger. The show has heart. This can also be seen with Milo and his misfit friends.

Is it offensive? Not really. Shocking? More than it is offensive at least. The shocks remain somewhat intact because the show is in the guise of a Saturday morning cartoon. The simple, rounded, fun character design, the bright colors, excellent vocal casting (especially Will Ferrell as Bob Oblong) and a general feeling of innocence upheld by Milo, his friends and most other characters in fact, counter what surprises the show holds with functional contrast. Most adult cartoons (North American ones anyway) seem to be convinced that being disgusting and derogatory is the only way a cartoon can appeal to an adult audience. `The Oblongs' tries this as well, but it isn't the shows sole purpose, so it somehow works; I believe, because it's truly what the creators want to do and not just some ploy. It's simply better than shows like `Kevin Spencer,' `Quads' and whatever the hell Tom Green is doing. Items such as these as plain boring while `The Oblongs' manage to strike some sort of balance between the total idiocies of the aforementioned and the humor and brilliance of something like `The Simpsons' (an obvious, at times too obvious, influence.)

There are only 13 episodes of `The Oblongs' and the WB has canceled production. Hopefully, someone else will see it for what is and pick it up. `Seinfeld' and `The Simpsons' took a while to find their audience, and `Third Rock from the Sun' never really did, and they're three of the best sitcoms of the 90's. `The Oblongs' may turn out to be one of the best sitcoms of this decade; we just need to give it a chance.

(I don't know if many people give star rating to television shows, but out of 4, "The Oblongs" rates a strong 3 1/2.)

"The Oblongs" are so politically incorrect that the show never stood a chance of survival. People oft compare it to "The Simpsons," (same writers and exec producers), but the fact that most of the characters are disfigured was the bullet-in-the-head to the show. With rare exceptions (like the kid in the wheelchair on "Malcolm in the Middle") the US audience doesn't welcome the disabled with open arms. Which is a shame, since they missed out on a clever show -- which is now being prematurely canceled after only 8 of the 13 episodes have aired. The social commentary is subtle but scathing. And the signs that appear on everything are hysterical! Jean Smart is in top form, as always, portraying the "bald-but-beautifully-wigged mother," Pickles, an alcoholic, chain-smoking addict with slightly psychotic tendencies. And son Milo, who the creators wanted to be the new Bart Simpson, could have gotten that honor, had the rest of the clan not been so outlandish. One of only 3 shows that I've held in highest regards this season, I should have known it wouldn't last, since it was scheduled to start in January & was pushed back to April (and my other two favorite shows were already canned, as usual). . .

Based around the lives of "the valley" kids, The Oblongs manages to show quite the range of human emotions behind their veil of crude, yet often very clever, jokes. If taken for just the face value, some may see the show as utterly atrocious. Of course, as with similar shows (alright, there's nothing that really comes close to this show, but there are some come within a few miles, such as Family Guy, or in a looser fashion, The Simpsons), taking the jokes at the surface level can leave many offended. These people just shouldn't watch. However, if you have somewhat thick skin, and can take a joke as it is meant, The Oblongs are quite worth it. Their presentation of all facets of life in a removed setting create an image of ourselves that we can laugh at without dwelling on the fact that it is ourselves. So sit back, relax, and prepare to cringe while laughing hysterically.

Based on a series of thirteen short stories, compiled in Angus Oblong's "Creepy Susie: And 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children", the series should not have been WB primetime. It's not right, because there are too many moral, family matters, close minded and boring people allowed to tune in. I don't like having to say that, but it's the awful truth. The world is a vastly cultural place, and some people would rather have it stay in the dark ages, propagating the same things, year after year. The Oblong's is a step forwards.

It's funny how Angus Oblong's witty social commentary is mirrored by some of the more conservative comments achieved on this very message board. I also find it funny that if Angus had full control, the comments would be far more intense. That's of course, if it made it past 1 episode.

The show was funny. My problem with it is that Angus should have been put in charge of writing the whole thing, and be given no limits or interruptions. It's not fair that WB execs wouldn't allow him to express his vision (of children stabbing themselves and fat unpopular girls mass-murdering their friends) completely, so we could explore new and more open mediums in the future. Instead, we got a more moral feel from every character. All the characters from the valley, although grotesquely deformed (and very cute) are well rounded individuals.

It's this cowardice promulgated by every TV executive, fearing the watchful eye of concerned middle aged parents, that they might call in to whine about how their children are being exposed to their scurrilous programming. It must be so hard for them to actually parent their children, instead of letting them sit up until 9:00 to watch TV-14 programming, because "it's a cartoon".

The Oblongs was a worthwhile vigil, cut short, even in it's mild adult content reformatting. I pay great respect to Mr. Oblong, and hope he will triumph above adversity, and keep my fingers crossed that he gets paid to write more filth.