User reviews

I came here to write a scathing review to criticize how awful this is from the previews.

But after watching episode 1, it's not actually as bad as I thought.

It's a good-paced show with decent shock humor and ironic gags.

The writing is severely lacking, however. Overall, it's pretty banal, bland, basic, and boring.

Biggest critique is Hank: the worst character that has been created in the history of characters being created. Seriously, what were the writers thinking? Haha, it's funny because he's dumb and talks in a slow, stupid voice? I have to skip through his scenes because they are too infuriating to suffer through.

All in all, a 5/10. Lots of potential. Let's see if it can be fulfilled.

I'm glad that this show caters to any specific audience. Perhaps this audience is even underserved. It does not cater to me and I enjoy so many genres and so many quirky, crazy, and normal shows. The problem is that before this there was Futurama and The Simpsons and Family Guy and Bob's Burgers. This is definitely not that. From what I can tell this show is trying to write stories that serve the lowest common denominator and written for to an underserved audience, those who are recovering from anesthesia or have undergone a mental trauma. I always have respect for a show that stays true to what it's trying to do and it's trying to be stupid... It achieves that. Animation and voice acting are good though.

This review is based on one episode - the airplane ride to a funeral. I wanted to check out the show.because the idea of working age guys suddenly finding themselves with no job and no need to work had some social relevance that might be interesting to explore. Bad news first - the premise was not particularly relevant to what happened in the show. This plot could have been grafted on to almost any show, and the lack of reliance on UBI would not have been noticeable. So, the most intriguing part of the show was completely neglected.

Now the good - the preview setup had a good hook to get me interested. There were some funny gags, at least one of which was pretty inventive - I did actually laugh out loud several times. I enjoyed the shock gags. The story and the subplots came together in a satisfying way similar to South Park.

In short, the whole reason for the show (adults creatively coping with time on their hands, but limited income and opportunity) fell completely flat. The characters did not have enough depth to make their place in the story interesting (e.g., the reactions that only Stewie and Brian would have in a given fact pattern). Without unique characters, even good plots, jokes and gags will not keep people coming back to watch.

The show is unoriginal and not funny. It feels like, these days, writers have an idea for a ridiculous animated comedy and Fox or Fx decide, "sure, let's use airtime on that." Universal Basic Guys belongs on YouTube at best. Otherwise, the show is just a total waste of time. It's so not funny that I really wish I hadn't even watched it for 20 minutes. If this show continues long term, it's just another indicator of the dumbification of America. Idiot-driven characters in a plot disconnected from reality entirely...that seems to often be successful in today's TV and streaming climate. Don't waste your time on this one unless you absolutely have nothing else to watch.

Awful show with awful characters and dialogue.

Family Guy, Bob's Burgers and even American Dad are smart comedies about working class families while this show is just dumb humor about a bunch of dumb people with no redeeming qualities. There isn't a likeable character in the bunch, nor does a single joke land.

I disagree with the one review that says this show is propaganda pushing Marxism and Universal Basic Income. I feel it's the opposite, showing how lazy people waste their money after receiving UBI. The message is "your tax dollars will go to idiots who will waste it on buying a monkey," not that UBI is a great thing.

This is a forgettable series. Characters are boring, jokes are slow to get to the point, animation is wasted. This show should be streaming into the ether. If aliens tap into our TV shows, they wouldn't come here because of this bad show. They'd wonder what is wrong with us. What were the creators thinking bringing this show to the network? And did the network higher-ups think we needed another show to dumb down America? Crude humor, bad language and suggestible situations have been already done and done well by better shows. This show needs to die soon on the altar of creativity. Fox needs to be more responsible to it's viewers.

I guess folks are missing the whole point to this dimwitted hilarious animated series about dimwitted folks who do really dimwitted things because they believe that their dimwittedness is their God given right to do what they desire, regardless of the mayhem they create and the harm to fellow humans - or even what professionals and academics folks say. So basically this is taking the Mickey out of dimwits who vote, drive cars, own guns and think they know everything (from unreliable sources) about everything. At least the makers of this series treat their dimwits with love and affection of dimwitted proportions...

This came out of nowhere and I immediately looked up who created it: I'm not a fan of Game of Zones at all. I love sports but I don't like GoZ at all. Despite being a hater I needed to watch the show (especially because Fred Armisen is in it). I have enjoyed every episode and probably enjoy each more than the last. It's a goofy, dumb comedy that definitely is an acquired taste. I have seen reviews talking about disturbing cartoon imagery, but I'd have to point to Family Guy who has done some pretty rough and unsavory things over the years as well (they're still there). Despite some unsavory imagery, there is certain comedy in here and top notch comedy moments/critique on Americans. Those who don't like it for some political reasons should just not watch a show like this, which is fine. This is getting better every episode, and I look forward to what's to come.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I read the reviews of it before I watched it, which were poor... But I figured, "how bad could it possibly be?"

It's just not good. It's not even so bad that it's good. It's just bland and uninteresting. The writers try to go for shock-value jokes but it just falls flat. Someone should tell them that it's all been done before. It's cringy, but not so cringy that you would want to hate-watch it either. I watched the whole first episode and don't remember much about it besides something about a monkey. The only reason I don't rate it 1 star is because a 1 star level of bad is at least memorable lol.

Just another show about middle aged, suburban idiots... Like I said, the premise has been done to death already. Other shows have done crude or shock humor very well. South Park, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, these are all great shows. But this one just tries to coast along behind in their wake.

This show is just Kirkland's brand Family Guy... Vaguely similar, but not nearly original enough to work. The creators are just about 20 years behind the times on the premise. Watch it or don't, it's your 20 minutes. But I doubt it will be around very long either way.

This show laughs in our faces. It's not "horrible" as the current top review suggests. It merely challenges us to find humor in places we regularly would not and dares us to be introspective. Loosen up a bit, maybe laugh, and realize none of us are perfect. I think you'll have a good time.

Incredibly unorthodox and perhaps politically dividing, there are so many things I wish this show weren't and simultaneously appreciate it for being. Again, you'll have a good time if willing to laugh at yourself.

Would have left you at paragraph 1, but the review censory committee demands that I bore you for more characters.

Not funny. Like at all. I definitely was excited to see a new adult animation show and looking forward to it but honestly it was such a huge disappointment. I created this account just to rate this show if that says anything. The characters are unlikeable for me, not a good family dynamic and I didn't care for the characters, jokes were not funny, not one and I just didn't find the plot for the very first episode entertaining or funny. I definitely won't be watching this show and definitely wouldn't recommend this show. Hopefully the next adult animation they come up with makes up for this one.

Universal Basic Guys is probably the worst Fox cartoon since Bordertown and the worst in the new iteration of Fox Animation Domination. The only thing I can praise it for is that it is better than Allen Gregory, but that is such a low bar that doesn't even matter. There's some redeeming stuff in here but it's overshadowed by terrible stuff that it's so minor in the scale of how I am rating it.

It's a show about two brothers who lose their job and get indefinite severance from the company due to AI and robots taking over their jobs. It's not "universal basic income" as the show wants you to believe. If so, either no one would be working or everyone would be getting it. Honestly, the pilot episode, which hasn't even aired yet is the only episode that references the whole idea of the show. The episodes we've seen so far don't even mention UBI at all. The main character, Mark, is the fat guy with a wife, while his brother Hank, is single and really dumb. The wife Tammy, works as a nurse, while Mark's neighbor David, has a wife named Andrea who works as an executive of a company. There's two of Mark's other friends who I don't know their names and I honestly don't care either.

In the five episodes that are out right now as of this comment, I only chuckled once. The show's main problem is it's just not funny at all. The humor is very cringe and forced. Any attempts at trying to do "heart" are not very sincere and genuine. Take the sunset cruise episode for example, Mark doesn't change his mind on giving up fishing until he sees his rival get called out in front of his ex-wife. There's absolutely no sympathy or any sort of that beforehand which makes it hard to take it seriously. Plus some of the subplots are just terrible. The one with Mark's friend getting trapped by a snake was one of the worst things I've seen all year.

A big problem with this show is the characters. Mark comes off as very pretentious and insufferable. It's not that I care that he's fat and dumb like the other shows I see, it's that he's just not likeable or interesting. Wayne from Bless the Harts wasn't as dumb as him, but he was very likeable and had a good heart. You don't see that with Mark at all and seeing that he's the main character of the show, it's really hard to stomach some of the episodes just because of how unlikeable Mark is. The recent episode that aired about the "jaws" was so bad that it was probably the worst episode of any cartoon I've watched this year. There's not any sort of depth in the characters or the writing. The writing is just so messy that certain plots don't end properly or get mentioned in the beginning only to come back at the end. It just doesn't make any sense and if this show really wants to thrive, they need to work on writing third acts. The third act is the MOST IMPORTANT act of a sitcom and a bad third act is instantly more unforgiving than the first two.

Some redeeming qualities are that the voice acting is actually pretty decent despite almost no one in the cast being super famous other than Fred Armisen. I actually kind of like that. Also, Hank isn't so bad and he's actually kinda likeable. But he isn't very funny either. And the wife actually gets some okayish plots like the episode where she goes with other women to save the world. A lot of the episodes themselves are ruined by Mark to be honest. He's just a terrible character. I think the show just doesn't really work. It's a huge mess, not funny, and the characters are uninteresting and don't really have any depth.

Bob's Burgers did not have a good first season either but at least the show had some great episodes in the first even though half of them were terrible. This show has not a single good episode and the best one is just meh at best. I was not a fan of Housebroken at all, but I can at least praise that show for trying something different and having some creativity. And Krapopolis and Grimsburg aren't great shows either but at least they try to be shows. This show needs to go back to the drawing board in season 2 (since Fox already ordered a second season) and really work out the problems or it isn't gonna last at all.

Fox has had dozens of failed animation shows that try to mimic the success of the Simpsons. This is one of them. The story lines are uninteresting, the characters unsympathetic -but the characters ARE pathetic, the animation quality is poorly done and cheap.

Honestly, it's amazing a show like this makes it past the "green light" sessions and the audience screenings.

The main characters in Universal Basic Guys make Peter Griffin.from the Family Guy series look like a Mensa genius.

It's just too bad that the IMDB ratings only go to one, otherwise this show would receive a negative score.

Fox should put out this dumpster fire of a show as soon as possible.

The show is not as bad as some people are saying it is.

I saw a clip of it on tik tok and immediately got interested so I decided to check it out on Hulu to see for myself how good of a show it is.

Sure the animation and gags aren't the best but it does have its moments where it's made me genuinely chuckled.

I do see it having some greater potential with some better budget and graphics.

There are some parts that are actually funny and not cringe like some others.

Overall it's not a terrible show I think it does have a chance in the future with better ratings But for now it's ok for what it is.

Terrible writing and no jokes... Fox must be paying peanuts for this show. The intro starts out with a mind numbingly boring conversation that leads nowhere. At no point do they set up the show. I think the premise would've been okay if they had of been working at the hotdog factory and then had this happen therefore this happened. I don't know how they missed that. Maybe, It's in pilot show that I missed or haven't seen. Universal basic income is a really important topic and it's like sudo smart people wrote really dumb characters. Which is this how they see people who work in factories? Those people are the ones that make sure you have hotdogs at stadiums and weekends, it's pretty disrespectful to down play people's intelligence like that. The show is dumb and poorly written with poor taste. The animation is below average to terrible. This is a hard watch. It's like you had season one, two and three of a brilliant show and then season four comes along and the writers have run out of ideas, But we're only the first episode.

I see a lot of high nosed reviews about this show that are utterly unwarranted. What did you expect a psychological thriller with profound political intrigue? It is a cartoon for crying out loud and a very funny one at that. To suggest that this show should be on Youtube instead of FX just shows unsophisticated comedic taste.

I did not think much of the show judging by the animation alone when I first laid eyes on the trailer but the writing on that 30 second trailer was excellent. From the I was hooked. Like many other shows UBG has slow moments, the writer's didnt give Mike's wife enough time to be funny, which sort of makes me question why they even included her. However I suppose her personality creates a sense of conflict.

It's better than some sitcoms I've seen but also not the best one either. The animation needs some work. The first episode was pretty good it was a bit confusing though as you don't get any clues about what the whole show is going to be about. But overall I wouldn't say it's terrible. There are some good jokes in the show you just have to listen carefully for them.

The animation does need work as I stated above. It looks like a kid is doing the drawings for the show. Probably the animation would be what I rate the worst of the show. It makes the show appear like it was more about budget than anything. Voice acting is fine.

Not sure why this show is getting to much hate. It's really funny and actually sweet.

The voice acting is really great as well and the pilot goes in interesting places.

It's not mean spirited and portrays characters from a wide variety of backgrounds, also there are some nice jokes hidden in the background.

Feel like the show would be better on cable where the writers could really go to more weird places, but my son and I throughly enjoyed it.

Seemed like a throwback, in a good way. Anyway, I hope people give it a chance.

Other people seem to not like Hank, but I thought he was a cool character. I have lots of Hanks in my life...

Universal Basic Guys supposedly centers around two brothers "who lose their jobs to automation and are given $3,000 a month in a new basic income program." That might be an interesting concept to explore and it could lead to some funny scenes. However, that's not what the show is about at all. In every episode they buy expensive items (exotic pets, sex dolls, jaws of life) and/or go on expensive adventures (cruises, joining private golf courses). The stories don't relate to having a universal basic income, and in fact, present exactly the opposite of what that would be like.

As if it weren't enough to have a confusing theme, the show is also tonally confusing. It seems to present itself as a comedy, but there's nothing funny about it. It would be better described as a poorly written cartoon drama. Hopefully the show's creators will be able to find work in a different field when this show is inevitably cancelled.

This show started bad. Super bad. Only because am a massive animation junkie have I slooged my way through 10 episodes of this crap. In an era where we can't get renewals on great animated shows like Little Demon or Inside Job, instead we are left with this festering pile. I actively hate the characters. The fact that they're depicted as outrageously stupid and coasting through life virtually consequence free makes you dislike them. I find myself rooting for them to lose, and that's insane because this is a cartoon. There is more suspension of disbelief left on the Simpsons than there is here. This show is as if Seinfeld and Jackass had an ill advised rendezvous and this was the illegitimate spawn of that union. So they dropped the baby off with Louis C. K. and went their separate ways and never spoke of it again. Again, I am a huge animation fan. I'm even fine with straight up stupid to a point. But this is IQ dropping bad. Who even is the target demographic of this show? Is it pro universal basic income? Anti? Ambivalent? Who knows because the whole basis of the show is almost never mentioned. Also, I don't know who's ballin' on $3K a month in this economy, but it ain't me. The humor is hamfisted, even for a cartoon. The fact that they're depicted wife is very nearly equally as stupid and works as an RN is insulting to RN's, even the stupid ones. Because they can't possibly be worse than this nationally broadcast depiction of them. Also, what's with the hot dog thing? It's not funny. It's just weird. Weird bordering on me wondering if the show's writers are actually thinking about "wieners" when writing some of these "jokes". I gave this a chance to shine over and over and you just can't shine a turd.

Only watched one episode, but that felt like enough for me not to feel the need to watch anymore. Mostly because the characters are just completely stupid, unlikable and possess zero accountability. Apparently these days all animated characters need to have only 5% of their brain functioning to be "funny". It's not funny, it's been done and it's just lazy as hell. There was no balance at all in the show. Based on what I saw (and I assume episode one should be the hook that gets me watching more) this show ain't it.

I hope you did enjoy the show and didn't feel you wasted your time. This is just my opinion and my opinions are by no means universal. Maybe it also might take a season or so to find it's legs. That happens with a lot of shows too. Apparently since there is going to be a season 2 I'll check out the first episode and see if it's improved.