This Just In... Actually, "This Just In"
Mar. 17th, 2004 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
womzillaI saw the ads for This Just In, a new animated sitcom on Spike TV ("The first network for testicles") and decided to pass on it. Jim Henley linked to a favorable review of it on The American Spectator
I can't say I'm particularly impressed by the daring of a white writer having a black character criticize Al Sharpton. Hell, Aaron MacGruder does it all the time. What would be daring, in this day and age, would be to have a sympathetic character explain why Sharpton appeals to him. But that would be challenging.
Yeah, that was cutting edge when the National Lampoon did it in 1970.
I still don't know if This Just In is a good show, but this review certainly points me away from believing it.
Jim concludes with this note:
Gary the Rat, also on Spike TV, began life as a Flash animation. I'm not 100% sure if the show was in Flash, but I suspect it was--the animation was pretty simple.
South Park has been using a computerized "fake papercut" system since it was first launched eight years ago, allowing them to produce shows in near-realtime as well; the two standouts featured the "capture" of Elian Gonzales and the "capture" of Saddam Hussein, both less than five days after they happened.
I realized this isn't your typical political satire just a few minutes into the premiere episode when Brian's best friend Jimmy Townhouse, a black schoolteacher and moderate Democrat, laughs, along with everyone else in the bar, at the current crop of black leaders. "Al Sharpton doesn't scare just white people," Jimmy says. "He scares everybody."
I can't say I'm particularly impressed by the daring of a white writer having a black character criticize Al Sharpton. Hell, Aaron MacGruder does it all the time. What would be daring, in this day and age, would be to have a sympathetic character explain why Sharpton appeals to him. But that would be challenging.
The first episode of This Just In features Ted Kennedy. It re-creates the scandal that sank Ted's presidential aspirations -- with a happy ending this time. Kennedy helps Brian escape from a sunken car using the bottle-opener he carries with him everywhere. Imagine making fun of Chappaquiddick! Sacrilege!
Yeah, that was cutting edge when the National Lampoon did it in 1970.
I still don't know if This Just In is a good show, but this review certainly points me away from believing it.
Jim concludes with this note:
I know perfectly well that Flash animations are not, in themselves, technically innovative. But their use here - reducing production time on a cartoon by, most likely, orders of magnitude, is. So I'm claiming.
Gary the Rat, also on Spike TV, began life as a Flash animation. I'm not 100% sure if the show was in Flash, but I suspect it was--the animation was pretty simple.
South Park has been using a computerized "fake papercut" system since it was first launched eight years ago, allowing them to produce shows in near-realtime as well; the two standouts featured the "capture" of Elian Gonzales and the "capture" of Saddam Hussein, both less than five days after they happened.
