Static Prevails: Malcolm In The Middle (And The Importance Of Likability)

As some of you may or may not know, I watch a lot of Nick At Nite. Why is this, you may ask? I enjoy watching light and relatively harmless sitcoms at night before I go to bed, or so I can write incomprehensible gibberish like this. Believe it or not, I think this is the best time for sitcoms. Well, that and the morning hours. Anyway, I've noticed something strange while watching it recently.

When the show Everybody Hates Chris was announced for the block, I rolled my eyes. This show was made based on the success of Malcolm In The Middle and looked like nothing more than a cash in, Malcolm In The Middle is a show that always rubbed me the wrong way, and until recently I could never figure out why. The previews Nick showed for Chris didn't help either. But then I gave it a chance as I always do for N@N shows, and this is the weird part.

I liked it.

This confused me greatly; a show with a very similar layout and characterization (the hateful mom, misunderstood kid, and adjusting to the world around them), and it is the clearly superior show? Yes, easily.

Everybody Hates Chris

I won't throw this to the 'better writing' bin as I usually do. The quality of writing on the two shows is actually very similar, the acting is better on Chris but Malcolm is no slouch either. So what's the difference? Why is Chris the clearly superior show and one I would rather watch if given the chance?

Well, I struggled a bit to figure it out. But the characters are actually likable in Chris. The first few episodes of Malcolm were fine in this aspect too, but something seemed to happen. The characters became unlikable, malicious, and caricature's of stereotypes. This is why Malcolm always frustrated me and why now people are realizing the show is not as great as they once thought. Reruns of this show unveil the hateful characters they are, and despite what the writers try to do (and they try some pretty neat things), it all falls apart simply because the characters are never likable.

It would be fine if it was like Seinfeld and Married With Children where we weren't made to care for them and the writing was built around that, but the writers keep telling us we're supposed to care about these characters, but never give us compelling reasons why with the characterizations.

In Chris, every character is a person. They aren't all one sided, or cardboard cut outs, and they aren't all out to screw someone over. In fact, characters rarely get mad at others without reasons (in Malcolm people scream for the hell of it), and frequently try to do the right things. I'm not saying characters never get like that in Chris, but I'm saying that it isn't blown up to eyerolling levels like in Malcolm.

In fact, thanks to this discovery, I can say that this was a large problem with a lot of late 90s/early 00s shows like That 70s Show, and even recent shows like The War At Home. If the audience is supposed to care for the predicaments of these characters, then don't they have to like them? I mean, for all my faults with Friends, this was never an issue for it, and probably a factor for it's success.

This might have been some sort of experiment left over from that era of making sitcoms 'badder' and 'more extreme', however without heart it's simply meaningless. The sitcom Titus was a dark show with heavy themes from the same era, but the writers NEVER made us stop caring about the characters, and never pushed them over the edge. There was a reason for everything they did, and it was better for it.

All I can say is that I'm truly thankful the era of empty, loud characters are over. It's just too bad we seem to be in the era of 'no characters at all'... I can't decide which is worse. Either the sitcom based on the latest trends (look, a Facebook joke!), Hollywood movies (You mean she's pregnant? And the guy's a loser? OMG!),or reheated leftovers from the early 90s. The sitcom is still is a bad way, but it doesn't seem like this is a problem with them anymore.

TV Discussion - King Of The Hill

For this blog, the 3 of us will weigh in our opinions on TV shows that we perceive to be classics or crap. For my first entry, I decided to focus on an extremely underrated program that somehow managed to last over ten years on television. King Of The Hill is regarded as a very 'simple' show with very 'simple' humor. Most people see the show for a single episode and think they got it down, and simply move on to the next show. Well, that couldn't be further from the truth.

First, some info for the unfamilliar. Here's a short description of the show from the 'pedia we all know and are indifferent to.

"King of the Hill is an American animated series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, for FOX. It centers on the Hills, a small-town Christian family in Texas. It attempts to retain a realistic approach, seeking humor in the conventional or mundane aspects of everyday life."

For an animated show airing on FOX (of all things) , it's quite a bit different from the network's usual fair. Which makes it all the more surprising that it lasted 13 seasons, ending this year.

King Of The Hill is a surprisingly deep show full of compelling and interesting characters that were originally nothing more than stereotypes. If you can find me a character on TV as deep and complex as Hank Hill (never mind on the damn FOX network), you're trying too hard.

Actually, the problem may be that it was sandwiched between shows such as Family Guy and The Simpsons which are such wildly different programs as KOTH, that viewers simply didn't like that it's not as rapid fire or blatant about it's humor. Especially in it's much more subtle character humor that goes deeper than simply 'Homer likes beer' or 'Peter said something stupid', and instead tries to bring up the reason for why Hank and his friends do the stupid/insane things they do.

Shows like South Park, Simpsons, and the rest of the FOX line up are not character driven shows. Yes, they have characters, some of which are very interesting, but the humor is not based around that (and if it is, it's rare), the humor is based around the crazy situations these characters interact with. At their heart, the characters are simple stereotypes and that works for the stories they tell. The thing is, KOTH goes deeper than just the stereotypes that The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, or American Dad do.

Let's just take a look at the characters:

Bill is a loser, but why is he a loser? His wife left him after cheating on him, his family is dead, his father abused him since he was a child, and he deals with that by shutting himself off from the world around him. He became overweight, lost his hair, and slid into depression. There are jokes and references to all of those events that contribute to him as a character. But Bill is more than a loser, he's a friendly guy, despite being socially awkward, and he's good with kids even if he's a bit of a pushover. He has moments where he just breaks down, but in all honesty, it makes total sense given what he's gone through.

Watch the episode 'Pretty, Pretty Dresses' and his character becomes all the more real.

Dale is a conspiracy theorist, but is that really it? Dale is clueless about the world around him, so he uses conspiracies as a way to make people think he's on the ball and that he knows things others don't. Despite the fact he's clueless about his son, and is probably more socially awkward than Bill. Dale puts up an act, but he's a coward and a weakling, he runs away from everything except when it comes down to putting his friends down and making himself look bigger than them. Despite all of this, Dale is a chipper guy who likes to cheer up his friends and family, and does try to do the right thing. It's his ignorance that is his downfall.

For Dale 'Soldier Of Misfortune' really nails his paranoia and his love of his family.

Boomhauer is dumb? He's probably the smartest of Hank's friends. Boomhauer leads a pretty shallow life that purely consists of one night stands and hanging out with the guys. The thing is, unlike Dale who is ignorant of his ignorance, and Bill who can't seem to rise above his depression, Boomhauer is aware of his faults and he doesn't care. But there are times when he longs for a bit more, this is why he randomly philosophies about the events happening around the guys, Boomhauer is a smart guy who's shallow life is dragging him down. His pointless drive to remain 'cool' and hip is what keeps him where he is, but he can't help it. My only gripe, is that the character doesn't get as much time to shine as the others.

'Patch Boomhauer' is a slightly more recent episode, but definitely highlights the major aspects of his character.

Hank is the most interesting of all. Yes, he's a hardcore conservative to a fault, and doesn't let his opinions change on issues, but that's only part of his character. As was mentioned in one episode, Hank doesn't really find anything wrong with Bobby even though he doesn't get him, Hank is surprisingly the most tolerant person on the show. His issues lie with his insane father who put unrealistic expectations into Hank and berated him at any chance he had, leading Hank to strive to be a perfect person. Hank is always trying to do what he thinks is proper and right because that's how he thinks he'll get the respect and admiration he's always wanted from his father. But his father has enough issues with himself that he can't even bring himself to give his son one word of praise. This is why Hank has such a tough time with Bobby. Because he doesn't know how a father and son are supposed to interact, he just knows that it's not the way his father did.

Hank is also, like most highschool jocks, ruled by nostalgia of the good old days. But, he slowly begins to learn that what he remembers happening and what actually happened are two very different things, just like we do in our lives. He pines for the days where everything was better, but the ironic part is that everyone he knew from when he was a teenage is exactly the same as they are now, Hank is the only one who grew to be a different person.

'Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men' is the best sumation of Hank there is. Though there isn't really a perfect episode to describe him.

Peggy is a know-it-all who actually doesn't know it all. She's ignorant and does not try to change because she has a way too high opinion of herself to even admit when she has done wrong. She's like this because of her demanding mother who, much like Hank's dad, pushed her hard to being a perfect woman. But Peggy is not attractive, she is not smart, her feet are oversized, and she has horrible fashion sense. However, much like Hank she acts the way she thinks she should to get the respect she always wanted from her mother. Other than this connection, Hank and Peggy do not really share many other similarities with each other. But, despite it all, Peggy is a very strong person, she can be witty and sneaky, and she does try to do the right thing. But her pride is on another level.

To see Peggy's insecurity reach it's boiling point, simply watch 'Lupe's Revenge' and watch her crumble under the pressure.

King Of The Hill is a show that dives into these quirks that you see from your normal everyday people and attempts to explain how they came to be and what drives these characters to behave the way they do. I find as I watch it more and more, and as I get older, I like the show more and more. I notice things I never did before, I notice the little things the characters do, and I start to realize just how surprisingly deep it all is.

I like this approach more, instead of the Simpsons/Family Guy way of crafting a wacky plot around the same old cliched characters, (Although I do like that, the Simpsons is still one of my most favorite shows) King Of The Hill works around every day events with a dose of the unrealistic to see where these characters go. Because that's why we watch King Of The Hill, to see where the characters go, not where the plot goes.

I hope you enjoyed the first instalment of this brand new crazy (or boring, depending on your position) blog on classic TV shows. I picked King Of The Hill first due to the fact that it is a long running show that many can't seem to understand, and that I thought it could do for a bit of an explanation on it's humor style and the reason it's fans will defend it to the death. Mike Judge is coming out with a new show called "The Goode Family" that premieres next week (on ABC... Ugh...), so let's see if Mike Judge can top his previous endevour or simply attempt something new. One thing's for sure, it'll definitely be different.

Note: The TV blog will be known as 'Static Prevails' from now on. Image credit to wikipedia.