Shows that were trying too hard.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to think this. For years I've said that those 3 shows are so interchangeable that they might as well be one giant show. I could tune in to any one of them and literally not know which show I was watching unless I recognized a character.



You know, as much as I enjoyed Chowder and am sorry to see it go, I have to say that I agree with all of this.
 
And this is why King of the Hill doesn't do well on Adult Swim and why so many people who watch the block claim that the show is stupid and boring.

It's not. It's just that they're just used to rest of the nonsense AS airs. Although I will go on record and say that I do enjoy Robot Chicken.
 
Drawn Together. Yes I said it.


And although this isin't a tv show but an indie animated movie..
Live Freaky, Die Freaky is a classic example of a film trying too hard to be edgy and funny. I caught this film on a livestream and I couldn't take it anymore after 5 minutes. Really, I TRIED. I mean, when something with sick twisted humor turns even me off, that says something... The movie had terrible writing, but I think the main reason why I never found the jokes funny, was because it had NO point whatsoever. I could tell right away the writers were trying way too hard to be dark and edgy and twisted. But it backfired it...
 
um, no, it wasn't, at all. The game was known as Magic and Wizards, and it was basically the same as Duel Monsters, the anime equivilent of the Yugioh CCG. The only thing Magic and Wizards had in common with MTG was Magic in the name. Yugioh CCG is more popular regardless, selling 22.5 billion cards in its lifetime.
 
What you say makes sense.

I don't even like Family Guy anymore...sold off my entire figure collection when I realized I had no desire to complete it.

I'd watch some newer episodes and be like "yah, that was ok...nothing I'll remember, or care about tomorrow, though"

Then, I found myself watching an old rerun with my girlfriend; and I literally thought less than halfway thru the episode "and here's the scene where they make fun of an '80s movie"

I realized it's funny the first time you watch it, but it just doesn't hold up at all to repeat viewings. And I mean not at all.

What's worse is--as someone has pointed out in the past--the show basically thrives on nothing more than pop culture references, and that's not gonna hold up to the test of time. Need proof? Try sitting thru an episode of Flip Wilson now, and figure out what he's even talking about.

Now, take classic episodes of the Simpsons: do I still find them as hilarious as I did in yesteryear? No I do not...however, there's still a quaint enjoyment I get out of watching them once in a while. I even smile at some jokes I never picked up on back in the day...only a few though...it wasn't written as well as The Critic.
 
I always felt that Invader Zim was a show that was trying way to hard with it's intentions. The main characters and back characters became way to sadistic and abusive to be likable not to mention that the shows' creator is a comic artist that made books about physcotic murders and monstrous creatures. (No offense to the Jhonen Vasquez fans out there).
 
THIS.


I disagree with this for the mere reason that Jhonen Vasquez just has a sadistic sense of humor, and that was actually him toning it down. I highly doubt he was trying to get attention, considering he's very disturbed by the fanbase he's earned already.

Some real examples? A high percentage of adult swim cartoons. Yes, I like Superjail, which is immensely violent and people could argue that it may seem forced. But in its defense, it has yet to be obnoxious about its verbal jokes, as many shows do. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was a mere TV-PG when it first started and is now TV-MA. Now THAT'S a good example of trying to garner attention by being 'edgy'.


Agreed. Flapjack is more like Ren and Stimpy and Billy and Mandy, if anything. As for Chowder, I can see its Spongebob influences as well as its Billy and Mandy ones, but to be fair that's only because the creator was... oh gee, I don't know, part of the crew for both shows.
 
That's basically it re: Chowder

As for Flapjack, while Thurop Van Orman never worked on "SpongeBob", much of its staff writers, including Kent Osborne, Nate Cash, and Mike Roth, did.

In addition, Thurop worked on the first season of "Camp Lazlo" and much of its writers, including JG Quintel and Steve Little, went to work on "Flapjack" after Lazlo ended production
 
Danny Phatom- It was okay but sometime the action would try too hard the comedy jokes fell flat and corny. The tranformation sceans and the lame poses made it worse

Family guy's gay stewie joke- They have been forcing it too much lately to the point it's not funny anymore
 
It's Drawn Together and Robot Chicken for me. Lots of the parodies start off great but then they take it a few steps past funny and it just gets awful. I was pretty much tired of all the shock value in DT by the time the fifth episode aired. I'm just not big on cynicism and carnage as humor, I guess. Right now, The Simpsons and Family Guy are pretty much in the same boat.
 
It's sad that so many shows try too hard for a "style" instead of trying too hard in ambition. I'd rather see more ambitious failures than these "trying too hard to be cool, edgy, eager to please, etc,." failures listed in this thread.
 
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