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May 23, 2013

Short-Lived Shows: That's My Bush!

by Adam Finley, posted Nov 26th 2005 10:06AM

thats my bushSouth Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to do a live-action sitcom that would poke fun at sitcom clichés. It wasn't until later that they decided to make George W. Bush and the White House the focus of the show. This may have seemed like an easy shot at GW and his republican constituents, but the reason the show didn't air until 2001 was because both Stone and Parker were waiting to see who won the 2000 election so they knew whether the show would be about GW Bush or Al Gore. The show became That's My Bush! and yes, the euphemism was intended. It wasn't the first or last time the show would use the double meaning of "bush" for comic effect.

The show ended in May of 2001, four months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It's hard to imagine that, even if the show had still been on, it would have survived the sea change that took place after 9/11. Now, a few years later, it's actually a shame the show isn't back on the air, considering the real Bush White House and its knack of courting controversy. At least they still have South Park.

The show, as I mentioned, was really a spoof of sitcoms. If you weren't in on the joke, however, it was easy to see it as just another lame comedy, rather than a comedy pretending to be lame to demonstrate how lame comedies can be. Perhaps that was asking for too much from an audience that just wanted to be entertained and not have to think. The result was a show that critics more or less loved while regular viewers simply yawned and changed the channel.

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nonrev

"Hey George, it's your faaaaavvoorrite neighbor!!" hehe I say that to my next door neighbors all the time in that same way. I even have it so they applause for me after I walk in and utterring the line. That's my Bush was a hilarious show and its memory is not forgotten

December 01 2005 at 2:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vincent

I remember that show well (one of the cast members was future "She-Spy" Kristin Miller). Some people thought it was supposed to be anti-Bush political satire -- remember how emotional people were after the election -- and thus didn't get that it was sending up something else. I liked it, but am glad it had no intention of having a longer run; in the wake of 9/11, it would have been like Vaughn Meador after the Kennedy assassination. Oh, and by the way, a few years later Timothy Bottoms portrayed Bush in a completely serious way in a made-for-TV movie about the U.S. response to 9/11. In the change from comedy to drama, I thus suppose Bush is a real-life Lou Grant (apologies to Edward Asner).

November 29 2005 at 8:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Belgand

No, I got the joke... it was still just lame.

November 29 2005 at 4:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mister Patrick

Great show! Let's not forget that Timothy Bottoms was a 100% dead-on ringer for George W., the Boob-In-Chief. Bring it back!!!

November 26 2005 at 11:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Douglin

"One of these days Laura...I'm gonna punch you in the face"

November 26 2005 at 4:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rocko

"Hey George, it's your faaaaavvoorrite neighbor!!" haha, having a "neighbor" of the white house just walk inside. That show was pure gold.

November 26 2005 at 2:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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