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May 27, 2012

Fox won't even air Sit Down, Shut Up's finale

by Jason Hughes, posted May 13th 2009 9:03AM

Sit Down, Shut Up
Fox must be really disappointed in this show. Not only is it incredibly unlikely to get a renewal beyond this horrible first season, but now Fox won't even air Sit Down, Shut Up's finale this weekend. Instead, they're going with a rerun of already canceled King of the Hill. While Fox is notorious for yanking a show before it gets a chance to find its audience, I think it's safe to say that Sit Down, Shut Up had found about as much audience as it was going to.

In four short episodes, it managed to undo all the work that Fox had done in the past two decades proving that quality animation could be made for prime time. I don't know why the formula didn't work, but I think Mitchell Hurwitz would have been better off trying it live action, like the Australian original.

I think the animation style was a bit too out there for traditional America. Think of the cartoons that have succeeded in prime time: The Flintstones/The Jetsons, The Simpsons/Futurama, King of the Hill and Family Guy/American Dad. They all had a uniform look for their humans, and they weren't too proportionally out of the "normal" range. It made it easier for the general public, including non-animation fans, to embrace the animated realities.

Sit Down looked more like a Nickelodeon cartoon, with far more abstract character designs and those weird real backgrounds. Children are more able to accept such a distorted reality than I suspect Jane and Joe Couch Potato are. Plus, the character personalities were far more extreme, as well. Rather than being well-rounded, like real people, these were caricatures -- again, more like a typical children's cartoon. It's a shame, because we're seriously lacking in a good school-based comedy.

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Jeff

What people don't realise is that the Australian original was also a horrible piece of crap that only lasted a few episodes!!

May 13 2009 at 4:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nick

I actually liked it, no one gave it a chance, and they didn't put it on commercials early enough. None of my friends even knew about it. I know the first part of the first episode was akward and nearly unbearable, but it deserved a chance. I bet American Dad wouldn't be on air now had it not been created by the creator of family guy. I really think all it needed was more publicity and more of a chance

May 13 2009 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bruce

I'm surprised Fox is cancelling it. Fox only cancels GOOD shows. This show was so freakin' horrible I figured it would stay on Fox at least 10 years.

May 13 2009 at 3:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe

It was horrible, and I wanted so much for it to be great. I'm very disapointed that this is what Mitchel Hurwitz gave us.

http://ww.joeonthetube.com

May 13 2009 at 3:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zachary

I couldn't watch the show. I could rarely hear the dialogue over the score and sound effects, and the voice acting was terrible.

I don't understand your argument about the character models. King of the Hill was realistic, but Simpsons and Futurama have the Matt Groening style: round stomach, no chin; and where can you find head shapes like Peter, Quagmire, and Stewie from Family Guy in real life? And how do you account for South Park and Venture Bros.?

May 13 2009 at 2:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Frantic Monkey

That's too bad for Mitchell Hurwitz. He's fallen quite a way from the perfection of Arrested Development.

If you want to read a "review" of the pilot script for his latest show, Happiness Isn't Everything, head on over to my site. Sorry for the plug, but I gotta promote my site somehow.

http://hollywoodhubbub.com/2009/05/09/happiness-isnt-everything-pilot-script-impressions/

May 13 2009 at 12:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Martin

The 80s episode does at least work for a finale, as they constantly refer to how they only have like 3 memories...

May 13 2009 at 10:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Deezul

I couldn't get through the first episode. The animation had nothing to do with how bad it was.

May 13 2009 at 10:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Manuel Reis

Actually, I liked Sit Down, Shut Up. It was disturbingly funny.

And I really do think that last Sunday's episode could work as a series finale.

May 13 2009 at 9:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
steven

Good riddance.

May 13 2009 at 9:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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