michael dworkis lets his hate out about the canceled FOX cartoon …
I’m not the type of guy to say I told you so …
… But I told you so!
[Check out Michael Dworkis’ reviews of Allen Gregory episode 1 and episode 2.]
Taking a risk on new programming, FOX thought Allen Gregory would be a perfect complement to the Animation Domination lineup on Sunday nights, running alongside The Simpsons and Family Guy.
They were wrong.
Networks take chances on new shows, and sometimes they succeed, and at times they fail. Hundreds of pilot pitches are made, and few make the cut. How Allen Gregory actually made it as far as it did is still a bizarre wonder. Sure, it had Family Guy director David Goodman and Hollywood star Jonah Hill behind it. That is all it had. There was no story, no plot, nothing to keep audiences interested. Even the characters appeared shallow and uninteresting.
The main character, Allen Gregory, is a self-professed genius socialite who enjoys knocking everyone down a peg and acts like he rules the universe. Packing a restaurant-style lunch, Gregory hopes to win the love interest of the ugly and obese school principal while belittling his school teachers and abusing his fellow students. What is worse, the stereotypical supporting characters are bland and make no significant contribution to the show. The jokes are repetitive and not at all funny. If there was a joke which did come across funny, it was beaten like a dead horse to the point where it lost all hope of saving the episode. The fast-talking nature of Gregory caused other characters to speed up their speech. Terrible. Nothing could be understood, and by the end of an episode, viewers were glad not to have retained any knowledge of the debacle they had just watched.
The attempts at cheap shock value made it a clear sign this show had nothing new to offer and appeared more like a rushed attempt to air new programming. Reruns of King Of The Hill would have performed better. The ratings for Gregory tanked faster than any show in FOX Sunday night television history. By the third episode, reruns of The Simpsons outperformed Gregory. The dismal ratings drawn by Allen Gregory caused ratings for the rest of the animated shows on FOX to drop on Sunday nights. Needless to say, that was the last straw to have Gregory pulled off the air.
The announcement canceling of Allen Gregory was made on Jan. 8 by FOX President Kevin Reilly. The mid-season sees the debut of the animated Napoleon Dynamite series, which I am sure FOX executives pray will receive better reaction and better ratings.
No, it will not see any resurrection thanks to similar cult demand like Futurama and Family Guy. You see, those shows are entertaining.
