What's most disappointing about Comedy Central's newest animated series, "Freak Show," is that, despite its talented creators and producers, the show is not as good as it should be. In many respects, it's just like the League of Nations and the Big Dig.
Created by David Cross ("Mr. Show," "Arrested Development") and Jon Benjamin ("Dr. Katz; Professional Therapist," "Home Movies"), "Freak Show" follows the misadventures of a group of carnival freaks who work part-time as a minor superhero team, known as the "Freak Squad," assigned to mundane jobs, like acquiring tasty nuts from a nation on which the United States has placed an embargo.
The freaks must juggle this responsibility with their duty to Mr. and Mrs. Hartsdale, the owners of the last independently-owned freak show (to which the "Freak Squad" belongs), which is in danger of being bought or put out of business by Freak Mart, a global freak show conglomeration.
At its best, "Freak Show" has some hilarious one-liners reminiscent of the non-sequiturs one could find on Adult Swim's "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law." Therein lies one of its major problems: "Freak Show" feels a lot like any fifteen minute Adult Swim show, except that it drags to a painful half hour that almost makes one wish they were watching Comedy Central's "Weekends at the DL." That's significant-odds are D.L. doesn't even watch "Weekends at the DL."
Probably most frustrating about "Freak Show" is that the animation is hideous and difficult to watch. It is not just that the characters are ugly; it's that they could easily be drawn by a sixth-grader. Harkening back to Adult Swim earlier this year, the animators seem to subscribe to the "It is not important to be a talented artist if you want to be an animator" school of thought.
This should come as no surprise, seeing as "Freak Show"'s lead character designer, Todd Redner, previously worked on such animated monstrosities as Adult Swim's "Squidbillies" and "12oz. Mouse."
Even when John Kricfalusi ("Ren and Stimpy") drew repulsive characters, he used animation techniques that made his show enjoyable to watch.
Animation aside, the show suffers from a severe lack of strong character voice. As the show has no dearth of talented actors voicing the characters, the fault must lie with the show's writers. Primi, a prematurely born baby who can vomit with great accuracy, does not even have the personality of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" Meatwad, not speaking more than two words in the whole episode.
The World's Tallest Nebraskan, who can shrink up to six inches, has some of the funniest lines, mostly because they are delivered in a slow Nebraskan drawl and often express the sort of Midwestern simplicity that people who live on the coasts stereotypically take for granted.
The Bearded Clam (played by a drastically underused Janeane Garofalo) can shoot "blinding bitch juice" and can also apparently envelop the other members of the Freak Squad to create the form of a giant creature (such as a supermodel). She is meant to be the rebellious one of the group, frequently suggesting that the group take more drastic action than their assignment requires and sporting an anarchy symbol on the inside of her shell.
Really, guys? An anarchy symbol? They could have just showed that her iPod has a lot of "Rage Against the Machine" albums if they wanted to drive that point home.
Log Cabin Republican, who can transform into "Burly Bear" (like, hairy gay man; not camper-mauling animal), is probably one of the more insipid characters created for television. He is played as a completely limp-wristed (literally) effeminate patsy when he is Log Cabin Republican, even taking the time to iron his pants right before a mission, insisting that "it's economic!"
Clearly Cross and Benjamin have an axe to grind with members of the gay community who support the Republican Party, but it seems strange that they use a tired old clich?© to make their point.
The only characters worth listening to are those voiced by Benjamin and Cross, especially Tuck and Benny, respectively, a pair of conjoined twins whose power is to separate. Their dialogue and rapport briefly recalls Adult Swim's "Home Movies," but those moments soon pass and leaving viewers to hope that "Freak Show" and its fellow Comedy Central show "Mind of Mencia" end up killing one another.
The bottom line is, this show is about 70 percent unwatchable. The characters are poorly drawn and largely uninteresting, the pace is unbearably slow, and given the wealth of comedic genius at its helm, the show is a disappointment.
Still, if the Team USA basketball team has taught us anything (and it has), it's that talent doesn't equal greatness. Success also requires direction and commitment to details, and in these intangibles, "Freak Show" is a bust.
