The Goode Family (2009)

Poor Che...

I admit without shame that I am a Mike Judge fanboy. I love the guy and, for the most part, think his work is brilliant. I thought "Idiocracy" was a slight misstep when I saw it the first time, but it got way better on subsequent viewings. Mike Judge is great with creating believable characters and a genius with dialogue. People are still quoting "Beavis and Butthead" in 2013 because he so perfectly captured that generation. The "King of the Hill" detractors disliked it because of how slow it moved, but I imagine life in Texas moves at a snail's pace. There were so many believable situations that occurred on that show, even on the more ridiculous episodes, all made believable through great writing. The guy's a brilliant satirist.

"The Goode Family" aired for one season on ABC in 2009 and I somehow managed to miss every single episode. The buzz on the Internet was that it wasn't very good, but that's not what kept me from matching it. Seriously, who in the fuck watches ABC? Who in the fuck makes plans to watch ABC? I missed it because I don't watch network TV, period. Luckily, in a time where great, classic TV shows are only seeing a few of their seasons released on DVD before the studios halt production leaving us in limbo for years (goddammit, release the rest of those "The Bob Newhart Show" seasons, you fuckers!), the entire run of "The Goode Family" was released on one 2DVD set. I'm not complaining because I finally got to see it, but why did this failure of a TV show see a release when so many others don't? Regardless, I snatched this up when I saw it at Best Buy and watched all 13 episodes over the course of two days.

Meet The Goode's, an Earth-friendly, green, ultra-PC bunch who do everything they can to make everyone happy, but ultimately are met with obstacles at every turn due to ever-changing public opinion: 

Gerald (voiced by Judge and sounds exactly like Mr. Van Dreissen) - works at the community college and is a doormat his superiors walk all over, too big of a pussy to stand up for himself.

His wife, Helen - spends most of the series in direct competition with her "friend" Margo in a contest of who can be more PC.

Bliss - their rebellious teenage daughter who agrees with their core values, but wishes they'd tone it down a bit.

Unbuntu - their adopted, African son who just happens to be white because they forgot to check a box on the adoption form and ended up with a South African baby.

Charlie (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray) - Helen's pig of a father who is always around, mocking their lifestyle and trying to corrupt Unbuntu into being "normal".

Che -  the stick-thin, meat-deprived family dog forced to eat vegan dog food, but who terrorizes the neighborhood eating every animal he sees. Che has all of the funniest scenes, salivating over steaks, seeing red and continually deprived of what he lusts for.

Overall, this wasn't as funny as Mike Judge's previous efforts, but I think he was just a collaborator on this series. His humor is definitely there and there are a lot of genuinely funny moments that made me laugh out loud, but I had a hard time relating to these characters because I don't know anyone like them in real life. The animation is slick with a bright color palate and the pacing seemed about right for what this was. There were some nice side characters that kept the episodes interesting, like the overweight, mullet-topped lesbian couple who Gerald and Helen befriend simply because they think they should and "Cranky" - a restauranteur who gets progressively more angry each year he loses the chili cook-off, but the on-going competition between Helen and Margo was irritating after the 3rd episode. It felt very "chicky" because of it, like it should have aired on WE or Lifetime.

I wasn't crazy about "King of the Hill" when I first saw it, either. Maybe this will grow on me like it did, but I can't imagine watching it again anytime soon. I had fun watching it, though, just not as much fun as I had hoped. This was Goode, but not great.

3.5 / 5