Octopus Overlords

I haven't finished the series yet but here's what I can say about what we've seen so far:

You might want to lower your expectations.

Yeah, no, lower than that....

Lower....

A little lower....

Lower....

There ya go.

I'm four episodes in. I will get back to it at some point, but I generally agree with Brian's assessment. There are some hilarious bits.

And then there is Stalin singing.

I kinda hoped this would suck because I don’t have Hulu.

Finished it. The last four episodes I think I laughed/chuckled once. The first four episodes had some genuinely funny bits but you had to endure a lot of mediocrity and forced/unfunny jokes to get those few and far between gems.

Also, you'd better be a big fan of Wanda Sykes and Nick Kroll (I'm not, so much) because you are going to get more than your fill of these two.

I feel this is a show that didn't need to be made and it seems like maybe the writers felt the same way.
I gave it a shot and was disappointed and maybe (probably) you will be too but there are a few good jokes and we probably got some modicum of entertainment playing "name that cameo!"

I give it 2.5 out of 8 tentacles.

We tried to watch this but for every laugh there were minutes of painful failure. So we only watched two episodes.

Another example of waiting WAY too long before a sequel. This might be a candidate for a "best of" You Tube video.

They didn't seem to get what made the original work, and tried to make a sequel while playing it 'safe.'

It's like trying to remake Blazing Saddles without saying anything offensive to modern audiences.

Shrug, I'm three episodes in and like it quite a bit. As with anything it's not going to be knee-slapping hiliarious from start to finish but I LOLed more than a few times. That's a rare occurrence for me with *any* comedy.

I love Mel Brooks, but my probably unpopular opinion is that Spaceballs was the beginning of the end for his comedy. He turned almost completely to stupid puns and “safe” jokes. Robin Hood and Dracula are unwatchable for me. So I had little hope for this, and thus planned on avoiding it. And it sounds like I made the right call.

I have found as I have aged that Mel Brooks comedy did not age with me, with the exception of Young Frankenstein.

hentzau wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:44 pm I have found as I have aged that Mel Brooks comedy did not age with me, with the exception of Young Frankenstein.

Though I would probably include Blazing Saddles as well. I do still mostly enjoy that one as well.

I think I agree with Hepcat above that at some point long ago Brooks kind of lost it, and maybe it did have something to do with him going to puns and gags rather than stuff that today we would call politically incorrect humor. Although Young Frankenstein doesn’t use that.

His stuff suffered when he went from suck to blow satire to parody.

Not that some of it wasn't funny, it was just... lessened.

Silent Movie

I forgot all about this. It's available on Disney+ here in Canada, but they aren't promoting it at all. Maybe there's a reason for that...

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 6:21 pm I forgot all about this. It's available on Disney+ here in Canada, but they aren't promoting it at all. Maybe there's a reason for that...

Given the laws up there, admitting to watching it might get you prosecuted.

Regarding not being edgy:

I wouldn't exactly rate a rated G, clean cut sketch!

I mean did anyone besides Brian actually watch this, or are you just assuming it's bad because you've already decided Mel Brooks has lost his way?

They got the required Canadian content out of the way in the very first segment (the Canadian judge gave Hitler a 0), so I think we're good to go here.

YellowKing wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 6:33 pm Regarding not being edgy:

I wouldn't exactly rate

Spoiler:

Alexander Graham Bell being prank called into fucking his own telephone

a rated G, clean cut sketch!

I mean did anyone besides Brian actually watch this, or are you just assuming it's bad because you've already decided Mel Brooks has lost his way?

Compare phone sex to "A black sheriff?!?". It isn't that it's all PG13 (it's not), it's that it's safe content. The best Mel Brooks was socially relevant satire. It slapped certain attitudes across the face with its edgey content.

This was just skits with jokes.

And yes, several of us said that we watched it, myself included. I think I'm 5 episodes in.

My wife and I gave this a few episodes and decided it wasn't for us. I believe I agree with others. The ratio of jokes that land versus not land is low.

I guess I'm in the minority then, and just enjoy the goofy humor. I don't think Young Frankenstein or Spaceballs fall into the realm of "edgy content" yet are two of my favorite comedies of all time.

And I think the days of comedians being edgy are long gone, when the pitchfork wielding mob can cancel them at the drop of a hat.

Young Frankenstein was just a solid comedy. It’s also one of my favorites. The Producers, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, Blazing Saddles…I love them all. But it just feels like Mel started leaning more and more into schlock, slapstick and puns as time went on. There’s an audience for that, and I certainly enjoy stuff that others don’t, so no insult intended.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 10:34 pm Young Frankenstein was just a solid comedy. It’s also one of my favorites. The Producers, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, Blazing Saddles…I love them all. But it just feels like Mel started leaning more and more into schlock, slapstick and puns as time went on. There’s an audience for that, and I certainly enjoy stuff that others don’t, so no insult intended.

I forgot about The Producers. That is a solid comedy.