Random Waves of Insight

I remember a while back when Fox had "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" on Sundays. The other programming was... irrelevant? Well, I just don't remember it. Then came "Family Guy," and the Cartoon Factor increased from 2 to 3. So now we had a solid 90 minutes of modern cartoon humor most Sunday nights. Then came "American Dad," and after a brief warm-up period, it established itself as a keeper. Cartoon Factor 4. 2 solid hours, 8-10pm most Sundays.

Then Fox said, "Hey, let's try to shove some new live-action pilot down their throats," and started airing shows during the block like "The Winner."

"The Winner" ended up being a loser, and was canceled.

Back to Cartoon Factor 4.

Hey, wasn't there some airline comedy? Yeah, "The Loop" intruded upon Cartoon Sunday as well. I barely remembered that one at first.

Oh yeah, and "The War at Home." I didn't really like that show...

Now we've got "Unhitched." I just watched the first of two episodes they sandwiched in last night, between Cartoon Reruns.

And I thought it was lame. Here are my reasons:

1. It forced us to sit through gross and uncomfortable situations, like when a female lead's aging boss hung out naked at the gym all day.

2. It forced us to endure stupid running gags like some guy carrying his kids around on his back and constantly banging their heads into things. That's not funny, that's just sick.

3. Craig Bierko is way cooler than his character allows him to be. He was in "Cinderella Man" as the deadliest boxer on earth. He didn't fight to win. He fought to induce blinding pain that leads to death. Well last night on "Unhitched" his character was at his first boxing fitness class and some blonde kept giving him lip. He was totally courteous, but she just kept needling him over and over, and then in the final boxing confrontation, it was a spoof of all the major recent boxing movies. What a letdown! I wanted to see him take her out with one punch.

The show is trying to be goofy, but it just feels bad watching it. It's like the kind of thing that'd make you groan uneasily if you were forced to sit through it.

Craig Bierko was cool in "The Long Kiss Goodnight." Another villain role. He's got so much more edge to him than this new character allows for. And did you see him as Tom Ryan in "Scary Movie 4?" Spoof of Tom Cruise. Awesome.

So, Fox, when can we get back to Cartoon Factor 4? Or, maybe you could come up with a really, really good show to watch Sunday nights... like that new reality show, "The Running Man!"

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