One of the great things about All in the Family and its spin-off The Jeffersons was that Archie Bunker and George Jefferson might have been biased, prejudiced people, but the show used the absurdity of bigotry and bias against them. After a while, both Archie and George learned how to tolerate and even feel compassion for the people they proclaimed to dislike.
It helped that both Carroll O’Connor and Sherman Hemsley asked for their characters to be toned down. O’Connor was a Democrat in real like, but he made Archie feel more like a non-partisan old-timer who was mad that the world was changing too fast around him. Archie actually comes to befriend a transvestite and feel sadden when the person is assaulted.
During the early seasons of King of the Hill, Hank Hill may have come off as just another Texas conservative, but there was a likeability Mike Judge who created and performed him brought to the role. You knew someone like Hank. Hell, you might have even been someone like Hank. He had a no-nonsense quality about it that would sometimes backfire. Hank wasn’t always right but at least he never boasted that he’s always got to be right.
Even South Park from its inception to the early 2010s, seemed to tow the line along the political spectrum. Its creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were vehement in their criticism of both Democrats and Republicans. And a lot of it was equally warranted. Their movie Team America: World Police on the surface seemed to be a condemnation of the political left, mostly celebrities. But if you look closer at the movie, it shows the foolishness of the conservative rights who think they are always right. Team America causes almost as much death and destruction as the terrorists they’re supposed to be fighting.
That being said, The New Norm tries to be the new All in the Family or King or the Hill without realizing what made them so popular. I’ve only seen about three and a half minutes of the pilot or whatever it is. And you can see every joke coming a mile away. Even when Rich Little did an impression of President Jimmy Carter at the 2007 White House Correspondence Dinner, it seemed more topical than this show.
The New Norm is animated with a laugh track. It’s on X, formerly Twitter, but so far I’ve only found the short pilot and there is nothing funny about it. Norm is voiced by JP Sears who looks like what would’ve happened to Malachi from Children of the Corn if he became a born-again Christian conservative. Norm, an aging Boomer, has a black friend Charlie, because of course he does. Charlie wears a Washington Redskins shirt and apparently can’t understand all the new woke things either. That seems to be the only reason him and Norm are friends.
I can’t explain anymore of the show and I don’t want to because the social media format that allows outrageous pornography and bestiality seems appropriate for this. There’s even a cameo by Elon Musk (who doesn’t speak) as they cheer him as a champion for free speech. The funniest thing about the X profile for the show is how they have a blurb Bill Maher calling a previous show from the creators as “Brilliant.” But it doesn’t name the show. Also, Elders is praising the show himself. And then there’s Kevin Sorbo praising it.
Sorbo was in An American Carol in 2008, which was a lame attempt at conservative parody. That movie was directed and co-written by David Zucker who went all conservative following 9/11. It’s basically one Michael Moore joke for an hour and a half. But what Zucker (who made Airplane! and The Naked Gun) doesn’t realize is by 2008, liberals were just as sick of Moore as conservatives were. The movie also didn’t have many good jokes and just resorted to gross-out gags and scenes of Michael Malone (Kevin Farley) being hit, slapped, punched or knocked down over and over.
There was one joke that I did find amusing where ACLU lawyers are portrayed as zombies. That had some sharp brutal humor to it as they lumber around. But then the movie has Gen. George S. Patton (Kelsey Grammar) and others just shoot them over and over. In many ways, it played more like a satire of the right and that’s what many critics. Needless to say, the movie was a critical and commercial failure. However, Sorbo was in Meet the Spartans which is pretty sad that it’s his biggest movie.
Even when Judge tried to add more politics to his creations with The Goode Family, the result was a show that seemed about as funny and fresh as a Bill Clinton Didn’t Inhale joke. It aired during the summer of 2009 and has been quickly forgotten. It was supposed to be about a liberal vegan family but it was one-joke that was expanded over 13 episodes. ABC canceled the series and Judge put it in his rear-view. It’s easy for a lot of people to relate to Hank Hill. But Gerald Goode, the patriarch of The Goode Family was a community college administrator who was an educated liberal. It just seemed to be taking a cue from conservative talking points.
However, Judge’s Idiocracy or the 1994 college satire PCU were able to show the dangers of what can happen if you try to only cater to only one side. The New Norm isn’t preaching to the choir. It is the choir. Talk TV show hosts like Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel and especially Jon Stewart are able to take swipes at both sides when it’s needed and they, and their writers, understand political satire.
The New Norm will probably be like The 1/2 Hour News Hour that aired for a few months on Fox News in 2007 before being mercifully canceled to low ratings. Yes, even conservatives don’t find much humor in their own politics.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 