Recently, TV cartoons have been trying to get more realistic grounding, an approach I'm not too happy with. Trying to take a more mature approach to action-adventure is one thing, but animation should try to present things not regularly seen in real life; they should take advantage of their status as cartoons (which is one of the reasons why "King of the Hill" has never done anything for me; unlike the hilarious and much underrated "Family Guy," it would lose nothing by being made in live-action).
"The Weekenders," like fellow Disney cartoon "Pepper Ann," displays the weaknesses and strengths of this approach. Set in a beachside city and following the weekend exploits of four friends (Tino our "host," Carver, Lor and Tish), it's a long way from Hanna-Barbera's 1970s efforts but also tends to bring on its morals for that episode's stories (with a few exceptions like the show where Tino's mum meets a new man, most instalments contain two adventures) with the mentality of the worst kind of sickly family show, though admittedly without the sledgehammer effect of Filmation's shows. Tino's habit of doing an equivalent of Jerry Springer's Final Thought at the end of each story is also about as welcome and as necessary as an enema with an icepick, and the show also flirts with stereotyping even when it tries not to, such as with the running gag about the museum having foods of all nations.
But (and here come the strengths) the show's clear good intentions ultimately don't get in the way of a desire to entertain; the four main characters are a lot more likeable than many of their liveaction counterparts (although the episode where they contrasted their real lives with the ones on a "Dawson's Creek"-type show seemed a bit self-important, Lor and company really are better value than Pacey et al), and the scripts are effective more often than not, which is to be expected given the involvement of "Earthworm Jim"'s Doug Langdale; extra stars for the other running gag about the pizza parlour that changes its theme each episode, and for a terrific theme song by Roger Neill and Wayne Brady.
And any cartoon where Jennifer Love Hewitt makes a guest appearance is fine by me (it's not often someone does something like this on a cartoon that isn't "The Simpsons").
Later days!
"The Weekenders," like fellow Disney cartoon "Pepper Ann," displays the weaknesses and strengths of this approach. Set in a beachside city and following the weekend exploits of four friends (Tino our "host," Carver, Lor and Tish), it's a long way from Hanna-Barbera's 1970s efforts but also tends to bring on its morals for that episode's stories (with a few exceptions like the show where Tino's mum meets a new man, most instalments contain two adventures) with the mentality of the worst kind of sickly family show, though admittedly without the sledgehammer effect of Filmation's shows. Tino's habit of doing an equivalent of Jerry Springer's Final Thought at the end of each story is also about as welcome and as necessary as an enema with an icepick, and the show also flirts with stereotyping even when it tries not to, such as with the running gag about the museum having foods of all nations.
But (and here come the strengths) the show's clear good intentions ultimately don't get in the way of a desire to entertain; the four main characters are a lot more likeable than many of their liveaction counterparts (although the episode where they contrasted their real lives with the ones on a "Dawson's Creek"-type show seemed a bit self-important, Lor and company really are better value than Pacey et al), and the scripts are effective more often than not, which is to be expected given the involvement of "Earthworm Jim"'s Doug Langdale; extra stars for the other running gag about the pizza parlour that changes its theme each episode, and for a terrific theme song by Roger Neill and Wayne Brady.
And any cartoon where Jennifer Love Hewitt makes a guest appearance is fine by me (it's not often someone does something like this on a cartoon that isn't "The Simpsons").
Later days!