Al On Yo Gabba Gabba

[pigletk]

I think I will just DVR the entire series just so I don't miss it.....

[TMBJon]

wow...this looks like it's gonna be somewhat tolerable...I mean, it certainly doesn't look as wretchedly, horrifyingly unwatchable as Fred made it out to be last fall...Al is obviously more mellowed out that we're accustomed to seeing him here...

I don't know what you're talking about. Have you seen the show? It's quite awesome. I am really pumped, not just for Al but all of the guests. Here is the planned set of guests for the first week alone...

Sarah Silverman, Weird Al Yankovic, Black Kids, Jack McBrayer, Paul Scheer, Weezer, Anthony Bourdain, Of Montreal, Mos Def, Devo, The Aquabats, Mark Mothersbaugh, and of course, Biz Markie.

[Killingsworth]

wow...this looks like it's gonna be somewhat tolerable...I mean, it certainly doesn't look as wretchedly, horrifyingly unwatchable as Fred made it out to be last fall...Al is obviously more mellowed out that we're accustomed to seeing him here...

I don't know what you're talking about. Have you seen the show? It's quite awesome. I am really pumped, not just for Al but all of the guests. Here is the planned set of guests for the first week alone...

Sarah Silverman, Weird Al Yankovic, Black Kids, Jack McBrayer, Paul Scheer, Weezer, Anthony Bourdain, Of Montreal, Mos Def, Devo, The Aquabats, Mark Mothersbaugh, and of course, Biz Markie.

I know the guests are usually fantastic, Jon. I'll admit I haven't seen a helluva lot of the show as I don't watch it regularly but look at Fred's first few posts in this very thread...I distinctly rember him flipping out and going off on sort of a mini-tirade on how the show mostly seems to indriectly appeal to stoners or something like that.

(No offense, Fred...this is what we love you for...)

[TMBJon]

I don't think it's meant for stoners, though they can certainly appreciate it. I think it's a children's show created by Christian Jacobs, someone with an acute sense of irony who has built a career on making faux-children's material. (See his band, The Aquabats, for more details).

[kyky27]

I don't think it's meant for stoners, though they can certainly appreciate it. I think it's a children's show created by Christian Jacobs, someone with an acute sense of irony who has built a career on making faux-children's material. (See his band, The Aquabats, for more details).

Haha, back when this show came out, I was a HUGE fan of The Aquabats, and I still am, but I was super excited for this, and I've realized I'm not much a fan of the show, but I would like to see Al's appearence on it. That'd be awesome.

[FredHuggins]

Thought I'd copy/paste some of my recent musings on the topic, from the "AL-Tube Chit-Chat" thread.

Okay....I admit, this doesn't look TOO terrifying. A much smaller fraction of my colon shriveled up and died than I anticipated. Anybody know when it premieres?

By all means, check this thing out. I have no choice - I MUST check it out, if only to preserve my AL-Tube completist cred. I gotta say, Al ALONE made that clip tolerable IMO, with his fantastic singing, accordion playing and strange reactions.

By the way, I'm not against weird puppets and bright colors - "Wonder Showzen" is one of my favorite shows of all time. I guess what REALLY bugs me about Yo Gabba Gabba is that, on the surface, it feels SO MUCH like a Wonder Showzen-esque parody of overexcitable children's programming, that it breaks my brain a little to NOT see it accompanied by adult-friendly absurdist dark jokes about war, religion and meat. That's how smurfed up I am.

I just realized why I find that Gabba clip so familiar. Maybe I stand alone here, but it reminds me quite a bit of THIS appearance from over a quarter-century ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYXlkBtD600

...Right down to the way Al subtly "winks" at us with his vocal cadence half the time, as if to say, "I know this is dumb as dogsmurf, but play along. It's for the kids."

Then TMBJon said:

I continue to disagree with you, Huggins. I really really don't think he thinks Yo Gabba Gabba is dumb. I think the whole point of the show is that kind of wink at the audience that you describe, and therefore Al is playing along with the tongue-in-cheek nature of the show, not suggesting in any way the show is dumb.

I don't think we really disagree THAT much. By that logic, if the entire SHOW is winking at us about itself like that, then Al is just following protocol. Okay, I'll buy that.

But the thing is, the show doesn't give us ANY hints that it was written by grownups besides those winks. They never throw in a single joke or line that might go over the head of a three-year-old. It's like the CBS executives' wet dream of what they WANTED The Weird Al Show to be. And since three-year-olds are naturally - let's face it - kinda dumb, having yet to gain knowledge about most things, that means the show is kinda dumb as well. And all that winking means, to me, is that everyone involved is trying to scream "HAAAAAAAAALP! WE'RE STUCK IN A DUMB KIDS SHOW!!!"

All I'm saying is, Yo Gabba Gabba is unquestionably dumb ON THE SURFACE. Where we differ, I guess, is whether it has any actual depth beneath that surface. My opinion is that if it has any depth, it's hiding it a bit too well.

[TMBJon]

I always cite Mark Twain in times like these: "The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it."

(I used that principle to confuse Bruce the Duck all the time... RIP )

[FredHuggins]

And yet, Gabba does precisely the opposite. They deliver the lines with the exuberant energy of a small child on too much sugar reciting what he believes to be the world's greatest joke, yet the words themselves remain plain and humorless.

Mark Twain also said, "KILL ALL HUMANS! KILL ALL HUMANS! ALL PITIFUL MAN-ANIMALS WILL PERISH IN RIVERS OF BLOOD AND THE MIGHTY ROBOT RACE WILL REIGN SUPREME FOREVER!"

No wait, that was the robotic Mark Twain from EPCOT's "The American Adventure" after I mischievously urinated on it. Oh well, same diff.

[TMBJon]

...and then TMBJon suddenly realized he does not care whether other members of the forum watch this program, or if they think the show is good.

[FredHuggins]

Hey, I don't care if I convert a single soul to be crushed by MY soul-crushing perspective, either. Nobody is "wrong" for liking or hating this show.

But that doesn't mean we can't have some fun stating our opinions and engaging in a strange yet spirited debate.