Today's column is a two-fer, with reviews of Fox's
"Unhitched" and season two of FX's
"Dirt." Of the former, I start off with:
In the opening moments of the new Fox sitcom "Unhitched," a man gets raped by an orangutan.
I bring this up not to get up on some "Won't someone pleeease think of the children?" moral high horse about declining standards of decency on broadcast television. After all, "Unhitched" is airing after "Family Guy," a show which has historically shattered barriers of what's acceptable to say and show on a network.
No, I have no problem with offensive humor. I've always believed that any subject can be made funny given the right approach. (See Jon Stewart's "Gaydolf Titler" joke on Sunday's Oscars, in which he successfully turned a genocidal madman into the center of a very sophomoric, very effective punchline.)
The issue I have with the rape-by-orangutan scene in "Unhitched" is that it's not funny, nor does it even seem to be trying to be funny. It's lazy comedy, substituting shock value for wit and invention, and it typifies everything that follows on this lame excuse for a sitcom.
To read the full thing (including my continued unhappiness with "Dirt"),
click here.
Today's column is a two-fer, with reviews of Fox's "Unhitched" and season two of FX's "Dirt." Of the former, I start off with:
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