Lenny Payne

Freakazoid is an ADHD nightmare. It’s pretty much impossible for me to get into the show because it suffers from an issue that is prominent in all of Steven Spilberg’s cartoons: An over-reliance on formula-changing. Of course, this was also an issue with Animaniacs and Tiny Toons but not to this big of a degree. The show cannot seem to stay focused on its own plots for more than 10 seconds without getting itself distracted with long-winded off-topic jokes that go on for like 2 minutes. The show hardly establishes major characters like The Lobe and Stephanie by completely sidelining them in their debut episodes. (i.e. The Lobe failed to have a proper introduction and only appeared for like 2 minutes in his debut episode, before being defeated and having the episode completely shift focus to Freakazoid’s hands having sex for like 8 whole minutes) (i.e. Stephanie was introduced in the first episode as the second of three girls that Dexter was interested in and she actually got less screen time than the other two girls, making her seem more like an ancillary or one-time character than anything. Vallory had more focus than Stephanie and was even featured in the final money shot of Freakazoid kissing her, despite her never appearing again in a single future episode) Honestly, this show could have worked but they just ruined it with an over reliance on their formula-changing. I’d be able to accept some of their weird “out of genre” episodes better if they kept them to a minimum and helped us to know the show’s true formula before changing it up on us. Some of the jokes are really funny and if the show spent more time focusing on consistency and lore building, maybe it would have lasted a little bit longer than 1 1/2 seasons. I’d say this is Speilberg’s second worst cartoon, right above Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain.

This show is absolute gold. I've never been so intrigued by a TV show in quite a long time. The characters are all well-rounded and hilarious and the story is positively riveting. Characters like Prince George may start off as one-note stereotypes but then continue on to become more developed and well-rounded characters. Other characters such as Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Meghan, the gay servant dudes, and of course, Owen are all hilarious and have tons of personality. I pray this show gets another season so that we can see just how this glorious series plays out. It'll also be neat to see how they continue the character of Prince Phillip, following his death in real life. Hail to the royal family and long live the prince!

Phineas and Ferb is a fun, creative, intelligent, entertaining, well-done, and amazing experience for kids and adults, alike. The show is mostly great because it introduces high-concept sci-fi elements such as quantum mechanics and temporal paradoxes in a way that kids can understand. They do a good job at explaining and educating kids in a way that's not condescending and not boring. It's just fun. Personally, the show was a staple of my childhood. I remember when the show was first coming out and I was obsessed with it. I watched every episode and had a bunch of toys about them. When I grew up and became an adult, I revisited my childhood favorite and found myself enjoying it once again for mostly the same reasons, although there were some new aspects of the show that I had come to appreciate as an adult. The jokes are really witty and smart and they almost never fail to land. I can mention a lot of gags and zingers in the show, which would make even a full-grown adult laugh because they're just that intelligent. Every episode has a song, which is really catchy and everyone is different than the other. You'd think that with all the songs being written by the same people, they'd all start to sound the same but nope. The songs range from rock to pop to country to rap to techno to what-have-you and they're all total earworms. The main characters (Phineas, Ferb, and their friends) rarely go through any conflicts or experience any negative emotions. In fact, they seem to have no character flaws whatsoever. Yes, they do in fact, qualify as Mary Sues (a complaint many marketers and show developers have expressed with these characters). However, the show still manages to be fun and exciting because of the world around them. It's not about the struggles of Phineas and Ferb. Rather, it's about the cool things they build. Conflict comes from the side plots, featuring Perry and Doofenshmirtz as well as Candace, who experiences tons of negative emotions and exhibits enough character flaws to make up for both of her brothers. The show can get really formulaic as every episode has the same basic plot outline, but they have plenty of once-in-a-blue-moon subversions and twists on the plot, where the formula gets turned on its head for an episode making for an interesting watch. There's also many episodes that break away from the formula entirely to tell a completely different story and they're all really good. Personally, I can't think of a bad episode (except "Spa Day". Don't even bother watching that one. I mean, probably do watch it if you're binging the series, just for completion sake, but ... you know. You're not gunna like it.) Other than that, every episode is a sinch. ("Raging Bully" kind of sucked too. I mean, the jokes were funny and the side plot with Perry and Doof was on-point, as what Candace's story, but the main plot was absolutely horrible just ... HORRIBLE!!!) All in all, despite its minor faults (that are few and far between by the way), Phineas and Ferb is a golden TV show that everyone should watch and I would highly recommend the show and all of it's affiliates to anyone I meet who's in the need of some riveting television. YAY PHINEAS AND FERB!!! P.S.: Also, if you enjoy Phineas and Ferb, you might also like it's sister series, Milo Murphy's Law. It takes place in the same universe and is just as awesome but that's a review for another day.

The Cleveland Show was a clever, witty, funny, and original dose of creativity on the FOX Sunday Animation Domination lineup with brilliantly written plotlines, well-rounded characters, and comedy that has more subtlety and high brow charm than modern-day episodes of its root series, Family Guy. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after 4 seasons, so much of the show's potential glory never made it into existence. Despite this, The Cleveland Show was still a spectacular series for what it was worth and it's short but sweet run on television amassed a sizeable number of fans with its brilliant charm and humorous wit and luckily, it will always be kept alive in syndication for as long as television remains existent and prosperous. Like many other short-lived television gems, The Cleveland Show will never be forgotten. Comedy Central has picked up the syndicated series not too long ago and currently airs repeats, alongside adult animation's other canceled-too-soon classic, King of the Hill. Due to high ratings of the flourishing shows, I hope that Comedy Central execs decide to revive the shows, but I think that if any show deserves the revival more, it's The Cleveland Show.