The Great North - General Discussion

[Machiabelly]

Newest addition to Fox Animation Sunday. We gave it a try and quite enjoyed it.

Did anyone else watch the Sexi Moose?

[bad things are bad]

I wasn't totally swept away, but given its pedigree I'll keep watching. Bob's Burgers people can do no wrong by me

[Ubiquit0us]

It reminds me of Bob's Burgers. I enjoyed it. 

[ShortyMac]

12 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

I wasn't totally swept away, but given its pedigree I'll keep watching. Bob's Burgers people can do no wrong by me

Same.

I love Alanis Morissette being a guide. lol So random.

[Galileo908]

First episode was okay, but the second episode was miles better.

I, too, love the randomness of Alanis Morrissette being Judy's spirt guide. It does fit her character.

I noticed that the family has its own Gene, Louise, and Tina, but with the addition of Will Forte and a girlfriend that serves as an audience surrogate. The dad could not be more opposite of Bob: Manly, isn't open with his feelings, and NOT creative. Nick Offerman is so great as him.

I like that the town has a festival dedicated to NOT eating people, so Ham made a cake shaped like a person.

[Ubiquit0us]

Quote

"Feast of Not People Adventure". Judy is worried that she and Ham are growing apart when she discovers he's been keeping a secret from her. The rest of the family participates in a town festival.

I enjoyed this but cannot stand Alanis Morrissette. 

Also, why does Fox keep pretending like this show hasn't been on yet? 🤔 

[tennisgurl]

This wasn't exactly incredible or anything, but its from the people who brought us Bobs Burgers, so I have a lot of faith in this. Even now, I got a lot of laughs here and this seems like it will be a really fun show. Nick Offerman is perfectly cast.

Alanis Morissette as the daughters spirit guide, playing herself, is so hilariously random. 

[msani19]

I didn't like Bob's Burgers when it first started and I feel the same way about this show. I will give it chance like I did with Bob's Burgers which I now love! 

[Galileo908]

This episode reminded me that Nick Offerman giggling is a delight, even in animation.

I liked seeing the backstory of Wolf and Honeybee: They met quoting Shrek on a message board, and they quote movies to each other. It's cute.

I love that Ham confused Shrek with some totally different movie that features The Babadook, ranch dressing pudding, and someone called Captain Cow.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 1/18/2021 at 1:33 PM, Ubiquit0us said:

Also, why does Fox keep pretending like this show hasn't been on yet?

They still don't think it's on apparently. 

I really like the town. It's a great setting. Like Bob's, I enjoy the kids' adventures the best. I really liked the cake episode where (still don't know the characters) were saying 'oh I wonder what cake pun the local news anchor will say?' And when the news anchor did, they were in the background looking excited. 

Brilliant idea for the cake too. 

 

[tennisgurl]

This show is cute. Nick Offerman was made for roles like this, he sounds like he is having a grand old time. The backstory for how Wolf and Honeybee got together was really cute and whatever movie Ham saw that he thought was Shrek sounds amazing. 

They are using the Alaskan setting really well, interesting that both this show and Bob's Burgers are both set in quirky oceanside towns who's main sources of income are tourism and fishing. They also seem to be setting up the main cast well, I hope that eventually we can get a reoccurring cast of townsfolk like we have on BB's eventually. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I think that was the idea behind the not eating people episode. You got a ton of characters introduced that you can just bring around again. 

[Galileo908]

"Eyes to yourself, Timothy. Don't look at my dominion." That's clearly the best line of the show so far. And I loved that they made a song out of it.

I liked that they're still exploring Beef's love life after getting over the mom leaving the family, by way of Judy's similar fears of dating. I loved Beef's practice date with Wolf. Nick Offerman and Will Forte have such great chemistry. Hell, Nick Offerman is just great in this, period.

Wolf and Honeybee are becoming Couple Goals, aren't they? She really liked winning that elk meat.

[DoctorAtomic]

Liking how they snuck a 'too many fingers in that box' and Alanis' reaction.

20 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

"Eyes to yourself, Timothy. Don't look at my dominion." That's clearly the best line of the show so far. And I loved that they made a song out of it.

I liked that they're still exploring Beef's love life after getting over the mom leaving the family, by way of Judy's similar fears of dating.

I was thinking how it was a good idea for them (TPTBs) to have Judy be old enough to date. 

I like Wolf and Honeybee continuing with their movie interests. 

[Galileo908]

7 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I was thinking how it was a good idea for them (TPTBs) to have Judy be old enough to date. 

Yep, and she has realistic dating problems. Unlike a certain other female character in the Bouchard-verse that's more boy-crazy for her own good.

[DoctorAtomic]

Judy is 16 though. You'd expect her to be a little more settled than Tina. 

[Galileo908]

Lots of great puns tonight. So many Curling puns.

It's great when Nick Offerman gets to sing. And he and Jenny Slate have great chemistry in this. I love when someone gets WAY too into something, like how Judy became a demon for curling. I'll never get over her yelling "SWEEP!" 

[Galileo908]

It's gotta hurt Judy when her crush was crushing on her brother, and Ham was either too polite or too oblivious to tell her that she's being a third wheel. And Uncle Brian was also too polite to tell Beef he was a third wheel. I did like that it turned out that it turned out that the story behind the dance was about two people who were gay and couldn't be who they were. It was sweet.

So Moon isn't that much like Louise, he takes off the bear onesie every once in a while. Loved seeing him do the worm.

"I should've put another finger in the tiny hot tub." God damn does Nick Offerman continue to kill in this.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Galileo908

[DoctorAtomic]

I can buy that Judy would be upset, but it was good of her to do the right thing for Ham. I loved the guy calling himself a lesbian and too bad because he's already dead. 

[giovannif7]

LOVED watching the Ham/Crispin Cienfuegos connection build. I was afraid they'd have Ham walk away for good to spare Judy's feelings, and was pleasantly surprised to see Judy open her eyes, embrace the reality of where Crispin's interests were focused, and move past it. I hope that's not the last we see of Crispin - I would love him to recur as Ham's boyfriend.

I'd also really enjoy a flashback episode fleshing out the characters of Thomas Wintersbone (voiced by the wonderful Leslie Jordan) and his "fellow lesbian" Ruby. It might be a bit sad for an episode for an animated sitcom, but even in a repressive time like theirs, Ruby and Ann had to have had some memorable uplifting moments, and Thomas seemed to have some fond recollections of being "lesbian for lumberjacks." Or maybe Thomas Wintersbone could become Ham's version of Judy's Alanis Morissette... in any case, I hope we see more of him as well.

[tennisgurl]

Judy really did have to get led to that one, she was so not catching onto the connection between Ham and Crispin, but I am really glad that she finally got there and told Ham to go on ahead and be with Crispin. Their town does love their strange morbid traditions don't they? The actual story of Thomas and Ruby was sweet and sad and tied in nicely with what was happening with Judy. Poor guy. "Is that what they're calling it now?" 

Nick Offerman killing it more and more every episode. "It gives you an air of authority, like a flight attendant." 

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't want to read too much into the show, but they have done some good world building right out the gate like on Bob's. It looked to me that Ham was out publicly. He didn't have any embarrassment flirting with Crispin right in the mall. They did make a point to say that there were only 16 people in their class. So I'm guessing there's not much of a dating pool for Ham, and it stands to reason that Judy might be a little clueless on picking up on it as a result. I was initially thinking she was being selfish, but I don't think that's fair. Once she found out, she was supportive. 

I'm assuming Wintersbone was a figment of Judy's imagination, so credit to her for seeing through the story for the actual truth. 

We also saw another appearance from the Latin-American guy too. I hope he breaks his dry spell. 

I actually didn't care for Beef's b plot. I suppose it dovetailed how he and Judy are so much alike out of the family. 

So I'm wondering if the shows exist in the same universe? I can't be the only one who wants to see them take the Belchers out fishing and Beef and Bob enjoying cooking all the fish. Maybe Bob makes a fish burger with a good pun. 

[Corgi-ears]

On 3/15/2021 at 2:05 PM, giovannif7 said:

Thomas Wintersbone (voiced by the wonderful Leslie Jordan)

Karen Walker and Beverly Leslie, together again!

[Galileo908]

I'm sensing a pattern with Megan Mullally characters. Gayle painted animals with buttholes, Alyson wants to paint animals with vaginas.

I liked that it took seven episodes until they made a "rain on your wedding day" joke with Alanis Morrisette. 

[callie lee 29]

I think I'm liking this show way more that Bob's. I think it's the kids. After a few years, Tina and crew's precociousness has gotten very, very annoying. Most shows end with me being extremely grateful on my lack of kids. These kids seem to have found the fine line between being cloying/useless and juvenile delinquency.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think it's because Gene has been annoying. 

I liked this one because we got more kids interacting. And good for Ham for sitting at the table. 

A lot of Honeybee too. She's kind of only been supporting. 

Human cat cafe like Lisa Loeb. Wow that's a long walk for that joke. 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by DoctorAtomic

[Galileo908]

9 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I think it's because Gene has been annoying. 

His character gradually became "Creepy Mama's Boy."

[tennisgurl]

 Lisa Loeb: Human cat café. 

Fun episode, it was nice to see Honeybee more at the center of the show. She watches all of the letter based cop shows, she is just the woman for the case. "Oh, he drowned a guy." 

[DoctorAtomic]

I liked the 'richer than them' jab Alanis made too. 

[SmithW6079]

I binged all eight episodes, but thus far I'm unimpressed. The kid in the bear suit reminds me too much of Louise Belcher (although he doesn't appear quite as much a sociopath as she is). Judy is kind of annoying, but at least she's not a sexual predator like Tina Belcher. Other than the fact that he's gay and the "Cake Lady," Ham doesn't seem to have any other personality, and I can't get a handle on the oldest son and his girlfriend other than he's extremely needy.

I think some background to the family would be helpful. At first I thought they were transplants to Alaska, which could have been interesting in a "fish out of water" story, but apparently they're from there originally. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Honeybee is from Fresno, so she's a transplant. 

[rmontro]

I thought this episode was a bit of a dropoff, but I like this show.  It's strange, but it really makes me feel like I'm in Alaska.

[DoctorAtomic]

Human cat cafe Lisa Loeb still kills me. Alanis ripped that whole line with a lot of relish. 

[Galileo908]

Love that Wolf learned all about Bigfoot from Totally Not Porn videos. Dr. Stroke Masterson DDS seems like a trusted expert on Bigfoot Breasts, right?

The Moon plot was cute. The family was so invested in keeping his sense of wonder intact. And we're getting introduced to more school kids! The mean girl has potential to be great.

Wasn't expecting Honeybee's brother to show up out of the blue. I like that their family's idea of a prank is to randomly show up with pizza. I also love that Honeybee thinks the Minions might be real.

"My thinking hole! Finally, I can start thinking again!" Ham is becoming great for one-liners. 

And we got not one, but two songs! I love that this show gives so many opportunities for Nick Offerman to sing. And the heavy metal Pizza Surprise song was great, too.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Galileo908

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't think we've seen Moon solo at school. That was great. Also nice continuity with Ham and his baking skills. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I like that Santiago keeps popping up. 

The second song was really good. You get the sense that Beef understands parenting coupled with some of his conversations with Judy. 

[joanne3482]

13 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

You get the sense that Beef understands parenting coupled with some of his conversations with Judy. 

Beef had this hysterical line when Judy asked him about having "the talk" with Moon.  I can't remember the exact words but it was along the lines of Beef leaving a carefully worded pamphlet on his nightstand when he was 8, just like he did with all the kids. 

[tennisgurl]

We know that Big Foot is real, he's right there in the background when the family is looking at the bear. The story with everyone trying to keep Moon's childlike wonder alive was really sweet, it had a lot of great one liners and nice moments for everyone. "I know the minions aren't real...but are they?" Its nice to have a little bit of childlike wonder in your life, even if its just a "I know its really not likely, but what if?" 

All of the songs were great, I wasn't expecting to get so many in one episode. I especially loved the small bigfoot arriving at the end of Beef's song with his keytar before sneaking away. 

Nice continuity with Ham's love of baking, and they seem to be building up a lot of fun supporting characters throughout the town. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Was the metal song at the end a cover of something (the music, not the lyrics)?

[Galileo908]

Oh, Bigfoot DOES appear in the opening. He appears in the background when everyone's looking at the bear.

Oh hey it's JK Simmons as Cave Tusk Johnson! Loved hearing Nick Offerman fanboy squeeing at him.

I liked the rest of the family getting into Dynasty. I'm guessing that box of tapes belonged to Kathleen. Beef taping over it with a documentary on freight trains was totally in character. I wanted to watch the rest of that.

"An outdoor competition between myself, my dad and Tusk Johnson? That's my fantasy threesome!"
"Babe, no."

Line of the night right there.

[DoctorAtomic]

I liked that the Dynasty plot went into Wolf and Beef. 

[joanne3482]

Having never watched Dynasty, I had no idea that Dynasty was supposed to be in Denver. 

I loved Alanis's song at the end and how they figured Dan was probably dead. 

15 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Oh hey it's JK Simmons as Cave Tusk Johnson! Loved hearing Nick Offerman fanboy squeeing at him.

Thank you! I knew the voice but could not figure it out. 

I like the message this show provides. It doesn't feel, to me, too preachy but they're fairly supportive of being good to the environment and following the rules. I like that. 

And I still love Honey Bee. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I didn't know it was in Denver either. I liked that the show sucked the entire family in though. 

How old is Wolf supposed to be? Moon is 10, Ham and Judy are 16 ish, but Wolf strikes me as in his 30s. 

[tennisgurl]

I always love seeing the Bigfoot in the background of the opening song while everyone is starring at the bear. 

The whole family, even Beef eventually, getting sucked into Dynasty was great, even trying to get some of that drama fix in their real lives. "Oh right, this is real. I should go after him." Was Dynasty set in Denver? I think I get it mixed up with Dallas a lot, which is set in...Dallas I assume. 

RIP sidekick Dan, who is probably dead. Tusk Johnson might be a fraud, but JK Simmons is always made of win. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Galileo908]

"I don't want to say the D word..."
"Dracula Disorder?!"

I love how wholesome the family is towards game night. Ham is so enthusiastic about everyone else playing. I love that Wolf calls piggyback rides "PBRs."

Everyone getting lost in a blizzard, even in a fairly small yard, is a terrifying thought. Saves money on animation, though. You just animate a few characters at a time on a white background.

Beef is certainly reaching Bob levels of hallucinations. Bob mostly talks to inanimate objects, Beef imagines a snow family, with one voiced by Rhys D'arby. I thought the snowflakes were the best part, I got a big laugh out of Remy's super deep voice.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm going to call a little bs on Beef taking more than the recommended medicine dose. And he wouldn't have had an emergency system for snow? Come on. Also, no way you're going out there without a snow mask. This is a huge buy in that they got lost between the houses. 

I didn't know Wolf's drink had booze until he said. 

I was hoping this would have been a little more about Wolf and Honeybee wanting to have a little more of their own life. I mean, Beef was working out out with the snowflakes. 

I liked that Denny had a New Zealand accent. 

And call back to Honeybee's brother being Sasquatch. 

I did like Honeybee ended up being the most resourceful. 

 

 

[rmontro]

19 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I'm going to call a little bs on Beef taking more than the recommended medicine dose. And he wouldn't have had an emergency system for snow? Come on. Also, no way you're going out there without a snow mask. This is a huge buy in that they got lost between the houses. 

It seemed very odd to me that Beef had no winter cap on, he was just out there with a bare head.  But the whole bit about the whiteout reminded me of Laura Ingall's Little House book, The Long Winter.  She kept describing the snows as being such that you couldn't see three feet ahead of you, and you could get lost easily.  I'm sure this is a thing, but I've been through many winters, and I can't remember any time that I couldn't see more than three feet ahead of me.  I remember being in a car and not being able to see through the windshield, because it kept icing up, and having to pull over.  But yeah, I'm skeptical about being lost between houses.  I don't doubt that it can happen, but I've never experienced something like this, despite having seen many winters and many blizzards.

[SoMuchTV]

I don't have a problem believing the snow was so heavy they couldn't see beyond a couple feet.  I do have a problem believing they don't have a system (hang on to a rope that's actually attached to something stable) and apparently didn't even have gloves, hats, in some cases warm jackets.  But then these are animated characters performing for our amusement, so...

[DoctorAtomic]

54 minutes ago, rmontro said:

But yeah, I'm skeptical about being lost between houses.  I don't doubt that it can happen, but I've never experienced something like this, despite having seen many winters and many blizzards.

My skepticism is rooted in Beef not having a plan or an emergency kit for that. I can buy the whiteout, but this couldn't have been the first time it happened. 

I liked that Honeybee was smart enough able to count the number of steps back.

52 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

But then these are animated characters performing for our amusement, so...

No, but you have to have a consistent show universe. 

[Galileo908]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

and apparently didn't even have gloves, hats, in some cases warm jackets.  But then these are animated characters performing for our amusement, so...

Honestly that bothered me the whole time. You went out in a whiteout, without even wearing scarves at the very least! Their faces were all exposed the whole time!