S01:E01 Weasels and Ostriches

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

Shred encounters a wild weasel in an attic. Frank slips his Slim Jim in Shred’s back pocket as they approach a dozen ostriches.

Original Air Date: Feb. 16, 2023

[AnimeMania]

Amanda Burke

[Crashcourse]

"Low rent Shaun White." 🤣

I'm in. 

[voiceover]

Oh yezzzzz.  Joel McHale as a funny competent douche?  He’s like John Larroquette Jr.  I left Community after Season 2 bc it was so very much The Thing, but I might stick with this one.

The sign-in sheet will be a running gag and I am here for that.

[DanaK]

It was amusing in places. I’ll at least check out the second episode

[AlleC17]

I definitely  will keep watching.  Fun start! 

[AncientNewbie]

The early bit with the flaming weasel and the furniture fire....I know I've seen that in a movie, but I can't figure out where. Or maybe another tv show and that's why I can't think of the movie. Either way, it bothers me that (1) I can't remember it and (b) this seemed so very similar. 

I try to grade intro eps on a softer scale, because there are always a lot of people to introduce and a need to hit a few different emotional notes maybe not required in a typical ep. So I'll be back, but I have to admit to being a little underwhelmed. McHale just seemed to be angrier Jeff Winger, Ravi Patel just seemed sad, I didn't understand why they have a civilian boss and the other precinct has a uniformed boss, and just general pedantic nitpickiness about how it all works. 

[SoMuchTV]

4 hours ago, AncientNewbie said:

The early bit with the flaming weasel and the furniture fire....I know I've seen that in a movie, but I can't figure out where. Or maybe another tv show and that's why I can't think of the movie. Either way, it bothers me that (1) I can't remember it and (b) this seemed so very similar. 

I had that exact thought!  I want to say it was a story I heard, because I'm more remembering the visuals in my mind, rather than on screen.  Maybe on This American Life or possibly The Moth...?  It might have been a squirrel...?

Edited February 17, 2023 by SoMuchTV
“I might have been a squirrel” is not what I meant to say!

[Phishbulb]

The guy who plays Shred seems like the love child of Andy Samberg and Tim Robinson 😀

[SHD]

41 minutes ago, Phishbulb said:

The guy who plays Shred seems like the love child of Andy Samberg and Tim Robinson 😀

Agree! I got a definite Samberg vibe but couldn't think of who else he reminded me of - you nailed it!

A really good cast that was kind of let down by the writing, at least in this initial episode. I'll give it a couple of more tries, but I'm on the fence right now.

I was happy to see Gerry Dee, who had a sweet, clever Canadian sitcom I loved. 

[Crashcourse]

I loved the brief shot of the ostrich with the Slim Jim. 😅

And low rent Shaun White attracts the hot women while Frank doesn't.  Maybe it's because you're a douche, Frank?

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, AncientNewbie said:

The early bit with the flaming weasel and the furniture fire....I know I've seen that in a movie, but I can't figure out where. Or maybe another tv show and that's why I can't think of the movie. Either way, it bothers me that (1) I can't remember it and (b) this seemed so very similar. 

Story of mouse burning down house proven false

It was a news story. A man sets fire to a mouse running around in his yard. The mouse panics and runs into the man's house setting it on fire. Reported all over the news but turns out not to be true.

[DanaK]

Were those ostriches real or CGI (at least partly)?

[SoMuchTV]

12 hours ago, AncientNewbie said:

The early bit with the flaming weasel and the furniture fire....I know I've seen that in a movie, but I can't figure out where. Or maybe another tv show and that's why I can't think of the movie. Either way, it bothers me that (1) I can't remember it and (b) this seemed so very similar.

 

11 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I had that exact thought!  I want to say it was a story I heard, because I'm more remembering the visuals in my mind, rather than on screen.  Maybe on This American Life or possibly The Moth...?  It might have been a squirrel...?

Found it - thanks Google.  There might have been other similar stories/plots but this is the one I was thinking of:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/510/fiasco-2013

It's Act 3, "Squirrel Cop".  Not the same thing @AnimeMania found - I guess this happens (or "happens") often?

Edited February 18, 2023 by SoMuchTV

[possibilities]

The entire office singing the poop song, and then McHale's character singing it alone at home, was funny to me, but it seemed totally out of character for him to participate in that and also to do so affably.

[Maya]

The whole thing reminded me of Brooklyn 99.

[DanaK]

The preliminary ratings show a 0.3 in the 18-49 demo and 2.048 million viewers. It was actually tied for 2nd in its timeslot on the demo (with the finale of ABC's The Parent Test) and was 3rd in its timeslot in viewers. It seemed to fit well with its lead-in Next Level Chef, which had 0.3 in the demo and 1.883 million viewers. So not great but not bad at the same time, especially for Fox

[juno]

It was pretty funny. I am not sure why all of McHale's shows since Community keep making his characters so unlikeable.

He is not terrible on this show, but they really need to lighten his character up. Make him a bit more human.

[Lone Wolf]

I've liked Joel since The Soup and Community, and tolerated The Great Outdoors enough to hang in until it was finally cancelled. 

I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that with this one because I think I'm learning that I'm just not into slapstick animal gag wackiness.  The rest is standard comedy fare, although there's nothing new as far as the character tropes (can we all already see where Shred's and the boss's will-they-or-won't-they thing is going?), but I'm struggling with the basic premise.

At least it doesn't have a laugh track.

 

[Rickster]

Actually, the slapstick animal wackiness, with the weasel and the ostriches, was the only part I really liked, although I did like the snowboarding guy as well. The rest just seemed like a random collection of joke lines, some funny and some not. Maybe because we don’t know the characters yet? 
 

I’m hard to please with sitcoms, not sure this is a keeper.

[Crashcourse]

2 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

At least it doesn't have a laugh track.

Thank goodness!

[SHD]

22 hours ago, Maya said:

The whole thing reminded me of Brooklyn 99.

But not as good. At least not yet.

[tennisgurl]

I really like Joel McHale, but I wish that some of his Community roles weren't all just variations on Jeff. I try to be understanding of pilot episodes, especially sitcoms, and I thought that this one was shaky but with potential. Its got a good cast, even if the characters are mostly tropes right now, and they seem to be down for the slapstick comedy you expect from a show involving animal control. 

It had some funny lines, I will give it a few more episodes. 

[CrystalBlue]

Here I am again, new to these actors everyone else seems to know, like McHale and Low Rent Shaun White.  I can't compare their prior characters or acting history, so I'm viewing from scratch here.

So I agree that it's standard trope-filled sitcom fare of the "work family" variety with a collection of quirky people.  "Barney Miller," "WKRP" come to mind.

I love animals but I don't know if animal hijinx as the critters being props or the butts of the joke is my thing.  Also I don't like poo songs (yes, I'm not fun at parties, I guess) and feel like a lot of comedies are going for bathroom humor lately.

I'll give it a couple more episodes.

Wondering if the ostriches were all or partly CGI as well.  At least the electronic-operated weasel made it out alive.

[AnimeMania]

PETA slams new Joel McHale sitcom Animal Control, calls it 'sickening soup of animal exploitation'

PETA is breathing down their necks, so some of the animals must be real.

[CrystalBlue]

The end credits had animal humane supervision declaration with the logo.  I remember seeing it.  I am all for animal welfare and safety and support animal charities, but PETA is not one of them.

[AnimeMania]

‘Animal Control’ Premiere Wrangles Record Streaming Audience For Fox In Delayed Viewing

Live viewing was 2.1M and with three days of delayed viewing had a 114% increase to 4.5M.