Our Cartoon President - General Discussion

[Guest]

Quote

The President tries to revive his low approval ratings by delivering the greatest State of the Union speech in history and to strengthen his relationship with First Lady Melania by naming her the national bird.

Per Deadline this show premieres on February 11 at 8 PM (Eastern) on Showtime. However, Showtime will release the first episode on multiple platforms and on demand on January 28. 

Before posting, please read the pinned note as a reminder about political discussion on PTV. If you have any questions, please PM me.

[Guest]

Watched this this afternoon. It was OK. Seems the writers are trying to satirize Trump by making him an affable buffoon a la Archie Bunker or something? 

The funniest parts (for me) were Melania's dinner with Karen Pence, the Hannity bit, and the sons' surprise of installing a fire truck from which Trump could deliver the State of the Union. 

Worth watching a few more episodes. 

[shapeshifter]

I got one LOL out of the first shot of Melania with the Karen Pence hairdo:

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by shapeshifter

[Kromm]

That was okay, in a sort of That's My Bush kind of way,

 

 

(see, the main thing about That's My Bush is that it actually humanized Bush, while ruthlessly mocking him, because the protagonist of a sitcom HAS to be humanized a bit for any scripts to work, and I think this show wound up having to do the same thing--as terrible and disgusting as Trump is, he has to have plot and pseudo character arcs here, or it's like watching a bunch of skits and not a series)

Edited January 29, 2018 by Kromm

[scrb]

Talks too fast and sounds too coherent.

But if they tried to portray Trump as having some early form of dementia it would probably be too controversial.

Yeah affability seems off too.  Supposedly he's often fuming at his aides, over every little brouhaha, many of which he instigates.

[Kromm]

I also just realized that this show must have some kind of South Park like production schedule (at least vintage South Park--I don't know if they bother anymore) where it's close enough to real time that current events make it into episodes. Because this episode referenced news stories from like... a mere week ago.

[SunnyBeBe]

I was looking forward to this, but, just saw that it's on Showtime.  Oh well....I don't get it anymore.  

[Guest]

Episode 2 description:

Quote

The President avoids comforting disaster victims by recruiting a team of impersonators to replace him, while his son Eric sets out to prove he's truly a part of the Trump family.

[shapeshifter]

I hope after this episode that they dial back on Eric being front and center. He's just not that interesting.

[SomeTameGazelle]

How are we supposed to understand Stephen Colbert's Special Guest Star credit? I didn't recognize his voice anywhere so I wasn't sure how he manifested himself.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

How are we supposed to understand Stephen Colbert's Special Guest Star credit? I didn't recognize his voice anywhere so I wasn't sure how he manifested himself.

Me either. His name was credited under the wig but I don't recall the wig being sentient. 

I laughed out loud a few times during this episode, "Make sure the 8s and 9s are in the front" and then when Trump was shown throwing bricks and batteries at the disaster victims and then saying, "Beep beep gotta go." And the Ted Cruz characterization was also pretty funny - he reminded me of a doughier Gomer Pyle. Oh, and Don Jr's "gay tears." 

But I don't know. I'm still having trouble understanding what context they're going for with this show.  

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, Giant Misfit said:

Me either. His name was credited under the wig but I don't recall the wig being sentient. 

I laughed out loud a few times during this episode, "Make sure the 8s and 9s are in the front" and then when Trump was shown throwing bricks and batteries at the disaster victims and then saying, "Beep beep gotta go." And the Ted Cruz characterization was also pretty funny - he reminded me of a doughier Gomer Pyle. Oh, and Don Jr's "gay tears." 

But I don't know. I'm still having trouble understanding what context they're going for with this show.  

The first episode had Colbert's guest credit under the cabinet at the start of the SOTU, which also didn't seem to be relevant. 

I'm not quite clear on the tone either. On the surface it seems too gentle but then again we get Donald Trump saying "I will never try to be a loving father unless there is an obvious benefit for me," which is ice cold.

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

The first episode had Colbert's guest credit under the cabinet at the start of the SOTU, which also didn't seem to be relevant. 

 

On tonight's episode, his name was under Wolf Blitzer. I didn't rewind it to check, but I don't remember Blitzer sounding like Colbert either. 

There were a few good lines in Ep 3 but I just wasn't into it tonight. The episode just left me depressed. 

[Kromm]

I missed Cartoon Ted Cruz in Episode 3!

 

(a sentence nobody in the universe would say about actual Ted Cruz)

On 2/15/2018 at 8:54 PM, shapeshifter said:

I hope after this episode that they dial back on Eric being front and center. He's just not that interesting.

I like the joke that Eric is basically a loveable moron. Of course the real Eric is actually a non-lovable moron, so it's total fiction, but it makes for a good fictional character.

[Wilbur Whateley]

On 2/15/2018 at 8:54 PM, shapeshifter said:

I hope after this episode that they dial back on Eric being front and center. He's just not that interesting.

This week was Stephen Miller/Jared Kushner, next week appears to be Ivanka.  Looks like they're focusing on a different member of the Trump circle every episode.  I personally dread the inevitable Don, Jr. ep.

They seem to be doing all of them as 'affable evil' (if I recall my tvtropes correctly), even to a certain extent Miller.  

Minor detail, but I love how even though it's the middle of winter, every outside shot of D.C. shows green foliage on the trees.  I'm sure that's deliberate.

[jbrecken]

Does the cartoon version of the president only have three kids?  They've never mentioned the other two.

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, jbrecken said:

Does the cartoon version of the president only have three kids?  They've never mentioned the other two.

 

Per Variety (bolding mine):

 

"Colbert said that Trump’s youngest son, Bar[r]on, and youngest daughter, Tiffany, will not appear in the show — which will focus only on family members who have influence in the administration."

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

 

Per Variety (bolding mine):

 

"Colbert said that Trump’s youngest son, Bar[r]on, and youngest daughter, Tiffany, will not appear in the show — which will focus only on family members who have influence in the administration."

That's all good and noble (so no child dissing either) but so far the Eric lampooning on this show has the appearance of making fun of someone who is developmentally disabled, rather than Eric having any concrete "influence in the administration," which bugs me.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

but so far the Eric lampooning on this show has the appearance of making fun of someone who is developmentally disabled, rather than Eric having any concrete "influence in the administration," which bugs me.

Yeah, I don't get how they decided on that characterization at all. If I knew nothing about him, I'd think he was a developmentally disabled kid (even though he's 34) with a hair lip -- neither or which are worthy of parody. The only thing that remotely makes sense to me is that they were drawing him with a Butt-head aesthetic in mind:

 

[jbrecken]

I wonder if they made Brian Kilmeade so important in their "Fox & Friends" stories to make up for calling him "the brown-haired guy that isn't Steve Doocy" for so many years on the Repore. 

[Kromm]

On 2/22/2018 at 1:01 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

 

Per Variety (bolding mine):

 

"Colbert said that Trump’s youngest son, Bar[r]on, and youngest daughter, Tiffany, will not appear in the show — which will focus only on family members who have influence in the administration."

I'm 100% okay with them not having Barron, although I do think the show needs to indirectly refer to him. Indirectly. As in don't use his name even, and definitely don't make jokes about him, but there is some legit territory for references and even jokes about how differently Trump treats different kids, or about how Cartoon Melania has to leave that bedroom set for the implied reason that they have a child and Cartoon Donald conveniently forgot that's where Cartoon Melania occasionally disappears to instead of always being around to err... service his needs, or something like that. I'd just set the rules "Don't name him, and don't use Barron as a target".

Tiffany is an interesting question. She does have no role as far as we know, but unlike Barron she is an adult now. In some ways she's as sympathetic figure as exists in that family. I'm not inherently against running with that as a concept and using her, again indirectly, with that as a plot/talking point. Initially something easy, with Cartoon Trump forgetting she even exists, if there's a good way to set that joke up, and then making it a running theme to show another side of his horribleness.

 

By the way, here's a plug for the "'Favorite' and 'Least Favorite' Cartoon President Character(s) [doesn't have to correspond to real life]" thread I just created. I think it's hilarious that my real feelings for these people don't necessarily correspond to how I feel about their Cartoon versions, and that's specifically what I wanted to address in that topic.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Kromm

[Guest]

On last night's episode, I finally heard Colbert's voice -- he was definitely doing the impersonation of Wolf Blitzer. 

I thought it was pretty funny they lampooned Justin Trudeau as a robotic, goody-two-shoer. And the sight of Don Jr's head slowly peeking out from behind Trudeau made me laugh out loud. Other than that, meh. 

[shapeshifter]

14 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

On last night's episode, I finally heard Colbert's voice -- he was definitely doing the impersonation of Wolf Blitzer. 

I thought it was pretty funny they lampooned Justin Trudeau as a robotic, goody-two-shoer. And the sight of Don Jr's head slowly peeking out from behind Trudeau made me laugh out loud. Other than that, meh. 

Admittedly, exhaustion has been a battle lately, but after trying to watch that episode three times in two days and falling asleep each time, I had to give up.

[link417]

I don’t remember which episode it was, but I loved when everyone in Trump’s administration was sitting around the table saying how they have no idea what they’re doing, then shifty Sessions said, “I know EXACTLY what I’m doing . . .”

The show does a great job of visually caricaturing these people.

I’m surprised how much of an influence this show is having on my opinion of Melania, they do a good job of humanizing her even without an expressive face.

[Kromm]

42 minutes ago, link417 said:

I don’t remember which episode it was, but I loved when everyone in Trump’s administration was sitting around the table saying how they have no idea what they’re doing, then shifty Sessions said, “I know EXACTLY what I’m doing . . .”

The show does a great job of visually caricaturing these people.

I’m surprised how much of an influence this show is having on my opinion of Melania, they do a good job of humanizing her even without an expressive face.

Do you really find your opinion changing of the real people based on this show?

I mean do you suddenly think that Ted Cruz is entertaining?  That Eric is a sweet misunderstood manchild? That Donald is basically Homer Simpson as President? That Jared is the "sane one"? 

I find all of these interpretations fun to watch and laugh at, but that's where I draw the line. I try to never think of the character onscreen as "Donald Trump". Like Colbert himself, when he had the character on The Late Show I call him "Cartoon Donald Trump" at all times. Ted Cruz is "Cartoon Ted Cruz". Eric is "Cartoon Eric". Melania is "Cartoon Melania". And so on for the others. That way I can kind of purposefully schizophrenically divorce them in my mind from the real people. Because while I may still want to laugh at the real people fairly often, it's never a sympathetic laugh anymore. It's scorn, or nervous gallows laughter. And honestly... if you encountered the real Ted Cruz wouldn't you sooner run away in terror or start barfing uncontrollably rather than laugh at how silly he is? Now real Melania may be less of a departure from Cartoon Melania as Ted Cruz is from Cartoon Ted Cruz, but I think if I encountered the real Melania I'd still have a pretty healthy feeling of disgust, 

 

For example, do we really think real Melania sleeps in the same bed as Donald the way Cartoon Melania does with Cartoon Donald?  Uh uh!  No way I'm believing that!  

Edited March 12, 2018 by Kromm

[link417]

1 minute ago, Kromm said:

Do you really find your opinion changing of the real people based on this show?

I mean do you suddenly think that Ted Cruz is entertaining?  That Eric is a sweet misunderstood manchild? That Donald is basically Homer Simpson as President? That Jared is the "sane one"? 

I find all of these interpretations fun to watch and laugh at, but that's where I draw the line. I try to never think of the character onscreen as "Donald Trump". Like Colbert himself, when he had the character on The Late Show I call him "Cartoon Donald Trump" at all times. Ted Cruz is "Cartoon Ted Cruz". Eric is "Cartoon Eric". Melania is "Cartoon Melania". And so on for the others. That way I can kind of purposefully schizophrenically divorce them in my mind from the real people. Because while I may still want to laugh at the real people fairly often, it's never a sympathetic laugh anymore. It's scorn, or nervous gallows laughter. And honestly... if you encountered the real Ted Cruz wouldn't you sooner run away in terror or start barfing uncontrollably? Now real Melania may be less of a departure from Cartoon Melania as Ted Cruz is from Cartoon Ted Cruz, but I think if I encountered the real Melania I'd still have a pretty healthy feeling of disgust, 

 

For example, do we really think real Melania sleeps in the same bed as Donald the way Cartoon Melania does with Cartoon Donald?  Uh uh!  No way I'm believing that!  

LOL, not “people;” just Melania. And it has had an influence, much like the many stories of Drumpf’s infidelity have also likely colored my perception of her as well. I’m an adult human with no (known ?) mental incapacity so I can most definitely tell the difference between a satirical cartoon and real life.

[bijoux]

This is getting less funny by the episode. The idea of portraying Trudeau as coniving wasn’t bad, but the execution lacking.

[atlantaloves]

Yeah, I am ready to give up on this cartoon myself. However, I do like The President Show, where a mimic does DTrump (on comedy central) and I seriously hope it is renewed. 

[Janc]

I just realized there is one person from the WH staff missing in this show: Kellyanne Conway.  Why wouldn't she be skewered with the rest of them? 

[atlantaloves]

They do show Kelly Ann.....honey they get 'em all. I kinda like this show, it makes me laugh.  

[atlantaloves]

It just started up again last week, and it is better than ever...don't miss it folks. 

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

It just started up again last week, and it is better than ever...don't miss it folks. 

I didn't care for it last season, but I guess this^ means I should at least check it out? 

[AnimeMania]

https://www.sho.com/our-cartoon-president/season/3

This added to Showtime website 

Season 3 Episode 1: IMPEACHMENT

Original Air Date: Jan 26, 2020

[AnimeMania]

 

[Guest]

The topic of this thread is a fictional animated series. Comment on the contents of the fictional animated series only. 

[AnimeMania]

Our Cartoon President Season 3 Episode 10 airs on September 13, 2020, on Showtime, at 8.30 pm ET/PT.

[AnimeMania]

Preview for Season 3 Episode 11

Cartoon Joe Biden sets out to earn his place as the face of the Democratic Party. Meanwhile,  Cartoon Don Jr. and Cartoon Eric Trump try to develop a miracle cure for coronavirus. Watch new episodes of Our Cartoon President on Sundays at 8:30/7:30c on SHOWTIME.