Posted on 09/25/2009 6:09:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
During his 20-year reign at Disney, Michael Eisner's commitment to family values was viewed with suspicion by many. The worries apparently were well-founded. His animation studio, Tornante, has a new clay-animated cartoon on Nick at Nite called "Glenn Martin, DDS." Eisner and Nick at Nite executive Cyma Zarghami claim it's a show for the entire family.
Even TV critics -- the crowd always wanting to applaud anything pushing the cultural envelope -- think it's outrageous to make that claim. "You know you're in for a bumpy ride when the first joke has to do with killing prostitutes," wrote Mike Hale of the New York Times. He wanted out of the dental chair when a tasteless joke about a "blood bath" of a circumcision by a "rabbi with Parkinson's" arrived.
Yes, this is the same Nick at Nite whose original 1985 lineup included "The Donna Reed Show" and "Dennis the Menace" reruns.
"Glenn Martin, DDS" has been heavily promoted across the Nickelodeon family of cable channels -- as well as on the raunchy Comedy Central network, a much more appropriate home for it. The plot centers around Dr. Martin's idea of putting his family -- wife, teenage son, almost-teenage daughter and dog -- in an RV to bring greater togetherness, but it's really just a plot device for allegedly hilarious on-the-road humor.
One much-advertised episode is "The Grossest Show on Earth," where Conor, the hapless 13-year-old son of the dentist, finds a new career -- as a circus act where his head disappears into the rear end of the elephant, which the elephant enjoys immensely. Audience members are shown vomiting into their popcorn.
This might make for family viewing at the Eisner estate. What about your home? This new circus act followed several failures. We're shown the blood and gore of Conor throwing a knife into the eye of the knife-thrower, and Conor throwing a bucket of gasoline on a smoking clown who burns to death. Scenes like this don't exactly ring with Eisner's promise of a show that "re-envisions the classic family sitcom" and "delivers humor in a mature, sophisticated manner."
In a different episode, Conor consults a spirit guide in search of "major boobage." The guide promises clarity, to which Conor replies, "I don't need clarity. I need Serenity -- and I need to see her naked!" When his wish is granted, the guide tells Conor to "get up on that."
Another episode focuses on Dr. Martin helping a Mafioso with a bad tooth. Introduced to Mafia members in a club, he asks if the women beside them are their wives. A mobster berates him: "Don't talk about our wives in front of the whores!" A woman named Crystal tells him she's "no relation to Billy Crystal, although I have faked an orgasm in a diner."
One shocked parent protested on Metacritic.com that "Nickelodeon is supposed to be a children's network, and they have this on during the dinner hour? We live in the Pacific time zone, and I was exposed to this while making dinner for my daughters, who are 5 and 7, and they had just finished watching 'The Penguins of Madagascar.'"
That's not an accident. What is truly revolting is that Nick at Nite is really hoping young children will stay for the orgasm jokes. The show's website actually boasts to that effect. "The premiere week posted double-digit gains for Nick at Nite over last year's like time period with kid, tween and teen demos ... The premiere episodes held 89 percent of its lead-in ratings ("The Penguins of Madagascar") with kids 2-11."
You really wonder how in the world these entertainment executives can look at themselves in the mirror.
Eisner's awful judgment began with his inspiration for the show: a fellow Disney executive's dog had a rear end that was "beyond disgusting." He explained, "When the dog was in the room, you just couldn't even look at the dog because you would be obsessed with this part of the anatomy. And when the dog turned around and walked away from you -- it was like, please. So I just wanted this dog in a television show."
The family dog on "Glenn Martin, DDS" has a large red anus. They're so proud of it that they highlight it on the show's website. The New York Times reports that Nickelodeon commemorated Eisner's "inspiration" by handing out plastic toy dogs that excrete brown jelly beans.
It's amazing that Eisner never tried this "mature, sophisticated" schtick with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. This man truly disgusts.
Just more evidence that you have to monitor carefully what your children watch on tv nowadays. You cannot rely on a channel that bills itself as child-friendly to have suitable programming for your children.
Heck, these days even I as an adult watch little tv. Give me my DVDs and Turner Classic Movies.
It was under his watch that Gay Day at Disney was instituted. Also, questionable scenes in some of the animated movies also were under his purview. We went to
Disneyworld in 1983l before he took over Disney, and it was like magic. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. We went back in 1985, 1989, and 1991, after he took over, and there was definitely something different about it. The workers weren’t as courteous, and there was just a different atmosphere.
Eisner is a pig. He even looks like a pig.
This show is unbelievably disgusting. There was heavy promotion for it over the summer, so our kids wanted to watch it. They had it set to DVR, so it recorded one night after they were in bed so I watched it to see what it was all about. There was a scene where the dad walks in on the teenage son who is having “a little private time” in his room, the wife penciling in sex with her husband on her calendar, and the dog constantly licking his... you know.
On a supposedly “kids” network!
Needless to say, we were shocked and horrified and have banned this show in our home.
Yes, it’s that bad.
They even have to add an annoying laugh track...just in case you don’t know what ‘funny’ is. (and their idea of funny is waaaa-aaay different from my family.)
My beeber was stuned when I saw this. It’s more appropriate for C/C’s Adult Swim, late at nite. Just tacky, vile, and gross.
Nick is really pushing this show...I hope it fails.
Block Nick at Nite from your TV.
We call tv programs like this “soul killers” in our home.
Absolutely nothing of any value in them, all they do is suck the joy out of your life.
From 1 to 11 is double digit.............
Wow, I saw an episode the other day and wasn’t shocked at all. It wasn’t bad in the slightest. I must have missed these ones.
It wasn’t a show worth watching again though.
Well, yet another “kid friendly, family” network goes down the drain. Too bad.
It has gotten so that I will watch only one channel with my three year-old: PBS Sprout. It is what children’s programming SHOULD be, and the kind of thing most parents expect from a network that targets the toddler - 8 year old demographic.
It is the only channel I allow her to watch.
This is the kind of stuff that should be on Comedy Central, not Nick. Disgusting.
Wow.
We are so blessed to have had the foresight 4 years ago to turn off the TV.
It makes life very simple to not have these awful people barging into our home spewing their filth onto our child via the blue screen.
Try it. It’s really simple. Just remove it from your life. You’ll be so happy you did. Your children will be smarter, better adjusted, more physically fit and better- mannered. You’ll have time to talk to them, they’ll have time to listen.
It’s so simple. You don’t have to be a TV slave.
Mrs. AV
Ahhhh, the good ol' days. ;^P
Same thing here.
Many years ago I got cable for the family for Christmas. It was “outta here” by April.
My kids were much better off. We would play games at night and they became pretty good poker players as a result. It served them well in college.
86 year old Sumner Redstone owns all this (filth?): Viacom, CBS, DreamWorks, Paramount, Comedy Central, BET, Spike, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nickelodeon, Noggin, MTV, VH1, MTV2, CMT.
He’s gay,Jim!
I’m not a prude, but I do think kids should be allowed to be kids for as long as possible. Sheesh, have you ever seen what’s on the ABC “Family” Channel since ABC has taken over?
I’ll bet this show was produced by homosexuals..
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