Did anyone at adult swim or hbo listen to the podcasts these guys made before giving them unlimited money to make a tv show that looks absolutely shit? Seriously they were friends with shadman, how are you supposed to watch a show that’s message is “be kind” and “don’t be an asshole” when they made their careers off of being edgy. Some dipshit c suite exec who they’re probably related too took one look at them and thought “maybe we can get the Rick and Morty demographic and get chuds to riot in a McDonalds over chicken nuggets”. Also the mixed art style makes it the cartoon equivalent of Fortnite, no substance, no identity. A bland product that can be sold and commodified. I really fucking hate this show.
from what I’ve seen, the essence of this show is 1) be edgy 2) be maximally whacky
I watched the first episode and had to turn it off half way through. It just looked ugly and gross for the sake of being ugly and gross. Didn’t know the creators were shitheads but it doesn’t surprise.
Anecdotally, one of my irl friends worked with Michael Cusack on a non Smiling Friends project and she said he was a pretty nice guy, so there’s that.
The American on the other hand I didn’t really hear about before this show.
ETA: as for the show itself, the pilot is a pretty mid episode. There are scenes/episodes later that show the animation team is doing what they’re doing on purpose, like the Bakshi Lord of the Rings homage character that I believe is hand drawn animated on 2’s being on screen at the same time as a .PNG character model being clicked and dragged away to show movement. Kinda like Cruelty Squad looks shit on purpose? The flash animation esque character on screen with Joel Havel rotoscoping is another example.
Haven’t watched it other than a clip here or there because the artstyle is so off-putting. Just looking it up now and it’s funny that one of the creators is a colleague of OneyNG, because I also don’t watch his content because it, too, seems too edgy. Makes sense for newgrounds 15 years ago, but it seems like they haven’t changed since.
Hey, I saw the avi of Shadman. Fucking yikes. Is there a place to know about his background and/or the creators of Smiling Friends?
Earlier this week, I talked to a friend about the lack of complex women on the show.
It’s not much on its own, but I think it’s interesting that the makers of an Adult Swim show couldn’t get a woman on board. Then again, with the way these workplace cultures work, it’s probably for the best.
Shit, now that I think about it, the show does a lot of punching down and inappropriate jokes. Making fun of addiction, mental illness, different body types, disabilities, etc.
The show is really good actually and the animation is cool as well. It’s basically one long love letter to early internet animation so if you know you know.
But the creators do have a right-wing cultural slant that shows up in their work. I don’t support that of course.
