It's an age-old question: how can so many talented people create such a terrible TV show? In the case of Sit Down and Shut Up, a new Fox animated "comedy" that premiered tonight, I'm completely stumped. I mean, it comes from Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz, and the voice cast includes AD's Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Henry Winkler, in addition to Kristin Chenowith, Cheri Oteri, Will Forte, and Kenan Thompson. Seriously, how could anything coming from that group not be hilarious?
Well, I guess by giving them the most overt, cliched, and overused jokes possible. I won't bother going into too much detail, but here's some highlights: characters are named Larry Littlejunk and Miracle Grohe, Will Forte's catchphrase is "I need a catchphrase," which he says in every scene, Will Arnett goes around telling everyone that Henry Winkler bought porn, the simple-minded Christian and the gay drama teacher are as one-note as you'd expect, and, well, the picture above pretty well explains what happens to Will Forte.
Basically, this is a show for people who think Family Guy uses too much intelligent humor. It's not unreasonable to assume 14-year-old boys are watching an animated comedy block that includes The Simpsons, Family Guy, and the equally awful American Dad. But did the show have to appeal solely to that one demographic? If the lesson Mitchell Hurwitz got from Arrested Development was somehow that there's no place on TV for intelligent comedy, then maybe this show will teach him there's no place for the opposite.
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