Fox is always ready to add another member to its Sunday night animation troupe, and this fall’s addition is Allen Gregory. The new show from movie comedian Jonah Hill encompasses some touchy issues, but can it meet or beat the other animated shows on broadcast or cable? Read on to find out.
Allen Gregory DeLongpre (Jonah Hill) is the “son” of two upwardly mobile socialites, with a vocabulary and ego to match. Due to the recession he’s forced to attend public school, where his intelligence and precociousness face off against the (more) normal kids. His fey father Jeremy (French Stewart) is essentially a copy of the pint-sized character, the straight man to his life partner and foil Jeremy (Nat Faxon). The two also have an adopted but neglected Cambodian daughter, Julie.
Allen Gregory’s cultured and sheltered upbringing make him an instant magnet for every rich snob stereotype in the book, a task that Hill’s breathless and understated delivery compliments well. When he learns that his parents’ fake party is a smokescreen for sending him to public school, instead of a congradulatory celebration for a Tony nomination, he throws an incredibly cultured hissy-fit. His upbringing doesn’t serve him well at school, either: he’s met with confusion by the more kind-hearted children and hostility by those with a less charitable outlook.
Not that he isn’t asking for it. Allen Gregory expects everyone to treat him as their equal, if not more – he instructs his teacher not to talk back to him, uses his new friend as a verbal punching bag and generally jerks around the entire student body and faculty. This includes his adopted sister Julie, who’s already stuck at the bottom of the social ladder. After years of being ignored by her uninterested parents, she alternately feels apathy and hatred for Allen Gregory.
When Allen Gregory brings a sushi sampler and white wine in for lunch, he’s sent to the principal’s office. There he immediately and inexplicably falls in love with the 60+ year old, who (thank God) doesn’t reciprocate. The rest of the episode is spent in an awkward love parody, interspersed with Julie’s pathetic situational disinterest and the DeLongpre’s relationship woes.
Allen Gregory made headlines as an animated Will and Grace for the South Park generation. Unfortunately, the pilot demonstrates neither the cultural significance of the former nor the comedic value of the latter. Allen Gregory is a show with nothing to say, and nothing funny with which to say it. Despite considerable comedic talent in the production and voice department, there simply isn’t any fun to be had.
You’d expect a show about two gay men raising two children to press buttons at the very least, but no: all the comedy (such as it is) comes from other characters’ reactions to Allen Gregory’s demanding and demeaning behavior. There aren’t even any gross-out laughs that take advantage of the animated format – you could basically do this show live-action with any talented ten-year-old in the starring role. As an animated wild child, Jonah Hill’s Gregory isn’t as entertaining as Bart Simpson, as shocking as Eric Cartman or as random as Stewie Griffin. He’s just the receptacle for every snobby rich character you’ve seen in a C-grade movie, shrunk down into a three-foot frame.
If there’s a highlight to the episode, it’s Joy Osmanski’s portrayal of the ever-neglected Julie. The character is sharp and even a little sympathetic, in a vicious sort of way. It’s unfortunate that sh’es surrounded by characters that are annoying, or worse, uninteresting. There’s very little for any of them to do – with the exception of Jeremy as a closeted straight man, there was hardly a new idea to be had.
I’m normally somewhat forgiving of pilots, considering that it takes a while for any show to find its feet. But with Allen Gregory, it’s hard to imagine things getting any better. Family Guy has been stuck in a comedic rut for years (see American Dad for a fresher alternative) and The Simpsons keeps on going like an animated Tithonus, but both of these offer more laughs than Allen Gregory.
There’s simply too much good animated comedy out there, especially on cable, to recommend this show. For shocks you can watch South Park, for heart you can watch Futurama, and for intelligent and consistent laughs, I heartily recommend Archer. Stay away from Allen Gregory – there’s just not enough humor here to be worth your time.
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Allen Gregory airs Sunday nights at 8:30 PM on Fox.
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If this show is to last, they’re gonna have to tone down Gregory. A lot.
WOW television at its worst. the only laughing I was doing was the pity laugh for who ever green lit this garbage.
I gave up after the first commercial and just watched the football game.
They tried to make him an allout a**hole but than sympathetic 5 minutes later. If they are gonna make him an a** you need a strong moral character to balance him off. The sis ter needs more screentime.
But with awesome animated shows like Archer and Futurama out there, I dont even see the point of wasting my time for another try.
And I forget that Beavis and Butthead are back on TV. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Didn’t even bother. I add this too crappy shows not to watch. Goes right there with South Park, any Adult Swim live action show and reality tv with Oompa Loompa turds. Straight up garbage and a waste of time.
South Park is crappy?! the show is genius, not to mention emmy winning.
I labored through it. I looked for something salvageable since I didn’t want to lambast it simply because I didn’t like it but honestly, its not worth it. Allen Gregory is a terrible protagonist. The only hint of a laugh was his father being an undercover hetero but they never fleshed that out. Pass on this. Hopefully they bring back Bob’s Burgers.
This was definitely crap…except that I’m insulting crap by saying that. Jonah Hill annoyed me immensely before…after last night, I want to smack him multiple times, just on principle. Yeeeeesh!
This was out and out utter garbage. I made it half way through and gave up. Jonah Hill would have been better off being a voice on the simpsons because this will not last it is awful .
I thought this looked really dumb. Glad I skipped it.
Guess this is why Fox gave the Simpsons another year to try and find a replacement. Wonder how many shows they will run through to try and keep their animation block intact ?
As for the show itself, it plays into the notion that obnoxious characters + stereotypical “edgy” characters = funny. Not really….
My attorney is drawing up the papers in an attempt to get that half-hour of my life back. We expect this to be a class action suit with global reach.
Allen Gregory was awful!!! If it is on again next week I guess I’ll be gouging my eyes out with rusty spoons
Honestly I didn’t find it as bad as all of the other commentors, it was quite forgettable though.
I’ll give it a few episodes but I was not impressed.
It lost almost half the Simpsons lead-in audience, it will probably only last a few episodes as is…..
A bore. ‘Nuff said.
a corn filled turd
This show was boring and stupid. I don’t see how anyone see’s potential in it. Probably the same people who like American Dad and King of the Hill.
American Dad and King of the Hill are both funny in their own.
This show lost me in the first 2 minutes with overly homosexual storyline. I’m not gay bashing, but I don’t need to have that lifestyle shoved into my face in an animated show. I don’t see this garbage lasting the month.
it would be a disaster if people thought this was “the gay lifestyle” gays probably hate this boring pretentious crap as much as anyone else.
As a gay person myself I have to agree, this show is awful, insulting, and I hate it. There is nothing amusing to this show at all, not to mention how absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic it is, even for a cartoon.
King of the Hill had it’s moments but was mainly a family cartoon, American Dad is as bad as The Cleveland Show imo. Allen Gregory is poser edgy and a cheap rip off of Richie Rich and Austin Powers, it won’t last. Then again Glee is still on the air so who knows.
Haven’t seen and won’t from the review. I am sick of cartoons that poke fun at what is GOOD and MORAL! Plus PUSHING the GAY agenda in the face of millions of people who do not believe it is moral and godly, is more of an attempt from the left lies to degrade those who believe in God and righteousness. Hope if falls flat! HOpe you all lose your jobs until you can write truth and not perversion!
Wow; I don’t care to comment on websites but “gay agenda”? I think you need to step off your high horse and stick to the Christian channel. This show was no good but if you can’t bare to watch gay characters in a cartoon, stay indoors because omg-they are everywhere!
This is an area for discussing entertainment topics not a site to advertise work at home schemes. Please stick to the topic or at the very least stay in the entertainment field.
I said no to this show just from the commercials before it debuted. Greenlighting this certainly doesn’t make sense when you consider this is the same network who got rid of King of the Hill.
I have to agree with you there Emily. Gay agenda? I don’t see anyone gay here espousing their views except bigots to be honest. Don’t watch the show. I mean seriously, they showed you what it was going to be about in the promos. You can always change the channel, that’s what the clicker is made for.
Watched Two episodes, a laugh free 60 min. Please axe this show Fox, it’s terrible.
The 3rd episode is even worse. After the pedophilic Penn State scandal Fox had the gaul to air number 3. It has the gay dad turning an elementary school dance into a gay dance. Boys are to ask out boys and girls are to ask out girls.
Why is this on at 8:30? I dare Fox to move it to 9:30!
When South Park does gay humor, its funny. The gay characters and theme of this show add no redeeming value. I watched the first 10 minutes of the gay dance and that was the last I’ll watch the show, and not because of homophobia but because it simply wasn’t entertaining. Maybe this would be a good animated show for the Logo channel, certainly not up to caliber for prime time on a major network.
ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! The entire show, beginning to end, made me laugh out loud! LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! Great premise, great story lines, great characters…genious! Jonah Hill makes the whole show! His voice is just funny to listen to, hahahaha!!!!
GREAT JOB GUYS!!!! Can’t wait for next weeks episode! PERFECT time slot too….right before Family Guy! Can’t beat that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Coco, Boston, MA
You cannot. Be serious….
What are you guys talking about?!
This show is an instant classic.
I think it will be a great addition to the Animation Domination line-up.
I’m sorry but no.
The premise is crappy.
The stories are non-sensical.
And there are but two characters with any redeeming comic value and none of them are Allen Gregory.
I like Jonah Hill but this is definitely a swing and a miss.
Allen Gregory sucked.Southpark always sucked(talking feces?),Family Guy ALWAYS has SOMETHING to crack me up,at least topical humor & will be on FOREVER,Simpsons ripped of Family Guy with “raunchy humor”(The Simpsons are just dragging on TOO LONG!!!!),Cleveland Show is funny,& American Dad if not too much singing & dancing.Jonah needs to get with the program,I hope The Sitter rocks(I don’t think it will ROCK,but I guess Superbad 2of course isn’t gonna happen for him to play on his best character.
The last comment was three months ago. The first time I watched it, I didn’t think much of it. However, since then, it’s obviously not coming back now (However, I think Family Guy was Cancelled twice, but I don’t see the same thing happening here). I could not find a single person who likes this show. It really grew on me, I’ve watched every episode like 50 times and I’m getting tired of it now, wish their were new episodes. Just going on the record that yes there is someone extremely pissed this show isn’t on anymore. BTW, Will and grace sucked. Everything about it just sucks, and no it’s not because he’s homosexual. It just falls in there with shows like Mad about you and Friends which I could say the punchline before it was delivered and I couldn’t do that with allen gregory, RIP. Although,for fairness, I was really young when those shows were on……