Season Review: Duncanville Season One

 

 

 

The highly anticipated animated sitcom from Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), and superstar couple Mike and Julie Scully (The Simpsons) has finally arrived.  Duncanville premiered on February 16, 2020, and delivered 11 quality episodes in its first season. The series provides on comedy highlighting a stellar cast including Poehler, Ty Burrell (Modern Family), Rashida Jones (The Office), and Wiz Khalifa (Black and Yellow). But does the show have the staying power to help redefine Fox’s Animation Domination in the current climate of cable television?

In 2019, Fox reinvigorated the long-dormant Animation Domination. Originally launched in 2005, Animation Domination was the jewel of adult animated sitcom television for nearly a decade. At launch, the Sunday night timeslot was a powerhouse line-up featuring The Simpsons, King of the Hill, American Dad, and Family Guy, three of which are still produced today.  

A significant plan for the Sunday block was to open the doors of launching original animated programs to add to the already impressive roster. Through the years Fox released an impressive catalogue including Sit Down, Shut Up, The Cleveland Show, Allen Gregory, Napoleon Dynamite, Axe Cop, and High School USA!. Out of everything that Fox produced during this time, the only show to find undeniable success was the lovable quirky series Bob’s Burgers (though we do miss Axe Cop).

In 2014, Animation Domination was replaced with Sunday Funday which featured live-action shows. It seemed as if Fox was through with producing original animated programs. Then, as if they knew they were about to be bought out by the mouse king of animation, Fox reopened the doors.  Duncanville was just one of the new shows promised in the Animation Domination revival.  Bless the Harts was the first of these new shows, and the first animated series since Bob’s Burgers to receive a coveted second season from Fox. Additionally, The Great North and Housebroken should be on their way to an Animation Domination premiere eventually.

Duncanville carries with it all of the keys to a successful program. To start, it was gifted the coveted timeslot of releasing directly after new episodes of The Simpsons. Which also happened to share one of the greatest talents the show has ever had in Mike Scully. Add that to the brilliant comedy of Saturday Night Live alum, Amy Poehler, and Duncanville is a sure thing. At least on paper.

The show premiered to mixed reviews. While the comedy is as pure as you would expect, Duncanville carries more fundamental flaws. On first viewing, it is difficult to invest in the show. The pilot shared a plethora of characters and voices, none of which we understood. And worse, the show seemed as lost in its direction as much as its teenage star.

Funny enough, it is in that teenage star where Duncanville truly begins to define itself. The titular character is a bright light for the show with his modern teenage attitude and oblivious demeanour. Duncan offers more than a quirky player; he offers the series direction. Where the majority of animated programs feature children or even teenagers, they hardly ever act as honestly as Duncan. He is a lazy, apathetic, distracted, horny kid, and the majority of teens we know act more like this than other animated youth.

Duncan is not the only shining star to this series. Ty Burrell is the iconic TV dad of this generation. Giving him a chance to reprise a similar role after Modern Family ended is the ideal situation for his fans. Jack is not just a repeat of Phil Dunphy, instead, we get a rock obsessed middle-aged man missing his days of youth while struggling to be a part of his children’s lives. As far as bumbling animated sitcom fathers go, he is a healthy blend of Homer and Bob.

An instant favourite comes in the form of the baby. Though after Groot and Yoda, there isn’t much room left in pop culture for beloved infants.  However, Joy Osmanski knocks out some of the best one-liners in the series as the adopted Asian sister. The lovable girl is underutilized and the strongest part of the show when things become dull. It would be great to see the character take a larger role or carry the plot through some future episodes.

The biggest checkmark in the column for Duncanville is in the writing. During the 11-episode run, there were multiple nights that Duncanville had the best plot out of the Animation Domination bracket. There is something to be said for fresh energy. 

Especially when you consider each of the four shows premiered in different decades.  Duncanville doesn’t rely on nostalgia or overused formulas to construct episodes. The show offers new directions and angles for a newer generation.

Again, on paper, everything is going right for Duncanville. However, the series has structural flaws that will always hold it back from being the main attraction. The general design of the show is a carbon copy of a thousand other things found on television.  Duncanville is another show about a middle-class white family surrounded by quirky friends and neighbours. They are The Simpsons with a few bells and whistles to make them seem more modern and edgy. But, at its core, it will always be a Simpsons repeat with their 2.5 children, a bumbling father, and a cast of one-note side characters.

Unfortunately, being a second-rate version of a classic limits the potential of the series. This copycat method may have paid off for Family Guy, but even they tried to push boundaries.  King of the Hill took a different approach to style.  Bob’s Burgers even changed things up with the restaurant even though their characters were quirky enough to make anything work. 

Even Bless the Harts went for something a little more unique. Watching Duncanville is like watching another family in a different part of the country from The Simpsons without the lovable art style or nostalgic references.

The sad part is The Simpsons are not even the bar any more for what makes a hit animated sitcom. No, The Simpsons haven’t been that bar since South Park came around, and even they have been long dethroned. Springfield brings comfort, it is our bare average now. It is where we go to calibrate what is good and bad in adult animation. If Duncanville will always be chasing The Simpsons, it will always be chasing average.

Thankfully, it is a wonderful show for being average. The talent and experience that has gone into forming Duncanville has truly paid off. It is funny, entertaining, and delivers quality storytelling. The cast alone is an all-star list that would assure a hit for any TV series. The only question for fans is how much do they want to invest in a show that offers them nothing unique? Fox loves playing the role of comfort food in the form of television, but this might have been playing too comfortable.