Review: Universal Basic Guys “The Goofballs”

Overview

Darren shows interest in playing hockey. Mark creates a team for him.

Our Take

“The Goofballs” refers to the Mighty Ducks-esque team that Mark puts together to take on a team that Darren gets thrown off of but to do that he’s gotta train a rag-tag group of kids who don’t like hockey to be better than themselves…or attempt to smuggle in a bunch of Russian kids to try and steal the game. Equally as funny, Tammy gets banned from games for being the over-the-top parent that thinks their kid is any good at whatever sport they are playing.

Are both plots a bit cliche? Of course, both ideas have been done a bunch of times before but I admire the spirit the series showcases a more demented take of “Lisa on Ice” just made with the Cheez-Wiz that some Philly cheesesteak restaurants put on their sandwiches. It just works, that what Craig and Adam Malamut do so well with this series is that they know their audience and stupid-funny is still a very viable business and that’s what happens here.

If you are a fan of Fred Armisen’s David and his wife, they don’t show up in this season two premiere but we DO get a return of a fan favorite from the show’s first season and I’m already hoping we see more of this um…Devil. I’m also liking the fact that the show kicks off the season with a Darren episode which was few and far-between in season one, hoping that this will be a more regular pattern in the upcoming season.