Rick and Morty season 1, 2, 3 (2013-2017)

2017.04.11
Forget Futurama (though I'll probably still watch it some more) this is the cartoon I have been waiting for. I've only seen the pilot, so this may all change.

I like that it moves at breakneck speed, not slowing down to explain much, and forces you to pay attention. It doesn't feel like its dumbing anything down too much, it expects you to be able to keep up with it, which is difficult in a pilot which must by nature be expository. I like that nobody is likeable here, nobody is the good guy (except maybe the mom, but her flaw is accepting her jerk husband). I'm a little put off by the fact that Rick is a sociopath and a psychopath, but still comes off as somewhat likeable.

I'm no student of humor, but I think there's a few kinds of humor, and this one is using a lot of my least favorite type. There's a kind humor that makes you laugh on a mental or emotional level because you make a human connection with the comedian, writer, etc. through some effort or insight on their part into the human condition. And then there's this other kind of humor that requires no effort, intuition or empathy, but instead makes you cringe so hard that you laugh out of nervousness and disgust. This includes things like torture humor and puns.

I also take note of Rick constantly burping and make mistakes in his speech. It really conveys his carelessness and absent-mindedness, but it also can't help but make me think it sounds like mistakes in the line reads that were kept in for some reason, i.e. it doesn't always sound like its on purpose.

I like the hints of a rich world bubbling along under the surface. Rick is dragging Morty along on yet another adventure, as if they've been doing this for years. I really like how the portal gun ran out, or something, and they had to come back through interstellar customs.

I also like how they're not afraid to kill people - we'll see if that sticks.

Anyway, that's all the on surface. There's something else bubbling under the surface that I don't see any evidence yet to dismiss - none of this is really happening, and Morty is an abused child trying to escape to a fantasy. And my evidence is not just the absurdly on the nose shoving of large items into his rectum, its the overall pattern of neglect from everyone in Morty's life. Even taken at face value, Morty seems ignored and endangered constantly.

This show reminds me of Ren & Stimpy, good and bad. Lots of creativity, energy, and unexpected crazy humor. Lots of shitty cringe humor, and randomness. Maybe it will mellow out. I need to find out.

2017.05.04
I keep waiting for the quality level to plateau, or decline, but it keeps rising.
Just watched the late season 1 episode with alternate dimension TV. I was just starting to think this is finally the plateu I've been expecting, that the reset button is mostly hit every episode, and I am happily proven wrong when Marty brings up something from the previous show.
How high does the quality go? I'm on the edge of my seat.

I'm burning through these too fast. There are only two seasons, and one coming this summer. I guess I could just watch it all again.

2017.05.18
Caught up to end of Season 2 yesterday.
Great season ending episode, maybe even good enough for a show ender. Characters realize things and change, the world changes.
Some episodes felt like filler, but overall it just kept getting better, and I'm sad that it will be years until the next episodes... and just like time travel, I finish watching a 2015 show to find that new episodes are coming out now in 2017; first one's already up. Kind of takes the sting out of it.

Watched Season 3 Episode 1 on YouTube, in HD no less. Multiple copies are there, I guess Cartoon Network isn't bothered? Promo?

2017.06.19
Slowly rewatching, about an episode a day. Surprised all over again how quickly they just get into situations with hardly any exposition. Episodes that I thought were late in the season are right up front.
I love the ending of Rick Potion #9 (planet of the Cronenbergs) even more this time. I like it all the more now because I know its going to be referenced again later, and the effect on Morty really lasts.
I knew the end song was by Mazzy Star, but I haven't looked into why the creators chose such an old and somewhat obscure song. Oh... it was used in the Sopranos, during a loss of innocence moment. I like it better when I didn't know that.

2017.07.31
I think all the S3E1 have been taken down from YouTube. Don't know if and when S3 is coming to Hulu; its on Netflix but only outside the US. But I can watch on adultswim.com? I tried watching last night but it was too slow, I think it was just overloaded.

OK, nice, I can watch S3E1 (on adultswim.com) with no problem now. I don't care if it takes 9 more seasons 'til I get that sauce. That explains those McDonald's tweets about the last remaining gallons of Szechuan sauce. Nathan Fillion guest starred... who did he play? Interrogator bug?

Now how 'bout S3E2...
Wow. How does this show just keep getting better. That 20 minute episode felt like a movie.

This show is too meta. It's hard to imagine now anything every replacing it.

2017.09.13
I've been trying to catch the show late Sunday nights on Adult Swim, but that hasn't been working so I usually end up on some alternate stream, or watching it soon after on YouTube.

The show continues to be self-aware, breaking the 4th wall, etc. but the shine is a little bit off. I like how things continue to get more and more extra-dimensional and parallel world, and I really like how they show life continuing on The Citadel, and the return of a certain eyepatch Morty.

Futurama (1999-2013)

2017.04.07
Watched the first 15 episodes, I feel nothing. I heard this was a good show, and it is, but at the end I'm left with nothing. Art should make you feel something, and maybe even change you, and while there is some art here, I am only marking time by watching this.

Does it get better? How much more do I need to invest to find out? Also, I might just not like sitcoms anymore. I watched a lot of them growing up, but now I just can't justify to myself why I watched. Futurama is enjoyable while watching it, but if I'm just going to press the fast forward button in life, I'd rather play video games.

2017.05.19
Stopped watching weeks ago. I will probably come back this way later.