Green screen fever dream “The Mountain” attempts to mine funny in repetition (e.g. “five years”), soap opera cliches, and an odd sort of underachieving technical expertise. Sort of like “Trillions,” but less successful. That Hancock and Roiland’s new concoction placed number one is puzzling, especially given the slowed down barrenness of the production. Chalk it up to the return of live-action Justin Roiland. C
Jon and Jess guesting on the latest “Water and Power“? Beautiful. The Halloween theme? Even better. Actually sort of terrifying. A
Strangely satisfying, “Shitbuster (2008)” is really just a more militarized and angry remake of the original “Shitbuster,” following the form to a tee. The thing is, the original “Shitbuster” was a one-off. What should we expect from the update in its second episode? B-
The sixth “Making Mistakes” really brought the trauma. The first couple of segments were a little guest-star and almost-guest-star heavy, although the second bit did feature some wonderful Whitney Avalon. But the third act was pure genius for its incomprehensible terror-filled glee and alluringly demented lessons learned. Bravo! A-
Definitely darker than in its second episode, “The Pop” #3 has a lot to recommend it. Noirish as fuck. Suspenseful. Funny, in a morbid sort of way, especially the spinach can lid “gag.” Great introduction of Swee’ Pea. I’m even willing to forgive the whole “ghost” development because, well, it’s October. Nice return to form. A-
The third and final “Boner for Boner” felt, well, slapped together. The nod toward the holiday du mois was fine and all, but less Vache Panos and more Root Beer would have been appreciated. C-
“I’ll give you gold. “Compassion‘s sophomore effort is just as maddeningly puzzlingly mesmerizing as its predecessor, but with a few more big words flubbed, a few more explicably rubbery facial expressions provided, and a few more chuckles elicited by Mike McCafferty. Which may explain why it wasn’t re-upped. Or it may have been some sort of self-cancelling thing. C+
Top failed pilot “Googas” features four 101 regulars trying to figure out the show’s concept on camera by analogizing to creature movie antecedents while drinking beer. Ugh. D
“Blood Curse” looked really cool, and had a pretty cool zombie/vampire killer set-up. And would have been a pretty cool show if it hadn’t been so disastrously down on the genre conventions. Disastrous because, well, its observations about genre conventions weren’t novel, or funny, or interesting, and its manner of observing was by way of a whiny douchey bitchfucker. C-
And I have to say, I rather enjoyed “The Singing Alpaca.” Sort of flattering, in a way.