This week focuses on celebrity treatment – what that means to both the individual and their peers. Too often we see TV make fun of the pompous has-been actor, but it’s been a breath of fresh air to follow the journey of an actor who just wants to be a normal person.
Arman Mohazzabfar
This might be the worst episode of Moonbeam City I’ve seen. It’s had some bad episodes in the past, but I was beginning to see some real positives in the last couple episodes. And now it’s thrown out the window. The last two episodes of the show really saw some promise, but in the fashion of Moonbeam City: nothing moves forward.
This episode got to the core of a lot of characters and managed to make them grow and change. It’s fun to see this happen on a show that often pulls everyone back, and it’s an interesting change of pace that I hope they go to a few more times this season
This week’s episode of The Grinder deals with celebrity, fame and relationships. Like most episodes of The Grinder, it was an enjoyable watch. The show manages to always come across as goofy and even if the subject matter gets a bit serious, the tone is so far in the other direction.
This episode is not without its faults. It suffers from what most of the series suffers from, forcing jokes to turn into convoluted plot. But it was nice seeing the two best characters take the reign of the show for once.
For the first time in Moonbeam City’s short existence I feel like this show has finally found it’s groove. Did it have a couple of major flaws? Absolutely. Was it always funny and did I agree with all their choices? Hell no. But it was coherent and this episode sought to put comedy in the forefront.
More than anything, The Grinder is a show that identifies TV tropes and explains why they exist or proceed to demonstrate how they’re stupid. Some TV tropes exist for a very necessary reason and this show does quite an amazing job of proving why.
Moonbeam City is suffering from the ultimate comedy killer: It’s too predictable. Everything in the episode serves some absolute purpose when it just doesn’t need to. Because of this, you can see jokes coming from a mile away
For the third straight week, The Grinder delivers. It’s a funny show that doesn’t get too ahead of itself and never needs to dumb down anything.
The second episode of The Grinder was almost as solid as the surprisingly amazing pilot. I think The Grinder is underestimating how likable their characters are, and how on board I am for the journey.
The greatest asset of the show is that visually it gives itself so much to new wave/synth-pop, it’s at this interesting place where nothing but the aesthetic matters and so the show can’t find its footing as a comedy. In short, the show feels like a slave to its own devices.
It needs to be said: if Moonbeam City continues down this path it’s going to be a very bad show. The main problem with Moonbeam City is a unique one as far as half-hour comedies go. It’s doesn’t give itself the opportunity to be funny. I’m not saying that they write bad jokes; I’m saying there just aren’t really any jokes!
I have to say, I walked into The Grinder thinking it would be a bad show. It looked too network-y and bland. I thought for sure it would be a lot like Bad Judge, a bad idea. But I am happy to report that I was very wrong.
I love the 80’s and everything 80’s inspired. So when Moonbeam City came around, I felt in my soul that this was for me. Sadly in a TV show so influenced by the 80’s that the characters look like a literal New Wave poster, I found it a little lacking.
