Review: Sheep in the Big City season premiere(spoilers)

[Killtacular]

I went into this premiere with VERY low expectations, because every single Cartoon Cartoon this year has had a subpar season.

But, though it wasn't terribly outstanding, Sheep in the Big City's season premiere ends up being the best of any CN premiere this year.


PLOT SUMMARY:

Sheep and Swanky are having an anniversary(quite a way to acknowledge a second season, if you ask me) and Sheep is giving Swanky a bone (....yes, that's EVERY man's ideal gift for an anniversary....oh wait... a dog bone. Sorry). A confused dogcatcher, however, grabs Sheep because of the bone and throws him in the dog pound.

He is 'adopted' by Little Lisa Rental, who begins to torture him to no end.

Meanwhile, Swanky gets mad at Sheep for missing the anniversary, and is taken off to the dog races by Lady Richington, to pick up an ideal date. So Lady Richington puts her bets on the #1 dog, whose name is...... An Ideal Date!

Will Swanky make the right choice? Will Sheep escape from his captor? Will the narrator go mariachhi clubbing with his new outfit?

POSITIVES:

Sheep in the Big City is Cartoon Network's funniest show ever created. In terms of laugh-out-loud factor, it easily crushes Adult Swims shows, who try to make you laugh at weirdness, while Sheep makes you laugh because of its clever writing.

The writing in this episode stays consistently sharp, and parodies several TV shows like "Kids Say the Darnedest Things". Ben Plotz, the narrator, doesn't skip a beat, questioning the sanity and thin threads the show manages to hang onto.

And don't forget the MASTERS OF RHYME. (who don't actually rhyme)

Mr. Warburton has stepped in to fix some things that many people have been waiting for. THE PUNS ARE GONE. I didn't mind the puns myself, but the puns are what kept people from watching. The puns are what got Sheep labelled as a Rocky & Bullwinkle ripoff in the first place, and now, hopefully, people will understand the true nature of Sheep.

Lady Richington and other incidental characters no longer talk like William Shatner. They talk with a nice, steady rhythm instead of being incredibly drawn out, as in the first season.

AND 594 USES FOR BREAD!! I've been waiting for something like that.

NEGATIVES:

This was a Lisa Rental episode, and I HATE LISA RENTAL. She's a stereotypical "cute but evil" character, mostly harkening back to Mo's earlier works like The Offbeats, but I wish she'd just go. In the first season, I could handle her, but in the second season, she's even more annoying and not funny.

The last half of the show seemed to be filler material. The plot is not long enough to reach 22 minutes, so they spaced it out by having monotonous Lisa Rental scenes where she gets bored after hurting sheep. I got bored after she hurt Sheep too.

BOTTOM LINE: The season proves to be just as funny as the first season, but unfortunately the premiere had Lisa Rental. Since the next few episodes won't primarily feature her, I'm very much looking forward to more episodes, which is more than I can say for other Cartoon Cartoons right now.

Sheep in the Big City is -still- the funniest show on Cartoon Network, and deserves bigger spotlight, because Dexter and Buck Tuddrussel just can't hold a candle to Sheep and General Specific.

GRADE: B+

[Stinky Cat]

i just watched sheep today and it stunk...

[Killtacular]

Sunk?

You were watching your TV on a cruise ship?

[Lonestarr]

I didn't notice any differences from last season at all.

The rapping routine with General Specific (who should be arrested if he ever tries it again) and Private Public (who is actually very good) was hilarious and Lady Richington (of the Filthy Richingtons) was very funny. I still consider this to be "Rocky & Bullwinkle" for the new millenium.

I agree with you about Lisa Rental's appearance. I never really noticed her before, but I truly don't like her.

[Killtacular]

One thing I noticed that was strange was the 'PLOT POINT' gag. It seemed way too similar to a gag used in "Freakazoid's Birthday" where captions ran along the screen saying "THIS IS IMPORTANT." Except when Cosgrove says "I'm wearing blue socks," of course.