Move over Krapopolis. FOX has a new animated comedy to debut this Fall.
Universal Basic Guys kicks off a 13 episode first season from Sunday night in a coveted spot following the FOX NFL Doubleheader.
The new series is from creative duo and brothers Adam & Craig Malamut, and marks their first foray into network television.
The show itself centers on two New Jersey brothers, Mark and Hank Hoagies, who both lose their jobs at a hotdog factory to automation, but who find lifelines when they are each given $3,000 a month in a new basic income program.
At least that’s what we’re shown in a brief opening-credits drive-by. The show doesn’t actually directly address its own set up outside of the credits, preferring to dive right in.
With all that cash burning a hole in their pockets (wait? How much did we say it was again?), the Hoagies brothers are free to indulge in their hobbies, invest time in their families, but actually, throw themselves into whatever expensive, hair-brained projects strike their fancy. And if you’re wondering how they manage to do all that on basic income, then we’re right there with you.
The series premiere sees elder brother Mark determined to one-up his wife’s work colleague on the birthday gift front after he discovers she’s been presented with a fancy spa day voucher. But when he decides to buy her an exotic animal in the shape of an ageing, violent chimpanzee, he’s soon looking at a medical bill for facial reconstruction.
In another episode, Mark becomes obsessed with big game fishing but is reluctantly forced to combine his new hobby with a romantic cruise with his wife. But just how will Mark hide his expensive new rod? In another episode Mark buys a cannon. In another a sex doll.
Each episode throws the men into a series of costly blunders and purchases from which they barely manage to escape, chided from the sidelines by their exasperated spouses throughout.
FOX, the home of mega successes such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama, Bob’s Burgers, and more is the mecca of animated comedy. Shows that succeed here share two things in common: razor sharp wit (often containing social commentary), and heart. Sadly, Universal Basic Guys contains neither of these crucial elements. In fact, the set up (two dumb guys goof off while their hard-working wives complain) almost seems ripped from the screenplay of an 90’s situation comedy.
It has to be said that there’s also something unpleasant about pointing a finger of ridicule at people living on welfare. Despite efforts to paint the Hoagies brothers’ ill-thought out purchases, investments, and acquisitions as endearing, the show’s central premise centers around a bunch of laid-off, lazy, dumb, dude-bros with no aspirations to better their lots.
I might have forgiven Universal Basic Guys for some of these flaws if the show had any degree of emotional depth, but with each new episode thrusting Mark, Hank and the gang into a new predicament the show seems to have little time or interest in tenderness. Storylines are wild, and often disconnected from the episode’s own B plot, so when those rare poignant moments do arrive, they sadly only involve bit characters we won’t see again.
The premiere, featuring the chimp we mentioned earlier, sees Hank discovering the ailing creature can communicate. Via a series of text messages the chimp tells Hank he’s dying, and the pair set out to experience one last beautiful day together. Of the six or seven episodes I screened, it’s the only such scene I can recall.
With untethered plot lines, sexist tropes, and a mean-spirited satirizing of the unemployed, Universal Basic Guys ultimately suffers the same flaws as the very characters it portrays. It’s dumb, and shallow, and makes for dull company.
Universal Basic Guys airs Sunday, September 8 immediately following the FOX NFL doubleheader (8:00-8:30 PM ET/5:00-5:30 PM PT, live to all time zones) on FOX.
