An Emmy for Regular Show

From Jesse Moynihan's website: ...next weekend I will be at the Emmy’s for the episode of Adventure Time, “Too Young”. It was nominated for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program. It was written/boarded by myself and Tom Herpich. The story was by Pen, Kent, Pat and Mark. I had to buy a suit for this thing. I’m trying to teach myself how to tie a bow tie. This won’t be the Emmys that are on tv. It’s the Emmys that they say “Earlier this week some animation dorks won something, but they’re not actors so who gives a shit”. 

"Outstanding Short-format Animated Program"

Nominees for the 2012: 
Regular Show: "Eggscellent"
Adventure Time: "Too Young"
Mad: "Kitchen Nightmare Before Christmas / How I Met Your Mummy"
Phineas and Ferb: "The Doonkleberry Imperative"
Robot Chicken: "Fight Club Paradise"

It is kind of fun to have a bunch of 57 year old standing in a line weighing the pros and cons of phineus and ferb and regular show. "so the penguin is a spy?" "I dont know this show had a talking lemon in it." "I understood this one was about a gay animal couple in an eating contest, lets choose this one."

Considering the state of the Emmys nowadays, it was a blessing that RS won this year instead of some trite like MAD. I get the feeling that they just picked one out of a hat, which is probably what I would have done after removing MAD's name from the hat.  Since when do we care about award shows or what some academy of old farts who get paid to pretentiously judge the life's work of hundreds of thousands of people based on a brief submission reel or demo tape? The Emmy's haven't been relevant, let alone respectable, in decades.

They're all pretty okay shows, but they've had pretty weak seasons, as of late. While AT is worthy of winning, sense hasn't been a consistent part of the awards for awhile. I kind of fear that they may go the way of Spongebob or The Simpsons, and get dragged on far too long for the sake of having something to air that banks on the already established popularity of the show. Eggscellent was the one that won it for them that's one of the lesser episodes I would have expected one of the skips heavy episodes or one of the ones with Death are usually pretty great, Muscle Dad would have been a better example of RS.

These shows were made for older dudes and gals, and kids. RS Won, good, it deserves it. Gravity Falls and Adventure Time should be next. But AT has already had three chances and failed every time. Back in the early days AT was better. But ATs quality has dropped and RS has gotten better so RS is better now. I love both, that's how it's been and always will be.

I'd make the argument that AT has been really rallying after a truly un-exemplary third season, but it hasn't really been able to capture the second season spirit. I'm not too worried about that happening with AT and RS seeing as CN usually dosent drag out its shows. But I fear that that is already happening with P&F. P&F is also geared towards a more younger target audience than AT and RS.

RS really has just outright better story structure than AT to the point where AT looks like a huge mess that almost looks like it's trying to be The Room compared to it. AT characters just talk in a cryptically retarded way sometimes and a lot of plots wrap up, like, 2-10 seconds before the episode ends. It's just this confusing shit most of the time and it disappoints me in that way. RS itself throws out a lot of ridiculous concepts and twists but it just looks better and more organized while doing it. AT is like it's written by people who want to look incompetent for comedy reason and that's fun and everything but I just get tired of its stupid shit. And that aggressively music in AT never helps. I still like both but just wish AT didn't come off bullshit that severely lacks focus except for being consistent in stuff like those Lich Snail appearances.

It's not an argument anyone wants to get into. Let's just say that both shows have their merits and stop trying to compare them for whatever asinine reasons. They aren't the same kind of show and it's unfair to judge either of them based on the qualities of some other cartoon. RS is about two guys doing acid at there job and having a trip.There also furries and like to walk around in custom while tripping. It's ultimately a stylistic decision. AT is presented in a more "stream of consciousness" way and ventures often into unconventional plot structures. Evidently the appeal is to make it seem more natural as itself, but foreign to the audience in more than just a visual distinction considering it takes place after the apocalypse with candy people and a magical dog and whatever. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't.

As a crafted product, it's far easier to rely on Regular Show since it's very consistent in its style and delivery, but very rarely ventures outside of its comfort zone to tackle topics and relationships outside the norm for a couple mid-20s slacker dudes. Almost invariably it's the intentional contrast between these pedestrian elements and more fantastical elements that form the basis of the humor, and while their comedic tempo is excellent, I don't find the show very enthralling or engaging. Especially this last season. Regular Show has merits in consistency, it often holds them back in what they can accomplish. And simultaneously while Adventure Time has merits in dynamism, it's also very reckless and frequently unpolished.

I guess the ultimate lesson is that they're very, very different despite sitting under the same "stoner show" umbrella, and what one person may find appalling may be a benefit to the other, and vice versa. I don't think there's any argument to say they're not both successful shows in the styles they wish to pursue. I guess that finalizes the whole Regular Show vs Adventure Time argument. Not that us rational thinkers didn't already know it was RS. I don't do any drugs or drink at all, and I love Regular Show. I love both Regular Show and Adventure Time, but I'm really glad RS won an award. That show is gold.