By: Luke Leonetti
The Informer: “When it comes to reviews, I’m full of it!”
This week’s installment: The Brothers Grunt (1994-95)
Back when I was in middle school, I wrote a column for my school newspaper called “The Informer”. It was a critical review of movies, TV shows, video games, and albums. The newspaper never really hit it big, but I received praise for my column. So, for Billows, I will bring back my old alter-ego. The Informer is back in business, and the show he’ll be reviewing in this installment will be an old cartoon called “The Brothers Grunt”.
I discovered The Brothers Grunt while looking at the Wikipedia article “List of Television Shows Notable for Negative Reception”. It debuted in 1994, and had a short run on MTV. It was created by Danny Antonucci, the same guy who made the 1987 short film Lupo the Butcher, and the critically acclaimed children’s cartoon Ed, Edd, and Eddy (1999-2009). Unfortunately, the show was given negative reviews, and was canceled after four seasons in 1995. The Los Angeles Times called the show, “an effortful, sophomoric half-hour that leaves viewers longing for the refined tastes of Alice Cooper”. Ouch. Curious about this show, I decided to look it up to see how bad it was. I now have the claim to say that the reviews are right.
This show is extremely confusing, because they try and shove the entire series’ plot in the first episode, which is seven minutes long without commercials. Luckily, the intro tells us the premise in about 30 seconds: “The prophecies written have come true: the Chosen One has escaped! His five brothers must find Brother Perry, and they will face the unknown. But they must prevail, for without the guidance of the Chosen One, the Brotherhood will fall! Frank, Tony, Bing, Dean, and Sammy! They enter your world to find brother Perry”. Ok, that doesn’t sound bad. Plus, they’re all named after famous singers: Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr, and Perry Como. But, all that ends as the intro starts, because the computer graphics are bad. The Brothers and the main guide resemble humans, if humans were pale white, had blue hair, bulging veins, and looked like they’re in constant pain. Here’s a picture of them:
In order: Bing, Sammy, Dean, Frank, and Tony (Perry is above them, but he got cropped out)