Ugly Americans has surprised me. When I first heard that Comedy Central had a new adult cartoon show following South Park, I was more than a little skeptical, thanks to my dissatisfaction with Drawn Together. But once I got into Ugly Americans, I found myself liking it more and more. Last week’s episode was particularly great, finding time to be funny, ridiculously gross and just the right amount of heart-warming emotional growth within the relationship of Mark and demon girlfriend Callie. Ultimately, that should have been the season finale. Instead, we got one of the weaker episodes so far.
Maybe the obnoxious, profanity and poop-filled manbirds were just too weird, even for this show. The literal cock fights probably seemed funny conceptually, but seeing and hearing them slap each other with their — thankfully hidden — wangs wasn’t as charming as last week’s robot ejaculation (that’s right, charming robot ejaculation, I said it). Also, did anyone catch why Grimes felt the need to go undercover as a manbird cock fighter when the manbirds were trying to kill him?
While the The Birds parody (including the iconic Tippi Hendren hairstyle) in the cold open was a nice touch, easily the funnier moments involved Mark attempting to make a baby manbird more gentile through his mp3 playlist. My dad used to play Crosby, Stills and Nash in the car when I was a kid, so hearing a robust interpretation of “Judy Blue Eyes” come from that infant abomination made me smile. I also guiltily laughed when Mark had a tender moment with the avian, assumed he was ready to fly and released him into the air — only to have the toddler plummet several stories, head-first, to the sidewalk below.
Despite this meh episode, I see so much potential in this show. The first seven episodes are already on DVD, so I’m guessing the last half of the season will be sold separately soon. Here’s to a strong 2nd season in the near future (hopefully).
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on Nov 18, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
