Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States, Season Two. Out tomorrow. (****4/10)
The first episode of Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States begins with a spoof of the Sarah Silverman “I’m f***ing Matt Damon” bit from the Jimmy Kimmel show. Only in this case, Lil’ Bush is f***ing John McCain. Because McCain was in the news at the time. It’s a painful, unfunny spoof to kick off the second season of a show that is, in itself, painful and rarely funny. Paramount Home Entertainment releases Season Two of Lil’ Bush on October 14th, and although it is slightly better in the second season than it was in the first, it is not exactly great. It’s mostly better because of the addition of a few more recognizable characters. Lil’ Al Gore becomes a prominent character, as Lil’ Bush and his cronies (Lil’ Rumsfeld, Lil’ Condoleeza Rice and Lil’ Cheney) give Gore a swirly in the toilet, and are caught on tape by Lil’ Wolf Blitzer. Why Wolf Blitzer? Who knows. It strikes me that if they wanted to bring in some new figures worth mocking, they could have done better. Like a Lil’ Keith Olberman or a Lil’ Bill O’Reilly. But then, I wondered why, in the first season, there was no Lil’ Karl Rove. I’m getting pretty tired of typing the word “Lil’”. But here goes more.
There is now a Lil’ Dennis Kucinich, a Lil’ Mitt Romney, a Lil’ Rudy Giuliani, and a Lil’ Fred Thompson. All of which make very brief appearances. You can tell when the episodes are being made simply by the characters that appear. The St. Patty’s Day episode was clearly made during the Democratic primaries, what with the Lil’ Obama - Lil’ Hillary fights. The problem is, it’s tough to tell when this series was made, because of the cultural references from different eras. It appears to be set during a time when George Bush, Sr. is president, because it makes references to He-Man. But then, moments later, the show makes reference to last night’s episode of House. It’s a little disconcerting.
The best part of season two, however, is the addition of a character who ought to have been added early on in the series. And, in fact, he should be as much a part of Lil’ Bush’s inner circle of cronies as is Lil’ Rumsfeld or Lil’ Condoleeza Rice. Lil’ Karl Rove makes a big splash when he is introduced, as a solitary, demented, anti-Democratic maniac. The bit with Lil’ Rove is pretty smart, certainly better than the average fare you get from this series. But although the Lil’ Rove episode is very good, the rest of the series is not. It’s OK, but the satire is not nearly as biting as it ought to be with this subject material. It feels lazy. Like, Lil’ Al Gore wants to save the environment. And Lil’ Barack Obama keeps saying “yes we can”. And Lil’ John Edwards shows up to chase skirts. It isn’t exactly brilliant, it’s merely an obvious reflection of the stories that are in the news at the time. And it feels like just about anybody could do that. And why would you want to buy the box set of a TV show that you could have produced yourself?
October 13th, 2008 at 9:48 am
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