bumnote

After watching the first two episodes I'm debating if it's worth to continue viewing the show. The second episode on the M1 Garand bothered me a lot. First and foremost...it hardly covered the Garand. More time was spent covering other rifles than the rifle the episode was supposed to be about. About 10 minutes total time is spent discussing the Garand. NOTHING was discussed about the development of the weapon, it's inventor, the rifles it competed against, the caliber is was originally chambered for, the reason for the change to 30-06, it's extremely slow introduction into the US armed forces pre-Pearl Harbor, it's use after WW2, use by other countries...and many other important things that should have been mentioned. It also perpetuates they myth that the ejection of the enbloc clip and the 'ping' sound it made cost lives. This is simply not true and there isn't one single documented case of it happening. Think about it, in the middle of combat who could hear it anyway? That story has become excepted as fact, when it's not. The US also never paid the Mauser company a fee over the '03 rifle design. It is a copy of the Mauser GEW98 bolt, they tried to sue, but a case was never brought against the Springfield Armory and no money was ever paid. The little live fire demos are interesting, but are SO common on these shows now that something new would be nice. Also demoing a rifle with shots at 25 yard or less isn't impressive, when the rifle has a range of up to and over 1000 yards. Hitting a glass bowl filled with colored powder or sand, in slow motion, over and over and over and over again at extremely close range is common and not impressive. This show need to start focusing on the weapons system it claims to be about, if the show is about the Garand then talk about the Garand...and not what ever the 'latest and greatest' sniper rifle is. They spent more time shooting and talking about that new sniper rifle than they did the M1. Next get the facts straight and use more info. The pilot episode when comparing the M9 Beretta vs the M1911 never even bothers to point out that the Beretta is both single and double action...something that should have been mentioned for a true comparison...let alone by a host with a military background who interviews people who claims to be experts. If you really want to learn about the M1 Garand, Wikipedia has done a far better and more informative job of it that this show did.

I've been a Simpsons fan since day one...but it's recent episodes like this that test it to its breaking point. The basic idea of this episode is Bart finds a twin, which is also the basic idea of "Two Petes in a Pod" where Peter Brady finds his twin. Now granted the rest of each show is different but still...the writing has gotten so stale that it's borrowing from a show as badly written as The Brady Bunch? I get tired of the defence of "its been on so long that they've run out of ideas", that is complete BS. If something that simple is true then ALL sitcoms would have run out of new ideas by the 60's. The writing on this show is stale because of the writers and the show's creator to refuse to believe any negative about the show. Honestly how many times can Marge and Homer almost break up? That tired plot has been used far too many times. But this episode by ripping off the Brady Bunch is a perfect example of a good shown gone bad.

You've seen the same tired, worn out clichéd sit-com stories, characters, stories 1000's of times before…only this excels at sucking more than others. First and foremost there isn't a single character in this show that's even remotely likable...in particular Michael Rapaport's. Dave Gold is by far one of the biggest asses ever to grace a television screen ever...repugnant comes to mind. If in real life a father was this unlikable, cruel and just generally unfit to parent...fratricide would be your only option. To call the remaining characters stereotypes, would be too complementary. If these characters ended up on life-support the line to pull the plug would be light years long. How this show finished one complete season, much less 2 is a mystery. FOX cancels "Arrested Development" and keeps this on the air??? You tell me the terrorists aren't winning.