Baby Blues

As a big fan of the comic strip "Baby Blues," I anxiously awaited the long delayed TV adaptation. The wait was not worth it. Baby Blues the TV series was a case of taking a proven formula and mucking it up badly. The comic strip is one of the last strips in America that is actually funny, not so the now cancelled TV show. In an attempt to broaden the strip's scope, the producers added a tremendous amount of characters who never appeared in print, while ignoring the strip's far better background characters. Case in point is Nicole Sullivan's baby sitter. As one critic pointed out, "Does this woman have a contract to appear in every TV show known to man?" Go back to Mad TV Nicole, or better yet, just go away. Besides the poor supporting cast, the producers decided to reverse the time line of the strip so that it dealt with Darryl, Wanda and baby Zoe. Big mistake as the strip really hit it's stride when the second child, Hanmmie, was born, but it was par for the course with this show, just one big mistake after another. It was Baby Blues in name only. Had they actually stuck closer to the source material, then we would have had something. They didn't and neither did we. The comic strip lives on, the TV series is now a fading memory. As it should be. Note to Hollywood producers, if it's not broke, then don't fix it.

This is one of the best shows that I have seen. I love obscure cartoons such as the Brak Show, and Sealab 2021, this is a great show. I would recommend it to anyone. I especially recommend it to any newly married couples or new parents. It is great because it provides a humorous outlet to common, everyday realistic situations. Many funny, yet twisted situations that most people won't really address. It is like reality TV without all of the BS of reality TV. We would really like to see the cartoons available on DVD. We really miss being able to watch them. The only thing that could make it better is if it had greater availability on television, or on-line. Please do not hope for this to be the same as the newspaper. It is a different medium, with greater scope and breath. When comparing animation, compare it to other animations. The timing and art is well thought out and entertaining. As an animator, this is what I look for in good cartoons. Humor wise, it is as good as the Simpsons, as twisted as South Park, and as compelling as Trigun.

Actually there was 26 episodes made but only 13 were shown. This was a very good crossover but left some of the better chars out and added a new family. I think part of the reason this show "bombed" was when it was first aired on the WB, not too many people HAD a WB channel in their area. But if you watched it either on the WB or the Cartoon Network on their Adult Swim line up and liked what you saw go to the Baby Blues web site, and there will be a link to vote to have it released on DVD. I have all the books and watched this on the Cartoon Network, and LOVED it from the first, got my husband into it as well. It was great for adults and wasn't "dumbed down" for kids.

The fact that I am the first person to post a comment in the three months this show has aired reflects the paucity of the exposure it has received. From the get-go, I knew this show would not generate the kind of audience it would need to survive, seeing how it was buried within a Friday night schedule on a mini-network, and I knew it would suffer the same fate as "Freaks and Geeks", "Action", "Mission Hill" and "Dilbert". But unlike "Dilbert", "Baby Blues" is a good adaptation from the comic strip to the small screen. Their plotlines are often well conceived, the animation organic, and a lot of subtle,witty, tongue-in-cheek humor. I highly recommend this series to Simpsons fans who are sick and tired of having to lower expectations and intelligence levels in order to laugh at and marginally enjoy the puerile jokes and ill-conceived stories they are feeding to us in their recent episodes. It's a shame the makers of this show only made about six episodes. ***1/2 (Out of four)

This show was hilarious. I absolutely loved it. I was so disappointed when I found out it was cancelled. I do not understand why, I guess the ratings weren't good. Even though I can't see how that is possible. This show was based on the comic strip "Baby Blues" by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott.

I hear there is a Christmas special coming this year (2002) Can't Wait!