Allen Gregory

Allen Gregory serves as both a working title and pun: Allegory, with several significant connotations. The show provides allegories based on contemporary social discourse and commentary. As such, some of the jokes will go over most of the audience's heads. However, for those in the audience aware of the implications of social sitcom scripts, "Allen Gregory" provides subtle (and not so subtle) nudges regarding gay marriage, political dichotomy, gender disaggregation, and other sociological factors. Each joke is smartly written, with close attention paid to both comedic transitions and subtext of material. As a result, Allen Gregory is worth watching for both its simple punchlines and greater sociological implications.

Allen Gregory has got to be my 10th least favorite show next to Small Potatoes and Thomas And Friends: All Engines Go, this is the worst show from 2011 along with Jake And The Neverland Pirates, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome and The Problem Solverz. I would rather watch The Amazing World Of Gumball better than this show.

This show had potential, but was wasted.

I disliked Richard. He's mean, unlikeable and not funny at all. He forced a straight guy to be gay and marry him. How sad is that.

I did like Jeremy and Julie. Jeremy tries to be nice to Allen which is kinda sweet. It's too bad Allen doesn't return the favor. Julie is just a normal teenager and it's sad how Richard treats her at home.

Allen is okay. He's written to be unlikeable, which is alright, not a bad thing at all. Everyone on family guy is meant to be jerks, which is not a bad thing because if they're well written that's all that matters. Brian in family guy is written to be a jerk, but he has funny things to say. Allen Gregory doesn't have anything funny to say, so basically this show comes off as being boring.

I did like how they tried to do something a little different though, the voice acting is good, and the art style is a nice change. I don't intend to finish the show anymore. It's just really boring.

I've read a large amount of criticism for this show and have been trying to figure out why there is such widespread hatred towards it.

The most prominent issue seems to be its 'meanness.' The reviews available at the time have all berated the lack of redeeming qualities in Allen, wondering why he can't learn a lesson or be the misguided soul that we eventually feel sympathetic towards. They're crying out for the tried and true formula attributed to each one of these characters in thousands of comedies gone before. One of the reasons Allen is so great to watch is to see him completely humiliated, by who we'd usually consider to be the bullies, and feel a sense of justice only to see his delusion go even further, to which the response is laughter of disbelief. This is definitely not the feel good, life affirming romp that everyone wants to see. You don't feel sympathy for the main character but that emotion manifests in other characters such as Julie (Allen's adopted sister) and Jeremy (His father's life partner). In fact I really began to like Jeremy's character; a once straight man with a family who, for all appearances, should be a strong, confident man but has been completely subdued by a person who borders on psychopathic. Maybe he's staying with him to save Allen from becoming a duplicate or maybe it is just one of those relationships. We'll have to wait for the characters to be fleshed out.

The performances are brilliant. Jonah Hill has fantastic phrasing and delivery as always and really suits the fast paced dialogue. French Stewart gives an equally great performance as Allen's manipulative father along with a personal favourite, Keith David, who's velvety smooth voice is always a joy to hear ;) Some of the humour can rely on shock a bit too heavily but the dialogue really stands out at times with its characters making small remarks that get lost in the sea of, usually, Allen or Richard's obnoxiousness. They represent a type of person perfectly and the frustration of the supporting characters is definitely felt.

If you're a stalwart fan of comedians such as Michael Mcintyre, that make you go "Oh my life is like that!" or require your main characters to learn a life lesson while backed by soft piano music then you will probably hate this show. But if you're not looking to befriend fictional characters, you may find an enjoyable show with some brilliant dialogue.

I'm the first to say if something "funny" is actually offensive or just plain not funny. This show is funny.

People have complained that the characters aren't likable - that's kind of the point. The whole point is that he's a fish out of water, and Blind Freddy could tell over the course of the series he'll learn to be a good person.

I love Julie! She's hilarious and was underutilised in the pilot. And as far as I can tell, she is actually the audience surrogate for the show - she doesn't like Allen Gregory's snobby behaviour.

This show reminds me of late-nineties comedies like King of the Hill, South Park, Johnny Bravo, to name a few. Maybe that's why I dig it - I miss when these shows were fresh. I guess with Allen Gregory I'm vicariously experiencing late-nineties television all over again.

And I'm really digging it. Unfortunately, I seem to be the only one who does...