Moonbeam City

I watched it because of the band Night Club. It's kinda funny. It's a nice show to watch once and turn your brain off to. A way to distract yourself from your own existential crises.

The characters are bland and flat. Dazzle is the pretentious jock. Pizazz Miller is like Cuddy from House M. D. or Jan from The Office. Chrysalis is the every-man. Rad is the conformist "non-conformist".

It's understandable that it wasn't renewed for a second season. It's impossible for there to be any meaningful overarching plot. Don't go into it expecting something grand and thought provoking. It's something to pick up and put away after you're done with it.

Saw this show last week after watching a trailer on comedy central. I have to say, I'm a fan. This show is essentially a parody of every 80's cop show out there. There is an Archer-vibe to the show, especially reflective in the oversexed, often incompetent, lead in Dazzle Novak but I think Moonbeam City very much has its own niche. Frankly, I find it unfair to categorize it as an "Archer rip off," as it has its own humor and charm.

The cast is full of big names like Rob Lowe as the lead character and Elizabeth Banks, whom I detest as an actress often but she really nails it as Pizzaz. They all do a pretty good job in their roles especially Lowe who really makes Dazzle to be utterly incompetent but still charming in a "what a maroon," kind of way.

I find the jokes hit or miss, there is a lot of shock humor but honestly everything on Comedy Central so no surprise there. The problem is that there just isn't consistency. I think the funny moments, especially in episode 2, far outweigh the bad and even the bad jokes are surrounded by relatively good writing so you can at the very least enjoy the conversations.

The art style is excellent, by far my favorite animated show currently on right now stylistically. It really has that "Vice City," vibe (if you've ever played the video game) with a touch of a Frisky Dingo. The colours are vibrant and the soundtrack is pretty solid.

With solid writing, good cast and great art design you owe it to yourself to take a trip to Moonbeam City.

I read a lot of reviews about this show. Different websites, different authors, but each of them has a core idea: Moonbeam City is an Archer clone and it's not funny. I'm addressing all of you who think so. What the hell are you thinking? Where are those similarities to Archer? I'll answer for you. Where are none.

Let's start with the most important component of these shows. Humor.

Humor in Archer based mainly on dialog flows, relationship between people and various spy movies cliché's. Archer has very little of visual gags and lack of visual humor at all. That's not an issue, though. Archer keeps realism bar on a sensible level. I would say, Archer has English humor.

Moonbeam city humor is complete opposite. It doesn't give a damn about relationships nor dialogs. It entertains us with absurd situations, mad people blathering senseless pathos and logic from 80- s movies. We laugh about one-line phrases covered in tons of out of place pseudo- pathos, rather than diаlog swordplay. Moonbeam city knows nothing about realism. I say, it has American humor.

Next elements are not as relevant as humor, so I'll keep it short:

Atmosphere: Archer has an office atmosphere. Colleagues in a confined space. Place changes, yeah (ISIS office, Mansion, Airship, Train), and we observe communication between well known people.

Moonbeam city has Wild Night atmosphere. Never at the same spot, introducing new characters each episode, beautiful sunsets and neon nights.

Characters: Archer - Office workers. Moonbeam City - police dorks.

Based on: Archer - Spy movies (mostly James Bond) Moonbeam City - 80's movies.

Where are similarities? What makes Moonbeam city being a clone of Archer? Jerky Cool Male Lead? Then half of marvel movies are clones of each others.

Moonbeam city is funny, when you don't expect same type of humor as from Archer. Chill, will ya?

Off the bat YES it's like an Archer clone. But c'mon, how many of those do you see around? Secondly, it's like Archer Vice, which in my opinion was their best season, but this one is Archer Vice, literally, figuratively on crack, without pants, or care, eating a hotdog dripping onto a Carl's fat stomach, may he rest in peace with Meatwad.

This show is extremely funny. Will they keep it up? Only time will tell like every single comedy ever made.

First episode is very strong, clearly another show that gives no F**********s. Rob Lowe fit absolutely perfectly and quite obviously as Dazzle Novak. But I think the crown jewel here is Will Forte's Rad Cunningham. This guy was glorious as usual.

Anyone who likes Archer should quiet down, as they are on a downhill slope at the moment, until they bring back Archer Vice, this will do. Plus it's great to have options!

Some reviewers really like the word "ripoff".

As far as the Patrick Nagel thing goes, there's a difference between a ripoff and an homage. This is clearly an homage. Read the "trivia" section on this page.

The only similarities to Archer are the TVMA rating, and the fact that it's about a bunch of adults who work together. That's it. Seriously. How is that a "ripoff"?

Stylistically and tonally it's much more like Metalocalypse, which was a fantastic show that i miss terribly. I suspect Tommy Blacha's involvement with both has a lot to do with the similarities. The voice cast contains some of my favorites, it's well written, and i really hope it doesn't get canceled.