Thursday, October 27, 2011

Are you threatening me?

Hey, . . . baby.

The boys are back.

Yep, the rumors are true -- Beavis and Butt-Head are returning to MTV, starting tonight. After a decade and a half of fading from popular culture, Generation X's poster children re-emerge as . . . their same old selves, apparently. Mike Judge is attempting the kind of comeback that usually results in high expectations with middling results. Eh, who cares, it'll be great to have the boys back. Who doesn't love Beavis & Butt-Head?

Well, lots of folks, but more people enjoyed their stylings than would admit it.

18 years ago, I was in the perfect demographic for the B&B test. Just out of college, had a "real" job (real sucky), and there's no way I should be watching/enjoying/laughing out loud at Beavis and Butt-Head. But I did. Rob and Spoido formally introduced me to it, and my reaction mirrored that of everyone who would follow me:
  • enter aloof
  • mild amusement, head nod
  • still reserved, smiling
  • chuckle
  • attempt to stifle audible laughter
  • that fails, full laughter
  • laughing 'til crying
  • repeat Butt-Headisms
  • watch religiously
  • tell friends about it sheepishly
  • usher unsuspecting friends into the Cult of Beavis
Those were heady times. It was a regular Algonquin Table for the 1990's, the three of us plus Buck and Cliff and whoever else playing NHL '95, drinking Natty Light, and laughing along with Beaver and Bunghole. To this day, when I see Spoido, he will inevitably drop quotes from this segment after a few beverages:



But time marched on, and we grew up. (Raise your hand if you believe that.) We watched them less and spent more time working, getting in serious relationships, and meticulously filling a VHS videotape entitled "T-120" with nothing but nude scenes hurriedly taped from Cinemax Late Night and other pay-cable offerings. (Hard Hunted gave us quantity, but Helen Hunt in The Waterdance was the wait-for-it footage.) Mike Judge, meanwhile, graduated to the inspirational Office Space and the less-so "King of the Hill," the latter of which inexplicably lasted for 14 seasons on a major network. (Thanks, Middle America fartknockers.)

With that, Beavis and Butt-Head drifted from relevance and our conscious (excepting Rob's throwback "cool" or "rules" grunts, or my Butt-Head "huh-huh," which we still occasionally utilize -- to little recognition and less appreciation, except from each other).

Now, though, Mike Judge -- who, by the way, has done dick in the last 12 years, in perfect B&B/Peter Gibbons slacker form -- brings them back in new episodes. Unfortunately for me, he kicks me in the jimmy and does not go with the idea that I have been pitching to the big network execs -- at least the ones who hang out in my local pub. I have been pleading for a "Where Are They Now? . . . Beavis & Butt-Head," both because I think the concept is ripe for good comedy but also because I kind of miss the lads and want to see what they're up to these days.

Instead, we're getting B&B Redux. They are frozen in time, for better or for worse, and although some of the content has been updated (they watch "Jersey Shore," for example), it's pretty much the same gig. I fear that we may be in for the cartoon equivalent of Joe Gibbs 2.0. You know what, there are some similarities there . . .

Settle down, Beavis. The show defied the odds and its early detractors -- and there were plenty of them -- two decades ago, and it was great. Hell, given what else is on these days, it's worth a flier.

Flier! Flier!

Come . . . to Butt-Head.

37 comments:

T.J. said...

Boarding a flight to Austin...who has some recommendations for this motley crew?

zman said...

Also tonight: season finale of project runway! Guaranteed to be more competitive than the last mnf game.

Clarence said...

Tijay, I'd recommend you find some girls, girls, girls until you get home sweet home.

Dave said...

wow igor-- pretty perspicacious . . . that's exactly how i entered "beavis and butthead" fandom-- post college elitist bastard, reading authors like cormac mccarthy and e.o. wilson, and i got sucked into the "cornholio" episode and suddenly it was a religion . . . i even saw the movie . . . at the theater.

zman said...

Do you mean to say that you are no longer a post-college elitist bastard reading McCarthy and Wilson?

Dave said...

i'm not just an elitist bastard-- i also enjoy down-to-earth comedy such as "south park," "mean girls," and david foster wallace's "infinite jest."

rob said...

dave is the joe dirt of elitism

Dave said...

i have never seen "joe dirt." assume what you may from that fact.

zman said...

I am a post-coital elitist bastard. That's the extent of my elitism.

rob said...

i think that makes you one of the 99.9%, dave

rob said...

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/fbi-gang-insane-clown-posse/

discuss

Dave said...

i went light with the tacos tonight because i'm going out drinking-- i ate four-- and my 45 pound son ian also ate four . . . he wanted to go for five to "beat me" but we told him that's unhealthy-- but he did beat out my wife.

now he's got 216 pro-rated tacos for 2011. anyone want in on a pro-rated count? you just match your weight against my 185 pounds (so igor and teej are eating two tacos to get one, while rob eats one and it counts for six) and then multiply it out to make it reflect the year.

zman said...

What if rob makes his own mini rob-sized tacos?

rob said...

b and b, still funny

rob said...

wow, the acc is shitacular

Clarence said...

Worst play by a right fielder in World Series history?

Clarence said...

Dwight Evans muses, if only THAT could have been the play to end the World Series. Just terrible. He won't suffer like Buckner, but the play was more egregious.

Clarence said...

We just call him Feldman.

T.J. said...

This game is fucking bananas.

Danimal said...

Mark or others going to game tomorrow?

Mark said...

I won't be there, Dan. Decided against it this year based on the previous 3 Gator games and wife being pregnant. I'm still going to get very drunk though.

Mark said...

Also, How do you feel about the $59 million contract ($20 M guaranteed) Ryan Fitzpatrick signed with your Bills today?

zman said...

It's better than the contract they gave Merriman. It's also surprising to see a Harvard guy succeed at his given career. Seriously though, I hope he pans out so that I can continue to wear this tshirt:

http://tinyurl.com/3kfcq8b

But I really came here to say: Philip Rivers married his seventh grade girlfriend ... when he was a freshman at NC State?!

Mark said...

He's from Alabama, Z, so it shouldn't be too surprising.

TR said...

Rivers is a bible-beater. Surprising b/c he seems like an a-hole, but true.

rob said...

danimal - in your fair city for a wedding. keep an eye out for me.

Mark said...

By that he means that you should look downward, Dan.

rob said...

duh

Danimal said...

Rob.....what area is the soiree?

Danimal said...

Don't worry. I'm not asking bc I plan on crashing. Was just curious. Hopefully its not near the stadium. There is a football game in town.

rob said...

danimal - somewhere near neptune beach. feel free to join in. where is casa danimal?

Danimal said...

Very good....u staying at one ocean? Office not far from there. Casa much further south. Sun a.m. Run at 630 starts at one ocean if interested....12-miler. You can swing g it dawg.

Mark said...

12 miles? That's awful. I will stick to two hour basketball runs.

Danimal said...

Will not be joining them tomorrow but if rob or wife was I interested in joining them they'd be welcome...all levels represented except smallish

rob said...

danimal - we're staying in a house in south jax beach. are you in ponte vedra?

Danimal said...

Yes sir.....office in Jax beach....metropolitan bldg.....across street from pier if up that way. Heading to cocktail party. Could have met up for a beer if not for this.....have fun

Samantha said...

I tuned in to the comments section for a review of said episode of B&B, and was sorely disappointed to find only Rob's lone, sad line on the subject! I thought it was hilarious... what say you, Igor?