One of the joys of Hulu is discovering shows you might never have given a shot on broadcast television. (You hear that, networks?) I loved Mitchell Hurwitz's Arrested Development, but early news of Hurwitz's new series, Sit Down, Shut Up, left me lukewarm at best. Reuniting Arrested alums Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Henry Winkler -- and adding the likes of perky, Muppetish Broadway pixie Kristin Chenoweth -- sounded interesting enough. But an animated sitcom about disaffected high school teachers, based on a live-action show from Australia, and featuring smugly jokey names like "Larry Littlejunk" and "Miracle Grohe"? Yeah, not exactly burying the needle on my potential laugh-o-meter.I was so very, very wrong to doubt. Three episodes in, SDSU doesn't quite hold the promise of being the next Simpsons or Futurama -- or Arrested, for that matter. But it's still got the razor-sharp wit and brilliant writing I loved Arrested for, which automatically makes it funnier than anything Seth MacFarlane ever has or ever will do.
Like Arrested, the show takes a while to grow on you. But give it a few episodes, and you'll start to see the same knack for great, subtle sight gags, the same ingeniously constructed plots, and the same delight in verbal gymnastics that made Hurwitz's previous series such a hoot. ("Has anyone ever told you you're completely oblivious?" "Not to my knowledge!") At SDSU's Knob Haven high, the halls are plastered with posters warning students not to shack up with teachers ("I May Look Worldly, But I'm Completely Broke," reads one), and the school sign welcomes the weekend with "T.G.I. Friday," only to herald the new week with "O.F.I. Monday."
There's also an unusual but welcome reliance on self-referential humor, as the characters occasionally acknowledge they're in a TV show. Weirdly, it's lame the first few times it pops up, but steadily gets funnier and funnier, from a driver's ed car with the license plate B PLOT, to a truly inspired joke about effective editing, to the the bisexual drama teacher who sighs, somewhat poignantly, "Yeah, I'm not going to test well."
The one thing SDSU lacks is likeable characters. Sure, they're funny; some of them, including Arnett's macho numbskull jock and Winkler's miserable, porn-loving, Gollum-like German teacher, are hilarious. But they're all horrible, horrible people with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Bateman's Larry, the hapless gym coach, is supposed to be "the nice guy," but thus far he's a creepy, selfish dweeb pathetically obsessed with getting under the free-flowing skirt of Chenoweth's hippy-dippy science teacher. And she's pretty awful, too, whether she's neglecting her infant son in hilarious ways, or spouting nonsense like "Medicine is just something the Jews made up to get us to pay for it." (When Larry does take a turn for the better in episode 3, it feels more like a callback to Arrested's Michael Bluth than a convincing part of his character.) The Bluth family was a collection of horrors, but you did feel for them once in a while. I can't say the same for this collection of sad sacks, nitwits, and scumbags.
Still, you may not like any of these people, but you'll probably laugh like a hyena at their sweet, delicious pain. I don't feel like braving Fox's Sunday night -- I'd rather not get any stray MacFarlane on me, thanks -- but with Hulu, I don't have to. Although really, if Fox wanted to recapture the hilarity of Arrested Development, maybe they could have, I don't know, not cancelled it in the first place.
You could watch Sit Down, Shut Up Sunday nights at 7 p.m. ET on Fox, but really, don't you have better things to do with your life? Go watch it on Hulu instead.
This show is WAY clever. Watch it dudes