Good Game

As a fan of Avidan and Hanson's past and present work, I was looking forward to Good Game as a potentially high-budget extension of their comedic endeavors, with a promising Dan Harmon co-sign.

The end result however, is a rushed and poorly-written commentary on the e-sports culture thriving on sites like YouTube and Twitch. The majority of the characters, aside from Avidan and Payton's characters, are annoying caricatures of gaming culture or poorly-acted. The actual gaming portion of the show is pretty unenjoyable to watch, leaving the rest of the show filled with sitcom-level hurdles for the characters to overcome and provide meager progression. Give it a watch if you want to support Dan and Arin, but know their input on the show is minimal at best.

If you're a fan of game grumps you would love this couple references to their work but only true fans would find them the characters personalty's very close to the real personality's i really loved this youtube red show one of the best show's i have seen on youtube red

This show lacks a certain consistency and energy comedy-wise. Something about it is super static and disjointed. It's partly the editing and directing, as well as the lack of music. Both of the leads not being conventionally trained actors/comedians doesn't help. I love the Grumps, but this isn't really working, at least so far. (I'm writing this review after watching three of the six episodes.) I hope it picks up, and I hope they improve. But the producers need to step in and hire better editors and directors. It feels like "Community" at times, if there was zero comedic energy or tone running throughout. I truly do hope it improves.

Pros: This show, although being sporadically funny, is entertaining. The banter between each of the characters is often times funny, and allows viewers to care for the characters as they are put into states of self-induced peril (like Sam in episode 3 and Lorenzo in episode 4.) The show's writing is oftentimes clever, and leads to great moments among the main cast of characters.

Cons: Each episode contains cliché story elements, such as the protagonist with a disturbed past (Ryland). The biggest element of predictability in the entire show is the set-up: A rag-tag group of misfits team up to take on a generic gaming competition. Who hasn't heard of that before? Also, the subplot including the titular game's developer is odd and tonally dissonant compared to the lighthearted main plot of the show.

Consensus: Good Game has moments of good writing and wit, but it plays it safe as a by-the-numbers competitive comedy.

6/10

I honestly loved this series. Being a fan of Ninja Sex Party, Game Grumps, Egoraptor and Starbomb, I was really exited to start this series. Dan and Arin are great actors and this really showed how good they are. The series had an easy to understand plot, likable and dis-likable characters, and generally a great story line. Everything about this show had the right amount of cringe, laughs and the right amount of everything. I wouldn't change a thing about this show.