When BMS was originally on air, I was only about 12-13 years old so it was just a little out of my age range. However now, all these years later, I decided to binge it because I never watched the full series through and because it came up in a conversation with some coworkers. Also, I just recently graduated from college so I always enjoy the overtop portrayals of American college life in TV and movies.
As I come close to the end of the third season, I can't help but be amazed at the masterpiece of comedy this series is. It's able to strike the perfect balance of crude and absurd humor with brilliant plots every episode. Typically, shows that feature this kind of crude humor, especially in portrayals of American college life, push far past the point of comfort where the dirty humor shoots past "American Pie"-ess levels of raunchiness and you just start to feel physically gross watching it.
Not BMS. Don't get me wrong, it has plenty of absurd comedy around sex, drugs, and other faucets of the party side of college. But where it excels is in its ability to have creative and outrageous plot lines that keep you engaged while making your laugh. The characters are goofy but likable (maybe not Thad) and the whole casts itself works perfectly together. It's over the top without plummeting off the edge.
Now fair warning: for people who didn't grow up or go to college in the era it was made, the comedy is a reflection of those times, meaning by today's standards it would mostly likely appear utterly gross and offensive. In short, I really don't think there's anyway this show could ever be released today. We can talk all we want about cancel culture, which I'm not a big fan of, but I'm not going to lie either: this show over-sexualizes and objectives women, features an intense display of what would be called toxic masculinity, and includes insults that certainly would be frowned upon by todays standards.
But I think the key here is this: nuance. As i said, the comedy is a reflection of when it was made. We can't judge it by todays standards. It is completely ok to genuinely enjoy the show while at the same time realizing that what they may be doing and saying is wrong and that we have grown and matured as a culture and society. Some people might not agree with this, but so be it. We can pick apart the show all we want about where it's offensive, politically incorrect, etc etc. But at the end of the day, it is possible to do this in the back of our minds WHILE having a good laugh and just enjoying the show for what it is: absurd and brilliant.
So kick back, crack a beer, light up a you-know-what, and have a good laugh at all the shenanigans of Thad, Alex, Sammy, and the rest of BMS.
