Universal Basic Guys is probably the worst Fox cartoon since Bordertown and the worst in the new iteration of Fox Animation Domination. The only thing I can praise it for is that it is better than Allen Gregory, but that is such a low bar that doesn't even matter. There's some redeeming stuff in here but it's overshadowed by terrible stuff that it's so minor in the scale of how I am rating it.
It's a show about two brothers who lose their job and get indefinite severance from the company due to AI and robots taking over their jobs. It's not "universal basic income" as the show wants you to believe. If so, either no one would be working or everyone would be getting it. Honestly, the pilot episode, which hasn't even aired yet is the only episode that references the whole idea of the show. The episodes we've seen so far don't even mention UBI at all. The main character, Mark, is the fat guy with a wife, while his brother Hank, is single and really dumb. The wife Tammy, works as a nurse, while Mark's neighbor David, has a wife named Andrea who works as an executive of a company. There's two of Mark's other friends who I don't know their names and I honestly don't care either.
In the five episodes that are out right now as of this comment, I only chuckled once. The show's main problem is it's just not funny at all. The humor is very cringe and forced. Any attempts at trying to do "heart" are not very sincere and genuine. Take the sunset cruise episode for example, Mark doesn't change his mind on giving up fishing until he sees his rival get called out in front of his ex-wife. There's absolutely no sympathy or any sort of that beforehand which makes it hard to take it seriously. Plus some of the subplots are just terrible. The one with Mark's friend getting trapped by a snake was one of the worst things I've seen all year.
A big problem with this show is the characters. Mark comes off as very pretentious and insufferable. It's not that I care that he's fat and dumb like the other shows I see, it's that he's just not likeable or interesting. Wayne from Bless the Harts wasn't as dumb as him, but he was very likeable and had a good heart. You don't see that with Mark at all and seeing that he's the main character of the show, it's really hard to stomach some of the episodes just because of how unlikeable Mark is. The recent episode that aired about the "jaws" was so bad that it was probably the worst episode of any cartoon I've watched this year. There's not any sort of depth in the characters or the writing. The writing is just so messy that certain plots don't end properly or get mentioned in the beginning only to come back at the end. It just doesn't make any sense and if this show really wants to thrive, they need to work on writing third acts. The third act is the MOST IMPORTANT act of a sitcom and a bad third act is instantly more unforgiving than the first two.
Some redeeming qualities are that the voice acting is actually pretty decent despite almost no one in the cast being super famous other than Fred Armisen. I actually kind of like that. Also, Hank isn't so bad and he's actually kinda likeable. But he isn't very funny either. And the wife actually gets some okayish plots like the episode where she goes with other women to save the world. A lot of the episodes themselves are ruined by Mark to be honest. He's just a terrible character. I think the show just doesn't really work. It's a huge mess, not funny, and the characters are uninteresting and don't really have any depth.
Bob's Burgers did not have a good first season either but at least the show had some great episodes in the first even though half of them were terrible. This show has not a single good episode and the best one is just meh at best. I was not a fan of Housebroken at all, but I can at least praise that show for trying something different and having some creativity. And Krapopolis and Grimsburg aren't great shows either but at least they try to be shows. This show needs to go back to the drawing board in season 2 (since Fox already ordered a second season) and really work out the problems or it isn't gonna last at all.
