THE Goodes are so PC, it’s not funny. And I mean that literally.
This new animated series from the great Mike Judge (“King of the Hill,” “Beavis and Butthead“) has a great premise — a family that spends so much time doing the right thing that they miss out on enjoying life.
Even the dog is a vegan.
The problem is that you just can’t put someone like Mike Judge on a conventional network and expect unconventional results. The guy is used to working for MTV and Fox, where PC is as welcome as a group of visiting French politicians.
The result, ironically enough, is a show that makes fun of all things PC and ends up being too PC to blister. Not that “The Goode Family” isn’t good — it just isn’t great.
The laughs are like the family itself, just a bit too self-conscious, over-thought and over-wrought.
The Goode family (voiced by Judge, Nancy Carell and Dave Herman) are the ultimate liberals. They live in constant fear that, as standards change (what is the proper way to refer to African Americans today?), they will say or do the politically incorrect thing.
As part of their liberal agenda, Gerald and Helen Goode, early in their marriage, adopted an African baby without reading the fine print. Turns out they adopted a kid from South Africa named Ubuntu who is white — and now a fat teenager who looks exactly like Bobby Hill from “King of the Hill.” Their birth daughter, Bliss, is awfully like Peggy’s niece LuAnne on that show.
There are definitely some funny bits in “The Goode Family.” Great moment: Helen, who is always encouraging a reluctant Bliss to be free to experience sex, envying another PC mom who says: “My daughter and I held hands and cried with happiness as the doctor measured her cervix.”
Perhaps because it’s ABC, Gerald takes it all back later. “Mom didn’t want you having sex,” he tells her. “She just wants you to know your options.”
“The Goode Family” is just a little too PC for me. And I mean that metaphorically.