The Goode Family: Just NOT Good Enough

Maybe this little clip from ABC's The Goode Family was a little prescient. This Mike Judge cartoon, lampooning the smugger sides of America, is being cancelled. Which is a pity, because Gerald and Helen Goode were growing on me. Not that I helped them at all. I pretty much watched what I could of the show on YouTube, so my fannery doesn't show up in the small (at its height, the show barely attracted 3 million viewers) ratings the show got. So ABC is pulling the plug.

I don't know why more people didn't like the show. While it does poke fun at the left-leaners in the nation, there's enough That's-Me-In-The-Mirror moments in the show to make everybody laugh at themselves. I especially liked the constant one-upmanship between Helen and her rival Margot, seeing who could out-Liberal each other. (Best moment: After Helen's long-time pen pal Mikinkin from Myanmar shows up to stay with the Goodes, Helen brags to Margot that she's hosting a refugee. Margot steams: How did she get a refugee before I did? I'm on a list!)

I feel like Judge and company struck enough similar chords between The Goode Family and their other, more popular project, King of the Hill, to get enough crossover appeal. But perhaps the KOTH appeal was more character than the satire, and if that's so, that's too bad.