{"id":77146,"date":"2024-01-22T14:38:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T20:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=77146"},"modified":"2024-01-22T14:38:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T20:38:56","slug":"dead-on-arrival-glenn-martin-dds-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=77146","title":{"rendered":"Dead On Arrival: &#8220;Glenn Martin, DDS (2009)&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By JOHN BILLINGER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many individuals have that \u201cone show.\u201d You know, the kind that you probably saw once or twice, then it disappeared and you forgot all about it. But then one day, many years later, you remember that show, and you wonder whether or not it was real or if it was some weird fever dream. One such example is \u201cGlenn Martin, DDS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I remember when this show aired. It was August 2009, and there were a bunch of commercials on Nickelodeon advertising a brand new show coming to its Nick at Nite block. I primarily remember this programming block as airing older shows such as \u201cFull House,\u201d so imagine my surprise that it was receiving a claymation show in the vein of shows like \u201cFamily Guy.\u201d Not only that, but they were going to air it right after \u201cSpongebob Squarepants.\u201d It was unexpected, to say the least.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, my older sister was a very big fan of \u201cFamily Guy\u201d type adult shows, so when she heard about this, she made it a date to watch the premiere on August 17, 2009. I watched it with her, and I think she must\u2019ve found it to be disappointing, as she never watched it again. As for me, I thought it was ok, but I certainly wasn\u2019t crazy about it. I probably saw it a couple of times afterward (they soon changed the time slot after complaints, and it got renewed for a second season), but I don\u2019t recall seeing it past December 2010. Despite that, it aired its last episode on November 7, 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But enough of my recollection, what is this show?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGlenn Martin, DDS\u201d is a show created by Eric Fogel (creator of another claymation adult show called \u201cCelebrity Deathmatch\u201d) and Michael Eisner (the former CEO of Disney). Yeah, no joke, that Micahel Eisner. After his very public exit from Disney, he founded a new company called The Tornanto Company, which has produced various content. Another animated show that they created is \u201cBojack Horseman.\u201d Anyway, the idea for Glenn Martin was inspired by a 1971 movie called \u201cIn Search of America\u201d which starred Jeff Bridges, and apparently, the reason that this adult show was pitched to Nick as opposed to any other network was because Eisner believed that Nick at Nite had a good reputation for producing shows. Part of me wonders if the real reason was to make Nick at Nite much more like Cartoon Network\u2019s Adult Swim, but I suppose the real answer is lost to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Glenn Martin, DDS - Intro Theme Song in HD\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r80NP1zFY-Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What is the show itself like? The official synopsis is \u201cA dentist and father of two decides to take his family across the country after their house burns down. With their old beat-up Winnebago, the Martin family will encounter the best that America has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s a fine and dandy synopsis, but what about the individual characters? Well, there\u2019s the title character and family patriarch, Glenn (voiced by Kevin Nealon), who\u2019s a dentist and is meant to be a stupid, optimistic, and somewhat oblivious sort. There\u2019s his wife, Jackie (voiced by Katherine O\u2019Hara), who is a tough and somewhat self-centered woman. There are his two children: Conner (voiced by Peter Oldring), who is a stupid 13-year-old going through puberty (so you can imagine the kind of jokes that involve him), and Courtney (voiced by Jackie Clarke), who is an 11-year-old and wants to be the next great business leader. Along with her in business ventures is her assistant Wendy Park (voiced by Judy Greer), a North Korean foreign exchange student with aspirations similar to Courtney&#8217;s. Oh, and you can\u2019t forget the Martin family dog Cainine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With a synopsis like this, does the show work? Well, you\u2019d have to categorize it under two different umbrellas: how the first few episodes originally aired and how the creators intended it to be seen (which is how it later aired and how it can be seen today).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparently (and I don\u2019t remember this when I first watched the premiere episode), but the network aired it with a laugh track over everything. Why did they have a laugh track? I\u2019ve heard two different explanations &#8211; they were trying to pay homage to earlier animated shows which had a laugh track, such as \u201cThe Flintstones,\u201d and the network believed that the show\u2019s humor was too hard to understand, so they added the laugh track to help the audience know what the joke was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both of these reasons (if true) are terrible. For the first reason, just because \u201cThe Flintstones\u201d did it back in the 1960s, doesn\u2019t mean that this modern show should have one. It had been decades since a laugh had been used in an animated sitcom anyway, so it would just as well put someone off. For the second reason, the humor would be too hard to understand. The show\u2019s humor, as stated earlier, was similar to what one would see in \u201cFamily Guy.\u201d Not to mention, having a laugh track kind of kills the humor. I find that with a laugh track, you\u2019re less likely to laugh. A New York Times review from the time even stated that &#8220;<em>Glenn Martin, DDS<\/em> is pretty much laugh\u2013free (though it does have a laugh track).&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Glenn Martin DDS Bobby Panache&#039;s Hate It Hammer\" width=\"790\" height=\"593\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z1k8K5kMD1c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>After some digging, I managed to find some clips of the laugh track scenes from the original airings.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The track was canned after just a few episodes (which might be why I don\u2019t remember it having a laugh track, plus it\u2019s been 14 years). The show can now be seen the way it was intended, so how is it? Well, it\u2019s both a product of its time and pretty funny at times. The first episode, for example, is the family visiting the Amish. You get all the jokes you\u2019d expect about the Amish, like how they\u2019re living like \u201cLittle House on the Prairie,\u201d they don\u2019t have any technology, and their viewpoints are backward. I\u2019m sure you\u2019d probably still get some jokes like this today, but the only difference is a bunch of people on Twitter or X (or whatever it\u2019s called at the moment) would complain about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then you get scenes in that episode that are pretty clever. For example, Jackie has to hang out with the Amish women for a day, and she\u2019s all like, \u201cHow can I expect to hang out with a bunch of people who\u2019ve never seen \u2018Sex in the City\u2019?\u201d She goes to them, and the Amish women are all sitting around and talking like characters in \u2018Sex in the City.\u2019 It\u2019s kind of a clever reversal of expectations, and it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are plenty of other episodes that are also kind of a mix of jokes of the time with some pretty clever scenarios, but does it always work, and is it funny? I suppose it depends on who you are. If you are the kind of person who\u2019s really sensitive, then this isn\u2019t for you. There are plenty of other things in the show that remind you of when it came out for example, there\u2019s an episode that features a caricature of Donald Trump, before he was a divisive politician and back when he was a divisive celebrity. That episode is really something of a time capsule. On the other hand, if you like raunchy and insensitive humor, then you will probably enjoy it. Again, it depends on who you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On a positive note to mention, the stop-motion animation is very good. Stop motion, in general, is pretty underused, especially these days, so seeing the art form is always a welcome sight, even if it is from 14 years ago. The voice acting across the board is also good. Nobody gives a bad performance. Overall, this was a well-produced show that could\u2019ve found an audience but was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Literally, whoever thought it was a good idea to air this show right after \u201cSpongebob\u201d probably should\u2019ve been fired. And then to air a laugh track right next to it is just tone-deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, \u201cGlenn Martin, DDS\u201d is an interesting time capsule of a show. Is it for everyone in today\u2019s age? Certainly not, but it is ripe for a cult following. For those interested in seeking it out, it\u2019s relatively easy to find. The first season was officially released on YouTube for free, and the second season has been found occasionally on various streaming sites over the years (most recently on Roku), so if you\u2019re curious, it\u2019s definitely worth a look. See where you land and give it a watch, if you really want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>John Billinger is currently in the Informatics department at FHSU and is an avid movie buff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By JOHN BILLINGER Tiger Media Network Many individuals have that \u201cone show.\u201d You know, the kind that you probably saw once or twice, then it&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":77147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,55],"tags":[15303,15562,14981,442,11348],"class_list":["post-77146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-opinion","tag-dead-on-arrival","tag-glenn-martin-dds","tag-john-billinger","tag-reviews-2","tag-tv-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/glennmartin.jpg?fit=350%2C237&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77148,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77146\/revisions\/77148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}