Beavis and Butt-Head
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 "Uh-huhuhuhuh, this is gonna be cool..."
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Beavis and Butt-Head is an animated comedy series created by Mike Judge that aired in 1993 on MTV. It was briefly revived in 2011 on Comedy Central and would be revived again in August 2022, this time on the Paramount+ streaming service. The show is centered around a pair of vulgar, dim-witted teenagers who cause mischief and try (and fail) to impress women.
Why It's Gonna Score
Overall
- Beavis and Butt-Head's antics are incredibly funny.
- Memorable side characters, such as Daria Morgendorffer (who got her spin-off series due to her popularity) and Tom Anderson (basically a prototype of Hank Hill from King of the Hill).
- Surprisingly good social commentary.
- The duo's stupidity and crude jokes somehow never get old, and can even be clever at times.
- The amusing Mystery Science Theater 3000-style riffs on music videos, especially on videos they don't like.
- It had two feature-length movies called Do America in 1996 and Do the Universe in 2022, which featured many funny and memorable scenes.
- The intro music is catchy.
- It was Mike Judge's first-ever show and is pretty good for a first show.
- The show's animation got better as the show went on.
- Beavis and Butt-Head themselves are great hard rock and heavy metal fans. They also love to poke fun at awful rock bands like Poison and Winger.
- "I am the Great Cornholio, and I need TP for my bunghole!"
Golden Age (1993-1997)
- This kickstarted Mike Judge's career on a kickass note.
Season 8 (2011)
- This was the first season to use digital animation.
- This season marked the return of jokes like Beavis' arson addiction.
Seasons 9 & 10 (2022-2023)
- The revival is very faithful to the original series and feels more, or less the same as the original run (and season 8 to a lesser extent).
- It features the characters in a modernized setting to allow modern viewers to get into the series more easily.
- The new reaction segments to real-world media are hilarious.
- The humor is on par with, and sometimes even better than, the first seven seasons.
- While most other shows often pandered to political correctness, this show shows that it can still stick with its rebellious nature without being utterly distasteful.
This Sucks Qualities
Overall
- Crudely animated, especially in the two pilot and the first three season 1 episodes.
- Several episodes (e.g., "Nose Bleed", "Wood Shop", "Rabies Scare" and "Choke") have some really disturbing content in them.
- Can be pretty mean-spirited at times, such as the ending of "Young, Gifted and Crude", where Coach Buzzcut encourages Beavis and Butthead's class to beat up a special needs student for no reason.
- Overuse of toilet and gross-out humor.
Golden Age (1993-1997)
- The show was briefly taken off the air after an infamous incident where Austin Messner, a five-year-old boy was allegedly inspired by the show to burn down his trailer home, killing his two-year-old sister. His mother subsequently blamed the show, accusing it of encouraging dangerous habits.
- Its original final episode, as well as the season 7 finale, "Beavis and Butt-Head Are Dead" wasn't memorable.
Season 8 (2011)
- While not awful, this season was criticized for mostly skipping over the music video format entirely and disappointed fans, especially after seasons 5 and 6 brought a stronger focus on these segments.
- The season also feels that it should be produced for Comedy Central rather than MTV, knowing the massive shift in the latter network's genre in the 2000s.
- It is also known for pandering to rap and hip-hop videos in place of the metal genre that was the focus of the first seven seasons.
Seasons 9 & 10 (2022-2023)
- The YouTube video segments are rather average, as they tend to dive into mainstream pop rather than alternative rock.
- The show can overuse the stupid comedy at times more so than the original series.
Reception
Beavis and Butt-Head saw heavily polarized reviews from audiences due to its controversial but iconic nature. It became the focus of criticism from some social critics such as Michael Medved, while others such as David Letterman and the National Review defended it as a cleverly subversive vehicle for social criticism and a particularly creative and intelligent comedy. As a result, this show gained positive reception from younger viewers and is often seen as one of the most iconic television shows of the 1990s, it also being MTV's highest-rated show. Its original run has a 7.5/10 on IMDb, while its modern revival has a more favorable rating of 8.5/10 on the site.
Seasons 1-7 were highly praised among fans and critics for its humor and satire of popular culture. Some of its highest-rated episodes include "The Great Cornholio", "No Laughing", "Manners Suck", and "Prank Call". However, episodes like "Comedians" were highly controversial and were responsible for the increased scrutiny of the show.
Season 8 received mixed reception by fans and critics with some considering it on par with the first seven seasons and others disliking the season for its weaker humor and lack of music videos.
Seasons 9 & 10 (or Seasons 1 & 2 of the revival series) also received positive reception from fans and critics, with improved humor, music videos, and faithfulness to the original run. Some have gone as far as to say that the second revival is an improvement of the original seven seasons.
Trivia
- It spawned a few memes like "We're going to be talking about the penis!" and "Here lies Beavis. He never scored".
- The show's popularity spawned various related media, including the theatrical film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America in 1996. A second film, Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, was released to Paramount+ on June 23, 2022.
- The duo appeared in Jackass 3D's introduction, explaining how 3D works.