Popetown

Popetown
"The banned TV series they didn't want you to see!" Well, thank God, for that.
Genre: Comedy Running Time: 24 minutes Country: United Kingdom France Release Date: January 7, 2018 - April 17, 2019 Network(s): BBC Three Starring: Bob Mortimer Ruby Wax Morwenna Banks Jerry Hall Matt Lucas Kevin Eldon Simon Greenall Seasons: 1 Episodes: 10

Popetown is a French-British adult animated sitcom touted as, "Father Ted meets South Park", by its creators. The series sparked widespread outrage, and was not broadcast by BBC Three, the station that commissioned it.

Why It Made the Pope Frown

1. Controversy: This show was so controversial that it only lasted one season and left an episode unaired, Day Trip, until it was uploaded to YouTube. Thus, it got banned in countries such as Lithuania. It got so bad to the point where the Lithuanian broadcasting authority fined the MTV Baltics network 3,000 litas (896 EUR) for airing the TV series.
2. Overall, the characters are clichéd and uninteresting.
   • The pope is a whiny, spoiled brat who gets almost everything his way, making him a troublemaker that lacks comeuppance of any kind, which perfectly fits the pope in this series. Not to add that the voice acting is irritating, and they also repeat the crying sound effect performed by the voice actor, which is extremely obvious and can get annoying at times.
   • Father Nicholas feels very bland, and to add insult to injury, the pope is always the one, who gets Father Nicholas in trouble, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, he achieves something for stupid reasons, such as on Derby Day, where the pope inserts a cork into a horse's butthole, causing the horse to fly, and Father Nicholas to win the horse race.
   • Sister Marie is your typical fat comic-relief sidekick.
   • The Priest can be considered the creepiest character in the series for all the wrong reasons.
   • Sister Penelope appears to be the stereotypical mean-spirited valley girl.
3. They rely too heavily on or gross-out humor, and it's very clear where the pope bathes in his own feces.
   • Derby Day is also a major offender in this regard, where the horse that Father Nicholas is supposed to ride, becomes obese, after Sister Marie overfeeds it.
4. In terms of humor, they try far too hard to be offensive, to the point that they become overly reliant on it.
   • They make fun of the mentally handicapped, Vietnamese sweatshop kids, and Buddhists. Keep in mind all of this happened in The Beautiful Game.
   • And how can we forget their depiction of black people? They look like blackface! And how could we forget their portrayals of Asian people?
5. State Visit is the least interesting, and the worst episode of the whole series. It comes off as repetitive, when Sister Marie and Father Nicholas are trying to give the pope a bath, which they fail miserably at, since the pope doesn't obey them.
6. Some of the lip-syncing, and sound-mixing is off, and it's particularly noticeable in Hands Down, where lines get abbreviated, for no reason. Overall, it just feels messy, and unfinished.
7. There are weak jokes that don't land sometimes, and as shown in State Visit, they can also become repetitive and disgusting.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The voice acting for some of the characters is actually pretty neat.
2. While it does get overshadowed by the pope's annoying voice, the theme song is quite catchy, putting that aside.
3. The Cardinals seem to be the most entertaining, and well-liked of the whole series.
4. For the most part, the animation is actually okay.
5. The outro music is well done, since it's just like the theme song. The imagery is also interesting, you can see the character sheets.

External Links

• Popetown at the Internet Movie Database

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