Reviews

Oggy and the Cockroaches is a simple slapstick cartoon that follows the good ol' formula of the main character trying to relax, a mischievous character disrupting their peace, the main character retaliating, a whole spiral of cartoon violence ensues, all hell breaks loose on the world, and then everything is fine by the next episode.

This show gets compared to Tom & Jerry a lot since it features a blue cat getting interrupted by pesky small animals, but it gets compared for good reason: while Oggy and the Cockroaches clearly takes a lot of inspiration from T&J, it also has enough stuff to make it unique. The violence is arguably taken up a notch (although of course, there's no blood or anything of the like), there's an entire cast of supporting characters who get focus episodes, and there's even plenty of episodes where Oggy wins at the end. Since Oggy is a joyful character who never really goes out of his way to torture the cockroaches, you'll definitely be rooting for him to win.

The slapstick is fast-paced and successfully packs a punch; characters can get completely mutilated in one scene and come out with just black eyes, shredded fur, and twisted limbs. The lack of dialogue is compensated by hilarious sound effects and clever visual gags. And how could I forget the occasional innuendo and subtle satire here and there?

If you want to relive the golden era of Tom & Jerry or just want a funny, lighthearted cartoon where you can turn your brain off, Oggy and the Cockroaches is the show for you. There isn't anything else like it, and the vast majority of the episodes are available on YouTube through the official Oggy channel. Definitely worth a watch.

Firstly, I just want to set the record straight that this is NOT a "ripoff" of Disney's Recess. For the past two decades, it's been the main thing Detention has been known for, but really, apart from being two 90s cartoons with a mean teacher and a rebellious group of kids as the protagonists, they're nothing alike. The characters are completely different, Detention's characters are more one-dimensional, and Detention's episodes don't rely on the school as much as Recess does.

That being said, I'm not necessarily trying to defend Detention. The series revolves around a group of seventh graders who struggle to keep their rebellious acts in check, and whenever they let loose, they end up in detention, which is supervised by the former military sergeant, Miss Kisskillya. These children are Shareena Wickett, the sarcastic goth; Jim Kim, the comic book addict; Emmitt Roswell, the superstitious. Theory obsessed with outer space; Gug Gugliamo, the short-tempered Hispanic with a knack for fighting; Duncan Bubble, the silent kid who communicates with a yo-yo; Shelley Kelly, the goody two-shoes who is Kisskillya's assistant; and Lemonjella & Orangejella, the genius identical twins.

So how come I gave it a rating of 6 stars? Firstly, there was a reason I said Detention's characters are more one-dimensional than Recess', and that would be how you can't define almost any of them beyond stereotypes. All of Jim Kim's lines have something to do with comic book superheroes. A majority of Emmitt's lines have something to do with aliens and conspiracy theories. Shelley's entire character is blindly worshipping Kisskillya and wanting to be part of the group. Gug is just a short-tempered brute with an ego and a Napoleon complex.

This show was really not built to run for 22 minutes per episode. You may come across repetitive gags that do nothing more than try to fill up the runtime, such as Shareena's water balloon constantly crying throughout "Boyz n the Parenthood", or Shareena and Kelly hiding from Kisskillya while skipping school in "Too Good to Be Truant".

With that being said though, you actually can't blame the writers. In a 2014 interview, Bob Doucette stated Warner Bros. Was very difficult to work with, as they had bad blood with most of Detention's staff team. He fought to keep them from getting fired, but alas, nobody could agree on what Detention would be about.

On that note, when Detention cracks a joke that isn't just something like "Haha Jim Kim is obsessed with comics" or "Haha Emmitt believes in aliens", they can land. Shareena has a very deadpan, sarcastic nature that balances her out within the group, and Kisskillya's over-the-top, sergeant behavior is funny as well.

It's a shame Detention only lasted one season. More seasons would've been a benefit, because considering what happened behind the scenes, the show could've proved itself to be a unique addition to the Kids' WB catalog. Considering how animation studios have been tossing out revivals in recent times and how Bob Doucette said he'd love to revisit the characters, perhaps we could see something new one day.

A main character who gets treated like dirt all the time may be a format you have seen before, such as Duckman, another show produced by Klasky Csupo. So perhaps Stressed Eric could work, right? Nope. If you have seen one episode of Stressed Eric, then you have seen it all. Past reviewers here have stated the show's humor flew past the heads of American audiences, when that's not necessarily true. Stressed Eric's fatal flaw is that it never bothers giving Eric a break at all. Eric accomplishes absolutely nothing; even when things turn out right for him, there will always be a short twist that completely botches it, and I can name one example in particular.

The episode, "Potato", revolves around Eric inviting his boss over for dinner in hopes of getting a raise, and Paul suggests making a lot of potatoes as he invites the. Chairwoman of the Potato Development Board. After going through a lot of unbelievable struggles to buy one potato, the table is organized, the food is freshly prepared...and Paul nonchalantly says the chairwoman actually can't stomach potatoes. Do you see how that makes absolutely no sense? How was anybody supposed to see that coming?

With that, the show's formula is very repetitive, giving The Loud House a run for its money: Eric starts his day with everything already going wrong, Maria pukes, Claire goes through an allergic reaction, Brian does something dumb, Eric goes to work, a problem arises, he goes home for a bit to do something about the conflict in question, he passes by the old lady trying to send mail, everything works out for him for a few seconds, there's a cruel twist, and Eric dies.

All of the characters besides Eric are either incredibly stingy or incompetent morons. Maria only cares about alcohol and the money Eric is paying her. Claire always ignores her father's warnings about eating anything she's allergic to. Brian cares about nothing other than eating whatever's in his field of vision. Paul will happily demote Eric to the lowest rank possible. Eric's coworker never contributes to anything. The Perfects are nothing more than the generic 'spoiled rich family'. Eric's ex-wife constantly gaslights Eric.

So how would I improve this series? There are two ways:

1) Make Eric a character who deserves what's coming to him. With characters like Squidward Tentacles or Daffy Duck, they deserve their bad luck because they're egomaniacs who overestimate their talents, intelligence and maturity, constantly talking down to the people around them. With Eric, he does nothing to deserve his bad luck as he's a normal guy fighting through a harsh life, and you're always rooting for him to win by the end of the episode, but it just never happens.

Or 2) Have Eric win once in a while. This show is way too unfair, and while there may be some people who welcome its pessimistic tone, it's nothing more than a detriment here. I don't mind cartoons that are way too cruel, but the ones that are at least give a reason for the world to be so terrible. There is nothing to brighten the mood in Stressed Eric, because as I said, all of the episodes are just a sequence of miserable events aimed at a character who doesn't deserve it. I don't see where I'm meant to be laughing, especially when the situations that cause Eric to lose are forced and predictable, spoiling any attempts at comedy.

There's no logic to anything in Stressed Eric. There are no jokes or satisfying payoffs to make up for the show's depressing tone. If you're having a bad day, Stressed Eric is not the show to watch because all it will do is remind you of how unfair things can be. If Eric was a character who either deserved to be miserable or managed to score success every once in a while, I'd be more than happy to give it some leeway, but unfortunately, neither of those are the case here.