Universal Basic Guys

This review is based on one episode - the airplane ride to a funeral. I wanted to check out the show.because the idea of working age guys suddenly finding themselves with no job and no need to work had some social relevance that might be interesting to explore. Bad news first - the premise was not particularly relevant to what happened in the show. This plot could have been grafted on to almost any show, and the lack of reliance on UBI would not have been noticeable. So, the most intriguing part of the show was completely neglected.

Now the good - the preview setup had a good hook to get me interested. There were some funny gags, at least one of which was pretty inventive - I did actually laugh out loud several times. I enjoyed the shock gags. The story and the subplots came together in a satisfying way similar to South Park.

In short, the whole reason for the show (adults creatively coping with time on their hands, but limited income and opportunity) fell completely flat. The characters did not have enough depth to make their place in the story interesting (e.g., the reactions that only Stewie and Brian would have in a given fact pattern). Without unique characters, even good plots, jokes and gags will not keep people coming back to watch.

Awful show with awful characters and dialogue.

Family Guy, Bob's Burgers and even American Dad are smart comedies about working class families while this show is just dumb humor about a bunch of dumb people with no redeeming qualities. There isn't a likeable character in the bunch, nor does a single joke land.

I disagree with the one review that says this show is propaganda pushing Marxism and Universal Basic Income. I feel it's the opposite, showing how lazy people waste their money after receiving UBI. The message is "your tax dollars will go to idiots who will waste it on buying a monkey," not that UBI is a great thing.

I see that the series is already getting a good amount of hate and I can see why. The art style is unappealing and the jokes can be lackluster. However, there are moments that did give me chuckles and there is some emotion I felt when watching the first two episodes, so, I can tell there's good intentions. The problem is that the series is really dull most of the time and can feel rather boring. At least Krapopolis gets me more hyper active as that show had more going on, and even modern Simpsons is doing a lot with experimentation, so at least I feel something with it. UBG is just mostly restricted and playing it safe, the unappealing art style is not helping either. Being safe doesn't mean it's bad automatically though, as I stated there are still some good jokes. Plus, I can sympathize with some of the characters with their struggles. Do I recommend it though, no, as I stated it's mostly safe and doesn't have much going for it, but if you wanna have a quick laugh while looking into some characters going about their struggles, this might be the show for you.

The show is unoriginal and not funny. It feels like, these days, writers have an idea for a ridiculous animated comedy and Fox or Fx decide, "sure, let's use airtime on that." Universal Basic Guys belongs on YouTube at best. Otherwise, the show is just a total waste of time. It's so not funny that I really wish I hadn't even watched it for 20 minutes. If this show continues long term, it's just another indicator of the dumbification of America. Idiot-driven characters in a plot disconnected from reality entirely...that seems to often be successful in today's TV and streaming climate. Don't waste your time on this one unless you absolutely have nothing else to watch.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I read the reviews of it before I watched it, which were poor... But I figured, "how bad could it possibly be?"

It's just not good. It's not even so bad that it's good. It's just bland and uninteresting. The writers try to go for shock-value jokes but it just falls flat. Someone should tell them that it's all been done before. It's cringy, but not so cringy that you would want to hate-watch it either. I watched the whole first episode and don't remember much about it besides something about a monkey. The only reason I don't rate it 1 star is because a 1 star level of bad is at least memorable lol.

Just another show about middle aged, suburban idiots... Like I said, the premise has been done to death already. Other shows have done crude or shock humor very well. South Park, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, these are all great shows. But this one just tries to coast along behind in their wake.

This show is just Kirkland's brand Family Guy... Vaguely similar, but not nearly original enough to work. The creators are just about 20 years behind the times on the premise. Watch it or don't, it's your 20 minutes. But I doubt it will be around very long either way.