Review: Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 1 "Bubba The Bear"

Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 1 "Bubba The Bear"

Guest Star(s): Seth Green

Written and Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait

Last week, I was watching THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT, and Bobcat Goldthwait was on talking about a new show he was doing on Tru TV called "BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT'S MISFITS & MONSTERS."  I really don't watch much on Tru TV, so I was inclined just to skip it, but then I heard the magic words "the next episode is about a racist mermaid."  That was enough to get me to want to know more.

MISFITS & MONSTERS is an anthology series of half-hour episodes that blend horror and comedy into something really weird.  I love anthology series!  Giving me a new cast and a new story every week has a huge appeal to me.  And while Bobcat Goldthwait has changed dramatically from the frantic madman I grew up watching doing stand up, he has been well regarded as a director the last few years.   So putting all these things together, I really had to give it a fair shot.

Bobcat wrote and directed the first four episodes, so I am assuming he did this for the entire series.  The first four episodes were up on demand, so over the next few days I will be posting my reviews of the episodes.  Sadly, the racist mermaid episode has not aired yet (the show airs on Tru TV on Wednesdays), but we will get there soon enough.

One thing I immediately noticed is they got some pretty big names for the show.  The opening episode stars Seth Green.  He plays Nobel Bartell, a cartoon voice actor who took over the role of a dumb country bear named Bubba the Bear.   After doing a school visit, Nobel finds Bubba waiting for him in his car.  Bubba is pretty pissed that he's been portrayed as an idiot all these years, and demands Nobel knock it off or Bubba will kill him and his family. 

Like most good horror, MISFITS AND MONSTERS tries to have at least a little social commentary.  In this episode, Nobel is a man so engulfed by his work that he pretty much neglects his wife and son. his work as Bubba has taken over his entire life.    So when Bubba actually appears in his life, we very quickly watch Nobel's life completely fall apart.

I  thought that in this episode, they managed to find a great balance between humor and horror.  Some of Bubba's lines and gestures as he is taunting Nobel genuinely made me laugh out loud.  At the same time, Bubba is a disturbing stalker, and Seth Green manages to give him a pretty dark edge as Bubba drives him further and further into madness.  The ending is surprisingly gory.  I really didn't expect that from this show, but it actually fit really well.

While I did enjoy it, there wasn't a lot of real depth to this first episode, and the twist in the end is a little obvious.  But it was still enough to make me curious to see more of the weird things lurking in Bobcat's brain.