TV Obsessive
J. G. Quintel’s Close Enough is Regular Show For Adults
Jan: Remember Regular Show? That show about a blue jay Mordecai and a raccoon Rigby friends, employed as groundskeepers at a local park and mostly spending their time goofing off and doing some crazy shenanigans? And usually, things have taken some supernatural/surreal/outlandish turn. Yeah, that was a different time then. The series remains very close to my heart. It was so much fun, and mainly it was about friendship. It featured a gumball machine as their boss, who was always upset at them, and also an immortal man, and Pops, who…yeah I am not gonna reveal that. It’s a huge spoiler, and I hate to spoil something for someone.
Regular Show was a perfect show for teenagers, adolescents, people coming of age, or people in their early 20s. It was heavily infused with ’80 and ’90s pop culture references and music, and it was just filled with general madness. Oh, and that finale is one of the few moments of cinema or TV series where I am allowed to cry. (There aren’t many of those but if I cry at a movie or a TV show, it’s gotta be worth it).
Naturally, I was excited for what Quintel would sink his teeth into next and he didn’t disappoint. He abandoned the anthropomorphising tropes and went fully with people being people. And this time in their 30s. So there is your typical family: Josh and Emily and their little girl Candice. They live in an apartment along a divorced couple. And their shenanigans include the typical mundane stuff parents have to deal with—kid failing tests, helping out at your kid’s school, work…Look, I know it doesn’t sound like much on paper but this is another win for Quintel, where he delivers a quirky, surreal take on adulthood. Because even the most mundane stuff gets its own and surprising surreal twist—the magic touch of Quintel.
I would not necessarily regard this show for adults only. A lot of the comedy is aimed at a wide demographic and there is no gross, or crass language. Mainly the themes that are discussed here are the gap between generations—someone who is just five years younger may have a completely different experience of the world and life and that is befuddling to me. Or this season’s arc for Josh is dealing with the feelings of failure. You know, you are in your 30s and you feel like you haven’t achieved your dreams yet, and may never will. Maybe you have achieved things you have never dreamed of, and you certainly are not a failure to the people around you that care.
And then it delivers the season finale. Oh boy, is that something else. So we find out how Josh and Alex (their roommate) became friends. Their whole friendship is basically built upon their mutual love for Jim Carrey films—mainly The Cable Guy (an underrated film, in my opinion, Ben Stiller showing off his directorial chops and doing it with grace.), Ace Ventura, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber and so on.
They go to the Medieval Times restaurant (like in The Cable Guy film) every year. And this year Alex has an important book deal so he can’t make it so Josh goes alone to wallow in his self-pity. Outside of the restaurant, he finds a dog, only this is not an ordinary dog. It’s a dog boy. It’s a dog and a boy. It’s both. Dog Boy ( as Josh calls him even though dog boy has a name) has escaped from a lab where other animal hybrids are created for nefarious purposes (people are tired of CG animals, so creating them like this to be used as practical effects is more efficient. The animals may not like your choice of projects to work in as actors though.) Dog Boy also shares Josh’s love for Jim Carrey comedies, as that is how he learned his broken English. Dog Boy has also studied at an online college and is happy to read and help with Alex’s novel. They all become friends and fight that evil lab. It is all quite touching and absolutely hilarious and genius. You just have to see for yourself. Oh and Weird Al Yankovic pops up in that episode as well.
