First off, surprisingly the new episodes are entertaining. They didn't change the show to be woke, nor did they inject current day politics into it. Beavis and Butthead are still the same lovable twits they've been since the 90s, still wearing their Metallica and AC/DC shirts, still giggling at words that may or may not have double meaning and still getting into trouble.
Except... something is off.
They were never quite this stupid in the old episodes. They used to have an almost predatory instinct, and usually their single minded focus on scoring or causing mayhem led to damage to OTHER people.
Which was the whole point. The old show didn't glorify B&B causing mayhem, it showed teenage stupidity and society having to pay a price for not keeping it (and idiots in general) in check.
Take the classic episodes of B&B working at Burger World, throwing rats or the phone into the fryer, not able to answer questions about milk shakes, telling customers to shut up and go away; The message is clear. A society unable or unwilling to turn its adolescent idiots into productive members of society will become dysfunctional. Businesses will go bankrupt. Something we see nowadays where kids get out of school or even college and can't spell or do basic math and expect to get paid 80k a year for 4 days of work a week.
Similarly, B&B not understanding economics in the classic episode "Candy Sale" or stealing Mr. Anderson's golf balls and selling them back to him, showed that they had a certain killer instinct. Not to mention when they sniffed pain thinner, vandalized Mr. Anderson's house and used his ride mower to destroy a botanical garden. The old B&B were vicious.
Now B&B are more or less neutered and the show makes THEM pay the price for their studpity. They are shown to be too stupid to use a ladder, too dumb to enter their home through a window and generally completely dysfunctional at a level where they'de be considered mentally retarded. That is something they never were in the old episodes. And they rarely had to suffer for their own stupidity. Society had to. That's the message. The message and much of the humor doesn't land if B&B have to suffer. That turns the show from a social satire to just laughing at mentally disabled kids getting hurt. That's not funny.
The closest the new show gets to the old is the episode where they try to get wasps to make honey. That is classic B&B. It's not believable that these kids would be too dumb to know how to open a window. But it's very believable that they wouldn't know the difference between bees and wasps. That episode had it all: B&B scheme to make quick money, formulate a plan, their stupidity sabotages their plan and in the end society pays for it.
Episodes like that are why I still give the show 7 stars. I love those two goofballs and the little world they live in. The voice acting is still spot on, and it just warms my heart seeing these two laugh about words like 'doorknob' or 'whole' and causing mayhem.
Here's hoping the writers will eventually figure out what the show was about and produce some episodes that don't make B&B out to be mentally disabled kids who get hurt for our amusement.
Except... something is off.
They were never quite this stupid in the old episodes. They used to have an almost predatory instinct, and usually their single minded focus on scoring or causing mayhem led to damage to OTHER people.
Which was the whole point. The old show didn't glorify B&B causing mayhem, it showed teenage stupidity and society having to pay a price for not keeping it (and idiots in general) in check.
Take the classic episodes of B&B working at Burger World, throwing rats or the phone into the fryer, not able to answer questions about milk shakes, telling customers to shut up and go away; The message is clear. A society unable or unwilling to turn its adolescent idiots into productive members of society will become dysfunctional. Businesses will go bankrupt. Something we see nowadays where kids get out of school or even college and can't spell or do basic math and expect to get paid 80k a year for 4 days of work a week.
Similarly, B&B not understanding economics in the classic episode "Candy Sale" or stealing Mr. Anderson's golf balls and selling them back to him, showed that they had a certain killer instinct. Not to mention when they sniffed pain thinner, vandalized Mr. Anderson's house and used his ride mower to destroy a botanical garden. The old B&B were vicious.
Now B&B are more or less neutered and the show makes THEM pay the price for their studpity. They are shown to be too stupid to use a ladder, too dumb to enter their home through a window and generally completely dysfunctional at a level where they'de be considered mentally retarded. That is something they never were in the old episodes. And they rarely had to suffer for their own stupidity. Society had to. That's the message. The message and much of the humor doesn't land if B&B have to suffer. That turns the show from a social satire to just laughing at mentally disabled kids getting hurt. That's not funny.
The closest the new show gets to the old is the episode where they try to get wasps to make honey. That is classic B&B. It's not believable that these kids would be too dumb to know how to open a window. But it's very believable that they wouldn't know the difference between bees and wasps. That episode had it all: B&B scheme to make quick money, formulate a plan, their stupidity sabotages their plan and in the end society pays for it.
Episodes like that are why I still give the show 7 stars. I love those two goofballs and the little world they live in. The voice acting is still spot on, and it just warms my heart seeing these two laugh about words like 'doorknob' or 'whole' and causing mayhem.
Here's hoping the writers will eventually figure out what the show was about and produce some episodes that don't make B&B out to be mentally disabled kids who get hurt for our amusement.