Some things just hit the mark so perfectly the first time that anything done afterward, while decent, will look like an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the earlier magic.
I’m sure you all have your examples. Me, I’m going to wax eloquently on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. That first season (as defined by DVD volumes) was a perfect storm of absurdity, comedy, quotable dialogue, and shock value. Frylock, Meatwad, Master Shake, and Carl would encounter something ridiculous like a trio of leprechauns stealing shoes. Everyone got stuck with dialogue that was borderline rational and nonsensical, including — and especially — the alien Mooninites (“We are the Mooninites and our culture is advanced beyond all that you can possibly comprehend with one hundred percent of your brain”) and a pair of Plutonians (“When he gets here we melt him… and laugh… on into the night.”). And everything would culminate to a nutty non-conclusion, probably involving something nasty happening to Carl.
ATHF was all the more effective because of its shock value. And it was not the moral content, necessarily, but because the animation was so awful. Remember, the show was the successor the critically popular Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and, unlike today, Adult Swim fans were not initially warm to something that looked like it was put together by six-year-olds.
Still, after a season or two of ATHF, the eventually shock value wore off. Quality seemed to suffer a little bit. The later episodes were still funny, and I’m a fan of the Billy Witch Doctor and Boost Mobile episodes as much as anyone. However, it seemed like Aqua Teen was trying too hard to capture the unique flash of the original episodes. Gags got more and more gruesome, as if to say, “Look at me! We’re still wacky and crazy and about to shock your pants off!”
I had similar thoughts when reading KC’s Green’s webcomic about himself and the writing process, the gleefully profane Horribleville. The comic, by the way, is summed up excellently on the site’s current subtitle: “TV is My Worst Enemy.”
