'TV Funhouse' or 'Wonder Showzen?' - TV Funhouse (2000) Discussion

[–] classic-motown 17 years ago

Are you kidding? 'Wonder Showzen' treated us like we were retarded. It was hard to even watch the damn show without getting bored. Hardly creative in any sense. Yes, 'TV Funhouse' was crude, but it was done in an interesting and original fashion. Besides, where would the WS be without 'TV Funhouse' anyway? There is no comparison.

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[–] mylesdunhill 10 years ago

Wonder Showzen treated its audience "like they were retarded" as you put it, because it is geared toward a younger audience (not really of course), but it's template of a Sesame Street type of show is obviously intended for kids 4-8, so of course it's going to be a bit more overt with its content, but if you think about it in this context it makes more sense as to why the show was executed the way it was. You finding it entertaining or not is a different story entirely however.

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[–] hobo-brigade 17 years ago

Yeah, Wonder Showzen was god awful...seriously, it is on the same level as Tim and Eric's Awesome.

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[–] torpedoboy4 17 years ago

Two different shows with different subversive goals. I like them both equally.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] torpedoboy4 17 years ago

Also "Funhouse" seems to be based more on the kiddie show model where there is a single human host surrounded by puppets i.e.Captain KAngaroo, GiggleSnort Hotel, and. Oftentimes these types of shows would take a break and show short cartoons to break up the puppet action. The human would often announce to the camera that these breaks were about to take place. "Showzen", on the other hand, is a universe totally run by the puppets. It's more akin to "the Muppet Show" in that way but bares some of the markings of the previous model such as cartoon shorts. However, no one, puppet nor man, announces that these breaks are about to happen, they just do, like in "Sesame Street".

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[–] PACman66 13 years ago

I lied them both as well... But I wish "Funhouse" would have lasted more then just one season. At least WS is in it's 2nd...

Trust me,
Swan
My, you're nosey, aren't you?

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] mylesdunhill 10 years ago

I like both Wonder Showzen and TV Funhouse. However, I find TV Funhouse rather tame in comparison to Wonder Showzen, maybe in part to how sinister and dark WS gets and its overall blatant disturbing content. TV Funhouse plays more with scatological & sexual humor (I think every episode shows some dog or sheep getting molested by puppets), and really set the template for some of the more subversive shows that came a few years later like Wonder Showzen. TV Funhouse's universe is geared towards children ages 8-12 while Wonder Showzen's universe is geared to a much younger audience. Also the fact that Wonder Showzen uses real child actors in inappropriate sketches makes the show a little more uncomfortable at times. Both shows are obviously not going to appeal to most people, thus the reason neither show made it very far, but I would say TV Funhouse set the template for a lot of shows that came afterward like Moral Orel and Children's Hospital, etc.

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