Bright lights, Moonbeam City.
Debuting Wednesday — though you can watch the first episode early on Comedy Central’s website — Moonbeam City is premiering at an auspicious time for Comedy Central. Not only can this new animated sitcom piggyback on the enduring popularity of South Park, it also debuts at a time when Archer fans are impatiently waiting for that show’s seventh season to get underway. Moonbeam City shares a number of stylistic similarities with Archer, essentially looking to do for ’80s pop culture what Archer has done for the spy movie genre. But if this new series is going to reach the same level of acclaim as either South Park or Archer, it has a long road yet to travel.
Moonbeam City casts a fairly wide net in terms of its parody fodder, but essentially this show plays out like classic Miami Vice given a heavy Patrick Nagel-inspired makeover. The city itself is a glitzy, seedy send-up of Miami, one where the sun never seems to rise and where everyone is decked out in tracksuits and shoulder pads. Amid this neon-drenched landscape comes Dazzle Novak (voiced by Rob Lowe), a hotshot detective who fancies himself the best cop in town despite all evidence to the contrary. The rest of the cast sports similarly garish fashion choices and My Little Pony-worthy names. There’s Pizzaz Miller (Elizabeth Banks), the exasperated police captain whose main responsibility is cleaning up after Novak’s messes, Rad Cunningham (Will Forte), Novak’s ambitious and perpetually jealous rival, and Chrysalis Tate (Kate Mara), the under-appreciated junior technician who winds up doing most of the real work for the department.
If nothing else, Moonbeam City certainly has a sense of style in its favor. The show does a great job of replicating that distinctive 1980’s Art Deco style and putting it in motion. The show is basically a Duran Duran album cover come to life. The character designs are all incredibly distinctive and leave no stone unturned when it comes to horrifically dated ’80s fashion. The show’s similarities to Archer are most readily apparent in terms of the animation style, as the characters are cleanly rendered but their movement is intentionally stiff and even crude at times.
Moonbeam City also earns bonus points for its ’80s-worthy, synth-heavy soundtrack (courtesy of Synthpop band Night Club). Despite the cheesy throwback quality, the soundtrack is actually pretty listenable on its own merits. The show could be compared to Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace in that regard, as that short-loved series featured an intentionally silly soundtrack that proved so good it wound up earning composer Andrew Hewitt a BAFTA nomination.
From Pawnee to Moonbeam City.
Unfortunately, while Moonbeam City has the look down, it doesn’t have a great deal else to offer viewers weaned on superior animated sitcom fare. Novak himself is pulled very much from the Seth MacFarlane playbook. He’s entirely self-absorbed and oblivious to he needs of others. He fancies himself the hero of his own story but doesn’t have much in the way of talent to fall back on. And like Mr. Toad, he tends to get swept up in whatever new mania captures his attention at the moment. There’s little in this first episode to paint Novak as a likable or sympathetic character. And if anything, the rest of the main characters feature even less depth. They’re all defined solely by their interactions with Novak.
To be fair, the pilot has its share of amusing moments. Novak’s tendency to spout ridiculous, cliched one-liners, coupled with his Stormtrooper-esque ineptitude with a gun, results in several chuckle-worthy scenes. Cunningham also tends to amuse as he resorts to ever greater lengths to outshine and disgrace his colleague. But rarely does the humor rise above the level of “mildly entertaining.” Writer/creator/executive producer Scott Gairdner is best known for his work on the late-night series Conan, which is appropriate considering that Moonbeam City at times feels like a concept better suited for a sketch comedy segment than a full-fledged, ongoing project. The characterization and the detective procedural element both need something more.
The voice cast, while impressive in terms of the number of big names present, is generally limited by the quality of the writing. Lowe, at least, is pretty much pitch-perfect as the handsome, dimwitted Novak. Forte also shines as Cunningham, though he doesn’t appear quite as much in this episode as he deserves. Mara is solid as Tate, though she pretty much plays the straight woman to whomever else happens to be on screen at the time. Banks, meanwhile, is oddly intense in her line delivery regardless of the tone of her scenes. This is probably an intentional choice, but it would probably help to see a bit more variety from her in future installments.
Moonbeam City doesn’t make a huge splash in its premiere episode. The series certainly has the look to stand out among the animated sitcom crowd, as well as the lineup of celebrity voice actors. But little about the writing, the characters or the humor feels very original. But to be fair, rare is the animated sitcom that doesn’t improve with time, and hopefully this series will manage to develop and hone a unique comedic voice to match its distinctive sense of style.
Moonbeam City premieres Wednesday, September 16th at 10:30pm on Comedy Central.
