We’ve got some fresh meat … er, new Guest Clacking coming at you today. Cameron Archer is a freelance writer from Ontario.  He writes for his site at URBMN and has also contributed to blogcritics.org.

I didn’t enjoy The Goode Family’s pilot episode. As a longtime King of the Hill fan, The Goode Family felt like a weaker King of the Hill with political leanings reversed. Ubuntu came across as an idiot savant, while Gerald and Helen Goode were ciphers. The pilot had a subplot about purity rings, something South Park covered to greater comedic effect in its thirteenth-season premiere.

Having followed the show since the pilot, I have a higher opinion of The Goode Family. Ubuntu is more an awkward enigma at this point. Gerald is more competent than his employer, the Hank Hill of academia. The Goode Family is starting to feel like King of the Hill without being its blown-up negative. It’s just too bad no one watches the show.

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Last week I did a little dumpster diving on the Hollywood backlot and pulled out a collection of vomit-inducing big screen adaptations that failed miserably to live up to the TV series that inspired them. The putrid stench of their incompetence still clings to the walls at FOX, Warner Bros., and Universal. No amount of Lysol can combat these odious bombs.

Out with the bad; in with the good. Once in a great while, Tinseltown gets it right. The small screen to big screen transition — when placed in the hands of skilled practitioners — can be quite smooth. The following list of successes is the exact reason why TV series are such popular fodder for movie producers. Without further adieu, let’s frolic in a jasmine-scented meadow and drink from the cool refreshing waters of a babbling brook. It’s time to inhale some cinema goodness.

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FOX

J. Hues: “Hi and welcome to the “Animation Domination” round table discussion. Thanks for joining us. We have a special treat this time around as we discuss the latest installments of FOX’s The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad. Please give a warm welcome to the patriarchs of all four FOX animated families: Homer Simpson, Hank Hill, Peter Griffin and Stan Smith.”

Peter Griffin: “Are the refreshments in here? I was told there’d be refreshments.”

Hank Hill: “Is this going to be on the television?”

Peter: “Aw sweet, we’re gonna be on TV?! I’ve gotta tell Chris. He is gonna love this. Or maybe Brian; I’d like to rub this in his face like I rubbed his face in that poop on the carpet … Funny thing, it turned out to be mine. I did not remember doing that.”

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