\Drawn Together"" could have been called ""Slapped Together"" and the title would have made a lot more sense. Every ingredient in the show gets tossed in haphazardly, and the producers were probably hoping everything would mix into a hilarious cartoon. They didn't succeed.
All types of lowbrow comedy made their appearance in the premiere episode-racist humor, sexist humor and the standard dick and fart jokes. Nothing really stood out as hilarious. A couple remarks prompted some laughter, but the majority of the time the jokes fell flat due to their sheer obviousness.
This show definitely produces a unique concept-all sorts of cartoon characters are brought to live together and parody all aspects of reality TV. The characters are drawn from Saturday morning cartoons: there's the superhero clone, the Betty Boop clone, the SpongeBob clone, the Pikachu clone and several other clones. Making such wholesome characters into sex-crazed, profanity-spewing caricatures does have its initial charm, but that quickly fades away.
The different characters are each animated in a different fashion, which works surprisingly well. To contrast a superhero's good looks and defined movements with the silly style and motions of a SpongeBob style character makes for a unique contrast. However, this unique look is placed over some rather bland backgrounds that detract from the animation in the foreground.
As a parody of reality television, ""Drawn Together"" occasionally works. However, it feels somewhat dated, since reality TV has been on the decline in recent months. Other parodies such as ""The Assistant"" and ""The Joe Schmo Show"" tread the same ground as ""Drawn Together,"" but came before it, thus taking away from its luster. ""The Real World"" is parodied most often on ""Together,"" which feels quite ironic, since ""The Real World"" itself has deteriorated to the point of self-parody.
""Drawn Together,"" is being packaged alongside the new season of ""South Park."" Comedy Central must be hoping that ""South Park's"" large following will rub off on ""Together,"" and give it a push. However, the only similarity between the two shows is they are animated. ""South Park,"" uses low-brow humor quite commonly, but it is used in order to add to a higher message: its sum is greater than its parts. ""Drawn Together,"" on the other hand, uses the same lowbrow humor and has no message. While it can't be said often, ""South Park's"" fans are above this.
""Drawn Together"" premieres Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 9:30 p.m. on Comedy Central.
