Beavis and Butt-Head

MTV original animation programming about two teens (the titled characters) who go through life obliviously. They care nothing about school or really anything for that matter. They do however constantly show interest in "scoring" (losing their virginity), drinking alcohol, smoking, stealing and an endless list of other possible miscreant activity. Church groups and many adults shunned the show while the majority of those in the huge 15 to 30 age group demographic loved and embraced the program wholeheartedly. A civil war between viewers would then of course start, with the youths of the country winning or did they (the fact that the show pretty much stopped after the theatrical movie makes you wonder if the program didn't go too far with the wrong people)? I personally love the series even today. Creator Mike Judge (who does most all the voices of the insane characters) actually does what his title says: he was creative. The creativity of the series (which ran from 1993-1997 on cable's MTV) is outstanding. Stuff like "Beavis and Butt-Head" is simply to entertain and make its audience feel good about itself (I mean no one could be as moronic as these characters are, could they?). You have to look at the material through a looking-glass to understand the pressures, situations and feelings that many adolescents have in this day and age. Even though the series is not really thought-provoking per se, it still strikes a cord because it pokes fun at sometimes very serious matters. I think this is the reason why some refused to ever embrace the show. If "The Simpsons" knocked on the conventional programming door in 1989, then "Beavis and Butt-Head" definitely tore that door down in 1993. And of course more wonderful animated programming like "King of the Hill" (also by Judge) and "Family Guy" would follow. Is "Beavis and Butt-Head" art? I don't know, but to be honest I have never really cared if it is or not. 5 stars out of 5.

The end of Beavis and Butthead was like the end of a cultural era. Grunge and those early 90 fads were dying out, to make way for the crass commercialism and ultra materialism of the youth generations that would follow, essentially helping to wipe out not only what made music culture great, but also what made MTV great. Beavis and Butthead was part of that cool past of part of a totally idiotic, carefree culture.

Beavis and Butthead, for those who too young to know about it, was an animated series created by Mike Judge, of the now popular FOX television series, King of the Hill, which is actually based on one of the characters from Beavis & Butthead (the neighbor Anderson, who was the primitive form of Hank Hill). The brief episodes, usually two packed in a half-hour, followed the mishaps of two ugly braindead teenagers. Their primary pasttimes were raising hell, making dirty jokes, and just laughing. The main characters usually included Buzz Cut, the anal muscular gym teacher; Van Dreesen, the pansy hippy teacher who's plans to get Beavis & Butthead to do something good usually backfired; their ultra-sheltered neighbor, Stuart; and the depressed, Daria (aka "Diarreha") who later developed into a spin-off series called "Daria".

Beavis & Butthead were so stupid and so clueless as to the disasters that usually went on around them, which is why the situations were so funny. You can't really expect to take a show like this seriously. It was just the stupid antics that made it great. Plus, because it was on MTV, it was a vehicle for music videos which were particularly key because they were often rare videos. And Beavis & Butthead did their MST3K-type of commentary as you watched sometimes full videos that acted as an intermission to their short episodes. All around, despite poor drawings, this show is still a classic and even created it's own subculture of marveled stupidity. But, I still enjoyed it.

And in retrospect, it's probably a lot better, considering a lot of the crap that is on television now to entertain teens--especially MTV. Even if you do get to see the reruns, they usually cut out the videos now to make way for extra commercial time (MTV sucks!). But, they did release episodes on tape. I don't know if they've made it to DVD.

Okay, I admit it. I am a closet Beavis & Butthead fan. Well, actually, not all that closeted, but when I tell people I enjoy the show, sometimes they just don't get it. Some of them say, "But it's just stupid! It's just two morons laughing and being crude all the time!"

Well, I thought so too, before I ever watched the show. I had heard of them; I would occasionally see B & B pop up on an MTV awards show and receive lots of laughter and applause - the laughter and applause of recognition. I knew they were popular but I didn't "get it." Then, part of the way through the first episode I watched, I "got it." The reason Beavis & Butthead is so funny is that it does an extremely dead-on accurate job of portraying a very real aspect of teenage males that had been completely overlooked in a lot of previous television.

I can even remember the exact moment I "got it": Beavis and Butthead were watching a video by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and adding their usual commentary, and when the video ended and the name of the band appeared on the screen, Butthead read their name out loud. And when I heard the tone of voice he used, it hit me. It's that sarcastic, detached, "I'm so cool" kind of voice that teenage boys use constantly - even for such a banality as a simple declarative statement about a band's name.

And of course, what makes B & B's sarcastic detached cockiness all the more ironic is that they have extremely passive and uneventful lives: they spend all their time "hanging out" and doing the same stupid stuff, yet they somehow (well, Butthead especially) consider themselves qualified to put on this jaded cynical act. Everything they do is as observers. They see sex and rock music on TV, they think and talk about sex and rock music all the time, and they've never had sex or played rock music. And the irony never hits them. They're somehow this weird combination of innocence and jadedness at the same time, and this, combined with their passive observer nature, makes Beavis and Butthead an extremely dead-on accurate portrayal of adolescent males.

Of course Beavis and Butthead are exaggerations of teenage males, but nevertheless I find them a rather refreshing change from the portrayals of teenagers in shows such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek, who seem as articulate, poised, and self-confident as a bunch of sophisticated 28-year-olds, and who do not ring true to me at all.

Beavis and Butt-Head is a brilliant TV show, especially for a TV show that is more often than not about "toilet" humor. That is usually not a good indication. Nowadays most movies and TV shows are about sexual promiscuity, perversity, drugs, etc. Beavis and Butt-Head is a show about two teenagers who are obsessed with sex, heavy metal music, etc. On top of that, the title characters are basically highly unintelligent. So how could Beavis and Butt-Head possibly be any good? Surprisingly, the TV show is not just awesome, it's - even more surprisingly - highly clever as well. It's important to give this show a chance before you can notice that it's much more than meets the eye.

The TV show accurately and cleverly portrays how the idiocy of the title characters does not fall short in this world. In the 1990s Beavis and Butt-Head in particular stood out in that regard. Ironically, in the 1990s a number of parents blamed Beavis and Butt-Head for the misbehavior of their children, totally failing to understand the point of the show, which is not for kids but shows what two kids do these days. It's like basing two teenage characters on two general modern teenagers and saying "this is how your kids are" to parents and a number of them respond by saying "no that's who my kids are imitating". The joke is on them but they are oblivious to it and that is the real power of Beavis and Butt-Head. You would almost want to be in their situation because of how the world has become. Being plain stupid is more than enough to "outsmart" people these days - as Beavis and Butt-Head accurately prove time after time. That makes it so easy to "identify" with Beavis and Butt-Head. Yet, at the same time, unlike movies and TV shows in general, Beavis and Butt-Head (the TV show) does not condone violence, drugs or anything like that. It's amazing how a "potty" humor show about two unintelligent teenagers is more intelligent and witty than most "serious" TV shows.

The first few seasons of Beavis and Butt-Head are horribly drawn and quite simplistic. You can skip the first two seasons. From there on the show gets better with every season. Almost the half of every episode consists of Beavis and Butt-Head watching and commenting on music videos.

On November 28, 1997, the last Beavis and Butt-Head episode of season 7 was aired. Beavis and Butt-Head was canceled. It was like MTV was canceled. By that time Beavis and Butt-Head was the only thing worthy to watch on MTV. Music videos in the 1990s began to be all about sex, pimping, drugs, prostitutes, gangsterism, etc. So at the time it was in my opinion a good idea of MTV to start focusing on non-musical content and that's where Beavis and Butt-Head perfectly fit in. It was almost like MTV was making fun of the people who liked the music videos of those days. Absolutely brilliant. When Beavis and Butt-Head was canceled, MTV began to die out. In the next decade MTV ("Music Television") became no longer "MTV" because it was no longer about music. Instead, reality shows like 16 and Pregnant (2009) began to dominate MTV. MTV as it once was was simply gone.

It would take almost 14 years before Beavis and Butt-Head returned in 2011. The 2000s had passed without Beavis and Butt-Head. Music videos still exist but not as they once were. TV in general is as good as dead. Computers and the internet have largely replaced the "need" for TV. Sex, drugs, nudity, etc are now no longer rare on TV. So does Beavis and Butt-Head have a place on TV anymore? Well, not so much when it comes to music videos or sexual content in them. That's for sure. Season 8 nevertheless feels like Beavis and Butt-Head has never been away, even though the music videos have been replaced by the reality shows that are currently being aired on MTV. The title characters have become wittier and the quality of the show appears (so far) to be the same. The world has changed since Beavis and Butt-Head was canceled in the late 1990s. In today's world - with today's MTV, dying TV, internet, etc - Beavis and Butt-Head will most likely never become as popular as they once were. That is not say that Beavis and Butt-Head is or will not be just as good. No other adult-comedic cartoon show has come along in the 14 years of Beavis and Butt-Head's absence that has matched the quality and excellence of Beavis and Butt-Head. Not even South Park (1997).

I would most definitely recommend Beavis and Butt-Head to anyone (who is an adult)! It may not be for everyone (due to the type of comedy of the show) but for everybody else it is a must-see TV show!

You'd think that this show would be so stupid, and it is, but you get your laughs out of it. Sometimes, you need that immature side. And you have to just admit when something is funny. I would watch this show with my sister when we were younger, and I just wanted to be like her. It was the grundge era, *shudder*, so, I thought it was cool. And now I watch it on my own, and I still get my kicks. Beavis and Butt-head rocks.