TV Guidance

Jaime Weinman writes about all kinds of television and other kinds of popular culture. He does not write Gossip Girl episode reviews. Follow Jaime on Twitter: @weinmanj

Categories: TV Guidance

What's the Worst Yogi Bear?

by Jaime Weinman on Thursday, July 29, 2010 2:39pm - 0 Comments

Okay, just a simple question. Which is more depressing, the trailer for the 2010 version of Yogi Bear:

[vodpod id=Video.4122774&w=640&h=385&fv=]

Or the introduction for the Yogi Bear show of 20 years ago, “Yo Yogi!,” which also used 3D?

I’m going for the new trailer, if only because a) There’s no nostalgia factor involved with bad 2010 pop culture, whereas bad 1991 3D pop culture at least gets a smile; b) Dan Aykroyd doesn’t even pronounce “av-e-rage” the way Yogi is supposed to.

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http://zeppomarxist.blogspot.com Anthony Strand

The new movie look pretty bad, but not quite as bad as the John K. shorts from 1999. Those things were unbelievably unfunny. I was 14 when they aired, and I think that may have been the moment I realized I didn't care for John K.'s work. They retroactively made me dislike Ren & Stimpy.
Anon Liberal

I distinctly recall an article that came out shortly after "Pandora" explaining that it would be stupid of Hollywood to push the 3-D thing unless there was a good reason for films to be in 3-D. Nice to know they can be relied upon to be stupid.
http://intensedebate.com/profiles/phantomobserver PhantomObserver

Welllll . . . I'm not exactly enthused about the new Yogi, but from what I remember of the 1950s Hanna-Barbera shorts it's pretty damn close to that characterization. And Boo-Boo's voice seems spot on.
The only drawback, really, is Ranger Smith. Frankly you need the personality of Jeffrey Jones' Principal Rooney to get this character to work, and I'm not seeing that here.
As for the toon, I'm a bit offended by two things: (1) the idea that kid-sized versions of H-B characters would appeal to kids perfectly happy with the originals, and (2) the idea that the obviously-middle-aged writers were trying to make them "hip" to that generation. Ewww.
avr

I always liked Yo Yogi. While obnoxiously mall-based, it made a reasonable effort at reworking a not-particularly-funny-or-entertaining-in-the-first-place franchise with some mildly funny supporting characters. (If memory serves, Doggie Daddy was the mall owner and Augie Doggie his manager.) Compared to 70s H-B ensemble shows like Laff-a-Lympics, it's decent, though I think A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was still the best of the awkward 80s kid-version-reboots.
http://twitter.com/igsjr @igsjr

Jaime, there's really no comparison. They both suck equally.