Code Monkeys: Season 1 DVD Review

By Ned Jordan

Code Monkeys is a great idea.  It's an animated series set at a videogame company during the heyday of videogames in the early 1980s.  The show is made to look like an 80s videogame itself, complete with blocky graphics and clunky animation - it's a great look.  The birth of nerd culture, crummy videogames, 80s pop culture and music, and more are all ripe for skewering.  Unfortunately Code Monkeys is nothing more than a good idea - a good idea that they show's writers have no idea what to do with.  The series goes from mediocre to terrible in the course of its short season and it's obvious that the writers' tenuous grasp on comedic writing is completely snapped before the season limps to a close.  In spite of all the potential humor ripe for the plucking that is inherent in the show's setting, the writers continually reach for the low-hanging fruit of scatological and drug humor - and even these jokes aren't funny.  Poo in the microwave, peeing on the floor, and "dude, I'm so high" jokes are the best that Code Monkeys can muster.  If you can double over in laughter every time one of the main characters yells out his catch phrase of "I love you whores" then you might enjoy the show.  Everyone else should avoid Code Monkeys like it's carrying the Ebola virus.

Final Rating: