Hug N' Bugs
Hug N' Bugs is the broadcast premiere episode of Bless the Harts, which aired on September 29, 2019 on Fox.[1] It was written by Erin Wagoner and directed by Pete Michels, who was a former supervising director for The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty.[2]
| "Hug N' Bugs" | |
|---|---|
| Bless the Harts episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Pete Michels |
| Written by | Erin Wagoner |
| Production code | 1BPJ03 |
| Original air date | September 29, 2019 |
Plot
Norma tells Jenny that her water bill is due in 3 days. As Jenny goes through the bills, her mother Betty tells her to come in and see a "me-me". Jenny corrects her and tells her it's a meme, when she questions the storage bill she saw earlier. Betty tells Jenny that she has a storage unit there, and Jenny threatens to remove it because the water in the house is going to get shut down. But Betty says Jenny can't do anything without the key.
Jenny's daughter, Violet has a room is full of the family stuff as Wayne, Jenny's boyfriend, comes in and does the laundry, since the laundry was broken at his place. While he's waiting, he sees Violet drawing and asks her what the drawings symbolize. Wayne is shown as a tree stump. Thinking in his head, he sets off to be a better father figure to Violet. He sees a picture of a building of Violet's drawings, which Violet says is called Fort Indigo.
Jenny finds the key while going through some stuff and heads down to the storage unit, where she finds out that there are a lot of old toys called Hug N' Bugs that swept the nation 20 years ago. She then calls her mother, who says they can make tons of money selling these. At the Last Supper, Brenda warns Jenny to be mindful of reflections, as when she sold something on Craiglist, everyone saw her "cooter reflections". Jenny's figment of imagination Jesus Christ comes out of the painting and Jenny tells him that she's gonna make cash from selling the leftover toys to pay the water bill. Jesus tells her that's a fad, but when they're talking, EYay (a parody of Ebay) notifies Jenny that her toy sold for $150.
As Jenny keeps racking up EYay sales on the toys, the toys keep coming back because Betty keeps buying them back, setting them back to nowhere. At this point, their water gets shut off. They both go down to the water district to try to sell them a Hug N' Bug toy, when the employee says they will never sell for that price.
Wayne and his friend Leonard finish a building and show Violet it is Fort Indigo. Amazed, she goes inside to get her stuff, eager to move in. While she's gone, a building inspector tells Wayne the building has to come down at the end of the week because it violates many codes. He goes to the city hall to try to get a permit, but Mayor Webb denies it. Wayne tells Violet it has to come down and apologizes, but Violet tells Wayne that he didn't finish looking at all her visuals and that Fort Indigo explodes at the end of her story, revealing that the stump shows the girl (a caricacture of Violet) her way home. When Betty goes next door to try to trade a toy for 10 minutes of water, Wayne tells her to tell the neighbor not to smoke around the toys because they will explode, which gives Violet an idea.
Jenny and Betty insert the highly flammable toys that were worthless to destroy Fort Indigo, but Jenny sells a toy on EYay at that moment, a Colin Powell Hug N' Bug. Wayne rushes into the fire to save the toy and succeeds. Jenny asks Betty if she bought the toy, which she did not. The family gets their water back on and Jenny thanks whoever bought the toy. The collector, Colin Powell himself, is shown putting Betty's toy on his collectors shelf.
Reception
"Hug N' Bugs" received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Jonathan Wilson of Ready, Set, Cut gave the episode 3 out of 5 stars, stating, "'Hug N' Bugs' though tasked with a lot of setup, was likable and diverting enough to suggest good things for Fox’s new animated sitcom."[3]
Kathryn VanArendonk of Vulture stated, "Bless the Harts is a very nice way to round out the revived Animation Domination block. Even in the pilot episode, you feel how interesting and rich the story can be when several generations live in the same house. The burden of supporting the family largely falls on Jenny, but Betty has financial responsibility too, and the economic and social pressures are distributed more evenly between the three protagonists than they would be in a traditional dad-brings-home-the-bacon structure. Each character has more autonomy and more power. With its fast, absurd, dry sense of humor, hopefully Bless the Harts will have a chance to stick around for a long time."[4]
Caroline Framke of Variety stated, "And as a prolific 'Saturday Night Live' veteran, Spivey’s assembled an ace voice cast that can make the most of any joke, especially the ones that veer towards the surreal. (One of the pilot’s best and weirdest gags involves Jenny venting her frustrations to a hallucinated Jesus, voiced as a playful weirdo by Kumail Nanjiani.) And frankly, even if the jokes were less sharp, there’s rarely any going wrong with the pair of Wiig and Rudolph, who show exactly why they’ve become such ubiquitous comedy players. In their hands, every joke gets told to its fullest potential, and their easy chemistry makes the relationship between their characters feels all the realer, even when they’re at direct odds. That’s the best a family sitcom can hope for with its cast, so with a bit more time, 'Bless the Harts' could absolutely distinguish itself from its Fox animation peers."[5]
Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter stated, "It's just... an animated thing that Fox did and those turn out, for the most part, pretty well after a while. This one just kind of sits there for 30 minutes, pleasant but not particularly funny as it sets up the Hart family. Lots of comedies get better after four or five episodes."[6]
Decider voted "Stream it!", stating, "We wish we could make more of a slam-dunk recommendation of 'Bless The Harts'. The show has a lot of room to improve, but the writers and cast are top-notch, and the story is warm enough to give it a chance."[7]
Slant Magazine gave the episode 3 out of 4 stars, stating, "You can feel Bless the Harts figuring itself out in its first episode. There are bits that go on for too long; Wayne’s internal monologues, for one, move at too relaxed a pace and result in little comedic payoff. But the episode also features promising signs of the madcap humor that the series will hopefully settle into."[8]
The episode was watched by 1.82 million people and scored a 0.7 rating, making the fourth most watched show on Fox that night, behind The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob's Burgers respectively.[9]
References
- "On Sunday, September 29, welcome the star-studded cast of our new show, #BlessTheHarts, to the #AnimationDomination family at 8:30/7:30c on FOX!". September 18, 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "Pete Michels Linkedin". Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- Wilson, Jonathan. "Bless the Harts Season Episode 1 recap". Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- VanArendonk, Kathryn. "Bless the Harts shakes up FOX's Animation Domination". Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- Framke, Caroline (30 September 2019). "TV Review: 'Bless the Harts' With Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph". Variety. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- Goodman, Tim. "Bless the Harts Pilot Review". Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- "Bless the Harts FOX Stream it or skip it?". Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- "Bless the Harts first episode is a madcap, if uneven introduction". Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- Welch, Alex (October 1, 2019). "'60 Minutes,' 'NCIS: Los Angeles,' and 'Sunday Night Football' adjust up: Sunday final ratings". Retrieved 12 May 2020.