My TV Show Review/Rant on The Pink Panther (1993-1996)

Well, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This likely wasn't the best review to pick before the end of 2019.

But, having seen plenty of this series's episodes on YouTube to last me a lifetime, I'm making my 17th TV show review on "The Pink Panther". The series that aired from 1993 to 1996 to be exact.

The summary of the series is this:

This series follows the wacky misadventures of the Pink Panther. Unlike previous installments, though, each character that's featured throughout talks and the comedic-style is reminiscent to that of the Looney Tunes.

Now I won't lie, the animation was extremely appealing to the eye. I admired how faithful the animators were to the look and feel of David H. DePatie and the late Friz Freleng's style for the original show, and there was a great sense of technological advancement too.

In spite of this, though, this series was literally more of an inducer of eye rolls and headaches than fun.

Simply put, IT'S HORRENDOUS!!!

I'm not sure if Pink Panther creator and film director Blake Edwards had ever watched this show during his lifetime, but if he did...I'm pretty sure he'd be extremely disappointed. The same being said for show creators Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie, because much of their creative vision for what made the originals so special appeared to be completely disregarded!

At the most, the voice acting was tolerable. There was some nicely witty dialogue, and Wallace Shawn's casting as the Little Man was intriguing. Plus, Brian George gave a pretty spot-on impression of Inspector Clouseau that made it seem like the late Peter Sellers was in the building. As the episodes I watched progressed, though, the voiceovers of the cast completely overstayed their welcome, and they were not only annoying but unnecessary. The voice that cast member Matt Frewer gave the Pink Panther hardly even fit the character and was a lot more irritating than good. Among the descriptions that came to my mind when hearing the Pink Panther's voice was that he sounded like a tired and unenthusiastic "Weird Al" Yankovic drunk from a party.

The character development in articulation was also largely lacking. A thing that made the original series so special was that despite how short the episodes were and their purposes being mainly to provide laughs, the characters would have an emotional growth that would help them be far from one-dimensional. In this series, though, that was hardly the case. The characters barely learned anything or emotionally grew after all the experiences they had.

The stories and overall humor of the series were a lot more lame than anything else. Whoever was writing for this show clearly didn't know that in order for a sitcom to be great, they would need to incorporate a moral into the story to help it have more meaning and heart. Not only that, but the comedic style the show runners went for didn't deliver in causing laughter at all. It was flat, and had the feeling of being done by a factory machine more than people.

In the end, "The Pink Panther" series from the 1990s proved to be disappointing more than great, and something in my gut tells me that this was done by the demands of lazy executives and wasn't creatively inspired.

So, I rate "The Pink Panther (1993-1996)" 1½ out of 5 stars.

Comments

[Jade Dawn]

I didn't know there was another Pink Panther show. I thought there was just the live action detective movies and the cartoon.

[A Man Undercover]

5172944
Yes. You are correct in that. And well, the installments you mentioned are definitely better than the atrocity I just reviewed.

[GivingSpider]

There's an almost literal, special Lightning In A Bottle that the original had; a very unique charm that just simply cannot be replicated. It was in its simplicity, its limitedness, that gave it so much appeal. The reboot..well...it was trying too hard to capture the old feeling and style of storytelling while adding something new.

They don't make Nostalgia Glasses strong enough to get me to like the reboot.

[The Mysterious Lombax]

So you prefer the Pink Panther show where he doesn't talk? And the one reboot he had called Pink Panther and Pals?

[A Man Undercover]

5529530
Yes.

[alfonso_rd_33]

5172944
There are like 5 or 6 iterations of the Panther