HBO // 2011 // 300 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge David Johnson // January 5th, 2013
Might be time to dim the light on these times.
The first two seasons of HBO's low-budget animated comedy delivered big laughs. In its third go-round, I believe the trials and tribulations of our pal Tim may have run their course.
Tim (voiced by creator Steve Dildarian) is a hapless every-man who tends to underachieve at everything he attempts: friendship, romantic relationships, career aptitude. Season Three opens with Tim booted from his cushy crappy job at Omnicorp and struggling to make ends meets. If that means he has to work as the personal towel boy for a large female professional basketball player, or go back and get his old job as caddy, then so be it. He is not above self-degradation.
But not all is hopeless. As the season unfolds, Tim finds himself faced with all manner of new and exciting opportunities, including a stint in the sausage-slinging industry, falling ass-backwards into an executive position, and ultimately squandering that new career on a huge strip club tab.
I was excited to plug back into The Life and Times of Tim, having been drawn into the first two seasons with more than a few belly laughs. Creator/writer/director/actor Steve Dildarian put together some genuinely funny scenarios, peppered with a unique brand of dialogue; a mixture of wry sarcasm and pathetic befuddlement, all of which is delivered by Tim himself. Each 30-minute episode featured two small adventures buttressed together, and while the series was occasionally hit-and-miss (as any comedy tends to be) the balance was firmly in the THIS IS FUNNY side of the ledger.
I'm not sure what happened between Seasons Two and Three, because I'm just not feeling the magic anymore. The show still feels the same, the set-ups are just as outlandish, and Tim is still a tool who delivers his witty rejoinders in the same tone. But, for some reason, it all fails to click.
Have I grown up? Have I matured as a man? No, that's definitely not it.
Has the writing cratered? The voice acting? The animation? Nope, the stories and sequences are still objectively funny.
Like anything, except for maybe Streets of Rage 2 and Life cereal, The Life and Times of Tim has simply lost its luster. It's like Yoo-hoo. Man did I love Yoo-hoo, knocking that liquid chocolaty goodness back up through my early '20s. It was smooth and sweet and delicious. Yet somewhere on my Yoo-hoo drinking timeline it dawned on me, "This stuff is pretty much just chocolate water." I think...I think I'm just done.
A bare-bones DVD set: standard definition 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, Dolby 5.1 Surround, English/French/Spanish subtitles, and no extras.
The Life and Times of Tim is not a train wreck. There are moments where my brains tells me what's transpiring is indeed funny, but my mouth simply fails to respond with laughter.
Sorry. It's not you, it's me.
Review content copyright © 2013 David Johnson; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2013 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 90
Audio: 90
Extras: 0
Acting: 80
Story: 70
Judgment: 75
Perp Profile
Studio: HBO
Video Formats:
* 1.78:1 Anamorphic
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (English)
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (Spanish)
Subtitles:
* English (CC)
* French
* Spanish
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Release Year: 2011
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* None
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0950701/combined