I had some time to kill so I decided to sit down and watch the first episode of this and write up a run down for it since the sub was collectively shitting on it the other day. You can find the full first episode for free on the Daily Wire site, so if you want to watch it over there and then discuss it here then feel free. Below are spoilers for it though.
The series starts with Birchum and his childhood best friend Gage placing bets on the first student to insult either of them on their first day back to school as teachers, only for Birchum to immediately get insulted. Gage points out how crazy it is that kids hate Birchum so much that they can’t even make it out of the parking lot without getting insulted, which I found funny because it almost serves as meta commentary for the initial reaction to the show when it was announced.
Birchum and Gage meet Mr. Karponzi, a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) officer and they all take an immediate disliking towards each other because Birchum and Gage have traditionally masculine teaching methods as shop teachers. Birchum’s teaching philosophy is that wood doesn’t care about your feelings. If you hurt wood, wood will hurt you back. Wood doesn’t discriminate. Its only true enemy is the donkey system, where he acts out donkey demerit points to students if they act stupid, abuse the tools, or just simply doesn’t like the students. Every time they get a donkey point, it moves them across the board, and if they get to the end then they have to sit down at the makeshift corral.
When teaching remedial woodshop, Birchum has a student aid named Brad (who is voiced by the same VA as Johnny Test I think) and he is able to forge Birchum’s signatures and change any of the students grades at will. He says this in front of the class, which makes you question why considering the students can probably use this information against him.
Principal Bortles (voiced by Roseanne Barr) comes into the class to inform Birchum that Karponzi has banned his safety film for being problematic because it shows blood. He shows it anyways though once they leave.
Back at his house, he gets into an argument with his wife Wendi (voice by Megyn Kelly) for feeding their dog vegan food. Then he gives advice to his tomboy daughter Jeanie (voiced by Brett Cooper) to just set the microwave to 33 seconds instead of 30 seconds because it wastes time. His twenty-year old son Eddie that plays professional e-sports comes in and tells him that he can just push the 30 second button, but Birchum just calls him lazy. Birchum gets frustrated that Eddie isn’t sitting down with the rest of the family to eat and is instead just gaming in the basement. Birchum gets annoyed at Eddie for not having a girlfriend, sitting in a vibrating chair, and drinking energy drinks made in a lab in Wuhan. I don’t even really know what they’re trying to satirize with the energy drink.
Back at the school, some parents are complaining about Birchum’s shop class video because it made someone’s kid ask them questions like what decapitate means and if they can go to trade school. Karponzi decides to add getting rid of Birchum to his to do list along with decolonizing the cafeteria menu and updating Tinder with protesting pics.
Wendi and Jeanie meanwhile are trying to make houses on the market look presentable to help Wendi’s job as a realtor. Jeanie gets into a disagreement with Wendi over how everything is decorated, and ends up ruining the fireplace by scraping the white paint off of it. The b-plot ends with Jeanie handcuffing herself to the fireplace to not allow for anymore white paint to be put on it, which makes the buyers not want to buy the house, but Wendi says that she’s proud of because she stuck to her convictions. That takeaway was really weird to me. Jeanie not only vandalizes property that isn’t hers because she doesn’t like how it looks, but she also directly negatively impacts her mother’s livelihood by scaring off potential buyers. Why exactly does she deserve praise for acting like a selfish little shit? If these were leftist protesters blocking traffic or vandalizing other people’s property for their pet issues I have no doubt that any of the Daily Wire hosts would have any problem rightfully calling those people a bunch of losers, but the show just tells us that Jeanie did the right thing by acting in the exact same fashion.
While doing laundry, Birchum asks why Eddie doesn’t like doing physical sports and he just flashbacks to playing little league as a kid and Birchum freaking out after he struck out.
The main plot continues with everyone in Birchum’s class is at risk of failing, so he gives them all an opportunity to pass his class by showing up to his house to finish his deck. Karponzi records this and uses this as justification for a disciplinary tribunal, which is a sort of trial that determines if he should get fired or not. At the tribunal, Birchum defends himself by saying that he’s actually teaching kids how to apply the skills they learned in his class to actually build things and points out how teachers even asked him and his students to build things for them. Everyone in the crowd erupts in cheer after hearing Birchum’s speech and wave around American flags and play patriotic music.
In the end Birchum only gets a three day suspension from work which he treats as a vacation. The C-plot (if you can even call it that) ends with Birchum meeting some attractive woman Eddie invited over who says that he is so cool and hot because he’s a great gamer, which changes Birchum’s opinion of him slightly.
All and all it was exactly what I was expecting, a lazy Family Guy knockoff. I see a lot of people saying that’s an unfair criticism, but I didn’t even mention any of the unfunny cutaway gags throughout the summary. You have vegan wolves and bears going around complaining about not getting the right coffee and getting mauled to death as the punchline. They also have a lot of in your face political references that are just brought up randomly out of nowhere. In one scene Wendi says that a part of her job is to sell people dreams that have no basis in reality, and Jeanie responds by saying “oh so like the Green New Deal?” And there’s a forced moment of silence as if she just had a mic drop moment. It’s so lame.
The main character is annoying and unfunny. There’s no cohesive plot as it feels like a series of unrelated sketches with some random b and c plots sprinkled in. Scenes seem to start and end at random, making you question what the point even was in having them. The humor consists entirely of ‘young people amirite’ and 'checkmate libtards' which are dated, as you can see every punchline coming a mile away. The voice acting is generally pretty poor, everyone apart from the main cast sounds like they recorded it on their phone while sitting on the toilet. Character designs also look ugly, with some characters having some weird anatomies to them.
For years hosts at The Daily Wire complained about the ham-fisted content and ideological shallowness coming from Hollywood, but when they were given the opportunity to actually make something good they fall into the same trap. You are generally not going to make something good if your primary concern is pushing your ideology over making good entertainment first.
Analyzing humour and parodying others requires some level empathy and the understanding of what drives the people being satirized to make it effective and not just propaganda, which the writers of this show lack. There’s nothing nuanced about the manbun Jedi guy which just relegates him to being a one-note joke.
That's why every attempt to lambaste the left in animation just results in shows where the whole joke is just complaining about newgen trendy thing while assuming the viewer will clap because they agree with boomer takes. Yeah, I’m sure EVERY young conservative agrees with boomers on everything.
This will likely be my only post on the show unless it does something really interesting, which I doubt. It prides itself on being so raunchy and offensive while being completely safe and inoffensive. Episodes of Family Guy are more offensive than this show, and that’s made by a bunch of liberals.

W.D. Kilpack III, a native of West Jordan, Uta., had his sixth novel, Battle Calm, published on Amazon.com. This is the first book in a trilogy called the Battle Calm Cycle, set in a dystopian future. It is Kilpack's first hardcover release, but is also available in eBook and on Kindle Unlimited.
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Battle Calm centers around Badger, a Keeper, who is the greatest soldier alive. He knows to never celebrate victories, no matter how hard-won, because the enemy never stops. When Badger succeeded his father, Red Skin, as Keeper Base Leader, he was well prepared, raised to handle anything the enemy threw at him. He was the best killer, and the most respected tactician. He knew Red Skin’s Laws like he wrote them himself. Most importantly, he was always calm, no matter how frenzied the combat. These were only some of the reasons why he still had all his original parts. His two closest friends are Trinity, who would die for him, and Korry, who would follow him without question. They are all Keepers. They fight, they kill, they live to kill another day, even when it means bugging out to another Base ... and another. That is life when life is war. They know nothing else. But even war cannot last forever, regardless of the infallible truth of Red Skin’s Law #35: “Under conditions of peace, men attack themselves; thus, there never has been, and there never will be a time without war. It is the greatest, most perfect thing men can do.”
Kilpack said, "I wrote the very earliest drafts of these books when I was 14. Don't worry, they've been revised many, many times since then. I'm very happy with the state they're in now. The military aspect is much more authentic in a lot of ways, despite being a fictional branch of the military. Research and Q&A with some veterans went into restructuring that aspect of the story both through direct feedback and pointing me to the right places to dig and find out for myself."
Kilpack is an award-winning and critically acclaimed internationally published writer, with works appearing in print, online, radio and television, starting with his first publication credit at the age of nine, when he wrote an award-winning poem. He has since won 23 book awards, including The International Firebird Book Award, The BookFest Award, International Impact Book Award, both Editor's Choice and Top Pick from BooksShelf and Honorable Mention from L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest for his novella, Pale Face, which was recently optioned for development for a Hollywood movie. He has been editor and/or publisher of 19 news and literary publications, both online and in print, with circulations as high as 770,000.
He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Westminster University. As an undergrad, he double-majored in communication and philosophy, while completing the Honors Program. As a graduate student, he earned a master of professional communication with a writing emphasis. He was also a high-performing athlete, qualifying for international competition in Greco-Roman wrestling.
For 25 years, he was a communication professor and a nationally recognized wrestling coach. He is an accomplished cook and has cooked nearly every type of food on a grill. He is happily married to his high-school sweetheart and is father to five children, as well as helping to raise five step-children. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he continues to live, consult and educate. For more information www.Kilpack.net
Praise for Pale Face
Pale Face is "pretty darned good. I like it. I love how [Hector] sees the aliens and the white men in the same light. A nice, brutal, ironic twist ... this is good stuff." — Dave Wolverton, international best-selling author
Praise for Crown Prince: Book One of New Blood
"Author W.D. Kilpack III presents an atmospheric and immersive journey into a richly crafted fantasy world, balancing a strong character-led adventure with a wider web of plots, setting up a highly complex and enjoyable fantasy saga to follow. There’s a clear flair for character, dialogue, and attitude from the start, with Natharr's intense presence affecting all who encounter him and making for some really dynamic clashes. The weightiness of his responsibilities and the depth of the world-building immediately gripped my attention and, as the story unfolded, the way the characters’ attitudes and actions were shaped by the realism of the worldbuilding was totally compelling. This book delivers on every promise of pulse-pounding adventure — thanks to the swift pacing of the plot, coupled with dark storytelling, strong descriptive skills, and captivating character development that balances emotion with duty well. Overall, I would certainly recommend Crown Prince as an incredible opener to an exciting new fantasy series, and I’m all the more eager to continue exploring this fantastical realm." — USA Today best-selling author K.C. Finn
Praise for Order of Light: Book Two of New Blood
"W. D. Kilpack III's Crown Prince captivated me. His vivid descriptions plunged me into a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, and emotions. I devoured the first book in the New Blood Saga, desperate to see where the tale would lead. So, it was with bated breath that I cracked open Order of Light, the series' second instalment. Kilpack doesn't disappoint. The themes that resonated in Crown Prince deepen and twist in Order of Light. He has a way of making words just flow vividly on the page. On page 106 of my Australian paperback version, a revelation about Natharr, the Guardian of Maarihk, floored me! His journey of self-discovery weaves flawlessly with the Crown Prince's own remarkable growth. New fantastical creatures emerge from Kilpack's boundless imagination. The Quiet One and Bu, meticulously detailed in all their wonder, are testament to his storytelling prowess. But fear not, I won't spoil the magic! Suffice it to say, fans of epic fantasy, your search is over. Kilpack is your new literary lord. From exhilarating battle sequences to poignant moments of reflection, Order of Light is a masterpiece. If I could, I’d give it a six! Both it and Crown Prince deserve a place on your bookshelf. Trust me, you won't regret immersing yourself in Kilpack's world." — Jose F. Nodar, author of Books, Pens & Larceny (South Wales, Australia)
Praise for Demon Seed: Book Three of New Blood
"Demon Seed is the thrilling and fast-paced third book in the New Blood Saga ... Kilpack does not disappoint! Demon Seed is a shocking and brilliant tale that will reintroduce readers to characters we have come to love/be invested in. In this third book, the stakes are as high as ever and the story the reader is taken on will enthrall, captivate and excite its readers ... Kilpack from the beginning hooks his readers and keeps them enchanted to the very end. I have to recommend Demon Seed to readers that love epic fantasy! Demon Seed is one that is full of shocks, thrills, and twists and turns galore that will keep you on edge from beginning to end. [It] is an incredibly suspenseful novel and this is thanks to the wonderful author, whose work I love ... [Demon Seed] did not let me down, this saga has not lost its momentum or uniqueness. Kilpack is an exceptional author [who] knows how to flawlessly transport his readers into the story ... the descriptions are phenomenal ... Demon Seed is a magnificent and entertaining book that will easily entertain its readers for many hours! That is why I of course have to award this incredible book five stars!" — RedHeadedBookLover.com
Praise for Rilari: Book Four of New Blood
"Embark on a captivating journey with W.D. Kilpack III's Rilari: Book Four of New Blood, a tale that expertly weaves tension, mystery, and awe-inspiring heroism. Kilpack's world-building skillfully combines politics, magic, and ancient lore, creating a rich tapestry for readers to explore. The characters, especially Natharr and the Knights of Ril, are well-developed, and the dynamic between Nathan and his summoned companion adds depth and heart to the story. Kilpack successfully incorporates profound themes of resilience and unity into the gripping plot, leaving readers emotionally connected. Riliari is a triumph, offering an enthralling adventure filled with courage and the enduring spirit of humanity." — BooksShelf.com

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