It was amusing, but...

Nestor-4

...the show seemed like it was a bunch of rich white writers laughing at poor minority groups.

The hang-overs from some of the creative people behind The Simpsons is evident.  There are numerous references that the unemployed are all scroungers and perfectly happy with their lot in life, unless of course they are trying to demand more from the system.

As the series went on, it seemed to degenerate into a series of movie parodies, with numerous pop-culture references to movies such as Star Wars, E.T, Terminator 2, etc, moving away from the original intention of the show. You are left with the impression that there are just too many puns on black culture/pop-culture to be anything other than the "haves" chuckling at the "have-nots".

Eddie Murphy is the key figure in making the show work - his vocal performance stands head & shoulders above the rest of the cast, not that this comment is in any way sidelining the others in the show, but the fact that Murphy seems to have used his creative/production credit to make sure that he gets all the plum lines.

It was a bold move to have a stop-motion animation series on TV at a time when conventional animation and CG shows were so very popular.  As the series went on, the quality of the animation just got better & better, eventually having the kind of shots that are usually seen on the big screen. If The PJ's is remembered for anything, it will be for the innovative use of a dying art-form.

score /10

Nestor-4 7 June 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0618517/