Close Enough Season 1 Review

Main Cast from left to right: Alex, Josh, Candice, Emily, and Bridgette

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: JG Quintel’s new show follows early 30s-something Millennial couple Josh and Emily who are raising a 5-year-old child Candice while living with divorced couple Alex and Bridgette in a duplex in Los Angeles.

My Thoughts: Before I start sharing my opinion on the show, I think it’s important to provide some background information regarding the creator JG Quintel since it comes into play significantly later on into this cartoon’s wild production process and my critique.

     James Garland (JG) Quintel was born September 13, 1982 in Hanford, California. Thanks to his fondness drawing growing up, he ended up attending California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where he created two little animated shorts known as “2 in the AM PM” and “The Man from Loliland” in 2006, both of which contained similar voice work and character designs of what became the “Regular Show” pilot in 2008 which was part of the Cartoon Network project The Cartoonstitute. It was among the only two out of 14 shorts that the network greenlit (the other one being Uncle Grandpa). Regular Show made its debut on September 6, 2010, becoming an instant rating and critical success that ran for eight seasons, ending on January 16, 2017.  This is the point where Close Enough and its “anything but regular” production enters the stage.

    Close Enough’s original trailer was released on July 21 of the same year about two months being announced by TBS. The half-hour animated series (in contrast to Regular Show’s 11 minutes runtime) was initially slated to premiere in late 2017 to early 2018, much to the excitement of fans of Quintel’s previous show including myself. Much to the discontent of our tenacity, the release date kept being delayed or, during several points, completely ambiguous due to a lack of updates from TBS or the creator (which may have been for contractual reasons), leaving the show fate in development hell until we saw the light in Quintel’s eyes in 2020 when the airdate was finally announced for July 9 on HBO Max. The large gap between the series initial announcement and eventual debut can be attributed to a number of factors which Quintel addressed in his recent Reddit AMA which I took the time peruse through and summarize lest you weren’t in the mood to read the entire thread which I’ll link here:

1.      AT&T merger with Time Warner – Many people like to point fingers to the dissolution of TBS’s animation block as a primary cause due to the Louis C.K.’s cartoon, The Cops, being scrapped, which was supposed to be the highlight of the lineup, as a result of his sexual misconduct allegations. However, I wouldn’t be quick to jump to that conclusion since the two other shows that were intended to be part of the schedule, Tarantula and Final Space, did see the limelight despite the former being canned after its first season and the latter being mover to [adult swim] for first-run airings. In reality, the release date was postponed partially because AT&T purchased Time Warner in 2018 before developing an idea for the streaming service that became HBO Max shortly thereafter.

2.      The show wasn’t completed – Close Enough’s first trailer did not contain clips from any completed episodes (there weren’t any) but was animated as a pitch reel and later sneak peek, meaning everything else was created from scratch. And, of course, since animation tends to takes months to complete (unless you’re South Park), that also added to the production time. Plus, the episode length had to be edited down from 22 minutes to 11.

    Like many, I was relieved knowing the show wasn’t dead but at the same time, I was a skosh worried that this would end up just being a raunchier version of Regular Show but with humans instead of humanoid animals/things. I’ll say with fain that expectation was only partially correct. Though Close Enough shares many similarities as its predecessor including in character designs, animation, and supernatural elements stemming from mundane situations. However, these similar aspects merely established a sense of familiarity that bridge the transitional gap between a comedy about disoriented early 20s-somethings slackers who are still trying to find their place in the world (which describes a lot of young adults within society) and one about early 30s-something working parents, a much underrepresented demographic in media, trying to make ends meet from both their jobs. Long gone are their peak youthful days of being the “entitled young’uns” on the block, a space that has been by Gen Zers like yours truly, for a new chapter in life has turned over. One that’s a not-so-pleasant reminder of their age which brings into call a commonly recurring theme on throughout the series of getting older. It’s most evident in the episode “Logan’s Run’d” where Josh and Emily want to relieve their 20s by going with Alex and Bridgette to one of the hottest nightclubs in LA while their daughter is at a sleepover. While there, they begin realizing they don’t have quite the same energy as in the past and are pretty out of touch with the younger generation to the point that there’s even a VIP lounge for people over 30 who are instantly treated to a fate I’ll leave for you to figure out supposing you’re old or cultured enough in 70s cinema to get the allusion made the episode’s title. It’s also parts like this that feel like an overtly harsh reminder of what my 30s might be like and why I should cherish my youth while I still have it. Moving on, the voice acting is also spot-on with talents such as Jason Mantzoukas, Kumiko Glenn, Gabrielle Walsh, and the creator himself JG Quintel who voices Josh. In addition, there’s a great roster of guest voice actors throughout the show which includes Judy Greer, Chris Parnell, Weird Al, etc. Furthermore, there’s a good balance of modern and older music in the soundtrack which help set the mood for the scenes with my favorite instance being the use of “Turn Down for What” in “Logan’s Run’d” where Josh and Emily were doing as many tasks as possible while their daughter was gone for the day.  My sole complaint would be the episodes’ 11-minute runtime which doesn’t always seem like enough time to further explore the character interactions, relationships, expand upon some of the plots, and incorporate more subplots. In fact, my favorite episode of the season was the 22-minute finale “The Canine Guy” which contained two plots, the first one being about Josh who decides to help out a humanoid mutant canine he finds on the street and the other centering around Emily and Bridgette trying to rekindle their friendship over a camping trip. Nevertheless, as I’ve mentioned before, this was beyond the creator’s control so you can blame the editing on executive meddling. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, Close Enough is an “eggcellent“ (I couldn’t resist making that reference) animated sitcom which I would highly recommend to fans of Quintel’s previous work and people in their late 20s to 30s in general who’re trying to keep their life together. Good luck finding Regular Show Easter eggs while viewing the show. Meanwhile, I’ll be dancing with myself.