How Rick and Morty Jumped the Shark

Something has gone wrong with Rick and Morty.
What used to be my favourite comedy series of all time, and if not the greatest, has quietly fallen off the top of the pecking board to become a very strange hit-and-miss type of show. Which is truly surprising to me because not only is the premise so wonderfully bizarre and fun, it also felt like the type of science-fiction comedy that was immensely intelligent right away from the get go and it was so far ahead of anything else that was being put to the air.
But with season 7, the canary in the coal mine was well on its way to singing, and perhaps it had begun singing even earlier. In an effort to try and understand where things could have gone wrong or to offer some suggestions as to why it has, I went back to the beginning to look at what worked before compared to what now just doesn’t.
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What is Rick and Morty?
Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadventures of cynical mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his good-hearted but fretful grandson Morty Smith, who split their time between domestic life and interdimensional adventures.
Roiland voices the eponymous characters, with Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer and Sarah Chalke voicing the rest of Rick and Morty's family. The series originated from an animated short parody film of Back to the Future, created by Roiland for Channel 101, a short-film festival co-founded by Harmon. Since its debut, the series has received critical acclaim for its originality, creativity and humor. They have won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program.
The fifth season premiered on June 20, 2021, and consisted of ten episodes. A sixth season was confirmed as part of a long-term deal in May 2018 that ordered 70 new episodes over an unspecified number of seasons.
Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadventures of cynical mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his good-hearted but fretful grandson Morty Smith, who split their time between domestic life and interdimensional adventures.
Roiland voices the eponymous characters, with Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer and Sarah Chalke voicing the rest of Rick and Morty's family. The series originated from an animated short parody film of Back to the Future, created by Roiland for Channel 101, a short-film festival co-founded by Harmon. Since its debut, the series has received critical acclaim for its originality, creativity and humor. They have won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program.
The fifth season premiered on June 20, 2021, and consisted of ten episodes. A sixth season was confirmed as part of a long-term deal in May 2018 that ordered 70 new episodes over an unspecified number of seasons.
Rick and Morty was created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. The duo first met at Channel 101, a non-profit monthly short film festival in Los Angeles co-founded by Harmon. At Channel 101, participants submit a short film in the format of a pilot, and a live audience decides which pilots continue as a series. Roiland, then a producer on reality programming, began submitting content to the festival a year after its launch, in 2004. His pilots typically consisted of shock value-"sick and twisted" elements that received a confused reaction from the audience. Nevertheless, Harmon took a liking to his humor and the two began collaborating. In 2006, Roiland was fired from working on a television series he regarded as intensely creatively stifling, and funneled his creative energies into creating a webisode for Channel 101. The result was The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, an animated short starring parodies of Doc Brown and Marty McFly, characters from the Back to the Future film trilogy. In the short, which Harmon would dub "a bastardization, a pornographic vandalization", Doc Smith urges Mharti that the solution to all of his problems is to give him oral sex. The audience reacted to it wildly.
And if you’re still reading this - hello.
This video is made through Fair Use under copyright law for the purposes of education in criticism or review; as well as parody or satire. www.copyright.gov/title17/92c www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod

[@jacktowers7533]

When New Simpsons is Better than New Rick & Morty its almost time to have hope again

[@motioninart]

lololol

[@mrhenk007]

Canary in the coal mine stops singing, that's the bad omen. If it sings everything is fine.

[@motioninart]

my mistake, thanks for the pickup

[@mrhenk007]

@@motioninart I do understand what you meant ofc, good video.

[@mortystraphouse5077]

losing justin roiland killed the show. he was the heart of it all and he was really talented

[@AbrasiousProductions]

I agree but he was a pedophile, he basically ruined the entire show for me.

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

I think part of the problem was that it did start so strongly. It can't be easy to have to keep one upping yourself constantly.

[@motioninart]

true. but im curious howd they go if they kept more of the channel 101 crew

[@firstnamelastname5925]

What’s frustrating is that they didn’t even have to do that, they had already done enough. All they had to do was stay the course, maintaining tone while gradually fleshing out the story on it’s own time.

[@AbrasiousProductions]

hey I've seen you before!

[@oliviaisinspace]

Yay, always stoked for a new Motion in Art upload!!

[@motioninart]

always stoked for a comment by you

[@NicoPanasiuk]

I actually liked the new season a lot. I thought the ideas they explored were great and the Number episodes is just so stupid it’s charming for me. The whole episode is satire on that genre of movies and on Rick and Morty all together

[@scottgilesmusic]

I like John Denver but the mix has him too loud.

[@GangsterFrankensteinComputer]

Nice video. I really like the first two series. After the 4th I had completely stopped caring. To me it felt like it was written more and more for the 'fans', who are the most insufferable people I've ever met online.

[@motioninart]

Thanks for the kind words. I agree. After the 4th is something very strange and hit and miss.

[@Joe-hw9sv]

when did the shark get jumped

[@motioninart]

Season 4/5

[@jordanspencer2157]

It's a house of mortys. House of mortys

[@motioninart]

hahahaha

[@user-vt8br7uo3n]

well then maybe rolin lost his harman and but yeah the first two seaons are so rewatchable even the third kinda but well kinda

[@motioninart]

yeah the first two are great

[@thegoldenstation9723]

Morty! I made you a gorilla gun!

[@AbrasiousProductions]

I'll never understand why people continue to watch this show knowing full well that Justin Roiland is a groomer..

[@motioninart]

💔

[@aligameover6138]

Season 7 was actually my favorite season. Maybe I didn't like Justin roiland as much as I thought . I think season 7 had the lowest and the highest point of the whole show

[@Schmidteren]

Just let it die. Was amazing for a few seasons, now it's more misses than hits. Just.. Stop. Think of something else. The networks or whatever, NEEDING to bring in more writers for diversity purposes, etc killed the show.

[@paperchasindude6578]

Exactly

[@bkwillo85]

I didn’t finish the first episode of the last season. Meh.

[@motioninart]

shocking opening

[@scottgilesmusic]

Unfortunately the 7th season is not smart nor well-structured. It is just a cash grab without quality.

[@AbrasiousProductions]

exactly as I predicted, this show died a long time ago but I quit for good after finding out roiland's a pedophile.

[@theamazingmemer]

Another banger controversial opinion by Motion In Art!

[@FriedCisco]

Yeah, it was good.

[@motioninart]

the last season?

[@CordellPotts]

New season was 50/50 for me 50% Not Bad 50% Dumpster Juice The whole alphabet vs number thing was liquid poop.

[@motioninart]

liquid poop is a great way to describe it

[@polocatfan]

toxic

[@jomo2483]

Rick and Morty sucks ass. It tries so hard to feel smart. Season one was great. then it went downhill after. I gave up on season three. Carol and the end of the world, is the best adult animaton of last year. I would recommend everyone to watch it

[@nickbilske8140]

Na Beavis and Butthead was

[@motioninart]

havent heard of carol and the end of the world. thanks for the recommendation. i also feel like after season 3, there was a big change.

[@motioninart]

was what?

[@needy3535]

Rick and Morty is fine it's literally the exact same 🙄🙄

[@motioninart]

or so the Germans would have you believe

[@traveller2378]

This is not good. And it seems like a complete waste of effort.

[@motioninart]

what do you mean?

[@scottgilesmusic]

7th season sucks. R and M should never be boring but...here we are.

[@r99716]

i forgive Justin Roiland ❤ let's give him a new show

[@motioninart]

;(

[@AbrasiousProductions]

what the fuck is wrong with you?! he groomed minors, he's a pedophile you sicko, are you completely devoid of morals?!

[@suckmyballsihateyoutube]

they don't make em like this anymore haha

[@motioninart]

nope :(