Critical Assessments and Controversy
Over its run, Beavis and Butt-Head drew a notable amount of both positive and negative reactions from the public with its combination of lewd humor and implied criticism of society. It became the focus of criticism from social conservatives, such as Michael Medved, while others, such as David Letterman, and the conservative magazine National Review, defended it as a cleverly subversive vehicle for social criticism and a particularly creative and intelligent comedy. Either way, the show captured the attention of many young television viewers in the United States and abroad and is often considered a classic piece of 1990s youth culture and Generation X. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, cite the show as an influence and compared it to the blues, and met Mike Judge before the show aired.
In 1997, Dan Tobin of The Boston Phoenix commented on the series' humor, stating that it transformed "stupidity into a crusade, forcing us to acknowledge how little it really takes to make us laugh." In 1997 Ted Drozdowski of The Boston Phoenix described the 1997 Beavis and Butt-Head state as "reduced to self-parody of their self-parody." In December 2006, TV Guide even ranked the duo's distinct laughing at #66 on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases.
Mike Judge himself is highly critical of the animation and quality of earlier episodes, in particular the first two--"Blood Drive"/"Give Blood" and "Door to Door"--which he described as "awful, I don't know why anybody liked it... I was burying my head in the sand."
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