Squidbillies Vol. 1 DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Squidbillies Vol. 1 DVD Release Date: 9th April 2008

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Squidbillies Vol. 1 DVD Review:

Where does one begin to talk about the volume one of Squidbillies? First aired in 2004 Squidbillies is much like other Adult Swim fare: mindless, nonsensical, and vulgar. Unlike most other Adult Swim fare, Squidbillies finds itself firmly in the realm of dead baby jokes. Yeah, they’re funny, but in a really morbid sort of way. Taking the idea of dick and fart humor to the next level, we follow, as the narrator so conveniently points out, the story of Early, a redneck squid in a stereotypical redneck mountain town. With a lovely prologue we discover that Early once had a love, and for that love he was willing to do anything, including robbing the local general store at gunpoint for the money to purchase a cassette player with “them earbuds” and auto-reverse. Which he promptly purchases from that same store, and then steals the money back. This wrenches a laugh because of the absolute absurdity. But it gets better. Early heads home, to find his woman in bed with the local snake-man, and promptly joins in a three way. But, Early forgot to pick up a cassette for his lady friend, so he dons his paper sack and rushes back to rob the store, only this time he does it in front of the local sheriff. Not content with merely robbing the place, Early must say hello to the Sheriff. Clang! To jail Early goes, and he leaves behind an unborn squid son. Flash forward to fifteen years later and the little squid has grown up, pseudo-reconciles with Early, and garners his dad an early release from the chain gang. What follows are a series of episodes that seem to be a play on every redneck stereotype known to man. Mispronouncing words, never without his trucker hat, complete with varying offensive captions, and always unemployed, Early is the quintessential hillbilly. They even go so far as to parody the KKK when Early and the family induct the young son into an “anti-white” league for the squids. Ultimately the comedy lies in the fact that these situations and characters, so steeped in sterotypes, are ludicrous. Wallowing in cheap vulgarity and unsophisticated satire, Squidbillies does offer some laughs, but one wonders whether the comedy would hold up over repeated viewings. Shows like Drawn Together, and South Park offer several levels of satire and comedy that Squidbillies really seems to be lacking. But at the same time, this show does induce chuckling, and the occasional guffaw. In the end it comes down to a matter of taste. If you like dead baby jokes, this might be a show you want to watch.
As far as the DVD specs are considered they’re pretty standard. There are twenty episodes on two discs with commentary on various episodes. Though the commentary seems to be relatively pointless. What’s interesting is the featurettes on the various incarnations of the pilot script. Each one opens with a sort of round robin discussion of the various revisions, as well as the show in general, by writers and producers. They seem not to have enjoyed working the show much at all, but that may very well be played for the sake of Irony. All in all this DVD box set of Squidbillies has an adequate though not amazing offering of extras and behind the scenes footage making for a well rounded package. But in the end, you want to make sure the show is for you because the extras just aren’t that amazing.

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Squidbillies Vol. 1 DVD review written by: Joe Burns