Why The Goode Family Failed to Get Good Ratings

The Goode Family is an animated TV family who tries their hardest to be eco-friendly in a world with ever changing standards. They eat vegan, drive a hybrid and recycle, but sometimes go too far in their quest for good, with amusing results. While this seems like a timely concept, the show failed to pick up necessary ratings on both ABC and Comedy Central, and its network future is now uncertain. (Editor’s Note: Since this article was written, Comedy Central has officially canceled the series.)

I talked with the show’s creators John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky about why the show didn’t perform as well as some of their previous projects, like King of the Hill, and what they hope audiences would take away from the show.

How did The Goode Family come about?

John Altschuler: The Goode Family came about after a friend of mine bought a hybrid car. She was trying to do the right thing and there was all this backlash when they found out they didn’t really get the mileage that they thought they did and they didn’t know what to do with the batteries and she was just crushed. She looked up and said, “It’s so hard to be good.”

We’re trying really hard to be good but nothing is ever good enough. There’s always somebody saying, actually you’re using the wrong light bulb. We thought it was funny and interesting that no matter how hard you try you can’t do the right thing.

Why do you think the show was canceled? What were people failing to see?

John: Our ratings were terrible on ABC but the shows that followed us did worse. We think it was not a good place to be. We think that people have been a little confused about the tone of the show. Some people think we shouldn’t be ridiculing the people who live like the Goode family. It’s like, should we hate them or should we like them? We like them, but they’re ridiculous. People couldn’t quite grasp it. People these days really need things more spoon-fed. These are the good guys, these are the bad guys. The idea of people being more complex might be a little much. People need something to anchor them.

Dave Krinsky: The initial viewership just wasn’t enough because of marketing, and it wasn’t a good fit for ABC. Our numbers started growing once people found us. It took a few repeated viewings to get what the show was trying to do. It never got a chance on the networks.

Ideally, what would audiences have gotten out of the show?

Dave: Our ultimate goal was to have people be able to relate to it. The idea that we were all dealing with this issue was the idea that we wanted people to tap into.

John: It’s really really hard to be good.

How do you think this show compares to some of your other projects like King of the Hill, and how do you think that contributed to it not getting high ratings?

John: The idea of being an animated prime time show not on Fox was impossible for people to wrap their heads around. It’s a shame because, when you do a show that’s very different and not a jokey show, it takes a while. Unfortunately networks aren’t in that business anymore. Seinfeld took a year and a half before it got going. Back then they would just keep the shows on so people could find it, they don’t do it anymore.

What are you hoping to do next, whether with the Goode Family or any new projects?

John: We’ll see if The Goode Family finds a place. We  suffer from being a little bit ahead of our time, and that happens. People were very freaked out, like how dare you make fun of people that believe in global warming? If we came out now, people would be like, oh my god they’re really on top of something. But we came out 8 months ago. Hopefully things will catch up and maybe we can revisit it. Right now we’re working on releasing the Extract DVD. We’re hoping people will watch that and buy it so we can make more independent movies.

You mentioned people being upset that you were mocking people who were going green, but that wasn’t the point of the show was it? What are we really supposed to think of the Goode family?

John: I think that’s part of the problem. If people watched 20 episodes, people would realize that they’re the heroes. They’re genuine and they’re trying to do good, but you can’t help but make fun of some of the ludicrous positions they get into. You’re ridiculing this tyrannical, rap your knuckles like a nun, goodness that we’ve gotten the last few years. Then you realize, wait a second, you want people to do good. You want to sympathize with the Goode family, but you also want to make fun of the world that we live in. I honestly believe that the people who love it get it, and if people watched it more they would realize, oh you know what, this is really a sweet family.

Dave: One thing we tried to do on King of the Hill and The Goode Family is we always tried to put them sort of in the middle. There’s always someone a little more crazy than them, and always someone who thought they were crazy. We get comedy out of that.

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