Mike Judge has created a time warp. He has successfully resurrected his beloved comedic duo Beavis and Butt-head. As the fans would want, they’re just as crude, rude and humorous as they were over a decade ago.
The first episode of season eight features the same two metal-head burnouts from the first seven seasons. In classic cartoon style, they haven’t aged even a single year. The same seems to be true of their surroundings, as they appear to be glued to the exact same couch, watching the same old-school TV and wearing their same, classic Metallica and AC/DC tees.
However, it seems staying true to their roots is part of what made the new episodes of Beavis and Butt-head successful among viewers. 3.3 million viewers turned in to watch the reboot of this classic series, with two-thirds of the viewers falling in the demographic of males, aged 12 to 24.
For those who have never seen the series, Beavis and Butt-head‘s episode “plots” are made up of two central ideas that the two have concocted, as well as short clips of them commentating on current social trends, shows, movies or music.
In the premiere episode, the adolescents watched music videos by MGMT and Skrillex, as well as clips from Jersey Shore and The Bachelor.
The duo also watched clips of Twilight, which led to their first journey of the night.
The first new episode featured the boys on one of their usual adventures to “score some chicks.” The pair think they’ve figured out how to get tons of girls by becoming either a werewolf or a vampire, a la the recent Twilight films.
In an effort to transform into lycanthropes after their Twilight viewing, the young men find a homeless person they believe is a werewolf. They pay him a dollar to bite them, and he happily obliges their request. The boys wander off as a couple of cops come corral the hobo, saying he’s got diseases such as hepatitis C.
The show then cuts to Beavis and Butt-head sitting on their couch, clearly diseased and in pain. However, the two believe it is just the finishing steps in their transformation into werewolves. The rest of the segment follows the two on their misguided attempt to pick up girls in their diseased state.
The second mini-plot line in the first episode was much weaker than the first. Beavis finds an onion in his chilidog and breaks it up.
He starts to cry from the onion, but Butt-head thinks it’s because of the episode of The Bachelor they’re watching. The rest of the episode shows Butt-head giving Beavis a hard time for crying, all the way until Beavis dies of old age.
Some argue that the show isn’t bringing anything new to the table, but with 3.3 million viewers on the same Thursday night as game six of the World Series of Baseball, it’s hard to argue the show doesn’t have some level of popularity.
High school and college-aged males are clearly the desired audience for Beavis and Butt-head. However, the question is whether or not N.C. State students enjoyed the return of the show.
Mick Breen, a junior in aerospace engineering, said he appreciated the familiar feelings the show inspired.
“I found the new episodes to be nostalgic if nothing else,” Breen said. “If you hated it or loved it before, you will probably feel the same about the new episodes.”
“I like that [Beavis and Butt-head] pokes fun at other shows on MTV,” Mike Holsten, a junior in social work, said. “It really shows that [MTV] doesn’t take itself too seriously and realizes that some of their shows aren’t that great.”
Ryan Wirkus, a junior in biological sciences, was not too familiar with Beavis and Butt-head until its recent reboot. After seeing the first two episodes, though, Wirkus is optimistic about the series.
“I can’t wait to see what else [Judge] has in store for the rest of the new season,” Holsten said. “Both episodes were hilarious and everyone I’ve talked to about them agrees.”
Beavis and Butt-head has replaced Jersey Shore during the 10pm time slot on MTV on Thursdays. The series remains as offensive and over-the-top as ever, which may be exactly the kind of humor some students have been looking for.
