Why Beavis & Butt-Head revival failed (video)

Looper, 3/9/20; Loudwire News, 7/1/20; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why the "Beavis & Butt-Head" revival failed

What if they remain immature forever?

After its spectacular and notorious run in the 1990s, "Beavis & Butt-Head" tried to return to MTV in 2011. But that ended up being a big failure. What happened? They're coming back again.

Beavis and Butt-Head was controversial in the 90s. It upset a lot of people thanks to its crude, rude, destructive, and antisocial characters.

Beavis' love of playing with fire and its supposed role in a real-life copycat act, in which a kid burned down his family home, led MTV to ban all references to fire in the series. A legislator even criticized the show on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

What if they join the military and kill people?

That all just made "Beavis & Butt-Head" seem super edgy. If not for the series testing the public's appetite for sick and twisted themes and animation, there might never have been shows like "South Park" and "Family Guy" following in its wake.

"Beavis & Butt-Head" made room for a vast TV landscape full of adult animation, so much so that by the time it reappeared on MTV in 2011, it didn't feel very provocative or edgy anymore. If anything, it felt like a cynical cash-grab to some viewers.

What if they go see Slayer and many metal shows?

USA Today interviewed students at the University of North Carolina at Asheville about that revival, and many of them felt the show was just playing into rampant '90s nostalgia. As one student put it, "I think it's a poor way for [creator] Mike Judge to try and capitalize on the memories of kids who grew up in the 90s."

Not only was the whole vibe of "Beavis & Butt-Head" possibly played out by 2011, but so was the show's nostalgic content. It struck a chord in the early 90s because, despite being crudely animated, it felt like a slice of real life.

The 2011 revival failed, so can the 2020 reboot do any better? What if they're parents with kids now? More

The title characters are a couple of bored teens who watch TV, hate school, and busy themselves with troublemaking, mischief, and vandalism. That made them seem far more realistic than any other portrayal of young adults on TV, like the ones on "Beverly Hills, 90210" or "Saved by the Bell."

• No longer edgy | 0:13
• Stuck in the 90s | 1:23
• Tweaked format | 2:08
• Poor ratings | 2:56
• A changing of the guard | 3:52
• #BeavisAndButthead

Why would ANYONE watch this cr@p? Because they make fun of bad music videos!