For ‘Oblongs,’ the Comedy Is Out of Shape

Well, it is different.

The newest--and sickest--addition to prime time’s weird but loving families is “The Oblongs,” an occasionally funny animated WB comedy set in a toxic valley poisoned by industrial waste. So no wonder the Oblongs, inspired by the works of San Francisco cartoonist Angus Oblong, are mutants, physically or emotionally or both.

The sausage of a father, limbless Bob Oblong (Will Ferrell), works at Globocide Industries, a factory that spews pollutants not unlike Mr. Burns’ nuclear power plant in “The Simpsons.” The mother, Pickles (Jean Smart), is a chain-smoking lush who is bald beneath her tower of fake blond hair. The youngest of the Oblong sons is manic Milo (Pamela Segall Adlon). The others are conjoined twins Biff and Chip (Randy and Jason Sklar). The family’s 4-year-old, Beth (Jeannie Elias), has rising from the top of her head a warty growth that closely resembles a penis, provoking Sunday night’s circumcision joke. And rounding out this brood is a cigarette-addicted cat.

Although this series is poised for satire, misses far outnumber hits in initial episodes, the fattest targets being Bob’s environmentally challenged boss, Mr. Klimer, and other rich folks living in the hills above the scummy valley. Most amusing of them are the Debbies, a gaggle of look-alike, act-alike high school girls as dumb and giggly as they are popular.

The premiere, airing three times Sunday night, also introduces Milo’s equally abnormal friends, including bell-shaped, ever-ravenous Helga (Lea DeLaria). In Episode 2, she helps herself to the food of Scottie, a dog the Oblongs rescue from Globocide’s laboratory. And in Episode 3, Pickles says, “Parenting isn’t about suspicion. It’s about love, nurturing and manipulation.”

That line could come just as easily from Jane Kaczmarek’s mother in the Fox comedy “Malcolm in the Middle,” which is much funnier than “The Oblongs.”

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“The Oblongs” premieres Sunday night on the WB (KTLA-TV) with a triple run of the opening episode at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30. The network has rated it TV-PG-DS (may be unsuitable for young children, with special advisories for suggestive dialogue and sexual situations).