In which Stan auditions for reality TV

Going to the “Stan is an asshole” well is baked into the show’s DNA, because he’s the titular role. However, these days it has to be done with care, only because this show has expanded way beyond it’s original premise. Building out the family, with Klaus, Jeff and especially Roger, leaves a lot of room for good storytelling where asshole Stan doesn’t have to be the focus unless it’s really good. We’ve already seen how it works well this year (I gave the Flume Flume Room a high grade in fact and Stan was a big jackass there). But fail to do it and you just get 22 minutes of Stan being obnoxious until he learns his lesson. That’s this week.

Stan is repainting the terror alert sign (something we haven’t seen addressed since the beginning of this series) when he hears the family laughing in the living room. Thinking it’s about how they’re tickling Jeff, he runs in. But he discovers the family is just laughing at Stan’s Real World audition tape. He fails to see what’s wrong but the family is nothing but critical of Stan’s on-camera persona. So Stan decides to turn to Roger’s latest persona.

Roger, or should I say Gary Ombosule is a reality TV producer extraordinaire, and he sets up his new show, Gary Ombosule’s All Stars, putting Stan with six other contestants: Swerve Girl, Drakeford, Clarence, Anjelica, Corn Nuts, and Izzy. Naturally Stan’s on-camera persona takes over and he quickly becomes the most hated man on the show. Everyone is captivated though and that’s where the trouble starts. Stan is discovered by some Canadian Terrorists to still be alive after faking his death.

When Roger gathers the group for a live show, he reveals that he’s actually producing Gary Ombosule’s Imbeciles, and Stan has been voted biggest idiot. Stan tries to storm off but the terrorists find him and threaten to blow up the station. Stan tries to come up with a plan but when the cameras come on, he reverts to jerk-ass Stan and can’t do anything. Steve deduces his instincts will take over and allows the terrorists to invade. Stan’s instincts do take over and defeats them, as obnoxiously as possible. The story ends with Roger recruiting Tuttle for a Squid Game like show (until he doesn’t due to a mix-up with the contract).

Meanwhile, Klaus wants to create a Klaus of his own. He knocks out a Starbucks employee and gets Weitzman to put his mind in a snail’s body. The snail freaks out and tries to call his coworkers. This forces him to transfer all of them into snails. He gets sick of them and returns them to Starbucks.

Stray Observations

• I didn’t recognize Roger’s persona in the car.
• The list of reality shows Roger is producing include: “Wait, That’s my Mom!” “Wait, That’s my Dad!” “Serial Killer Island” and “Race My Chihuahua”
• Abigail Lemonparty and Clip Clop are name dropped

Final Thoughts: I find this to be the weakest episode of the season. An obnoxious Stan and a nothing B-plot