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- VIEW POINTS, Page 67TELEVISIONMr. Mouse Goes to Washington
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- On The Simpsons, Itchy and Scratchy are a sadomasochistic
- mouse-and-cat team that enacts scenes of baroque violence in a
- running parody of kiddie cartoon shows. On CAPITOL CRITTERS,
- cats really do chase mice -- and the trouble is, it's no parody.
- The new animated series from Steven Bochco Productions (ABC,
- debuting Jan. 28, 8:30 p.m. EST) revolves around Max, a country
- mouse from Nebraska who moves in with his cousin and a ragtag
- band of rodents living in the basement of the White House.
- Anyone expecting savvy political satire, however, is due for
- disappointment. With a few exceptions (Max gets stuck in the
- briefcase of a Senator taking bribes), the comedy comes from
- sitcom-style wisecracks and routine cartoon sight gags that
- might just as well be taking place in Omaha. The Hanna-Barbera
- animation, though a cut above the Saturday-morning usual, has
- little charm. Cartoons aimed at the whole family ought to be
- either funny (The Simpsons) or cute (The Little Mermaid).
- Capitol Critters is neither.
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- By Richard Zoglin.
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