Rob Dyrdek is a huge star. If you watch MTV, he is probably a household name for you. Having several shows including Ridiculousness, Fantasy Factory and Rob & Big, not to mention founding the very popular Street League and co-starring in the skating movie Street Dreams, Rob is nothing less of a superstar. So when we heard Rob gave his personal approval to create an animated show about him and his group of friends skating, it could of had a lot of potential. I will review the show from two perspectives: as a viewer, and as a skateboarder.
Average viewer: Wild Grinders offers absolutely nothing groundbreaking to the world of animation. The characters were designed very simplistically. Before I watched the show (I watched several episodes) I saw pictures of it. I mistakenly thought the show was for three year olds, they are designed that basically. Rob is the only member of the cast who actually skateboards. I actually was pleased to see Kel Mitchell was in this. I loved him in Kenan and Kel/Good Burger and want to see him still have a job in Hollywood.
The humor was, quite simply, horrifying. Whoever is writing their jokes must get paid minimum wage and it really shows. Each episode has many many jokes, all which leave me shaking my head. It gets a "heh" out of me an average of one to two times per episode. The humor includes belches, characters who were told "they were dropped when they were younger," a camera that has "a bazillion gigawats of power" and so forth. After watching each episode for five minutes, I turn off my television it's that unbearable.
A skateboarder: Rob Dyrdek is a very talented skateboarder. He owns the successful skate brand Alien Workshop and gets a lot of respect. I tune in to his other show Ridiculousness time to time hoping for a laugh either from him, this blonde chick and this black who seem to serve no purpose being there other than looking cool. I think the black man rewinds the clips sometimes, but that's it other than stating the obvious.
Wild Grinders is not a good representation of actual skateboarding. Yes the skaters perform actual tricks like boardslides, nosegrinds, 5-0's and others. But a lot of the time Rob and friends do the physically impossible, even occasionally freezing in mid-air to do ten kickflips in a row. As I stated earlier, Rob is the only actor who is an actual skateboarder, which is a shame really. It only makes his animated show less credible, being the only skater on the crew. The other characters come off as being complete posers (not to mention stereotypical,) such as "Emo Crys" with long black hair, tight jeans and black eye liner. Goggles, the videographer, is a complete geek with large glasses. Which might sound funny, but really isn't once you get to know him. But Rob's dog even skateboards (adding more realism) and sometimes talks.
Verdict: If you want a good show for your kids, stay away from Wild Grinders. If you have kids under the age for five, they might like it. But any older and it's just not funny. If your' a fan of Rob, you might get a kick out of it, that is if you can tolerate pitiful humor. If your a skater, you'll be surprised how low Rob stooped, he clearly wanted a paycheck and that's all. This show really does make me appreciate Rocket Power more, which is what I would recommend over this. Break out the old VHS tapes you recorded, because in this case, older is better.
