>>110802833To make a finer point, in Parent Teacher Night the humor cones from crazy Robo-Parents trying to fit in with normal humans. They're the weird ones and the contrast is funny.
In "The Girl Who Cried Gnome" absolutely everyone is yelling and acting wacky. There's no contrast to make Zim seem weird by comparison.
The world was always bleak and stupid but the situational comedy was best shown in the first episode. When the one kid on class says "man, Dib, you think just cause someone looks different, you can call them an alien?" It's really good dialogue. Dib is pointing out the obvious but the other kids have heard this before and have sympathy for the new kid in class as a result. This social conflict is something adults can enjoy too. Sadly if it kept going it might have been just Mortos-level antics, we'll never know.
It takes a whole team to make TV gold, no one creator can recreate that. I wish Steve Ressel was on the movie staff.
