FX, the same network that has dumped such extreme and perverse programming as Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me onto basic cable (forcing every subscriber to pay for it), has now made its first foray into the world of animated TV with the spy spoof Archer (Thursdays, 10:00 p.m. ET). This program faithfully plays to FX’s demented demographic, with the February 4^th episode titled “Honeypot” spewing violence, profanity, grotesque verbal imagery, and rampant homophobia at viewers in the Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

The episode opens with top spy Archer’s mother and boss Malory dismayed to learn that her tryst with KGB head General Jerkoff (no, the jokes don’t get any better than that) has been filmed, and the DVD stolen by gay Cuban spy Ramon. Malory sends her son Archer to seduce Ramon and thereby compromise him with the viciously homophobic Fidel Castro.

But Castro isn’t the only homophobe worthy of note. Throughout the episode, flagrant gay stereotypes are used as a source of “humor.” When meeting Ramon, Archer wears tight briefs revealing a crotch bulge and a cut-off t-shirt reading, "Got Dick?"

Ramon: “Can I help you?”

Archer points to his t-shirt.

Archer: “I don't know. Can you?...Do you not see me rocking this chiseled slab of hard man body? I mean, come on, are you gay or not?”

Later, Archer encounters a pair of gay hitmen who are disguised as a hairdresser and an interior decorator, respectively. As they open fire on Archer and Ramon, one lisps, “Get on the floor, you tacky-ass, white-after-Labor-Day-wearing bitches!”

These anti-gay jokes are just part of the disgusting barrage of perverted “humor” that greet viewers. Upon entering Archer’s apartment, Malory learns that he is having sex with teenage girls. “We got any lube?” Archer booms. His mother accuses him,

Malory: “Jesus God, Sterling. Schoolgirls”

Archer: “Er, um…Those are just costumes.”

Malory: “And I suppose that makes it better!”

Archer: “Doesn't it? Oh and Wodehouse -- I told my guests you'd pack their lunches.”

Also in the episode, Archer’s co-worker Carol fantasizes:

“Somebody murdering me -- it's so intimate…You seriously don't think that's hot? I mean, like a big sweaty fireman carries you out of a burning building and he lays you on the sidewalk and you think he's going to give you mouth to mouth, but instead he just starts choking the s*** out of you and the last sensation you feel before you die is that he is squeezing your throat so hard that a big wet glob of drool drips off his teeth and falls right onto your popped-out eyeball… I'm wet just THINKING about it!”

And self-proclaimed “s***faced” scientist Dr. Krieger pumps his test subject/victim Danny full of designer drugs in order to have sex with him. Danny eventually dies of the treatment. Yes – child molestation, sadomasochism, drug-fuelled orgies…no matter what the perversion, Archer revels in it.

Archer does feature top-notch, innovative animation and a beautifully-designed title sequence. Had the program’s creators Adam Reed and Chad Hurd employed their obvious talent to produce a straightforward action program using the same techniques, ala Pixar’s film The Incredibles, the result would have been delightful. At a time when television “animation” is dominated by the third-rate cartoons of Seth MacFarlane’s stable and the nonexistent production values of South Park, it is a pity that such high-quality graphics follow those programs’ well-worn paths to excrete yet another show filled with smutty, violent, adolescent “comedy.”

For vicious stereotypes, foul language and crass sexual humor, FX’s Archer is the Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

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