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TV review: ‘Moonbeam City’

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Moonbeam City comes off like a cross between Miami Vice and Jem and the Holograms.

Two stars

Moonbeam City Wednesdays, 10:30 p.m., Comedy Central.

Based, apparently, on the concept that anything from the ’80s is inherently hilarious, animated comedy Moonbeam City comes off like a cross between Miami Vice and Jem and the Holograms, with a visual style that suggests a Trapper Keeper from 1986 exploded on the screen. Characters have names like Dazzle Novak and Pizzaz Miller and spout absurd-sounding hard-boiled detective dialogue as they patrol the streets of the titular city, a futuristic metropolis as it might have been imagined by hyperactive 13-year-olds 30 years ago. Moonbeam City certainly nails the aesthetics of cheapo ’80s cartoons and the cadence of bad cop dramas, but its jokes are weak and repetitive, coasting on their delivery by a voice cast full of celebrities (Rob Lowe, Elizabeth Banks, Will Forte, Kate Mara). Creator Scott Gairdner got his start making YouTube videos, and Moonbeam City’s one-note humor holds up about as long as one of those three-minute sketches.

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