"Too Many Cooks" succeeds not because it is funny or weird, but because it creates an experience for the viewer that is completely unique and original. If you haven't watched it yet, find it on YouTube and give it a view...don't look at the time it's going to take, don't read any other reviews - just watch it and you'll understand why it's so hilarious. In some ways it's similar to the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland. You begin by floating along peacefully in a cartoonish world, then the sudden drop and the whole ride changes.The ideal audience for "Too Many Cooks" is someone in their mid 30s, as many of the spoofed intros are from shows which aired during the 80s and 90s ("Dallas", "Falcon Crest", "Dynasty", "Full House", "Clarissa Explains It All", and the list goes on). But then halfway through, it completely changes and takes on a life of its own, spoofing something else, the 80s slasher flick. Then it changes again. And again. Eventually you don't know what you're watching, but you know it's good.Watch it a second or third time and you'll start to notice lots of Easter Eggs (how many times can you spot the killer before he starts slashing?). But be careful though, the theme song is so catchy you just might find yourself humming it for the rest of the day.

It's a spoof of the openings of 70s, 80s and 90s TV shows. It starts with a show about the Cook family and then it's a series of crazy connected parodies. The minor problem I have is the machete serial killer Bill who comes in starting at the middle. It's kind of off-topic unless it's spoofing some serial killer TV show that I missed from that time. Also it's the thing people do when they can't figure out something better. Although Katie Adkins hiding in the closet with her name shinning through got me good. Nevertheless that character got way too much airtime to just land one good joke. The rest of his time was somewhat confounding and even cringe-worthy. I kept thinking of ISIS cutting people's heads off. The one character that I truly love is Smarf. That one character nails it. In a way, this spoof arrives just in time as Network TV crash and burn with the good ole days long gone. And that song... Too Many Cooks... too many cooks... Too Many Cooks... too many cooks...

A kaleidoscopic pop-culture send up, Too Many Cooks gets better each time you watch it. At first it appears to be a spot-on parody of a 1980s sitcom, then it slowly morphs into something that moves through TV tropes and genres until it becomes unsettling as a gleeful murderer (William Tokarsky) begins offing the cast. He continues to do so as the genres change - cop show, nighttime soap, action cartoon, space opera. It isn't until the end that we learn that he might have been doing the cast a favor.Watch it again. First, you will not be able to get the outstandingly cheesy theme song out of your head. Second, you will start noticing the killer showing up in weird places far earlier than what seemed to be his initial appearance. Plus, in subsequent viewings his murders become more and more funny.Arguments can be made about the meaning of the entire thing - does it have a plot? Is Tokarsky's murderer a hero or a generic 80s slasher set loose in an 80s sitcom? When will Smarf get his own show? Very few films get better the more often they are watched. This is genius. 10 stars.

Too Many Cooks isn't something I saw coming. It has a great production value for something that aired at 4AM on Adult Swim, as though its viral nature had been planned from the very start. Its slow descent into insanity is hilarious once you realize what's happening, and foreshadowed well enough that you can actually notice that, for example, the murderer shows up in the first round of the theme song. It forms a surprisingly cohesive narrative, as seen from several points of view in many different versions of the theme song, all with the same name: Too Many Cooks. It's dark, it's surreal, and it's just downright hilarious.