Superjail

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Ultra-violent jailhouse cartoon is NOT for kids.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this hyper-violent cartoon definitely isn't meant for kids. Blood and gore flow freely as the characters engage in extremely brutal combat; scenes include dismemberment, impalement, and more. The jail setting also has plenty of sexually charged images (often involving stereotypically gay characters), including nudity, violent sex, group sex, and one female character with such obviously male traits that she's either a transsexual or in drag -- her ambiguous sexuality makes some other characters lust after her. Some episodes feature drinking; one character is a recovering alcoholic who's urged to fall of the wagon, to disastrous results.

  • Don't look for any positive take-aways here; the show revels in its hyper-violent, sexualized content and doesn't make any attempt to convey anything remotely positive.
  • The prison's supposed authority figures spend little to no time actually managing the prisoners, some of whom seem free to wander the facility as they please. Both the prisoners and guards routinely use extreme violence to avenge slights and maintain order, while the Warden seems unconcerned with anything other than his own entertainment and his infatuation with Alice.
  • Characters routinely engage in savage, gruesome fights using a variety of weapons and sometimes just their bare hands. Heads, arms, and legs are pulled off; people are impaled, cut in two, and worse; and there's plenty of blood and guts. Some fights occur in anger with little provocation, while others are staged for entertainment. The show seems to revel in its ability to shock -- all of this is animated, but it's still quite gruesome.
  • Some animated nudity, and plenty of sexually charged situations and imagery. There are almost no women in the jail's world, and several scenes suggest homosexual behavior using stereotypical images -- including violent jailhouse encounters and group sex. One guard character appears to be either a man in drag or a transsexual; the show doesn't specify, but it does base some plotlines on Alice's mysterious sexuality.
  • Few actual swear words, though there are plenty of sexually suggestive phrases.
  • Not applicable.
  • A fair amount of drinking, sometimes to excess, that leads to impulsive behavior. One character, a recovering alcoholic, is mocked for trying to abstain and finally falls off the wagon.

What's the story?

Prison is supposed to be unpleasant, but it's hard to imagine that any penitentiary is as horrible as SUPERJAIL. This animated series takes place in an institution where gruesome death matches between prisoners are considered entertainment, the guards pay little attention to misbehaving prisoners, and recovering addicts are encouraged to drink heavily. The show focuses largely on the misadventures of the Warden (voiced by David Wain), who spends little time attending to his duties and instead cooks up schemes to win the attention of Alice (Christy Karacas), a guard of ambiguous sexuality. The Warden's assistant, Jared (Teddy Cohn), serves as an enabler, helping carry out one half-baked plan after another.


Is it any good?

 

Even among its fellow over-the-top Adult Swim shows, Superjail stands out for its violent imagery. In scene after scene, characters attack each other a wide variety of lethal weapons. Arms, legs, and heads are severed. Bodies are impaled, crushed, and cut into pieces. And, as blood and guts gush out, other characters watch with glee.

There's lots of sexual content as well; though little of it falls into the category of explicit nudity or sexual activity, it's hard to miss the suggestions of violent prison rapes and the clichéd portrayals of jailhouse homosexuals. Superjail seems determined to offend, and it does.


Explore, discuss, enjoy

  • Families can talk about who this show is designed to appeal to. How would you describe its target audience?

  • Do you personally find it funny, or does it cross the line? Who determines where "the line" falls in the first place?

  • Media depictions of prison vary dramatically, from brutal places where violent acts like rape and murder are commonplace to less-threatening environments in which people try to better themselves. Which do you think is more realistic? Where does this show fit into this spectrum?


This review of Superjail was written by
Parent of 8 and 14 year old
April 2, 2011
 
Junior luvs this show, her fav is The Warden. To me Jared never disobey's a good role model, violence marries this show. my husband hates alice.
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Teen, 14 years old
May 7, 2011
 
Don't you dare show kids this show.
This show is absolutely inappropriate in every-way. Seriously. But, the 1 1/2 episodes I've seen have left me wanting more, it's completely addictive, all the colors and the crazy smooth animation, the absolute quirky and unique-ness set it apart from other Adult Swim shows *sigh* I wish I would be allowed to watch it :( But I even I know that it's completely inappropriate for someone my age and even a little bit older for me to watch
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Kid, 10 years old
April 2, 2011
 
Good for anyone over 9
This show is really good. It contains occasional language and some animated violence. But most of it is something most people 9-11 can handle.
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Adult
December 13, 2010
 
I want season 2 already!
Honestly if you don't like Superjail, then don't watch it or let your kids watch it. Don't whine about it. If people feel up to it and mature enough to watch it, then they will watch it. Some can appreciate the surreal art, and lack of plot and some people can't, simple as that.
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Teen, 14 years old
December 7, 2009
 
Dreadful, Dreadful Trash; Not for Anyone with a Brain
This dreadful piece of garbage is yet another one of Adult Swim's pathetic attempts to ante up the "shocking", "edgy" factor in their shows. While the creators of "Superjail!" really do try to be as offensive as humanly possible, it isn't shocking. It's just pathetic. If you're going to joke about prison rape and cancer, AT LEAST make it FUNNY. But no. The [as] crew is trying so hard to be "shocking" and "subversive" that they forgot to be funny. There is nothing even remotely amusing about any of this garbage. It's just 12 minutes of senseless, grotesque cartoon violence, loud noises, tasteless "jokes", and credits. If the creators were trying to be offensive, they failed. If they were trying to be funny, they REALLY failed. Don't waste any of your time on this sad, sorry excuse for a cartoon. Seriously. I mean it. Don't do it.
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Parent
September 22, 2011
 
x-rated, but funny,
AWESOME show I want all the season 3 already and they didn't even AIR it yet, it has extreme graphic violence and explicit sex which gives the entire show a TV-MA V there's alot of Beer Drinking and bleeped words, but very smoothly animated and good for college kids
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Teen, 15 years old
September 26, 2010
 
Very imaginative
Love the show, but too violent for young viewers.
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Kid, 9 years old
June 4, 2009
 
Kind of disturbing
This show has ALOT of violence.Parents may want to watch a bit before letting kids watch this

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Parent
August 19, 2011
 
SuperJail
I think superjail is a show that is ok for kids in collage.
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Kid, 10 years old
April 15, 2011
 
Good help me!
I had be flipping the channel and my remote broke it had been late at night so I didn't want to wake up anyone an I was on a channel that had been having Super jail on it I when to sleep ,Thank god, but I watched some of it and it was bad I can't erase it out of my memory and that a bad thing :(
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This review of Superjail was written by
TV rating:TV-MA
Network:Cartoon Network
Cast:Christy Karacas, David Wain, Teddy Cohn
Genre:Comedy

This review of Superjail was written by
 

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