By Ben Dojutrek (@bdojutrek)
You don’t get to pick your family. It’s one of those cliche facts of life that gets thrown around. It doesn’t matter if they’re bad or good; your family is your family.   Sometimes that family turns out to be a mad scientist grandfather returning after an absence to take you on crazy science-fiction adventures.
That’s the basic premise of one of the best shows on television; “Rick and Morty,”.  It airs on Cartoon Network and is a raunchy cartoon take on classic sci-fi with a whole lot of heart. The basic premise is that Rick, Morty’s grandpa, takes Morty on crazy adventures that may actually be hurting Morty in the long run.  Created by Justin Roland and Dan Harmon (creator of cult hit Community), episodes usually take a basic Science Fiction concept and take it past its natural progression.  Like introducing a multiverse and explaining that all Ricks in the universe have created their own government.  The only way that this works is the smart writing that gives this show a disgruntled, whimsical voice unlike anything on T.V.
While that may be enough to satisfy on a standard show, “Rick and Morty” takes it to the next level by showing how family affects each situation.What really sells the show, however, is the great cast of characters and voice actors. Roland voices both Rick and Morty, giving them similar voices but each with their own quirks, like Rick’s constant belching or Morty’s pubescent whine. The rest of the family is rounded out by Morty’s mother Beth, whose abandonment issues have made her a hyper-perfectionist. Morty’s father, Jerry, on the other hand,is a classic lovable loser who will never be as great as Rick in his wife’s eyes.  The final member of this dysfunctional family is Morty’s sister, Summer, is the atypical teenager with one difference:she knows how awful her grandfather is.
Even though that this might be the most dysfunctional family in the history of T.V. — with creepy Christmas dinners, evil parasites corrupting family memories, and a hyper intelligent robot dog fight — the important thing is that deep down each member of the family cares for each other. And isn’t that what family’s all about.