Close Enough
Close Enough is an American adult animated sitcom created by J.G. Quintel, known for his previous work on "Regular Show." It revolves around a married couple, Josh and Emily, their five-year-old daughter Candice, and their two divorced best friends/roommates, Alex and Bridgette, as they navigate the complexities of their thirties in Los Angeles. The series uniquely blends everyday slice-of-life situations with bizarre, surreal, and often fantastical comedic elements, presenting a heightened reality. The show explores themes of growing up, balancing family life with personal dreams, and the challenges of modern adulthood, but with an exaggerated and frequently outlandish approach. While it shares an animation style with Quintel's earlier, more youth-oriented work, its content is distinctly mature. The series has garnered a TV-14 rating due to its consistent inclusion of profanity, suggestive sexual content, and other adult themes, making it appropriate for older viewers.
Concerns
Romance and Sexual Content
HighThe show features significant romance and sexual content, including crude references, suggestive humor, and instances of animated partial nudity. This content is often played for comedic effect and is a consistent element throughout the series.
The series includes visuals such as "hairy butt cheeks" and the silhouette of a clown stripper whose "balloon animal-like member" changes shapes. Censorship notes indicate scenes with Emily exposing her breasts and flipping off the audience, with black bars used to cover nudity and middle fingers.
Profanity
High"Close Enough" contains frequent and strong language, including bleeped instances of the 'f-word' and regular use of other mild to moderate curse words, contributing to its adult animated sitcom classification.
The show features Emily saying "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" in the Season 1 episode "The Perfect House," which is bleeped, and she also flips off the audience. Another example from censorship notes includes the bleeping of the word "cock" in the phrase "Suck your own cock."
LGBTQ & Gender Identity
MediumThe series explicitly includes a gay character, Randy Watson, whose sexual orientation is revealed in Season 3. This representation is a confirmed part of the main cast's dynamics and is presented as a fact about the character's identity.
Randy Watson, who is Pearle's adopted son and the property manager of the duplex, is explicitly revealed to be gay in Season 3 of the series.
Violence
MediumViolence in "Close Enough" is primarily comedic and exaggerated, involving cartoonish injuries and dangerous situations rather than graphic gore. It often occurs within surreal or fantastical plotlines.
In the Season 1 episode "Quilty Pleasures," Josh and Emily are pursued and trapped by a group of dwarfish adults in an abandoned factory who attempt to force them into a parental role. During Emily's scary story in the "Halloween Enough" segment, Bridgette's head is bitten off by a monstrous pumpkin, and Alex is accidentally stabbed in the forehead with a meat cleaver by Emily.
Witchcraft & Occult
MediumSupernatural and occult themes are regularly integrated into the show's comedic and surreal narratives, often depicting demonic figures and magical or haunted elements as central plot devices.
In the Season 2 episode "Houseguest from Hell," Emily's old college friend Becca is revealed to be pregnant, and the father of her unborn child is "literally The Devil." Another Season 2 episode, "Haunted Couch," features Bridgette forming a romantic relationship with the ghost of a French aristocrat who inhabits her new couch.
Substance Use
MediumThe series includes depictions and references to alcohol and drug use, often with characters experiencing intoxication or referencing past actions undertaken while under the influence of substances.
Bridgette's middle name, "No Stress," was legally adopted in Season 1 as a result of a decision she made while "under the influence of drugs." The show also features a "trippy marijuana sequence" and characters are shown engaging in heavy drinking and partying, such as Alex at the Margaritaville bar in the "Margarita Vampires" segment.
Scary & Intense Content
MediumThe show frequently incorporates scary and intense content through its surreal and often unsettling scenarios, exaggerated dangers, and bizarre imagery, though typically within a comedic framework.
In the Season 1 episode "Quilty Pleasures," Josh and Emily face an intense situation where they are trapped by dwarfish adults who try to force them into a parental role, creating an uncomfortable and frightening predicament. Season 2 features a recurring element with a "houseguest from hell" whose pregnancy involves "The Devil" as the literal father, leading to an ongoing creepy and intense thematic thread.
Disrespect & Rebellion
MediumCharacters in "Close Enough" frequently exhibit mild to moderate disrespect and engage in rebellious behaviors, often driven by their reluctance to fully embrace adult responsibilities or a desire to relive their younger, carefree days.
In the Season 1 episode "Prank War," Josh deliberately initiates a prank war with his roommates, demonstrating a rebellious streak and a disregard for their comfort or routines in pursuit of youthful antics. The show's overarching premise involves the main characters, Josh and Emily, constantly "juggling work, kids, and pursuing your dreams, while avoiding time-traveling snails, stripper clowns, and murderous mannequins," indicating a pervasive theme of comically rebelling against the mundane aspects of adulthood.
Anti-Christian Themes
MediumThe series incorporates elements that could be perceived as anti-Christian due to its explicit portrayal of figures such as "The Devil" as a literal character involved in mundane human affairs, often in a comedic or irreverent context.
In the Season 2 episode "Houseguest from Hell," it is explicitly stated that Emily's college friend Becca is pregnant with an unborn child whose father is "literally The Devil." This direct inclusion of a significant figure from Christian theology within a surreal, comedic narrative can be seen as disrespectful or trivializing by some viewers.
Other Notes
Target Demographic
This media is recommended for audiences aged 14 and older. The TV-14 rating is justified by the presence of frequent profanity, crude sexual references, animated partial nudity, implied substance use, and intense surreal comedic situations that are designed for an adult sensibility, rather than a younger audience.
Additional Notes
Close Enough is explicitly targeted at an adult audience, often drawing comparisons to its creator's previous work, "Regular Show," but with significantly more mature content and themes. Parents should be aware that despite the animated format, the show deals with complex adult situations and includes content (language, sexual references, substance use) that is not suitable for younger viewers. The content tends to be consistent in its intensity across seasons, with certain elements like LGBTQ representation evolving into later seasons. The series was canceled after three seasons and is no longer available on its original streaming platform, HBO Max, or Netflix in international territories.
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