First Impressions: Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

First off, I'm a big fan of the original Wet Hot American Summer. I was introduced to it by friends in high school and I still feel like it has a lot of originality to its humor. It played like an updated, more self-aware Meatballs. Where Meatballs derived humor from the camping experience, WHAS utilized a similar concept as a vehicle to also poke fun at tropes from movies & TV shows of the 70's & 80's; while also injecting scenes of absurdist comedy. 

When I heard they were bringing the original cast back to produce more content from the original concept I got excited. I was skeptical when I heard it was going to be prequel, but I decided to wait until I saw it to judge. I haven't even finished the first episode and I'm already noticing problems.

The idea to make it a prequel doesn't really work. The actors are noticeably aged and the original joke of older actors playing younger parts is even more of a stretch this time around. I guess that's the joke, but it's mostly just distracting. Some of the actors are drastically different from the first WHAS (and that's being polite about it).

I feel like there's a missed opportunity to continue on the story in say the mid-to-late 90's as the original film alluded to at its conclusion. It would've opened up the humor to new jokes and characters, but what we get seems like a cashing in on an established, beloved movie without doing anything new or original. Which again, could be a joke in itself but I highly doubt it's THAT self-aware. Mostly because it doesn't play that way. 

Hopefully, as I watch more episodes my initial opinion will change. As these things often do. I will remain optimistic and open-minded.