User blog comment:Mattalamode/Improvable: "The Test" and Going Deep/@comment-29346007-20180825213448/@comment-31194372-20180826011340

"Mattrick!" You got me.

In terms of your earlier point about letting the episode span over a longer period of time, I'm not too sure about how successful that would be. Obviously, I shouldn't be one to put ideas down, but in my opinion, I think a lot of the fun in how "The Test" was formatted is that it blatantly denies any sense of linear progression; it prefers to just charge forward and grow increasingly out of hand. It's the sort of episode that needs its delivery to be particularly snappy to land. The idea that the show could star Tobias in progressively more watered-down sitcoms is interesting, too, but it's not as reflective on how how this sort of stuff actually works; the idea is that Gumball the show, in this case, is being taken over by Tobias, applying his lead role to the program we're actually watching. Creating shows within shows is always sticky business, and I feel like it may or may not work out too well the deeper it goes.

HOWEVER, I do think that the idea of giving one of Tobias' friend a sub-plot for no reason other than faithfulness to the idea of a lousy sitcom is kind of brilliant. Just have a crappy little adventure play out on the side with no bearing on the episode. I love it. I definitely think that a lot of your ideas could theoretically work, but as Angryman mentioned in another comment, time is your enemy on an 11-minute program, and it would take a lot of precision and discipline to chart out something that expansive during such a small period of time.

I'm very proud of you. See you whenever the next article comes out! Or if it comes out. I'm not sure yet.