Don't go into watching this program looking for an innovative and original animated television series... I'm telling you right now, Tom Goes to the Mayor isn't going to amaze you.
The story is incredibly simple; a young guy named Tom Peters lives in the town of Jefferton, and since he has nothing to do to entertain his lonely self, he spends most of his time pitching ideas to the Mayor on how to supposedly better the well being of the local citizenry. The humor in this situation is mostly derived from the fact that firstly; Tom is a "whatever happens, happens" type of guy; while secondarily The Mayor, is a dim-witted man that relies on his delusional optimism more than anything. Tom Goes to the Mayor with plain characters such as these, is, by apparent design, a slow program, and does little to entice any television viewer looking for something remotely sharp and inventive. At two chapters per half-hour, each interval follows "Tom has idea," then "Tom sees Mayor," then "Mayor approves," then "chaos ensues." Static storytelling techniques and an emphasis on underdeveloped character aptitude propel this show more than anything else.
Tom Goes to the Mayor utilizes the fine art technique known as "photo realism," the process of crafting artwork that stresses the exact and particular depiction of a certain subject matter, this style stresses objectivity and methodological expertise and aptitude therefore producing artwork of photographic precision (but since this is an Adult Swim show, perhaps not in so many words). Tom Goes to the Mayor adapts this technique to low-quality simple-pleasures for simple-minds animated lines-of-reason that Williams Street is oft known for. Scrappy blueprint looking images of characters are placed on fully drawn landscapes. To say that they are "animated" would be a stretch… No character is actually animated, because for a character to "move," there is simply a new, static, image replacing the former in order to imply that a character has "moved." If you think that crappy animation is funny and entertaining, then be my guest and ogle aplenty; however, if the stationary personalities aren't exactly something that interests you, then stay far away. I'll admit that the techniques used is a clever thought... but I won't hesitate to add that the way it is used, makes the show feel uninspired and stagnate.
One major downside to this new program however is the emerging concept that all of the characters in Tom Goes to the Mayor are static, dry, and boring. There are a good half dozen regulars in the program, but with Tom just going along with whatever happens over the course of the television series, and with The Mayor not being too bright of a guy himself, the various plots of Tom Goes to the Mayor are left slow moving and of a certainly noticeable level of predictability. This is mostly as a result of a lack of contrasting character personalities, therefore leaving the viewer with nothing but some monotonous dialogue and a vegetative pace for so-called comedy.