I think Phineas and Ferb uses its meta humor very well because it usually doesn't overshadow the
actual humor - the slapstick, the running gags, the formula dynamics. I would say the only exceptions where they kinda overdose are stuff like the clip shows and Rollercoaster: The Musical, but it makes sense for the writing to be more self-aware there. It is very much a show built from the ground up to poke fun at its own formula, but that
works because Phineas and Ferb usually doesn't take itself too seriously outside the longer specials. It helps that Phineas and Ferb requires a mountain's worth of suspension of disbelief which the lampshades reinforce. How unrealistic it is gets poked fun at several times (aren't you a little young, etc.). The references to previous episodes
work because they are mere momentary bonuses for longtime viewers that the formula is built around, you can take them out and the show still has good characters, good stories, and a very feel-good sense of heart. Yes, the show isn't deep by any means, but the show realizes the meta humor has a short shelf life and compensates in other areas, like the music and likable characters.
...Now take out everything positive I just said and you have the follow-up Milo Murphy's Law. A show that thinks Phineas and Ferb was nothing more than just the superficial/surface-level attributes. The likable cast of Phineas and Ferb was snarky but had actual distinctive quirks and aspirations and relationships unique to them that subtly progressed as the seasons went on (ex: generic bully Buford goes on to speak French, quote Voltaire, cares for his pet goldfish, arguably is better at busting Phineas and Ferb than Candace (Bully Bust), he might have the most complex personality of the entire cast)? Forget that noise, let's just make almost every character (bar Bradley and Elliot and Mr. Block who aren't even main characters) generically likable with no goals whatsoever.
Phineas and Ferb had a wide variety of humor, from slapstick to visual gags to genius bonuses ("tube socks? what is this, 1974?") to character dynamics to a truckload of running gags to satire ("NOT EVERYTHING IS A METAPHOR!" poking fun at faux symbolism, Nerds of a Feather poking fun at fandoms), which is usually heavily downplayed in service of "LOL things went wrong
again?????" or
especially "HEY REMEMBER WHEN THIS HAPPENED IN PHINEAS AND FERB?" (which is so prevalent
the references take up 38 minutes of the entire show, almost two episodes worth)! The references in Phineas and Ferb
only work in the context of Phineas and Ferb. When you take them out and shove them into another show, it becomes meaningless pandering, which are the last words I'd use to describe Phineas and Ferb, a show full of a love for life and empathic relationships. I hate the self-aware humor in Milo so much, especially in the second season. It is
everything wrong with the shallowness of forcing a shared universe onto something, what little Milo had in identity got completely swallowed by its parent show in the second season. Yes, Phineas and Ferb had the Marvel and Star Wars crossover specials, but the staff was smart enough to explicitly call one of them non-canon; I'm pretty sure neither of their events were mentioned again. You can remove both crossovers and the show would still be a timeless classic.
And even then, the unique elements Milo had that Phineas largely didn't (some adventurous story arcs) get some of the most quarter-baked attempts at drama I've ever seen (why yes, I do like my tension of a planet in peril by negative energy being undercut with a W A C K Y B A C K G R O U N D M U S I C C H A N G E). We will self-plagiarize entire jokes and even stories (Agee Ientee Diogee is clearly just the B-plot of Misperceived Monotreme from Phineas and Ferb again) and even just transplant Dr. Doofensmirtz into the show where he does nothing but make things go wrong because he's an idiot in a show where things go wrong from the title character. Dr. Doofensmirtz was more than just the silly mad scientist. He had a wonderful daughter, an amicable relationship with his ex-wife Charlene (which had never been done in a Disney Channel show before!), a nice little frenemy relationship with Perry and the O.W.C.A. - but this is Milo Murphy's Law, so we'll sand off
all the depth and just have Doof and Perry here because YOU LIKE DOOF AND PERRY RIGHT????
Because we're self-referential, we don't
have to try! We can make a show where only like 3 songs are memorable despite having Weird Al Yankovic voice our main character (who barely gets any solo songs). Contrast this to Phineas and Ferb, which, while some of the songs were definitely obligatory toward the end, still had plenty of bangers, Season 5 has great music too). We can just beat entire throwaway jokes to death like Family Guy because our 11 minute episodes only have about 3 minutes of actual humor. I grew up with the original show, and when I sat down to watch Milo Murphy's Law in full, all I saw was a creative team
desperate to coast on their past success of Phineas and Ferb (one of the best cartoons ever made) rather than create something actually new. I watched the entire show and I couldn't tell you what sense of personality the three main characters Milo, Melissa, or Zack have, much less Balthazar Cavendish or Vinnie Dakota (LOOK GUYS THEY ARE VOICED BY THE CREATORS LIKE MAJOR MONOGRAM AND DOOF!) beyond being generically snarky nice people that blend together.
If Phineas and Ferb had respect for the viewer (and it still does, Season 5 is a 9/10 banger just as good as the classic seasons outside the "how do you do, fellow kids?" jokes like "simp" or "this could have been an email" or goat screams which I should never hear in Phineas and Ferb), Milo Murphy's Law thinks you are stupid and will accept the bare minimum as long as you wink to the camera. It's pathetic. At least Hamster & Gretel was a lot better (nothing DCAU level superhero show, but worth watching).
