It was bad, but not much worse than a bunch of other shows where they "force" a point across for the sake of politics. Saw some of this in Rick and Morty too
The wackiness/cringe levels were honestly comparable to Gravity Falls.
I think people just hate it because 1) race swapped in a way that erases whites instead of POC and 2) they heard other people hate it so they just bandwagon
Fair enough.
I think part of why it worked for me is that it was a totally self-aware self-parody of kids shows. Like it was a kids show, but it was a kid's show that reveled in being a kids show instead of just doing kids show stuff. For me, at least, that made it palatable. Plus I am always down for a children's product going full lovecraftian apocalypse at the end of the season. Neo Genesis Evangelion walked so Gravity Falls could run.
FWIW, I'm not really trying to imply the show is bad; I know referring to it as a 'kids show', and saying I can't stomach its 'wackiness' sounds dismissive, but I'm not sure how else to word the elements that didn't work for me. But I'm definitely not trying to say that "all 'kids shows' are bad". Honestly, I'm just extremely picky about shows and movies, and have mostly stopped giving shows as chance; I feel bad when I friend recommends some media to me, and I try to watch it, but hate it, and have to have that interaction with them.
No, no, I get you. It's a lot and I totally get why it wouldn't land with a lot of people. The same things that make it charming to some would make it indigestible to others : )