The simpsons vrs other cartoons (official simpsons thread)

[MacGuffin]

Metallica and the White Stripes have their stops in Springfield scheduled for next month. The metal legends rock the back of a pickup truck for the September 10 season premiere of "The Simpsons," while Meg and Jack White meet up with a drumming Bart — who picks up the sticks at a child psychiatrist's urging — in the September 17 episode.

[MacGuffin]

'Simpsons' creator: 'Let's keep doing it'
From the Associated Press

As Bart Simpson skips into his 18th season of TV mischief, fans will be glad to know that creator Matt Groening sees no end in sight for the wayward lad or "The Simpsons."

Groening's reasoning is sound: The show, which returns on Fox Sunday night, is fun to make, fun to watch, just earned its 23rd Emmy and is finally jumping to the big screen with a summer 2007 movie about Bart and the rest of Springfield's first family.

"My attitude at this point is, as long as the people who work on the show are having a good time, let's keep doing it," he said. "We've always tried to entertain ourselves and figured that the outside world would be entertained if we were making ourselves laugh."

[modage]

wow, minutes long michel gondry reference.   

[JG]

you stole my post. 

[matt35mm]

Terrible.  Unfortunately, it's not the worst episode I've seen... but it was terrible and extremely desperate.

[modage]

watch it for yourself here:

[Pubrick]

Costner Current Simpsons Writers: We're sorry. We're really sorry. Uh.. we don't know
what we were thinking, but seasons 2 to 10 were good, right?  Made us all believe again..

[matt35mm]

And OH, that clip. God, I'd have thought i'd be desensitised to awful new Simpsons by now, but that clip still managed to depress the hell out of me.

Guess what... that was the best part and wittiest part of the episode that was full of jokes like Homer putting on a Mexican wrestling mask in a hospital room (out of the blue, of course) and losing to one of those displayed skeletons.  And other things just wasting time like spending a long time on jokes that you know are just there to jerk you around like when some jazz players that Lisa wanted to jam with come up to her and spend half a minute saying, "Will YOU, Lisa Simpson, do us the extreme honor of... sitting in that chair in front of the stage?  We want to jam with your brother."  Or just randomly putting Ralph on stage (again, out of the blue).

It's like they don't even care anymore.

[Chest Rockwell]

The more you watch the more you give them incentive to make more.

It's like they don't even realize that their output is so bad, because people still watch it hoping (futilely) a good episode will come.

[Pubrick]

What episode is that one from, again?

Monty Can't Buy Me Love. third last episode of season 10.

The more you watch the more you give them incentive to make more.

It's like they don't even realize that their output is so bad, because people still watch it hoping (futilely) a good episode will come.

both of those points are true. the ratings are as high as ever but that alone isn't making them think they're still doing great work.. the worst part is they are STILL WINNING AWARDS. for example at the 2006 Writers Guild of America Awards the 6 nominees for best writing in an animated show were all from the simpsons. and it's been that way since the category was introduced in 2003. the only saving grace of that year was that the award went to Ken Keeler for his enlightening Futurama episode Godfellas, but every year after that has been the simpsons getting recognition for their WORST YEARS EVER. on a side note, 2003 was the first time they were recognized by the Golden Globes with a nomination in the best show category -- the irony here is season 13 was quite possibly the worst season ever. meanwhile that year Futurama had another classic Jurassic Bark in the running for the emmy but lost to you know who. i mean, this was Jurrassic Bark people! even if you don't care about the award recognition you can agree that all the recent misguided praise is not doing The Simpsons or television in general any favours.

it's not just that fans are watching waiting for a return to form, it's the writers themselves who are completely deluded. the problem is a complicated one i think and it's NOT the writer's fault completely. it began when nascent internet losers began calling every episode "worst episode ever", this was in the middle of the classic period! the writers were paying attention then, and as i've talked about elsewhere, they foresaw this with the creation of the Comic Book Guy. eventually this lead to Itchy & Scratchy & Poochy, and the episode titled Worst Episode Ever. they just stopped listening to the fans, they don't give a SHIT what the fans say anymore. and understandably so. the idiot losers who complained in season 5 because the situations were not as realistic as season 2 must be killing themselves now. nowadays when people complain it's nothing new to the writers, according to the hardcore idiots (and yes i hate them passionately) they've been doing subpar work since season 4.

so where does that leave us. thankfully the worst part of television is also the best part. by this i mean the rise and fall of the simpsons is symptomatic of the fickle nature of TV. the series may go on forever and the movie may make 100millions (unless they go on every talk show and pre-empt its release with talk of "this movie will be the biggest of the year" cos that shit always fails see: king kong, superman who?) but i don't expect the show to recover. instead, the redemption has come and will come again in the form of Futurama. this fantastic show, still underrated due to the overhype of family guy, benefitted inversely from the decline in quality of the simpsons. the ultra nerds either got jobs or realised that they had sabotaged the simpsons by complaining too much, futurama got its fair share of nerds (it's mainly for them) but never got a chance to even gain a real following beyond them. there was no need to seem elitist too early cos the show sank as soon as it hit the water. so now in its resurrection i have total faith that it will continue in the timeless satirical tradition of the simpsons.. that was the true spirit that was lost.

if the simpsons was jesus, futurama was mohammed. praise be to Allah.

[matt35mm]

the ratings are as high as ever but that alone isn't making them think they're still doing great work.. the worst part is they are STILL WINNING AWARDS. for example at the 2006 Writers Guild of America Awards the 6 nominees for best writing in an animated show were all from the simpsons. and it's been that way since the category was introduced in 2003. the only saving grace of that year was that the award went to Ken Keeler for his enlightening Futurama episode Godfellas, but every year after that has been the simpsons getting recognition for their WORST YEARS EVER. on a side note, 2003 was the first time they were recognized by the Golden Globes with a nomination in the best show category -- the irony here is season 13 was quite possibly the worst season ever. meanwhile that year Futurama had another classic Jurassic Bark in the running for the emmy but lost to you know who. i mean, this was Jurrassic Bark people! even if you don't care about the award recognition you can agree that all the recent misguided praise is not doing The Simpsons or television in general any favours.

it's not just that fans are watching waiting for a return to form, it's the writers themselves who are completely deluded. the problem is a complicated one i think and it's NOT the writer's fault completely. it began when nascent internet losers began calling every episode "worst episode ever", this was in the middle of the classic period! the writers were paying attention then, and as i've talked about elsewhere, they foresaw this with the creation of the Comic Book Guy. eventually this lead to Itchy & Scratchy & Poochy, and the episode titled Worst Episode Ever. they just stopped listening to the fans, they don't give a SHIT what the fans say anymore. and understandably so. the idiot losers who complained in season 5 because the situations were not as realistic as season 2 must be killing themselves now. nowadays when people complain it's nothing new to the writers, according to the hardcore idiots (and yes i hate them passionately) they've been doing subpar work since season 4.

so where does that leave us. thankfully the worst part of television is also the best part. by this i mean the rise and fall of the simpsons is symptomatic of the fickle nature of TV. the series may go on forever and the movie may make 100millions (unless they go on every talk show and pre-empt its release with talk of "this movie will be the biggest of the year" cos that shit always fails see: king kong, superman who?) but i don't expect the show to recover. instead, the redemption has come and will come again in the form of Futurama. this fantastic show, still underrated due to the overhype of family guy, benefitted inversely from the decline in quality of the simpsons. the ultra nerds either got jobs or realised that they had sabotaged the simpsons by complaining too much, futurama got it's fair share of nerds (it's mainly for them) but never got a chance to even gain a real following beyond them. there was no need to seem elitist too early cos the show sank as soon as it hit the water. so now in its resurrection i have total faith that it will continue in the timeless satirical tradition of the simpsons.. that was the true spirit that was lost.

if the simpsons was jesus, futurama was mohammed. praise be to Allah.

This post, I like.  Insightful and even... strangely moving.

I'm catching up on Futurama via the back-to-back episodes every weeknight on Cartoon Network.  It is indeed wonderful.

[Ravi]

futurama got its fair share of nerds (it's mainly for them) but never got a chance to even gain a real following beyond them. there was no need to seem elitist too early cos the show sank as soon as it hit the water. so now in its resurrection i have total faith that it will continue in the timeless satirical tradition of the simpsons.. that was the true spirit that was lost.

I hope Futurama gains a larger following, because its really not just a show for nerds.  I'm not into sci-fi, but I love the show.  A lot of the ideas an jokes come from sci-fi stories and films, but its always funny even if you don't get the reference or parody.  Its never, "Hey, remember the time you had lunch with Stanley G. Weinbaum?"

[cron]

what a fucking disgrace. i was expecting something different with this episode because the season start was okay, but fuck. i won't even talk about it. 
that jesus -mohammed analogy was tops, pubrick. islam is the most sophisticated of religions.

[Chest Rockwell]

both of those points are true. the ratings are as high as ever but that alone isn't making them think they're still doing great work.. the worst part is they are STILL WINNING AWARDS. for example at the 2006 Writers Guild of America Awards the 6 nominees for best writing in an animated show were all from the simpsons. and it's been that way since the category was introduced in 2003. the only saving grace of that year was that the award went to Ken Keeler for his enlightening Futurama episode Godfellas, but every year after that has been the simpsons getting recognition for their WORST YEARS EVER. on a side note, 2003 was the first time they were recognized by the Golden Globes with a nomination in the best show category -- the irony here is season 13 was quite possibly the worst season ever. meanwhile that year Futurama had another classic Jurassic Bark in the running for the emmy but lost to you know who. i mean, this was Jurrassic Bark people! even if you don't care about the award recognition you can agree that all the recent misguided praise is not doing The Simpsons or television in general any favours.

it's not just that fans are watching waiting for a return to form, it's the writers themselves who are completely deluded. the problem is a complicated one i think and it's NOT the writer's fault completely. it began when nascent internet losers began calling every episode "worst episode ever", this was in the middle of the classic period! the writers were paying attention then, and as i've talked about elsewhere, they foresaw this with the creation of the Comic Book Guy. eventually this lead to Itchy & Scratchy & Poochy, and the episode titled Worst Episode Ever. they just stopped listening to the fans, they don't give a SHIT what the fans say anymore. and understandably so. the idiot losers who complained in season 5 because the situations were not as realistic as season 2 must be killing themselves now. nowadays when people complain it's nothing new to the writers, according to the hardcore idiots (and yes i hate them passionately) they've been doing subpar work since season 4.

so where does that leave us. thankfully the worst part of television is also the best part. by this i mean the rise and fall of the simpsons is symptomatic of the fickle nature of TV. the series may go on forever and the movie may make 100millions (unless they go on every talk show and pre-empt its release with talk of "this movie will be the biggest of the year" cos that shit always fails see: king kong, superman who?) but i don't expect the show to recover. instead, the redemption has come and will come again in the form of Futurama. this fantastic show, still underrated due to the overhype of family guy, benefitted inversely from the decline in quality of the simpsons. the ultra nerds either got jobs or realised that they had sabotaged the simpsons by complaining too much, futurama got its fair share of nerds (it's mainly for them) but never got a chance to even gain a real following beyond them. there was no need to seem elitist too early cos the show sank as soon as it hit the water. so now in its resurrection i have total faith that it will continue in the timeless satirical tradition of the simpsons.. that was the true spirit that was lost.

if the simpsons was jesus, futurama was mohammed. praise be to Allah.

Beautifully said; you clearly know more about the two shows than I. Reminds me of how tragic Futurama's loss was--it really was just getting into its stride 3rd and 4th season. I saw an episode on Adult Swim last night that I hadn't seen before in which Fry dies and Leela has dreams about him. Not only was it genuinely trippy and had a 2001 reference, but I'll be damned if I didn't feel like crying at the end of it. The Simpsons once was able to evoke the same reaction in me when I was a kid; the one when Bart experiences his first unrequited love for that older girl that went to Jimbo created some powerful emotions in my young self. But after some season I eventually just stopped caring, when they moved away from intelligent satire to self-indulgent returns to old plots and characters and endless pop gags. I think it was the N*Sync one that did it. I haven't seen an episode in a while because I know it just won't be the same; it really is a little painful seeing the show limp around because of still-descent viewership.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

What can I say about that clip that can't be said about why I can't really stand Family Guy anymore?

I feel stupid now for preferring Family Guy over Simpsons, but it makes sense to me now why I did.  Family Guy was new and Simpsons wasn't hitting as hard as it used to, but when the Simpsons were at their peak, it was a combination of me being too young to remember and the lack of availability to see them again unless I caught a rerun. 

Once the DVD's were coming out, I picked up the Seasons that had my favorite episodes only to find there was so much more to them than just a storyline.  Simpsons created it's own brand of humor that has been diluted by Family Guy and then they readopted it.  Family Guy has little replay value to me, while primse Simpsons rarely grow stale. 

What mostly confuses me, speaking now in total hindsight, what made Seth Green think what he was doing was original?  Was he trying to beat the Simpsons' formula because that's all he could do?  Just compete with the popular instead of forging something new?  Even American Dad, a bigger failure than Family Guy (yikes), has the same setup.  And I'm really sick of the argument "Well, Simpsons has the basic cast, it's no surprise Family Guy and American Dad copied it."  You look at other successful cartoons that are still quite innovatie like Futurama and South Park.  Futurama was a huge risk and turned out amazing (though wasn't as well received as it was due) and South Park still tried something new and eventually came into its own, which was still quite new from their "swearing children" phase.

Family Guy makes no attempt to be different, just more obscure to try to outwit the Simpsons or something, and as a result, has had some very toxic effects on the Simpsons.