how much more (the simpsons)?

[DoorKnobHandle]

I don't agree and I hate all that internet wave of nonsense that says "Simpsons have stopped being funny after the Xth season". Internet people, you guys are bitching way too much. Nowadays it seems people on the internet aren't satisfied by anything and rant about everything. IMO the 18th season is one of the best if not the best Simpsons season ever, and I watched the WHOLE series TWICE. In the 18th season almost every episode was hillarious and amazing in its concept. The 19th season so far isn't as good as the 18th but it's still good and has generated some great episodes, for example the one where Homer lost his memory. The concept and the way it was built was brilliant.
Why would you like a season you like so much to end???  Why the hell do people call for series they love to end???   It's better to have some average episodes and some great episodes in a season than not have it at all. You gotta realize in two decades, times change, humor changes, writers change, a series can't stay the same for 20 years. The Simpsons has survived so greatly for 19 seasons because it adapts to the times, because they refresh their writers so it won't get stale.
I say they've been here for 19 seasons and I'd like them to ahve 19 more, if you don't like it now just stop watching, but why ruin it for everybody else?

Well, you like the later seasons, good for you, but it's undeniable that The Simpsons have gone from a deep, satirical and provocative description of a middle-class family to hysterical slapstick comedy (just compare episodes if you need proof, compare the scene where Homer gets a gun [early season] to the spider-pig[from the movie]). I'm not saying that one is necessarily better than the other, but you've got to allow people to have opinions on this. This might come off a little mean but judging on for example your taste in music (G-unit and Sean Paul) it probably ain't much of a wonder that you're not into the deep and meaningful satire and rather like the mainstream-comedy in the later seasons.

Also, quite funny how you say "internet people, you guys are bitching way too much [...] rand about everything" when what you have up there clearly is a rant as well.

[Nostradamus]

The moment you went into cheaply insulting my music taste you lost all integrity to me and continuing this discussion with you is pointless.
I do understand deep satire btw, and South Park does that much better than Simpsons ever did.
And if Simpsons did the same thing for 19 years wouldn't it be boring? yes, and it probably won't last 19 years if they remained exactly the same.

[Nikolas]

Nikolas, a series can go as long as it remains good and it has a demand. And The Simpsons is still very highly watched and it's still been kept fresh and relevant.

But of course it can! I won't be the one to pull the plug! :p But the been kept fresh and relevant is up for discussion and a matter of opinion it seems!

You can't compare animated series to regular series like Friends, X-Files or whatever. In regular series actors get older and settings gets old. There's only so much time people from That 70's Show can play teenagers, there's only so much time those 6 friends can live in the same place, without children, and there's only so much relationships they can do between them (and they really did have almost all possible relationships between them, well except with Phoebe), There's only so much plots a Sci-Fi series can have before either it gets too complicated or every major plot gets resolved, and etc.
But with animated series like Simpsons, South Park etc, people don't get older and settings can change according to the changes of society and technology, an animated series can innovate and re-invent itself all the time and still be relevant. That's why Simpsons can go for 19 years and many more.

But exactly that's the point! It's not aobut the simpsons only! The simpsons in the title is a catch all subject to bring the thread to page 2 already!

The idea is that some things seem to carry on longer than they should be, and yes x-files seems to be that case, especially if they don't finally give an ending and leave open doors for movies (which x-files is true to that), and other things.

Southpark is reinventing itself I find, especially if we check relevance to Robot chicken, for example, or the idea of ever changing theme (completely) in the titles (as compaired to the Simpsons, which is a theme I adore, but is being somewhat static). Anyways...

And the problem remains when you use the same characters fir 19 whole years! What else can Bart do? How more clever or geeky can Lisa get? What else is there to discuss with such premises? There's nothing else really! And Simpsons have touched all, have done their work, as a commentary of life in Springfield and all Springfield in the world! Same with other shows!

My point is that unless you really have something bloody amazing to tell, there's no reason in keep going (apart from money). I'm sure that in season... 5 or 10 they may had some ideas for the next seasons and something to stir the water, but now I just can't find that episode anymore, anywhere! Same thing goes for the other series I mentioned. You give a goal, you reach that goal after 24 episodes, you save the world, and btw you have to save it again for another 5 24 hour days! Or another lost season, or whatever.

Anyways, that's my point and feeling and I have no idea what music you enjoy, nor I know the bands that dhk mentioned!

[DoorKnobHandle]

The moment you went into cheaply insulting my music taste you lost all integrity to me and continuing this discussion with you is pointless.
I do understand deep satire btw, and South Park does that much better than Simpsons ever did.
And if Simpsons did the same thing for 19 years wouldn't it be boring? yes, and it probably won't last 19 years if they remained exactly the same.

I did not insult you. I simply said that the music that "G-unit" or "Sean Paul" "create" is not exactly deep. It's mainstream. You can not argue with that. It's pop, it's made to be liked, it's mainstream.

Yes, I'm a Southpark-Fan as well, and they are great at doing satire. But they are not "better" at it then The Simpsons are. They used to be great at it as well, they just haven't been the same in the last 10 seasons.

Really, I don't mean any offense to you and I have made that clear in the last post and this one. All I'm saying is that a.) The Simpsons have changed and b.) in my personal opinion, they used to be a lot deeper and more meaningful before.

That's all.

[Nostradamus]

Well first it's not pop, G-Unit are hip-hop and Sean Paul is DAncehall Reggae.
Second, that sig is 2 years old and I now only listen to Reggae singers you probably never heard of.
Third, yes Simpsons changed, my point is it had too. Read above as  I already explained why it had to.
Fourth, you claim to be a deep person, but judging someone's personality according to a small part of the music he listens to is one of the most shallow things you can ever do.

Nikolas. the series can go on because the writers change so they can do stuff previous writers didn't think about and keep it fresh, and because the series has like a 100 of characters and because the world around the series changes (aka real life) and the series relates to that, for example the wpisode where Homer opens a web site or the episode last season with the MMORPG. These things couldn't be made fun of 10-15  years ago cos they didn't exist and new things to make fun of will come in the future that aren't there now.

[jetxl]

Ultima Online was released over a decade ago, but if they did a MMO episode back then not a lot of people would get the joke. The Simpsons has always tried to be the centerpoint of mainstream culture. That's it's strength AND weakness.
I don't think the Simpsons changed at all. The characters became arctypes of themselfs as all characters of long running series do. The jokes went from sit-com standard to slapstick. Some jokes might be a social commentary but that's purely coincidental, the intention is NEVER to wake America up.

I still like the Simpsons as a cartoon, but it no longer is god of t.v.


Oh and if the writers change because the old ones aren't funny anymore then the serie is in big trouble.

[Andail]

When Simpsons was at its peak, it was simply the best. The satire, the characters, the psychology, the wonderful "new" sense of humour, it was one of its kind.
Family Guy is a very vague copy in comparison, one that I never learnt to appreciate. Sure, they have one or two successful jokes in every episode, but all in all it's a show that brings nothing new to the table. Whenever Family Guy is about to go through one of those "let's repeat this joke ad infinitum, because that's what the Simpsons did, and we only need to push it further to become even funnier!" I quickly change the channel.

Futurama worked for me personally; I thought the atmosphere was great, the settings and plots so full of imagination and respect to details, the jokes often original and fun. I can understand if it didn't appeal to the broader audience; at a first glance there was a lot of geek humour involved, and a few too many characters that didn't add much.

[InCreator]

I prefer family guy here. It's more radical in its approach. Not so predictable. Naughtier. Closer to South Park.

Watching Homer Simpson being that same miserable moron through god-knows-how-many episodes disgusts me.
I hoped for a fresh breath of air from the movie they released lately, but after movie, decided to never watch Simpsons again.

[Nostradamus]

Ultima Online was released over a decade ago, but if they did a MMO episode back then not a lot of people would get the joke. The Simpsons has always tried to be the centerpoint of mainstream culture. That's it's strength AND weakness.
I don't think the Simpsons changed at all. The characters became arctypes of themselfs as all characters of long running series do. The jokes went from sit-com standard to slapstick. Some jokes might be a social commentary but that's purely coincidental, the intention is NEVER to wake America up.

I still like the Simpsons as a cartoon, but it no longer is god of t.v.


Oh and if the writers change because the old ones aren't funny anymore then the serie is in big trouble.

I agree except for the last sentence. The writers changed not because they weren't funny anymore, but simply because in 19 years people change their workplace, people get better offers from other cimpanies, people get promoted. More importantly TV series must change writers every couple of years to keep the material fresh and open the door for new ideas. There's only so many things a writer can think of before his stuff gets stale.

[blueskirt]

I stopped to watch The Simpsons 2 years ago. After the 10th season it's simply no longer the same. The series used the be serious and believable, it used to be a social commentary on the family, when Marge or Homer got this close to cheat on each other or when divorce was around the corner, you believed it, you can't say the same for the latest episodes. Humor was great back then, it was subtle and intelligent, sometimes you watched reruns and spotted a joke you didn't see the last time, nowadays it's all slapstick and dumbed down jokes. Most characters stopped to be characters just to become stereotypes and memes, the "A-ha!" "Excellent!" "Disco Stu loves disco!" to squeeze once in every episodes.

Personally, I would be alright with them continuing the series and me no longer watching them if it wasn't for the fact the Simpsons is one of the few things which, even if I ignore it, still affect my life somehow: on the sole cartoon channel over here, the latest unfunny episodes hogs 2 hours of air time every single days for 3 years now. Two hours everydays which could be better spend with new cartoons series or the older, better Simpsons episodes, and it's not going to change anytime soon. So, yes, I wish they would pull the plug on the show, or make it as good as it was before, or at least, that my cartoon channel could take a hint and stop airing those bad episodes so much.

South Park on the other hand kept getting better as the series progressed, everytime I watched an episode like Chinpokomon, Free Hat, My Future Self n' Me, or Good Times with Weapons I suddently found the previous episodes boring. And the same "2 hours of Simpsons a day" cartoon channel hasn't aired a new South Park episode since the 10th season, go figure.

[PixelPerfect]

I didn' t like the Simpsons since, let' s say, season 7 or 8.

I tried to watch Lost with my mate, we would gather all the flaws into a booklet but got bored after a few episodes, now it's gone 2 seasons and nothing has happened.

You people name any series that beat simpsons or lost in terms of originality and I'll give you a prize (south park is not counted). Simpsons are (on and off) better than anything on tv and Lost is just making television history because of it's plot (like it or not).

I can't believe that smart people are bashing the gems of tv.

EDIT: And for the record: "best commentary on american life is found within daily show and colbert report" If you know anything about US then these will make you chuckle hard.

EDIT2: And yes the simpsons have been on a decline but name a show that's better.

I prefer family guy here. It's more radical in its approach. Not so predictable. Naughtier. Closer to South Park.

Watching Homer Simpson being that same miserable moron through god-knows-how-many episodes disgusts me.
I hoped for a fresh breath of air from the movie they released lately, but after movie, decided to never watch Simpsons again.

Although I think that early family guys were indeed magnificent, I have to say: What in the world is wrong with you? Did you think that Homer would wise-up? After 18 years?  Well now I know why there's Aqua Teen Hunger Force in existence. Random humour obviously clicks with some people... Yeah that's humor...

U think that's bad?...

[Tuomas]

Now that you quoted me I guess I must reply. None can beat Simpsons in originality, that's what the 19seasons are for. No show will go that far. Plotwise... it's been recycling for a while now.

Lost, seems to me like there's no plot at all. If that's the goal, then true, it's very original. Though if I want something original I'll watch Stargate (which I do btw), oh and the TMNT of course.

No seriously, I wish I had a list of all Simpsons episodes, so I could tell you what's unoriginal in them, and I could find them

I don't watch tv nowadays, just sports basically, and I would not be proud of myself if I could name series. I reemmber I used to watch NYPD Blue and ER back when I had a tv. In the end none of this "entertainment" is really art or worth recognition, it's not like people forgot about money when making tv-shows.

[PixelPerfect]

Well I agree on that point that it's just a "product for consumers" but that's basically anything on TV nowadays. I don't really care about the charts or stuff behind it if it's just entertaining when I need my fix. I do have to say that South Park has been more entertaining from the two to me for the past two or so years but simpsons have always been there right behind it.

Lost is another thing... It was pretty fine from the start but obvious writing fumbles got it into a mess... STILL it is more groundbreaking then 56 episodes of "another-hospital-drama-with-relations". And basically without those fumbles they wouldn't even have had a show to air. Anything to break the monotony on TV.

[Nacho]

PP, you should try to "re-ask" your question.

Simpsons... Original?

Sitcoms about an average american family have been made for decades, Growing pains, family ties, Married.. with children, Bill Cosby' s show... All of them follow the same pattern, wife, husband and 2 or 3 kids, at least one per gender. Simpsons are 0 originall.

Lost is original. House is original. Dexter is original. Prison break is original... What is original in the Simpsons?

Maybe you meant... funnier? Monthy Python' s flying circus, Futurama, Aló Aló, Not the Nine o'clock news, Jeeves and Wooster, The black Adder, The red Dwarf, Parker Lewis... And that in the "not that bad" days of the Simpsons. With nowaday' s episodes, I laugh with them as much as if I was seeing a documentary of the reproductive costumes of the Japanese blue jay way. I could even say that it' s almost as boring as family guy... But at least with the Simpsons there were goof times, while FG has been crap from the pilot episode.

[EldKatt]

Relevant to some above posts:

What's the meanest thing ever said to you before, during or after a gig?
[Matt Stone]: When people say to me, 'God, you guys have one of the best shows on television. You and Family Guy.' That fucking hurts so bad.
[Trey Parker]: Very well said. It's such a kick in the balls.

I understand them. I don't dislike Family Guy any more than I dislike most sitcoms--probably less. I generally enjoy it when I watch it. But it doesn't stay with me. With time, it is quite possible that I will forget Family Guy, and I will not have a spontaneous urge to watch it again. I will not bring it up in a conversation about awesome stuff. Kind of like how there is so much popular music from past decades that I did enjoy (and still would), but that I do not remember at all now. Other music I will never forget--and although there may be times when I have not heard it for many years, yet I still get a sudden desire to listen to it or play it. As far as TV goes, early Simpsons is like that; just like Monty Python's Flying Circus or South Park. They will leave a legacy (and already did), for reasons other than their enormous popularity. Family Guy, or later Simpsons seasons (entertaining though they may be) will not, I suspect. To me there's a very significant difference between highly entertaining and brilliant. To a lot of people it seems that there isn't, and with only superficial appearances to go by, it is understandable that one could see similarities between South Park and Family Guy. Just like "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is, as some would say it, "kind of like Bach," but... well, I suspect if Bach played you Das wohltemperierte Clavier, or Die Kunst der Fuge, or the Goldberg variations, and you told him, "I like this, because it reminds me of that song by Procol Harum"... I think old Johnny Seb. would feel much like Trey and Matt above.

[PixelPerfect]

Nacho, I meant originality regards to the writing, not the setting. Just because the setting is familiar doesn't mean that it's an unoriginal show. I think they actually have won awards for that. Atleast I remember them getting something from the not-so-old "24 minutes"-episode.

I don't think there's nothing but old shows on your list (don't know them all). No problem watching re-runs as there are good shows there, but everything gets old when watched too many times.