Was it just me, or is the 300th Simpsons episode (where Bart is emancipated) rubbish? Sky had been hyping it for weeks and it was such a disappointment.
On the other hand, the 100th Charmed was pretty good.
The Simpsons is turning bad. I mean... Marge wakes up with breast implants? Homer goes to Rock camp? Where's the sense in that? It's as if the whole series is turning into a huge halloween special. I missed the 100 th charmed! :'( :'( :'( :'( I forgot about it and I was on this darn forum at the time >:(
As I've said before, I don't think the Simpsons is turning bad. It's just changing style. It used to be so that a simple, suburban family type plot would do, but the writers obviously had more fun on the wilder episodes, so nowadays it's prefered. The humor is still tops, IMO. There are problems, such as the overuse of celebrities, and the stories could flow a lot better, but it's still hilarious enough to keep me tuned in. And isn't that what the Simpsons is all about? ....Pleasing Neil Cicierega?
Trap is right. When did the simpsons start? 14 years ago! I have to admit though, the simpsons have gone through 3 stages....
1) mildly amusing, but real story lines. (Homer was a regular man)
2) funny, and OK story lines. (Homer is a bit dumber) I call this stage, the golden age.
3) (finally) funny, but totoally stupid story lines. (Homer is a dumbass!)
My point is, that Matt Greoning and his writers have run out of plots, and are really pulling stuff out of their ass.
I am sick of the simpsons now, probably because I know most episodes word for word!
"My point is, that Matt Greoning and his writers have run out of plots, and are really pulling stuff out of their ass."
Notion seconded. Some of the recent episodes I've seen have been absolutely appaling, full of the kind of humour your eight-year-old cousin would come up with. The best stage was the second, with it's almost python-esque humour and satire.
yup! And I mean..hovering in the air on an automatic skateboard????? WHAT THE HECK????? Were they on drugs or something???
may i recommend Family Guy? :)
Yes! Family Guy!!
That's a show that hasn't gone downhill yet.
Maybe that's because it got cancelled.
Darn.
I agree with everything that's been said about the later episodes of the simpsons.
I love the episodes from the "golden age" that have touches of those stories about the family and families in general that made the show so good in the first place.
Although the InSaNiTy side of the show is okay once in a while it gets so very wearing after a while...
...so very wearing...
I'm always put off buying a video of Family Guy because their entire advertising campign is "Not suitible for kids". How shallow would you have to be to buy somthing for the giddy thrill of violence/ swearing/ sex/ whatever it is in Family Guy that's so 'offensive'?
Although I'm sure it's a very good show, just the thought of becoming one of those people who use age certificates as a quality rating system sends shivers down my spine.
Well, it could be worse. I could rate software how how much filespace it takes up...But who'd be stupid enough to do that? :P
Quote from: Eggie on Tue 22/04/2003 19:07:08
I'm always put off buying a video of Family Guy because their entire advertising campign is "Not suitible for kids". How shallow would you have to be to buy somthing for the giddy thrill of violence/ swearing/ sex/ whatever it is in Family Guy that's so 'offensive'?
Maybe its because you wont understand all the 80s jokes? :)
Another one is Futurama, but that went downhill as soon as the media hype died down. It was a big thing because it was a Matt Greoning cartoon, but then no-one whatched it.
I was alive during the 80's!
I was born in 1989!
You guys keep mentioning Matt Groening and his writers..... He left the show really, a couple seasons ago... yeah, they are his creations, but he went on to do futurama... a much better show, especially compared to the most recent series of The Simpsons..... they need back the orignial writers like Conan O'Brian and such...
Family Guy is an A+ show as well.
Once the Simpsons started going downhill, I hoped Family Guy would take over, but now it has been cancelled, no such luck.
I think Futurama had a tough act to follow in the first place. Everyone already loved the Simpsons & were so used to the characters, they just expected Futurama to be the same thing, only in the future. A bit more Jetsons.
I still tune in to new episodes of the Simpsons, but I sort of hope it'll stop for good soon.
No, I think it was just picked up for atleast 5 more seasons, if I heard correctly on the amount.
I think we're all in agreement here - the Simpsons as of late has been appalling. The sad thing is, if you watch some of the early episodes that parody modern culture, the latest Simpsons episodes are the sorts of shows that they use to take the piss out of back in the heydey.
After 300 episodes it's not surprising that they're out of storylines. But do they stop and retire gracefully? Oh no, milk it for all its worth, until we end up with Homer going to the moon once a week, Marge becoming a prostitute and Bart and Lisa in teenage sex romps.
Family Guy and Futurama - they were both great shows IMO, but were both cancelled by Fox in favour of more and more Simpsons episodes. It beggars belief.
I used to watch the Simpsons whenever it was on, and look forward to new episodes. Now, I have a stack of about 15 new season 14 episodes downloaded that I really can't be bothered to waste my time watching. It's really sad.
Ditto!
Quote from: CJ on Tue 22/04/2003 21:13:51
Oh no, milk it for all its worth, until we end up with Homer going to the moon once a week
Ok, now you're just being silly. The writers have SOME limits. Homer involved in space travel? That's just crazy.
The REALLY sad thing IMO is the fact that they're still making shitloads of money from it! Hardcore fans just refuse to believe that it's gone downhill and continue to pay money for everything made by some company that payed money to get the logo on their product that usually has nothing to do with the product.
I got a simpsons easter egg this year! It made me sick (literally) how they had an easter egg with rabbits engraved on it with rabbit gummi sweets and managed to sell more eggs than if there'd been a picture of a bunny on the box.
So is it not a matter of opinion wether the show's gone downhill?
In my opinion; No it isn't. :P
I completely agree with CJ.... I really do like Futurama more than Simpsons. Specially 'cause Matt Groening made some really great episodes in Futurama, and is also thruth that after he left the Simpsons the quality really went down.... On the travels episodes When they go to Japan it was totally ridiculous.... When they came to Brazil(I'm a brazillian boy!! ;) ) It was REALLY offensive... (I don't like living here... but, they can't expose a lot of funnyless jokes saying that everybody likes Carnaval and stuff like that, I really hate carnaval... Like most of the people here, or saying that we have rain forest in the middle of Rio de Janeiro) It was totally absurd!!!!!
And trapezoid.... Homer did went on a space travel once... And he released a ant farm in the middle of the ship remember??
trap was being ironic me thinks ;)
Don't call Trap an I-ron.
Groening has control of who the writers would be when he was gone.
He implied that he appointed writers that would ruin the show as quickly as possible and thus avoid a protracted death.
But he forgot it was on Fox.
But even the writers know it'd gone downhill, after all they make a comment about Jumping the Shark every two episodes.
For me, it started to go downhill at two points:
1) The death of Phil Hartman -- Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure were two of the greatest characters on the Simpsons. I thought they gave the show more of an edge than Homer did.
2) Ian Maxtone-Graham becomes the head writer -- This guy joined the Simpsons writing team after writing for Saturday Night Live. I hate SNL. The jokes go nowhere. But not only that, this guy had never seen an episode of the Simpsons before he joined up. I would figure the first requirement of someone writing for a TV show is that they actually KNOW the characters and the setting. He SNLed the Simpsons, turned it into a skit that doesn't go anywhere. His most disgusting effort what the whole Maude Flanders death -- it was so far-fetched, even Ron L Hubbard was scratching his head going "What the fuck was that?"
I like any show that can pay homage to the like of Kubrick and Hitchcock -- The Simpsons used to do it time and time again, and do it well.
Now they seem more intent on taking off films like Porkys, Animal House, or Rodeny Dangerfield.
WHile I'm not tying to discredit Porkys, Aaimal House, or Dangerfield, I do think if you're going to do a take-off of something, take it from the top drawer.
For example, the Homer goes into space episode was great -- It had funny jokes and paid it's dues to Kubrick (monkeys becoming super intelligent, The Blue Danube, Homer as the Star Child at the end).
I'm not saying the key is to include a Hitchcock or Kubrick reference every epsiode -- but I do believe things like that made it smarter.
It seems like very dumbed down humour now.
I like funny references that are smart and fit the context on the episode.
Like that episode, Last Exit To Springfield (the one where Homer becomes a Union leader), where they referenced such things as "Last Exit to Brooklyn" (obviously), Jimmy Hoffa, Dr Suess, and Marathon Man.
It just needs to get smarter -- not just cheap, one-off laughs.
But I'm just a pleb on an adventure game forum -- as if they'd listen to me.
Maybe the references are so smart you don't get them ;)
I mean, I didn't get the Requiem for a Dream spoof in the Ribwich episode. And I still don't. :D
I can't stand The Simpsons anymore, which is disappointing because it is (was?) one of my favorite shows. It's absolutely ridiculous these days. It's often funny, but so what? So are a million other shows. The thing is, it used to be funny AND intelligent AND satirical. It's not satirical anymore at all, which is one of the things that made it such a great original show, it's just stupid funny, full of cheap gags sure to elicit enough laughs to keep enough of the audience watching. Homer's character alone is proof enough of the turn the series has taken.
Family Guy is definitely not as "good" a show as The Simpsons was, but I'll be damned if it isn't entertaining. The show doesn't have the same edge as The Simpsons had from its total satirical angle (any edge it does have is purely because they try to fill it with as much "shocking" material as possible), but it has some great writers. I don't think it's really a series with much longevity (even if it didn't get cancelled)--a lot of the reason it's funny is because of gimmicks, which will eventually get old. I've seen every episode of Family Guy and while I laughed at every one I imagine it would get stale faster than it took The Simpsons.
The episode with Homer as the union leader may be my favourite.
Moreover it had a plot and the jokes come from that.
Lately they have jokes. And that's it. And since they're not in a structure, with no lead up or punch line they're really gags. Gags are fine, but you can't build a show completely on them.
And why do they seemingly devote a few minutes every episode to people pulling at their collars making stupid sounds. It might be remotely amusing one time, to some one bred on normal cartoons, but then it just becomes more and more irritating.
Or one of the newer episodes, where they brang back in Sideshow Bob...again, and devoted a huge portion of the show to him being electrocuted. I don't know how devoid of ideas someone would have to be to repeat the same clumsy and unfunny slapstick (and slapstick can be funny, as was illustrated in the shows heyday) joke 6-7 times in an episode, moreover making it run for 30 seconds at a time.
They had a period where they shortened the introduction sequence because they had too much material.
Now they've brought back the extended intro, and pad out the gaps with stupid noises and repititive animation.
Actually, Narangas, now that i think about the Simpsons structurally, one of my biggest gripe with the current episodes is that the conclusion seems like a tacked-on gag, rather than something that actually concludes the episode.
Whereas, in early episodes, the conclusion had more relevance to the things that actually happened in the episode.
And now that I look at the current episodes structurally, they just seem like a string of random gags placed one after the other.
My conclusion: Narangas is right! The structure sucks!!!
My personal favourite is Rosebud.
It's not fun if you can see how they wrote the show. In the old episodes, everything fit together so well you'd almost forget there was a technique they used to make their show. They fleshed everything out really well.
Whereas nowadays, you don't just know there has to be a certain trick to making simpsons episodes, you can see it in action. And I don't like that at all. I want all that stuff to remain a mystery.
It has become too generic. And also futurama rocks. Way more than the simpsons ever did.
I like the Shelbyville episode, and the one where Homer joins the navy.
Actually Trap, Homer went into space! Remember? When the unanimate carbon rod saved the day?
YES I WAS MAKING JOKE HA HA
Anyway, I just think it's really silly analyzing the Simpsons like this. If you can let yourself enjoy it, then go ahead. If you can enjoy different shows for different reasons, then you can enjoy this show for different reasons than the older episodes. There's not really much you can gain by being over-cynical about a cartoon.
Quote from: Trapezoid on Wed 23/04/2003 17:16:13
YES I WAS MAKING JOKE HA HA...
OH NO! Trap's turned into a deranged lunatic...
The best cartoons never become successful. :P Its proven, and all! Even though I've watched the show almost religiously for 10 years, yes, the jokes have become stupid and offensive. And I didn't get to watch the 300th episode... lucky me. My favourite cartoons as a small child were Sam and Max, Earthworm Jim, and some other, unnamable ones (I forget them). They had classic humour, unlike some of the manufactured cartoons we have today. And the best cartoons aren't exploited, either. Sam and Max had three things. A comic, a TV Show, and a Game. All the jokes were classic... BECAUSE it didn't have too many episodes. Futurama... what did happen to it? I have Terrestrial TV, so only 5 channels here, excluding Video and PS2. Whee! I want to create a cartoon show, because I want to be an animator when I grow up.
FOOTNOTE:
Showing repeats 5 times a week does help either. :P
FOOTFOOTNOTE:
Sam 'n' Max ROCKS! I only remember one episode though.
Quote from: Trapezoid on Wed 23/04/2003 17:16:13
Anyway, I just think it's really silly analyzing the Simpsons like this. If you can let yourself enjoy it, then go ahead. If you can enjoy different shows for different reasons, then you can enjoy this show for different reasons than the older episodes.
I do think it's worth discussing - mainly because when I think of the Simpsons, I remember the great episodes of old.
QuoteThe thing is, it used to be funny AND intelligent AND satirical. It's not satirical anymore at all, which is one of the things that made it such a great original show, it's just stupid funny, full of cheap gags sure to elicit enough laughs to keep enough of the audience watching.
Exactly the point - people growing up now and seeing this new breed of episodes will no doubt see it as 'just another fart gag show', and wonder what all the fuss was about. Letting the show carry on is ruining its once unbeatable reputation.
But indeed, let us not dwell on it - where there's a money there's a way, as far as Fox is concerned.
I think the fact that people are growing up is part of it. In the Simpsons "heyday" you were all younger and more impressionable, and probably less cynical. The difference between old things and new things gets exaggerated as you grow up. How else can you explain people who think the original Star Wars movies were gifts from God? :)
Also, I think that most people who dislike the current Simpsons only "noticed" they didn't like the new episodes after seeing someone complain about the show on the internet. I'm sure each one of you can explain why you don't like the show because it's lost touch with what once made it great and blah blah blah-- I don't care. On the grand scale, there's a lot of copycat behavior going on, whether you realize or not.
If someone who's never seen the Simpsons were to watch every episode in reverse order, what do you think they would think of the "decline"? They would probably think the Michael Jackson episode was dated, for one thing...
Yes, of course the odd episode will look dated.
And yes there will be copy-catism going on where people say it's crap just because other people do.
But when it comes to the crunch, the show used to make me laugh. The earlier episodes still do. The latest series leaves me thinking "what the hell was that?" at the end of the episode, having not laughed once. That's all I can say on the subject.
After watching the very first episode I ever saw, my stomach was actually hurting from laughing. (It was a good episode) But Now, I'm lucky if I gigle!
Yeah, but are you expecting not to giggle? It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, if you tune in thinking "well... this is gonna suck".
I agree with Chris -- The earlier episodes made me laugh out very loudly (a prime example is the Homer Loves Mindy episode. "I am tired of these jokes about my giant hand. The first such incident occured when...")
Nowadays, I hardly ever laugh.
They just seem like cardboard cut-outs who do thinks completely out of character.
Homer's developed a real attitude too, which I hate.
I remembered at once stage recenlty he was spouting out Rikki Lake-style phrases such as "Eww! Too much in-for-ma-tion!"
The thing was Homer wasn't completely dumb -- just very naive.
Look at an old epsiode I caught recently -- The one where Bleeding Gums Murphy dies:
Lisa: But he was the only person that had the same love for music that I do.
[Maggie gives Lisa a pacifier]
Thank you. Oh, Dad, why did he have to die?
Homer: Well, it's like the time that your cat Snowball got run over.
Lisa: Uh huh.
Homer: Remember, honey?
Lisa: Yeah.
Homer: What I'm saying is, all we have to do is go down to the pound and get a new jazzman.
Lisa: [wailing] Oh, Dad! [weeps]
Homer: Oh, I blew it again.
[Maggie gives him a pacifier]
What? [sucks on it] Mmm...
Compare that to this sence from the episode where Homer gets a crayon removed from his brain (but buts it back inside to become normal again):
Marge: Sweetheart, the missing crayon could be anywhere.
[Homer crashes through the living-room window]
Homer: Who wants lottery tickets. [holds up two fistfuls of
tickets]
Marge: [resigned] Okay, it's in his brain. [leaves]
Lisa: Dad, how could you? We were connecting in such a
meaningful way.
Homer: We were what-what in a what-what?
Also, while I was reading through this episode, I found one of the worst setups for the series.
Homer: There's a crayon in my brain? [points to his chest.
The scientist relocates Homer's hand to his head]
But I've had thousands of head X-rays. How come no
one ever noticed this before?
Hibbert: Oh, I can answer that. You see, whenever I picked
up an X-ray, I'd always hold it like this. [picks
up Homer's X-ray photo to demonstrate. His thumb
falls right where the crayon would be] My thumb
must've covered up the crayon every time.
[chuckles] I'll show myself out. [leaves]
I think the writers can show themselves out.
All of those examples were funny, though. The first example was different, of course, but I can accept both levels of humor easily.
The thing is, Trap, I had to SEARCH through the entire Crayon episode transcript to find that little piece -- the rest of it was fairly dull and stupid.
Quote from: DGMacphee on Thu 24/04/2003 01:19:51
I think the writers can show themselves out.
I'm with you there. As you mention, Homer in particular has become so gimmicky, stupid, and self-centered to the point of callousness that the whole show, which has other problems as well, is just more difficult for me to watch.
EDIT: I forgot to mention something. I also agree about the episode setups (that crayon one was terrible). The thing is, most of the older episodes didn't really NEED these ridiculous setups because the stories were more self-contained and didn't require such extraneous plot elements. The crayon episode is a pretty conservative example compared to a lot of the recent episodes.
Ya know, back in the internet's Glory Days*, people weren't compelled to complain so much. ;)
*for future reference, Glory Days inevitably means the past.
But in the glory days, there were less people to complain about ;)
Although the new episodes in quality of humour can in no way compare with the echelons of it's heyday (and this isn't just nostaligia, since I watch repeats at 6 every day, as DG does [I assume] and episodes I watch for the 10-15 th time still make me laugh out loud), the new episodes can at least make me grin at least once.
I've never so much as lifted a lip except in a sneer at shows like Friends. I can in no way understand how that show is as successful as it is.
Quote from: Las Naranjas on Thu 24/04/2003 03:56:31
Although the new episodes in quality of humour can in no way compare with the echelons of it's heyday (and this isn't just nostaligia, since I watch repeats at 6 every day, as DG does [I assume] and episodes I watch for the 10-15 th time still make me laugh out loud), the new episodes can at least make me grin at least once.
I've never so much as lifted a lip except in a sneer at shows like Friends. I can in no way understand how that show is as successful as it is.
Aye, I still watch some repeats -- Not as much as I used to because after you've watched them for the 15th time, you start to predict what happens very easily.
Ironic -- I can remember the lines from hundreds of classic episodes of the Simpsons, but I can never find my keys when I want to.
But there are some scenes that still do make me laugh out loud!
Especially that take-off of the Flintstones' intro where Homer hits a chestnut tree.
And Friends is pitiful: get six stereotype stock sitcom characters and put them in New York -- Hmm, that's pretty much most sitcoms!
I like the simpsons songs.
Some men hunt for sport
Others hunt for food
the only thing I'm hunting for
Is an outfit that looks good...
See my vest see my vest
it's a real gorrila chest....
The best example of how bad the show is now is the episode Gump Roast. The introductory gag is a 'parody' (spit the word) of Forrest Gump, with a feather gliding down. It reaches Homer (who's sitting on a bench dressed as Forrest) who sees it and goes 'aaaah'... to which the end of the feather gets stuck in his eye. Cue a moment of flailing around with Homer going 'argh agrh argh'... proceeding to pull the feather out of his eye which immedietly gets stuck IN HIS OTHER EYE!!!!!!!!
Danny, go fetch my gun...
edit: It's worth pointing out that this particular episode is a clip show, and consists of a lot of 'classic' moments that is embarrasing to watch with the more recent clips and filler material (Homer gets drunk and insults some random man!!!! Bwahahahahaha!
...
)
It had a picture of Homer jumping the shark in the credits.
The writers know it's gone downhill.
I really truly think if something like that happened in season 3 you'd think it was "classic".
The viewers have changed more than the show.
I agree I have changed, since I laugh at things in the old episodes that I didn't get when I was 10.
But you can't do that with 2 dimensional new episodes, unless you count gratuitous or obscure pop culture references.
And self referencing is most evident in a decadent series.
I still watch the new episodes and hope that it'll be funny. I go in each week with a open mind. It's improved marginally sometimes, but the objectivity I attempt to give it still leads me to a conclusion.
And jeez, there's no smae in it. It had happen after 8 seasons what most have after 2. But no matter how bountiful you mango tree is, there comes a day when the fruit stop coming as sweet.
Trap, I understand the point that you are trying to make, and if you still find the show funny then I'm glad there's someone that does.
I'm not claiming that all the old episodes were perfect. There are some old episodes which I find incredibly boring, and some which just aren't funny, but on average the quality was much higher - particularly with the subtle satire.
It is undeniable that the show has gone downhill - I read an interview with one of the writers of the latest series, who admitted that he hadn't watched the show before he started work; and the executive producer was admitting that the show had got a lot more gimmicky and Homer too stupid, though I think he called it 'evolving'.
Even Matt Greoning said that he would like to end the show now - but Fox just keep it going because it makes them money, and if they're prepared to pay for new episodes, there are people out there who are prepared to write them.
Dark Stalkey's example about the feather in the eye is exactly the sort of thing we're talking about - the Simpsons has become a kids cartoon, whereas it used to be a cleverly written show for everyone. Kids watching would enjoy Bart's antics, and adults watching would get all the political satire and social commentary in the programme.
Edit: On a similar note, a programme that is still surprising me is South Park. It tackles world events head on as they happen, and usually makes really interesting points about them. The recent episode on the Iraq War was really good, I thought. Ok, these good episodes are interspersed with sillier random ones, but many of them still manage to make me think 'hmm, yeah, good point' after watching.
South Park had to evolve as well.
However, whilst a show like the Simpsons had to turn to Absurdist humour when desperate, South Park started off absurdist and that wore out by the third series.
And I though the show was dead then.
But credit to Parker and Stone that they abandoned the absurdist core for a satirical element (with absurdity on the side) and managed to continue it.
Actually, I've noticed this current season of South park (4th) is better than the previous ones -- I've actually found myself laugh out loud now.
I especially like the LOTR take-off, with Butters going "My precious!!!"
The best part of that episode (at the risk of degenerating the thread into a quotefest) was the following exchange
Other town kids: "I cast a spell on you wizard"
Kyle" "What are you playing?"
OTK: "Harry Potter"
Cartman: "huh, Fags!"
I see what you mean too, CJ. You all dig the more subtle humor, and so do I. I think the show's just a clever now-- only the cleverness is applied to absurdist humor instead of subtle humor. So it's not everyone's cup of tea. I just feel compelled to stick up for it, because (A.) it's taken for granted, most will admit that it's still better than most things on TV, and (B.) I get sick of reading people saying how much it sucks. It seems you can't mention the show on the Net without someone saying it's become crap, and as someone who happens to think that the show still rocks, this ticks me off after a while.
Get my drift?
That's was my favourite quote from the episode, Las! :D :D :D
I also liked the bit when Butters plays LOTR by humping Stan.
Homer has just become a complete dumbass, and so has bart. Marge doesn't actually have that much of a spotlight, maybe if maggie could talk the writers could have some more ideas?
There is a reason why most shows only run to 7 or 8 series. Seinfeld managed 9, but was starting to flag a bit by the end.
I don't think this is particularly the Simpsons' fault - if you try and stretch any TV show out for 15 years it's bound to get stale and the writers will run out of ideas. It's too bad Fox doesn't know the meaning of a graceful exit.
I think we should morn for the loss of Family Guy and Futurama, for they were axed before their time...
Although personally i think the award for 'show axed with greatest injustice' goes to Farscape... that show had razor-sharp writing and was generally excellent for the entirety of it's four series run.
And they left it on one helluva cliffhanger too...
I believe that the problem of the Simpsons became when they realised how easy was to create humour doing Homer sillier each season. Now he is the stupidiest character in the world.
I preffered when bart was the main character. Do you remember the "General Bart" episody? I think it was the 2nd. A chapter to remember!
I also preffer Fututrama, what a pitty, it is cancelled...
Speaking of good cartoons being axed, I loved Freakazoid!
Anyone remember the episode where he fights Cobra Queen?
"That hiss can mean only one thing -- THERE'S A BALLOON VENDOR AROUND THAT CORNER!"
Quote from: DGMacphee on Mon 28/04/2003 13:10:13
Speaking of good cartoons being axed, I loved Freakazoid!
And once again I try to direct people towards the Digital Archive Project (http://dapcentral.org). Freakazoid is one of the archived shows. (and yes, it's a \o/ - worthy show)
This calls for a 'w00t!'
I see people laughing at things like the more recent episodes of the Simpsons or SNL when they're not funny. Its really sad, I think they are just used to laughing at it. Maybe the people around me are just weirdos.
The Simpsons was a really great show a little while ago, but if you don't like it now, don't watch it.
Its pretty simple.
Agsking, you're an idiot.
(for now anyway :D)
If you don't like something it doesn't mean no one else can like it.
Now... chew through my ball sack!
Quote from: Trapezoid on Wed 30/04/2003 00:43:19
Now... chew through my ball sack!
I don't think we need say any more ... that is exactly the sort of line from recent Simpsons episodes that makes me cringe ... it belongs in a show like Family Guy, but not the Simpsons.
I dunno, that line always amused me. It came out of left field. It's not something you'd hear in an earlier season, and it wasn't supposed to. If you were writing for the Simpsons, you sure as hell wouldn't want to be constricted to only making the sort of jokes made in the earlier seasons. It's a change of style, don't assume it's bad.
If you're really upset by that sort of joke, maybe you shouldn't have made South Park popular. :P
I too quite like southpark now, it went from cartman getting a satellite anal probe to making fun of the latest things; Underage sex, Pokemon and Iraq being some examples I've seen so far (I don't have comedy channel or SBS so I can't watch it anymore)
And Homer went from "In theory Communism works" and "(god) is my favourite fictional character" <--- two of my favourite quotes
to "No (wink) I don't wanna see your crappy science project (Wink) But it sure as hell beats eating this crappy breakfast (Wink wink)"<-- That was the funniest segment and one of the only quotes in the show, the rest was Homer screaming and carrying on about his thumb
...what?
I was just watching tv and the 300th episode is on tuesday in Aus, I don't know if it has been on before, is it a realatively new one?
Quote from: Trapezoid on Sat 03/05/2003 01:22:54
I dunno, that line always amused me. It came out of left field. It's not something you'd hear in an earlier season, and it wasn't supposed to. If you were writing for the Simpsons, you sure as hell wouldn't want to be constricted to only making the sort of jokes made in the earlier seasons. It's a change of style, don't assume it's bad.
If you're really upset by that sort of joke, maybe you shouldn't have made South Park popular. :P
I think you're somewhat missing the point here - a joke like that would be funny if it appeared in South Park or Family Guy, but it's just not the Simpsons style. The fact that they have changed their style to this sort of thing underlines the fact that they've given up being a clever satirical show and are now just doing what everyone else is doing - getting cheap laughs from fart jokes.
Well, I say that they didn't "give up" being a clever satirical show-- the clever satire is still very much there. They didn't give up anything. The show has evolved, so what? The jokes are cheaper, yeah, but they're never anything as obvious as fart jokes. Even the Simpsons' cheap humor is clever. What they've done is phased out the "heartwarming" aspect of the earlier seasons, because it was never that funny-- or heartwarming-- to begin with. If the series were exactly the way you wish it were, a large amount of people would still not like it.
Also, I think it's hypocritical that so many of the same people who complain about the Simpsons' humor laugh at similar jokes in South Park and Family Guy. The difference is they EXPECT the Simpsons to be the same as it proved to be a frigging decade ago, and expectation spoils anything you love as soon as it starts moving out of your expectation.
The internet community is obsessed with "jumping the shark", and even before the term was coined, have been desperately applying it to things, because they expect things to have gone bad after a while. Do you think it's any coincidence that some of the things with the biggest geeky cultish fanbase-- Simpsons and Star Wars, for example, are constantly accused/assumed to have Jumped the Shark? People, especially geeky internet types, tend to latch on to things they liked when they were younger, and when they're old and bitter they can't seem to accept anything that challenges the rules layed down by their still-retained childhood adorations. I still think that if someone who's never seen the Simpsons watched the entire series backwards, they'd love the episodes you hate. And, if the process spanned over more than a decade, they'd probably be pretty pissed off by how the earlier seasons just aren't the same as the later seasons. They'd complain about it going soft, and sappy. And that's crazy, right?
No, I'm siding with Chris on this. The Simpsons started with continuity in mind and was a great show. They had talented writers that kept that in mind. Then when the new batch of writers came in, they were in the same mind set of those of Family Guy. It was alright for the jokes in Family Guy to come out of no where, like Chris:"Ahh, the governments here, Run ET run away!" (Then ET comes from the family room and runs out the door)
See, thats funny, cause you expect that kind of humor from Family Guy, and its hilarious. But when the Simpsons jumped on to that style, they really went downhill. When Homer 'just stopped going to work' cause the writers didnt care about continuity or just ran out of ideas, the series became a Homer-does-this every week and it became terrible. Dont get me started on all the drug references and ones that pretty much just say get high. Seriously, if none of the writers for the show dont get high on a regular basis, I'd be very surprised. It really has become The Homer Show. I stopped watching the last couple seasons really. It was alright when the Simpsons could take a break from continuity on Halloween specials. That was fine.
*dont know how to end this right now, too busy in class*
See what I mean? It's all about expectations. You can't be totally sure that you'd be happy if the show still had the same sense of continuity and level of humor. I'm not saying you SHOULD like the new episodes, I'm just saying that I think it has more to do with the mindframe of the people who don't like it, than the quality of the show.
I gues we have to accept that they are giving us free entertainment, and we can't expect that they will be able to keep it up after 15 years.
Quote from: Trapezoid on Sat 03/05/2003 16:47:57
See what I mean? It's all about expectations. You can't be totally sure that you'd be happy if the show still had the same sense of continuity and level of humor. I'm not saying you SHOULD like the new episodes, I'm just saying that I think it has more to do with the mindframe of the people who don't like it, than the quality of the show.
Well yes, of course if you watched the episodes backwards you wouldn't like the older ones because you'd say they'd gone soft and sappy. I agree. And I don't like the really moral episodes without much humour from the early seasons, they annoy me.
But when the Simpsons was originally created, the rule laid down was that the family should only get involed in things that *could* happen to a normal everyday family - and this was largely stuck to.
Lately though, it's just become silly and outrageous.
If they had for example, stopped the Simpsons after the 9th series, and then made all the new episodes under a different name, I'd be able to respect it a lot more.
QuotePeople, especially geeky internet types, tend to latch on to things they liked when they were younger, and when they're old and bitter they can't seem to accept anything that challenges the rules layed down by their still-retained childhood adorations
Where on earth did you just pull out "geeky internet types" from? Nobody likes change, everybody looks back with rose-tinted spectacles - that's the human condition.
QuoteThe jokes are cheaper, yeah, but they're never anything as obvious as fart jokes.
There was an episode recently where they were watching the TV news, and it cut to a commercial break. Except it didn't, and the news host was left on the screen by accident.
In the oldern days, they would most likely have used this to have him say something funny, but instead he just vomits for about a minute. Is that funny? No, it's stupid.
If only there was a clapping smiley!
*Jimi claps CJ
When the simpsons started out, they were a normal family, with normal problems. Bart caught stealing, both Homer and Marge almost having affairs. But now, who would jump through a window shouting "Who wants lottery tickets?"? No-one.
QuoteIf they had for example, stopped the Simpsons after the 9th series, and then made all the new episodes under a different name, I'd be able to respect it a lot more.
Well, what's the problem? The name doesn't matter to me. I like the Simpsons for what it is. It rarely fails to achieve what it's aiming for. The problem is that it aims in a different direction now, and this is upsetting for people who are still facing in the original direction.
QuoteBut when the Simpsons was originally created, the rule laid down was that the family should only get involed in things that *could* happen to a normal everyday family - and this was largely stuck to.
Lately though, it's just become silly and outrageous.
I disagree, they've always gotten into weird situations. The situations may be weirder now, but there's no reason why this is a bad thing. It's certainly not boring.
QuoteWhere on earth did you just pull out "geeky internet types" from? Nobody likes change, everybody looks back with rose-tinted spectacles - that's the human condition.
Definately. I just note that it happens a lot more on the internet, or at least it vocalized more. I myself am a geeky internet type, but the "jumping the shark" trend made me want to have a different viewpoint from the rest. Mainly I think "jumping the shark" is commonly just an illusion-- maybe the writing for Happy Days took a turn for the worse, but The Simpsons is a lot more complex and I don't feel it deserves to be compared with Happy Days.
QuoteIn the oldern days, they would most likely have used this to have him say something funny, but instead he just vomits for about a minute. Is that funny? No, it's stupid.
I feel this isn't a very fair method of critisism. I could pick out a gag from an earlier episode that is equally unfunny, and neither of us would prove anything except that sometimes a particular joke isn't funny to a particular person.
EDIT: By the way, this is more interesting than the Debate competitions so far... :D
Quote from: CJ on Sat 03/05/2003 18:31:33
but instead he just vomits for about a minute. Is that funny? No, it's stupid.
I knew I wasn't missing out on anything worthy.
Testify!
They finally screened it in Australia.
And yeah, I watched it.
I was very disappointed.
There's nothing funny about a Tony Hawk cameo, or a bunch of over-used "Gen X" phrases, or a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon/Matrix joke that is completely out of context and not very funny.
However, I did find the 301st episode to be a funny one and a big step in the right direction.
I especially liked the Requiem For a Dream joke with the Rib Burger -- AND IT WAS IN CONTEXT!
Not only that, the episode stayed true to the characters -- something the Simpsons hasn't done for a long time.
Yeah, I thought the 301 was better, the Tony Hawk cameo was ordinary, but there aren't many good cameos, the chili peppers was my favourite
"what I'd like to do is hug and kiss you"
"yeah, everybody can enjoy that"
paraphrase^^
I thought tony hawk was cool 15 years ago, and it took that long for him to be on the show, I'm glad i didn't wait for it.
I thought they could have done more with Bart moving out of the house.
In 301 I loved the idea that they couldn't make the Burger anymore cause the animal they used became extinct.
Mmmmm Thylacine Thickshake
I totally agree, the actual 300th episode wasn't so hot in light of the hype it got. I guess you kids like George Plimpton more than Tony Hawk. I'm just disappointed to find out that there isn't an actual film called "Boner Academy"...
YEA!! Shut up Trapezoid!! J00 SUX!!!
Pwning J00,
M1st3r ©
Uh.... okay.
Anyone see the recent Christmas episode? I liked it. Long live teh Simpsons.
it was a joke how this entire thread seems to be trapezoid against the world and even when you say you like the simpsons people still say "i think we can all agree the simspons isn't that good."
for to laugh
nevermind then
Ah. Anyway, after Sunday's episode I took a look in alt.tv.simpsons, and somehow I don't think I saw any bad reviews. That's pretty damn rare these days.
Usually it takes about 2 years for an episode to become accepted, right?
This thread is soooooo May!!!
I liked the 100th episode of charmed better. 8)