Topic: FOX Prime Time Cartoons - Simpsons, Season 1

[bustin98]

I miss your bouncing boobs. You should bring them back.

[UncleBob]

Okay, first poll is up.

I went with Simpsons Season 1 - feels right as they're the ones who started it all.

[TJ Spyke]

That does sound right, I wouldn't even have to watch the DVD since I have watched everything on it hundreds of times. LOL. It's especially funny to watch the commentary for the original version of "Some Enchanted Evening" (like how the show would have failed if the rest of the season looked as bad as it since they didn't have the money to have all 13 episodes re-animated).

[NWR_insanolord]

You're right, Ian. The earlier seasons weren't crazy like season 8. You'd never see a season 5 episode with a plot as ridiculous as Bart winning an elephant in a radio contest or Homer going into outer space.

[Morari]

I want my elephant! I want my elephant! I want my elephant!

[UncleBob]

Amazon Gold Box: Any Simpsons season - $13.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=xs_gb_A3UNYNIHCJYSBN?tag=cheapassgam08-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000620171&pf_rd_p=441937901&pf_rd_s=right-1&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=03HMFVJ4XTSSPXKH1D7Q

I only need season 13, but can't find anything to anything in the range I want to spend to get it to $25 for free shipping.

The only sets I need to finish it all is the Family Guy Star Wars trilogy and Futurama 5, but they're both above my limit for buying TV Box sets...

[NWR_insanolord]

You're not willing to pay $23 for Futurama season 5?

[UncleBob]

You're not willing to pay $23 for Futurama season 5?

Remember when Iwata talked about gamers not buying new release games because they'll go down to $20 a month later?  Same thing here.  I used to buy DVD sets the day of release - but it got too expensive and they were always on sale for less than half price three months later.  With very rare exception, I don't buy a DVD set unless it's under $15 anymore.

[TJ Spyke]

A lot of DVD sets can take years to ever get down that low though. Some never will (like the Star Trek ones). I would argue that The Simpsons sets are usually worth the $40 they launch at.

[NWR_insanolord]

I agree, but I never got around to picking up season 13, so although I'd have been willing to pay $40, I'm glad I didn't. With the deals and my $20 in Amazon credit, I just picked up Simpsons season 13, Futurama season 5, and Archer Season 1, all for about $30.

[UncleBob]

A lot of DVD sets can take years to ever get down that low though. Some never will (like the Star Trek ones). I would argue that The Simpsons sets are usually worth the $40 they launch at.

Actually, GoHastings.com ran the complete Next Gen collection for $99 awhile back.

Anywhoo, yeah, there are some sets that can be hard to find below $15 - and like I said, there are a few exceptions to that rule... but it's about smart shopping.  $40 isn't bad for a Simpsons season set... until you see it for $13.99 five months later.

The only bad part about this plan is that you start to fall behind when you're not paying attention to the various sales and you realize you're missing about 14 sets and get the urge to buy them all at once.

But, on the bright side, I ended up paying an average of less than $9 a season for 11 different sets...

Simpsons 11   $15.92 (Go Hastings.com B2G1 Free - Used)
Simpsons 13   $13.99 (Amazon.com New)
Simpsons 20   $0 (GoHastings.com B2G1 Free - Used)
American Dad 2   $10 (eBay - used)
American Dad 3   $5 (Target 2-Pack New)
American Dad 4   $5 (Target 2-Pack New)
American Dad 5   $13.71 (GoHastings.com B2G1 Free - Used)
Family Guy 5   $12 (Walmart BF Sale)
Family Guy 6   $12 (Walmart BF Sale)
Family Guy 7   $12 (Walmart BF Sale)
Family Guy 8   $13.46 (Walmart.com with 10% off)
Cleveland Show 1   $13.99 (Amazon.com sale)

I don't want to think about how much that would have cost new.

[that Baby guy]

For what it's worth, Amazon has seasons 1-13 and 20 of the Simpsons for 13.99 as part of their gold box deals for today.  That's better than some of UncleBob's prices! (If you don't count the B2G1Free part. But these are new.)

[TJ Spyke]

American Dad 3   $5 (Target 2-Pack New)
American Dad 4   $5 (Target 2-Pack New)

I have the first two volumes, so I may get this next time I am at Target (and if they have it).

[NWR_insanolord]

I just watched The Principal and the Pauper again, and I think it's a great episode. There are some great funny parts, and it's a really interesting exploration of the dynamics between the characters. People's reaction to Skinner (Tamzarian) being a fraud are really well done. Some people think the episode destroys Skinner's character, but I'd argue just the opposite; although the ending is a bit too deus ex machina, the town's decision to stick with the old Skinner even though he's not really Seymour Skinner really shows how important he is to the other people in Springfield. It's fairly crazy, but I think it's one of the best looks into the psychology of the town of Springfield in the entire series.

[TJ Spyke]

There are too many logic gaps though. Remember the episode when he re-joined the army and everyone knew him as Skinner? Or that his diplomas were listed as Skinner? You would think the army would realize this guy wasn't Skinner. He looks exactly like his grandfather that served with Abe in the Flying Hellfish. This episode was just a major screw-you to the shows continuity. I think the ending is the writers basically apologizing and realizing what a terrible idea it was. I think the episode itself is OK, but not that good to me and not something that should have been done. It also tells fans that they shouldn't bother getting emotionally invested in any character on the show ever again because they may once again say it's all a lie.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, it causes a few relatively minor continuity errors, but I wouldn't call them major, and I think the episode is good enough to justify them. My point is that I'm arguing Skinner's character is stronger and deeper because of this episode. He lied about his identity, but he's still who he was for the 9 seasons of the show up to that point. He's still the same person those people knew, and the real Skinner was a stranger to them, and because of that the people of Springfield would rather go back to living a lie in order to keep the Skinner they knew and loved. The episode shows how much the people of Springfield cared about Skinner, and anyone who was emotionally invested in the character should appreciate him even more because of it.

[Ian Sane]

  You're right, Ian. The earlier seasons weren't crazy like season 8. You'd never see a season 5 episode with a plot as ridiculous as Bart winning an elephant in a radio contest or Homer going into outer space.

I think the aftermath is what makes an episode crazy.  The elephant goes to an animal santuary.  Homer returns from space and life goes on.  That is quite different than a supervillian having taken over the east coast and Homer owning the Denver Broncos.  So how come in the next episode Homer doesn't own the Broncos?  The space episode doesn't end with Homer being trapped on the moon.  He doesn't encounter aliens or uncover a secret Soviet moonbase or anything like that.  Or how about an episode where the whole town is so covered in garbage they move five miles down the road.  WHAT THE ****?  When has that ever happened and how COULD it possibly happen?  What sort of hackneyed moron would ever write such a stupid ending?
 
At the very least Homer's involvement in going into space is fairly routine.  The over-the-top part of the episode is that NASA wants to put the average man into space and Homer ends up getting picked.  What actually happens is not really all that zany.  Hypothetically it COULD happen.  Sherry Bobbins flying with her magic umbrella cannot happen.  The whole town moving five miles up the road could not happen.  Homer flooding the town as an artistic statement or Homer taking control of a submarine and causing an international incident would result in him being put in prison.
 
To me what makes something zany is when you take a situation and the resulting storyline is ridiculous.  It isn't the subject matter that determines it as ridiculous but the execution.  In the earlier seasons there was the ocasional over-the-top situation but the story that resulted from it made sense.  IF Bart had an elephant that is for the most part realistically would could happen.  IF Homer was chosen to go into space that is for the most part realistically what could happen.  For some people that doesn't matter but for me it does.
 
I also feel that Homer's character changed into something I didn't like.  He went from a normal person who is really dumb and lazy to a retarded lunatic with no resemblance to a normal human being.  Season 8 had Homer's Enemy.  In that episode I HATED Homer and sided with Frank Grimes.  So I can safely say that for me Season 8 is the turning point where the writers presented me with an unlikable and annoying Homer Simpson but told me that that was who I was supposed to cheer for.  And looking up that episode on Wikipedia this episode is a favourite of many of the Simpsons staff including Matt Groening himself.  So an episode I hated and consider easily one of the worst episodes of the show that I have seen is one of the favourites of the creator of the show?  Obviously what The Simpsons staff writers like about the show and what I like are completely different.  It's a lot like how once I found out what George Lucas REALLY wanted to do with Star Wars I realized that what I liked about the original films was more of less an accidental fluke.
 
And really this is all this is.  Different people find different things funny and a good episode of The Simpsons is so packed with jokes that everyone is going to find something different in it that really cracks them up.  I found that starting in season 7 what I found funny about The Simpsons was not showing up as much and by season 8 is was almost completely gone.  And this makes sense as the writing staff rolled over during this time.  Seasons 1 & 2 are kind of weak.  Seasons 3 & 4 were run by Al Jean & Mike Reiss.  Seasons 5 & 6 were run by David Mirkin.  I find Season 7 to be hit-or-miss but four of those episodes were produced by Mirkin and aside from the Lisa vegitarian episode (which I found preachy) those make up my favourite episodes of that season as they're the only ones that really feel right to me.  I pretty much bought season 7 on DVD for "the googles do nothing!" alone.  I think it makes sense that the show ceased to feel right to me right around the time that different people were in charge.  Different people would find different things funny and have a different idea of what The Simpsons should be like.  It think it is a huge fortunate fluke that the Jean/Reiss era and the Mirkin era are of what I consider equal quality.
 
The creative talent make the show what it is.  It makes perfect sense to lose interest in a show once the creative talent has changed.  I like the entire run of Seinfeld (except the finale) while my brother does not like the last two seasons.  Show co-creator Larry David had left the show for the last two seasons.  Is it a coincedence that my brother does not like the only two seasons where someone else was in charge?  No, it makes perfect sense.  And it turned out that for my brother whatever Larry David specifically contributed to the tone of the show was essential and important while it did not matter so much for me.  And once a show changes tone, and new writers have come in who fit that tone of the show and write in that style, there is no going back.

[NWR_insanolord]

I guess I'm in the minority for thinking continuity's not particularly important in a show like The Simpsons.

[TJ Spyke]

If it was something like Family Guy, I might agree. That show generally ignores continuity. The Simpons, however, has generally been very careful with it (not perfect, but close). If a show normally follows continuity, it will be unusual when they do something that ignores the continuity.

Unlike Ian though, I had no problem with most of those episodes. The first season I thought was mixed was 9. Season 8 had some so-so episodes (like "Burns, Baby Burns"), but most of the season was fine. Season 9 had more episodes that I only liked or thought were mediocre.

[UncleBob]

Just a note, I changed the poll so that everyone can edit their votes.  I'm not sure when I end the voting and select the winner though...

American Dad 3   $5 (Target 2-Pack New)
American Dad 4   $5 (Target 2-Pack New)

I have the first two volumes, so I may get this next time I am at Target (and if they have it).

Well... I got mine that cheap because the two-pack was mis-labeled.  It was supposed to be labeled $29.99, but for some reason, the tag read $9.99.  And it wasn't that the "2" was cut off.  They also had a 2-pack of Family Guy (3&4) labeled this same way, but I already had those... which I had paid full price for...

For what it's worth, Amazon has seasons 1-13 and 20 of the Simpsons for 13.99 as part of their gold box deals for today.  That's better than some of UncleBob's prices! (If you don't count the B2G1Free part. But these are new.)

Yeah, had I known Amazon was going to run this, I totally would have bit on both sets through them - however, accounting for the B2G1, I paid a bit less than $10/set... which isn't bad.

[vudu]

After reading this thread, I've come to 3 conclusions:

First, you guys take The Simpsons way too seriously.  I don't understand why someone would be bothered by the lack of continuity in a cartoon.

Second, American Dad must have improved a hundred-fold since the first season, because what I watched of it was pretty much garbage.

Third, everyone needs to stop referring to Simpsons episodes by the episode title alone--please accompany it with a one-sentence summary.  Despite seeing the episode close to 10 times, I have no idea what The Principal and the Pauper was until Insanolord explained it in one of his posts.

[ShyGuy]

Remember when UPN tried to do prime time cartoons?

[TJ Spyke]

Third, everyone needs to stop referring to Simpsons episodes by the episode title alone--please accompany it with a one-sentence summary.  Despite seeing the episode close to 10 times, I have no idea what The Principal and the Pauper was until Insanolord explained it in one of his posts.

With older episodes it's usually not a problem. If I say "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", you will likely know what episode I mean. Over time though, when they started realizing that the public would see the episode title, they started coming up with names like "The Debarted" and "Fat Man and Little Boy". As for continuity, I see it no different than people being upset about movies. It may not ruin the whole thing, but it's still a little annoying.

I wouldn't say season 1 of AD was garbage, but I will say that it got much better over time. One reason was they finally let Roger leave the house when he wanted to by having him fall in love with dressing up and creating new alter-egos.

[Morari]

First, you guys take The Simpsons way too seriously.  I don't understand why someone would be bothered by the lack of continuity in a cartoon.

Agreed. These people seem to want the Simpsons to be just an average sitcom. Instead it's an animated comedy, where continuity doesn't matter very much.

[TJ Spyke]

It is a sitcom that just happens to be animated. Should Toy Story be judged by less standards than a live action movie? No. If anything, The Simpsons sticks to continuity more than most live action shows.