Topic: What would you do with the Simpsons?

[NWR_insanolord]

There's at least a couple great jokes in every episode of The Simpsons, all four hundred and some, and at least a few great episodes in all 23 (24? I don't even remember at this point) seasons. Really, if they were going to cancel it due to decline they should have done that almost 15 years ago; stopping it now seems pretty arbitrary, especially since it seems to have picked up a bit in the last few years.

If you're worried about the legacy, that ship has long since sailed, and a few more years of it won't do any more damage. Still beats the **** out of any of MacFarlane's shows.

[oohhboy]

I wouldn't defend the Cleveland show. That show is a crime against nature.

The problem is not the lack of jokes in the Simpsons, it's that they tend to be horribly behind the times, unfunny with a punch line that has been done to death in previous episodes or so utterly tame to be on the same level as Airline food. Seeing Homer get hurt and do stupid stuff was funny, but at this point has lost all meaning. Whenever Lisa is on, she will no doubt be inadvertently be promoting another trend or product that doesn't need promoting whether it be Harry Potter, horse/unicorns/dolls, vegan or some baseless midday talk show material. Bart has been dialed back so much, he is a cardboard cut out of himself. Marge is nothing more than a Janitor to the family and an unthinking moraliser. Maggie is a non-entity.

Most Simpson "Jokes" tend to be something normal, but done really ineffeienctly. Example, First Lady Obama visits Springfield elementary to see Lisa, before the helicopter lands, 3 guys zip lines down and spray paints a landing zone. That is not a joke, it's filler, a non-statement about nothing. The rest of the exchange is some moral bludgeoning with random lines that pass for jokes thrown in to see what sticks. Of course when they try to get back on the helicopter the door is stuck, so the first lady rolls her sleeves exposing her biceps and opens the door where 3 guys couldn't. None of this was funny.

You know what was funny? When Lucy Lawless just ups and flies off after spending the entire episode insisting she wasn't Xena. That joke had a lot of setup time and work put in. there was a very real risk it would get lost to people with poor attention spans. The Simpsons has left behind the long joke years ago degarding down to short skits held together by plot no doubt caused but Homer's stupidity. It's not much different to Family Guy now, but at least Family Guy has the guts to tell offensive jokes or play it's strongest card by not giving a ****.

If the Simpsons was nothing but Itchy and Scratchy cartoons, that would be something to get behind.

[Plugabugz]

Family Guy is now suffering badly from the same problems The Simpsons is, but somehow managed to accelerate its downward slide.

The Simpsons still is at least maintaining an attempt to write good stuff and occasionally does, but Family Guy is basically at the mercy of complete apathy from the writers - so much now that some tangents (and entire endings of episodes) have even acknowledged they have nothing to go on, and just stuff in CONWAY TWITTY FFS!!!!!.

The best episode of Family Guy was PTV back in 2005. Nothing has come close, not even the Brian/Stewie episodes, which themselves are the best pair the show has since its reboot.

American Dad is the best Seth MacFarlane show simply because of it's insane absurdity, and Roger, which allows for all kinds of bizarre nonsense to happen. Coincidentally the rise of American Dad happened around the time the start of Family Guy's decline. Back in S1 it was a "FG clone" but it quickly shedded that. Futurama is, arguably, better than The Simpsons because of its sci-fi setting (allowing for wider creativity to happen, like when Bender overclocked himself).

All 4 of those shows are old and do suffer from age, which is fair enough, but American Dad and Futurama don't have such a problem because they have a much wider premise to run with and are not tied down by Peter and Homer.

And about British TV - remember we do not have strictly defined TV seasons which forces shows to start in September/October or end in May. Shows are commissioned and shown all year around and are frequently 10 episodes or less. So hence we get more shows but fewer episodes of them.

[EasyCure]

I don't want to sound/feel like I'm backing TJ but..

I saw a newer episode of the Simpsons recently (can't tell if it was new-new or just new to me, last time I saw a new-new episode it was their 300th episode or something, and that was yeeears ago) and I was surprised that it was still funny.. I haven't made an effort to watch on a regular basis or anything, but at least what I happened to watch was funny. Not what I expected to be honest.

Meanwhile I can't watch Family Guy anymore. It was fine at first, it got canceled and I was bummed like all the other fans, but once it came back.. ugh. I just instantly disliked it. I know they were trying to pay homage to the fans that stuck around but to me it felt super cheap to just keep repeating the same damn jokes that, frankly, weren't that old/classic/memorable/funny.

I still don't watch either show regularly so I shouldn't be so harsh on one and not the other. I will say, if a gun was pointed to my head and I had to choose a new episode of either show, the simpsons would be my choice.

[oohhboy]

Funny thing is that I would agree with you, but for different reasons. Family Guy already has a good off spring to carry the line in American Dad, but the Simpson lacks the same. Killing the Simpsons now would end it for good.

Both Family Guy and the Simpsons gets brutally murdered by Futurama and Archer though.

As for Conway Twitty, it's the writers openly trolling the audience. They know they have out lived their welcome and are activity daring someone to cancel them. I still stick around FG for the Chicken fights, it's good watching.

[Morari]

Bring back Daria.

[TJ Spyke]

In July, the president of MTV was talking to the creators of it about bringing it back

[RABicle]

I dunno TJ, you started this thread saying Ricky Gervais isn't funny so I'm thinking of disregarding all your opinions from now on.

[ThePerm]

I dunno TJ, you started this thread saying Ricky Gervais isn't funny so I'm thinking of disregarding all your opinions from now on.

i started doing that about a year ago, im not sure if he means these things or if he is a superb troll.

[TJ Spyke]

He's not funny. The episode of The Simpsons he wrote and guest starred in is easily the worst episode of the show, his movie was terrible, The Office is medicore at best. The guy just does not know humor.

[S-U-P-E-R]

says the guy that likes Big Bang Theory and has never heard of somethingawful. A firebrand of comedy, you are not.

[TJ Spyke]

BBT is funny, unlike Gervais.

[UncleBob]

I don't know who this guy is y'all are talking about, but I have to agree that Big Bang Theory is pretty bottom rung as far as comedy goes.

[TJ Spyke]

The show is one of the most popular on TV, has won numerous awards (including Jim Parsons winning 2 Emmys for Best Actor in a Comedy), and a Brazilian scientist even just named a new species of bee after the catchphrase of Parsons' character Dr. Sheldon Cooper ("Bazinga!", with the bee species being "Euglossa bazinga"). It is a funny show. You may not like it, but that doesn't mean it isn't good.

[Morari]

Popularity = Quality

[TJ Spyke]

It's also gotten numerous awards. And it is a really fun show to watch.

[Ian Sane]

The show has been on for so long that I realize that it would not really make sense to refer to myself as a Simpsons fan.  I have seasons 1 to 7 on DVD and have never had the slightest interest in owning any more.  Seasons 3 to 6 is the best comedy show ever.  1 and 2 are pretty rough (especially 1) but I cut shows a lot more slack when they're weak at the beginning and still need to find their groove.  7 is mostly good but a new writing style was coming in that was firmly established by season 8.  The show ceased to be consistently funny after that and was often annoying.  It makes sense when you look at the writing staff turnover.  Al Jean and Mike Reiss were the showrunners in seasons 3 and 4 and David Mirken was the showrunner for 5 and 6.  Such a major change in staff would affect the tone of the show and I just did not like the tone the show switched towards.

I stopped watching completely around season 9 or 10 or something like that during the episode where the Simpsons got a horse.  At that point I was already finding watching the show to be more annoying than enjoyable.  Then Homer went to the land of the jockeys and it was so insultingly stupid I turned the TV off in the middle of the episode and have never watched a new episode since.

Now this means I have watched less than half of the total episodes of the Simpsons in existence.  For all I know the show is absolutely hilarious right now and appeals perfectly to my sense of humour.  I don't know anyone personally who still watches it.  And if anyone says "ah yeah, it's funny.  You should watch it" I instinctively don't believe them.  After I stopped watching it became clear to me that those that still enjoyed it have a different sense of humour than I do.  They may find it funny but they also found it funny during the seasons that I got sick of it.  Their opinion is of no use to me because our senses of humour aren't compatible.  When we were both laughing at season 4, it appears that we were laughing at different things.  Or my sense of humour is less flexible so a more modern Simpsons fan may find X and Y funny while I only find X funny, thus a show of just Y is funny to them but not to me.  And of course the show has been on for so long that there are young fans that were introduced to the show years after it's writing style had changed.  To them the Simpsons I love is like some weird thing from the past.

The Simpsons should have gracefully ended on its own terms years ago.  It is too late for that.  It cannot be saved and it will eventually be cancelled with a whimper.  But it will not hurt the show's legacy at all for it to continue as long as possible until it reaches that point.  It already has the reputation of a once great show that lasted WAY past it's best-before date.

[Ceric]

I find it funny how the two polar opposite choices have the most votes.

Anyway, I pick the last two.  I say, take a season off from "The Simpsons" and do a "Springfield" season.  Then, pick back up with everyone aged twenty years, but don't do stuff like teleporters and flying cars.  Tell stories about the extended Simpsons family.

You do realize that aging them 20 years would put them 4 years ago.

[TJ Spyke]

Ian, the show still gets great ratings, so it will not be canceled anytime soon (if ever). The only reason I could ever see Fox ending the show (rather than the producers) is if they think it is too expensive to make anymore (which is BS since it still makes a huge profit for them).

[EasyCure]

I'm just going to say most standard sitcoms aren't funny, they're just not. I'll also say Ricky Gervais isn't as funny as people make him out to be. Does he do stand up? Maybe I just haven't seen him in anything good, and as someone who appreciates comedy as an art, I feel stand up is the best gauge for a comedian. I've yet to see anything with RG in it fast nader me think he was worthwhile, whether its a sitcom, film role, radio show etc.

With that said, as far  British comedians go, the last funny one I can recall was Jimmy Carr, but I don't think his style did very well in front of American audiences.

[nickmitch]

I kinda like BBT. It's a bit "lowest common denominator" for me though. It's really only a handful of changes from being good.

[TJ Spyke]

I think they have def improved from the first season though, like adding Mayim Bialik (as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler) and Melissa Rauch (as Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski) to the main cast.

[Ian Sane]

I'm just going to say most standard sitcoms aren't funny, they're just not.

Most of anything isn't that great.  Since a comedy's greatness is ultimately dictated by how funny it is, it makes sense that most comedy shows aren't that funny.

The thing with humour is that for the most part the MORE things you find funny the LESS a sense of humour you have.  If you have a truly good sense of humour you'll find less things funny than other people.  Good humour is clever.  It has to sneak up on you because a joke ain't funny if you've heard it before.  Of course you can go so far over that you find nothing funny in which case you're in the less sense of humour camp.

I know two people that are opposite extremes.  One person never laughs at anything and has this puzzled reaction to almost all jokes told to them, like they're some alien who doesn't understand this human concept of "humour" and can't understand why you would say something so nonsensical.  The other person laughs at pretty much anything, often laughing when I'm being completely serious.  I suspect he cannot tell when something is funny or not so he laughs at what he guesses are jokes so as to fit in and not come across like the first person I mentioned.

[TJ Spyke]

Good humor doesn't have to be "clever". You can see a joke coming from a million miles away and it can still be funny. And GOOD jokes are funny even if you have heard them before.

[EasyCure]

maybe i should of just said sitcoms aren't funny. big bang theory, 2 and 1/2 men (with or without charlie) are two really popular sitcoms people tell me i need to watch, and I've tried, but I can't. too , if anything.

meanwhile you can categorize scrubs as a sitcom but it doesn't have that same formulaic feel as the other two, and the very off beat humor appeals to me. all in all, I don't watch much tv away, I just felt like starting my opinions that sitcoms suck.