Why Futurama is more disliked from simpsons?

[Reply #40 on:]

They're all just jealous of our TOTPD capabilities.

Actually, Futurama is more cerebral, therefore appealing to a smaller audience.  The Simpsons have been dumbed down to the point where and drooling idiot can get most of the humor.

[Reply #41 on:]

drooling idiot = average FOX viewer?

[Reply #42 on:]

I used to hate Fox, but recently the've been showing a number of great quality shows, such as American Idol - what an amazing programme!

[suddenly remembers sarcasm doesn't work on the net]

[Reply #43 on:]

 

Originally posted by FilthyCrab:
They're all just jealous of our TOTPD capabilities.

Actually, Futurama is more cerebral, therefore appealing to a smaller audience.  The Simpsons have been dumbed down to the point where and drooling idiot can get most of the humor.

The Simpsons could be shown to a monkey even the monkey could understand it

-To Fox   -

[Reply #44 on:]

The Simpsons have nostalgia in their favor, I think much of the TV audience grew up with The Simpsons. Now, if you don't have a transvestite midget looking for love inside a jailhouse of island castaways and landmines it's not considered good TV.

[Reply #45 on:]

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Sort of a good point. Futurama has had sporadic episodes over the run and it is just hard to grasp that something could compete with The Simpsons. Futurama definatly has more of a point than The Simpsons, and some veiwers don't like that. Plus, The Simpsons have been on for 13+ years, and it seems that its veiwers cannot adjust to a new show. There are many reasons, my "friends" argue that Futurama is stupid, and they changed the channel after five minutes. I say to them... 

I also say to them that although Futurama is a comedy, it really brings feeling into an episode. I have been on the VERGE of crying when watching Jurrasic Bark, Time Keeps on Slippin', The Luck of the Fryish, I never feel that during The Simpsons. The old episodes of The Simpsons attemoted to have a moral point, and that's why most veiwers prefer to stay away from them. So when a Simpsons fan complains that the episodes are going downhill, (and they are, I'd give it 3 more years on TV sice FOX just bought 2) you can say to them, Ha. Futurama may be down, and I'd scringe at the thought of it being out, but it deserved something. Besides, Matt Groening likes Futurama better anyway. NYAH!!!

[Reply #46 on:]

That's a key point. Many viewers feel that Futurama was designed to directly compete with The Simpsons (with the aim to ending The Simpsons within a few years), and few people wanted to see that happen.

An interesting point about Futurama is that, being "real", avoids many of the "meta" jokes that The Simpsons overuses about showbusiness (which many old-school fans see as contributing to the downfall of the show).

The Simpsons is just going to keep going until everybody hates it, IMHO. It's that unstoppable.

[Reply #47 on:]

Hay, this is my first time posting here, and the first time Ive ever posted on a site about a TV show. Im doing this because I like Futurama n have sence day one. Last weekend I was inspired to come online to find out more about the show when to my surprize Futurama came on chn 13 FOX for the 1st time in what seemed like almost a year to me. I had assumed by that point that they where not going to be showing it anymore, sadly, after digging up some news online was closer to being right then I would have liked to have been.

Anyway, heres why I think the Simpsons are doing better then Futurama is. First n fore most Simpsons is easy for everyone to realate to. It is more down to Earth then Futurama and more realistic in that same sence. Now if you look at Fox programming n the types of TV that has been airing youll notice people today tend to perfer realitiy based shows. Like Survivor, American Idol, Fear Factor, and other crap that I cant stand myself.
As for the Simpsons well its more in tune with realitiy I mean they even had a Simpsons episode not to long ago where the Simpsons where on a reality TV show, but you dont see that kind of thing on Futurama. To put it as some others have Simpsons is just easyer to relate to.

Now take Futurama it doesnt fit into the common theme shown on TV today which seems to be geared towards real/reality type crap Simpsons makes it because partly because of the current topics such as the one I already spoke of.

Futurama on the other hand well its a crazy mix of new, old, and never seen before. Take the fact they show Nixon in quite a few episodes, unless u know anything about him that part of those episodes wont seem very funny to you. So in a way the more enlightend you are the better, BUT Im not that bright I dont watch a lot of sci fi like most here seem to say they do. So I think the assesment that some have made that the jokes in Futurama are to hard for most people to understand is off base and exadrated. I do see the times when it would have n impact though its that big of an impact.

An another thing as I rap up this post, it seems that Futurama was partly insipred by something that happens only once in a 1000 years n thats the coming of a new millenuim. I just thought Id point that out as no one else seemed to think it could be a factor. Remember when Futurama first aired well I remember that it was when everyone was kinda hyped about the year 2000. N Futurama comes along about a guy from our time who ends up in the year 3000 wow. Well to bad that was only a fad that was doomed to end quickly now he isnt a guy from our time but a few years ago. To put it as best I can the (Novility)if thats the right word, n yes I know the spellings bad, that Futurama had when it first started has worn off. I just think its a shame that theres a good chance they wont keep it running because it is a great show.

[Reply #48 on:]

Most people that rag on Futurama probably haven't watched it
I pity them......

[Reply #49 on:]

The blame falls squarly on FOX, if they had promoted the show, and shown that it was not a simpsons spin-off.  That it was a new original show from Matt and Co. people wouldnt be hate'n on Futurama.  The show has an appeal to almost everyone, even though the jokes aren't as low brow as the simpsons.  If FOX kept the time slot at 8:30 and promoted the show, I really think that alot of simpsons fans would have given Futurama more of a chance instead of writing the show off from the begining. 
There are three things that you can't avoid in life 1) Death 2) Taxes 3)the fact that Fox hates Matt Groening
FOX is the evil empire

[Reply #50 on:]

Good point, Zoidberg MD.
Btw, welcome!

[Reply #51 on:]

If I remember correctly, when the show was just starting to be aired, first 4-6 episodes, Fox did advertise them to some degree along with the other shows coming on. Fox also ran some adds about its daybue before it first aired so people would know it was coming a week or two in advance.

I do agree though Fox gave up on the show quickly n after about month you wouldnt hear much about Futurama in adds of the shows coming on that weekend.

On side note just to give people something to think about. Think about this, wouldnt it have been interesting to see what would have happend ,if when they aired Futurama for the first time they just playd the first 4 episodes as a sort of starting marathone daybue deal. This way people would have been much more inclined to give Futurama a chance otherwise they would have had to watch something else on another stashion n my guess is most of em would have stayd tuned n sufferd though the 1st 5 min of the show only then to realize they liked it.

[Reply #52 on:]

IQ is a definite factor.  Some people cited X Files as an example of Sci-Fi's marketability.  I disagree, Sci-Fi covers a WIDE range of styles for lack of a better term.  The Sci Fi that does well either is A) violent/action or B) violent/horror.  And even tho aliens may have been involved, X-files was alway a Horror series more then Sci-Fi.

Futurama on the other hand is a Sitcom in Sci-Fi clothing.

Don't get me wrong, I love this show.  I wonder what would have happened if there had been stronger long story arcs tho...  (By that I mean a story arc that rides at least a season or more in the background)  Aside from being incoherent because of FOXs tendency to toss the tapes into a bingo tumbler and pull them at random.

Actually, that may be a big factor too....  While not essential, certainly showing the series all out of order is almost as damning as the LONG hiatus between airing episodes. 

And, did FOX screw you guys like Sci-Fi channel did FarScape fans?  NO re-runs ever!  That will kill it too.  FarScape would have a batch of episodes, then a LOOOOONG hiatus, then another batch and never any reruns to keep the interest going.  By the time the new episodes came out, I had all but forgotten to watch because it had been so long and I hadn't been watching during the timeslot to watch reruns.

EDIT: misstatement made it look like FarScape was on FOX.

[Reply #53 on:]

I'd say Futurama's lousy schedule is a large factor for it lacking in popularity. It's so sporadic, it's easy to miss a show. It was doing so well until Malcolm in the Middle debuted in 2000 and took Futurama's cozy time slot. Now it's so easy to pass up cuz it's the "early bird" special of prime time.

Also, the subject matter, while topical like The Simpsons, is more niche-based than The Simpsons. Futurama takes place in a far-out fantasy world, and less people are interested in that than, say, "realistic fiction".

Anyways, all of the Sunday shows in FOX are newer than Futurama save for the animated ones. FOX treats the Simpsons well cuz they have that "timeless" quality. As for KOTH, who knows. FOX probably sees Futurama as a stale, go-nowhere franchise since they're always excited about their new shows that appear every so often. So they are probably thinking "Screw Futurama, Oliver Beene is more 'in'!" Hence the marketing experts drop their stuff on Futurama and get to work on the newer shows.

[Reply #54 on:]

My friend who's a big Simpson fan, hates Futurama.  Why? Because he just doesn't like science fiction, thus this prevents him from even getting into future.  On the plus side his cousin loves Futurama, and hates the Simpsons (Simpsons today).  They both argue all the time.

Does anybody else know people who say they don't, like Futurama? 

[Reply #55 on:]

I support the lack of advetisement theory:
Arround nine years ago, my father turned on the TV and was surprised to see some yellow, freakish characters on it. A couple of years passed and he laughed with me when we watched Krusty's jewish father.
What happened in between?
When in every store you see a figure of Bart Simpson on a skateboard, when you cannot turn the TV without seeing Homer eating a doughnut, you start to get used to those characters and they become part of your everyday's life.
Futurama, however, is still a mystery for many. Even my father, who is now a Simpsons fan, won't watch them.

Not to mention that Simpsons were the first drawn show of the 90's. Even 15 seasons after, people remember it as the original cartoon.

[Reply #56 on:]

 

Originally posted by uruseiranma:
I figured it was because Fox had more of a stake in the show than Futurama. 

No Fox has no say in the simpsons and no say in futurama.
as people have said Fox are mostly to blame but I wouldn't know much about that living the U.K.
I think perhaps one factor could also have been that maybe not quite enough time was spent developing the characters in the first season. lots of people watched the Pilot and perhaps if it had been a little better to begin with people would have made more effort to watch it and find out when it was on.

[Reply #57 on:]

First, may i say Fox -    - Worst media-conglomerate-subsidiary ever!

But also; I have been a fan of the Simpsons since it came out when I was 11, and am well and truly a Simpsons nerd (also a Buffy and Futurama nerd).
I still like the new series, the treatment of the characters, which can be quite random sometimes i guess, is cool because it's just made for the die-hard fans who can see the connections anyway because we know the characters so well - season 5ish to 10ish are probably the best though in my opinion.

Anyway, I think Futurama, (which I loved straight away and is my clear favourite)kind of started off in the same place Simpsons had evolved to only after about 3 or 4 seasons - it still had the apeal to all sort of humour, but was quite heavy on using character quirks, as if we'd known them for ever, right from the git-go. I found this quite a natural fit, but maybe not everyone? I'm not sure.

Perhaps by assuming that the viewing public needs a couple of seasons of easing in to it
i am underestimating...hmm maybe...maybe it just shows how my humor-sensors have been fine tuned to the Greoning frequency since I was a child, in a process of dumbening akin to a sort of willing re-neducation...

any-hoo, being from Australia, I don't know how Fox played it up in the USA but here they did it crappily over here.

Yeah - interesting. No, wait, the other thing...

[Reply #58 on:]

Futurama isn't disliked, it is loved. Just not loved as much as the simpsons.

[Reply #59 on:]

People prefer mindless humor and that's exactly what the FOX network provides.  Prefering The Simpsons to Futurama is like choosing the arctic over the tropics!

I also believe that shows like The Simpsons and others like it are all FOX's target demographics can comprehend.  The person a few posts above was right, show The Simpsons to a monkey, and it will understand it.  Plus, Futurama is an intellegent sophisticated social commentary that actually makes you think.  In the words of Don Henley, "We All Know that Crap is King, Give Us Your Dirty Laundry!"

[Reply #60 on:]

The answer's simple - more people could relate to the Simpsons.  (At least they could when it was satire, rather than total whackiness.)  As a sci-fi comedy, Futurama was always going to be a cult show.  The number of sci-fi shows that the mainstream viewership have latched onto can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

I have a better question - does it really matter anymore?  Debates over why people like the Simpsons more than Futurama are redundant now Futurama's ended.

The fect is they were both great shows.  Futurama was a great show that was unfairly cancelled at it's peak.  The Simpsons was a truly great show that has now lost it's way.  Eventually interest in it will dwindle and it'll fizzle out.  Look at the Star Trek franchise.

[Reply #61 on:]

Hi gang,

I think that there's a crowd for the Simpsons and one for Futurama. 
On a personal level - I prefer Futurama much more than the Simpsons.  I never bought any Simpsons Dvd - yet, I have all four sets of Futurama.  I would even pay for a cd compiling the music from the shows. 
First, I have to say that sci-fi is my fave type of movie.  Now, Futurama isn't even funny about it - they are realistic - they bring out into the open a lot of flaws of sci-fi.  After all, we only live the present. 
Second, after four years of Simpsons, I thought they had pretty much said it all.  As for Futurama, after season five, I feel there is much more to be developed.  Branigan, Kif's homeworld - so much more!
...and of course...Seymour...

[Reply #62 on:]

I agree, the simpsons have done everything even remotely funny(and more) but there was still so much to be said in Futurama.

[Reply #63 on:]

Oh, and don't forget the fact that FOX is an evil propaganda machine! Oh my, no, you mustn't forget that!

[Reply #64 on:]

The reason Futurama isn't as loved as The Simpsons is because most people don't know what it is.

Some people have mention the facts of people can relate to The Simpsons more because it's set in reality... But to me the characters from Futurama relate more to me than the Simpsons characters.

Also with Futurama set as a Fantasy (This being the future) I think it makes it easier to come up with fresh stories. Seeing you don't have worry about the restraints of reality. Thats why I like this show better than The Simpsons anyday.

[Reply #65 on:]

Exactly. Futurama just isn't as popular as the Simpsons which is quite sad.

[Reply #66 on:]

If I may further add to this thread, Simpsons have had much more publicity than Futurama.  All Futurama had was continuous time slot changes...

[Reply #67 on:]

Futurama has been around for only a few years Simpsons however has been around for a decade or more right.  Simpsons in it's time was a new style of a family comedy sitcom.  It was a cartoon.  Now days people are moving on to the next best syle of a show yet they want the original stuff too.  Simpsons is like one of those shows where no matter how good the newer one is the older one that people are more familiar with and attracted to they are gonna watch more because that's the show that first got them interested. Of course all that talking is opinion based.

[Reply #68 on:]

Futurama was the 'new' show, and people are hesitant to try things that are different. I think most people thought that if you like The Simpsons, then stick with The Simpsons. No need for anything else.

[Reply #69 on:]

When I first watched the show in Australia, I actually did not like it.  The second time I thought I will give it another try.  This time I had move to France I begin to like it and so have been watching it since.  We're up to season four here, and it's only shown on digital channel.  However original version is available which is good.

I think futurama is less popular than the simpsons because it came out after the simpsons with very similar animinations.  The fact that the simpsons has been popular on tv for so long, in people mind characters that look like that has to be the simpsons. Nobody else can replace them, that's that.  However if I did not remember wrong back then in Australia the simpsons seemed to have a better broadcasting time than futurama.

I didn't think you need to be smarter to understand futurama though.  This is an easy show to watch.

[Reply #70 on:]

Coupla points I'd llike to emphasise here from a british point of view. When Simpsons was launched over here, it was already a huge hit in the US, so there was massive publicity, even news stories on tv and radio (as well as in our *Rupert Murdoch* - owned press) about the series.
Naturally there was only minimal publicity for Futurama.

Then when Channel 4 gets hold of Fturama, when do the schedule it - between 1.30 and 3.oo (varying times) *AM* on a friday night. Whenever they had big sports like sumo dominos or Spanish donkey racing then Futurama was pulled. And they stopped transmitting the final eps so they could have continuous live transmission from the Big Brother house.

Talk about lowest common denominator. *Shoots self in head*

[Reply #71 on:]

I was reading a giant article in a comics magazine (or something) talking about the Simpsons, and near the end, the author tossed an obligatory bone to Futurama.  His main beef was that, in his mind, one of the best parts of the Simpsons was how it provided a commentary on modern life.  Futurama, by contrast, didn't provide that commentary, and was just a well-put together parody of the sci-fi genre. As I was relishing the mental image of beating this art-house goon with a pool cue until his retinas detached (yes, I did think that!), he also threw out a complaint about how FOX always seemed to hide the show in their schedule.  Looking over the blurb again, it seems to me that all he saw of the show was the first season (which was a bit rough), so that might have slanted his opinion.

[Reply #72 on:]

Probably did, Ttomalss. Lovely imagery too.

BTW, does anyone have a clue as to when the Simpson's contract is up? I heard they've got two seasons left or something. This true?

Well, I can't base off of personal experience that Futurama only appeals to Sci-fi fans, because I myself have enjoyed shows like Quantum Leap, Now and Again, Roswell, and of course bits of Star Trek (I'm no Trekkie, but I'll sit down with my dad casually to watch it), and had my HUGE Star Wars phase back in the sixth grade (though named more as science fantasy, but you get the point). All in all, Futurama has to be my favorite TV show (and Everwood... *looks to see people brandishing 2x4's*), but... Futurama, damnit! My father and older brother are both mad about the show too, and they're sci-fi geeks. My little brother watches with me, and we're often cracking jokes from the show together. Even my mom likes it, but while not a sci-fi lover, she's very open minded. So yes, the whole family watches.

Then again, we're all for something with a little more to it, you know?

I agree with everyone else saying that Futurama requires more from its fans. And it doesn't matter whether it stays cult to me or goes big. I'll still love it.

[Reply #73 on:]

From a UK point of view, futurama 'was' much more popular. There was a time when the BBC showed simpsons repeats ad nauseum (I have seen a paticular episode 8 times) and then Futurama came along, airing at a nice 6:30 slot on channel 4. Everyone liked it for the next two years, then suddenly it went off the air, to be replaced with repeats of friends or somesuch crap. The years passed, and finally this year, channel 4 aired season 4...... at 2:30 in the morning. Now interest has faded, and everyone remembers it as a show from long ago.

Also some other things I hate about channel 4:

They censored the hell out of the episodes, words such as 'virgin' and 'sperm' were cut, ruining a lot of the jokes.

They missed out a load of episodes from the seasons, these are currently being shown every bank holiday monday morning, when no-one will watch them.

When they showed it on T4 (A weekend slot), the ending was replaced with a weird alternative version, not too much of a problem, except when you miss out on the great beastie boys ending to 'hell is other robots'.

[Reply #74 on:]

They actually cut out 'virgin' and 'sperm'? That takes away nearly every comedy element Futurama had!
As for Futurama appealing to Sci-fi fans, I've never really liked Sci-fi. The only Sci-fi thing I'm a big fan of is Star Wars. I mostly feel the characters and jokes were better in Futurama.