Simpsons axed or Futurama axed?

[Reply #40 on:]

If Fox would agree to cancel Simpsons and return Futurama, i would agree to dance naked on their executive table.

[Reply #41 on:]

And I would become an executive in impossibly short order. 

[Reply #42 on:]

With A Star is Burns: Its true that he pulled his name off for the concept and not the writing, but still, IMO he was right about the concept.  I guess Keeler (and the rest of the writing team) still did a pretty decent job with what they had, but overall not a great episode.

With Principal: Well, most talk at the NHC refers to "the Scully era", "Scully came in", etc, as opposed to specific episodes.  But yes, Principal and the Pauper is possibly the most commonly referred to when it comes to specific JTS episodes.  "Bart Carny" is also somewhat of a popular choice, as is "Wizard on Evergreen Terrace".  I usually go with "Bart Carny", although "Pauper" is IMO the first truly awful episode.

You may notice a trend also, I'm not sure if it means anything, but Keeler often did the really gimmicky episodes.  A crossover, a hokey "revelation" plot, and a president moving across the street.

[Reply #43 on:]

Whereas of course with Futurama, it's a gimmick a week so they don't stand out as much. 

[Reply #44 on:]

 

Originally posted by Venus:
If Fox would agree to cancel Simpsons and return Futurama, i would agree to dance naked on their executive table.

im becoming a fox exec so i can bring futurama back, and then see this.  btw why did you register on 9-11? wasn't there other stuff to do? no offense, im just wondering.

[Reply #45 on:]

Other stuff? Like what? ...[thinks]... oh.

[Reply #46 on:]

 

Originally posted by PCC Fred:
 My reaction would be send Satan some mittens and a flask of soup to keep him warm.

ROTFL!!!    That's really funny Fred!   

EDIT: I'd definitely want Futurama back. I was never really a big fan of The Simpsons and it's going downhill quickly. Futurama, however, has heaps of storylines that they haven't explored yet...

[Reply #47 on:]

 

Originally posted by mattmag:
  btw why did you register on 9-11? wasn't there other stuff to do? no offense, im just wondering.

Well, i live in Florida and was in no way personally effected by what happened. Neither were any of my friends. At the time i lived on an Air Force Base, so i was kinda nervous, but as for 'other stuff to do' there really wasn't. And i'd been lurking here for a long while, so since i was nervous but had nothing else to do, i decided to register.

[Reply #48 on:]

"Principal" had some decent jokes and was okay as a "what if" kind of episode (too bad there's no "what if" machine" on The Simpsons), but accepting it into continuity totally screws up a lot of what we know about Skinner.  "Star" was pretty funny, although I guess the thing about crossovers is that mixing in elements from more than one show often results in something that's below par for EITHER show.  I can understand Matt's objection to the episode, but I still enjoyed it.

Which Futurama episodes did Keeler write, anyway?

[Reply #49 on:]

(From SNPP)
Ken Keeler
[2F31] A Star Is Burns
[3F09] Two Bad Neighbors
[4F02] Treehouse of Horror VII (The Thing and I)
[3F24] El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)
[4F14] The Brother from Another Series
[4F20] The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase (story)
[4F23] The Principal and the Pauper

Of course, through all of this we should remember that a writing credit means a helluva lot less on The Simpsons then on most shows.  The show is so staff written, especcially after the first few seasons, that the "credited" writer may have come up with the title, one joke, and nothing else of what becomes the final episode.  Still, you can see some trends with Keeler's record.
 

[Reply #50 on:]

The person who is credited as "writer" writes the first draft of the script. That's all we know.

[Reply #51 on:]

Keeler wrote "Brother From Another Series"? That guy is a genius.

"A Star Is Burns" was a bit iffy, but since I love "The Critic" I'm able to let it slide. "It stinks!" "Yes, mr Sherman, everything stinks."

I really like 3F09, 3F24 and 4F14. All great episode, IMO.

I however agree that 4F23 was horrible, they destroyed a large part of Skinner's character with that one, and the plot was as lame as they come, with a cup-out ending. On top of that it wasn't even funny. Definetely a "begining of the slump"-episode.

[Reply #52 on:]

 

Originally posted by Mouse On Venus:
The person who is credited as "writer" writes the first draft of the script. That's all we know.

I'm not sure, but in some cases I think it can be even less then that.  Its a very collaboratively written show.

[Reply #53 on:]

No, it definitely is. Check out, if and when you can, the special writers commentary for Jurrasic Bark. There's a fair bit of anecdotal information about how the writers went about writing their scripts in the time they were given and such. But the writer of an episode is definitely the person who wrote the original draft, it's not just an idle title.

[Reply #54 on:]

Well, its usually the case yes.  But The Simpsons is just written very differently.  I think in some cases they'll just assign names to episodes to distribute the money accordingly.  The credited writer usually does write the first draft (which can change a helluva lot.  For all we know "Simpsons Safari" was originally a serious, down-to-earth tale of forbidden love or something), but I think there actually may be some exceptions.  They just don't write the show like they would most sitcoms.

[Reply #55 on:]

YES! Futurama is much better than the simpsons, and the new simpsons episodes are just poor!

[Reply #56 on:]

I think the problem that the Simpsons faces is that, (preemptive apologies for using the F-word, but here goes), FOX will milk any sucessful franchise until it is stone dead!

I think a good example of this was the X-Files, which personally I thought went on past its true life. When David Duchovny effectively left the series, and you therefore lost the character of Mulder, it in a sense killed the series, or at least it should of.

With a show like the Simpsons, being the sucess that it is... still, they will probably go on and on and on and on..... etc, ad infinitum! At this point I think everyone but the most hardcore fanatics will get utterly sick of it, which would be a huge shame as it has been a good show.

So I'd agree, Simpsons should go sooner rather than later, before it gets a backlash.

As for bringing back Futurama, I wish!

The only thing I would like to ask though is this. Would it have been worse if Futurama had been massively sucessful, and gone on for year after year after year, until it was repeating itself endlessly, (as many accuse the Simpsons of doing now,)or that things stay as they are, or maybe with a trilogy of Futurama movies.

You tell me!

[Reply #57 on:]

 

Originally posted by superfryguy:

The only thing I would like to ask though is this. Would it have been worse if Futurama had been massively sucessful, and gone on for year after year after year, until it was repeating itself endlessly, (as many accuse the Simpsons of doing now,)or that things stay as they are, or maybe with a trilogy of Futurama movies.

You tell me!

I don't think it would have been worse if Futurama followed an arc similar to the Simpsons.  The Simpsons didn't start getting stale in my opinion until season 11 (this opinion will vary depending on who you ask, of course).  I would have loved to see that many seasons of Futurama , even if it meant the show would eventually become stale after that time.

[Reply #58 on:]

Fox should axed The Simpsons because its now full of lame jokes, stupid plots and pointless gueststars and Fox should bring back Futurama.

[Reply #59 on:]

Lets face it, Simpsons has lost it cool, charm and originality. It should get axed.

[Reply #60 on:]

simpsons isn't any good anymore anyway,(wow!that's alot of anys)so lets get futurama back on the air

[Reply #61 on:]

I'd prefer to see the Simpsons go on for at least one or two more years and Futurama NOT renewed. Before everyone has a heart attack, let me explain myself.
The Simpsons had about 7 or 8 great seasons, 1 or 2 okay ones, and the past few seasons haven't been all that great (although some season 15 episodes are pretty good).
In comparison, Futurama had 4 great (production) seasons, and then it got the ax. As it's been said numerous times, I would rather have Futurama as a series with 4 knock-em-dead years than as a series with 8 great years, 2 meh years, and 4 terrible years. However, I'd also like Futurama to be a show with 4 terrific seasons and 3 terrific movies, however unlikely the latter part of that sentence may be.