The Simpsons or Futurama

[Reply #40 on:]

For my opinion: See Cellery's post


:top of the page over-bite:

[Reply #41 on:]

The Simpsons are slipping. They were at the peak thru series 6 - 12 and now they are dead.

[Reply #42 on:]

The Simpsons have been slipping for quite some time now, it's such a shame that the wrong show was cancelled. It can be painful to watch some of the newer episodes, especially when compared to how The Simpsons used to be.

[Reply #43 on:]

I prefer Futurama, as The Simpsons seemed to have 3 or 4 series of brilliance and has been riding of the back of that since, but Futurama, in it's short life, never rose or fell from grace, it was at it's peak the whole time... Or it's just more consistent 

[Reply #44 on:]

I agree Danster. As you said, the quality of Futurama never really died significantly at any time during the series. And that makes the difference between a good series and an Ok series.

[Reply #45 on:]

I like Futurama better. Simpsons has it's moments but it got stale as of late.

[Reply #46 on:]

Without a shadow of a doubt, The simpsons. Even a good portion of the newer episodes rival those in Futurama.

And i will boldly say this : Season 15 Simpsons kicks the ass of "Season 5" Futurama
Don't give me any "There is no season 5" crap, you know what i mean.

In fact, if it wasn't for Homer and Marge's characters falling off the edge of the universe, it'd still be the uncontested greatest show around.
Keep in mind though that i, like most comedy buffs, don't care about storyline, unlss the story makes the one-liners more funny in some way.


Incidentally, search general and you'll come across a bunch of these threads, one of which started by me.
My first post! yay!

EDIT :
   

I agree Danster. As you said, the quality of Futurama never really died significantly at any time during the series.

It lost it's subtlty during most of "Season 5"
Devil's hand's and Spanish Fry are the perfect examples.

[Reply #47 on:]

I don't see WHY this thread had to be bumped.

But, depends on the era.  The Simpsons 1-8 are mostly untouchable television that even Futurama couldn't reach.  But Futurama is better then any Simpsons seasons past 8 (though 9, 13, and 15 are all still good seasons).

As for Futurama's consistancy, it depends on one's point of view I suppose.  All the seasons are good, but seasons one and two also have their problems, and I think seasons 3+ (whether you consider that two or three seasons) are what made the show an indisputable classic.  Had it been cut off after season two, I might still own the dvds but I probably wouldn't be here.  Also, it is notable that Futurama sports "Three Hundred Big Boys" which I think is a truly bad episode (despite it being in seasons 3+), in its short lifespan, whereas The Simpsons' first 8 seasons IMO have no truly bad episodes (barring maybe clip show #2).

[Reply #48 on:]

 

I don't see WHY this thread had to be bumped.

He probably wanted to start a thread like this himself, in which case, cut him some slack, he's done the right thing.
Searched - Contributed - Bumped
Rather refreshing, really.

 

Also, it is notable that Futurama sports "Three Hundred Big Boys" which I think is a truly bad episode

Everyone says that, and never backs it up, i reckon it was just as mediocre as the rest in that era.
Offtopic or no, tell me, why did you single it out?

[Reply #49 on:]

I don't think I'm familiar enough with the Simpsons to really form an opinion on the subject, but I don't know what the fuss is about with the old/new difference. I mean, I saw a few episodes from its supposed peak, and I couldn't tell the difference between them and the new ones. They seemed about equal.

Futurama seems to be a show that bought the farm kind of early. The first couple seasons were great, but once they had Fry admit his love for Leela, it started slipping. By the end of season 4, I felt I was no longer watching a comedy, but a cheap soap opera sometimes. Or maybe it was just that last episode. Yeah, that one sucked.

[Reply #50 on:]

At it's height, the Simpsons is absolutely untouchable. The constant repeats on local TV won't let me forget it. I completely fogot about this awesome line on a recently shown (old) ep:

Flanders: Now, who should lead the group?
     Man: You!
Everyone: Yay!  Flanders!  Flanders!  Flanders!
Flanders: I don't really have very much experience, but I'll --
     Moe: Someone else!
Everyone: Yay!  Someone else!  Someone else!  Someone else!
   Homer: I'm someone else.
   Lenny: He's right!

   

Futurama got close, but was never as consitantly awesome as the Simpons used to be. I would, however, take the 4 production seasons of Futurama over the last 5 production seasons of the Simpons any day of the week.

Alas, Futurama also got a few shoddy eps that broke up its glory run. And as far as I'm concerned, the first 4 seasons of The Simpsons had NO shoddy eps. Simpsons Season 1 may not have been as hilarious as Futurama Season 1, but it was still very clever.

[Reply #51 on:]

 

Originally posted by Rage Dump:


 

Also, it is notable that Futurama sports "Three Hundred Big Boys" which I think is a truly bad episode

Everyone says that, and never backs it up, i reckon it was just as mediocre as the rest in that era.
Offtopic or no, tell me, why did you single it out?

Well, here's a review I wrote just today on another forum:

Three Hundred Big Boys: *sigh* Giving this one a second chance a year later didn't change my opinion of it. There's some bright spots, mostly in Fry's storyline and a few other moments, but mostly its just humorless with very uninteresting mini-stories. Its amazing how the stories in "22 Short Films About Springfield" were so much more dynamic and interesting, despite that being a in small town, and this being in a future populated by aliens, robots, and so many other strange things. It could have been a decent idea, but it needed to inject some more sci-fi elements, lose the lame guest appearance, and put some humor it in for sweet zombie Jesus' sake. D

So basically that's it.  There's little to no Futurama charm, or humor whatsoever.

[Reply #52 on:]

Lemme spell it out for you: !!F-U-T-U-R-A-M-A!! A little over dramatic but it's the truth!  Go Futurama!

[Reply #53 on:]

I like Futurama just as much because I love science fiction but I'd say Simpsons is the better show.

[Reply #54 on:]

 

Originally posted by Rage Dump:
Devil's hand's and Spanish Fry are the perfect examples.

I dunno. I think that the series best episodes were in season 5. Including The Devil's Hands, The sting, Why of Fry, Love and Rocket, and Jurassic Bark. Those episodes have substance while most Simpsons episodes I've seen lately bore the living hell out of me. The Simpsons should have died around the 10th or 11th season. It's just the same shit over and over again with a funny joke thrown in every once in a while.

[Reply #55 on:]

Futurama all the way! 

[Reply #56 on:]

It's a tough call. Futurama, maybe, just by the slightest bit. Actually, maybe The Simpsons by the slightest bit.

Rage is right, season "5" really was below-par. I've been saying this as long as I've been here. The only two saving graces in it, in my opinion, are 300 Big Boys and Devils Hands. There are a whole bunch of meh episodes: Crimes of the Hot, Jurassic Bark, The Route Of All Evil, Less Than Hero, Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles, Spanish Fry, Bend Her and Obsoletely Fabulous are all pretty average.

[Reply #57 on:]

Futurama by far. I like The Simpsons the way I like pie; I enjoy it when it's there, but I'm not going to go out of my way for it. Futurama, however...I drove to four different stores to find a copy of the Season 1 DVD set. Not something I'm entirely proud of, but it does illustrate my point. My point being I'm an utter geek for the show.

[Reply #58 on:]

It's a close race, but I think that Futurama's a little better. The Simpsons have seniority over Futurama and they always will, so I have this feeling like I'm betraying the Simpsons by favoring Futurama. I don't find The Simpsons to have "stale" characters, it's just that Matt and the other creators have had more practice going into Futurama making it better. Simpsons' still cool, though.

[Reply #59 on:]

Depends which era of the Simpsons you're judging. On the whole I'd say Futurama was probably better, but Season 4 lost a lot in humour and gained a lot in shippiness. Even TDHAIP wasn't very funny when you got down to it.
The Simpsons today though, it's lost most of the charm which made it so funny in the first 4 or 5 seasons, but there are some good moments.

[Reply #60 on:]

Am I the only person who liked TDHAIP because he found it funny? Eh...

It's too grumpy!

In any case, the reason I watch both these shows is because I found them funny (which is why I like 'in the zone' Simpsons a little better). Which is why I don't like the Simpsons anymore. It lost all semblance of actual hilarity. And, despite what some people in the review thread seem to be trying to say, I say that it still hasn't found it's way back onto it's laughing shoes.

All this bollocks about "Futurama is a better show becauses it's smarter/more emotional/has better stories etc. etc." is bulldust, as far as I'm concerned. I like the show because it was hilarious from start to finish (with a few hiccups).

I was still finding teh funny in the Simpsons until season 9 (That's the one that starts with Homer vs New York, right? Because I think that was the last season with any goods.)

Oh, well. It still had 8 kick ass seasons.

Can't talk, coming down...

[Reply #61 on:]

Agreed at least that "Devil's Hands" is really funny.  If people can't see what genius comedy writing the opera sequences were....I don't know...

As for as the emotional/story elements, which I do really care about, its still a mix.  Futurama was a great character oriented show (in the episodes that were character oriented, anyway), but I don't think it really competes with the best episodes of The Simpsons.  Its generally better then the later shows (and there are still plenty of good character shows in the current Simpsons seasons), but I think something like season two of The Simpsons was generally just more finely tuned then Futurama in that area.  Of course, that's comparing King Kong and Godzilla; if The Simpsons was the best character show of the 90's, Futurama is the best so far of the 2000s.

[Reply #62 on:]

Futurama, because the Simpsons have been going on too long and have lost what made them great in earlier seasons.  Futurama on the other hand was great through the entire series.

[Reply #63 on:]

One word: Futurama!  The Simpsons need to be put out of it's misery as soon as possible!  And Futurama is not dead!  It lives on in fanfics, comic books, fans, and DVDs!  As Forrest Gump would say, "And That's All I Have To Save About That!"

[Reply #64 on:]

Most people here are gonna say Futurama, obviously

[Reply #65 on:]

^ Yeah, duh! Even though they were both made by the same company.

[Reply #66 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nasty Pasty:
 I dunno. I think that the series best episodes were in season 5. Including The Devil's Hands, The sting, Why of Fry, Love and Rocket, and Jurassic Bark. Those episodes have substance while most Simpsons episodes I've seen lately bore the living hell out of me. The Simpsons should have died around the 10th or 11th season. It's just the same shit over and over again with a funny joke thrown in every once in a while.

I don't watch the Simpsons a lot but when I do, I see more blood and drunks in 15 minutes than in every 72 episodes of Futurama.
The only real blood we see in Futurama is Insane in the Mainframe & Fear of the Bot Planet.
I've only seen one episode of the Simpsons that touched me, the one where Homer's mom visits and they find out she's in the witness protection program.
And I agree with you Nasty Pasty, most of the sad episode in Futurama were in season 5. The only one that wasn't was The Luck of the Fryrish, season 3 I think.

[Reply #67 on:]

Yeah, I agree that the Simpsons is more blood and violence, which turns me more toward Futurama

[Reply #68 on:]

futurama wins by a longshot new simpsons episodes just straight suck.

[Reply #69 on:]

Old posts I know....but the reason there isn't much blood on Futurama (despite all the violence, and indisputably there is a lot of it) is that Futurama spoofed sci-fi conventions, and sci-fi inexplicably often doesn't have blood despite all the violence.  In the case of the Simpsons, most of the blood (outside of seasons 10-12 where Mike Scully went insane with the violence) is typically also in parody, such as the McBain scenes or Itchy and Scratchy, and in those cases the blood is more warranted then in a typical Futurama parody.  And Futurama often did worse to its characters; Fry's hands and arm being chopped off, the grisly death of "That Guy", etc.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Reply #70 on:]

Why would you hate both shows when your on a Futurama Message Board? Well, I was always into comedy and science fiction so when this show came along I knew I would think its awesome. I like Futurama better than the Simpsons.

[Reply #71 on:]

When I last posted in this thread I'd only seen the first couple of series of Futurama, now I've seen them all I think it is a lot better than the Simpsons, which I hardly bother to watch these days.

[Reply #72 on:]

I always find it odd that later seasons are considerd not as funny just because there are more emotinonal ones to be honest production season 3 and 4 were Funnier than 1 and 2 and had more emotional depth.
And I find the emotion in S1 and some of s2 detracts from the humour more so then latter seasons and it isn't very well written and feels a little forced and doesn't really make the characters very empthiable.

[Reply #73 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
Agreed at least that "Devil's Hands" is really funny.  If people can't see what genius comedy writing the opera sequences were....I don't know...

"You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me angry!"

One of the best lines ever, on any show.

I'm going to have to say seasons 2-8 of the Simpsons are better than Futurama, but Futurama is beter than season 1, and seasons 9-15 of the Simpsons. Funny thing is, at this point if you average out the quality of the all episodes for both shows, Futurama would probably win. Still, I'm gonna vote for liking both about the same.

[Reply #74 on:]

Heh, yeah, one of my favorite Futurama lines (that Robot Devil line).

A friend of mine once commented that he'd gladly wear a Robot Devil t-shirt....he must have fans.

[Reply #75 on:]

I'd also like to agree that Devil's Hands is as funny as the next episode (There wasn't one but you know what I mean.)

I think I'd actually take season 1 of Simpsons over season 1 of Futurama and possibly season 9 and 15 as well.

[Reply #76 on:]

I'd take the other way around. I say that S1 of Futurama is easily superior to season 1 of The Simpsons (though the general quality of the show shot up rapidly after that).

To clear things up for further readers, 'that show' is, in this case, The Simpsons. Cyperknight has distilled the post to it's essence.

Though it's disturbing me how often I need a translator... 

[Reply #77 on:]

 

Originally posted by SlackJawedMoron:
I'd take the other way around. I say that S1 of Futurama is easily superior to season 1 of The Simpsons (though the general quality of the show shot of rapidly after that).

You think that S1 is superior to S2 and S3? I could understand S4, but S2 and S3 were the highlights of Futurama.

[Reply #78 on:]

I think all he's saying is that directly comparing the first four Simpsons seasons to the four Futurama seasons:

Futurama 1 > Simpsons 1

But that Simpsons 2,3 and 4 are superior to Simpsons 1. No comment is made on the arranging of Futurama seasons. 

I'd agree with SJM : as good as Simpsons 1 is, it didn't find it's feet as quickly as Futurama, IMHO (which is to be expected, considering Futurama was created with several years of experience on The Simpsons).

[Reply #79 on:]

 

Originally posted by SlackJawedMoron:
At it's height, the Simpsons is absolutely untouchable. The constant repeats on local TV won't let me forget it. I completely fogot about this awesome line on a recently shown (old) ep:

Flanders: Now, who should lead the group?
     Man: You!
Everyone: Yay!  Flanders!  Flanders!  Flanders!
Flanders: I don't really have very much experience, but I'll --
     Moe: Someone else!
Everyone: Yay!  Someone else!  Someone else!  Someone else!
   Homer: I'm someone else.
   Lenny: He's right!

   

Futurama got close, but was never as consitantly awesome as the Simpons used to be. I would, however, take the 4 production seasons of Futurama over the last 5 production seasons of the Simpons any day of the week.

Alas, Futurama also got a few shoddy eps that broke up its glory run. And as far as I'm concerned, the first 4 seasons of The Simpsons had NO shoddy eps. Simpsons Season 1 may not have been as hilarious as Futurama Season 1, but it was still very clever.

I don't know, I think that season 1 of The Simpsons was basically the same as season 1 of its sister show. Both seasons had one quality that made it a okay show, but lacked the thing that defined the show in later eras. For The Simpsons, the show had great storytelling from the start, but lacked the humor and the deep jokes that were found in the other Pre-Scully seasons. You can't really beat a line like


Lisa: Dad, you shot the Zombie Flanders!

Homer: He was a zombie?

This is the kind of jokes that brought the whole world to one program. Futurama, on the other had, had some good jokes from the start, but lacked the nerdy ones that made the show a hit for us(Or rather, the consistency of the jokes). For Futurama standards, you can't really beat a joke like

Leela: At night, [Pluto] can get to 23 degrees below absolute zero!

Come on, admit it, you like watching Futurama cause it makes you feel that you're more intellegent than those other couch potatoes!