Simpsons has gone on long enough

[Reply #200 on:]

It was even surreal before that though.  "Crepes of Wrath" anyone?

[Reply #201 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
It was even surreal before that though.  "Crepes of Wrath" anyone?

That was out of the ordinary, but not as surreal as the devil appearing in "Marge vs. Singles, Teenagers, Gays, etc.".

[Reply #202 on:]

It had a donkey wearing a fucking hat, and a 9 year old international spy. It's not as surreal as the devil thing, but the argument here was that the Simpsons had always been surreal. The newer episodes are also funnier than season 1 which was fairly dry at points.

[Reply #203 on:]

The 9 year old spy is surrealer than the devil thing, and importantly it takes up a whole plot its not a 2 second joke.

You want something thats definatley more surreal than the devil, what about "Homer at the Bat"
Ozzie Smith, Who today would be considerd (along with the 8 other's) a "Stupid guest star only brought in to increase ratings"  is tricked into walking into some inter-dimensional pit, as he's falling we see the words E=mc2 fly by.
again this is an actual plot point unlike the devil appearing MvsSSCCT&G.

[Reply #204 on:]

I always thought that Maggie being cared for by bears and the entire town not recognizing Homer as human was pretty surreal...

[Reply #205 on:]

They've been surreal since day one, yellow skin...

[Reply #206 on:]

And let's not forget the "Making Faces" Ullman short, which was just downright scary.

[Reply #207 on:]

Let's not forget that the God has affected things in the Simpsons universe before, Saving Ned's house from catching on fire, Melting all the snow
in mr Plow, and I belive in a Star is burns in ned's film he saves' rod and delivers an oaley-dokley remark back at flanders, these things being in season 4 and 6. of course.

Oh and hang on a second.
I was going to argue that God cleary exsists in the Simpsons universe so logically the devil should as well.
But I don't even need to do that, because when Bart Dies in Bart gets hit by a car he's chucked into hell after getting kicked out of heaven. and he talks to the devil briefly. this being in season 2, So I can guess you can blame Brooks, Groening and Simon for allowing too much wackiness in the show, they should never have hired Swartzwelder.

[Reply #208 on:]

The main difference between the wackiness in the past and the current level of wackiness is that today it's mostly used as an excuse for not having a plot.

[Reply #209 on:]

In Scully's years, sure.  Now, no.

And "Marge vs. the Monorail" sure had a great plot.....yeah.....

To me the only real difference between season 15 wackiness and season 5 wackiness (other then that season 5 episodes were often actually less likely to have a real plot) is just that the jokes centered around them are more hit and miss then back then.  Not bad, but more hit and miss.  They don't handle it as well as they used to in terms of joke quality.  Plots themselves are also more hit and miss then in most classic era seasons, but that's unrelated to the wackiness itself.

[Reply #210 on:]

Personally, I think that the show has been sliding for a couple years now, but I can't really pinpoint a cause for it.  When I try to analyze the problems of the later seasons, I find that many of the episodes have the same elements that made the older ones great.  My only guess is that the show has simply been around far too long, and we've all become bored by it.  Oh yes, and most of the good writing staff has left for other projects by now.

[Reply #211 on:]

That's been my main argument against the show. It's just so damn old. Wouldn't be such a big deal if the writers weren't trying to get it back to the way it was in seasons 3-8 rather than trying something new with the characters more often.

[Reply #212 on:]

Any news about these movies then?

[Reply #213 on:]

None whatsoever.  I don't think we'll hear about them for a while yet, honestly.  They've been keeping the secret pretty well (back in February when Reiss broke the news, he admitted even his wife didn't know the plot).

[Reply #214 on:]

Isn't it just a beautiful show of trust.

[Reply #215 on:]

'Hey honey, what would you say if I told you I was making a movie that will be even better then what me and the guys do at work?...honey? crap, she's left me again.'

[Reply #216 on:]

Personally i dont think the show needs to end. It has just got pretty shit over the last couple of seasons. They just need to sort it out, they just need to have an actual narrative to the story, some of them are terrible. Its not that the jokes etc. arnt funny its the way the story is told that makes it funny. The characters are all really dead and shallow. i wouldnt care if anyone of them died in an episode now. They have meaningless dialogue and the formulae for the story seems to be tell a joke, have a long pause to wait for the laughter they dont get and then stupid physical humour which even my 4 year old nephew thinks are tired samey crap. The characters make too many references to the simpsons as a show, like 'well things normally happen like this, im sure things will be better next week'. Its just a mess that could be so easily sorted. and for god sakes dont say at the end of the show 'sorry that was crap but were trying hard to make it good, honest' like ive seen a couple of times and please for the love of god stop having stupid celebrity parts. If they cant use them for anything other than 'wow look dad its [BLANK] for no reason' grrr. Makes me want to spasm with disgust, im off to kick the shit out of my cat.

[Reply #217 on:]

....what?

All I understood was blank and the need to abuse an innocent animal.

[Reply #218 on:]

 

Originally posted by Otis P Jivefunk:
They've been surreal since day one, yellow skin...

You know... for as long as I remember I never actually took into account that their skin was yellow.  Like in my mind it just seemed normal they were that color or something, and then one day someone said they were yellow and I was like.... yeah come to think of it, they are.  I still get sucked in and don't notice that they're yellow as I watch, but then I think about it for a second and the faze wears off.... 

[Reply #219 on:]

 

Originally posted by SwanMan3000:
 It has just got pretty shit over the last couple of seasons.

Yeah its the last couple of seasons, its always the last couple of season in 4 years time it'll be the last couple of seasons.

I'm so sick of the statement I can forgive this if your in a country thats about 5 years behind but otherwise No just No.

[Reply #220 on:]

I remember Tibor at the NHC once came up with an actual formula describing how the "last two or three seasons have been the worst" posters always state their "position".  It was both hilarious and suprisingly accurate.  I should dig that up sometime.

[Reply #221 on:]

Let me tell you why I'm sour on the Simpsons, Leelaholic and DoTheBartman: The first first-run ep. of the show I saw in a loooong time (since "Behind the Laughter" ) was "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays". It was a super-sloppy episode and had cute cartoon babies being thrown off a helicoptor and had Milhouse crying. The last 2 eps. of the 15th season sucked badly. "The Bart-Mangled Banner" was horrible, it's only saving grace (if any) was appearances by Chalmers, Janey, etc. "Fraudcast News" was quite a bit better, as it had a great Futurama ref. (I really hope with all my heart you're making the trilogy, Matt and David....) and an I&S cartoon, but it also had surreal gags like horses with snake tongues, Burns with a lizard tongue, etc. Plus the whole plot of Burns buying up all the media outlets in Springfield brought back bad memories of the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie.

[Reply #222 on:]

Surreal gags....like martians joining secret underground organizations that apparently control (among other things)the metric system and the oscars? Milhouse crying....like in season three where its insuated that he's such a crybaby that he'll cry if he's doing long division and has a remainder left over?

I don't even remember much about the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie personally, but that's hardly a fair argument IMO.  Episodes like "The Telltale Head" or "Lisa's Pony" could probably call to mind shitty 50's-80's sitcoms for me, but I still enjoy them.  "The Fantastic Voyage" is a terrible movie, and I still like "Parasites Lost".

The rest....can't really argue simply because humor is subjective.  But you still haven't really refuted anything I've said or offered much explanation beyond the usual talking points/catch phrases that the "last two or three seasons have been the worst" crowd has been using since around season five.

[Reply #223 on:]

Yeah I had tibor in mind when I posted that. its not as good as his analysis of KTAAR proving its deserving of an A+ rather than a F.

[Reply #224 on:]

He certainly convinced me. (I've been browsing those boards ever since you lot started talking about it here... Incidently, the new TOH looks terrible.)

[Reply #225 on:]

I agree with the fact that the simpsons are faaaaaaaar worse than they use to be.It would make people very angry if it stopped so it would be better not to.But there are no more classic episodes coming out anymore!

[Reply #226 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
Surreal gags....like martians joining secret underground organizations that apparently control (among other things)the metric system and the oscars?

I haven't seen the Stonecutters ep. in a long time, but I think it may have been bad. I mean Hitler was alive (which contradicts the Hitler's head in Duff brewery gag) and was pals with the Springfieldians, which makes them all Nazis in my book. (Sorry if I offended anyone).

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:

I don't even remember much about the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie personally, but that's hardly a fair argument IMO.  Episodes like "The Telltale Head" or "Lisa's Pony" could probably call to mind shitty 50's-80's sitcoms for me, but I still enjoy them.  "The Fantastic Voyage" is a terrible movie, and I still like "Parasites Lost".

But FN reminded me of the R&B movie in a BAD way. FN is as unrealistic as the R&B movie, whereas PL is funnier than FV.

[Reply #227 on:]

Hitler wasn't in "Homer the Great" at any point, from what I remember.  I don't think he's ever been shown alive on the show (aside from flashbacks like in "Rosebud" ).

And the Rocky and Bullwinkle thing...I still don't really get what you're saying.  I haven't seen that movie in a long time (its not exactly a great movie) but there's really no comparison.  One is a cheesy live action version of an old cartoon, the other is a legitimate social satire of a key issue.  They weren't ripping off the plot of a bad movie or trying to allude to it in any way.  They were taking on a big issue of today.  I also don't see how it was any more unrealistic then plenty of past similar satires like "Sideshow Bob Roberts", "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", etc.

[Reply #228 on:]

Hitler was in the episode with Whacking Day and Barry White. He appeared in Grandpa's flashback.

[Reply #229 on:]

Yeah, and others like "Flying Hellfish" too.

Oddly, I think the Hitler jokes are written largely to annoy Matt Groening (apparently he just doesn't think Hitler jokes are funny, so the writers are always putting them in).

[Reply #230 on:]

AND in Bart vs Australia.

"Ach, der wagon phone is ein nuisence phone!"

"Heil mein Fuhrer!"

"Ja, ja."


It's too bad Matt doesn't like them. I love 'em!

[Reply #231 on:]

What, Matt's Jewish?

[Reply #232 on:]

Actually I think Matt might be german, but I'm not sure.  It may just be a general dislike toward jokes about brutal dictators who murdered millions of people.  Although he seems like Nixon jokes...

[Reply #233 on:]

But Germans channel there hate towards Hitler by taking the piss out of little megolomaniac. 

[Reply #234 on:]

Matt's Russian, listen to the commentary for "Simspsons roasting on aopen fire".

[Reply #235 on:]

Really? I didn't know that. Groening's Russian?

[Reply #236 on:]

 

Originally posted by iliketowankalot:
*Maude Flanders returns cos the last few seasons were just a dream of Flanders*

That Is actually A really good Idea.

[Reply #237 on:]

A good idea would have been to leave Maude alone, and kill off Lindsey Naegle instead...

[Reply #238 on:]

 

Originally posted by John Pannozzi:
Matt's Russian, listen to the commentary for "Simspsons roasting on open fire".

Why does his IMDB page say his birhtplace is Portland Oregon then?

Wait a minute you're not John Panozzi at all!! It's a mask!!! 
*pulls at Johns face*

Oh, well his wrinkly skin made it look like a mask...

[Reply #239 on:]

I thought Russians hated Hitler so much, they'd do anything to inflict pain and hate apon his former being. Nothing is more cruel then being mocked on a cartoon 50 years after you died.