Other people's reasons for not liking Futurama

[Reply #80 on:]

* Disclaimer: I'm not trying to dis on any Lady Gaga, Kei$ha, and Steig Larson fans. Not trying to dis is my whole point. But I do think corporate restaurant chains should be microwaved to charred bits, which would be very apro pros.

I have no idea who Lady Gaga, Kei$sha or Steig Larson are, but I hope you realise all corporate chains start out as small businesses and then grow through prosperity. Where do you draw the line as to stop the development of one's success?

[Reply #81 on:]

People who dislike the show are not necessarily stupid or unsophisticated or anything like that. They just have not formed a positive opinion of the show due to some reason or combination of reasons. Some people haven't really watched the show with an open mind, maybe because they are indeed prejudiced against cartoons being entertainment for mature audiences. Maybe some of them just don't have an open mind to anything fantasy or sci-fi.  Some people just don't find the premise interesting. After all, a traditional sitcom is more based in real life as it centers on the family unit, which is more relevant to many viewers' experience of life. Which leads nicely to my next paragraph.

I once read an article about why The Office continued to succeed after Steve Carrell's departure, and I felt it was spot on: it's because his character was a major part of the show but he was NOT the everyman, the person the audience can relate to. That part was John Krasinski's character Jim and to a degree Jenna Fischer's character Pam. They were the characters people liked, wanted to see succeed, and related to, and they were in large part why so many people kept coming back. The other characters were entertaining but not empathetic. Lots of people need to feel some kind of connection to the characters to really become engaged. And guess what? Futurama doesn't necessarily have that for everyone. For one thing it's animated. And the closest thing to an everyman is Fry, who is a complete moron. There's no family unit to relate to because the PE crew isn't a family. They live in a craaazy futuristic world which we obviously enjoy but which makes the show less realistic to those who are already having trouble connecting themselves to the Futurama universe.

And of course, there's poor taste. Some people would just rather watch Jersey Shore. And of course, there are certainly people out there who consider Futurama to be in poor taste, what with the rudeness, profanity, casual sex, lack of moral lessons, etc.

This is the part of the post where I stop typing and

     I can disagree and agree there, I agree that some of the characters might be hard to connect with, but some if the situations you can connect with. For instance, Fry and Leela's relationship, it's complicated, some people could connect with that. All I'm saying is I agree with you but the show does have areas where the audience can connect.

[Reply #82 on:]

Clearly there are many people who enjoy the show. I'm just saying it's not what everyone is interested in or feels a connection to.

[Reply #83 on:]

Clearly there are many people who enjoy the show. I'm just saying it's not what everyone is interested in or feels a connection to.

True, I think we both had some pretty good points.

[Reply #84 on:]

* Disclaimer: I'm not trying to dis on any Lady Gaga, Kei$ha, and Steig Larson fans. Not trying to dis is my whole point. But I do think corporate restaurant chains should be microwaved to charred bits, which would be very apro pros.

I have no idea who Lady Gaga, Kei$sha or Steig Larson are, but I hope you realise all corporate chains start out as small businesses and then grow through prosperity. Where do you draw the line as to stop the development of one's success?

Oh, really? Bubba Gump Shrimp Company started out as an independent, created by hardworking mom and pop types with backing from their relatives Viacom and Paramount Pictures? Outback Steakhouse? Sizzler? I do appreciate your point that some corporate chains start out as small operations, then grow larger, but to say that all do--that's not true.

Whatever their humble origins, places like Chili's, Applebee's, and McDonald's deliver pretty mediocre food--sorry if that offends anyone who likes the food from any of those restaurants. My husband is a health inspector--he has inspected locations of all three of those franchises and tons more, and he can attest that they use pre-packaged food, per corporate guidelines. Of course, they've got to use fresh veggies in the meals somehow, but most of these chains hardly cook from scratch.

It's weird to re-read what three-years-ago-me said. If I hadn't said it yet: it hardly matters to me whether other people dislike Futurama. To each his own. Personal taste is a mysterious, illogical thing. Perhaps someone likes programs like The Bachelor because she was born during the summer solstice with Venus rising and her mother had bad indigestion from a chili cheese dog.

[Reply #85 on:]

Nobody dines at a fast food place because they're hoping for a great meal. They're there because they want... well, fast food. I would like to think most well-informed consumers know what they're in for, at least as far as the quality is concerned. And even the largest corporate chain had to start somewhere, but I'm getting pretty off-topic here and this is all besides the point. All I'm saying is, they serve their purpose, and if they were to all "be microwaved to charred bits," you and I both know something similar would just take their place. It just seemed like a harsh reaction to something that nobody is holding in all that high regard to begin with.

On the other hand, in terms of personal entertainment, I never quite understood why people went for mediocre shit (at least, in my former example, issues like time/money factored in and served as a perfectly good explanation). The creative arts have brought us thousands upon hours of material for potential enjoyment - I'm sure as hell not going to get around to all of it before I die, so what little of it I do wind up catching, I wanna make sure it has some level of merit and acclaim to warrant its existence. Why anyone would intentionally waste any of their precious time absorbing mind-numbing crap is beyond me, especially when we're in the golden age of tv, where television has practically surpassed cinema (at least in some aspects) as far as accomplishments in the medium and creative ingenuity are concerned. I find it much harder these days to find a good recent film than I do a good recent tv show.

[Reply #86 on:]

All I'm saying is, they serve their purpose, and if they were to all "be microwaved to charred bits," you and I both know something similar would just take their place. It just seemed like a harsh reaction to something that nobody is holding in all that high regard to begin with.

Where I live, people are waiting outside the door or in their cars in the parking lot before 11 AM, when Chili's opens. Because people love it. That's not a fast food establishment--it's a sit down, dining restaurant where servers take your order and etc, and it takes some degree of time for your food to come out. I live in a major city, so it's not like there's a dearth of choices around here.

Anyway, as you say, this is all besides the point. My original point was, there's just no accounting for personal taste.

[Reply #87 on:]

Where I live, people are waiting outside the door or in their cars in the parking lot before 11 AM, when Chili's opens. Because people love it. That's not a fast food establishment--it's a sit down, dining restaurant where servers take your order and etc, and it takes some degree of time for your food to come out. I live in a major city, so it's not like there's a dearth of choices around here.

Ah, I see... I wasn't really familiar with Chili's or any of the other examples, I just assumed it was entirely a list of takeaway places since they were grouped in with McDonalds. That's a little depressing. 

[Reply #88 on:]

A lot of companies start off huge from the beginning, but that's still factoring in that their parent companies in most cases did not start that way. (Also, a lot of companies that start relatively small suddenly become huge very quickly once they're absorbed by bigger companies that buy them out, or when they otherwise acquire corporate backing.) Yeah, Viacom can start a film studio or restaurant chain if they want to, and have that be a larger venture from the start, but somewhere in the big chain of events that led to that (which isn't necessarily the start of Viacom itself), someone started small. I'm probably the least libertarian person I know as far as economic policy and business and all that, but that is still basic economics/business 101 I think. A large company that gets started by either a larger one or a rich individual is still the result of some longer chain of events that started with someone just starting from scratch.

As for chains and stuff...a lot of it is just familiarity. Chili's may not be great food, but it's familiar and people know what they're getting. Perhaps they grew up going to eat there when they were kids and it provides a nostalgic feeling even they're unaware of (there is some study of this with McDonald's in particular, which intentionally uses the toys in Happy Meals to entice kids when they're young and create lifelong consumers). Plus, going to the local restaurant down the block can be risky if you don't know whether it's any good...why go there when you already know what you're getting with Chili's, and exactly how much you'll enjoy it? Even with that such thing, I sort of refuse to believe that it's purely because people are unsophisticated or anything of that nature. It's more just human nature, and something everyone does in some way or another. Someone whose spouse works as a health inspector and thus knows the nitty gritty of restaurant chains might have a different perspective, but then that merely means they're consistent with another truism, which is that human beings tend to pick the areas where they actively choose to delve deeper and make "better" or different choices from others, while not doing that in a myriad of other areas. One only has so much energy to expend on either bettering themselves or just picking more interesting things to do with their time, and therefore, everyone picks their poisons, figuratively and literally.

[Reply #89 on:]

Futurama is a sci-fi show. As we noticed, sci-fi shows nowadays don't last for a long time. I do accept the fact that the reason other people dislike it is because they don't get the jokes.

I just hope they'll understand that Futurama is a sci-fi comedy with a lot of heart.

[Reply #90 on:]

 Yeah, I don't think people realize how much their missing out on when they don't bother watching Futurama. It really does have a lot of heart as it does humor and sci-fi.

[Reply #91 on:]

Yes, the people that don't like any Sci-Fi at all, would not get many of the jokes and references in Futurama. I suspect a few I may have missed, just because I had not
read a certain sci-fi book/story, or watched a certain sci-fi film or TV series a lot.
Example:
(Just noticed that Project Satan, the Were Car from 'The Honking', looks exactly
like a car in an epsiode of the original Ultraman TV series, recently watched...)

My brothers like The Simpsons a lot, but as they're not big into ANY
sci-fi books, or sci-fi movies & TV, they won't watch a show like Futurama...

Main reason people don't like Futurama?

THEY AIN'T COOL ENOUGH TO WATCH SUCH AN INCREDIBLY COOL SHOW, BABY!  

[Reply #92 on:]

 THEY AINT FROM DA HOOD YO!

And they just aren't as awesome as I am. 

[Reply #93 on:]

Maybe because they don't understand the jokes. Sometimes, my little sister and I are laughing our heads off while watching Futurama and my older sister and mom just stare at the screen blankly, not getting any of the entertaining things. I guess some people have a different definition of funny than us Futurama fans.

[Reply #94 on:]

Andromeda, some of the part has to do with the sci-fi/math references and jokes.
Some people just don't get them, some do.

I would say POB suits both sides, those who love sci-fi and math and those who would just watch it for comedy.