Fox bashing

[on:]

I know this is a known phenomena, and I know I'm coming in the back door watching this on Cartoon Network, but anyway...

I found it amusing that last night, in Futurestock as we view the establishing shot of the orbital stock market you can see "FOX -61" on the ticker right before it said "prevent market crashes by driving safely" (or similar)

Also, same epi.  In the "support group" there was a fella who said "When I was frozen giant carrots ruled the Earth..."  wasn't that a line from Woody Allen's "Sleeper"?

[Reply #1 on:]

Bashing FOX is almost a tradition.

Technician: "You knocked FOX of the air!"
Fry: "Like anyone on earth cares."

 - When Aliens attack

[Reply #2 on:]

"We're practically old enough to find the FOX network infantile!"

-Dwight, Age 12 - Route Of All Evil

And they do it in the Simpsons too 

[Reply #3 on:]

And they did it on "Married With Children". It's an old tradition: all shows big enough to have an impact on FOX must bash the network relentlessy. In fact that's why we love them (the shows, not FOX).

Remember the line from "Mars University" about Guenther becoming the new head of FOX? I'm sure Gail Berman was fuming with rage afterwards. 

[Reply #4 on:]

The part about Fox using those lights to cause plane crashes and then filming the results 

From the episode of the Simpsons "The Springfield Files": Homer"and if nobody believes us, we'll sell it to Fox", Bart"They'll believe any crap!"   

[Reply #5 on:]

Bart: It maybe on a crappy network, but the Simpsons are on TV.

[Reply #6 on:]

Guess no one here has seen "Sleeper" eh?

[Reply #7 on:]

Yorokobi : I did

I am still looking for an Orgasmatron on ebay

[Reply #8 on:]

HA!  Get two, I'll cover your investment!

But seriously, didn't Allen when asked about the time he came from say something about giant carrots ruling the Earth?

[Reply #9 on:]

I may not be too old, but unless he stole it from someone else, David Letterman may have invented bashing his own network.  He did it on NBC and now he does it on CBS

[Reply #10 on:]

Does anyone remembers what the tourist guide in "That's Lobstertainment" is saying about the 30th century FOX building?
Something like "they are blinding the pliots of planes with those big flash lights to show the crashs on tv" ...

[Reply #11 on:]

Yes. I do. Bender then took a picture and
then said "Neat.".

[Reply #12 on:]

The Network slogan is true-
"Watch Fox and be damned for all eternity!"

[Reply #13 on:]

So far I've seen FOX bashing on MWC, Futurama, The Simpsons and The Critic.

(A flaming homecoming float, featuring half a horse drive by)
Jay Sherman: "You're watching FOX. Give us 10 minutes, and we'll give you a flaming horse-ass."

[Reply #14 on:]

Have you seen internet Critic bashing FOX?

Jay Sherman: I've been kicked off of 3 different networks.
*cuts to large Skyscraper*
ABC
*cuts to circus pavillion tent*
Comedy Central
*cuts to an abandoned alley*
And FOX.

Ha ha ha. There's this sign made of carboard that says FOX on the old, abandoned building with 3 walls, then it falls off. Go to shockwave.com, then animation, then the critic. Watch the eps, its funny.

[Reply #15 on:]

"When Aliens Attack" has a lot of Fox bashing (and bashing of TV in general).  When Single Female Lawyer is interrupted, it's replaced by "eight animated shows in a row" (none of them Futurama, I guess).

[Reply #16 on:]

Technician: "You took FOX of the air!"
Fry: "Like anyone on earth cares..."

(Great, I repeated myself on the same page.)
------------------
vIta'pu'be

[Reply #17 on:]

Don't forget the whole take-off on Married With Children.
The episode A Bicyclops Built For Two when Leela (voiced by Katey Sagal aka Peg Bundy) met up with and married the alien imposter Alkezar (Al for short).
They even based his look on Ed O'Neill's portrayal of Al, Leela even wound up in her Peg garb.

-cs

[Reply #18 on:]

Welcome to PEEL, Chriswell! 

[Reply #19 on:]

Thanks, glad to be here.

-cs

[Reply #20 on:]

On a simpsons episode they refer to rupert murdoch as marges old hairdresser And then homer and rupert both struggle signing the contract.

[Reply #21 on:]

Hopefully 'Devils Hands' has some major Fox bashing in it, because Fox caused it to be the last ep.

[Reply #22 on:]

Is there any chance at all that matt could just sign to another network

[Reply #23 on:]

We need a Fox bashing smiley

[Reply #24 on:]

Hmm, now if only I coud find my little symbolic story.....damn.  Lost int he bowels of a disgarded thread somewhere.

[Reply #25 on:]

Bashing your own network is an old tradition. Carson made jokes about NBC moving the show from New York to Burbank. He probably wasn't even the first. SNL80 joked about NBC on a regular basis, although Letterman was probably the first one to do it on almost every episode of his show.

Making fun of the network on sitcoms (animated or otherwise) is a slightly newer phenomenon, but it's been part of Fox since the beginning--MWC, the Simpsons, even 90210.

It's probably easier to count Fox sitcoms that _didn't_ bash of Fox at some point than the other way around. If you restrict it to sitcoms that were on for at least one season, I think the list so far is: Duet. (Although when it became Open House, there were Fox jokes.) And Oliver Beene probably won't get any chance to make fun of the network....

I doubt sincerely that Fox has any problem with writers who bash the network. If anything, the marketing people probably love it--it provides a way for fans of doomed shows to maintain their loyalty to the show--and even transfer it to new Fox shows--despite hating Fox.

As for Mikey's question, the short answer is, No.

First, the traditional network wisdom is that you never let a show move to another network--especially a show that you own. The only recent exception I can think of is Sabrina, and that's a weird case in many ways (for example, the characters are owned by Harvey Comics, a cousin of WB). If Futurama had been owned by a syndicate, this would be a different story, but Fox owns Futurama.

Second, while the ratings may be record-breaking for a Sunday 7pm comedy, the numbers are pretty bad compared to shows in "real" timeslots (and no other network has a Sunday 7pm timeslot to fill). The show looks risky to any other network, and network execs don't like to take risks.

Also, no other network has been successful with animated shows (except kids' shows on Sunday morning). They don't know how to market them, for one. More importantly, most networks actually try to fit standard schedules, unlike Fox, and making animated shows fit those schedules is very difficult.

As for cable networks, the Futurama team already talked to Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Sci-Fi last year. They got the reruns on Cartoon Network, but after those negotiations, what did they do? They went back and made one final episode as a series finale, then everyone involved in Futurama went off and took other jobs.

In other words, it's over.

[Reply #26 on:]

well, seems the topic is FOX bashing, im pissed that they freakin took it off the air in the first place, but it is hilarious how they always bash it...

[Reply #27 on:]

uve all probly already said that but hey im new lol

[Reply #28 on:]

Welcome Fender Bender.... nice name