At Long Last Leave! - The Simpsons

[Reply #480 on:]

FOX picked up The Simpsons for a 26th Season.

Just, why?

Please tell me you're lying...

Nope, he's not lying.

Well, I guess we all knew this would happen. The Simpsons will outlive us all.

[Reply #481 on:]

Due to the show being on the air so long, they've amassed about 7 or 8 holdover episodes by now, that means that they're pretty much guaranteed an extra season beyond any new season orders they get - unless they only get an order for 13 or so new episodes, in which case, they'll be planning that as the last season.

But if they did that, I imagine that Fox would announce that they were commissioning it as the final season of the show.

A show as huge as The Simpsons would definitely be given enough notice to create a proper final episode, too. The ratings, alone, would be enough to convince Fox of that.

[Reply #482 on:]

Yeah, I can definitely see there being a proper finale. Fox ordered a few additional episodes of King of the Hill after canceling it for the same reason.

I can also see Fox ordering less episodes in the final season since there are always so many holdovers, but since that wasn't reported this time around, I doubt that it will be the case.

[Reply #483 on:]

According to EW, the total ordered episode order now is 574, meaning Fox only ordered 15 new episodes, which combined with the holdover episodes will make a 22 episode Season for Season 26. Could this be the end? Eh, I honestly couldn't give a crap either way at this point.

[Reply #484 on:]

Really? Boy, I hope so. This show deserves to be put out of its misery.

[Reply #485 on:]

Although the show seriously needs to end, It'll be pretty saddening to find out that the show is officially over. It's been around for such a long time that it'll be hard to finally say goodbye to it.

[Reply #486 on:]

The only reason that I'm going to be sad when the show ends is that, currently, the show has been alive longer than I have - and I've got a pretty good gut feeling that I'm going to live longer than it.

Once it's gone, I could drop dead, any day.


Also, that really sounds like it might actually be the end, this time around - although, it's completely possible that EW just made an assumption on the number of episodes based on each season consisting of 22 episodes, nowadays, or, it could just be that Fox want to catch up on holdover episodes and they'll revert back to 22 episode orders for future seasons.

Season 26 brings the show up to its 25th anniversary, so it's possible that they just wanted to hit that milestone, then call it a day. But if this was being planned as the last season, I think they would have announced it along with the order of season 26.

Either way, unless the cast dies before they get the chance, I think they're likely to go straight into production on a new movie once the show finally is cancelled.

[Reply #487 on:]

By the way, I'd just like to clarify that when I said The Simpsons will outlive us all I was exaggerating. I hope.

Anyway, I think that reaching 25 years on the air would be a great time for the show to finally end. I don't think that any other animated series has reach that milestone. The producers currently want to keep the show going until at least Season 30, but I don't think that's necessary at all. They've already had a longer run than any other animated sitcom (I think).

[Reply #488 on:]

Season 30 would be seriously pushing it. I doubt any network, even the mentally challenged FOX, would ever keep a show alive for that long.

[Reply #489 on:]

I doubt that Fox will renew The Simpsons through Season 30. But then again, they are Fox, so…

But seriously, I highly doubt that they'll last that long.

[Reply #490 on:]

The only reason that I'm going to be sad when the show ends is that, currently, the show has been alive longer than I have - and I've got a pretty good gut feeling that I'm going to live longer than it.

Haha, I turn the same age as whatever season the show enters on that year (ie. I'll be 25 by the end of this year, they've just started season 25). Makes it very easy for me to keep track of The Simpsons.

[Reply #491 on:]

The Simpsons is about 3 months older than me, so I'm 1 year behind whatever number season it is. It's also made keeping track of what came where pretty easy (especially the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes which are also 1 behind the number of the season).

[Reply #492 on:]

So, is anyone else watching THOH XXIV? So far, it's the only Season 25 episode I plan on watching....

[Reply #493 on:]

So, is anyone else watching THOH XXIV? So far, it's the only Season 25 episode I plan on watching....

I'll be watching it, mostly because that intro was so cool. Hopefully the rest of the episode hold up to the intro's standard.

[Reply #494 on:]

I'll be watching it, mostly because that intro was so cool.

Same here. The intro looks awesome.

Hopefully the rest of the episode hold up to the intro's standard.

I hope so too. As far as I can remember, most of the modern THOHs are okay (and better than most of the canon episodes). Then again, I think the most recent one I've seen is XXI (Season 22), but I vaguely remember that being a decent episode.

[Reply #495 on:]

The rest of the episode won't be to that standard. I haven't seen the intro yet because I'm saving it until I watch the episode, but if it is cool, I can guarantee that it's down to Guillermo Del Toro directing it.

He didn't have any other input on the regular segments for the episode, so they'll just be usual modern Simpsons fodder.

[Reply #496 on:]

yeah, the couch gag seems like the only creative part of the show anymore

[Reply #497 on:]

It speaks worlds about the quality of this show when the couch gag is consistently the highlight of most current episodes.

[Reply #498 on:]

I remember either last season or the one before it one of the promos said "stay tuned for an all new simpsons, but first an all new couch gag" so it sounded like they were treating them as separate entities

[Reply #499 on:]

Wait, are you talking about the Robot Chicken couch gag? For some reason, when you said that, that's the gag I thought of.

[Reply #500 on:]

I'm just glad that this show is back up to the quality of golden era simpsons again.

[Reply #501 on:]

The couch gags are consistent highlights these days because they get so many guests in to make them; and they seem to give them a lot more creative freedom on the couch gags than they'd have if they were writing an episode.

I think they could genuinely produce some good stuff if they started hiring guest writers and directors more frequently - and not re-writing the scripts to hell, to make them fit with the other episodes.

"Homer the Whopper" was one of the better episodes of recent years, and that was largely down to Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg injecting a tiny bit of freshness into the jokes in the script.
I really wish that they'd try getting some guest directors in. They probably wouldn't be able to afford people like Guillermo Del Toro for an entire episode, and their schedules would probably be too full to do an episode of The Simpsons, but I'm sure they could get some slightly less famous talent. Imagine if Rian Johnson directed an episode or Michel Gondry.

[Reply #502 on:]

What other things has this Guillermo Del Toro guy worked on?

[Reply #503 on:]

Some stuff I think possibly.  At least the show is fresh and excellent.  I almost feel like I'm in the early 1990s again.  If the Simpsons are this good at 25, I'd love if they went for another 25 years!

[Reply #504 on:]

What other things has this Guillermo Del Toro guy worked on?

He wrote and directed the utterly phenomenal film Pan's Labyrinth and this year's pretty good blockbuster Pacific Rim.

He also wrote and directed, Hellboy, Hellboy II, The Devil's Backbone and Cronos.

He produces loads and loads of horror films - including the great The Orphanage. He's also started producing bits of Dreamworks animation such as Puss in Boots.

And he's famous for having lots of hugely exciting projects in development. He was developing an incredible sounding adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountain of Madness that, sadly, couldn't find funding. He's developing various retellings of classics like Frankenstein and Pinocchio. He was originally going to direct The Hobbit trilogy, back when it was still going to be 2 films, but dropped out because of legal issues holding the film up. He's still credited as one of the writers.

And he's done some other stuff.

He's basically a really good director.

[Reply #505 on:]

4/10

Well, I decided to watch THOH, and, well...it was horrible.

I didn't like the first segment at all. I lost interest in it relatively fast.

The second segment was okay until the end; they carried out the "head-attached-to-someone else's-body" thing too long, if you ask me. And was anyone else reminded of "Put Your Head on My Shoulders"?

I disliked the third segment just as much as the first. And the abrupt How I Met Your Mother reference at the end just made me dislike the segment even more. I don't have anything against HIMYM; it's just the random references that bothered me.

And honestly, I kind of think I'm being a little generous by giving the episode a 4/10. I was going to give it a 3/10, but decided to bump it up a point because of the opening.

[Reply #506 on:]

The second segment was okay until the end; they carried out the "head-attached-to-someone else's-body" thing too long, if you ask me. And was anyone else reminded of "Put Your Head on My Shoulders"?

Didn't The Simpsons do the "head-attached-to-someone else's-body" thing way back in Treehouse of Horror II?

[Reply #507 on:]

Great......... now the Simpsons is ripping off itself......

[Reply #508 on:]

"Now?"

[Reply #509 on:]

Pretty much the definition of a mixed bag. The opening was absolutely fantastic, on par with classic Treehouse of Horror standards. The first segment, had alot of really funny jokes (the Mike Meyers and Lorax jokes were amazing), good animation, and even decent rhyming. But then, we get the 2nd and 3rd segments which were just rushed messes. The head segment was just felt like a rushed collection of scenes, barely even using the idea of Bart being on Lisa's body, or even that entire rushed idea of how they control their body. Really mediocre stuff. As for the Freak show segment, it started off decent with Mr. Burns showing off the cool freak designs, and even the Moe plot was somewhat interesting, but then it just quickly petered out and ended with a really weak HIMYM joke, which doesn't even make sense since Moe was married to Marge and they were set in the 30's. Overall, started off as one of the best THOH's I've seen in years, ended like some of the worst. Overall: 6/10.

[Reply #510 on:]

It was pretty good by modern Simpsons standards. But it still sucked.

The opening was great and the best thing that the show has done in years.

The following segments all sucked, but they had a handful of decent jokes mixed in there which is more than I could say about an episode in a long, long while.

Also, the final segment lifted two jokes straight out of Futurama. Moe's "Of all the kisses I've had, that was the first" line and the freak with the big ears overhearing a secret and telling the freak with the big mouth.

[Reply #511 on:]

They're both pretty basic jokes, it's quite possible they didn't even realise it.

[Reply #512 on:]

It's written by Jeff Westbrook, who seems to have written couple Futurama epsiodes as well, but it probably wasn't intentional.

Other than the opening sequence, THOH XXIV wasn't anything special. First segment was very interesting, although I have no idea what it was referencing to.

[Reply #513 on:]

I finally saw the halloween episode in full. I actually really, really enjoyed it. The intro was fucking incredible, and obviously the clear stand-out of the show, though I thought the first two acts were well above present-day Simpsons standards and I actually laughed quite a bit at them. Act three was a bit disappointing, though.

Regardless, I was actually pleasantly surprised by it.

(I've still yet to see Homerland beyond the first few minutes as my girlfriend wanted to watch it with me; I think we're gonna put it on the backburner and watch it as a lead-in to when we start season 3 of Homeland. )

[Reply #514 on:]

I have no idea what it was referencing to.

The works of Dr. Seuss.

Did you not have a childhood?

[Reply #515 on:]

He had a quantum upbringing. Until you measure his age, his childhood both did AND didn't happen.

[Reply #516 on:]

He had a quantum upbringing. Until you measure his age, his childhood both did AND didn't happen.

Yes and it just happens to be that my childhood is more likely not to exist in a state with interaction of virtual Dr. Seuss bosons.

[Reply #517 on:]

QNF is probably the first person I've ever met that never read a Dr. Seuss book as a kid.

Concerning the THOH, it sucked. Less than homerland, but it still sucked. In the first segment, I liked the animation, and homer being called Fat in the Hat, but that's about it. I stopped watching during the second segment, it just bored me so badly thatI lost interest and wanted to do something else.

[Reply #518 on:]

Didn't The Simpsons do the "head-attached-to-someone else's-body" thing way back in Treehouse of Horror II?

I don't think so, but they might have. It's been a while since I last watched Season 3.

[Reply #519 on:]

The second segment was okay until the end; they carried out the "head-attached-to-someone else's-body" thing too long, if you ask me. And was anyone else reminded of "Put Your Head on My Shoulders"?

Didn't The Simpsons do the "head-attached-to-someone else's-body" thing way back in Treehouse of Horror II?

They did, but only as a gag for the end of Homer's Nightmare and the closer, not for an entire segment.