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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Simpsons: Ready to be put down?

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Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

09:53 / 01.02.02

First off, I love the Simpsons, and getting rid of this show would be like putting down a beloved pet. I would miss it for a while. But...lets be honest, the past few seasons have been less than golden, and shows like Futurama and Family Guy have surpassed it in humor. The plots are getting more bizzare each episode, and they've been reduced to killing off prominent characters. It's time to take it to the vet.

And hey, just in time. The first season is already out on DVD, and they're already at the fifth or sixth on VHS. Plus there's rumors of a full length movie (which, by god, there shouldn't be profanity in. It doesn't need profanity; it was brilliant without it).

gentleman loser

09:53 / 01.02.02

It's long overdue because the writers are clearly out of ideas. There's no plot anymore and Ian Maxtone Jerkoff killed the show a long time ago by making every episode a "Jerkass Homer" one.

Consider me bored. I'll be more than happy to administer the lethal injection.

[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: gentleman loser ]

09:53 / 01.02.02

I think it's still the only truly subversive American export...

09:53 / 01.02.02

Well again your ahead of us in the states and all I get now is the stuff on BBC2 but my dad did send down a tape of newer stuff it was still pretty good.. but I do agree they should stop before it becomes a joke and not in a good way....like you said its like a pet.. but they should let it go now, then at least they can repeat it and we can tell our kids how good it was...

I think its the show for our generation..

09:53 / 01.02.02

Put down? Maybe that's for the best. I think they could possibly go the route of King of the Hill and let everyone age. My favorite episodes have always been the ones that show possible futures for the Simpson clan. I think it'd be pretty nifty to watch Bart and Lisa go through middle school and the like. If they didn't want to give Maggie a voice they could make her a deaf-mute or something. They could end the series with the graduation of Lisa from high school or the death of Homer. I really don't want the Simpsons to end, its been the one thing thats always elicited at least chuckle every episode, but I can see that in its current incarnation its become stagnant.

Molly Shortcake

09:53 / 01.02.02

They should of canned it three years ago. Killing Maude Flanders, WTF?

Che Choi of EGM wonders if the current writers ever watched the show. 'Since when is Homer outwardly mean to Marge?'

It's still raking in the cash so dont expect it to fade away anytime soon.

Molly Shortcake

09:53 / 01.02.02

[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: Lord Rugal Ultimate ]

Matthew Fluxington

09:53 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh v4.2:
I think it's still the only truly subversive American export...

So does this mean that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart doesn't get aired in the UK?

09:53 / 01.02.02

Guessing not.

12:11 / 01.02.02

Acctually, the last two or three new episodes that I've seen were some of the best I've seen in sometime.

The recent episode where they all pull together as a family was great. Esspecially with the realization by the charecters that if they started working together as a family, they'd lose thier gag. The akward scene in the car was the first time in recenet memory where I can remember laughing out loud.

Give the series a little more time. Recent shows might just be a fluke, or the show might be getting a breath of fresh air. Let's give it untill the end of the season to see which.

12:13 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Flux = Sleeps w/ Electric Guitars:
So does this mean that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart doesn't get aired in the UK?

reruns of the Daily show really don't work. If it's older then two or three days a lot of it falls flat. At least to me.

When it's new though, it's deffinetly a great show.

The sundance kid

15:02 / 01.02.02

damn straight, johnny zen. i too love our yellow friends, and can probably recite seasons 3-7 verbatim, but this new shit is fucking ridiculous. remember "worst episode ever"? well it wasn't bad in that cool kitsch kinda way, IT REALLY SUCKED. i've noticed a trend though: when the simpsons were at their worst, at the beginning and (hopefully) end of the series, merchandising on the show went through the roof. homer cereal?! jesus christ! i also recall groening saying in an interview that "cartoon noises" would never be used in the show, unless it was for some specific reason(like in the treehouse of horror episode where bart is playing frisbee with santa's little helper, who stands up and talks), but plenty of the new episodes have all sorts of that crap. i know, iknow, this really belongs on the simpsons messageboard, but i was thrown off for talking shit about the new episodes. really. is this a free country or what?

15:42 / 01.02.02

What's wrong with merchandising? If a show is doing really well, you gotta milk it for all its worth. I bought some Homer cereal when it first came out. Unfortunately, I think my box was stale because the cereal was soft and didn't taste very good, unless it was intentionally made that way.

16:19 / 01.02.02

no.. the daily show doesnt get aired..

DAMNIT.. I LOVED THAT SHOW!!.. do they still do that Back In Black section on fridays?..

so damn good.

still, back to the simpsons.. i must say that the latest episodes that i've seen have been dire. to be honest i think it should be axed..

its not as if it hasnt had a long life, 12 years and counting .. right?

17:47 / 01.02.02

Yup longest running cartoon series ever, beat the Flintstones awhile back....they really should stop though if its as bad as people are saying.. stop the series and make the movie and leave it at that....its also the show thats had the most celebrity guests - just thought I'd throw that in

18:29 / 01.02.02

No Way...

just saw the Simpsons last week & it was like a laugh a second!!!

Would love for the Show to begin to Age... Watch Bart & lisa grow older...
Maggie as well...

I think it's far better than the Daily show which is consistantly ...only OK.

18:34 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Flux = Sleeps w/ Electric Guitars:

So does this mean that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart doesn't get aired in the UK?

No, we had The 11 O'clock Show, a clone of The Daily Show that included all the ingredients except the crucial one of being funny...

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

18:45 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by rory borealis:
...and can probably recite seasons 3-7 verbatim...

Yeah, me too. When a friend would bring up an episode, we wouldn't even have to finish the lines before we would all be laughing and preparring the next twenty or so in our heads. Those seasons are probably my favorite, although a few dynamite episodes came much later.

Yeah, the last one was pretty good (not gold, mind you), but too often the show falls flat for me. I just don't want it too end up a joke. I'd rather it took Seinfeld's route and leave everyone wanting more.

As far as merchandisng goes, I say let 'em milk it. Let Groening have all the money he wants, he's given me plenty of years of possibly the funniest show on American television.

19:43 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Johnny the Zen bastard:

I'd rather it took Seinfeld's route and leave everyone wanting more.

Except for the EXTREMELY lame final show. God that was aweful. Never was much of a Seinfeld fan, and that one episode, made me swear off any and all reruns.

A

10:22 / 04.02.02

I think that only about one out of three episodes are what i would call "good" these days, and this seems to have been the case for the last two or three seasons.

Sure, they still occasionally come up with some fantastic episodes, but they also come up with some unbelievably terrible ones, which often feature characters acting very much out-of-character, so as to advance some lame plot point.

And the famous guest-star thing has gotten a bit much. It seems like every week some b-list celebrity appears on the show for seemingly no good reason.

I'd like to see the Simpsons go out on top, so i think that perhaps it would be for the best if it were to finish within a season or two. I'm sure that, after the show finished, there would be specials and movies and all sorts of other stuff.

What i would like to see is some spin-offs from the Simpsons. who wouldn't want to watch The Hans Moleman Show, or The Adventures Of Bumblebee Man??

I remember that there was talk about five years ago of a live action Krusty The Klown show, starring Dan Castalanetta, who does the voices for Krusty and Homer and a bunch of others, this could have been good, but obviously it never happened.

I thought that Futurama was doing considerably better than the Simpsons, but for some reason only one season was screened in Australia. They're still making it, right?

10:31 / 04.02.02

I really worked at 'Futurama' but, for some reason, it never really hooked me. I'd still pick 'The Simpsons' every time whether or not It's Not As Funny As It Used To Be (copyright Viz).

10:39 / 04.02.02

Agreed. Futurama has all the right bits in the right places, and pushes all the right buttons, but it never seems to raise more than a wry smile, whereas The Simpsons still gives me full-on belly laughs.

I do think Leela is unusually attractive for a cyclopean alien, mind.

uncle retrospective

10:42 / 04.02.02

I bought the futurama dvd boxed set over the weekend and it's really good. That was one show that hit the ground running. While it takes a bit all the gags are there from the begining. Even if it took a while to get zap branagain as horrable as possable.

The sundance kid

20:36 / 04.02.02

getting back to the simpsons...
i hate to eat my words but... i brought this topic up to a friend and avid simpsons watcher this weekend. we usually react similarly to this show so his response surprised me. to paraphrase: you gotta remember, the entire existence of the simpsons is a joke. of course they're gonna run it into the ground, that's the whole point. if you look back into old episodes, they outright state that this is exactly what would happen. it doesn't make it right to produce shitty episodes, but they're fucking with us, the hardcore fans. groening & co. are sitting around right now laughing because THIS IS THE EXACT RESPONSE THEY WANTED!!!

--holy shit, i thought, he's right. leave it to a zappa fan to do something so....dastardly.

10:37 / 05.02.02

And if you play the theme tune backwards it cackles "I am the Lizard King, I can do anything" in Boxcar Willie's voice.

The Planet of Sound

10:44 / 05.02.02

"Last night, was, without doubt, the worst episode ever."

See you down the Android's Dungeon, Johnny... The Simpsons is the best thing to come out of America since waffles. Futurama, while funny and trippy, ain't near it yet. The Family Guy? Hah! A parody put together by the frat boys behind Airplane.

Familiarity breeds contempt? I hope it runs for another fifty years.

A

11:16 / 05.02.02

I hope that there's always the Simpsons in some form or another, but maybe it's time for it to move beyond the confines of a weekly half-hour show and explore bold new horizons, or something.

11:23 / 05.02.02

and explore bold new horizons, or something.

With all due respect, Count Adam, I do believe that The Simpsons has already explored bold new horizons. After all, I guest-starred on the show a few seasons back.

11:59 / 05.02.02

[ 05-02-2002: Message edited by: Vampbear ]

11:08 / 06.02.02

Before the current season started, I heard a rumor on the radio that one episode (as yet unaired) would revolve around Homer getting "addicted" to medical marijuana. Still waiting to see if they go through with this one. Just the idea is funny, if you ask me.

15:13 / 06.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Mnemosyne Idler:
Before the current season started, I heard a rumor on the radio that one episode (as yet unaired) would revolve around Homer getting "addicted" to medical marijuana. Still waiting to see if they go through with this one. Just the idea is funny, if you ask me.

from Phish.com

quote:
IT'S OFFICIAL: Phish To Appear On 'THE SIMPSONS' In Spring 2002
10.30.01
It was only a matter of time...We're happy to announce that Phish has a cameo in a scene in a Simpsons episode in the show's 13th season. In the episode (titled "Weekend at Bernsie's"), Homer enjoys the benefits of medical marijuana until it's legality is threatened by a referendum. In one scene, Phish plays a rally for the cause. The band members recorded their parts over the past couple months at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles. The exact airdate has not yet been set, but expect it to appear on the Fox network sometime between March and May of 2002.

I beleave the air date will be 4/7, or something like that.

15:18 / 06.02.02

quote:Originally posted by rory borealis:
you gotta remember, the entire existence of the simpsons is a joke. of course they're gonna run it into the ground, that's the whole point.

I've acctually had a similiar view of it. It just seems to fit that a show that has lampooned so many of the cliches of pop culture, will itself succumb to those same cliches. Hence the marketing, tired story lines, and it constantly being picked up season after season.

The show itself has turned into a comment on pop culture. I'm not sure if this is by design or not. But it does all seem to fit.

The sundance kid

22:35 / 08.02.02

new idea for the barbelith community: FIELD TRIPS!!! yes, the kind that you got dragged on in elementary school, but this time instead of going to the franklin institute or some equally educational (read:boring) place, we depart on a quest for answers to our barbelith questions! we'll start off by having everybody on this board visit matt groening to ask him if these shitty episodes are intentional! who's with me? non-u.s. members may have some financial difficulties with this one, but maybe an independantly wealthy member can help finance the trip for those without proper funding (come on corgan, we know you got the bling bling from that new fucking greatest hits album!). just think of the wonderful memories we'll all have...or at least the mayhem that will ensue ("so like, fifty of us are sittin in denny's with the fucking check, and no one will admit to ordering the grand slam, so i'm like, 'c'mon vampbear, you know it was you, cough up the dough', and vampbear's like, 'no way dude, step off!'"

05:08 / 12.02.02

Ok..I watched the episode last night where Marge's past flame returns to seduce her with his wealth...is it me or have they killed the idea of springfield? I mean, West Springfield 3 times the size of Texas...d'oh.

But-can't wait for next week as the Simpsons visit Toronto...

14:13 / 12.02.02

quote:Originally posted by the city-zen known as Rex:
Ok..I watched the episode last night where Marge's past flame returns to seduce her with his wealth...is it me or have they killed the idea of springfield? I mean, West Springfield 3 times the size of Texas...d'oh.

That episode was classic! The revelation of Lenny and Carl's love? Tell me that wasn't damn funny!

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