The Simpsons

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HJackson
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:27 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#951 Post by HJackson » Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:24 pm

“It’s a sincere pleasure to announce the Season 33 and 34 pick-ups for The Simpsons,” FOX Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier says. “We keep hoping that, eventually, they’ll get it right.
Most people seem to have lost hope a long time ago.

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Swift
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: Calgary, Alberta

Re: The Simpsons

#952 Post by Swift » Sun Mar 28, 2021 10:45 pm

aox wrote:
Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:28 pm
Professor Wagstaff wrote:
Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:33 pm
Do The Simpsons still utilize flashbacks to Marge and Homer in childhood? They once showed them growing up in the 1960s/1970s, but now they would have been coming of age in the 1990s. probably even graduating high school in the 2000s.
Yes

I haven't seen it, but it is supposed to be somewhat abysmal.
Just caught a new episode tonight (the JJ Abrams one; first one I've watched in probably 20 years) and was surprised to see a young Homer flashback where he's breakdancing and listening to Vanilla Ice.

Speaking of age though, I was also surprised by how old some of the voice cast sound now. Bart's voice is a little deeper, Marge's voice is much frailer and croakier and I was surprised to see Azaria still does Moe and Comic Book Guy because their voices sounded like someone else doing them, particularly the latter.

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bearcuborg
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:30 am
Location: Philadelphia via Chicago

Re: The Simpsons

#953 Post by bearcuborg » Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:43 am

Julie’s frail voice is pretty glaring. I’ve noticed differences with Hank and Harry too, but damn-Dan still sounds great.

I wish they would have aged the show. But if someone only sees 1 show in the last 20 yrs, The Simpsons Guy is the one to see.

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#954 Post by beamish14 » Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:45 am

bearcuborg wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:33 pm
Swift, I’ve been saying that for years, at this point, it would be the only thing to get me back into the show.

I don’t think any cartoon show has really done this? I could see Mike Judge doing it if King of the Hill comes back.
Your wish is Mike Judge's command

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#955 Post by beamish14 » Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:48 am

I might actually watch a full episode of show for the first time since David Byrne's (terrible) episode almost 20 years ago for Nancy Cartwright's writing debut on the show.

Then again, the snippets of Dan Castellaneta's co-written episodes made me pretty depressed.

CJG
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:13 am

Re: The Simpsons

#956 Post by CJG » Sun May 02, 2021 12:55 pm


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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
Location: East of Shanghai

Re: The Simpsons

#957 Post by Lemmy Caution » Mon May 03, 2021 3:23 am

Has anyone read any Swartzwelder novels?
Any thoughts? Recs?

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domino harvey
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Re: The Simpsons

#958 Post by domino harvey » Mon May 03, 2021 9:22 am

I read at least two of them. My big takeaway was that a joke every ten seconds becomes very tiring in novel form

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: The Simpsons

#959 Post by Lemmy Caution » Mon May 03, 2021 10:01 am

As for his TV pilots, Women in Prison is terrible.
But Pistol Pete is a lot of fun.
Or at least, so far, the first half of it is ...

Funny line on Swartzwelder's twitter:
"As Lincoln or someone used to say: "Well, boys, they killed me."

It's funny-stupid enough to give that quote to Lincoln, but the extremely half-ass attribution kills me.

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#960 Post by beamish14 » Mon May 03, 2021 11:28 am

The Paley Center doesn't have the two episodes of The Dictator, but I'm guessing it's in CBS/Paramount's archives. I'm really curious about it.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Simpsons

#961 Post by domino harvey » Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:57 am

Helpful compilation of everything Arnie Pye has ever done on the show - one more strange fruit from YT’s algorithm for me

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#962 Post by knives » Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:04 pm

I’ve only seen the Simpsons in small doses before and my knowledge almost exclusively comes from osmosis so I decided some months ago to go through at least the first few seasons. Season one was mostly dire to me most interesting as a cultural relic with only really Krusty Gets Busted and The Tell Tale Head being great though there were a few bright moments here and there.

Season two, which I just started tonight, blows all of that out of the water with Bart Gets an F. This was such a distressing and nerve wracking episode both as a teacher and as someone with their own concentration and memory problems. This might be the most accurate portrayal of the experience of living with an undiagnosed learning disability I’ve ever seen. It’s to my understanding that Bart does get diagnosed with ADHD later on, but I can’t imagine that episode succeeding so thoroughly in communicating the failure of authority and the personal horror that comes with self awareness as this. Bart’s shown to be resourceful and hard working within his limits, but constantly running foul of unexpected problems he doesn’t know how to deal with. His emotional outburst at the close had me breathing heavily. I don’t know if I find the Simpsons funny yet, but when it tries to really tell a story of humans I like this than I am excited for the future.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#963 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:18 pm

The consistently funny stuff comes soon and in spades, but season two -while not my favorite- is a pretty strong one for the kind of emotionally-charged humanism attracting you there

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soundchaser
Leave Her to Beaver
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Re: The Simpsons

#964 Post by soundchaser » Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:59 pm

There’s a later Season 2 episode that I know gets maligned in some internet circles but never fails to choke me up. I hope it has the same impact on you!

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swo17
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Re: The Simpsons

#965 Post by swo17 » Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:30 am

knives, you may find our forum's episode guide useful, especially when you're eventually tempted to start skipping episodes

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: The Simpsons

#966 Post by knives » Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:16 am

Thanks for that swo. My current plan is to give the first two seasons a free pass and after that if a season has three episodes in a row I’m apathetic toward I’ll end it. That said with the list I might try to watch those episodes.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The Simpsons

#967 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:25 am

Season three isn't as consistent as four, five, and six. That said 3-8 are canon so I hope you don't have that experience. I wouldn't say "apathetic" but there may even be three episodes in a row I'm less enthused/relatively indifferent towards in the best seasons!

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hearthesilence
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Re: The Simpsons

#968 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:49 am

Seasons 1 through 8 are the only seasons I ever purchased on DVD.

I think season 1 gets unfairly dumped on by fans. First of all, if one wants to use numbers as an argument (and some do) that season as a whole had the show's highest ratings. With the very first episodes, it immediately became a massively popular show and a cultural phenomenon, and all that happened for good reason. I think it's also the season that shows James L. Brooks's influence the most, and if someone's a big fan of his films, that could be of interest.

But as pointed out in the commentaries, it's where the blue-collar, working class roots of the show is clearest, and I think it actually helps the show and keeps it grounded. What's been disappointing about the show is how lazy the comedy can seem, and I'm not talking about the later seasons, I mean the alleged peak seasons. Like the setups are often extremely lazy, where they throw out plausibility or previous character development just to wedge in a "see how laughably stupid they are" joke. On top of that, they can lean heavily on autopilot movie parodies, which is kind of a problem with a lot of comedy nowadays. (Think about SNL's sketches, and how often the only joke is really a half-assed re-enactment of a celebrity or a movie scene without really doing anything truly novel much less funny with it. Like re-doing Meet the Parents's interrogation scene with Trump's lawyer...it feels like a logical joke a political cartoonist might draw for a one-panel editorial, but I don't think it's really funny as an entire sketch just because someone manages to get DeNiro and Stiller to play the roles.) They're still funny seasons, but when I watch those classic episodes now they feel wildly uneven. Anyway, the first season doesn't really go in that direction, and for me at least the episodes feel a lot more even and the jokes less hit-or-miss.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: The Simpsons

#969 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:58 am

Even in the classic run as they edged towards absurdity there were always great moments. I'm thinking about the episode that turns George Bush into Mr Wilson, the foil for Bart's new era Dennis the Menace! The characterisations and mannerisms are spot on even if the premise is wacky. And its eminently quotable with some great plays on words. I keep thinking about Homer's reaction to seeing a gym for the first time in his life!

I'm looking forward to knives' reaction to "Do It For Her". Or how they will fall on the great Frank Grimes debate!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Simpsons

#970 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:08 am

The first season and to a lesser degree the second are complete garbage compared to the glory of the high period starting in season 3 and I can’t even begin to entertain an argument that suggests otherwise. You are living on another plane of existence from me. This is not a show you turn to for realism, you tune in for an incredible multi year run of unbelievably strong hit to miss ratio joke delivery

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colinr0380
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Re: The Simpsons

#971 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:09 am

Along with a few gut-punch episodes like Bart shoplifting or killing that bird.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Simpsons

#972 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:23 am

Bart shoplifting is a good example of the show entwining emotional content in a non-cloying way. I think the presence of these kind of inclinations helps differentiate the series at its peak from the direction Family Guy took us, but I don’t value these beats as highly as some of you do because this isn’t the show I turn to for that kind of thing

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colinr0380
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Re: The Simpsons

#973 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:31 am

I did not value it at the time for much the same reasons, since I was coming for the gags not to be existentially terrified about what would happen if a child committed so heinous an act that their parents might stop loving them. But that episode does have the best movie franchise slam of the entire series!

I feel that Family Guy mostly followed the cues of the Simpsons, given it was coming around the time that the Simpsons was in its eighth or ninth season and was getting into the really outlandish stuff, and then just pushed it even further with its non sequitur cutaway gags (which in the Simpsons commentaries the writers say that they started to shy away from at this time) and anything goes logic. And both are ineffably strange now simply by having never aged their cast of characters over the twenty plus years that they have been on the air.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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knives
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Re: The Simpsons

#974 Post by knives » Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:42 am

I will say where the first season really impressed me is with the variety of animation. I know the season is famous for its poor quality of animation, but there’s so much creativity on display. Even some of the cost saving measures like the purple backgrounds impress me. It’s also nice to see as the show moved along more and more of that Klasky-Csupo personality come out. Some Kind of Evening looks like a Rugrats episode at times.

Also while “realistic” I don’t think I ever found the show convincingly blue collar. It definitely feels like a bunch of Harvard and CalArts guys idea of the working class. Though slightly undermining that it was always a thrill to see Brad Bird’s name in each episode.

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hearthesilence
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Re: The Simpsons

#975 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:03 pm

I should add, the first season never comes to mind when I think of great portrayals of blue collar or working class life, but in retrospect, it gave the show some solid ground compared to the bizarre directions it would eventually take when I finally stopped watching. To be fair, some of those nutty stories were highly entertaining in the earlier seasons (like Homer going to space), but past the 8th season it felt too random and aimless and really hurt the show.

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