The Simpsons on Disney+

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

7 minutes ago, mstrox said:

  I don’t care much for their trademark “reminds me of...(insert random humor)” bits.  

 

The writers of Stargate Atlantis would pull that shit repeatedly in the show's last few seasons. It's not clever, but it is awkward seeing characters drag out the reference with "is that like that movie Jaws?" "Yeah you seen it?"

[Thor 7,468]

I love pop cultural references in everything. Be it films, TV shows, whatever. In fact, just watched Besson's fairly middle-of-the-road movie MALAVITA, and found it funny how De Niro's character watches and comments on GOODFELLAS in it (although without showing his appearance in that film). They both exist in the same universe.

[mstrox 6,647]

11 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Family Guy is incredibly tame when compared to cable TV/streaming shows, like South Park, Rick and Morty, Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Paradise P.D., etc.

I grew tired of South Park’s crap maybe 5 years ago, but do love Rick and Morty.  That’s a good example of having some very specific characters and situations with humor that is organic to them - even the gross-out/“edgy” stuff!  And the sci-fi set-up allows for tons of pop culture references without breaking the reality of the show or cutting away just for the sake of a random joke.

[Thor 7,468]

God, I can't stand RICK & MORTY. Tried it for a few episodes, but the endless screaming, noise and run-on sentences almost blew my brains out.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

17 minutes ago, The Big Man said:

 

The writers of Stargate Atlantis would pull that shit repeatedly in the show's last few seasons. It's not clever, but it is awkward seeing characters drag out the reference with "is that like that movie Jaws?" "Yeah you seen it?"

 

Or all the 20th Century references in Voyager for the audience to understand. 

 

"There was once a ship called The Titanic."

[Edmilson 7,393]

22 minutes ago, mstrox said:

I grew tired of South Park’s crap maybe 5 years ago, but do love Rick and Morty.  That’s a good example of having some very specific characters and situations with humor that is organic to them - even the gross-out/“edgy” stuff!  And the sci-fi set-up allows for tons of pop culture references without breaking the reality of the show or cutting away just for the sake of a random joke.

 

I watched South Park almost every day about 10 years ago, but now I haven't seen a single episode of the show in years, even despite some people saying it got better on the last few seasons.

 

Rick and Morty is pretty great, although I vastly prefer the first two seasons.

 

Has anyone here tried Paradise PD on Netflix? It has a lot of the same edgy/gross jokes, and apparently it was created with the teenage boys demographic in mind given the nature of the gags involving dicks, drugs and alcohol. But I do have a lot of fun watching it. 

[Thor 7,468]

1 minute ago, Edmilson said:

Has anyone here tried Paradise PD on Netflix? It has a lot of the same edgy/gross jokes, and apparently it was created with the teenage boys demographic in mind given the nature of the gags involving dicks, drugs and alcohol. But I do have a lot of fun watching it. 

 

I tried it. Didn't care for it, and found it unfunny. But then again, I'm probably not in the demographic.

[Edmilson 7,393]

Yeah, it's really not for everyone. You need to really appreciate this brand of off-colour humour and immature jokes involving human genitalia, otherwise you'll find it insufferable.

 

A show that I consider to be quite underrated is Final Space. It starts out as a comedy parodying the Star Wars/Trek, but then the show gets really dramatic, with some great world building.

[Thor 7,468]

Just now, Edmilson said:

A show that I consider to be quite underrated is Final Space. It starts out as a comedy parodying the Star Wars/Trek, but then the show gets really dramatic, with some great world building.

 

Now we're talking! Love that one, and can't wait for the next season.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Appearing today is the first interview EVER with the most legendary Simpsons writer ever, John Swartzwelder.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/john-swartzwelder-sage-of-the-simpsons

[Bayesian 1,359]

57 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Appearing today is the first interview EVER with the most legendary Simpsons writer ever, John Swartzwelder.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/john-swartzwelder-sage-of-the-simpsons

Thank you for posting this! What a fun read! (And it’s neat to see a tiny bit of how the comedy writing industry worked back in the 80s.) Schwartzwelder is a definitely a hero to us, right alongside Oakley & Weinstein. (Someone’s gotta do an interview with that duo too!)

[Edmilson 7,393]

Tom Hiddleston will voice Loki in a new upcoming MCU-themed Simpsons short for Disney+:

 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Will Elon Musk be guest starring again?

[Edmilson 7,393]

IIRC it's not the first time the show parodies the MCU. A while ago there was an episode with Kevin Feige voicing a Thanos-like character.

[Deacon Blues 65]

On 5/3/2021 at 2:28 AM, Disco Stu said:

Appearing today is the first interview EVER with the most legendary Simpsons writer ever, John Swartzwelder.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/john-swartzwelder-sage-of-the-simpsons

His Frank Burly novels are a riot, too.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

This evening I’m watching some “silver age” Treehouses of Horror and season 12’s is one of my favorites. My personal favorite joke: when ghost Homer is given 24 hours to do one good deed to win entry to Heaven, Marge has a list of house chores he could do and Homer responds, “Whoa whoa, I’m just trying to get in, I’m not running for Jesus”

[Brundlefly 2,385]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

This evening I’m watching some “silver age” Treehouses of Horror and season 12’s is one of my favorites. My personal favorite joke: when ghost Homer is given 24 hours to do one good deed to win entry to Heaven, Marge has a list of house chores he could do and Homer responds, “Whoa whoa, I’m just trying to get in, I’m not running for Jesus”

The "next Hitler"-joke is quite good as well.

[Bayesian 1,359]

Good, oh so very good, news courtesy of Fox:

 

https://ew.com/tv/the-simpsons-renewed-season-35-season-36/

 

All together now: “They’ll never stop The Simpsons / Have no fears, we’ve got stories for years / Like Marge becomes a robot…” 

 

I think it’s worth noting they made this joke twenty seasons ago 😂

[Jay 37,287]

They've had 750 episodes now

 

 

[Richard Penna 3,671]

I haven't watched the Simpsons in decades, probably. Certainly haven't deliberately watched a new episode since the movie in 2007 when the show should have ended.

 

Bob's Burgers is much better, although I've only seen a series or two of that from when I was on Netflix.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

8 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Bob's Burgers is much better, although I've only seen a series or two of that from when I was on Netflix.

I like Bob but the later episodes have too much of an emphasis on musical numbers (maybe my least favorite form of comedy)

[Bayesian 1,359]

2 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I haven't watched the Simpsons in decades, probably. Certainly haven't deliberately watched a new episode since the movie in 2007 when the show should have ended.

 

Bob's Burgers is much better than the episodes aired up to 2007, although I've only seen a series or two of that from when I was on Netflix. Since I haven’t watched the show in SIXTEEN years, I cannot speak to the quality of the series since 2007.

Here, I fixed your typical-idiot-naysayer-Simpsons-should-have-ended-ages-ago comment.

[mstrox 6,647]

I’ve still watch it pretty regularly, so I can confirm Richard’s original statement 

 

Most of it just natural progression - fewer places to go, less fresh ground to tread, same characters after 30-some years. It’s a joke machine now.  It happens.  It’s still way better than Family Guy on the same night ever was, but doesn’t hold a candle to Bob’s Burgers.

 

My kid has been enjoying popping in on some recent Bobs Burgers so we started watching it with her from the beginning - I forgot that the edges of the humor used to be a lot more rough/Adult Swim-esque, which ended up being not particularly appropriate for a kid her age.  Oh well!

[Edmilson 7,393]

Believe it or not, there are a few great episodes post-2007.

 

I really like, for example, "A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again" or "The Book Job" from S23. Sure, they're vastly inferior to the heights of the show, but then again peak Simpsons is probably the greatest thing the culture of the United States ever produced, so even if it's below that it's still quite decent.

[mstrox 6,647]

Oh sure, some are pretty good!  I even think its hit-to-miss ratio is better now than it was maybe 10, 12 years ago.  When they miss, they miss hard and those really stick with you, haha.  I don’t think they need to kill it, but it’s a whole different beast now than it once was.

[Bayesian 1,359]

Naturally, different people will gauge the quality of recent Simpsons differently. What matters, though (at least to people like me) is that you don’t toss out a blanket dismissal about a show if you haven’t watched it for nearly half its run. For whatever reason, The Simpsons has become the poster child for this kind of sheeple behavior. I can’t think of another show that endures this kind of mistreatment.

 

This kind of thoughtless, assumptive stereotyping is one of the laziest, stupidest, and most irritating things about our culture.

[Thor 7,468]

I tuned out of THE SIMPSONS many years ago, so I can't speak to its quality now. It's amazing that it's still going on. I remember when it was a new thing, and that feels like centuries ago. These days, I'm more into FAMILY GUY, and watch every new episode slavishly. I also watch BOB'S BURGERS, which is decent (but a bit too much screaming for my taste).

[Richard Penna 3,671]

What I should probably have more accurately said was that Bob's Burgers (to cite one example I've seen recently) is better than the show I saw in the late 2010s, which is the last time I was really watching the show. I saw few indicators at the time that the show was going anywhere other than 'more of the same'.

 

It's probably better than the Simpsons is if its quality hasn't markedly improved since that period. If it has.... great, and you're welcome to ignore my opinion completely and enjoy the show  

[Edmilson 7,393]

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

Be honest, you all cheered just a little when in 'Hurricane Neddy' an enraged Flanders turns on Lisa - 'OH, is that the sound of butting-in I hear? It must be little Lisa Simpson, the answer to a question NO-ONE ASKED!'.    

[Edmilson 7,393]

I think it's interesting to see how Homer became so stupid in such a short space of time. He was already a complete imbecile by seasons 3 or 4 (though not a jerk, like he became in later seasons).

 

IMHO Homer reaches the height or his stupidity on S05E03 Homer Goes to College. His idiocy reached simply astronomical levels on that episode!

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

Yes he's stupid, greedy, lazy etc ... but he's also immensely loveable, dammit. Beneath all that flab, there's a heart of gold. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,280]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

I think it's interesting to see how Homer became so stupid in such a short space of time. He was already a complete imbecile by seasons 3 or 4 (though not a jerk, like he became in later seasons).

 

IMHO Homer reaches the height or his stupidity on S05E03 Homer Goes to College. His idiocy reached simply astronomical levels on that episode!

I must have had a brain freeze as I read that as "how Horner became so stupid in such a short space of time"  and was, like, I know not everyone likes James Horner, but seriously... mean... and after what score did he become stupid?! (No answers on a postcard please).

[Edmilson 7,393]

Don't say that... You're just giving ammo to Horner haters!