The Simpsons

they let those Flight Of The Conchords dipshits on network TV?

I'm usually all for statistical rigor but they should go ahead and fire the bad ones.

In that unauthorized simpsons book, the author claims it's the showrunners? (i'm not sure of the term) that shape the show more than any given writer, and divides the eras up by them.

there's sufficient barriers to entry that whoever ends up a simpsons writer has got to be a bright dude, right?

I've seen a few bright dudes contribute to a clusterfuck or two.

It's shortsighted and incorrect to assume that the decline of the show is the cause of them not having good writers that are capable of coming up with something half good. This is the new mandate of the show; they've abandoned what they were to essentially start anew as a kids show, hence the easy and less esoteric jokes, and more emphasis on something that a 6 year old would find funny (this is the way, no less, to secure an emerging audience, rather than trying to keep your original audience, now in their mid-lives, and without watching TV as a priority).

Moreover, the Simpsons are suffering from their own success in a way, insofar as they largely set the scene for subsequent cartoons of the sort, most of which are hugely indebted to the Simpsons in one way or another (one of the writers in a commentary once expressed his annoyance at how shows like Family Guy have co-opted Simpsons style comedy making the Simpsons theretofore unable to do their own thing). Its especially hard with shows like Family Guy et al. making base, unfunny, and immature humour the popular norm; it seems like a piece of A+ satire like Homer Bad Man (i.e. the hard copy episode) wouldn't be as well received by contemporary audiences.

Its especially hard with shows like Family Guy et al. making base, unfunny, and immature humour the popular norm

this is bullshit. simpsons has been shit since around the turn of the century. family guy debuted 1999. Nu-simpsons is as unfunny as anything on televsion.

Huh? I agree with you on those points, and I don't see how I'm implying the Simpsons haven't been shit for the last 10 years.

I mean to say that the general standards for cartoon comedy shows seems to have lowered in the last 10 years thanks to the popularity of unfunny, family guy type stuff; hence, the Simpsons have if anything lowered their standards, perhaps because there's more of a market for it.

this is becoming like outgrowing Mad magazine where all the references are turning into things that people much younger than me like. I would have no idea what the fuck was going on in this ep if I didn't see the ads boasting that the cast of glee was in it.

saw the season 18 parody of michael apted's Up series of documentaries the other day and enjoyed it.

they let those Flight Of The Conchords dipshits on network TV?

― Gaspar NoAgé (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, September 27, 2010 2:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

that carefully-curated garden of sophisticated, quality humour?

either sophisticated or artsy, but I liked it

how much better would that have been with Tenacious D?

Quite an intro bit by Bansky:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo?fs=1&;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo?fs=1&;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Dammit.

All you have to do is paste the url.

http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo

whut? Why didn't that work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo

Hah, thanks.

The something of something is never the anything of anything.

they really wanted us to make sure that it was banksy huh

also an important political statement

that's capital "I" important, Jordan.

i seriously need to avoid the internet whenever banksy does anything

I thought that was pretty neat but I wasn't aware of its existence until three minutes ago so I can't make prissy claims to have been put off by everyone talking about it, maybe others will enjoy that luxury

i've been hating banksy for a long time but this is funnie imo

i objected to my rss feeds posting this video as if it were BREAKING NEWS but mostly it was the wooster collective quote that pushed me over the edge, calling this "one of the most closely guarded secrets in TV history"

http://www.drudgereport.com/siren.gif"one of the most closely guarded secrets in TV history"http://www.drudgereport.com/siren.gif

That was a good intro but wtf did it have to do with Banksy apart from BANKSY written a few places and the "I will not write all over the walls"?

Oooh, Rough Draft use Korean slave labour.

Banksy storyboarded it, apparently. Not a fan of the Cult of Banksy myself either, but this is pretty good (except for the BANKSY BANKSY tags everywhere)

i've been hating banksy for a long time but this is funnie imo

^

now we just need a picture of korean animators drawing themselves drawing themselves drawing themselves....x100 on the Simpsons

this comment was news to me: http://www.metafilter.com/96526/I-Must-Not-Write-All-Over-The-Walls#3320604

I knew that Simpsons had most of its animation work done somewhere in Asia ahead of time and that was partially why it such a funny intro last night. Specifically the intro got really good when they introduced the dolphin head and the unicorn - self-admitted absurdity. I don't know who Banksy is and I don't care.

I thought it was a boring attempt to reacquaint themselves with the audience they've lost.

koreans?

too subtle imo

I knew that Simpsons had most of its animation work done somewhere in Asia ahead of time

Unlike other, more moral programs that have their animation drawn in America as it goes live-to-air? 0_o

It's a terrible strain on the animators' wrists iirc

It occurs to me that a Futurama episode could pull this kind of thing off and no one'd bat an eye. Its interesting doing the same on the Simpsons has caused such a fuss.

cause people watch the simpsons

Ha.

jesus man, is dissecting my informal typing for humorous reinterpretation really that funny? cause I get that a lot here

Lorax, you could write War and Peace and the ilxors who have decided they don't like you would just say "tl;dr". Sorry man, you know that's just how it is.

Bill James was on the show. yawn Banksy.

xp
quite the contrary, I get certain ilxors reading into my posts like they are wearing x-ray spectacles... looking for something as lol as a pun

no offense CL but you do on occasion talk a certain amount of bollocks

Host: Okay, Ron, which one of our girls said the following about you: ‘He looked so sexy, I hoped that we would have sex?’
Ron: Well, that’s a tough one since I did the deed with Uda, Candy and Shasta…
Shasta (giggling): It’s true alright!
Ron: …But I’m gonna have to go with Shasta since she liked makin’ bacon on the beach.
Homer (watching TV): Ooooh, me too….

http://simpsonitos.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/67-4-08-9f06-new-kid-on-the-block1.jpg?w=300&h=220

`he looked so sexy, i hoped that we would have sex` is so perfect it kills me

gawd this is just a perfect episode p much