The Simpsons

[beetlejuice]

I'm not sure how i feel about being left off of this list

I bear absolutely no physical resemblance, but I'm dorky enough to be Comic Book Guy.

I'm probably more of an Otto, though.

if anything i look like comic book guy

[jedski]

You'd be Bumblebeeman, Pooley

[beetlejuice]

"Ay, ay, ay! No me gusta!"

[Azza]

chief piggum

[pickles]

I am Guy Incognito

Shouldn't Guy Incognito get to be Guy Incognito? Surely that's fair, isn't it?

http://thegh.com.au/forum/memberlist.ph ... file&u=712

I hope so

My bad

[freddo]

you got 2 smithers in their.

and no freddo lol

[Mhartew]

As an aside note on the whole McBain thing, I was talking to this dude at a dinner last night, and he mentioned he'd just got back from Argentina. I was asking him about various places to go etc, and he recommended a place called Mendoza. I instinctively raised by hands to the heavens and bellowed 'Menndooozaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!'...he didn't get it.

I would have done the exact same thing.

Anybody who doesn't hear the word/name Mendoza and automatically feel the urge to drop to his knees and curse the heavens is a failed human being.

Agreed

[Green_Hammock]

I know I know very few of you but surely I could get on this list, surely there is a character that is around a lot who doesn't usually get as much attention and love as he deserves?

[Rodman]

I really take issue with manbush being Otto.

Surely this is manbush -

[Michael]

I know I know very few of you but surely I could get on this list, surely there is a character that is around a lot who doesn't usually get as much attention and love as he deserves?

Roy.

[Green_Hammock]

I know I know very few of you but surely I could get on this list, surely there is a character that is around a lot who doesn't usually get as much attention and love as he deserves?

Roy.

The one who left to live with two sexy ladies?

[Dr Zaius]

I know I know very few of you but surely I could get on this list, surely there is a character that is around a lot who doesn't usually get as much attention and love as he deserves?

Roy.

Poochey

[Nick]

I really take issue with manbush being Otto.

Surely this is manbush -

Ive already tried to lay claim ti Berch Barlow.
Although i could be swayed for another right wing charactor, like the crazy rich texan

[Schifty]

But then you need a form of OCD.

[Michael]

Then you'd actually have to be right wing, Nicholas, not a spineless liberal.

[Nick]

Then you'd actually have to be right wing, Nicholas, not a spineless liberal.

I thought you liked small 'l' liberals?

But make no mistake, there will be no carbon tax under the government i lead.

[Michael]

Then you'd actually have to be right wing, Nicholas, not a spineless liberal.

I thought you liked small 'l' liberals?

But make no mistake, there will be no carbon tax under the government i lead.

I do - I consider myself one.

[Michael]

On a slightly unrelated note, I was watching The Simpsons online tonight, and remembered my single favourite line of all:

Mr Burns: "Listen here, Senor Spielbergo, Schindler and I are like peas in a pod. We both made bombs for the Nazi's, but mine worked dammit!"

[Azza]

McBain is another classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRNOjFl4 ... re=related

"I'm a neurotic nerd that likes to sleep with little girls"

[dubby]

On a slightly unrelated note, I was watching The Simpsons online tonight, and remembered my single favourite line of all:

Mr Burns: "Listen here, Senor Spielbergo, Schindler and I are like peas in a pod. We both made bombs for the Nazi's, but mine worked dammit!"

Mr Burns has some of the best all time quotes in history.

"Look Smithers, a bird has become petrified and lost its sense of direction"

(He picks up a rock Bart has thrown through his window).

[*Loz*]

Marge hey? I'll take it... she always gets around in Green.

[Nick]

My favourite simpsons line

Homer: Okay, once more. Where are we going?
Edna: To Capital City.
Homer: And why are you and the old lady in the car?
Agnes: We're gonna talk Armin Tanzarian into coming back.
Homer: And why is Marge here?
Marge: I came up with the idea.
Homer: And why am I here?
Marge: Because the streets of Capital City are no place for three unescorted ladies.
Homer: Why are the kids here?
Marge: Because we couldn't find Grandpa to sit for them.
Homer: Why is Grandpa here?
Abe: Because Jasper didn't want to come by himself!
Homer: Huh, fair enough.

[Michael]

Gold. On a more serious note, that's the episode that The Simpsons started going downhill according to Harry Shearer, and I'd have to agree.

[Rodman]

Based on my many years and countless hours of research, I would have to agree. The show was already past its apex (which IMO is seasons 4 through 6), but the reign of Mike Sculley as show runner through seasons 9-12 was really the beginning of a very painful end for what was, for a time, the greatest comedy show ever (it's since been dethroned by Seinfeld).

I've found it unwatchable for years now.

[Michael]

Also, the whole Armin Tamzarian thing was a real slap in the face for viewers - it just seemed like an incredibly desperate and unnecessary character development for the sake of one episode.

[beetlejuice]

Also, the whole Armin Tamzarian thing was a real slap in the face for viewers - it just seemed like an incredibly desperate and unnecessary character development for the sake of one episode.

you should watch the episode "the 90's show", now that was a slap in the face!

[Sterlk]

Selma adopted a baby from some Asian country (I can't remember which one) a few years ago.

According to the Simpsons Wiki, that baby has appeared 7 times since it was introduced in 2005. Most likely as a background character in each, not even acknowledged.

The Simpsons has refused to take responsibility for their plot-lines for years. Half the time they introduce something new, one of the characters ends it with "now let us never speak of this/him/her again".

[Rodman]

The 'flexible reality' (as one time show runner David Mirkin refers to it) of the Simpsons universe isn't really the issue. After all, Homer had a brother in Series 2 who was only really referred to once (in the episode, Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes) during the next 10 or so seasons, and that didn't prevent the show from being the greatest thing to ever come to TV. It's the writing that went downhill and the whole general tone of the show totally changed. Homer was a much better character when he was a terrible husband and irresponsible father rather than the childish retard, at least IMO, and overall the show worked much better when it was grounded in some semblance of reality.

It could just be that I was basically raised by The Simpsons so I look back on the first 8 or so seasons so fondly, but whenever I watch new episodes I spend the whole time cringing and invariably change the channel.

[Begbie]

I'm just waiting for the episode where Bart does a waterski jump over a pool of sharks.

[Sterlk]

The 'flexible reality' (as one time show runner David Mirkin refers to it) of the Simpsons universe isn't really the issue. After all, Homer had a brother in Series 2 who was only really referred to once (in the episode, Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes) during the next 10 or so seasons, and that didn't prevent the show from being the greatest thing to ever come to TV. It's the writing that went downhill and the whole general tone of the show totally changed. Homer was a much better character when he was a terrible husband and irresponsible father rather than the childish retard, at least IMO, and overall the show worked much better when it was grounded in some semblance of reality.

It could just be that I was basically raised by The Simpsons so I look back on the first 8 or so seasons so fondly, but whenever I watch new episodes I spend the whole time cringing and invariably change the channel.

You've got it right there, but there's a difference between Selma's baby and Herb Powell.

For Herb, and the many hundreds of guest characters like him, its completely plausible that they'd disappear. As a viewer you can understand that, you can't get Danny DeVito every few weeks and you just have to let a great character fade into virtual non-existence... but when you're using the exact same voice cast and affecting people intricately related to their daily lives, its just a giant rip off and its sheer laziness not to acknowledge it in the future.

Maude Flanders is a good example of something they did well, once she died she didn't come back and Ned stayed a widower... but for every Maude instance, there's a whole bunch of Ling Bouvoirs. With the amount of times we see Patty and Selma, to not include Ling is just a cop-out. Then there's Armin Tamzarian, and the episode where Snowball II dies (as do III and IV and a bunch of others) yet at the end of the episode they name the newest identical cat Snowball II again.

Its just lazy, and as a fan you feel cheated.

[Rodman]

I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying that the problem with the Simpsons is not a lack of character continuity, but that it simply isn't as funny as it once was. You referenced the fact that Selma adopted a baby but it didn't become a regular facet of the show, but that kind of thing had been happening since day one. The flexible reality of the Simpsons universe is what made the show work in the first place.

[Sterlk]

I disagree, to an extent. I think part of the reason why its not funny anymore is the lack of continuity. In 22 years virtually nothing has changed and the writers are forced to come up with new storylines for characters whose circumstances (or they themselves for that matter) haven't changed one iota in countless years.

Contrast that with a live-action show, as the actors age, the writers are forced to acknowledge it, and if the show is particularly long lived, you can get toddler/child/pre-teen/teen/young adult/adult storylines from a single character. It becomes unrealistic if they don't address the natural changes such as death and marriage that happen over the course of a lifetime. The Simpsons doesn't have that, and consequently, the bottom of the barrel was scraped dry years ago.

Its not completely to blame for the deterioration of the show, but I think it plays a big part.

One of its biggest faults that its developed over the years (and probably far more damaging), is the meandering lack of focus the show has now. I remember back when it was good, that scenes early on the episode still had relevance to the sequence of events at the end. Just at random, if you take the stonecutters episode as an example, it starts with Homer being envious of Lenny and Carl's strange perks, which leads to the stonecutters, which leads to Homer being the chosen one... all in all the episode is neat and tidy. In recent years you wouldn't be surprised to see an episode that starts with Bart being chased by dogs, that meanders around and somehow ends up with that fear of dogs turning him into a professional ballroom dancer.

Then there's the cop-outs that don't happen over the course of the series, but within each episode. I remember one where Homer and Bart need money to fix the car, so they end up grifting, they end up getting caught and in the court case they're about to explain the elaborate sequence of events... then Otto runs in and yells "surf's up!", then everybody goes to the beach and it ends without an explanation. There's also one where Homer is about to die by electric chair for crimes commited, then it turns out that old lady accusing him was Carmen Electra in a suit and the whole thing was a gag!

There's so many reasons why its just plain bad nowadays, but after looking at all I've just written, I'm content from here on in to just say its become a giant meandering piece of self-indulgent tripe that continues to cash in on its past, which should have ended years ago.

[GreenSoul]

Dude, it's the Simpsons. Crazy **** happens, it was a large part of what made it funny.

[dubby]

Sheesh, some of you guys need to lighten up.

It's an animated comedy, a classic show that has spanned over 20 years. Its a record never to be reached again. The success is based on its ability to reflect our western society and mock it.

To get upset because they didn't make Ling a central figure is immature.

Enjoy it for what it is; the most quotable and recognised comedy on the planet.

[Sterlk]

There's a big, big difference between absurdity for the sake of a story (like the stonecutters) and craziness to weasel out of any kind of payoff towards the end of the episode.

There's a perfectly logical explanation for this, and that explanation is - Hey, everybody! SURF'S UP!

EDIT:
You're missing the point dubby, Ling isn't the issue. How long has it been since you watched more than half the episodes of a season? We all have fond memories of the Simpsons, the show used to be brilliant. However, nothing lasts forever, and we're just discussing the reasons why the show has gone downhill in recent years. Its easy to enjoy it for what it was, not so much for what it currently is.