The Simpsons

[Dr. Medulla]

I personally love the Newsradio commentaries because none of those guys really had legitimate careers after the show ended and they all sound like they've gone to some AA meetings together. All of them.

This leads to some hilarious commentaries, but they're hilarious in the way that burnouts that just can't give a shit are hilarious.

As I recall, the Newsradio discs were going to be released without any kinds of frills, including commentaries, and the cast made a specific request to get together and record their observations.

Well, they needed something to do.

Dave Foley took time off from his concerted efforts to become doughy.

[matedog]

I personally love the Newsradio commentaries because none of those guys really had legitimate careers after the show ended and they all sound like they've gone to some AA meetings together. All of them.

This leads to some hilarious commentaries, but they're hilarious in the way that burnouts that just can't give a shit are hilarious.

It's safe to say that is certainly where Dave Foley's career peaked.

[Wolter]

I personally love the Newsradio commentaries because none of those guys really had legitimate careers after the show ended and they all sound like they've gone to some AA meetings together. All of them.

This leads to some hilarious commentaries, but they're hilarious in the way that burnouts that just can't give a shit are hilarious.

As I recall, the Newsradio discs were going to be released without any kinds of frills, including commentaries, and the cast made a specific request to get together and record their observations.

Well, they needed something to do.

Dave Foley took time off from his concerted efforts to become doughy.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Man, he got seriously dumpy between News Radio and that KITH reunion DVD. Manservant Hecubus looked like the Michelin man dressed as Emma Peel.

[Dr. Medulla]

I personally love the Newsradio commentaries because none of those guys really had legitimate careers after the show ended and they all sound like they've gone to some AA meetings together. All of them.

This leads to some hilarious commentaries, but they're hilarious in the way that burnouts that just can't give a shit are hilarious.

It's safe to say that is certainly where Dave Foley's career peaked.

In terms of payday and wider audience, yeah. Even from a critical point of view, Newsradio in the sitcom genre was every bit as respected as KitH in sketch comedy. So retract that Mr. Shifty, suh, a replace it with something less provocative.

[matedog]

I personally love the Newsradio commentaries because none of those guys really had legitimate careers after the show ended and they all sound like they've gone to some AA meetings together. All of them.

This leads to some hilarious commentaries, but they're hilarious in the way that burnouts that just can't give a shit are hilarious.

It's safe to say that is certainly where Dave Foley's career peaked.

In terms of payday and wider audience, yeah. Even from a critical point of view, Newsradio in the sitcom genre was every bit as respected as KitH in sketch comedy. So retract that Mr. Shifty, suh, a replace it with something less provocative.

The shifty meant a dig at KITH, not Newsradio.

[Dr. Medulla]

I personally love the Newsradio commentaries because none of those guys really had legitimate careers after the show ended and they all sound like they've gone to some AA meetings together. All of them.

This leads to some hilarious commentaries, but they're hilarious in the way that burnouts that just can't give a shit are hilarious.

It's safe to say that is certainly where Dave Foley's career peaked.

In terms of payday and wider audience, yeah. Even from a critical point of view, Newsradio in the sitcom genre was every bit as respected as KitH in sketch comedy. So retract that Mr. Shifty, suh, a replace it with something less provocative.

The shifty meant a dig at KITH, not Newsradio.

I forgot who I was dealing with. I won't make that mistake again, varlet!

[Rat Patrol]

♪ The gray old mare, she ain't what she used to be
♪ Ain't what she used to be
♪ Ain't what she used to be

[Rat Patrol]

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/12 ... es/?hpt=C2


Jee-zus...and I remember the 300th episode extravaganza (guest stars Tony Hawk and Blink 182!!!) being so terrible I pretty much gave up forever at that point. Seven years ago.

[Silent Majority]

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/12 ... es/?hpt=C2


Jee-zus...and I remember the 300th episode extravaganza (guest stars Tony Hawk and Blink 182!!!) being so terrible I pretty much gave up forever at that point. Seven years ago.

100th episode was great, with Skinner getting fired and setting out to write Billy and The Cloneasaurus. 200th Episode was fairly good, but the quality had dipped slightly, with U2 and a fairly wacky, but still funny premise. The 300th episode was a pile of shit.

I just looked up the 400th episode on wikipedia because I have no knowledge of what it might have been, but have probably seen it. Wiki says:

"The Kent State Massacre" redirects here. For the shootings at Kent State University in 1970, see Kent State shootings.

Anyway, the 400th episode was mediocre, you can't really even get pissed off at twilight years Simpsons.

[Dr. Medulla]

I've mentioned this before, I'm sure, but all my friends can remember back in the 90s when we were all but salivating, waiting for the next new episode. You just knew it was going to amazing—guaranteed. That I haven't been even remotely interested in anything new from the Simpsons—I still haven't seen the movie—in a good decade is quite amazing considering how I worshipped that show. The producers and actors have made more than enough money from it—why don't they have the integrity to say enough is enough?

[CorwoodRep]

The problem is that FOX and the showrunners apparently view it as a merchandising opportunity or stunt casting vehicle for advertising. There's nothing stopping the show from being great again, but whoever's in charge of the show needs to be fired and writers should view it as one of the most prestigious writing jobs in television, not bottom-of-the-barrel hackwork. Those first 9 seasons had some of TV's best writing. Why can't they get some veteran comedy people on board? Or somebody who's not just completely burned out on the job?

If you sent out a memo to legitimate writers in Hollywood saying "We're picking up where season 4 left off, let's make this shit happen" then I bet you could have a pretty good show again. The problem is that the show jumped off a cliff around season 10 and was never anywhere near good again. Complacency? I dunno. But a bunch of people need fired and celebrity stunt casting needs to die and flavor-of-the-week pop culture parodies need to die. This isn't The Chelsea Handler Show, you fuckers.

[Dr. Medulla]

The problem is that FOX and the showrunners apparently view it as a merchandising opportunity or stunt casting vehicle for advertising. There's nothing stopping the show from being great again, but whoever's in charge of the show needs to be fired and writers should view it as one of the most prestigious writing jobs in television, not bottom-of-the-barrel hackwork. Those first 9 seasons had some of TV's best writing. Why can't they get some veteran comedy people on board? Or somebody who's not just completely burned out on the job?

If you sent out a memo to legitimate writers in Hollywood saying "We're picking up where season 4 left off, let's make this shit happen" then I bet you could have a pretty good show again. The problem is that the show jumped off a cliff around season 10 and was never anywhere near good again. Complacency? I dunno. But a bunch of people need fired and celebrity stunt casting needs to die and flavor-of-the-week pop culture parodies need to die. This isn't The Chelsea Handler Show, you fuckers.

I don't know if it's that easy to blame Fox and the cash cow aspect. I tend to think that a once subversive show achieved institutional stature on its own terms and its not easy getting back to the other side without tossing so much over the side. The show has a legacy now, and legacies make people timid. Plus, after twenty years, how many new stories can one tell with the same characters and set-ups? There's a lifespan to these things, and the Simpsons should have died years ago. As bummed as I was seeing Arrested Development get splattered after three years, I'm also glad that it didn't go on long enough to taint the overall quality. Better to go a year early that a year late.

[Flex]

They just need some more catchphrases. That should fix things.

[Dr. Medulla]

They just need some more catchphrases. That should fix things.

More storylines that feature celebrities playing themselves. Wouldn't it be cool if Lady Gaga turned out to be Homer's long lost sister? Or if Tom Cruise replaced Smithers? Oh man, the jokes would write themselves!

[Rat Patrol]

The problem is that FOX and the showrunners apparently view it as a merchandising opportunity or stunt casting vehicle for advertising. There's nothing stopping the show from being great again, but whoever's in charge of the show needs to be fired and writers should view it as one of the most prestigious writing jobs in television, not bottom-of-the-barrel hackwork. Those first 9 seasons had some of TV's best writing. Why can't they get some veteran comedy people on board? Or somebody who's not just completely burned out on the job?

If you sent out a memo to legitimate writers in Hollywood saying "We're picking up where season 4 left off, let's make this shit happen" then I bet you could have a pretty good show again. The problem is that the show jumped off a cliff around season 10 and was never anywhere near good again. Complacency? I dunno. But a bunch of people need fired and celebrity stunt casting needs to die and flavor-of-the-week pop culture parodies need to die. This isn't The Chelsea Handler Show, you fuckers.

I don't know if it's that easy to blame Fox and the cash cow aspect. I tend to think that a once subversive show achieved institutional stature on its own terms and its not easy getting back to the other side without tossing so much over the side. The show has a legacy now, and legacies make people timid. Plus, after twenty years, how many new stories can one tell with the same characters and set-ups? There's a lifespan to these things, and the Simpsons should have died years ago. As bummed as I was seeing Arrested Development get splattered after three years, I'm also glad that it didn't go on long enough to taint the overall quality. Better to go a year early that a year late.

It's Groening's fault more than anyone. He's even admitted that it's gotten too easy and too profitable to be any challenge, and that he's happy to just keep punching the clock for as long as people want to see it on the air. The only challenges he's undertaken this past decade to stretch himself were finishing the decades-in-writing Simpsons movie and persevering at trying to get Futurama some traction. He's got an artist's conscience...he's just willfully ignoring it. It's always nice when somebody's altruistic enough like a Gary Larson or Bill Waterson or Ricky Gervais to end their work before its time, or in retrospect that Arrested Development got axed before it had to compromise itself. Or even (though South Park isn't nearly what it once was) to keep trying to go out on a limb and keep it relevant, like Stone and Parker (very unevenly) do. It's also nobody's quarrel if somebody's got such a monster success that they want to get paid and rewarded for their work. It's something different when you've already met every goal in your career for that work and gotten rewarded for it more than you'll ever find a use for, and you're still lazy, vain, or selfish enough to keep cynically mailing it in long past expiration, long after harm starts being done to reputation, and with singular focus on maintaining profit margin (meaning cheaper production and staff, and a lot of recycled material. It breeds widespread resentment even with enough cost-effectiveness and popularity to remain healthily profitable. Be it a legendary band on its umpteenth lineup touring for inflated prices or pumping out shitty albums decades past their decline, one of the dozens of 60-year-old daily comic strips where the dead artist's kids keep recycling the same tired gags day after fucking day, Brett Favre and his sports superstar ilk who refuse to give up alpha dog status after their bodies and skills have quit, or this. If you've got to draw the line somewhere on when it's time to exit--when the barrier to perpetual profitability/popularity is so low that almost nothing could derail it--it's when the resentment from legions of current and former fans starts getting palpable.

Groening's not interested in that, so we're going to watch it (or not watch it) get ever more embarrassing. And I guarantee there'll be a 750th episode extravaganza, and it'll be even sadder than the 300th, 400th, and 500th. Network TV is in such a fragmented state that it'll take another decade-plus for the ratings to drop enough for it to risk unprofitability, and the show costs a fraction of what it used to since it went to cheaper and vastly less manpower-intensive computer animation in 2001 and laid off its small army of hand animators.