SIMPSONS MEMES: I just thing they're gneat.

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > SIMPSONS MEMES: I just thing they're gneat.

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

The Poochie episode where they drop a college student into the Simpsons home as a jab against the execs does make me think, Futurama seems like something of a direct response to the Simpsons as a show starring more or less the demographics the Simpsons features the least, a bunch of twentysomething workmates. It does have the same dealio where the entire premise and the crew's jobs tends to be forgotten about especially as seasons go on, but they do at least make jokes about that.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 17:07

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# ? May 30, 2024 22:15

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

Ghost Leviathan posted:

The Simpsons is a bit of an unusual example since it's both during and iconically of the 90s, being a relatively relevant social commentary of the times. A lot of media tends to be a while behind what it ends up getting associated with.

The Simpsons influenced some of the culture in the 90s as well. If nothing else, during the first few seasons, Bart was everywhere.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 17:12

GigaPeon: Apr 29, 2003; Go, man, go!

Ghost Leviathan posted:

The Poochie episode where they drop a college student into the Simpsons home as a jab against the execs does make me think, Futurama seems like something of a direct response to the Simpsons as a show starring more or less the demographics the Simpsons features the least, a bunch of twentysomething workmates. It does have the same dealio where the entire premise and the crew's jobs tends to be forgotten about especially as seasons go on, but they do at least make jokes about that.

What were they? Like a bus or something?

# ? Apr 30, 2020 17:30

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

e.pilot posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTxw5nQX7SA&t=20s

:thejoke:

# ? Apr 30, 2020 17:34

Tenebrais: Sep 2, 2011

ultrafilter posted:

The Simpsons influenced some of the culture in the 90s as well. If nothing else, during the first few seasons, Bart was everywhere.

Honestly Bart Simpson is probably the most emblematic figure of the 90's out there, even if he isn't wearing flannel and a backwards cap (put a sock in it, Roy).

# ? Apr 30, 2020 17:36

holttho: May 21, 2007

Ghost Leviathan posted:

The Poochie episode where they drop a college student into the Simpsons home as a jab against the execs

The execs literally wanted a new character who would "out-Bart Bart"

# ? Apr 30, 2020 17:47

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

I mighta said before in this thread or the other one, but the Poochie episode is interesting; kinda like Homer's Enemy in being one of the meta episodes that examines the premise of the show, but from a writing perspective rather than a setting one. And probably predicting all too well the problems when a formulaic show that's stagnating tries to mix things up; between the executives being out of touch and the writers having checked out with no ability outside their comfort zone, it's obvious a disaster that they instead quickly and clumsily walk back on rather than try to salvage, and fail to learn anything in the process.

Mind you, there's a bit of a running gag with Itchy and Scratchy that any attempt at going outside their strict formula fails miserably. Except the time they teamed up against Hitler, but hey. On that note you'd think the Itchy and Scratchy Movie would be a bizarre mess as so many 90s cartoon movies were, but indications seem to be it was basically a feature-length episode. (which to be fair is what the other half of 90s cartoon movies were)

Also funny that while most audiences would assume they're a Tom and Jerry parody, apparently the crew have confirmed they're more specifically inspired by Herman and Katnip. (which to be fair is a ripoff of Tom and Jerry, most notable for being considerably more violent and over-the-top in a way that Itchy and Scratchy took even further)

# ? Apr 30, 2020 18:16

Captain Quack: Feb 18, 2013

e.pilot posted:

Imagine being able to only communicate using Simpsons references. Worst communication method ever.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 18:23

HappyCapybaraFamily: Sep 16, 2009; Roger Baolong Thunder Dragon has been fascinated by this sophisticated and scientifically beautiful industry since childhood, and has shown his talent in the design and manufacture of watches.

Me reading the past couple pages

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:11

e.pilot: Nov 20, 2011; sometimes maybe good
sometimes maybe shit

Captain Quack posted:

Skinner in Albany, the hams steamed.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:20

holttho: May 21, 2007

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Also funny that while most audiences would assume they're a Tom and Jerry parody, apparently the crew have confirmed they're more specifically inspired by Herman and Katnip. (which to be fair is a ripoff of Tom and Jerry, most notable for being considerably more violent and over-the-top in a way that Itchy and Scratchy took even further)

They've definitely cited Herman and Katnip as the source; they talk about it pretty plainly on the early season DVD commentaries. They coupled that with some of the animation directors penchant for drawing super-gory cartoons in their younger days

HappyCapybaraFamily posted:

Me reading the past couple pages

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:24

FEMA summer camp: Jan 22, 2006

holttho posted:

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:34

Captain Quack: Feb 18, 2013

e.pilot posted:

Skinner in Albany, the hams steamed.

drat, that is better!

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:37

e.pilot: Nov 20, 2011; sometimes maybe good
sometimes maybe shit

Captain Quack posted:

drat, that is better!

It�s so bereft of any meaning without knowing the context, I love it.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:46

Captain Splendid: Jan 7, 2009; Qu'en pense Caffarelli?

holttho posted:

# ? Apr 30, 2020 19:59

Bobstar: Feb 8, 2006; KartooshFace, you are not responding efficiently!

HappyCapybaraFamily posted:

Me reading the past couple pages

E: messed up the text border

Bobstar fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Apr 30, 2020

# ? Apr 30, 2020 20:04

e.pilot: Nov 20, 2011; sometimes maybe good
sometimes maybe shit

Bobstar posted:

# ? Apr 30, 2020 20:15

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

# ? Apr 30, 2020 20:27

Code Jockey: Jan 24, 2006; 69420 basic bytes free

holttho posted:

James L Brooks slowly forcing Sam Simon out because the episode where Mr. Burns needs rare blood from Bart is a 1-to-1 retelling of what happened happened with Brooks' illness. (including the company memo from Smithers/Richard Sakai saying 'you should be so lucky to have your blood in someone so important')

yo what

# ? Apr 30, 2020 20:42

Propaganda Hour: Aug 25, 2008; after editing wikipedia as a joke for 16 years, i ve convinced myself that homer simpson's japanese name translates to the "The beer goblin"

Code Jockey posted:

yo what

It's real, he's a picture of Simon.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 20:44

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

holttho posted:

If any of you are interested in the beginnings of the Simpsons, how it got started, what world existed that allowed it to flourish, and just how the show got made, I strongly recommended The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History by John Ortved. It is an exceptional read about the first decade of the show.

Tracy Ullman being super bitter about the Simpsons because she thought that they sabotaged her show; and not the fact that it was an overly-cerebral sketch show that America just didn't care about. It regularly had over an hour downtime between sketches because there was so much makeup, costumes, and set breakdown, that the audience on set would understandably get bored and wander off - and word got out quick the only reason to go was to see all the Simpsons shorts they fed to them between skits. Something that was true of the broadcast version of the show as well. Of course, she claimed it sabotaged her only after it was settled in court that no, she does not get any sort of money on the back end from the Simpsons.

James L Brooks slowly forcing Sam Simon out because the episode where Mr. Burns needs rare blood from Bart is a 1-to-1 retelling of what happened happened with Brooks' illness. (including the company memo from Smithers/Richard Sakai saying 'you should be so lucky to have your blood in someone so important')

Matt Groening being a writers room pariah because he would only barely participate in writing, layout, and general production of episodes, but would unapologetically take full credit for every step of the process in the hundreds of interviews he did, then fight to make sure no one but him got merchandising checks.

It's really good.

holttho posted:

Eh, it's kinda 'which paintbrush is responsible for the masterpiece' sort of thing. They all brought their voice to the show and with very few exceptions, no one wrote individual parts of the show. Simon was definitely the sharp one of the group, but we're only talking about it now because of Brooks' syrup and Groenings acid made something that stood the test of time. That, and the first three years writers room -even at the time- was known as a dream-team of writers. That then set the stage for the next few years because since the original group was the team everyone looked to and wanted to be on, the producers had their pick of the litter or writers for the golden age of Simpsons.

It was never really in question that the show would do well (certainly they couldn't have predicted to what extent, though), the only thing in question was whether or not Fox would be able to keep the lights on. They knew they had a hot property, and from top to bottom they put together the strongest team the world of TV could muster. Which is why the all the interviews went to Groening for interviews. "Long-time smart successful TV producers produce another successful smart TV show" is not an interesting headline. "Starving artist outsider cartoonist strikes it rich" sells so much better. And as it turned out, Groening drank a bit too much of his own Kool-aid that he made in the interviews and got too big for his own britches in the eyes of the writers and show runners. He fought constantly against the better judgment of the people who actually knew how to make the show citing his own interviews as his position of power and had to be constantly reminded that being a cartoonist does not a show-runner make.

This poo poo is fascinating. It is also empirically true if you do even cursory research into credited writers/directors for the show and ignore all the backstage drama-- a lot of stone-cold classic episodes are credited to one-off creatives. There is no sole figure you can credit for the show's genius. Groening, Brooks, Simon, O'Brien, Swartzwelder, Reiss, Jean, Scully, Meyer, Mirkin, Vitti, Oakley, Daniels, Cohen, Weinstein, and what must be dozens of others are all part of the secret sauce. Not Graham though. Ian Maxtone-Graham is terrible. I'll stand by that.

Code Jockey posted:

yo what

Yeah this is news to me and I'm loving it. James L. Brooks is a seriously talented guy but he always struck me as one of those dudes who enters a room and makes every sphincter tighten involuntarily because he's had the power to make anyone in his orbit disappear since the Nixon Administration.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 21:02

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

The early seasons were definitely a bit darker.

# ? Apr 30, 2020 21:57

Nicodemus Dumps: Jan 9, 2006; Just chillin' in the sink

No one who writes messages in blood could be an evil man

# ? Apr 30, 2020 22:38

Jay Rust: Sep 27, 2011

Phanatic posted:

The early seasons were definitely a bit darker.

I love this

# ? May 1, 2020 01:54

Literally Kermit: Mar 4, 2012; t

ChesterJT posted:

That doesn't have anything to do with decade shorthand like "the 80s". Congratulations you're pedantic AND stupid. What a dud.

I said in a more accurate way, it was a 90's show.

And in a way we're both Duds.

But in another more accurate way, I am the Dud because I hosed up the reference and I also happen to be pedantic and stupid. :dudsmile:

# ? May 1, 2020 03:35

Haschel Cedricson: Jan 4, 2006; Brinkmanship

I don't know why I'm on a Ray Jay Johnson kick. Lord knows he doesn't deserve it.

EDIT:

Haschel Cedricson fucked around with this message at 05:37 on May 1, 2020

# ? May 1, 2020 05:27

sweet geek swag: Mar 29, 2006; Adjust lasers to FUN!

Haschel Cedricson posted:

I don't know why I'm on a Ray Jay Johnson kick. Lord knows he doesn't deserve it.

He didn't deserve the original joke in the first place, so I'm not gonna give you a hard time for making the most of it.

# ? May 1, 2020 05:35

Lurdiak: Feb 26, 2006; I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do.

droll posted:

Summers with the grandparents were my "No Simpsons" breaks oh god I'm so old.

Granddad called the Simpsons "Dumbheads".

My grandpa didn't let me watch King of the Hill because he thought it was "Those Butthead cartoons"

# ? May 1, 2020 08:04

RichardA: Sep 1, 2006; .; Dinosaur Gum

Never-mind. Missed someone making the same point.

RichardA fucked around with this message at 13:35 on May 1, 2020

# ? May 1, 2020 13:32

BigDave: Jul 14, 2009; Taste the High Country

Haschel Cedricson posted:

I don't know why I'm on a Ray Jay Johnson kick. Lord knows he doesn't deserve it.

EDIT:

God that was the dumbest loving premise for a joke. "Let's get Ray Romano as a handyman that only Homer has seen so everyone thinks he's nuts!"

# ? May 1, 2020 14:55

BizarroAzrael: Apr 6, 2006; "That must weigh heavily on your soul. Let me purge it for you."

BigDave posted:

God that was the dumbest loving premise for a joke. "Let's get Ray Romano as a handyman that only Homer has seen so everyone thinks he's nuts!"

And it was nearer the start of the show than to the present day, Christ.

# ? May 1, 2020 15:01

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

The Simpsons was a product of Bright Color 90's, which actually started in the 80's. All the best episodes actually aired in Flannel 90's, however.

People don't seem to remember what different decades the two were.

# ? May 1, 2020 15:23

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Lurdiak posted:

My grandpa didn't let me watch King of the Hill because he thought it was "Those Butthead cartoons"

That sucks, but I appropriate the irony of that being the exact same kind of thing that Hank Hill would do/say.

"those Butthead cartoons look like something that was made by a jackass."

# ? May 1, 2020 15:55