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Phlegmish posted:Of the golden era episodes, the babysitting one is probably one of my least favorites, even though it has a few good jokes. Everyone is just so unpleasant in it, especially Bart. To be fair, the entire thing was Marge's fault. There's absolutely no reason for her to think that Bart would take well to being babysat by his little sister. loving no one would.
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Jun 3, 2020 19:52
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Riptor posted:I always laughed at the concept of the character Cody from the TGIF show Step By Step; he was clearly based off the stoner surfer dude archetype but the show was for families and set in Wisconsin or something so instead he just came off as this mentally challenged man who lived in a van in the yard Mentally challenged men was a sitcom trope in the 90's wasn't it? I seem to remember Family Matters having one as well.
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Jun 3, 2020 19:53
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Iron Crowned posted:Mentally challenged men was a sitcom trope in the 90's wasn't it? I seem to remember Family Matters having one as well. Urkel?
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Jun 3, 2020 20:01
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In the problematic episode tournament bracket, does any episode from the first 10-11 seasons come close to breaking through the first round? I’ve heard some horrible synopses itt of later and resent episodes. The worst plot trope (not just Simpsons, every show) is “character x overcomes their lovely circumstance or their dream comes true or they are fulfilled on a meaningful level and their hopes are dashed at the last minute”. These episodes are invariably light on jokes, I guess the suffering of the characters is supposed to generate the laughs? It’s like the writers think “Gift of the Magi” is the height of comedy
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Jun 3, 2020 20:09
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PostNouveau posted:Urkel? Waldo Geraldo Faldo
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Jun 3, 2020 20:20
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Whorelord posted:To be fair, the entire thing was Marge's fault. There's absolutely no reason for her to think that Bart would take well to being babysat by his little sister. loving no one would. No it wasn't. Bart has been nothing but a pain in the rear end his whole life, Lisa's clearly the most responsible one. Marge should of known it wouldn't have gone well, but Bart has always been a piece of poo poo to baby sitters, back to season 1.
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Jun 3, 2020 20:39
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Ghost Leviathan posted:The 80s was kinda nuts, but also keep in mind the marketing juggernauts of the time probably realised that kids knew about and were enthusiastic for Aliens, Robocop and Freddy Krueger. Kids love things that seem 'adult' but have fantastic and imaginative elements that appeal to them. The PG-13 rating seems to herald in Hollywood finally splitting the difference, with violence sanitised just enough that kids can watch it. My understanding about the Aliens toys is that there was initially a plan to do a cartoon series like Robocop/Rambo but it fell through but they had gone through the effort of designing the action figures so they sold them anyway.
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Jun 3, 2020 21:04
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muscles like this! posted:My understanding about the Aliens toys is that there was initially a plan to do a cartoon series like Robocop/Rambo but it fell through but they had gone through the effort of designing the action figures so they sold them anyway. Those toys came with cool little comic books sometimes, it was neat. Barry ever watched old Simpsons when it was on, but I just got through the end of s12 and started S13 this week and think I’ve hit my limit, half the episodes are okay and half are just really mean. There’s something whimsical about how the old plots meandered all over the place where at the end of an episode you remember how the episode started with something innocuous and escalated into wacky hijinks, and at this point the plots just seem to march on through the main premise really stupidly. Time to pick out the last few notable episodes and then go watch futurama or king of the hill again I guess. e: homer also turned from an idiot to an incredible jackass by season 12, but by the end of that/beginning of 13 he’s an unbelievable i just watched children of a lesser clod and the level of dysfunctional rear end in a top hat throughout the family went way beyond endearing to just nasty, kinda like that Lisa babysitter episode that also sucks. Rob Rockley fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jun 3, 2020 |
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Jun 3, 2020 21:35
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Rob Rockley posted:
The thing I remember about children of a lesser clod is the bit where homer's scab grows over ralph's hand being particularly disgusting. There was another episode where homer gets LASIK or something and his eyes crust over. Like Ren and Stimpy gross out humor. Maybe I'm being selective since early simpsons did have gross out stuff like itchy and scratchy and the halloween show where the family turns inside out. Could be they got away with it because it was funnier. The recent halloween episode where homer eats himself was proably the most disgusting thing the show has ever done, but it was pretty effective horror so I'll give them that. The babysitter episode and a lot of season 8 was really going to dark places. Frank grimes, the flanders hurricane episode, bart and lisa go to military school. I remember the military school one as being uncomfortably dark and depressing - Lisa bullied and isolated, listening to marge singing "you are my sunshine", being forced to crawl over a pit of spikes and being bullied so hard she almost gives up halfway through.
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Jun 3, 2020 23:45
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Homer’s eyes crusting over (because they were trying to “upsell” him on the eye drops) was hilarious
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Jun 3, 2020 23:52
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Iron Crowned posted:Mentally challenged men was a sitcom trope in the 90's wasn't it? I seem to remember Family Matters having one as well. Seinfeld did a whole B plot about it when Kramer was wearing those jumping shoes. COMPAGNIE TOMMY posted:In the problematic episode tournament bracket, does any episode from the first 10-11 seasons come close to breaking through the first round? I’ve heard some horrible synopses itt of later and resent episodes. The only series I can think of that used that Trope well is Trailer Park Boys and that’s because they do it in a way that’s consistent with the show’s internal logic Simpson’s pulled it off a couple times but the recycling plant one was just truly awful and badly written.
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Jun 3, 2020 23:55
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There's the episode where Gil mooches off the Simpsons for a year because Marge can't work up the nerve to kick him out, only for him to leave right before she can do it, so she follows him to Arizona where he's made something of himself apparently right away, only to tell him off and ruin him again. But I've never really liked Gil, even compared to a lot of the one note Simpson characters.
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Jun 4, 2020 01:55
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Data Graham posted:Homer’s eyes crusting over (because they were trying to “upsell” him on the eye drops) was hilarious 
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Jun 4, 2020 01:59
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bobjr posted:There's the episode where Gil mooches off the Simpsons for a year because Marge can't work up the nerve to kick him out, only for him to leave right before she can do it, so she follows him to Arizona where he's made something of himself apparently right away, only to tell him off and ruin him again. He was an attempt to replace the irreplacable Phil Hartman. No one likes Gil.
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Jun 4, 2020 02:42
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HuIILdA8Lg
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Jun 4, 2020 03:00
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BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:He was an attempt to replace the irreplacable Phil Hartman. No one likes Gil. I like Gil
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Jun 4, 2020 03:24
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PostNouveau posted:I like Gil NOBODY likes Gil!
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Jun 4, 2020 03:26
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PostNouveau posted:I like Gil Me too! I was going to cite the "Paul Newman's gonna have my legs broke!" quote until I realized that wasn't Gil. But I still like Gil.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:30
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PostNouveau posted:I like Gil Nobody who counts likes Gil Gunderson
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Jun 4, 2020 03:38
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still can't believe that babysitter episode was SEASON 8  i overshot it by at least 3 seasons!COMPAGNIE TOMMY posted:In the problematic episode tournament bracket, does any episode from the first 10-11 seasons come close to breaking through the first round? I’ve heard some horrible synopses itt of later and resent episodes. it wasn't the plot of the entire episode, but i always felt uncomfortable about bart's beating by the bullies at the beginning of the episode where homer becomes a boxer. bart had gotten beat up before, sure, but it used to be mostly gut punches, something you could laugh off, even if it was messed up, to getting seriously damaged, with black eyes and bruises all over. it went far beyond the line from acceptable abuse to 'holy poo poo wtf'. BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:He was an attempt to replace the irreplacable Phil Hartman. No one likes Gil. gil has his moments, but he seems like the most 'manufactured' simpsons characters. like, it didn't seem like he was a natural addition to the cast, but someone created solely to replace phil hartmann. i've seen this clip a million times, including when it was posted in this very thread, and yet somehow i missed the Captain Whatshisname part 
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Jun 4, 2020 07:01
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Gil is nothing like a Phil Hartman character though, idgi
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Jun 4, 2020 07:21
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I hate new Simpsons, so much. I could've written better Simpsons episodes when I was an angst filled teen in high school. How do you write an entire episode of the loving Simpsons, and not understand that the only thing you need to do to get your dumb rear end plot to work is to make Bart hate the fact that Homer has forced him into competitive gaming? E My Sports totally would have worked if this one change was made. Like how the loving hell does an entire team of writers, and a full team of editors miss that point?
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Jun 4, 2020 07:59
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The weird thing is the Simpsons did a decent twist on this formula with the beauty pageant episode; knowing that Lisa is feeling insecure about her looks, Homer enters her in a beauty contest, not for anything for himself but to make her feel better. And with the support of her whole family, it works! She even comes second against a competitor who clearly devoted her entire life to it, not bad for a first time at all.
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Jun 4, 2020 08:06
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Ghost Leviathan posted:The weird thing is the Simpsons did a decent twist on this formula with the beauty pageant episode; knowing that Lisa is feeling insecure about her looks, Homer enters her in a beauty contest, not for anything for himself but to make her feel better. And with the support of her whole family, it works! She even comes second against a competitor who clearly devoted her entire life to it, not bad for a first time at all. On the other hand, child beauty pageants are hosed up
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Jun 4, 2020 08:37
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LIVE AMMO COSPLAY posted:On the other hand, child beauty pageants are hosed up Oh, totally. The episode mentions stuff like the winner getting illegal eyelash implants overseas and all, but it's not much. Of course, the entire beauty pageant industry from top to bottom is basically a mix of grift, abuse and front for prostitution.
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Jun 4, 2020 09:01
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BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:He was an attempt to replace the irreplacable Phil Hartman. Gil was around before Hartman’s death. He’s even working with Lionel Hutz in his debut episode so I’m not sure how you came to believe this.
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Jun 4, 2020 13:54
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He wasn't made to replace Hartman/Hutz. He premiered in the episode where Hutz became a real estate guy. They had plans to transition Hutz into a character who had a new career every episode but then Hartman was murdered. Gil basically inherited the career hopping idea.
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Jun 4, 2020 13:58
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Detective No. 27 posted:He wasn't made to replace Hartman/Hutz. He premiered in the episode where Hutz became a real estate guy. They had plans to transition Hutz into a character who had a new career every episode but then Hartman was murdered. Gil basically inherited the career hopping idea. I mean, if anyone could have pulled it off it was definitely Hartman/Hutz, but why? He was perfect as a lawyer. I guess it's similar to how they decided that Barney needed to become sober permanently for reasons.
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Jun 4, 2020 14:04
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Iron Crowned posted:I mean, if anyone could have pulled it off it was definitely Hartman/Hutz, but why? He was perfect as a lawyer. I guess it's similar to how they decided that Barney needed to become sober permanently for reasons. Barney did not get sober permanently.
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Jun 4, 2020 14:16
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Detective No. 27 posted:He wasn't made to replace Hartman/Hutz. He premiered in the episode where Hutz became a real estate guy. They had plans to transition Hutz into a character who had a new career every episode but then Hartman was murdered. Gil basically inherited the career hopping idea. Gil was originally just a parody of Jack Lemmon's character from Glengarry Glen Ross in that ep too.
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Jun 4, 2020 14:17
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PostNouveau posted:Barney did not get sober permanently. I know, but the extra bad years are extra bad and I choose to ignore them.
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Jun 4, 2020 14:18
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J-Spot posted:Gil was around before Hartman’s death. He’s even working with Lionel Hutz in his debut episode so I’m not sure how you came to believe this. Gil's first episode was Hartman's last episode. He has a lot of the same ideas behind Hutz and McClure in the situations they get to- constant failure in random business enterprises, and fills the same role in the stories its just that Gil approaches it from the perspective of "Aw gee I'm a pathetic little worm. Can't do nothing right." and Hutz and McClure approaches it from the perspective of "I'm sure everything will turn out all right in the end because I'm me Lionel Hutz." A failure with misplaced optimism and arrogance are way funnier than just a failure with sadbrains. BIG FLUFFY DOG fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Jun 4, 2020 |
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Jun 4, 2020 14:22
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sweet geek swag posted:Gil was originally just a parody of Jack Lemmon's character from Glengarry Glen Ross in that ep too. It's amazing how somewhat esoteric some of the jokes were in old episodes. Sideshow Bob's "Luv" and "Hat" tattoos is from Night of the Hunter (1955), which much like Glengarry Glen Ross, our younger selves probably hadn't seen at that time.
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Jun 4, 2020 14:23
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Iron Crowned posted:I mean, if anyone could have pulled it off it was definitely Hartman/Hutz, but why? He was perfect as a lawyer. I guess it's similar to how they decided that Barney needed to become sober permanently for reasons. You gotta remember that this was what, season 9 or 10? By then they felt that they had exhausted all lawyer stuff with him and wanted to go a new direction. Also the writers figured the show was gonna end in a season or two anyway, how much longer could it possibly go on?
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Jun 4, 2020 14:29
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Iron Crowned posted:It's amazing how somewhat esoteric some of the jokes were in old episodes. Sideshow Bob's "Luv" and "Hat" tattoos is from Night of the Hunter (1955), which much like Glengarry Glen Ross, our younger selves probably hadn't seen at that time.  
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Jun 4, 2020 14:29
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I'd forgotten about this, but back when I used to teach rhetoric, I used to show an episode of the Simpsons (I forget which) and an episode of Family Guy (The Thin White Line) in class. we were already into bad Simpsons by then, though it wasn't as apparent yet. the difference between the two shows used to be that I got every joke and reference on Family Guy. I never got all of them on the Simpsons, but that was a strength... there were always things I'd learn later and think "oh, that's what that meant." that's all out the window now. hell, I think it's reversed, but I haven't a new FG in ages. 
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Jun 4, 2020 14:53
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Gil also has that one pathetic salesman in his DNA from the documentary, Salesman, from the 1960s about a bunch of door to door bible salesmen.
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Jun 4, 2020 15:28
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Lisa’s restraining order against Bart was probably where the series really died in my eyes, she was just being downright cruel and it was supposed to be funny.
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Jun 4, 2020 15:31
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sweet geek swag posted:Gil was originally just a parody of Jack Lemmon’s character from Glengarry Glen Ross in that ep too. Yeah. Everyone please watch this movie venomsnek posted:Lisa’s restraining order against Bart was probably where the series really died in my eyes, she was just being downright cruel and it was supposed to be funny. What, you didn’t like the montage set to “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”, a song which is funny because Bart can’t stand close to Lisa??? Oh man I am laughing!
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Jun 4, 2020 15:45
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I disliked Gil from his first appearance and I wouldn't be shocked if I've never laughed at a single Gil gag.
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Jun 4, 2020 16:17
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