February 12, 2002
11:13 AM Subscribe
posted by waxpancake at 11:21 AM on February 12, 2002
posted by fnirt at 11:22 AM on February 12, 2002
If you'll excuse me, I'm now gonna run down to the mall and buy that Bender action figure I saw, so I can sell it to one of you jokers in 10 years for mucho dinero.
posted by jonmc at 11:30 AM on February 12, 2002
Oh, and why is it that every time Futurama is mentioned in any forum, anywhere on the entire internet, somebody feels the need to tell us all how much it sucks?
posted by esquilax at 11:34 AM on February 12, 2002
Futurama could have been successful if Fox would have put it in a time slot where people could actually see it (instead of constantly being pre-empted by football) and if Simpsons fans wouldn't have despised it from out of the gate.
Can they get rid of King of the Hill at least?
posted by drezdn at 11:36 AM on February 12, 2002
Maybe if Fox ran it at a time slot that wasn't covered up by the last half hour of NFL games at the beginning of the tv season and ran new episodes on a regular schedule, the show might have found an audience. But as a big fan of the show (without a Tivo) I've had trouble catching the episodes.
It's shame, because Futurama has been funnier, subtler and better written than The Simpsons over the same time frame. (ahh, how I pine for the Simpsons of the first few seasons) Perhaps Groening's prediction from the Wired interview (as linked by waxpancake above) that "The Simpsons are still on the air in the year 3000" isn't too far off...
Hopefully the full series will be released on DVD before long.
posted by andrewraff at 11:41 AM on February 12, 2002
Perhaps if you used TiVo to record the shows, this wouldn't have happened.
posted by FreezBoy at 11:44 AM on February 12, 2002
posted by sudama at 11:49 AM on February 12, 2002
posted by sudama at 11:51 AM on February 12, 2002
posted by krewson at 11:53 AM on February 12, 2002
This is the first season on region2, dunno about region 1 yet!!!
posted by monkeyJuice at 11:55 AM on February 12, 2002
Damn, with the Olympics kicking the few NBC shows I watch and Fox killing my favorite cartoon, I am really close to mothballing my television set.
posted by fleener at 11:56 AM on February 12, 2002
posted by mathowie at 12:02 PM on February 12, 2002
Pick up great show.
Get really nervous about fact it isn't instant hit.
Change schedules around until nobody knows when the hell it is on.
Cancel show.
While Futurama was given the sweet sweet Sunday slot (so I can't cry a huge tear for it -- don't know how it got booted), Family Guy and Tick seemed to get pushed around quite a bit -- I only got to see Tick once (it was great). And I've noticed that while the Bernie Mac show (which, actually, isn't bad) and That 80s Show (absolute poo) get plugged every commercial break, I've barely seen a spot for the Family Guy since their first season (despite it being a far superior program, with enough of a fan base to rate a -- painfully sparse -- binaries newsgroup.).
Almost every Fox show I can think of that's now a bonafide hit spent at least a season or two in obscurity, excepting the Simpsons (Examples: Ally McBeal, That 70s Show, X-Files, King of the Hill.)
But usually with a solid timeslot.
Futurama will be missed: the last season or so has seen the writing really get consistent. I don't think the Simpsons suffered a loss with Matt Groening, however -- I think he was only really involved with the first season, which was mostly dry satire akin to King of the Hill -- his absence was probably beneficial to the Simpsons Golden Years (I'm guessing seasons 5-10 or so.). I think the real loss was Phil Hartman. However, the Simpsons is showing signs of recovery: last episode wasn't insanely bad (though notably below par), and, (thankfully) had a pronounced absence of racial humor that has somehow been slipping in since season twelve (ever since that show when they went to africa -- and what the hell was with that Leprecaun episode?) Also: not too many Homer pratfalls, which is a good sign. Hopefully they fired whoever the hell was responsible for the last year's worth of shows.
Family Guy being canned is a terrible terrible crime, and I hope someone picks up the series -- hands down the best comic timing I have ever seen on television. A bit bawdy, sure, and I think this may have hurt it a bit with certain demographics, but M-A-N, potty humor at it's sophisticated best.
posted by fishfucker at 12:04 PM on February 12, 2002
I can think of 24 reasons.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 12:14 PM on February 12, 2002
Programming Consultant #1: Hey, how can we lose all of our hipper, smarter audience?
Programming Consultant #2: Well, we already dumbed down the Simpson's, but Futurama and Family Guy still have an edge.
Programming Consultant #1: I got it, let's dump them both and then sign Greg the Bunny! It's like TV Funhouse on Comedy Central.
Programming Consultant #2: But TV Funhouse is funny... and it's edgy.
Programming Consultant #1: Not the way we do it.
Programming Consultant #2: Excellent! Wanna go grab some Zimas?
posted by eyeballkid at 12:16 PM on February 12, 2002
The existence of the Cartoon Network pretty much guarantees a revival of both Futurama and Family Guy, though. If not new episodes, than at least the old ones interestingly presented.
posted by dong_resin at 12:25 PM on February 12, 2002
Fox, you used to be cool. What happened?
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 12:28 PM on February 12, 2002
What does this mean? How is their presentation changed?
posted by BlueTrain at 12:34 PM on February 12, 2002
Cartoon Network almost seems enthusiastic about it's programming.
posted by dong_resin at 12:42 PM on February 12, 2002
At least FOX has the swank Malcolm in the Middle. And The Simpsons was really good the other day. A step in the right direction, at least.
posted by Fahrenheit at 12:46 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by neo452 at 12:53 PM on February 12, 2002
Fox isn't totally useless in the Philly area. We get an hour of old Simpsons every week day. Also, Malcom in the Middle is high quality.
posted by Werd7 at 12:55 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by scribblative at 1:10 PM on February 12, 2002
I also still believe the Simpsons at its worst is better than 95% of what else is on. Of course, I don't have a TV, so I'm not a great judge of these things.
posted by rocketman at 1:28 PM on February 12, 2002
It just might work. But this is Fox, I'm sure they'll find a way to screw it up. They managed to kill "Undeclared" before it even aired. It was barely advertised, oft-preempted, and when it did air, the episodes were OUT OF ORDER! It made it really hard for even a fan to follow along.
It will be no surprise when it's cancelled. The only surprise is that Judd Apatow has set up yet another pilot at Fox... hasn't he learned from their ineptitude from the last two?
posted by Fofer at 2:07 PM on February 12, 2002
I found it quite interesting that Futurama was good, yet it never took off in the way the Simpsons did. Why not? Possibly because while the story itself was original, the style was not.. it was just The Simpsons crossed with The Jetsons. The characters were mostly unrealistic, and the only one we could directly associate with was Fry. So.. it was a good show with hilarious jokes.. but it lacked magic.
Family Guy, even better than Futurama in my opinion, suffered from the opposite problem. It targeted too narrow a demographic. My parents (late 40s) loved The Simpsons and Futurama but were left scratching their heads to Family Guy.
And, unlike South Park, most people under 18 couldn't understand Family Guy either because the jokes were based on things as diverse as Logan's Run and Speed Racer. The fact that Family Guy translated poorly in an international context (half of the references for the jokes were mostly unheard of outside of the US) also led to its demise.
posted by wackybrit at 2:32 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by crankydoodle at 2:36 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by dhartung at 2:44 PM on February 12, 2002
I like the simpsons. I never got futurama.
I was sad when the Tick was cancelled. I thought that was the stupidest idea in the world, but it was a truly hilarious show.
posted by rebeccablood at 3:02 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by owillis at 3:10 PM on February 12, 2002
Because it's a very polarizing show; you either love it or hate it ... or at least don't care for it and quickly get very tired of having to watch others carry on forEVer about how it's The Greatest Show on Television and if you don't like it must be because the jokes are too subtle and intellectual for you and yadda yadda yadda.
I've given Futurama a shot, several times. I never found it at all enjoyable, and it wasn't because I didn't understand the humor. I got it fine. It's just that to me, their jokes don't come off as subtle, but rather as overreaching. It always made me feel as if the writers are a bunch of snobs going out of their way to be as obscure as possible in order to increase their hipness quotient. And to be honest, the non-obscure jokes generally fell flat. I always came away from it thinking that this was a show created so that the Simpsons producers would have a place to give their friends and cronies a writing job and let them hone their skills until the were ready for the Big Time. A Simpsons second string, if you will. And they got a lot of second-string scripts as a result. It's often the B Squad that is most willing to take more chances and try different things, which is the sort of thing a lot of people here seem to care about, but to me it just doesn't matter that much if the attempts don't pan out. And for me, they never did.
Which, you know, is fine in and of itself. I don't expect every show on TV to be designed specifically to please me. But geez, some of the pop culture elitism in this thread is just too strong to let it go by unquestioned.
posted by aaron at 3:35 PM on February 12, 2002
someone mentioned sifl 'n olly earlier.. now THAT was some quality programming. i got the season 3 DVD last weekend.. very cres.
posted by lotsofno at 3:38 PM on February 12, 2002
The people at the bank call me Marty! Buy my antifreeze! SUCKERS!!!
posted by aaron at 3:59 PM on February 12, 2002
I'm guilty of that... but I dont really care anymore. I'm still pissed off about how the Star Trek suits seemed to favour Voyager over DS9, another underrated classic :)
posted by esquilax at 4:42 PM on February 12, 2002
I found out last night that I obviously don't watch Australia's Channel 10 (a free-to-air) any more. While surfing through the channels (I have cable) in order to kill 30 mins between shows I came across a NEW episode of Charmed, already almost half way through. The fact that, as an avid Charmed viewer, I had no idea that the new season had started should worry 10 -- it means I don't watch it enough to see any ads.
(At least the episode was consumed with swapping out Shannon Doherty and swapping in that actress from Jawbreaker, so I didn't miss much.)
posted by krisjohn at 5:02 PM on February 12, 2002
Uh, there's a Sifl n Olly DVD? WOOT!
posted by wackybrit at 5:04 PM on February 12, 2002
I've found every episode is still laugh-out-loud hilarious. I think we get used to quality stuff pretty quickly, and then expect every episode to be a masterpiece.
I love Futurama, and have from the time it started, which has surprised me, since I initially thought the idea would wear thin over time.
posted by troybob at 6:19 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by rcade at 6:27 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by Dirjy at 7:52 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by ParisParamus at 8:00 PM on February 12, 2002
I've stuck with it for this long so I might as well ride it home.
I like That 70's Show just because Cheap Trick does a variation of a Big Star song for the theme and it's occasionally funny.
That 80's Show blows hard, though.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 9:06 PM on February 12, 2002
and did someone say there's some SIFL N OLY clips out there on the intarweb??!? WHERE?!
posted by jcterminal at 10:17 PM on February 12, 2002
Because it's very unfunny, so far.
I'll give it a few more shots though 'cause I dig the punk chick at the record store.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 11:00 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by owillis at 11:01 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by fraying at 11:53 PM on February 12, 2002
posted by viama at 5:00 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by viama at 9:08 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by owillis at 4:06 PM on February 13, 2002
Cause they forgot to create a mullethead metal fan character, thus giving me noone to relate to and an unforgivable lapse in 80's history knowledge.
That and there's no babeage that compares with That '70s Show's Laura Prepon.
posted by jonmc at 4:30 PM on February 13, 2002
Pfft. The Simpsons have been just another sitcom since at least the 1998 season. I can sit through entire episodes without breaking even a smile and the edgyness that was it's hallmark in the beginning is totally gone now, giving into wider "family programming" appeal.
If that's what you're into, then by all means, feel free to love it. I personally remeber a time when the Simpsons was different that any other show on TV and didn't dumb itself down, that's that's what I loved it for
posted by Hackworth at 3:24 PM on July 13, 2002
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posted by catatonic at 11:20 AM on February 12, 2002