Oh, I know I've broached this subject before, but after watching three straight new episodes of South Park, Simpsons and Family Guy I have to ask this again. Have these shows finally jumped the shark? Have they already jumped the shark? Is this just a bad season? Are they paying the writers enough?
These episodes -- and I include the new "Treehouse of Horror" in this -- just left me flat.
First, we have the SP episode where the gang become Peruvian flute players. The only bright moment in this was Craig, the Boring Boy. But even with Craig, it felt like he was just being set up as the new "character" that everyone is supposed to repeat catch phrases from. From the stream-of-consciousness plot with the Gitmo references that seem like they've been done a dozen times before on the show, to the killer guinea pigs, to calling Craig a "dick" at the end of the episode. It felt stale, and the stream-of-consciousness plot seemed something more like what SP criticizes Family Guy for.
Onto yesterday's "Treehouse of Horror." Eh. When the funniest moment is the very fact that they actually did a Peanuts parody (not even the content of the parody itself), something's wrong. The election-booth sketch was too obvious, and strangely ultra-topical for a Simpsons epi. I can't even remember the sketch after that one; that's how good it was. The "Advertising Assassin" segment was horrible. And while I appreciated the water-color backgrounds on the "Great Pumpkin" story, Robot Chicken did this one 100% better.
Last, we have Family Guy's "Home Alone" episode, where Stewie is accidentally left behind while the rest of the gang go on vacation. What a weak installment! And I love Family Guy. I must have laughed four times, and two of those times involved poo or vomit (on the screen, not me). Peter's usual cutaway nonsequiturs were especially unfunny. What's going on, guys?
Is it just that these shows have been on too long?
That said, I've also realized why it has taken me longer to get into King of the Hill, American Dad, and Futurama. They actually have plots. King of the Hill is actually like the "New Yorker" of prime-time cartoons. It's actually deep. I actually have to pace myself watching that show. Hank Hill's stoic face is like that of a Buddha carved on a hillside. The next morning I'm huddled around my coffee still trying to parse the latest episode out.
That said, anyone watching Mad Men? That show is fucking awesome.
Watch on Hulu:
Treehouse of Horror 19
Family Guy, "Baby Not On Board"
King Of the Hill "Lost in My Space"
Watch on the South Park site:
"Pandemic 2: The Startling"
The Simpsons are Elvis. Dangerous seeming when they first debuted, they're now an accepted part of American culture that everyone in the family accepts. Classic without being particularly challenging. They raised the bar, then hung a tent on it and just camped out.
ReplyDeleteSouth Park is Punk Rock. Loud, angry, and unconcerned with style as much as substance. It also just doesn't seem as edgy 10 years later. You can only be young and pissed off for so long. After that, you're just old and grumpy, which is the transition South Park is making right now.
Family Guy is Rap. Fresh and dangerous for a while, but then devolved into narcissism and superficiality. After fighting for and gaining acceptance, they lowered their own standards.
This has been your strained metaphor for today.
I actually think South Park is better now than it's ever been, Family Guy still makes me laugh, and even though The Simpsons well and truly HAS jumped the shark, you average new episode is stull usually better than anything else that's showing in that time slot.
ReplyDeleteHate to break it to ya (I'm sure you've heard right?) King of the Hill has been canceled.
ReplyDeleteBut, right there with ya on all your points. I really could not believe how boring South Park was. I kept waiting for the gotcha, but no, it really was just plain old borring.
I think The Simpsons jumped the shark a long time ago. I think Family Guy and to a lesser degree, South Park still have some juice left, inasmuch as neither has had quite the same longevity as The Simpsons.
ReplyDeleteAnd they just announced King of the Hill was canceled, too.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful show. Too deadpan for most peoples' tastes, it must be said. There are a lot of jokes on Family Guy that go over the heads of anyone who's never lived in New England, but the whole milieu of King of the Hill seems like it would be opaque to anyone who had never lived in the region. I always liked the show, but after I lived in Oklahoma (or, as I like to call it, North Texas) for a few years, it became a lot more significant. I've known people almost identical to Hank Hill.
Mad Men is incredible... But as an AD who has worked for a number of agencies (freelance and such), it is sad to see that some behaviors in that industry die hard.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched a full episode of the Simpsons in years and while I enjoyed the movie, not enough to get me interested in watching it again. The same with King of the hill and South Park. I just don't have any interested
ReplyDeleteI agree that FG and Simpsons have "jumped the shark" in the sense that both are past their prime, but I still enjoy both. I also believe that SP generally is as good as it has ever been, although this last two-parter was not the show's best work.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have also watched numerous episodes of KOTH, and I have enjoyed some a lot, and others less. However, I fail to see what is so deep as compared to any other sitcom. It is certainly much more character based, but there is not a lot of nonobvious subtext to discern from what I can tell. I greatly enjoy Futurama and American Dad.
ReplyDeleteI for one laughed at the latest Treehouse of Horror segment. Such things are really the only time that the Simpsons remain funny to me, IMHO (with the exception of the League of Extraordinary Comic Creators. "Maus is in the house"!) As for the topical humor of the show, I should point out that they had an entire segment the 1996 Treehouse of Horror be about the Clinton/Dole campaign, which I only knew about because I watched a lot of TV but I knew next to nothing about either except that Norm McDonald did a great Bob Dole parody on SNL.
ReplyDeleteI still enjoy South Park immensely, including the latest stuff with the Guinea Pigs. It's so random that it's awesome (plus the Cloverfield parody in part 1). Also, Craig was great: "This is why no one hangs out with you guys." "Ignore him, he's just being a dick." "Oh, yeah. You take me $100 given to me by my Grandmother, get me locked up by Homeland Security, and now we're being sent into Peru. And I'M the dick."
I think the phrase jumped the shark, jumped itself about 4 years ago. These days I prefer "nuked the fridge"
ReplyDeleteThe Simpsons has been terrible for years now. 5 or 6 years ago the writers started focusing on jerk-ass homer and stopped actually caring about plots and characters. When homer stopped actually working at the power plant and started his job of the weak shenanigans the show started to tank fast. There's still a good joke or two in every episode, but as far as an actual episodic show goes it's terrible.
King of the Hill is one of my favorite TV shows ever, but even that show isn't what it used to be. I think it's just hard to be on tv for 8 or 9 or 10 plus years and still be funny.
South Park, yeah, they've run out of steam and it shows. Unlike the Simpsons who ran out of steam about 15 years ago and for some reason people are only just NOW noticing. Hell, Simpsons doesn't even take time to set up their jokes anymore...it's setup/punchline/setup/punchline all in a row, with no breaks in between.
ReplyDeleteFamily Guy I always considered to be low-grade crap. I don't understand what people find so funny about this show and all it's stupid attempts at jokes. Random does not equal funny.
Homer no longer works at the plant? It has been a while since I've watched Simpsons. Since I don't need any more help with my 7 yo son's backtalk and sarcasm, we don't watch it.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, some pro-family rightwing group actually got the Simpsons to agree to be socially responsible back in like season 4. I think the episode where Homer sets up a swear jar to help him stop swearing is fruit of that era. Ah well.
King of the Hill was subtle and wonderful.
I could listen to Stewie all day. That's all I like about Family Guy.
ReplyDelete"5 or 6 years ago the writers started focusing on jerk-ass homer and stopped actually caring about plots and characters."
ReplyDelete5 or 6 years ago? They started focusing on Homer back in the 90s. By 97, Homer was definitely the focus of both advertising and episode plots (as opposed to the advertising focus on Bart for the first few seasons).
jmy... the more I think about it you're right. So many years and so many episodes, it all becomes a blur. all the really good episodes were from the 90s, I just can't believe that that was 8 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI think Family Guy has been on a steady decline into suckville ever since it got un-canceled. If you watch the older episodes they often did non sequiturs and references but they somehow wove them into the plot. Now it's just cutaway after cutaway and the plots feel more and more anemic.
ReplyDeleteAnd the musical numbers are UNBEARABLE. Why on earth do we need to listen to several minutes worth of Peter and his family singing "The Rose"?! It starts to feel more like Seth McFarlane's artistic masturbation than anything comedic or interesting. I feel like they've even managed to make me like Stewie a bit less when, like pduggie, I could generally listen to/watch him all the time. I think they've already run out of good ideas and either recycle overused plot devices or find excuses to string together a bunch of references and reenactments.
I haven't watched a new episode of The Simpsons in forever due to my lack of interest in it over the last few years. South Park still has some good moments but is hit or miss for me. Sometimes it's sharp as a tack and truly hilarious, other times it feels like 20 minutes of bad shock value jokes.
The Simpsons has been terrible for at least 5 years. South Park has been mostly terrible for at least 3. Family Guy has always been terrible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Craig propping up the "Cloverfield" rip-off, if for no other reason than there was finally somebody around to point out how ridiculous the boys' life is. Didn't really get the vibe that he was being pushed as a major new character, though.
ReplyDeleteI love Mad Men. The MM intro in the Simpsons was probably my favorite part of the episode.
ReplyDelete-David
Oh, and have you read the Treehouse of Horror comic? Each year Bongo comic puts one out. It's a collection of three stories that parody comics, each one done in the style. This year they did 30 Days of Doh (30 Days and Nights), Murder He Wrote (a beautifuly done parody of Death Note), and the movie (I know, usually it's comics but this one is good) Frankenstein Conquers the World.
ReplyDeleteContributers on the comic include Steve Niles (who did the parody of his own work), Glenn Fabry, and Gilbert Hernandez.
Even if the episode is boring, I always know the comic is going to be a lot of fun.
I've seen a few eps on Mad Men, and mean to see more someday. (Years ago, I was lucky enough to see one of the stars, Maggie Siff, play the Thomasina in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in Philly. It was a powerhouse performance, so much so that I remembered her name for years after I stopped seeing her anywhere. She was also great in a Wallace Shawn play, Aunt Dan and Lemon, a real skin-crawler of a two-woman drama.)
ReplyDeleteIt may have been time to pull the plug on South Park and The Simpsons years ago. I honestly don't watch either as regularly as I once did, and I was a holdout for a long time, insisting they had some merit still.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with a few on both sides of the fence. I think The Simpsons has not been as funny as it was, although it is still much better than most crap out there.
ReplyDeleteFamily Guy...I supported Family Guy's un...cancellation, but then after a season regretted it. It's not that funny anymore. I love ADD humor, but it has really become predictable. Do I hate Family Guy? Far from it. Do I catch every episode? I've been missing them out've lack of interest.
South Park is doing fine. They always have that episode where it's just completely absurd. Given, they have admitted some of these episodes are due to lack of ideas at the time. For instance, the crab-people episode...but it was fun.
King of the Hill and Futurama were cut short. They both actually have a decent amount of social commentary and satire. But, Hank is going the way of Prof. Farnsworth...sigh. Hopefully they might get, at least, a direct-to-dvd.
American Dad: Don't and never will care for it. It's like all the jokes that couldn't make it into Family Guy crammed into a half-hour. It only accidently gets ratings from me, due to me reading as soon a Family Guy ends and I leave it on Fox.
You're about 12 years too late on the Simpsons questions. Family guy is a zombie, not a single show since its undead resurrection has been better than the first 3 seasons. The writers had something to prove, and wanted to stay on the air so badly. Now they feel cocky and are just feeding the masses what they think they want. And they all eat it like pigs in a trough.
ReplyDeleteCraig's been around for years.
I agree that the last Family Guy wasn't that good (and neither have the last few episodes -- you can tell they were a product of the writer's strike), but to say:
ReplyDelete"Why on earth do we need to listen to several minutes worth of Peter and his family singing "The Rose"?!"
I thought that was hilarious. When Peter started singing, I was hoping they'd run with it and actually kept going with the joke. They just kept going on, past the point that it was funny, and long enough that it became funny again.
I agree though, that as much as I adore South Park, the last few episodes were weak (the jokes about the giant fruit aside -- "Ain't that a peach... how do you like them apples?" Sometimes the dumbest jokes are the funniest.)
The Simpsons is the Simpsons though. It hasn't been classic for over a decade, but it is what it is. I liken it to comfort food at this point. It's not as funny as it was, and there're better things to watch, but everyone knows it's not as good anymore (including the cast), so there's no need to get hung up on that and just enjoy the ride.
A shame about King of the Hill though. I avoided it for years, until I started watching it and finally "got it". Truly sublime, and as good as it's ever been. Plus it's the rare show that got it right nearly out of the gate (season two on), and is still producing classic episodes after thirteen seasons.
Have a good day.
George Morrow
Mad Men kicks ass.
ReplyDelete