Arrested Development

Post by **Azrael** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:33 pm

Haha. I can change the topic, however....
Let's see...

Does anyone here watch Arrested Development?

It's on Fox on Sundays, really funny show, I recommend it.

Post by **Arresty** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:34 pm

Smooth move.

Post by **Buzkashi** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:14 am

Not that great a show..... You know what was worse? American Dad.

Post by **Arresty** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:17 am

Buzkashi wrote:Not that great a show..... You know what was worse? American Dad.

How dare you insult anything Seth Mcfarlane does. Its no Family Guy but still funny.

And for Arrested Devolopment never really watch it. Don't watch much american TV.

Post by **Buzkashi** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:23 am

Family guy was good. American dad was horrible. Thats just how the world works. I even noticed a hell of alot of the voices from family guy in American Dad.

Post by **Arresty** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:27 am

Its made by the same people, so they are going to be voiced by alot of the same people. It was like Simpsons and Futurama. Except Futurama was better than the simpsons.

Post by **Buzkashi** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:30 am

*smacks head* Did you just say Futurama is better than the Simpsons!! Just.. wow , every animated cartoon sitcom is pretty much based off of the simpsons. Good God man. The only reason it seems better is youve probably seen Simpsons so many times. (it never gets old for me though)

Post by **Arresty** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:36 am

No, I found Futurama was solid and quality all throughout the series. Also liked the characters better. But Simpson's has had a so many duds. It has some good episodes and in between it has some shitty ones. That is why I liked Futurama better, and now Simpsons seems to be just struggling to stay alive. Family Guy is the cartoon of all cartoons. May have came after the Simpsons and used some of their ideas, but the humor is completely different. New Simpson's actually is using some Family Guy technique. Their are many Simpson episodes I just didn't like at all first time I watched it. The first few seasons were weak, then it got really good, with the help of Conan O'Brien among others. But now its starting to get weak again. Family is the best animated TV show.

Post by **Femto** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:37 am

I'll have to side with Arresty on this one, Futurama is better than the Simpsons. It was much more original, there was no limits to what these guys did, because they could do any story they could come up with thanks to the futuristic setting. The Simpsons is very limited and still a little based on reality. More importantly, it has grown old. I'm kinda tired of seeing Homer acting stupid for the zillionth time.

Post by **Azrael** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:42 am

I agree as well, Futurama had alot more potential, the characters had more sides to them, what with the plethora of ideas just waiting to be used, it being the future and sci fi and all.

I never get tired of Zoidberg.

But man, Arrested Development, good show. You should watch it, Arresty, I think it's definitely one of the sitcoms out there right now. The writing is well done, each of the characters are truly defined and are all their own, it's smart funny.
Not alot of shows these days are like that.

Post by **Buzkashi** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:44 am

Lets put it this way. At the simpsons prime I think most people would give it a 10/10 ranking. As for Futurama at its prime would get an 8/10. Well thats just me. Sure i prefer futurama more. But thats because I've seen like all the Simpsons episodes. Its like askin who was better Michael Jordan at his prime or Kobe Bryant at his . Sure kobe is better now but ....well you get what i mean.

Post by **Azrael** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:45 am

Yeah, that's true. It's not exactly fair to compare the two now..
Simpsons is well on it's decline. It's been on its last legs for a long time.

Post by **Femto** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:48 am

Simpsons at its prime or Futurama at its prime, I don't care, I think Futurama is the better show. It's all a matter of opinion really.

Post by **Arresty** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:54 am

I agree with Femto on this one as well. But Family Guy at its prime is still better then them all. But its all a matter of opinion. But I thought Futurama was all around a better show than the Simpsons, prime or not, the funniest futurama episodes are funny then the funniest Simpsons.

Post by **Azrael** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:56 am

All I gotta say....in the words of the great Dr. Zoidberg...

Woo-woo-woo-woo

Post by **mrJotaan** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:15 pm

Buzkashi is right, American Dad is horrible. When I watched that show, I honestly thought they tried too hard to take potshots at groups of people without making it smooth. That's the difference between Family Guy and American Dad, the flow. I felt the flow of Family guy made it work out perfectly but in American Dad, when they got to the scene where he's talking about having a pencil stuck up Bin Laden's ass, that completely threw the flow of it right off. They'd have a normal conversation in Family guy and then take a potshot at someone which is so much funnier. It's hard to explain but it made American Dad lose any possibility of being good (IMO).

I'll have to side with Arresty on this one, Futurama is better than the Simpsons. It was much more original

How was it more original? Simpsons was basically the first in that specific genre and every cartoon sitcom these days is based off of it like Buzkashi said. Also, how is that particular story of Futurama original? Shows based in space have been way overdone so really there's no originality in it and sure there was so much more room for new stories, it hasn't been running for 16 seasons. I admit that Simpsons have run out of ideas but how long do you really think Futurama could've gone for? Don't get me wrong, I like the show, I just don't agree with your points.

Post by **Femto** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:42 pm

Well, first of all, the Simpsons might have breeded the family sitcom (King of the Hill, Family Guy), but Futurama is different than that, it's about a company and about people with jobs. There are no family issues, other things are at stake and that is a huge difference right there. But I wasn't really talking about it being original in general terms, I was talking about the small things, like how they handle robots, or Zoidberg. A few examples:

-Bender wants to be a chef, but he can't be one because he's a robot and he has no sense of smell.

-Fry accidentally drinks the ruler of some planet whose habitants are made of liquid.

-Leela is fooled by a shapeshifting creature that is trying to marry 5 females of different species.

-Fry's head is attached to Amy's body after a freak accident.

-Santa Claus is a robot that kills people.

-The internet in the year 3000.

-Madison Cube Garden.

-Zoidberg.

These are all from the top of my head. There was just no limits to what these guys could've done with the setting they created, it could've gone for as long as the creators' imagination lasted. The first time I saw Bender go crazy when they attached a magned to his head, was the moment I knew that this show was great. I can't count the times that, after laughing at one of their jokes I've stopped and thought to myself "Damn, that was smart." The only time I've gotten this kind of enjoyment out of the Simpsons has been in their Treehouse of Horror specials.

BTW, a lot of people are giving way too much credit to the Simpsons. Pretty much all of the cartoon comedy that I watch now has nothing to do with it.

Post by **Arresty** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:53 pm

I love Santa Claus, those are some of the best episodes. But I agree with you, the episodes are about some of the most original stuff. Also the Simpson's does get too much credit. You can say a lot of cartoon comedy pulled ideas from them, but a lot of them today are nothing like the Simpson's or just use the basic same format but other stuff is done differently. I mean you can't say Aqua Teen Hunger Force got anything from the Simpsons now can you.

Post by **Femto** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:02 pm

Exactly. What about Chicken Robot or Venture Brothers? Those are both awesome shows and I don't see what they have taken from the Simpsons.

Post by **mrJotaan** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:35 pm

When I said that other cartoon sitcoms get ideas from the Simpsons, I'm not talking about Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It's a pretty clear genre that the Simpsons started and the current ones I can think of that fit into the same genre are King of the Hill, Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad etc.

Post by **Arresty** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:56 am

mrJotaan wrote:When I said that other cartoon sitcoms get ideas from the Simpsons, I'm not talking about Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It's a pretty clear genre that the Simpsons started and the current ones I can think of that fit into the same genre are King of the Hill, Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad etc.

In other words it only started cartoon sitcoms that air on Fox. Though I would say that Futurama is only artistically similar to Family Guy, since it was the same producer, but not the same style. Simpsons is an animated family sitcom, and Futurama is a future based, work place sitcom. So they are different. Also King of the Hill is missing the Dysfunctional family element. They are just normal red neck. In all reality though, Simpsons just copied an existing genre and animated it instead. The difference is they can do crazier stuff in animated TV. Now though Family Guy may follow the same basic plan, of dysfunctional family, but they approach it alot differently. The humor in Family Guy is completely different. I love the flashback method they use so much, that is definitely different than the Simpsons. Their our other things that I say Family Guy does that differentiates it from the Simpsons.

Post by **Eldo** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:02 am

...

...

Beavis and Butthead?

Post by **Buzkashi** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:51 am

King of the Hill derives from Beavis and Butthead. And how can you not think that the Simpsons influenced Futurama. They have the same makers....

-Fry's head is attached to Amy's body after a freak accident.

Well femto there was a Simpsons episode for that too.

Post by **mrJotaan** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:13 am

You guys just don't want to give Simpsons the credit they deserve. Sure it might've grown old for you but you can't say you didn't laugh your ass off a hell of a lot from watching it.

Post by **Femto** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:36 am

Buzkashi wrote:King of the Hill derives from Beavis and Butthead. And how can you not think that the Simpsons influenced Futurama. They have the same makers....

Just because it's the same creator, that doesn't mean that it derives from it. Mike Judge created both, but Beavis and Butthead doesn't compare to King of the Hill. Both are completely different shows made for completely different audiences. Futurama shares some of the Simpsons humor, but it's much more wilder and, aside from the style, I see no more similarities between the two.

Buzkashi wrote:
-Fry's head is attached to Amy's body after a freak accident.
Well femto there was a Simpsons episode for that too.

A Treehouse of Horror episode, no doubt. I already mentioned how these are the only entertaining Simpsons episodes for me. And Futurama built cool stuff around that idea. Wasn't Fry going out with Amy at that time?

Listen, it's not that the Simpsons is remotely bad, it's great and I would surely laugh if I were to see new episodes. But it sucks when a fresh show like Futurama comes a long with a lot of neat ideas, and it gets cancelled because people aren't willing to try something new. Bottom line is, the Simpsons is old and tired, and the producers of the show should let it die in peace already.