“Fry, this stuff was garbage when it was new. Let’s blow it up already.” – Leela
I have not yet watched the new Futurama episodes that were on last night, so I have no opinion on whether or not they suck. The reviews, both professional and from fans, have been almost universally positive, and I take that as a good sign. But in one respect the return of Futurama has already been a success, because every time someone mentions it they also mention The Simpsons, and that often leads to discussion of how badly the elder show has decayed. So this week we’ve got not one, not two, but three people who bashed Zombie Simpsons. It’s nice. There’s also some love for Lisa, something I didn’t know about “Homerpalooza”, a truly bizarre short story loosely based on “Lisa the Vegetarian”, Marge in both cake and fruit form, and the usual usage.
Enjoy.
Homer Simpson’s Duff Beer: Barley, Hops, and Cultural Stories? – Simpsons merchandise and the real Duff in Rome.
Ten Great TV Cartoon Geeks – Lisa checks in at #3.
Marge Gets Sweet – Marge done with fruit and what looks like whipped cream and chocolate.
Celebrating and Nurturing the Miracle of Life – This is a rather long post about fatherhood, and this is poor usage:
Homer says, “Hey boy! Wanna play catch?” Bart says: “No thanks dad.” Homer mutters under his breath, “When a son doesn’t want to play catch with his father something is definitely wrong.” Grandpa Simpson over hears his son and chimes in, “I’ll play catch with you son!” Homer says, “Go home old man.”
It’s really not even close. The actual exchange is:
Homer: Bart, son, you want to play catch?
Bart: No.
Homer: When a boy doesn’t want to play catch with his old man something is seriously wrong.
Grandpa: I’ll play catch with you, son.
Homer: Get the hell out!
Grandpa: I’m gone.
Disturbing Simpsons – A very strange, bizarrely animated take on “Lisa the Vegetarian”. Dr. Nick steals her kidney at one point. (via this and Springfield Springfield’s Twitter feed)
Senior Quotes – Homer Simpson did, indeed, have a great quote in his yearbook.
Simply The Best #36 (Cartoon Television Shows) – Simpsons is #1, though it comes with the usual Zombie Simpsons cliche:
I don’t feel like it’s been at the top if it’s game for a while but it’s still better than 95% of the shows that currently air.
Oh well.
I Dreamed a Dream – Summer Story Tellers – I long ago lost count of the number of things I discovered through The Simpsons, this guy discovered show tunes.
Homer Sees Homer – Click this, right now. Sadly there’s no location given, which probably saved me a lot of money because I would travel a very long way to get my picture taken in front of such a work of absolute genius.
Here come the girls! – One writer’s list of her favorite female characters. Mom and Leela from Futurama are on here, as is this:
Lisa Simpson – “The Simpsons.” (Pretty much my hero when I was growing up. She gave an extremely erudite voice to nerdy bookworm girls everywhere! I wanted to play the saxophone because of her. Sadly I lack any form of musical talent.)
Maggie, but not Marge, also makes the list.
Is this the very first Homer Simpson? – A root shaped like Homer Simpson was found in China. (via Springfield Springfield’s Twitter feed, again)
Happy Father’s Day! – Click through for a picture of a sweet looking Marge Simpson cake.
Hey cartoons, enough with the counting and on and on with the fucking colors. – An impressively unhinged rant (accompanied by lots of images) against today’s gentler cartoons. Lots of references to Simpsons (sadly there is one image from the Zombie Simpsons era), and only a little bit racist. Personally, I don’t hate these shows that much – except for Dora the Explorer. You can get high and watch Teletubbies and be pretty entertained, but Dora should not be watched by anyone over the age of two. I’m serious about that, it’s actually too juvenile for three year olds.
American citizens are the mob from The Simpsons, example 25,367 – The quote here is slightly off, but I’m still calling this excellent usage because he’s quoting tv.com, and they’ve got it wrong. Here it is from tv.com:
Crowd: Down with taxes! Down with taxes!
Mayor Quimby: Are these morons getting dumber or just louder?
Aide: Dumber, sir. They won’t give up the bear patrol, but they won’t pay the tax for it either.
It should read:
Crowd: Down with taxes! Down with taxes! Down with taxes!
Helen Lovejoy: Won’t you think of the children?
Mayor Quimby: Are these morons getting dumber or just louder?
Aide: Dumber, sir. They won’t give up the bear patrol, but they won’t pay taxes for it either.
Nit, picked.
Courtney Love: Behind the Music – The restart of Behind the Music did Courtney Love recently and Alyx at Feminist Music Geek goes into all the details. I had no idea Hole had that many albums, shows what I know. Here’s the Simpsons part:
I found including footage of Love hanging out with Sonic Youth noteworthy, as there were no interviews with band members. Kim Gordon’s insights would be especially useful, as she co-produced Hole’s caustic debut Pretty On the Inside. However, Gordon believes Cobain was murdered, and veiled references to Love’s potentially amoral quest for celebrity in songs like “Becuz” suggest that no love is lost. I remember hearing in the commentary track for The Simpsons‘ “Homerpalooza” episode that Love was originally cast in the episode, but one unnamed act who was in the episode refused to participate if she was involved. I can’t help but think it’s them.
I guess Sonic Youth did more than just steal shit from Peter Frampton’s cooler.
It’s back! – The first of our three Futurama fans who don’t like Zombie Simpsons:
It was easy to be fearful that Futurama would have come back with the quality of a Simpsons episode from the last decade. I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t a little worried even after the movies gave hope. But somehow, Futrama kept things awesome and it all just felt right.
TV Wasteland: Bite My Shiny Metal Butt – More:
Futurama hasn’t taken anything for granted; it fought for its spot in the TV sun and while it hasn’t always been perfect, one at least gets the impression that its creators are laboring to entertain us. The Simpsons, on the other hand, let success go to its head a long time ago. After Brad Bird left the show in the middle of its 9th season, it underwent a slow, steady decline into utter irrelevance, embodying the same lazy clichés it once skewered with such efficiency. It’s a bloated whale looking for a beach–a living tragedy for those of us who adored it in its heyday–and whatever relevance it once possessed has been squandered by decades of creative neglect.
Futurama is BACK! – And finally (though I thought Family Guy only got canned once):
With the premiere of the new season now over and fans around the globe rejoicing in the Matt Groening created masterpiece’s return, I am left, still in awe at the fact that Fox made one of the worst decisions in the history of TV (Ok, they have made WAAAAY more than one). Fox, you SUCK! I really cannot stand the fact that you can keep a piece of shit like “The Simpsons” on air yet have cancelled Family Guy twice and Futurama years ago. At least they gave King Of The Hill a fair run/final episode.
Fuck you Fox.
Well done, all around.
