The Simpsons Meeting Family Guy Isn't the Worst Crossover Ever
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
I'm going to post what I already posted.
In the words of Krusty's father. "Eh."
Sure, there's novelty in the existence itself, but at the end, I just felt bored.
You said the carwash could've been cut shorter? I thought the whole comic strip storyline could've been cut out entirely. There was no point to it (other than maybe telling off the feminists who got upset about Stewie's rape joke) and it took up precious time. They could've just said the Griffins were on vacation and still have the same results.
The other problem is something that's been bothering me for a long time. Not that it's offensive, but that the jokes were spoiled by the marketing campaign. Nearly, all the best gags (the car wash, the 'chicken' fight, Bart meeting Stewie) were all given away in the promos. So when the scenes do come, you expect it already. Fox spent so much time selling the event, they made said event lose its punch.
I don't know; I think it's alright, but just didn't go anywhere with it. Just become something's self-aware or meta of itself doesn't mean it's all that funny.
In the words of Krusty's father. "Eh."
Sure, there's novelty in the existence itself, but at the end, I just felt bored.
You said the carwash could've been cut shorter? I thought the whole comic strip storyline could've been cut out entirely. There was no point to it (other than maybe telling off the feminists who got upset about Stewie's rape joke) and it took up precious time. They could've just said the Griffins were on vacation and still have the same results.
The other problem is something that's been bothering me for a long time. Not that it's offensive, but that the jokes were spoiled by the marketing campaign. Nearly, all the best gags (the car wash, the 'chicken' fight, Bart meeting Stewie) were all given away in the promos. So when the scenes do come, you expect it already. Fox spent so much time selling the event, they made said event lose its punch.
I don't know; I think it's alright, but just didn't go anywhere with it. Just become something's self-aware or meta of itself doesn't mean it's all that funny.
I found the crossover to be monumentally disappointing. Like the most recent episodes of the Simpsons and FamilyGuy, the characters didn't even really feel like themselves. Everything they said and did in this was especially forced and even uncomfortable feeling at times; I felt more like I was watching a robot chicken parody of each family. Scene after scene I saw opportunities for them to make clever observations or pull in some interesting plot points about their different universes, but more and more were the opportunities missed. A lot of it also came off as mean spirited, which is really kind of sad considering how fun this could have been.
It just had bad writing from start to finish.
Comic book guy was also right, that was the worse chicken-fight ever.
It just had bad writing from start to finish.
Comic book guy was also right, that was the worse chicken-fight ever.
Another missed opportunity IMHO was seeing Lisa and Brian engage in a Smug-off. I would have much rather seen them paired off for a B plot than wasting him on Santas Little Helper.MovieBob said:
Meg should have had a whirlwind weekend fling with Ralph Wiggum instead.
In the end it was super tame, huh?
Guess this is one event I won't have to devote my time too.
Shame, all things considering...
Guess this is one event I won't have to devote my time too.
Shame, all things considering...
I loved The Simpsons growing up in the 1990s and enjoyed Family Guy a bit during college in the 00s (I remember having to watch it on bootleg VHS tapes while it was cancelled), but can't be alone in thinking that, at this point, both shows (as well as other animated ones like South Park, Futurama, etc...) could really stand to hang it up, lest we go deeper into the already-shitty culturally-cannibalistic habit of having entire generations of young people growing up completely bombarded by their parents' and grandparents' cultural icons and lacking much of anything that can be called their own.
Bob's Burgers and Archer are pretty new and relatively successful. I can see Bob's Burgers having a longer shelf and becoming more of an icon than Archer, though. Simpsons could be hanging up the towel sooner than later, but I doubt Family Guy or South Park will end it anytime soon. It seems like all the young people will get shows that are only blips on the radar (like King of the Hill was for me) when the big three are still going strong.Caostotale said:
Bob's Burgers and Archer are pretty new and relatively successful. I can see Bob's Burgers having a longer shelf and becoming more of an icon than Archer, though. Simpsons could be hanging up the towel sooner than later, but I doubt Family Guy or South Park will end it anytime soon. It seems like all the young people will get shows that are only blips on the radar (like King of the Hill was for me) when the big three are still going strong.Caostotale said:
EDIT: Double-post. Please delete. Captcha wants me to do 2 seperate captchas, even though it's already posted the first one without my knowledge.
Well, as much as people tend to deny this, it's a big part of why Generation X and Y are the "lost generations". Basically a failure to address the problems inherent in the Baby Boom after World War II combined with innovations in technology leading towards longer life spans, largely meant that society was going to endure a lot of damage. Basically the idea is that one generation of people gets old and the next generation of people moves up to take their place in society. That didn't happen on a large scale due to Baby Boomers remaining active for so long and able to do their jobs even as their children reached adulthood. This is a big part of why all the "good" jobs are taken and why even college degrees are increasingly worthless, basically you can't compete with some guy with 10-20 years of experience who is still going strong. What's more Boomers have a tendency to want to hire other Boomers, leading to a literal "old boys network" and a sort of glass ceiling when it comes to anything above lower-middle management in a lot of places. Not to mention the Boomers have shown a willingness to lay people off and take losses rather than adapt and bring in those from the younger generations. A lot has been written about this, but it's a big part of why we have an economic recession, in part fueled by all the 30-40 somethings that can't find *decent* jobs, and the huge numbers of adult "man children" who live at home because they literally have no choice. As Gen X started to finally get it's belated foot in the door to some extent, Gen Y arrived, the other "Lost Generation" and are now hitting the same kinds of problems. Although Gen Y is predicted to eventually have a greater impact due to still being fairly young when the Boomers finally die out.Caostotale said:
On a pop culture level the thing to understand is that the Boomers have had all the money, so of course businesses have been directed at them. Gen X is a latecomer but your starting to finally see some middle-aged Gen Xers with money becoming a societal force, and that's why you have the 80s and 90s nostalgia boom. Right now the parents and grandparents are the ones that are profitable to deal with, the stuff directed at Gen Y isn't that profitable yet because to be blunt Gen Y is pathetic in pretty much every way that matters on this level. Of course with time that will change, and odds are Gen Y will not get slammed as hard as Gen X did.
If you ever wondered why stuff from the 1990s was so relatively morbid, and "extreme", with lots of anti-heroes, and the overall message oftentimes coming down to nothing mattering no matter what you do or give up, that's because it was the voice of a skipped generation and it mirrored what was known to be happening in society. The irony is that when you look at say the old 1990s comics and stuff and the scorn with which many people view them, that's pretty much how the characters themselves felt they would be viewed, anti-heroes doing things to hold down the fort, their only victory being that nothing changes, and the hope is that someday, someone else will make things better. In comparison stuff largely aimed at "Generation Y" tends to be a bit more upbeat as is the generation because there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel.
I could go into politics and other aspects of everything, and how a lot of other things fit together, but it's increasingly off topic. The bottom line is that the tail end of Gen Y will probably start to see more references and stuff flat out directed at them (without it being a "hipster production") without being quite as old overall, probably sometime around 2020. It's possible Gen Y will be skipped entirely as well, but less likely by forecasts.
The biggest questions here of course are going to be whether the new generations are able to fix the damage done by the Baby Boomers, adjust society to prevent further lost generations (very, very, difficult with modern lifespans), and similar things. One of the big concerns right now is that the new generations will largely be conditioned into a new generation of Boomers... while not the best way of stating it, this is what a lot of politics and media battles do come down to. The Boomers want to pass on their ideals despite the damage, figuring it will work out in the end, a lot of those victimized by that generation albeit not directly see a society in need of repair.
As a dedicated Family Guy hater, I agree with this. I wanted the episode to be as big of an outrage as it could be, so maybe people would finally put their feet down and demand its cancellation, and possibly the long-overdue cancellation of The Simpsons as well before any more damage could be done to it.MovieBob said:
We have the Internet, and we're largely the sorts who consider everything else a dead medium anyway.Caostotale said:
It's not what I expected. It's too short to be anything spectacular,and if they wanted to do this, why not make a 60 minute tv movie? Family guy has done those before, and all they needed was the Simpsons voice cast anyway.
There's too much they wanted to do with this, and when it all comes together it did nothing. All the sub-plots feel rushed and could have been more fledged out if they cut the carwash and chicken fight in half.
The only thing I'd like to add is that the end of the chicken fight, and some of the Stewie scenes just almost made me shout out "Oh, god, stop!". Because the Family guy signature shock-value just doesn't mix with the Simpsons' family friendly nature.
But in the end I'm glad I saw it, I was amused, and at least it did get a reaction out of me, which is more than either show has done in a long while...
(It also reminded me that I probably should go watch Bob's burgers or American Dad instead.)
There's too much they wanted to do with this, and when it all comes together it did nothing. All the sub-plots feel rushed and could have been more fledged out if they cut the carwash and chicken fight in half.
The only thing I'd like to add is that the end of the chicken fight, and some of the Stewie scenes just almost made me shout out "Oh, god, stop!". Because the Family guy signature shock-value just doesn't mix with the Simpsons' family friendly nature.
But in the end I'm glad I saw it, I was amused, and at least it did get a reaction out of me, which is more than either show has done in a long while...
(It also reminded me that I probably should go watch Bob's burgers or American Dad instead.)
I used to watch Family Guy, but stopped a while ago when I started getting bored of it. I still watch the Simpsons when it's on and it can still be good. I decided to give this a try and it was funny in places. The Griffins in Springfield does have enough novelty value to it to work, the more "adult" humour with the Simpsons was a bit jarring, but overall I just thought it was okay. It didn't make me nostalgic for Family Guy and it made me feel like I made the right decision giving it up.
Surprising to hear that it was tame, considering that in one of the newer episodes of family guy in a banner gag, quagmire rapes marge offscreen, she gets into it, he screws her in her house afterwards and shoots the entire family when homer walks in on them. Here's the ironic thing about that: Not one word was ever spoken about that by either feminists, news networks or online journalists. At least to my knowledge anyway
It seems like Bob is the only person on Earth who will admit to liking Family Guy over South Park, and to claiming that the first few seasons after cancellation were the best ones. Those were the ones that gave us such reviled classics as "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven". Don't get me wrong, I like me some Family Guy as well, but when it comes to wit, progressiveness or even pop culture fanboyism, then South Park wins hands down.
About the episode, I enjoyed it well enough. I already talked about it in another thread, but I'm glad Bob acknowledged how unflinchingly brutal that fight got towards the end. It actually made me uncomfortable seeing Homer get so bloodied up and coming so close to death, though that's possibly because I grew up with him. It made me think of that episode of Red Dwarf where Lister sees Winnie the Pooh getting shot: "that is something no one should ever have to see!"
I reckon the best bits were in the courtroom scene. The one-off comparisons between Carl and Cleveland, Lenny and Quagmire and the two mayors were good enough, but that third party cameo? Man, that was gold. The Bob's Burgers/Cleveland Show riff could have been as funny, if they hadn't spoiled it in the trailers.
About the episode, I enjoyed it well enough. I already talked about it in another thread, but I'm glad Bob acknowledged how unflinchingly brutal that fight got towards the end. It actually made me uncomfortable seeing Homer get so bloodied up and coming so close to death, though that's possibly because I grew up with him. It made me think of that episode of Red Dwarf where Lister sees Winnie the Pooh getting shot: "that is something no one should ever have to see!"
I reckon the best bits were in the courtroom scene. The one-off comparisons between Carl and Cleveland, Lenny and Quagmire and the two mayors were good enough, but that third party cameo? Man, that was gold. The Bob's Burgers/Cleveland Show riff could have been as funny, if they hadn't spoiled it in the trailers.