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Post by singingsparrow on Jul 27, 2006 18:54:33 GMT -5
Noah said it correctly...Family Guy rips off other similar shows (i.e. The Simpsons) in multiple scenes and incorporates one random popular culture mocking after another, which have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Not that it's necessarily not funny (in fact, I find most of it rather amusing), but it doesn't stand for or mean anything other than just criticizing the mainstream. Since when does a show have to stand for something? The whole point of watching a comedy is to laugh. Period. Adding in scenes that have nothing to do with the plot just make it that much funnier IMO. You're correct that a show doesn't have to stand for something to be funny. Millions still storming to the movie theaters to see Adam Sandler is evidence of that. But I just don't think "Family Guy" is funny at all. It's interesting when some accuse "The Simpsons" of relying too much on pop culture references when that's exactly what "Family Guy" does. The thing that separates the two is that you can identify far more easier with the characters on The Simpsons, who most are characters with well-developed personalities that continue evolving, whereas on "Family Guy", it's the pop culture references and repetitive stretch-this jokes that dominate, while most of the characters on the show have no personality whatsoever. And in the end, it's the characters that make me laugh, and while it can be debated if "The Simpsons" continues going downhill or not (they make some bad episodes in recent years but all in all I still love the show) new episodes of "The Simpsons" will still always seem funnier to me than old episodes of "Family Guy". "King of the Hill" is a killer show too. It's a cartoon that rarely tries hard to make you laugh, yet often effectively makes you laugh anyway. And you can identify with the characters so well on the show, because Mike Judge actually writes each episode based on findings from writing researchers he sends down to Texas to study the life of residents there, and then takes the findings and forms situations and characters based on them, which can convince the viewer that there really are Dale Gribbells among us all. Sincerely, Noah Eaton
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Hook
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Post by Hook on Jul 27, 2006 20:07:46 GMT -5
The thing that separates the two is that you can identify far more easier with the characters on The Simpsons, who most are characters with well-developed personalities that continue evolving, whereas on "Family Guy", it's the pop culture references and repetitive stretch-this jokes that dominate, while most of the characters on the show have no personality whatsoever. Obviously it's a matter of preference. I 100% disagree with your comment about the characters on Family Guy having no personality. That is NOT true. I would point out the voice talents of Alex Borstein alone. She brings a big personality to Lois and the other characters she voices. It's a very funny show. Like I said, it's all about what you like. I enjoy The Simpsons sometimes. I was a huge fan growing up and occasionally I'll still watch an episode and like it. But it's just not something that makes me laugh very hard, for the most part.
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pen
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Post by pen on Jul 27, 2006 20:27:58 GMT -5
Since when does a show have to stand for something? The whole point of watching a comedy is to laugh. Period. Adding in scenes that have nothing to do with the plot just make it that much funnier IMO. You're correct that a show doesn't have to stand for something to be funny. Millions still storming to the movie theaters to see Adam Sandler is evidence of that. But I just don't think "Family Guy" is funny at all. It's interesting when some accuse "The Simpsons" of relying too much on pop culture references when that's exactly what "Family Guy" does. The thing that separates the two is that you can identify far more easier with the characters on The Simpsons, who most are characters with well-developed personalities that continue evolving, whereas on "Family Guy", it's the pop culture references and repetitive stretch-this jokes that dominate, while most of the characters on the show have no personality whatsoever. And in the end, it's the characters that make me laugh, and while it can be debated if "The Simpsons" continues going downhill or not (they make some bad episodes in recent years but all in all I still love the show) new episodes of "The Simpsons" will still always seem funnier to me than old episodes of "Family Guy". "King of the Hill" is a killer show too. It's a cartoon that rarely tries hard to make you laugh, yet often effectively makes you laugh anyway. And you can identify with the characters so well on the show, because Mike Judge actually writes each episode based on findings from writing researchers he sends down to Texas to study the life of residents there, and then takes the findings and forms situations and characters based on them, which can convince the viewer that there really are Dale Gribbells among us all. Sincerely, Noah Eaton Wow, I guess I completely disagree with you here. The Simpsons to me have become so predictable and cliche that I can't enjoy it. They rarely step outside of the bounds of their own stereotypes. While you say that the characters of Family Guy have no personality, I think they have a far more realistic personality than anyone on The Simpsons. No one person is so obvious and one-dimensional as to completely be dominated by a single trait like any of the Simpsons family members. That's not to say that the characters of Family Guy don't have repetitive traits, but they also have times when they step outside of those bounds and do something unexpected for their typical selves. Meanwhile, I loathe King Of The Hill. It is completely unfunny, many of the characters are inane and annoying, and really, if they killed off all the female characters on the show, it would be much better off. The only characters I ever really like on that show are Boomhauer and Dale, and both are just inconsistently funny running gags. Just to throw another show into the mix, how does anyone here feel about American Dad? I hate it. It's a watered-down unfunny version of Family Guy and the political bent makes it worse instead of better.
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pen
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Post by pen on Jul 27, 2006 20:29:01 GMT -5
Also, how about Venture Bros.? Or any of the Adult Swim lineup? Aqua Teen? Sealab? Space Ghost? Harvey Birdman? What's the verdict?
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Post by singingsparrow on Jul 27, 2006 22:32:11 GMT -5
Also, how about Venture Bros.? Or any of the Adult Swim lineup? Aqua Teen? Sealab? Space Ghost? Harvey Birdman? What's the verdict? I generally like them. It's all just random humor and I'm fine with it. "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is great, and "Harvey Birdman: Attorney-At-Law" is amusing. "Sealab" I don't care for quite as much despite the occasional memorable episode, and I really miss "The Brak Show". Sincerely, Noah Eaton
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Post by tortuga on Jul 27, 2006 22:57:22 GMT -5
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pen
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Post by pen on Jul 28, 2006 0:20:07 GMT -5
Be straight with us, Tortuga. What are you trying to say here?
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Nicholas2.0
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Post by Nicholas2.0 on Jul 28, 2006 0:52:12 GMT -5
I f**king love Harvey Birdman! I'm sad it hasn't been on for months (and hope it's not over), but very excited that the 2nd season episodes are being released on DVD in October. Obviously I'm gonna wait this out a while and see how I feel later on, but I've had the idea for, I dunno, at least since the beginning of this year that I'd one day get the shot of Harvey in the opening credits in a fighting stance tattooed across my lower back. And I'd get Avenger tattooed somewhere perched on my upper arm. There are two specific episodes I'm looking forward to seeing again: 1) the one where the Bear (ooh, I should get a tattoo of him on my other arm. Avenger and him are so adorable) steals stuff from Phil's office, but before they catch him on tape, Phil has these terror alerts (the highest two being "Plaid" and then Rush's Moving Pictures album cover ) and one surveillance tape shows Harvey (a real person dressed as Harvey--I want that costume so bad!--just totally wasting time romping and frolicking outside. 2) Phil runs for a political office and in one scene he's out schmoozing with a line of people. Every other person is either a hand to shake or a baby to kiss. But then two of one appear right in a row, so Phil gets off track and starts kissing hands and shaking babies! I haven't seen enough episodes of "King of the Hill" to desire to watch it regularly, but all the ones I've were amusing. I watched American Dad for awhile, but eventually lost interest. It was the poor man's politicized Family Guy. I've never watched Venture Bros. Aqua Teen is often a riot. My favorite is the episode with Danzig. I wasn't entertained enough by Sealab to watch it consistently. Space Ghost I just never saw enough of, nor the Brak Show. Futurama is usually pretty great. I might have to get tattoos of Dr. Zoidberg and Kif. My girlfriend and I love Zoidberg. I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna waste time yakking in the Off-Topic Lounge (or the OTL, as the cool kids abbreviate it) just to gush about Harvey Birdman and opine on the other cartoons mentioned.
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Post by KelownaGuy20 on Jul 28, 2006 2:01:56 GMT -5
Sooo... I still like the song!
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Post by tortuga on Jul 28, 2006 2:02:29 GMT -5
Be straight with us, Tortuga. What are you trying to say here? If you kids want to talk about your cartoons and debate which one is better then thats what the lounge forum is for.
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Post by friday on Jul 28, 2006 2:51:54 GMT -5
Yeah, this thread took a... turn somewhere. A turn that's been driven, like, a hundred times on this board now. But what the hell. Family Guy was brilliant in its first three seasons, and is still good, but ever since "PTV," which I think was the grand slam episode of the entire series so far, it seems like it took a steep decline (I thought the Tom Brady episode was more or less the nadir), with a slight rebound at the end of the season. Season 5's probably gonna wind up cementing its legacy, though, one way or the other. American Dad has its moments, but yeah, it's basically Family Guy watered down through a different prism. The problem with Futurama was that the show got much better during the last two seasons, but nobody was watching by then. The episode where Fry finds his dog from the 20th century is actually one of the most heartbreaking episodes I've ever seen. Venture Bros. is surprisingly good. Also proves the Patrick Warburton Theorem true once again. I love Harvey Birdman too, and the episode Nick described was brilliant. Really, if you mix Gary Cole and Stephen Colbert, you're gonna get fireworks; the mathematics invariably bear it out. (And I think I saw September 4 as the date new episodes were set to air) Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the bomb. The first Mooninites episode was the most awesome as far as I'm concerned: Ignignokt: You and your third dimension. Frylock: What about it? Ignignokt: Oh, nothing; it's cute. We have five. Err: Th-thousand. Ignignokt: Yes, five thousand. Err: Don't question it! Frylock: Well I only see two. Ignignokt: That sounds like a personal problem to me. The Boondocks probably tops everything though. It's hilarious, intelligent, and incredibly well-drawn, just like the comic. "A Date With the Health Inspector" has got to be one of the best episodes in the history of television. I mean, aside from a brilliant parallel to the Iraq war, mixing quotes from Pulp Fiction and Donald Rumsfeld? How can that not be brilliant! And, in a fittingly circular way to bring this thread back on track (although, not really), the actor voicing Gin Rummy, the Pulp Rumsfeld "wigga" character: none other than Samuel L. Jackson, himself. Gotta love it.
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pen
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Post by pen on Jul 28, 2006 5:57:26 GMT -5
Be straight with us, Tortuga. What are you trying to say here? If you kids want to talk about your cartoons and debate which one is better then thats what the lounge forum is for. Yes, but a great man once said to do what you can with what you have where you are. Do you have something you want to say about Cobra Starship? I'm all ears if you do.
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Post by singingsparrow on Jul 28, 2006 12:04:03 GMT -5
I think it makes sense this thread went on this tangent because there's a divide over this particular song and movie, where some take it more seriously and find both downright stupid, while others see the movie and song are meant to be novelty jokes and that's what makes them great.
Thus it kind of opened up this floodgate of discussion and understanding what is and what is not humorous to us, and why it may be some think differently of "Snakes On A Plane" by analyzing other key programs.
Sincerely, Noah Eaton
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Post by Walking Contradiction on Jul 28, 2006 14:20:15 GMT -5
Noah said it correctly...Family Guy rips off other similar shows (i.e. The Simpsons) in multiple scenes and incorporates one random popular culture mocking after another, which have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Not that it's necessarily not funny (in fact, I find most of it rather amusing), but it doesn't stand for or mean anything other than just criticizing the mainstream.= I see this criticism a lot. And prior to the show's "un-cancellation", I would have disagreed with it, saying that FG was an intelligent show that did in fact have characters that you can identify with, coherent plots with jokes that relate to them, and some examples of truly great satire. Back then, the cutscenes were one of the shows signature elements, but not what the show was all about. However, since the show came back from the dead, it has in fact become the incoherent, gag-driven mess that its critics had previously damned it as.
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Nicholas2.0
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Post by Nicholas2.0 on Jul 29, 2006 13:57:01 GMT -5
I'll agree with that.
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Post by Pipa on Aug 6, 2006 10:37:38 GMT -5
So they really do sing "snakes on a blog". ...Weird.
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jdmasta289
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Post by jdmasta289 on Aug 18, 2006 0:56:38 GMT -5
I know I'm rather late to comment on this topic, but I just saw the video for about the third time on Fuse, and I instantly reached for the laptop to add some input regarding the song/video.
According to Wikipedia (again, don't know how accurate that site is, but I'll believe this report), that singer Gabe Saporta claims he derived their name from one jacket with the word "Cobra" on it and another with "Jefferson Starship". Yeah, right, like I'll believe him on that one.
This band also apparently did "Hollaback Boy", a response to Gwen "Post-Y2K Satan" Stefani's hit song last year. Yeah, I'll just say that despite the fact that Midtown and Academy Is real are two great bands, Cobra (and this song) belong on pop radio and nowhere else. To me, it just screams novelty; I haven't heard this much of a novelty since even before Fountains of Wayne in '03; maybe since Afroman in '01. Just downright stupid. But I might actually be open-minded enough to go see this movie....if I'm incredibly drunk at the time....and high (I guess that would make me crunk haha).
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Post by Devil Marlena Nylund on Aug 18, 2006 1:01:51 GMT -5
Heard it for the first time last week. I LOVE it!!! Smash!
The movie is surrounded in hype for some reason.
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pen
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Post by pen on Aug 18, 2006 1:04:01 GMT -5
The movie is surrounded in hype for some reason.Maybe because it will be awesome.
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pen
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Post by pen on Aug 18, 2006 1:07:12 GMT -5
This band also apparently did "Hollaback Boy", a response to Gwen "Post-Y2K Satan" Stefani's hit song last year. Oh man. You should read the story of what happened when Gabe met Gwen Stefani to try to find out if she liked the song or not. www.absolutepunk.net/printthread.php?t=108214
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