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An AV Club interview with Matt Groening.

The Simspsons get their own stamps.

The complete season 12th coming will have the Comic Book Guy's head packaging.

So I'm working my way through the eleventh season and I just could not believe how funny the Garry Marshall commentary was. He has this terrific sense of timing, spends an inordinate amount of attention calling out all the minor elements of the episode, and his very deliberate style of speech is just hysterical. I loved how all the staff just decided to sit back and let him have the track. I think it's up there with the infamous Lovitz track in terms of best celebrity commentary

Though the Simpsons staff do get their own back by asking Marshall what the hell he was thinking with Exit To Eden!

I'm going through Season 11 too and I had forgot how mediocre it was.

Definitely when the slip turned into an avalanche.

Fox is showing tonight the episode "Lisa's Birthday", which Michael Jackson guest stars.

Fox is jumping ahead: Season 20 getting Blu-ray release

Why is Kearney's hair colored in?

dx23 wrote:I'm going through Season 11 too and I had forgot how mediocre it was.

Anything after season 9, movie included, is awful. The show lost it's heart when it tried to copy Family Guy. King of the Hill may possibly eclipse The Simpsons as greatest cartoon series ever.

domino harvey wrote:So I'm working my way through the eleventh season and I just could not believe how funny the Garry Marshall commentary was. He has this terrific sense of timing, spends an inordinate amount of attention calling out all the minor elements of the episode, and his very deliberate style of speech is just hysterical. I loved how all the staff just decided to sit back and let him have the track. I think it's up there with the infamous Lovitz track in terms of best celebrity commentary

That's not a shocker, Marshall has always been a bright, and funny man. He also made some of great hollywood style romantic comedies. His sister isn't bad either.

bearcuborg wrote:

dx23 wrote:I'm going through Season 11 too and I had forgot how mediocre it was.

Anything after season 9, movie included, is awful. The show lost it's heart when it tried to copy Family Guy. King of the Hill may possibly eclipse The Simpsons as greatest cartoon series ever.

I disagree with you in that the show lost it's heart or tried to copy Family Guy. I think the Simpsons are really very far away from the crude humor shown constantly on Family Guy and since season 18, most storylines are about the different characters showing heart. To me, the problem lies that stories on Season 11 until 18 don't have the comedic punch and wit that made the show what it was. Maybe it was the incredible loss of Phil Hartman and his characters, but the show lost the edge that made them funny. Still, since season 18, things has gotten better but not to what the show's fan such as myself would expect.

Right, the Hartman loss was significant. I recall one episode though, where homer is gashed by a squirrel, and they show his bloody guts? That belonged on Family Guy. The show is dead to me...

Season 13 is coming on August 24th on DVD and Blu-ray. The limited edition head case is Ralph Wiggum but is only available on DVD.

domino harvey wrote:Apparently last nite's episode was an at times shot-for-shot parody of Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures?! Did anyone witness this firsthand?

...and now I learn that the show parodied an entire episode around Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives last May. I guess after so many years, you gotta get relatively esoteric (well, for a populist comedy like this) with your references!

dx23 wrote:

bearcuborg wrote:

dx23 wrote:I'm going through Season 11 too and I had forgot how mediocre it was.

Anything after season 9, movie included, is awful. The show lost it's heart when it tried to copy Family Guy. King of the Hill may possibly eclipse The Simpsons as greatest cartoon series ever.

I disagree with you in that the show lost it's heart or tried to copy Family Guy. I think the Simpsons are really very far away from the crude humor shown constantly on Family Guy and since season 18, most storylines are about the different characters showing heart. To me, the problem lies that stories on Season 11 until 18 don't have the comedic punch and wit that made the show what it was

I realize that this was last year's debate, but I've been going through Season 11 these days, and it is mediocre, very uneven from episode to episode and noticeably within episodes.

I think there are some good jokes and clever bits, but they get run over and pushed aside by an anything for a joke ethos. So many of the jokes are so over-the-top and wildly exaggerated, and often are at odds with character development.

Season 11 is full of quick throwaway humor, nothing to do with character or themes or any sort of development. Quick outlandish joke, then forgotten.

S11 also employs wacky shortcuts to set up situations instead of narrative developments. The most obvious is when the Simpsons caretake Mr. Burns' mansion. Sure, they kind of wink at us as they take the shortcut, but it's still a shortcut, and that whole episode is so slipshod and poorly constructed.
I think in Season 11, the Simpsons is just too full of outrageous quick hits that detract from characterization and narrative development. It gets into a whatever sticks mode of comedy. There are still some good jokes and good moments, but not enough, and they get overwhelmed by the cheap shtick.

domino harvey wrote:...and now I learn that the show parodied an entire episode around Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives last May.

I saw it. It was still terrible.

A lot of good that does me at 5pm. Wait, what time zone is Springfield in exactly?

Since West Springfield is three times the size of Texas(!) it covers a couple.

knives wrote:

I honestly mean this, but I was going to post this at 1:00 at the dot but I forgot

From what I've heard, the wedding was canceled after Mr. Hugh refused to wear the pig cufflinks Homer had given him and then proceeded to hurts Lisa's feelings by disparaging the Simpson name.

dx23 wrote:From what I've heard, the wedding was canceled after Mr. Hugh refused to wear the pig cufflinks Homer had given him and then proceeded to hurts Lisa's feelings by disparaging the Simpson name.

*tries not to look surprised*