Watching Simpsons

Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpsons and other Simpsons characters, is also a devout Scientologist. Over the past couple of years, Tom Cruise has garnered a lot of headlines for not only his loony behavior, but that he gave The Church of Scientology millions of dollars. According to The First Post, Cartwright has dramatically outdone Cruise in her giving:

…Longtime Scientologist Nancy Cartwright - the voice of Homer Simpson’s son Bart on The Simpsons - last year gave the church $10m to help spread the word of founder L Ron Hubbard. It was all part of Scientology’s Global Salvage effort, which aims to “de-aberrate” Earth - meaning to rid mankind of psychology ills and other “aberrant” behaviour.

Cartwright, 50, forked out twice as much as Cruise, Scientology’s most prominent member, who gave $5m over four years. In acknowledgment of her large gift, which is reportedly twice her annual salary from The Simpsons, Cartwright was awarded Scientology’s Patron Laureate Award at a ceremony in Florida last summer.

The Academy has chosen to not nominate The Simpsons Movie in its animated film category. Seinfeld’s Bee movie also got a snub, but comparatively speaking, that’s almost understandable Three others were recognized:

* Persepolis (Sony Pictures Classics; Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Parronaud, directors)
* Ratatouille (Disney/Pixar Animation; Brad Bird, director)
* Surf’s Up (Sony Pictures Animation; Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, directors)

Of those three, Persepolis seems the more independent. The other two are pretty much family fair. Yet, while I do think the Simpson’s sharply critical satire of the EPA and environmental issues deserved at least an Oscar nod, I can fully understand if Ratatouille wins the category. Story wise, Ratatouille was a very well written movie that used a very strong screen play. Typically, the Academy tends to reward films that are both well made and financially lucrative at the box office.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie, The Academy Awards, The Oscars

He’s at a con signing promo pictures. For the camera, he does Zoidberg, Fry, the Professor, and Zap. For me, it’s always funny to watch voice actors do their thing in person.

Billy West, Futurama

Crossovers can be tough, sometimes. In a way, they can be a lot like guest appearances in comic books. Sure, some people would like to see Wolverine beat the living snot out of Superman, or Batman square off against Spawn, partly because some pairings, like those mentioned, are unlikely. Two different characters, two different competing comic book companies – it would be hard to please everybody, including the fans and the business types. Still, the perspective storylines in such crossovers usually end up being tame. The creative types, behind the scene, end up not wanting to offend fans of each character or “universe.”

Still, such pairings makes minds wander. What would be the results of drinking duel, for example, between Homer Simpson and Bender? Fred Flintstone versus Homer? Such arguments often animate the customers of comic book shops and message boards. Still, sometimes, a crossover can make sense. Futurama and The Simpsons, for example, share the same Matt Groening art style, as well as similar senses of humor. In a way, crossing the two the could work out very well. On the other hand, crossing The Simpsons with, say, The Family Guy wouldn’t be interesting, partly because the two shows having been already taking pot-shots at each other for a long time.

Still, for what it’s worth, somebody out on the internet has been thinking of a possible melding of Futurama and The Simpsons. Consider it “fan art” or “fan fiction,” but according to TVsquad.com, somebody has made crossover comic blending the shows together. As for the possibility of the casts of both shows working together, Brad Trechak puts it nicely

It’s not outside the realm of possibility for the two universes to collide since both products are owned by Fox, much as having the Flintstones meet the Jetsons (both owned by Hanna-Barbera). Matt Groening does own the creative rights to Futurama, whatever that means.

However, since they’re now on two separate channels (The Simpsons is on Fox and Futurama will be on Comedy Central), it seems less likely that the two universes would come together on television. Maybe if both were still on Fox, but not now.

I do think it’s funny having Morbo filming next to Kent Brockman. And having Flanders running from the Robot Devil. Or having Miss Crabapple flirting with Zap Brannigan. Hell, it’s all funny.

The Simpsons, Futurama, Homer, Homer Simpson, Bender

Watching awards shows can be a test of one’s patience sometimes. Still, hosting them is nothing but exposure and a good paycheck for comedic talent. Harry Shearer, who is Mr. Burns, Reverend Lovejoy, and many others on the Simpsons, will host the Art Directors Guild Awards on Feb. 16, According to The Hollywood Reporter:

Eight ADG awards for excellence in production design will be handed out in TV, film and commercials categories, along with a lifetime achievement award to production designer Stuart Craig and a cinematic imagery award to Ray Harryhausen. Five legendary production designers will also be inducted into the ADG Hall of Fame that evening.

The Simpsons, Harry Shearer, ADG, Artist Directors Guild, Artist Directors Guild Awards

Indications, at the moment, are not good. The writers strike, it seems, has not been good for the Simpsons. Recently, BuddyTV.com posted an alarming bit of news. Because the shows take so long to produce, there is not an enough of show backlogged. Simply put, the show is bound to run out of new episodes before the strike ends. Even more, there will be a longer gap – more so than other shows – between the last episode and any new ones can be released, due to production schedules. That may not sound exactly good. At least, however, there’s a lot of material floating out in syndication, and there’s always the DVD collections. On the horizon, however, there are those new episodes of Futurama that will be forthcoming on Comedy Central. Still, as much as one may like Futurama, it’s certainly not The Simpsons.

The Simpsons, Writers Strike

It seemed, back when The Simpsons Game came out, people enjoyed the satire, but the game play didn’t satify a lot of gaming critics. On the other hand, the satire itself proved funny — so much so that the game itself has been honored recently. The Writers Guild has chosen to recognize excellence in video games. It should be noted, however, that the award goes strictly to the writing, not the over all quality of the game. So, for example, the age old Pong or Pac Man or Donkey Kong might be fun and addictive, but it’s not necessarily a well written game. More info, via Gamasutra:

Representatives of the East and West chapters of the Writer’s Guild of America have announced the winners of their inaugural Videogame Writing Award, giving top honors to games including The Simpsons Game, World in Conflict, and The Witcher.

The Guild says the award honors “outstanding achievement in videogame writing during 2007″ and was created to “encourage storytelling excellence in videogames, improve the status of writers, and foster uniform standards within the gaming industry.”

Writing credits for the game are:

THE SIMPSONS GAME, Lead Writer Matt Selman, Written by Tim Long and Matt Warburton, Dialogue by Jeff Poliquin, Electronic Arts

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Game, The Writers Guild, The Writers Guild Awards

One of the wonderful things about Futurama is how it’s not like The Simpsons. Sure, Groening’s art is the same in the two shows, although there’s more digital enhancement in Futurama. Yet, as has been noted before, the style of satirical writing is fundamentally different, and using science fiction is definite way to provide distinction. Yet, it’s the little things, both in Sci-Fi and pop culture, that always make the show interesting. David X. Cohen is an ardent genre fan, and it shows. So is Groening. But sometimes, the little things in prior careers do make for interesting trivia.

Take Cohen for example. He used to code for computer games. He did this back in the time before cable modems, internet chat rooms and online gaming. For today’s younger generation, it may come as a shock of what computers were actually like in the 1980’s — back during the era of green screen monitors, dot matrix printers, and large square “floppy disks” that literally were floppy. Computer gaming was a lot different back then. The characters looked vary blocky, and the games themselves were very simple; there were no 3-D environments, no polygon textured faces or landscapes.

At that point in time, David X. Cohen worked for Broderbund, a leading software company and game developer that has long since faded. Back then, Cohen coded for a game called “Zoid.” It never came out. However, that game, years later, when Cohen persued a highly different career, would become an interesting subtle influence. In developing Futurama, Cohen decided to name the doctor after that game. The story’s kind of interesting. Chris Baker, over at Wired, writes:

But the game Zoid achieved a sort of immortality when Cohen and Matt Groening were shaping the concept for the show that would be Futurama. Cohen, an ardent Trekkie, believed that their show should have some sort of doctor character like “Bones” McCoy on Star Trek. But whereas McCoy is continually forced to treat weird aliens, the doctor on Futurama would himself be a weird alien with no understanding of human anatomy.

While he and Groening were in Florida watching a space shuttle launch, Cohen decided to name the doctor character after his old video game. Doctor John A. Zoidberg became a fan favorite on Futurama.

Futurama, Zoidberg, David X. Cohen, Matt Groening

Billy West does the voice of Fry, Farnsworth, Zoidberg, and another. It’s always interesting, though, to here voice actors talk about how they approach what they do.

Futurama, Billy West, Fry, Zoidberg, Voice Acting

Much like his other off the cuff interviews, Stewart here jumps from being serious to cracking jokes. I think the interview is interesting, but I do wish that instead of incessantly cutting to black, that the interviewer didn’t edit his questions out.

The Simpsons, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

The writer’s strike, at the moment, seems to have no end in sight. At the moment, The Simpsons seems unaffected as one might have guessed. The most notable results so far, has been the lack of quality talk shows. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, for example, have been off the air during a time where they’d be mining pure comedy gold: the presidential primary elections. At any rate, Stewart and Colbert, as well as Letterman and Leno, have made forays back onto television, but without their writers in tow. In other respects, the avalanche of reality programming is beginning too. American Gladiators. Enough said. Of course, the new season of American Idol is coming, and one fear is that with a lot of “not written” shows on the air, one might be lulled into thinking “What strike?”

That’s a shame. Nicholas Pappas, of The Daily Utah Chronicle, may have a point:

Think about that. How many jokes have you stolen from “Seinfeld” or “South Park” or “The Simpsons?” I’m willing to believe that half of the people out there wouldn’t know how to be funny without them. I had a friend who made his entire schtick out of Ralph Wiggum lines.

“Me fail English? That’s unpossible!”

It’s just one simple, brilliant line written by a member of the Writers Guild of America. He deserves our respect for it. They all do.

Basically, television, much like the internet, has become a medium that has worked its way into the fabric of many people’s lives. It’s a medium that is often taken for granted, one that people naturally would assume would always be there. Certain bit of creative usuage is bound to happen — just go onto any snarky message board and look for the image of Comic Book Guy announcing “Best Thread Ever!” While there’s not an avalanche of this image out there, it certainly is used often; one is bound to find it eventually, as well as it’s angry counterpart, “Worst Thread Ever!” In the end, that was inspired by something a TV writer created. So, in the end, before American Idol takes over TV screens across the globe, it does merit remembering that television writers have their place and deserve to be heard.

The Simpsons, Writer’s Strike

This past Christmas, my in-laws gave me The Simpsons Movie on DVD, and then, we all watched it together. Afterwards, I watched it about three more times, and here are my thoughts in a nutshell. By any stretch, this is not a complete review.

The movie, as it’s written, is interesting because it’s structurally different than what fans are used to. The standard Simpsons episode is usually, without commercials, about 15 minutes or so. There’s usually the set up, which in many cases, has nothing to do with the rest of the episode, and then the rest follows up on it. There isn’t really any time for character complexity on a grander scale.

The movie, on the other hand, allows for multiple story lines at the same time. So, we, as viewers, get to see Bart struggle with his relationship with his father, Marge struggle with her marriage, and Lisa fall in love with somebody other than Millhouse. While this is all well and fine, juggling the sub-plots leaves the movie a little humorless and dragging at points. Or, at least, it seems that way.

Some fans I know, like my wife, for example, complained that there wasn’t enough of the other characters, like Patty and Selma or Comic Book Guy. In that regard, it’s a given – if the writers tried to cram in every Springflielder, then the story arcs would have gotten a little bogged down. And also: every episode, every week, doesn’t cram in every minor character, so why should the movie? In a way, the challenge, for the writers, most have been the colossal expectations fans had. After all, there’s been more than a decade of shows in TV episode format. This certainly was an issue with Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, where the writers knew that eventually, the movie was going to be broken down into episode long segments, so it could air on TV. Still, I kind of liked how the movie tried to get a little deeper into the characters, because that gave Bart, Homer, Marge, and Lisa a little more emotional substance than what viewers are used to on TV. At any rate, it’s sad to know that there’s no ready plans for a sequel anytime soon.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie, Writing

According to Reuters, the Simpsons DVD is still doing well:

“The Simpsons Movie” ruled the national sales chart for a second week, while “Rush Hour 3″ and “The Kingdom” bowed at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, according to Nielsen VideoScan data issued Thursday.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie

It’s a fact. Not only does The Simpsons universe contain a long running television series and a successful movie, but there’s a publishing empire that goes with it. Most of this comes in the form of comics and the soft cover collections of those comics. There’s also a merchandising, which, at times, seems to put out useless stuff like the Homer Simpsons donut maker. Still, some of the non-TV or DVD products are genuinely hilarious, like the fake books of “inspirational wisdom.” In a sense, they mock inspirational books even down to the size and format.

Such is the case with “Comic Book Guy’s Book of Pop Culture.” Basically, Comic Book Guy, as seen on the show, is an entertainment geek – an expert on everything having to do with pop culture. That’s part of the joke, because if one were to visit the local comic book shop, one would likely find a fat guy with a pony tail spouting off about something. The caricature is actually a little true to life.

At any rate, CBG, as the book abbreviates, offers his penetrating, and often hilarious, insight on everything from the internet to the every cranky – but talented – science fiction writer Harlan Ellison (who gets offended if one every calls him a “science fiction writer). A lot of the book consists of numbered lists explaining details in a corresponding pictures. There are other illustrated items too, like a gag that centers on the different snappy slogans on CBG’s shirts.

Over all, definitely a fun read.