Watching Simpsons

Universal Studios Hollywood Debuts their new Simpsons themed ride on May 17. As it may well have been mentioned earlier, the new rollercoaster replaces a well-like “Back to the Future” attraction. Basically, the new attraction could have completely erased “Back to the Future,” but the new ride will have a few acknowledgements of its predecessor. Basically, Doc Brown, voiced by Christopher Lloyd, will make his Springfield debut. Brown was Marty McFly’s crazy scientist friend who invented the time traveling De Lorean car. Brown will also appear with an aptly placed Professor Frink (Hank Azaria). The De Lorean also will be incorporated as part of the new attraction as well. In the end, the ride itself cost Universal Studios roughly 40 million dollars. Also, it’s a simulator, not the more traditional Coney Island styled roller coaster.

You really can sort of measure the pop culture success of something by how much of it makes it into everyday speech. Shakespeare, for example, has given the English language a number of expressions that are still used today. So has The Simpsons. To be clear, however, I’m not necessarily equating the Bard with Groening’s creations. Beyond expressions and sayings, there’s also the ease for which people can use something, like The Simpsons, as a metaphor or explanation for something else. We’ve kind of seen it with The Taurus, recently. Now, however, it seems a Simpsons episode has made explaining Salmon issues a bit easier:

If you’re a Simpsons fan, you may remember an episode in which Lisa inadvertently releases an invasive lizard in the town that eats pigeons.

Everyone is happy, and when someone points out that they’ll soon have a problem with lizards instead of birds, someone dismisses it by saying they’ll release monkeys to eat the lizards and then cold will kill the monkeys. See, there’s no real problem!

It’s meant to be a ridiculous jab at peoples’ short-sightedness, but some days it seems like reality TV. Western states have now taken steps to protect their valuable wild salmon stocks by killing sea lions.

The rest of the article goes into greater detail. Normally, however, in terms of writing, these sort of pop-cultural references usually don’t work. For example, not everybody may be familiar with Robot Chicken, so using it as an explanatory tool may not be too effective. Plus, there’s the ever present problem of dating. In this regard, using an obscure 1980’s comedy could possibly be lost on people. At any rate, since it’s The Simpsons, it largely works, due to the success of the show and most people’s grasp on the characters.

The Simpsons, Nature, Conservation

This is certainly alarming:

More things that have me thinking. A repeat of Family Guy outperformed an original episode of The Simpsons. The Simpsons is still strong in the demo, but that’s not the first time this has happened.

Nielson ratings can be fleeting, and there’s likely a ton of reasons to factor, but any time a rerun beats an original, it does give one pause — especially when The Family Guy is not nearly as a good as The Simpsons.

The news on whether there’s going to be a Simpsons Movie sequel or not is kind of murky at points. Many months ago, Al Jean stated that there was no plans for a sequel. But, then again, in the midst of the writer’s strike, evidence ofsome talk surfaced. Basically, the strike was blamed for development talks not going forward. Now, it seems that there are discussions afoot.

Hank Azaria has gone public, in hopes of influencing how those talks go. In short, he wishes to have a bigger role this time around. Azaria typically does the voices of a lot of minor characters, and with the family solely in the spotlight, and the rest of Springfield stuck in a bubble, Audiences got see little of Moe, Apu, and others. Besides a wish for more screen time, Azaria has another idea, and it’s a good one. He thinks the next Simpsons movie should be a Treehouse of Horror adaptation.

I think that would be an excellent idea. The last time, some fans liked the movie, but had some reservations about it. It seemed a touch too long with a few dull moments. Basically, with an expanded running time, the script sought to go a little deeper into character than what the usual TV episode would allow. A Treehouse of Horror movie would be different in that regard.

If it was done in the way the usual Halloween show goes, then the movie would likely be an anthology of shorter bits. So, this would possibly cut out the need for in depth character development. As for Azaria, this possibly would allow for him, and all the characters that come with him, to be a little bit more visible than last time.

Lately, it seems that Hillary Clinton has been have a rough go of things. She started out her primary campaign positioned as the presumptive “front runner.” She had a lot of money, as well as the media’s presumption of inevitability. Then, along the way, something happened. Barack Obama started gaining steam, and then, basically, Hillary started losing electoral contests, 11 in a row as of this writing. Clinton and her campaign, partly out of desperation, began throwing everything they could at Obama, including charges of “stealing” a phrase or two from Mass. Governor Deval Patrick.

Here’s where it gets a little silly, as well is the needed Simpsons angle. According to Christopher Orr, one of Clinton’s advisors make have bumbling into coming remarkably close to sounding like the drooling aliens from the Treehouse of Horror episodes:

Now, normally I wouldn’t bring this up. But given that the Clinton campaign has made clear its horror of anything that remotely smacks of plagiarism, I feel obligated to point out that the slogan “Forward, Not Back” was stolen from another political campaign. I refer, of course, to the extraterrestrial Kang’s 1996 presidential run on “The Simpsons”:

We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.

The Simpsons, Hillary Clinton, Elections, Primary, Kang, Kodos, Politics

Lifeisajoke.com has a good list of Homer quotes.

# “I’m going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won’t be back for TEN MINUTES.”
# “Bart, with $10,000, we’d be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like…love!”
# “Unfortunately, son, we Simpsons sometimes have to bend the rules a little in order to hold our own.”
# “Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here’s the deal:

# You freeze everything the way it is, and I won’t ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done.” “The strong must protect the sweet”
# “Ah, sweet pity. Where would my love life have been without it?”
# “Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you’d step over your own mother just to get one! But you can’t stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!”

According to Reuters, Hank Azaria has been busy outside of The Simpsons:

Hank Azaria will play an Eqyptian pharaoh in Ben Stiller’s “Night at the Museum” sequel.

“Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian,” also stars Amy Adams. Shawn Levy will direct the Fox project.

Azaria has also joined the cast of Harold Ramis’ biblical comedy “Year One,” playing Abraham. The Columbia Pictures film stars Jack Black and Michael Cera.

Azaria will conclude his Broadway run in “The Farnsworth Invention” on March 2. He also appeared on Broadway in “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” for which he was nominated in 2005 for a Tony Award for best leading role in a musical.

I think this is pretty darn hilarious. Over on webware.com, there’s an interactive map of Springfield that shows the locations of everything, from Snake’s Hideout, “Hickton,” to Burn’s mansion, the Quimby compound. Josh Lowensohn writes:

The map was started in 2001 by Jerry Lema and Terry Hogan. The current version is about four years old (so there are no marks from the dome featured in the recent film). In addition to a quadrant view, designer Adrian Noterdaem has put together a slick Flash-based version that lets you zoom in and out. There’s also a PDF and printed version of the map residing in Harvard’s map collection.

The original can be found here, in much greater detail here. The important thing, however, is what the writers and creators of the this map say:

While the placement of most locations is arbitrary, many are placed according to where they appear in relationship to each other in specific episodes of The Simpsons. In some cases ‘one-time references’ to specific locations have been disregarded in favor of others more often repeated. Due to the many inconsistencies among episodes, the map will never be completely accurate.

In other words, it’s a work of fan fiction. Groening has no relation to this. Still, it’s interesting.

[The Simpsons, Maps, City Maps, Springfield [/tags]

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.

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

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

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

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