Partly With Lionel, Partly With Shell
Although I was once a huge fan of The Simpsons, I am rather hoping that Lionel gets his way and that the Simpsons actors never return to work.
They probably won't, but I wish they would. The show stopped being funny some time ago. Well, it's still funny now and then, but you have to wait much too long between funny bits to make it worth sitting through.
Shark. Jumped. Let it go, gang. No show should run longer than 5 or 6 years. You guys should have stopped long, long ago.
I never did watch the Simpsons but caught the cast on James Lipton. They were a funny group of people and pretty funny.
Speaking of Lipton, I couldn't believe I sat though the so called "Landmark Interview" of Barbara Streisand. I love her voice and have sevral cd's...I alsmost put them in the garbage when she started her "crap" against our President. Her timing was deplorable!
The old guy that I am, I always preferred cartoons limited to those that appeared in the daily newspaper when I was a kid, with an occasional one at the Saturday morning double-header film festival for pre-teens.
But when I got to be an adult, TV weared thin very early. And the only stuff I ever saw there that was genuinely funny was (some) British comedy. And much later, most episodes of "Married With Children" in the late 80s and early 90s. I just never took the time to try figuring out the Simpsons handiwork.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
When I lived in San Diego in the late '80's, Matt Groenig had a comic strip called, "Life in Hell." I loved that strip, and its spinoff books, especially "School is Hell," since that's what I was doing in San Diego, anyway. You'd appreciate that book, Dean!
I always thought the rabbits (the kid rabbits only get one ear, the grown-up rabbits all have two) were infinitely funnier that the Simpsons. I have no idea if he still writes that strip, but I thought it was great at the time.
Arnold, I liked a bit of the '70s stuff, like Barney Miller and Night Court. M*A*S*H, on the other hand, wore out its welcome fairly quickly for me. :)
Anyway, I'm surprised to see the follow-up. When I saw an article about this yesterday, I thought it was another April Fools joke. The headline was "Simpsons actors strike for more D'oh." (ewwww)
Go figgre.
Dani:
Ah! Yes, for many years, even long after The Simpsons came on TV, I thought of Matt Groening chiefly in terms of his "Life in Hell" cartoons.
I was in grad school when I discovered "Life in Hell," and for several years I had taped to the refrigerator in my apartment in Durham, North Carolina a wonderful "Life in Hell" cartoon about graduate study...
One rabbit: "C'mon outside! We're playin' softball! Drinkin' beer! Havin' a picnic!" —Other rabbit, with his nose buried in a book: "Sounds great. I'll be out in about five years."
The Simpsons. Best. Cartoon. Ever.
May it never die. Pay the actors as much as they want.
Dani -
Groening still does "Life in Hell." It's where he has an outlet for the more visceral Republican-bashing that doesn't make it to "The Simpsons."
But I have to agree - the show is long, LONG past its prime. I used to record every episode as it was released, and couldn't wait for new ones. Now I just shrug and say "eh, so what? It'll be out on DVD one of these days." The show used to have at least a foot in reality, albeit a cartoon reality. Now it's so far off into sheer frantic fantasy that it simply isn't funny.
The Simpsons started when I was in HS, and I am now in my 30s.
And they are still cool. Much more cool than The Flintstones.
Long Live The Simpsons.
Paul, my favorite Life in Hell cartoon was on dating, where he categorized them by type. The "Woman from Mars" had long hair and wide eyes, and said:
"I will now perform an interpretive dance to express my love for you."
My husband-to-be and I thought this was hilarious, since we actually knew a few fruitbats like that.
Chris, I'm sorry to hear he's a Republican-basher now, politics aren't as funny, IMHO.