Monty Burns from The Simpsons- you know, the really, really old guy who manages the Nuclear Power Plant and often uses slang from the late 19th/early 20th century in daily conversation (Once asking if he was too late for the 4:30 Autogyro, as he had an important telegram to deliver to the Prussian consulate in Siam, for example).
I have yet to see an entire episode of The Simpsons but I have picked up a few names of characters by way of crossword puzzles and other indirect references. I also didn’t follow MASH* as a fan, so I wasn’t sure if Major Burns might be the one you meant.
In any event, I doubt that “movie house” is “slang from the late 19th/early 20th century” but if it is, I didn’t learn about it that early. My arrival on the planet was more like midway through the 20th.
Ok, look, I’m sorry, but how do you manage to never have seen an entire episode of one of (if not the) world’s most popular shows, and one that’s been on the air for over twenty freaking years? You’ve got an internet connection and The Simpsons is on TV pretty much everywhere on the planet, so at this stage you must be trying not to watch the show, surely?
I could name twenty shows like The Simpsons that are on many people’s must-see list that I just don’t have any interest in whatsoever. I hate (not dislike) hate American Idol and those silly dancing with somebody shows. I do not watch any NBC shows. The only CBS shows I even tolerate are Medium, Survivor, and The Mentalist.
There’s this thing called taste, you see. And, bizarre as it must seem to you, we don’t share some.
None of those shows are in any way comparable to The Simpsons. It’s not about “taste”, it’s about going out of your way to avoid seeing the most popular show on the planet for… why, exactly?
Beats me. Got any good ideas? My lack of interest in The Simpsons seems to amaze you for some reason. Since I honestly don’t care one way or the other, maybe this is your issue more than mine.
If it matters at all, I happen to think Flight of the Conchords has been the best show on HBO since The Sopranos – if you’d like to shoot down something I like.
I don’t expect you to be a fan of the Simpsons or love it or anything like that- but it’s really, really weird to have no idea at all about such a popular and influential show. I don’t like Harry Potter or Twilight but I still know who the major characters are, for example.
And I don’t live in the US so I’m not up with the ins and outs of what’s on each cable or TV channel there. I’ve never seen the attraction of Flight Of The Conchords but in this part of the world there’s nothing especially exotic or interesting about New Zealanders. 
I sense a parallel of sorts, if you step back and look at it.
No, not really. Nice try, though.
End of transmission
I know plenty of people who have never watched an episode of the Simpsons. It’s not THAT unusual. Even the biggest items in pop culture are not known by everyone. Heck, I know plenty of Americans who have never watched the Superbowl.
Well said, suranyi. Thanks for the support.
Yeah, it is. Maybe not in the “Everyone is special and unique” land of the SDMB, but really, if you were to admit at a work Christmas party (for example)(and at a company not largely staffed by Baby Boomers) that not only had you never seen an episode of the Simpsons, but that you’d failed to even pick up the basics of who was who via pop-culture osmosis, you’d be ridiculed by all and sundry for being a weirdo. Not to your face, of course, but behind your back you can bet everyone would be either laughing at or making fun of you for it.
But I bet they know what the Superbowl is, and probably the names of some of the teams involved. Also, the Superbowl hasn’t been on nearly every TV channel in the world, five nights a week, for the past twenty years.
It all depends. That could be true in many cases. Not at my current job. Almost everybody there is a Russian or Asian immigrant who doesn’t know much about American pop culture.
In any case neither of us specified an age range. Many of the people i know who have never seen the show are over 50. My own parents, for exampe.
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movie house – maybe 2-3 a year.
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premium cable TV channel – 0. I don’t have this.
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basic cable TV channel – 0. I don’t watch movies on TV.
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On Demand – 0. Never felt the need to Pay-per-view a movie.
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Netflix or other rental outfit. – Many. Probably about 40% of my movie watching. I’m on the “2 at a time” plan and go though maybe 12 a month.
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purchased DVD. – MANY. The other 60%. I’ve got about 800 DVDs (more than half are Korean and Chinese films, with some Japanese as well). I tend to watch all bonus features and listen to all commentaries (the ones in English, anyways) so “watching a DVD” often takes 5-6 hours spread out over several days. At times I’ll put Netflix on hold to concentrate on making a dent in my collection, but I keep importing more DVDs than I can keep up with watching. I don’t think I’ll EVER want for a good movie to watch, which is why I have no use for the TV stuff.
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the one you actually use – I have no idea what this means.
Oh, and just for the record (concerning the recent direction of the thread), I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of *The Simpsons *either. Although I have seen enough snippets and am tuned into the culture enough to get most of the character references. So if someone says “D’oh!” or “eat my shorts!” yeah, I get it.
The vast majority of the movies I watch come from Netflix. I buy one or two DVDs a year, and I probably go to the theater once or twice a year, usually to take the kids to see something like Harry Potter or Star Trek.
I subscribe to some premium cable channels, mostly because if I ever want the TV on for background noise, like while I’m cooking, then I want some channels without commercials. But I occasionally will watch a movie just because it’s on cable, even though it’s something I wouldn’t have rented. Sometimes I’ll scroll through the week’s offerings on the HD premium channels and line some movies up on the DVR.
Another way of saying: 7) Other – please specify