Huh. I fell asleep about 15 minutes into it, and I was really looking forward to it. Luckily, it’s DVRed, so hopefully it got better.
It felt more like a FG script than a Simpsons script, of which I’m glad.
Simpsons gags sometimes have an annoying tendency to defuse a potentially harsh line, thus ruining the joke. FG does the opposite. They throw the gross joke at the viewers and keep picking it back up and rethrowing it. I think the writers recognize this, as they had Bart refusing to sink to Stewie’s level of depravity. Marge also admonished Lois about not wearing a bra. Homer only cared about beer.
Overall I enjoyed it a lot. As someone who enjoys both shows I found it hit the mark. A lot of good gags. Poor Bob though. Bob’s Burgers is the best show of the lot!
It made me wish that they had done this when Stewie was still evil, and somehow got to team up with Mr. Burns.
I liked it. Throwing in the other mini-crossover characters was funny, I thought. Reminded of that one Simpsons episode where Hank Hill showed up for a second.
It was established in Futurama that The Simpsons were fictional characters in their universe, which the the comic crossovers address. I wonder if the TV crossover will address that too, or just ignore it?
Yeah, it actually wasn’t bad (though I went in with very low expectations).
I wasn’t that impressed by the first half hour, but once they got going with the Duff trial, it got a lot better.
And I thought the fight could’ve actually gone on longer.
coughSideshowBobrakejokecough
Plus callback-in-this-here-episode points for Homer and Springfield Gorge.
Specifically, fights that go on way too long (usually between Peter and a giant chicken) are a Family Guy trademark.
Weren’t they shown together, with their respective teddy bears, in the “parallel characters” scene?
Harry Shearer was “unavailable” for this episode (I couldn’t help wondering if he refused to be involved), and his characters were seen but not heard.
I liked it a lot. Plenty of good solid laughs. The show felt firmly planted in the Family Guy universe, which is good; I don’t know if the crossover would have worked as well in the other direction. I thought McFarlane & Co. were very respectful of the Simpsons characters while delivering that distinct FG-style edge. Also amusing was that nobody in Springfield seemed freaked out by the talking dog.
I read that McFarlane really wanted to use Mr. Burns, but Harry Shearer was “not available” for taping (no Flanders, Brockman, or Skinner either). I’m skeptical that he couldn’t find time in his otherwise loaded schedule (sarcasm alert) to record a few lines, so it makes me wonder if he refused for some reason.
*Edit: Thudlow Boink beat me to that last point, but I’ll leave it in since I wondered the same thing. *
I thought it was okay. As others have noted, the tone of the two shows did clash horribly, but several of the individual jokes got a laugh out of me.
The “My dishwasher is broken” comic was hilarious. And the unattractive woman who responded with “It wasn’t even funny, and I have a great sense of humor” was just perfect.
I also liked “He would steal the donuts.”
There were some genuinely hilarious moments. The “Oh no, oh no, oh no” with no “oh yeah” bit. Where the Bob’s Burger guy shows up and they say “we’re just carrying him” while Cleveland crashes and burns. “That’s YOUR son” with added masturbation. Stewie in general. James Woods x2. Cleveland and Quagmire and Lenny and Carl. I love the sweetness of Lisa and Meg. The animation itself was top notch.
However, Seth’s personal axes to grind get very tedious very fast and spending the first few minutes being a cranky old man about criticism reminded me of the constant, disgusting misogyny that made me stop watching FG to begin with and how he shitty of a job he did hosting the Oscars. He doesn’t come across as someone poking fun at his critics but a bitter bastard who thinks anyone who thinks any of his jokes aren’t funny is terrible. I know he claims he attacks everyone, but it feels like certain types of jokes are his go-to and not to get too soap boxy and politically incorrect, from his position of privilege, it’s really just plain gross sometimes. And I didn’t mind that for a long, long time, back when I felt he was just firing shots at anyone to be funny. He turned almost evangelical and just not funny.
the jokes outside of both their universes was funny too.
Agreed. They blended the animation surprisingly well. I enjoyed the crossover a lot more than I did the season première of The Simpsons; the highlight of which was the couch gag.
I remember Bender once found a Bart Simpsons doll on the garbage asteroid that was threatening NNYC. It was one of the comics, but I remember reading a crossover fan fic when Futurama first came out was just a bunch of episode synopsises from their 1,010th season. Last night’s couch gag made me think of it.
I enjoyed it quite a bit but only because it was a crossover. I was hoping they’d go to new places but it just felt like:
Family Guy joke: 3a.
Simpsons joke: 7b
Family Guy joke: 4n
Simpson joke: 3j
Simpson joke: 1d
Family Guy joke: 9t
Obligatory too long chicken fight
Ending.
Laugh out loud funny.
I thought the funniest joke was about the cat…it’s little things that are funny to me, and Lisa always makes a great straight man.
Best Simpsons episode in years, and one of the best Family Guy episodes ever. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this episode
I ended up witching the rest of it last night, and I guess I was just expecting more. I like Family Guy quite a lot, but I found the episode slow paced and predictable. It was funnier than any Simpsons episode I’ve seen in a long time, but a bit boring for Family Guy. Obviously, I find myself in the minority here. Perhaps my expectations were too high.