I wrote most of this before reading the thread (to avoid influence), and just about every sentiment expressed here has been delivered elsewhere. I’m especially glad to find that others dislike the Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Homer Simpson: Most of the time, I hate the stupid characters in the Simpsons - Homer and Ralph in particular. Most of the jokes connected to them are either slapstick or derivative ‘stupid statements’. Modern day clowns. And Family Guy had to go and make four strong multi-dimensional characters, then throw Homer and Ralph clones in.
That said, I’m a huge fan of both shows – fortunately most of the humour comes from the situations Homer and Peter end up in and not the characters themselves. Yeah, Family Guy does take it too far sometimes, but I believe it betters the Simpsons in many respects. As I already hinted at, the characters are a lot stronger. Marge is just a housewife, but Lois has a lot more to her than that. Family Guy also does the cutaway thing that the Simpsons stopped doing.
I too am completely baffled by Futurama.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: I’ve read through the ‘trilogy’ (a five book trilogy - talk about ‘thinking outside the box’…) once and recently made a second futile attempt to enjoy it. I usually like simple writing, but with Douglas Adams it feels more as if a little kid is telling me the story. The writing is exceedingly facetious, often leading to these ‘playful philosophies’ which are more often irritating than enlightening. Finally, the books are full of these largely irrelvant snippets of information about some part of Adams’ fantasy universe, and subsequent comic interactions with these objects. I just don’t find this interesting whatsoever (which isn’t to say nobody else should).
Actually, thinking about it, Futurama isn’t amusing to me for the same reason the Hitchhiker’s Guide isn’t: too difficult to identify with.
Alice in Wonderland is awful as a story, but the strength of the individual sections means it’s still on my bookshelf.
U2 aren’t bad, but the reverence they’re paid just doesn’t make sense. Take away Bono’s ego, and what do you have left? A fairly standard soft rock group with some neat catchy riffs. Similar deal with Queen and Aerosmith – they seem(ed) to be trying harder to be rock stars than actually making interesting music. Case in point: Disney’s Rock & Rollercoaster – with Aerosmith!
There’s way too much slapstick in Monty Python, but the sketches which rely on a different sort of humour are classic.
The Doors aren’t really overrated, but Jim Morrison definitely is. Glassy, the keyboard guy is Ray Manzarek and definitely the Doors strongest element IMO.
