The fairer thing to do would be to compare today’s Simpsons with the Family Guy of ten years from now (if it’s around that long). Family Guy is arguably in its prime right now; I don’t think anyone would say that of The Simpsons.
As for which show is better in general, or when they’re both at their respective bests, how can you compare? They do different things and mine different (though overlapping) territories. The Simpsons (when it’s playing to its strengths) has more heart, more broad, all-ages appeal, and lots of terrific characters with great comic potential. But I agree with those here who say that Family Guy is better than The Simpsons at doing what Family Guy does.
Stuey and Rupert’s frolic on the beach put everything from the Simpsons premiere to shame.
And I disagree that the FG ep can be fairly characterized as “Peter’s a homophobic idiot again.” The ep was not about Peter being upset about gay people. It was about Peter being upset about mistaking a medical exam for a sexual assault. IIRC Peter never said anything about sexuality at all. Joe, after the other three told about the “assaults,” burst out with “You guys are queers!” and rolled off, then rolled back with “and so am I!” Which I took as possibly referencing how some male victims of sexual assault start to question their own sexuality.
I’m sick of these freakin people who have to bitch about every god damn Simpsons episode. If you don’t like it stop watching it. You sound like a damn r-tard complaining about a show for the past five seasons!!
And is it possible to like more than one freaking cartoon!? I like the Simpsons. I like Family Guy. I like Southpark. I like Futurama. It’s stupid to complain about each episode being better or worse than any other show.
Here’s a little trick for watching The Simpsons. Don’t watch each new episode on Sunday night. It’s not going to live up to your expectations. I happened to catch the season premier because it got saved in the rotation of episodes recorded any time/any day by my DVR recorder. So basically I watched it expecting a rerun from 11:30pm Tues but being pleasently surprised by an episode I’ve never seen before.
The show did have it’s funny moments - the truck that fell off the truck truck. The baking powder/vinigar/TNT explosion. The Garfield binder. The Batman Begins bootleg, Homer’s shakedown of Moe, The WWII beans, Metallica yelling at Otto to not listen to their music anymore
It’s not worth my while to try to search, but I swear there are people in this thread, calling the show terrible, who have called every episode terrible for YEARS.
They watch it more than I do, and I still love it.
I thought this was a real funny episode. I flipped to the football game at 8:30 so I didn’t see any other shows, but I’m glad they’ve moved the War at Home to 9:30.
And, you know, if you want to only read positive glowing reviews of Simpsons episodes you might want to find yourself a moderated “We Heart Simpsons” message board. If I like an ap I say so and if I don’t I say that too.
Well, you know, some of us don’t have that option. Believe me, I’ve been trying to wean my friends off the Simpsons for over a year but unless there’s something they consider more compelling across from it they insist.
Well, kind of, except I think he missed my point. I in no way meant to convey that I thought any episode of FG was even in the same league as any episode of The Simpsons.
Sure, it’s possible to like Futurama, The Simpsons, and South Park simultaneously, but to many fans of those three shows, it’s a great insult to put Family Guy in the same category.
You see, the first three are intelligent, well thought-out, original comedies. Family Guy is a rip-off of those aimed at 13 year-olds.
So, now that that’s established, where do you fall in the Macs vs. PCs war? or the Capt. Kirk vs. Capt. Picard debate? or any of the other Great Geek Controversies?
I’m a fan of four shows and I’m reasonably intelligent (more or less). They’re all different in their own ways and I laugh at them for different reasons (though less so now than in previous years).
And I never put South Park in the well-thought out category. (i.e. Crab People, Towelie)
But South Park also has Gays in Scouts, Simpsons did it, Death Camp of Tolerance, anything with Terrance and Phillip, and of course, Bigger, Longer, & Uncut.
Futurama has The Sting, Jurassic Bark, Crimes of the Hot, and others.
The Simpsons have too many classics to name, and the whole character of Lisa is brilliant.
What has Family Guy ever done that is intelligent, redeeming, or socially relevant? What have they done that people will look back on in 20 years and say, “Wow, that was great”?
I think people will look back in 20 years and say, "What was that cheap show that rode the coattails of all the really good animated comdies - you know the one I’m talking about - the baby was kind of funny at first but he turned out to be a one-trick pony? Come on . . . " (imagine a guy snapping his fingers here.)
Ya know, it might be fun if we could actually have a discussion of a Simpsons episode that didn’t rehash the same, boring, opinionated arguments from all the other previous discussions.
Go on, pull up an old thread discussing any episode and you’ll see these exact same posts.
You’re probably right, but it’s been at least a year (but almost surely much longer) since I’ve watched a new episode of the Simpsons, so it’s been at least that long since I’ve contributed to the redundancy of these threads.
It’s not that I have a barking-mad hatred for Family Guy, it’s that I have a barking mad hatred for people comparing it to South Park, Simpsons, and Futurama.
I don’t like N*SYNC but you don’t hear me complaining about them because people don’t go around comparing them to Led Zeppelin and The Who.
Why is this the standard? I mean come on, most of TV throughout its history has been nothing but disposable. It’s there, it entertains while it’s there and then it’s gone and forgotten. But as far as how shows will be remembered in 20 years, The Simpsons will probably be remembered as “that show that had a few good seasons but stuck around way longer than it should have.”
You’re exactly right. I don’t like very much tv at all. The only sitcom I like besides the three I’ve been talking about is Arrested Development. AGAIN, that’s why it’s so annoying when FG is lumped with them.
I think it might be time to put aside the annoyance at FG being mentioned in the same breath as Simpsons. It’s not like the two are going to suddenly stop being compared to each other any time soon.
