The Simpsons :Channel 4

[TheBlackLodge]

Bloody hell, I actually saw an episode yesterday that I had never seen before. The Edison one......

[abigsmurf]

I always wonder why Americans admire Edison so much. The man was a ruthless crook who caused one of the greatest scientific minds of his time (Tesla) to die penniless, not to mention drove countless people out of business due to unscrupulous means. Most of his inventions simply built on existing designs which he then repatented and a good number of the 1000 or so patents were other people's ideas which he filed in his name.

[Lyris]

Probably the same way the Scots admire William Wallace so much, based on his depiction in Braveheart.

[El Leone]

I hate the new simpsons. Its not been good for the past 10 years i agree. I think its just crawled up its own arse now.
Any good writer knows that you should right for yourself and forget the audience, and i think thats where simpsons has gone wrong. The writers are not writing stuff they find funny, its stuff they think we will find funny...and its just not.

To add to this: Characters have become sterotypes of themselves. Thats probably one of the most stressful things about watching the Simpsons. Lisa, Bart and Homer are all incredibly annoying. I didn't mention Marge because she was annoying in the first place, although admittingly she is more annoying now.

Storylines are crap but hey what can you say its been going on for like 20 years now. And I hate how it keeps trying to cool with the over use of referencing to modern culture or trying 'epic' music scenes.

[Dogg Thang]

I haven't watched it in years but, after being around so long, I'm not sure it could be anything more than what you describe. There are only so many stories and only so much you can do with characters and the fact that they don't age make it even worse - a live action show by this point would have had to change characters to reflect their growth and age, would likely have had a considerable line-up change to replace the younger characters, would have attempted to grow with its audience and still would likely have ended up stale at this point.

But, hey, for me none of that changes the fact that, at its height, it was a work of writing genius.

[BeyondJumpFish]

But, hey, for me none of that changes the fact that, at its height, it was a work of writing genius.

Oh yeah, without a doubt. Its had some of the funniest **** i've ever laughed at.

Think of Krusty when he looses his job and he's in that shack in the middle of nowhere, "President Eisenhower...lets get BUSY!!" lol

[Lyris]

Channel 4 just showed the episode where Apu gets an arranged marriage.
They cut out the part where Homer dressed up as the Indian elephant god thing. Wow, wonder what else they're "revising"?

[C']

That's been cut for a while now. In fact, it may have already been mentioned in this thread.

EDIT - Actually maybe it's another Simpsons thread. Sorry.

[Darwock]

Probably the same way the Scots admire William Wallace so much, based on his depiction in Braveheart.

Erm, the Wallace Monument was built a good while before they made Braveheart - people did have knowledge of history prior to 1995 you know.

[Lyris]

Do you think they cared as much though? It's a little before I was aware of such issues so I may not be the best one to say...

[Darwock]

Well I hardly think anyone would have bothered to preserve his sword for the last 700 years, and enshrine it in a tower next to Stirling castle for 200 years, if nobody cared.

[Lyris]

I don't know; again, it's not my area of expertise, but I imagine what's preserved is decided upon by governments and committees with inflated cultural senses. There was a news item on TV here lately where an astronomical amount of money was being spent (despite the economic conditions) on simply keeping a painting in Scotland. The average person on the street would not care about the painting, but they're essentially being told that they should.

It's not an issue that's close to me either way though, so I am happy to be corrected. In any case, this isn't The Simpsons on Channel 4

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/04/the-simpsons-money-dispute-may-shut-down-fox-tv-s-long-running-hit.html

Not Channel 4 related

Another pay dispute has emerged amongst the network and cast, the percentages being thrown around at the moment are severe enough that there's a real risk no settlement will be made and early next year The Simpsons will be officially cancelled.

[NW2013]

According to that it's only a 15% difference in what they want, I'm sure it's just sabre rattling to get a deal.

About Channel 4, are there plans to show any of the more recent episodes? How long do Sky get exclusivity on each series for?

[Spatial]

About time it was killed off tbh.

The program stopped being original and (for me) funny a long time ago. In fact I think the last time a new Simpsons outing made me laugh was the Movie.