Matt Groening on Futurama, Simpsons and Fox 438
dipfan writes "Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening, in an interview with the FT, says that the Fox network didn't understand or support Futurama. Groening says: "They haven't really supported it. I think it's a worthy companion to The Simpsons and we're really proud of it. But Fox gave it a bad slot and zero promotion for the last three years." He also accuses the channel of meddling with the show, making complaints that the characters were "too mean". He's hoping to change Fox's mind, and endorses the online petition to try and save the show. The good news is that he's got other ideas for new shows if Futurama really does get canned, and talks about new Simpsons plots involving Enron, and Krusty The Clown running for Congress." His feelings shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who saw the first act of "Homer the Moe", but what I thought was interesting was his comments on Fox and how he's not interested in moving networks over the futurama thing.
Hopefully... (Score:1, Insightful)
Problems with Fox... (Score:4, Insightful)
Plenty in Ouvre; Indifferent about plug pulling (Score:4, Insightful)
I wouldn't mind The Simpsons ending its run at this point. Better that than risk something awful happening, like one of the voice actors quitting or getting canned or Fox insisting on some egregious change.
Anyway, there are so many episodes in syndication that I can watch reruns for weeks without getting bored.
What WOULD be tragic: Groening not having a shot at another show. Surprise us, Matt!
Stefan
* #1 Candidate for overused annoying chic media term.
The 7 pm Sunday death slot (Score:2, Insightful)
Lifespan of a comedy style? (Score:5, Insightful)
Greg the bunny is funny.
And the recent episodes of the X-Files are deeply conspiracy-laden, heart-wrenching and mind-busting masterpieces.
Personal preferences aside - Fox has had a history of poor choices where the schedule and programming of their stations is concerned.
On another subject, quoth the interview:
But Groening is also pragmatic about the show's shelf-life. "Because animation is such an intensely painstaking process, it wears people out, and audiences are always looking for surprises. When any character is as stupid as Homer Simpson, it's hard to keep surprising the audience."
Groening has a remarkably mature and insightful view of his own mortality and the limits of a particular genre. While the Simpsons make an excelent foil for poking fun at any cultural situation, economic event, or global personality (and as such, has a much much longer life expectancy than, say, Garfield (no offense to Garfield), who has said just about all there is to say on the subjects of laziness, gluttony, and hatred of dumb-but-cute), at some point, almost certainly, the majority of people watching the show will say "Ho hum, Homer's dumb, headlines, Bart whines, Lisa's smart - who gives a fart? Pass the booze - I'd rather snooze." (Or something, perhaps in slightly less doggerel.) We can only hope that Groening recognizes this point and brings us to a stunning (and satisfying) conclusion before the show becomes bogged down with the dead weight of unfunny seasons.
Re:Matt Groening is a sellout (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay... so the Simpsons really isn't funny. I guess all my laughter was an allergic reaction to really bad TV?
I think it's funny how people use their individualism to try to rise above other people. They never seem to realize that the tip of their nose ends up higher than their forehead when they do that.
I have no regrets. Both the Simpsons and Futurama are quite amusing to watch, and their style of humor has yet to be replicated by anybody. Hmm... isn't that the definition of clever?
Re:network genius @ Fox (Score:5, Insightful)
I've seen this comment a few times.
I think what it comes down to is that GtB is a great sendup of what life is like in Hollyweird. It's a great, biting satire about the kinds of things that TV executives can relate to.
Greg the Bunny is TV executives what Dilbert is to the IT worker.
Family Guy (the episode where the Grim Reaper took a holiday was sheer brilliance) and most Futurama episodes are just as biting as Greg the Bunny -- but most of the jokes probably have no real meaning for a TV executive; they're aimed pretty squarely at what life's like for Joe and Jane Sixpack. (Incompetent managers, bad investments, the Internet, Star Trek geeks :)
Trouble is, most Joe and Jane Sixpacks don't like to see themselves made fun of. It reminds them of how lame they are. Hence the fact that most Simpsons episodes have their funny moments, but they've lost (if indeed, they ever had it) that acerbic, biting cynicism that the original "Life in Hell" comics had.
That leaves the Slashdot crowd - most of whom loves satire as an art form - for stuff like The Tick, Family Guy, and Futurama. I mean, c'mon, how could we not laugh at the "Napster" episode of Futurama? Or the AOL episode ("My god... it's full of spam!"). We love satire, even when it's directed at us.
(And yes, I also lament the loss of the Dilbert series, but that was a UPN thing, not a FOX thing, so it's not really on topic here :)
Bottom line: GtB is being given a chance because TV executives probably think it's riotously funny. I think the gags are "kinda funny", but I can't even tell you when the show airs.
In contrast, I tuned in to Dilbert (and tune in to Futurama) religiously - the jokes that TV executives think of as "kinda funny" are the ones I find riotous.
I don't think I've regularly watched the Simpsons in years, though. Yeah, Life in Hell had to be toned down for TV, but that's probably why I never got hooked on the Simpsons.
Someone should tell Matt... (Score:4, Insightful)
This came out of a report from an anime convention last week. The studio reps said that they would pay attention to petitions for new series, but not online petitions. I suspect that Fox would pay even less attention.
I don't think there's been a single example of an online petition having an effect. Please provide examples if I'm mistaken.
Re:Problems with Fox... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the truth. Married with Children is a prime example. It was one of the shows that helped launch the network, and they showed no respect for that. They repeatedly changed the timeslot, and eventually moved it to Saturday night. The worst, though, was that they didn't produce a final episode. They cancelled it after all the season 11 episodes were taped, so there was never a finale That's a pretty rotten send-off for a show that ran for over a decade.
Re:Plenty in Ouvre; Indifferent about plug pulling (Score:3, Insightful)
Have you seen the Simpsons at all this season? The whole series has been a train wreck. It's like they're deliberately trying to kill off interest in the show by making the worst possible episodes.
Re:Lifespan of a comedy style? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think one of the really neat things about the Simpsons is that it reflects our own cultural insanity. The day when the Simpsons runs out of material will be the day we, as a culture, finally move ourselves out of the wasteland of ignorance and stupidity. It's win-win!
Secular Thinking (Score:2, Insightful)
As folks will quote scripture, so folks will quote the Simpsons.
It's on Sunday, and plans are made around it. Those that watch think those that don't are wierd.
You can also attend throughout the week, but the sermons seem a bit canned and dated.
The characters consistently show reality through a fun-house mirror and have representation from most ethnic groups/stereotypes.
Why not? I'm sure someone somewhere hates the Simpsons with passion enough to start a small war, and that's all the qualification I need.
-JPJ
Re:network genius @ Fox (Score:3, Insightful)
As I've posted above - Greg the Bunny is funny.
It has nothing to do w/satire or demographics. It's really simple. It's puppets doing crass things. That is way too funny. When the fat bear puppet literally "ripped a new one" I laughed so hard I thought I might hurt myself.
Have you seen the muppet posts floating around here lately? You've got to be quick to catch them before they are modded down into oblivion. I've read the sex one and the eating muppets one. Anyways-- they are hilarious because it's about puppets and people doing crass things.
That's all there is to it.
.
Re:The 7 pm Sunday death slot (Score:1, Insightful)
I can't help but think that Fox was intentionally trying to kill off Futurama. *would really love to hear Fox's reason for doing that before coming to such a cold conclusion.*
Re:Plenty in Ouvre; Indifferent about plug pulling (Score:4, Insightful)
It just seems like the current writers don't have a sense of subtlety, and so every joke is way overdone, and even sometimes replayed or drawn attention to just in case you missed it.
Older Simpsons seasons allowed subtlety, if you didn't get it, well, you didn't get it. That also added some rewatchability to episodes.
Fox becoming 70s TV (Score:4, Insightful)
The mid to late nineties TV landscape was covered with amusing shows that took pot-shots at everything, including themselves and especially the sitcom formula. Mr. Show, Upright Citizens, Simpsons, Family Guy, The Daily Show, etc were groundbreaking shows. They didn't take anything as above-criticism and developed an intelligent edge through insightful comedy.
Now look at the popular comedies on Fox. Bernie Mac, King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, etc. They're more based in the Love Boat tradition of wacky sitcom than in the Simpsons tradition of satire and irony. This is what people want. The Neilsons have spoken and Fox isn't listening to the raves, but only to the complaints about shows being too brainy, mean, or smartassed.
Cable seems to be picking up the slack with shows like the Man Show, Sealab 2021, etc. Hopefully the Simpsons spirit will live on in the minds of writers willing to take a small risk.
Re:The Simpsons dating itself into oblivion (Score:2, Insightful)
Believe me, Enron will be remembered, along with words and phrases like "Watergate," "Whitewater," "S&L Collapse," "Teapot Dome," "Iran-Contra," and so on. I know it isn't good to admit it when straining to maintain a disaffected, too-cool-to-care, above politics Generation Z-ster posture, but people *do* care about Enron.
But the Simpsons went down that primrose way a long time ago, ever since they started cracking jokes about the Internet, and making episodes featuring George Bush and Bill Clinton [...]
Oh, no shit, man, who remembers US presidents? How obscure!
"John F. Who????"
Re:Plenty in Ouvre; Indifferent about plug pulling (Score:2, Insightful)