Simpsons Film in Preproduction

93,000 writes "According to Yahoo news, a Simpsons feature film is now in preproduction. In TFA, Nancy Cartwright is quoted as saying "We've just done the table read for The Simpsons movie, so although we've been promoting that we're going to do it, now we're actually doing it and are in production . . ." Also from TFA: "'They are working on hammering out a script, but there's no title or production date or release date,' studio spokeswoman Antonia Coffman told E! Online Wednesday. 'We always wanted the show to end first but it just keeps going. Now they've worked out a team to simultaneously do [both the film and show].'""

Jumping the Shark

[leather_helmet]

in movie format... simpsons stopped being funny a few years ago... Aqua Team Hunger Force tickles me fancy

We always wanted the show to end...

[thuh Freak]

wtf? blasphemy! The Simpsons will never end, and I'll punch anyone who implies otherwise.

Length

[rokzy]

hopefully this will solve the problem of decreasing quality of episodes.

in the commentary for season 5 they talk about how an episode of the recent series is 2 minutes shorter (more adverts) than a season 5 episode. this forces them to remove an entire mini-story, which are often the source of many of the funniest moments.

though a movie format causes its own set of problems. I'd prefer they just went back to making longer episodes, but at this point I don't think a movie could makes things much worse so here's hoping for a return to form.

Re:Length

[ferreth]

So they lost two minutes. Big deal. That's just a cop-out. After so many seasons, they have just run out of steam.

Perhapes a longer story format will bring out something interesting, but I'm not holding my breath.

Please get Conan involved!!!

[inkdesign]

IMHO, the episodes he wrote are great, and I think this movie has a chance if they bring back some writers from earlier in the show's history. If not, I fail to see how the current team can produce both the show and a movie, when most would agree the current state of the show doesn't even justify this movie being made in the first place (from an artistic standpoint as opposed to financial.)

I love to see you come, but I hate to see you go..

[poormanjoe]

Well as exciting as this is I think its shows the end of the the Simpsons legacy. Animation usually ends with a feature movie. (Flinstones meet Jetsons comes to mind)

All good things must come to an end.

As far as Family Guy fans go, please don't knock the Simpons because you arn't (or ever were) cultured enough to enjoy them anymore. By all means stick with your slap-stick humor of choice. Personally I was always partial to The Three Stooges.

--Oh, oh, oh, Jolly Mon sing!

Re:We always wanted the show to end...

[Momoru]

Ugh, you've got to be kidding me. The Simpsons has sucked for at least the last 6-8 years. Unless you think comic genius is:

The Simpsons meet [insert current pop star] and have zany unfunny adventures.

Or the Simpsons [go to X country] and have recycled unfunny adventures.

This movie is the final dagger in the reputation of the once great show. Please Fox cancel the God damn show, we've got the Family Guy back again.

Re:Let me be the first to say

[StarWynd]

Slashdot needs a new moderation category, Cliche. Someone mod parent +1 Cliche.

Re:We always wanted the show to end...

[sundog61]

The Simpsons has sucked for at least the last 6-8 years

Definitely true, but there are still enough long time Simpsons fans to support a feature film. Heck, a lot of folks will go just to see how bad it is.

Re:Hey!!!

[MagicDude]

Old and Busted - Homer's "D'OH"

New Hotness - Darth Vader's "NOOOOOOOO!!!"

Slashdot

[xswl0931]

Slashdot jumped the shark when it was bought. That's when the "editors" stopped reading their own site.

Re:Please just kill it...

[paRcat]

I have to laugh at those that insist on nothing good happening after the 5th or 6th season. My favorite season is #8, and I'd love to hear anyone try to knock the calibur of the humor throughout. I mean, seriously...

Season Eight:
(personal fav's marked with *)
You Only Move Twice*
El Viaje Misterioso Nuestro Jomer
The Springfield Files*
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-D'oh*
Lisa' s Date With Density*
Treehouse Of Horror VII*
The Homer They Fall*
A Milhouse Divided*
Burns, Baby Burns
Bart After Dark
Hurricane Neddy*
Twisted World Of Marge Simpson*
Grade School Confidential*
Mountain Of Madness*
Homer's Phobia*
Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show*
My Sister, My Sitter*
Brother From Another Series***
Homer Vs. The 18th Amendment*
The Canine Mutiny*
The Old Man And The Lisa*
In Marge We Trust
Homer's Enemy*
The Simpsons Spin-off Showcase*
The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson

And that's right in the middle, after the time that so many say the series was headed downhill.

I'll admit it, I've found myself thinking that the humor is getting more and more stupid/slapstick, but then something occurred to me: New episodes don't seem as funny, but in a few years they get quoted along with everything else. So even though I might complain about not laughing through a whole episode, in 4-5 years I'm quoting pieces of it and proclaiming that it's genius.

To me, it just shows that the writers do know what they're doing. The things that tend to be best (books,music,movies,simpson's episodes) may not strike you as amazing the first time around, but after a few exposures to them you suddenly realize how cool they really are.

Spoiler Alert for Family Guy Fans:

[mranchovy]

The next three seasons of Family Guy will consist entirely of Peter Griffin wrestling with that giant chicken.

Re:Keep it the same

[geekoid]

seems like an accurate description of an 8 year old girl.

Re:Please just kill it...

[dinivin]

While seasons 9 through 13 leave much to be desired, the last few seasons have had any number of outstanding episodes.

Re:So what's going to be the big draw to this?

[FidelCatsro]

Its in a generic state , Unless you can show me a state where the capital city is named Capital City with a baseball mascot called the goof-ball .
It was never intended to actually exist in any state of the USA but exist in all .

Re:Jumping the Shark

[Schemat1c]

What we really need is a Family Guy movie.

What we need is movies with fresh plots, new ideas and in no way connected to anything on TV.

Re:Slashdot

[mobby_6kl]

Slashdot jumped the shark when people started bitching about dupes, editors, and the buyout.

Also, the expression "jump the shark" jumped the shark when it was mentioned in over six posts in a single thread.

Re:Er, who cares

[geekoid]

you are no way oblidge to complain about a show you no longer like anymore.
In fact, common courtesy dictates that you shut the hell up.

I know, it's a shoker, but your opinion on slashdot changes NOTHING.

Re:Because of the South Park Movie

[Tony Hoyle]

The South Park movie surely is proof that half hour sit-com does *not* translate.

The just had a standard half hour story and had the characters burst into song every couple of minutes.

It's the only film I've seen where there were only about half the number of people watching at the end of the film than there were at the beginning. I only stayed because I was able to amuse myself timing the gaps between the songs (a bit less than 2 minutes on average.. closer to 1 minute 45).

OTOH quite a few Simpsons episodes have tried to pull the same stunt... ran out of storyline so lets put in a load of gratuitous unfunny singing (lucky Tivo has a fast forward!). It isn't hard to guess what the movie will be like...

Family Guy viewing conditions

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem with the Family Guy, and the disagreement over whether it's funny, is that it's strongly dependent on how you first watch a given episode.

If you watch the episodes alone, they're almost entirely unfunny. The surprises are just so much nonsense. You pay too much attention to the plot, so you start noticing the gambling plotline similarity, or the similarity of the episode about The Passion to the Southpark episode on the same topic.

If you've got friends there, though, you start to laugh hard because of the shared sense of surprise. There's a certain laugh that says "I don't think either of us expected that." It's the kind of laughter that is used in standup comedy and in Monty Python.

If you're watching TV alone, the Simpsons is a much better bet. They have a more organized plotline. The story is interesting in a conventional TV way, even after you've watched a given episode several times. They don't suddenly reference an obscure 70s sitcom as if it were Friends.

So if you've watched the Family Guy alone and didn't enjoy it, don't be surprised.