Futurama is ok but...

Family Guy ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuules.

Ramalama7 wrote:

I fully agree. Family Guy ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuules compared to watching paint dry, or stareing at the sun. But compared to TV shows like Futurama Family Guy falls far short.

In article , [email] wrote:

Actually, Futurama seems to be less funny to me. But I think that's because they do more pop-culture references that merely make me smirk, whereas Family Guy's humor is more in-your-face and guffaw-producing.

~Philly

Michael J. Stango --who is known as 'mjstango' at his ISP, 'home.com'

"Newton. A PDA barely alive. We can rebuild it. We have the technology. We can make it better than it was. Stronger. Faster. Even *more* superior to WindowsCE..." -- Theme from "The One Thousand Dollar Handheld Computer"

"Michael J. Stango" wrote:

That and Futurama is trying to say something in the show where as Family Guy is going simply for laughs.

Family Guy has more jokes, but Futurama has more laughs. Family Guy may appeal more to the "Jokes? I like jokes! Hahaha" audience, but Futurama appeals to people looking for complex entertainment and intelligent humor. It continues the groundbreaking Simpsons tradition of great plots and consistent characters fused with a sense of reality, but tweaked up to a level of satire, parody, and irony. It allows you to enjoy a good story without taking it seriously. This is exactly what smart people who've grown up on TV and movies want. They are too aware to actually care about what fictional characters do anymore, but they still enjoy watching them do it.

-This has been an insane idiot with a descending size collection of deer heads

-Eric S. ([email])

Look, Ma, I can quote properly!

In article , Eric S. wrote:

I've seen a little of Family Guy, and although it was quite funny, it seemed to be lacking something compared with Futurama and earlier Simpsons. Although that's only my personal opinion[1].

Something I like about Futurama is the 'cool' scenes, the ones that aren't funny, but great fun, like the recent 'Near Death Star', Mecha-Nixon, etc. Scenes like this are present in the Simpsons (2001 in a vibro-chair, beatnik-bombs, etc) but not quite as frequently[2].

Anyone else got any favourite Futurama scenes like this?

If you've read this far, then you really need a life[5]. :-)

Adam Foster

[1] Mine, or belonging to the voices inside my head. [2] But more frequently than in, say, Friends[3]. [3] ...which I loathe. The television show, not the concept. [4] What does that say about me? #8-] [5] I'm only doing these to annoy you[6]. [6] Hey, recursive footnotes! See [5] for an explanation.

"Eric S." wrote in message news:8ep9bv$[email]...

do

To begin, I love both shows. However, it seems fairly ridiculous to classify the humor in Futurama as "complex entertainment and intelligent humor." No cartoon that has teenagers as one of its major target audiences will truly be able to pull off complex humor (granted, though, it is more complex than Family Guy). Furthermore, no cartoon on prime time television will ever be complex, otherwise the audience would be quite small.

If you want complex humor, go watch The Big Lebowski.

Daniel D. Bauer wrote in message news:8eq9d3$72q$[email]...

humor.

about

audiences

television

But that is the great thing about futurma - its humor is dual-natured just like the simpsons. It therefor classefies for both audiences - your average joe bonehead who just gets good laughs from the jokes and the one or other intelligent viewer who gets the same good laughs but can pick up the details and get that little bit extra out of the jokes because he sees the deeper meaning. Both groups get great pleasure from watching the show, each in the way that suits them best.

---Keep Ravin Chummer - Dave

Hey!

Spectre

Until Futurama uses bestiality and necrophilia as "humorous" plot devices, I will continue to place it miles above Family Guy on the Animated Comedy Entertainment Scale.

FG is unoriginal, and that's about the worst thing you can say about a TV show.

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On Fri, 05 May 2000 15:53:03 -0400, Dave wrote:

Hey, what have you got against bestiality? Some people love their pets, and some people LOVE their pets...I suppose next you'll be making anti-dentite remarks...

"Daniel D. Bauer" wrote:

I've always thought that The Simpsons was the best thing on television, it made you think and laugh. A mate of mine doing American studies at uni was doing his dissertation on The Simpsons so it has to be complex otherwise there wouldn't be much to write about. Futurama has the same intelligence, but its different and refreshingly postmodern, rather than tiresomely so.

Where do you get off thinking you're so smart man? Pfft... Obviously you forget that teenagers are the smartest beings alive. Common mistake made by obnoxious adults who know squat. ---iZac (a.k.a. Sk8ghost)

If you are an adult don't read the above message.... your feeble mind couldn't possibly comprehend the complexity of the sentences I made. I'll put it in simpler terms: Adult-Inferior Teenager-Superior

Thank you.

That is not to be taken seriouslly. (by people who have no sense of humor... the ones who have a sense of humor know the truth)

Agreed.

Actually, when they each came out I was expecting Futurama to be the winner given it was a Matt G. joint, but I quickly realized how immediately tired Futurama seemed and that smack-bam-in-yo-face humor of Family guy was certainly more like Simpsons was in it's prime.

I'm really suprised more people don't see that, but then aren't I always when people don't agree with me. :)

Really though, Family guy just doesn't stop for a minute, with those ridiculously long tangents they go off on, you just can't believe they go on for that long...i'm rolling on the floor. And the baby and the dog... c'mon...their dialog is a riot.

I can sit through 5-10 minutes of Futurama without so much as a smirk. The writing is really sub-par. The jokes aren't happening and the characters...yawn.

That "smack-bam" style of humor is NOTHING like what Simpsons was in its prime. Simpsons was almost always about storytelling first, filled with jokes based on the audience's preconceptions about storytelling. Within that strong, solid framework, judiciously applied sight gags and cutaway jokes were a great diversion, but to base a whole series on those alone, it's like what Jerry Seinfeld said about Americans and donut shops. It's enough to make you sick. Not to mention the completely surreal aspect of talking animals and babies is something The Simpsons would never stoop to in its prime. They would never risk breaking that thin illusion of reality that was absolutely necessary to make its satire of OUR reality work.

As for what type of characters America likes to see on TV, I guess having Home Improvement and The Drew Carey Show be winners in the ratings answers that question, not to mention how frequently Homer and Bart are misinterpreted as role models. Futurama has bar none the most interesting assortment of characters on the air today. Fry is a dead-on satire of every lazy, dimwitted college-age male alive today who can't get a girlfriend (he's an almost exact copy of the teen-age Homer and just as good), Leela, besides being a really hot babe, is one of the few prime time characters with an always credible voice of reason and emotional sensitivity, similar to the old Lisa S. (for privacy's sake, let's just call her L. Simpson), Amy is a dead-on parody of every shallow, dimwitted college-age female alive today who can't not get a boyfriend (for the night anyway), Bender is one of the most original creations in television comedy history (Matt Groening described him best, a heterosexual C-3PO), Zapp Brannigan is an absolutely hilarious parody of the oversexed sci-fi space captain who cares more about babes than piloting and is equally accomplished at doing both, not to mention the amazing alien species introduced such as the water creatures and the mutants, and supporting characters like Mom (a female, but not senile Mr. Burns) and the head of Richard Nixon...the list goes on.

Futurama is without a doubt the most exciting, fascinating, entertaining, enjoyable, interesting, intelligent, unpredictable TV series on the air today. It's a colossal creative success with great potential to remain spectacular for years to come. Futurama against Family Guy is like comparing a Rolls Royce to a pick-up truck with an obscene bumper sticker.

"What I'm trying to communicate is that I'm willing to do nudity, no extra charge!" -Bill McNeal, Newsradio, 1998

-Eric S. ([email])

charge!" -Bill McNeal, Newsradio, 1998

What are you, an ass-kissing machine?

On Wed, 03 May 2000 13:50:50 GMT, [email] (Eric S.) wrote:

When you need to move 1000#s of machinery, the pickup truck will do a better job, so in a way, both have their place. Unfortunately, with the low resolution of your primitive computer monitor, you probably can't even make out my obscene bumpersticker . . .

I really like both shows, but they are very different. Both are irreverent animated shows starring extreme caricatures. But that is about the end of the similarities.

Story lines drive Futurama's humor. Family Guy has a story line only to connect a series of jokes. I think the quick cheap shot humor of FG is great, especially late in the evening when my attention span is shorter. On the other hand, I can watch the same episode of Futurama over and over and it's still funny.

--Larry

Peace! They are both kick-ass shows, I watch em both, download all the episodes for both... the combined humor gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Laughter is the best medicine."

L8r Spectre Spectre

(cough, cough)TROLL(cough, cough)