'the hell was that? 5/6/01

That episode was Nothing. I could have not watched and gotten the same out of that episode that I did watching it. It was a totally empty 30 min.

"Mike Zaite" wrote in message news:[email]...

Seriously? The ending kind of sucked, but the rest of the episode was so friggin' random that it was funny.

Rich Bunnell wrote:

It would have been funny. If they hadn't tacked on the Fry/Leela thing that they did so poorly in this episode. If it was all Farnsworth this episode would have been a really great light episode. But the way they handled Fry/Leela made me wonder if the writer ever bothered to watch the show, or if he just got a post-it note defining their characters as: Fry: Not to bright, Likes Leela Leela: Tough, likes Fry but as a friend because he's not to bright. And then went off to write a script after watching Space Jam.

Mike Zaite wrote:

And for the record, former Simpsons writer Ken Keeler wrote this collection of funny jokes held together with spit for a plot. As usual I'd like to tell you what other episodes he's done but there is no list of that since FrCr closed down.

"Mike Zaite" wrote in message news:[email]...

collection of

you

closed

That's funny, I thought it was held together with snot myself.

LooseChanj wrote:

Spit's thinner'n snot.

"Mike Zaite" wrote in message news:[email]...

that

if

If you ask me, the whole "character development" part of the show has -always- been really forced. Seeing that the show probably isn't going to last past a fourth season, they should just concentrate on writing funny episodes instead of fashioning this ongoing done-a-million-times love subplot. I thought the episode as a whole was hilarious, though.

Rich Bunnell wrote:

I wholehartedly disagree. Infant I take the completely opposite stance from you. Which just reinforces my theory that there are two polar opposite types (with a gray area spectrum of coruse) of Futurama Fan's. The ones who want a well rounded show with a lot of Character development and and rich story line but still be funny.(what it was said to be in all the pre-premeire articles) And Ones who don't care about Characters or story and just want 30 min of funny. And My opinion is there are plenty of 30 min. laugh shows. Why not do something big with Futurama and (just like the pilot said) be individual and different.

"Mike Zaite" wrote in message news:[email]...

from you.

(with a

but

And

funny. And

something big

No, I don't just want "30 minutes of funny." I'm talking about stuff like the first several seasons of Simpsons, where they were able to make funny episodes with the heartfelt gestures and the what-not solidly integrated into the plotline, without any overriding themes or relationships being self-consciously developed over the course of the series. If Futurama's going to go beyond that and push character development to the forefront, they should at least do it in an original way. Everything so far in the Fry-Leela relationship storyline has been pretty generic, if you ask me, besides the obvious difference that it's between a human and a one-eyed humanoid.

Rich Bunnell wrote:

The Fry/Leela thing isn't even the half of it. I'm taking big picture here. You say you want it like the first few seasons Simpsons. I don't, I want it like the first few Episodes of the series. "Space Pilot 3K", "The Series Has Landed", "I, Roommate" they were formative but the show at that point could have gone one of 3 ways. Either the laugh way, The Story way or a meandering hit and miss middle ground. And we all know the way it went.

Although a local UHF has been running old episodes of The Simpsons and I have to say. The first few seasons well, they weren't what I'd call great. I don't think I even want to buy them when they come out on DVD now. Now after around season 3 or so until about 6 or 7 that was the classic stuff. But I want different from The Simpsons and Futurama. Not the same thing a thousand years in the future.

here. You

like

could

meandering

Funny, last time I checked most people on here like the direction the show took. Not to criticize your opinion, but when you're saying "we all," you should probably infer an opinion that most people on the group actually have.

have

don't

around

years

I would extend that back to Season 2, mainly because episodes like the first Herb Powell episode and the one with Lisa's substitute were really great. Season 3 was flat-out brilliant, though; I don't think there was a single episode released that season which wasn't perfect or near-perfect. People tend to forget it because of the absolute comedic perfection of season 4, but it shouldn't be left in the dust.

Rich Bunnell

Rich Bunnell wrote:

<I would extend that back to Season 2, mainly because episodes like the first Herb Powell episode and the one with Lisa's substitute were really great. Season 3 was flat-out brilliant, though; I don't think there was a single episode released that season which wasn't perfect or near-perfect.>

I think Season 3 was a poorer version of Season 2, just like 4 was of 5, and 7 was of 6. I'm surprised how bad I thought "Seperate Vocations" was.

~DarthArada~ "Snuh!" Homer Simpson "We have all the time in the world..." ~George Lazenby/James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" MUSSOLINI TO EMBARK ON CHEST EXPANSION CAMPAIGN ~The Onion

"Dartheodore Maximillian Arada III" wrote in message news:[email]...

first

and 7

"Separate Vocations" bad? That episode was so damn funny. "The dogs have picked up the scent of books! Employ the battering ram!" Also, I rank 4 and 5 on about the same level, but I generally like 4 more because the plots are generally more down-to-earth (not that "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" isn't one of the funniest episodes ever or anything), plus it has "Duffless" and "Last Exit To Springfield" in it.

"Mike Zaite" wrote in message news:[email]...

have

don't

around

years

I agree on this point. Looking back at those early episodes involving "weird sounding" Homer and "puffy cheek" Lisa just seems awkward in the whole scheme of the Simpsons. The Simpsons, in that first season, must have survived on hype and potential, because it wasn't all that good or funny.

But it was better than anything else on TV at the time save for Monty Python and Star Trek TOS reruns, Nova, and Twin Peaks.

DGH

doug holverson wrote:

Yea. Back then The Simpsons was so far on the edge it caused serious outcry.

For the record, I prefer 30 minutes of funny, but I still like the show as it is.

On Mon, 07 May 2001 03:49:53 GMT, Mike Zaite wrote:

I think it would have been funnier if they would have down played that entire sub plot. One brief scene to revisit that Fry loves Leela and she isn't interested. Then the wedding and divorce. No follow up. No one ever finds out what sequence of events makes Leela marry Fry.

It seemed to me that the Globetrotters plot was very funny, but too limited to fill an episode. They stretched the romance to fill some time. This was the opposite of the problem in "Bending in the Wind", where way too much happened that wasn't in the episode.

Some of the time jump jokes were great, like the nude dance line, and others were a bit predictable.

"We will never do 'AB&C' " "Oh, look 'AB&C' "

Funny once, but they over used it a bit.

--Larry

<If they hadn't tacked on the Fry/Leela thing that they did so poorly in this episode>

I know, it was beating a goddamn dead horse. I'm sick of all these cliched little love plots they've strived for almost the entire season (Parasites, Cryonic, Amazon, Bendless Love, Cyberhouse Rules, and the most recent).

<former Simpsons writer Ken Keeler wrote this collection of funny jokes held together with spit for a plot.>

Ken Keeler is without a doubt one of the best writers on the show. I say that with many of them, but save for this recent outing, he's had a perfect track record (This Series Has Landed, When Aliens Attack, Put Your Head On My Shoulder, the middle seg. of AoI, The Honking). He was very good with the Simpsons as well.

~DarthArada~ "Snuh!" Homer Simpson "We have all the time in the world..." ~George Lazenby/James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" MUSSOLINI TO EMBARK ON CHEST EXPANSION CAMPAIGN ~The Onion

Dartheodore Maximillian Arada III wrote:

I though the Fry/Leela stuff worked in Parasites and Cyberhouse Rules. But in others it was labored. But Season 3 does seem to be the Love season. It would have been even more with Buggalo, And next weeks with Fry and a Lucy Lu replicant droid.

But lately there has been no consistency even in individual writers. The group as a whole may be at fault after the first draft is brought in by the guy with his name on the title. And I liked everything he did except Honking. So what happened in the writer's room when they started writing Season 3's episodes?