Bob & Margaret conspiracy.

Dec 31, 199834 posts by 27 posters
34 posts
Nick S Bensema

I would like to present a hypothesis.

Bob & Margaret is another animated series on Comedy Central. It's NOT funny. It's full of bothersome chattering in a British accent. Tedious, tedious dialogue. Apparently some physical comedy is happening at the same time, but I'm not seeing any of it. I can't see it staying on the air for much longer. It probably won't be on the air for much longer, at least in the United States.

At the end of one episode of Bob & Margaret, you can clearly see many female nipples, including at one point, Margaret's. None of the women are much worth looking at anyway, but it's there.

Also, while I haven't seen this personally, in one episode you can allegedly see Bob's peanus. I've seen a commercial where a Comedy Central logo is placed over where it would be, but I never thought they'd actually reveal it. It's not a sexual situation, it's an anxiety dream, so I guess it's acceptable.

But wait! The penis has always been more elusive than this! I mean, I've watched a lot of Cinemax softcore, and whenever there is nudity...even nudity without sex, the penis is almost never in frame. Because women don't need to see them, and men don't want to even ACKNOWLEDGE them. Yet, as far as female nudity is concerned, it's not uncommon to see bush a-plenty, nor to see a hint of labia among the foliage.

Bob & Margaret has skipped OVER bush and gone directly to the peanus. And lived to tell the tale.

Now let's go back in time to about 1990-ish. In every season of The Simpsons, there is at least one episode where the butt of either Homer or Bart are visible. Bart even dropped his towel once in a Tracy Ullman short in the late 80's, as evidenced by a clip in the 137th episode spectacular. Nobody really seemed to notice. But, when live human buttocks were displayed on NYPD blue, THEY LOST SPONSORS. Some affiliates even refused to air the show. This demonstrates that people will accept more nudity in animation than in live-action television. The extent of how MUCH more they would accept has not yet been determined. However, I would like to point out that I know of no live-action program supported by sponsors that has displayed the buttocks of a ten-year-old boy, and if one ever existed, I suspect it would have been in all the newspapers, and that arrests would have resulted.

Conclusion: Bob & Margaret is not intended to be a funny comedy show, but rather the next logical step in a plan to gradually turn American animation into a viable medium for pornography, as Japanese animation is today.

It's the only way I can reconcile the existence of Bob & Margaret. It's really really not funny.

The funny thing is, these marginally-nude episodes of Bob & Margaret are often shown during daylight hours on weekends, while South Park and its slightly coarse language is NEVER EVER EVER EVER _EVER_ shown before 10pm. Did I mention that the same episode that had the tits also showed the explosive decapitation of a stewardess? OK, so there's violence too. But still, because it's British and they talk about tedious things all British-like instead of yelling at each other all American-like, it's OK to show during the day, while the show with actual humor content is banished to the wee hours of the night.

But I don't have a problem! As long as it means that in ten years I'll be watching cartoon cat-girls sixty-nining on the USA network, I say more power to 'em! Put it on as late as you like, because I know how to program my VCR.

Nick Bensema 98-KUPD Red Card #710563 UIN: 2135445 </BLINK>

Yeah. "Bob and Margaret" sucks shit. Sure, this sort of thing might work in Britain, but not here in America. Americans don't truly understand the ways of the Britons.

Nick S Bensema wrote in message news:76fm9m$ssi$[email]...

</BLINK>

Bob and Margaret is disproving what shows like "whose line is it anyway" and "are yoy being served" worked so hard to do: turn Americans onto British humor.

In article , [email] says...

And Red Dwarf. Can't forget that one, although every ep past the first season basically sucked.

Martin "I'm the Dude, man!" --Jeff Lebowski

Don't be TOO harsh! It was basically really funny all except probably the entire last series to date.

In article , Martin

Sorry Martin. Disagree. First season was good but not the best. The biggest let down was the seventh series (losing Rimmer, gaining Kochanski) but my favourite episode EVER is still Tikka To Ride (first episode of the seventh), the scene with them in the Depository with the assassin still has me in stitches. Here's to a better Series 8...

Mike Jakeman ICQ #17759351 DOES ANYONE WANT A 1999 FANFIC AWARDS? E-MAIL ME YOUR SUPPORT! mike(at)jakeman(dot)demon(dot)co(dot)uk

I think Kenny is cool because he get horribly mutilated every show. But he's not as cool as Stan and Kyle. They are studs. I want to do them. Although Cartman is a good hunk-a-hunk-a-man.

In article , Martin

NO DON'T INSULT RED DWARF. Anyway my guess is the Americans tried to do their own version and lost it, a bit like men behaving badly really. American version=shite, uk version= funny as F**k

Michael Bungey To avoid follow ups finishing up in a tin of spam please address replies to michael.bungey@ rather than spam@ ICQ no 16788727

Well I'd like to pipe in here and say that I think Bob and Margaret is a funny, charming little show. :)

Greg "Tom Hanks can't act his way out of a nutsack!" -Eric Cartman
DaveRare Hero

I enjoy it too.

I'm just wondering where that whole crackpot "animated pornography
conspiracy" garbage came from.
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CovenantMetlhd3138

Metlhd3138 wrote in message ...

and

humor.

Actually, *I* find it amazing that the US'ers are going on about AYBServed so much. It hasn't been shown on Terrestrial TV here in the UK for YEARS!!

(And *I* don't think it has passed the test of time...)

Cheers! Covenant. A Man With Far Too Much Time On His Hands Wondering Where The Hell All These New People Have Come From!!!!

In article , Covenant <covenant@joelam b.freeserve.co.uk> writes

AYBS has been repeated on Beeb1 recently on Saturday early evening, it's just they haven't done anything new for years...

Michael Bungey To avoid follow ups finishing up in a tin of spam please address replies to michael.bungey@ rather than spam@ ICQ no 16788727

Covenant writes this bit...which should follow...

It is still shown...here...well, in east anglia...at 5pm on sundays...series just finished...really does suck buckets (yes,buckets!) ....damn right it didn't pass the test of time.....IT seems now that ONLY animation will pass the test of time (i.e. Ren & stimpy...although I haven't seen it for a while...the simpsons, we are FAR behind u americans....and perhaps sp)

There have been a Fucking lot of new ppl here haven't there!!!

____________________________
[email]
" the lord awaits " " awaits what? " " his daily RUB DOWN "-me in all my wickedness!!
ErikJeremy Gallen

In article , "Jeremy Gallen" writes:

Oh sure, like ANYONE really understands Cricket.

Erik Nielsen, Cyberhighway Internet Services NOC Lispers are among the best grads of the Sweep-It-Under-Someone-Else's-Carpet School of Simulated Simplicity. [Was that sufficiently incendiary? :-)] -- Larry Wall in <[email]

<LOL> I'm British, and I haven't ever heard of this program! It's probably American anyway!

And we have good taste in some very funny humour, you have to admit. If stuff like '3rd Rock' and 'Friends' are supposed to get you in stitches laffin, then watch some of our shows that are sometimes very truly funny...

But don't get me wrong - I admire American humour LOADS - SP is so, so funny... Some of your comical films are brill too. Etc, etc.

The message from "Andrew Lowe" contains these words:

Well I'm British and I have. Channel 4 lateish - around 10-11pm Wed or Thu. Moves around a bit. But it is fairly new over here too so I am surprised it's in America already. I like it - but it is fairly gentle humour, and you sort of need to understand some British middle class attitudes. The episode where they looked after Bob's brother's children while the brother and his wife were doing a truly crass cookery show from India is my favourite so far.

Penny

Excuse me, but I agree. This whole "Bob and Margaret" thing is stupid.

Nick S Bensema wrote in message news:76fm9m$ssi$[email]...

</BLINK>

The Avocado AvengerNick S Bensema

[email] (Nick S Bensema) writes:

And I am a gorilla.

Don't even get me started on this, Nick. We both know what I'm talking about.

The episode I think you're referring to has been on Cartoon Network. They put a little animated red maple leaf over his peanus so it's kinda cool. Anyhow, it's not an anxiety dream, in the contect of the story anyways.

For a guy who can't see the slapstick, you sure can see the genitalia well. How close are you sitting to the screen? Also, don't lick the screen, as you will get static shock.

Or it demonstrates that the world is not ready for a nekkid Dennis Franz. Frankly, I find NYPD Blue's nudity and language gratuitous. It hardly ever relates to the plot and it's certainly a plea for ratings. The Simpsons, however, were once considered very very rude, and showing animated buttocks was part of the schtick. Consider, also, such animation styles as Monty Python and Japanimation. There was a lot of history of nudity -- for humor or erotica purposes, or, in the case of LaBlueGirl, unintentional humor -- and so an American cartoon show with nudity wasn't very controversial. Also, it was on Fox, who were notorious for "pushing the envelope" in the early 90s. NYPD Blue and ABC just want you to think they're controversial.

How about those sensual baby butts in diaper and baby powder commercials? I'm getting a bit concerned about those myself. Also, the little girl on the Coppertone ads.

Yep, a Canadian cartoon show was entirely conceived and executed for the sole purpose of introducing porn to Americans. Got two words for ya, bucko: "Heavy Metal".

I thought it was Canadian. Now that you mention it, they did have some weird accents for Canadians...

Frankly, this makes no sense to me, as it's easy to get porn -- real and animated -- so there is no reason for TV stations to try and increase their nudity factors. Unless they're going for ratings, and maybe something with violence and nipples like Bob and Margaret gets the ratings. I mean, look at the people who watch "Xena", "La Femme Nikita", and USA Up All Night... you don't have to do much to turn some people on.

Stacia * The Avocado Avenger * Life is a tale told by an idiot; http://www.io.com/~stacia/ * Full of sound and fury, Remove the guacamole to reply! * Signifying nothing.

In article ,

Neither of which was on American commercial network TV unedited.

When I was a kid growing up, the underwear commercials had to use mannequins to show bras. "All in the Family" was roundly condemned, but got the same hilarious laughs from the studio audience as you might hear from a roomful of teenagers watching "South Park" today, because they'd have such unprecedented gags as the sound of a toilet flushing. "Three's Company" and "Soap" were considered so racy that the controversy over those shows merited a cover story in Newsweek. (I also remember reading a letter-to-the-editor complaint in a sci-fi magazine that a reader's local double-digit TV station would bleep out "What the devil!", a favorite expletive of a character. I forget the show; I think it was "Sea Hunt.")

Maybe the people just a few years younger than me are jaded (plus, I didn't watch television between 1987 and 1990, when a lot of these changes happened), but I'm frequently stunned to see what the ABC censors let shows get away with these days. Not apalled, mind you, just stunned.

My prediction: "South Park" will seem horribly dated and unfunny in 2018, just as "Three's Company" and "Soap" do today. "All in the Family" still has humor value because other taboos, such as ethnic humor, remain strong. But all these shows get their laughs from shock value.

Nope. "Schindler's List" was on network television uncensored.

BuzzTed Mennie

[snippage]

True, there were no commercial interruptions, but I think all the advertising that they did ahead of time said "Brought to you by Ford(tm)"

Oh, yeah. By the way:

It's spelled P-E-N-I-S, GODDAMIT!!

BEEFCAKE!! BEEFCAKE!!

z

beableBuzz

In article ,

"buttocks" is spelled P-E-N-I-S?? I don't get it!!

That is actually spelled L-U-B-B-O-C-K. Did you know that LUBBOCK is an anagram of BULLOCK? I know because Sandra told me.

cheers beable van beable

Beable, you moron. That was a FAKE Captain Picard you were arguing with before. -- Riboflavin -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
KrytenTooBuzz

In article , Buzz writes:

Dude, it's "fireman"!

JB "You know, there are many people in the country today who, through no fault of their own, are sane... It is up to people like you and me who are out of our tiny little minds to try and help these people overcome their sanity.'"- Rev. Arthur Belling

Ted Frank ([email]) wrote:

Because hardly anyone in New York City has a television set. And those who do can only recieve a grainy picture of a rotating statue of Felix the Cat.

Repeat of something I think I mentioned in the pre-DejaNews era for the benifit of those of you more recently tuning in:

When I came back to the USA from Honduras in 1980, I went to a mall and was puzzeled to see about half the people there wearing t-shirts reading some variation of a slogan I read as "Who killed Junior" or "I shot Junior".

It was a couple days later before anyone explained to me what that was all about, and why the astronaut from "I Dream of Jeanie" was on the cover of all the magazines.

Actually, since most of those just tuning in may be too young to remember the tv show "Dallas", this messgage may not help at all.

As opposed to "Bevis & Butthead", which has seemed horribly dated and unfunny at least since 1994.

                                 -- F.
* [email] ** "The Information Super-Frog" [dibs] * http://www.angelfire.com/la/carlosmay/

In article ,

Felix the Cat is Australian. That's why he's got a pouch like a kangaroo. I wish haon had of posted this. I would have enjoyed reading it. COME BACK HAON!! ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!

Who did shoot him anyway? I never watched that show. I thought it was rubbish. Just like I thought Twin Peeks was rubbish. I never watched it either. But I kept hearing about some CHYK called "Laura Palmer" (apparently NOT one of Mrs Palmer's five daughters (which reminds me of a funny story about surfboard wax)) who had been killed and wrapped in plastic. Everybody was asking "who killed Laura Palmer". Now I didn't know and I didn't care. But I came up with a brilliant idea: "I KILLED LAURA PALMER" t-shirts.

But anyway, surfboard wax. I LIKE MITTENZ!! No I don't actually.
Not enough fingers in them. MITTENZ R STY00PID!! But I don't
know about surfboard wax in the good old USA, but in Australia,
EVERY brand of surfboard wax has a sexual innuendo for a name.
Viz:
- Sex wax
- Mrs Palmer's
- Five Daughters
and there are many more, all with sex names. So this friend of
mine was a surfing newbie, and he wanted to go and buy some wax.
You need wax to stop you from slipping straight off the board
you see. So he goes to the surf shop and says:
Friend: "I'd like to buy some wax"
Shopguy: "Like, what kind d00d?"
Friend: "I don't remember the brand, but it had something to
         do with sex."
Shopguy: "HAHAHAHAhAHAhAhAHA!!! D00D!! THEY ALL HAVE SOMETHING
          TO DO WITH SEX!!! HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!"

Now that was pretty funny when he told me. But looking at it here it doesn't look very funny. Oh well, it's too late to delete it now!

So here's a haiku about wetsuits I invented while I was "out the back" one day: My latex suit is working beaut 'cause I'm not cold at all.

We would sing this loudly while our lips were turning blue and our teeth were chattering. Surfing in winter is one of life's little pleasures.

cheers beable

Beable, you moron. That was a FAKE Captain Picard you were arguing with before. -- Riboflavin -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

In article , [email] wrote:

[snip ted frank! ha!]

Is an Irishman born in Australia considered an Australian? After Felix, New York Animation pretty much went down the tubes. Felix worked in New York you know.. because the streets are paved with cheese! There are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese! Wasn't O'Sullivan a boxer or something?

[snip dallas! cowboys suck!!11!]

[snip stuff about barbed wire]

                ^^
              YM: SEX WAX

mittenz for kittnz that r good eat cherry pai

oh i see you are one step ahead of me, i suppose i should have read the post.

[snip mrs. palmers five daughters! ha ha! there go your fingers!! ha ha!]

[snip rest of post]

on that note, bye!

-love, haon

ps: please find the 3 video game references in this post for bonus points.

and have a refreshing day!

"I bring them one of those magical radiating smiles with the dimples and the straight white teeth that just puts those metal paddles on their hearts and BANGS THEM RIGHT UP." -- Lisa P -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------

In article , [email] wrote:

[...]

Most definitly so.

Please excuse my spelling as I suffer from agraphia. See http://www.zeta.org.au/~dformosa/Spelling.html to find out more. How to win arguments on usenet http://www.zeta.org.au/~dformosa/usenet.html

Yeah, some Japanese manga stuff is completely and utterly pornographic. Especially 'Crying Freeman'. As for Monty Python - Well, the 'live' films of that have a lot of male nudity in them really.

n article ,

[snip bananas gorilla]

Its not really that elusive. Even that guy from king missile found his penis eventually.

Seriously though, theres penis-a-plenty in European and Asian films... Its mainly North America that seems to experience ye olde penis shock. Oh my god! Its a penis!!211 RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!21!

America is not ready for a naked Dennis Franz. Im sure he'd fit in fine at a Swedish beach...with enough Kirin Lager that is.

I havent ever watched NYPD Blue, but I'm definitely not *interested* in seeing Dennis Franz naked, or clothed for that matter.

It certainly didnt start with monty python and japan. Erotic animation started out in the 20s in France, Eastern Europe, and Cuba. Naked animated people date back to the late 1800s! Animation has evolved around the globe in very different manners. In Japan, There was a lot of history of nudity...period. Its only natural that this shows through in some of their animation. I don't feel qualified to comment on Monty Python today.

um... i suppose i could make a big tape of shots of buttocks of ten year old boys in live action programs supported by happy sponsors, but Id have to charge you money for it.

I really dont have time to comment on the rest of this as I have to go eat dinner now. sorry. Why couldnt you guys wait till i was back from vacation before you started this thread!@!!!1?!

love, hungry haon

"I bring them one of those magical radiating smiles with the dimples and the straight white teeth that just puts those metal paddles on their hearts and BANGS THEM RIGHT UP." -- Lisa P -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------

Nick S Bensema wrote in message ...

If you get the DVD version of 'Terminator,' you can see Arnie's weenus swinging back and forth like an overripe banana about to fall off the tree in that scene where he tells Bill Paxton to take off his clothes. On the videotape version, there's just shadow.

Somebody else noticed that and showed it to me without me wanting to see it. I swear.

-M. Otis Beard

In article ,

I heard that in DVD, you can pick out which camera angles you want, and pick different versions and stuff.... so I hope there's a weenus-free version.

But they probably DIDN'T do that for T2. Meaning the nudity gradient in movies is actually going in REVERSE. Actually, it's probably just fluctuating, because if it were a gradient that would mean that every movie before 1979 is nothing but weenus.

Nudity in movies is a strange thing. I remember seeing "Trading Places" on HBO or something, and I guess in 1982 even a comedy full of SNL alumni could have a positive breast count.

Or, maybe these two movies and the prison rape scene in "Superman" are the exception to the rule, and all the other major motion pictures were squeaky-clean but we just thought they weren't because every word filthier than "poo" was bleeped out when they made it to TV.

Nick Bensema 98-KUPD Red Card #710563 UIN: 2135445 </BLINK>

On 31 Dec 1998 11:13:58 GMT, [email] (Nick S Bensema) wrote:

:I would like to present a hypothesis. : :Bob & Margaret is another animated series on Comedy Central. It's :NOT funny. It's full of bothersome chattering in a British accent. :Tedious, tedious dialogue. Apparently some physical comedy is :happening at the same time, but I'm not seeing any of it. I can't :see it staying on the air for much longer. It probably won't be :on the air for much longer, at least in the United States.

I am the only American who likes Bob & Margaret. It's not "American Funny," in the outrageous satire manner of The Simpsons or the monkey-cage manner of South Park, but it is funny.

A better word might be "amusing."

Jaffo

"The human race is divided into two sharply differentiated and mutually antagonistic classes -- a small minority that plays with ideas and is capable of taking them in, and a vast majority that finds them painful, and is thus arrayed against them." -- H.L. Mencken

In article , [email] (Jaffo) wrote:

Hmm...I thought the Airplane Hijack episode was hilarious. "Bob And Margaret" is very funny. Make that two more Americans who think so.

We may be a minority but we're not alone. Another B&M fan.

.

i too enjoy Bob and Margaret. There has to be many more of us out there because they show it more than they show south park. I also enjoy the Simpsons and SP. Everyone is just too critical. Cant you all just sit back and enjoy? i bet it's made in America somewhere