11-19-2010, 02:29 PM
Miles Prower Wrote:Family Guy is kinda hit or miss. A lot of the time the jokes are disappointing or just plain stupid. American Dad fairs better because it actually at times is more than just an excuse to make "This is more X than that one time Y happened (cut to flashback of Y)" jokes. I've never watched the Cleveland Show, nor do I plan to.
South Park peaked between its third and sixth or seventh season I think (when they were combining the comically low-budget visuals of early episodes with more sophisticated writing to great effect), but it's almost always been wickedly funny and well written. The laughs in newer episodes are usually more subtle, but at times it seems to get bogged down with the message (they've even poked fun at themselves in the show over that). I think Parker and Stone find the stuff hilarious, which is great because if I had a successful show still running fourteen years on I wouldn't really give a shit myself.
Futurama can be really funny. I like it better than what little I've seen of the Simpsons from the past ten years or so.
Of course, all these qualifications are wiped away with a few good bong rips and all of them are really funny again. =O
THIS! ^
haha, I love a bit of critique... couldn't agree more dude.
Family Guy ruins its jokes with a tediously similar setup that they're now trying to pull themselves away from =
"this is worse than that time that 'X' did 'blah blah blah' Hollywood Celebrity + unexpected memory + event = family guy joke
it's the most crowbarred setup to any random ill-thought joke that has no place in the current plot, so sometimes the episodes seem like small trips, completely disjointed series of celebrity elbows until they remember the thread. Sometimes they hit it head-on, and when it works it really shines... it's like an endearing but unreliable old car. American Dad and the Cleveland Show were pure cash cows.
South Park seem more consistent in wanting a narrative and message to their stories, and it contributes to the overall feel of the thing. They don't make a big deal of it like in Scrubs, but they do bother to tackle some sort of issue in each episode in way that IS funny ^_^ and that's admirable.
Futurama is great but I don't go out to watch it, sometimes the characters (aside from Fry, Bender, and the Professor) aren't particularly likeable, but that's just me. Simpsons suffered a lot these last 5 seasons or so with writer changes, new production, and a post-movie market; but nothing beats the classic episodes, even in real world comedy.
eesh... geek critique done. I'mma go rip some more bongs and not care so much anymore...