ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT vs. THE SIMPSONS What's on TV, ILX? It's the American Sitcom Tournament FINAL MATCH

dear usa, you've done some funny shit but not much of it is as funny as Arrested Development

all-time great show vs smarmy turd

And the only shit funnier was the Simpsons

also Supertrain

morbius one day you will realize what a terrible mistake you have made dismissing AD out of hand for so long

and on that day

i will be there

shaking my head

now... if i had to vote based on like, percentages, it would be AD easy, as at this point it must be like 80% of the simpsons has been total shit, right? what season are we on? 35?

but at its peak, nothing could touch it... it was really, really tremendous... nothing was ever that good

with s1ocki on this one.

it must be like 80% of the simpsons has been total shit, right?

No. Even the shit Simpsons was never total shit. Opie never narrated.

I'm still upset The Golden Girls lost out in the 2nd round.

i can remember liking the simpsons, but it was a very long time ago

was family guy even in this poll?

Simpsons crushed Family Guy to dust in the 2nd round.

No. Even the shit Simpsons was never total shit. Opie never narrated.

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, September 6, 2010 7:32 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

their loss then!

i mean, he did appear as himself a few times on the simpsons so...

The Simpsons

Easiest round in the whole thing.

what? is this a joke? this is like comparing some old expensive french wine to coca-cola.

poll

tbh, I'd go Coca-Cola in that poll.

^^

Isn't the aughts wave of network comedies (of which AD is apart of) influenced by The Simpsons to some extent?

man i love arrested development as much as anyone but...come on

you love it as much as all the people that will vote for it ahead of the simpsons then?

voting ad is kind of like thinking ralph considers himself a literal viking in that i can see where you're coming from but you're still the worst

No. Even the shit Simpsons was never total shit. Opie never narrated.

"Oh that's it. You're going down!"

http://www.fancast.com/blogs/files/2009/05/simpsons-11-ron-howard.jpg

let's be real- every time someone mentions the 'viking' debacle, simpsons loses ten votes.

Simpsons is probably the only thing that would make me hesitate before voting AD. I'm gonna have to think on this.

As much as I love AD, I don't remember much in the way of pathos, whilst The Simpsons has some of the most devastating found in televised comedy.

No episode of AD has affected me as much as the episode where Homer eats the poisonous fish and thinks he is going to die.

On the other hand, AD never had a tortuously bad early 90s retcon flashback episode.

Simpsons will boringly but deservingly win this. Yes, there have been many, many bad Simpsons seasons, but that still leaves it with a longer and higher peak than Arrested Development.

These are without a doubt the 2 best sitcoms ever, and actually constitute a hard choice. There have been times where I've preferred things to the Simpsons, particularly AD (I've often thought that, because of its untimely demise, it was a quintessentially perfect series: 53 episodes and not a dull moment), but the Simpsons* is always what it all comes back to, for me. More than anything else it has been definitve of sitcom quality.

*This is just the Simpsons seasons 1-10 or so mind you.

The Simpsons

Going to pretend there isn't even another show to be discussed here.

kinda weird for a poll, what are you going to talk about then

The Simpsons.

prediction:

AD: 11 votes
Simpsons: 97 votes

US Office beating South Park wtf

Would prefer How I Met Your Mother to AD

Simpsons ftw

Family Matters lost to Family Guy? How is that possible?

Maybe I'm just too nostalgic about Urkel, though.

Yes you are

goodbye seinfeld, i'm glad you are dead.

voted ad because it quit before it got shit.

AD is nice but it's sort of hermetically sealed, innit? group of quirky dudes bounce around in a Skinner box.

if we really are voting on the best American sitcom then I don't even see how AD enters the discussion. there has never been a show as incisive and revealing of American culture (as well as being an influence on) as The Simpsons.

If we were going by percentage hit-rate: Arrested Development, but it's got to be The Simpsons really hasn't it?

this is really only a tough decision before you think about it

love how morbz is saying all the shit I said when I'd seen one-and-a-half episodes of AD (the gratuitous narration drove me crazy), criticisms that went out the window entirely once I'd finished the first disc. I'll still avoid something I don't WANT to get into (like, say, Mad Men), but after my AD experience I won't announce some "pshaw!" final verdict of a show unless I've made it through at least one disc - TV shows are designed for regular viewing, its values are rarely immediately clear.

It's really three great seasons and THAT'S ALL FOLKS vs. eight plus great seasons and STILL GOOOINGG FOR TWELVE MORE WHAT THE FUUUUCK???

The Simpsons is funnier when Homer's a douche but fuck all y'all for voting down Larry Sanders tbh

The Simpsons is funnier when Homer's a douche

this is way too reductionist for me

Yeah it is but I get so bored/wound up by the "Simpsons needs heart" crowd

and the over-rating of the mid-period show that it implies

fair nuff, but dropping Homer's good intentions and making him a pure jerk in later episodes is part of why I eventually gave up on the show. By season 9-10 or whatever I'd rather watch early Family Guy because if I was going to see a bunch of random-riffing from assholes I'd rather not have an emotional investment in the characters. what the simpsons needed was to STOP AT A LOGICAL POINT.

Usually I hold with the sitcoms needing to stop thing but I feel like Simpsons is invested enough in comic book nerdery that it makes sense for it to go on relentlessly, mostly missing but still usually hitting a couple of lols out of the park every ep.

Like it's more Bazooka Joe than Fawlty Towers

i don't understand why an "investment in comic book nerdery" would be a reason to go on forever. Large piles of advertiser-drawn cash and merchandising, now that I get.

been trying to get my girlfriend to watch AD, she's seen two episodes and hates it, to the point of not wanting to see more.

this is a real hard decision. would argue AD better repays repeated viewing, but only by a smidgeon.

xpost

cos like a comic book it just sits there listlessly reinventing itself a tiny bit forever, rather than being a set of rounded characters who we want to see develop. The family's always been more archetype than real peoples I think.

fuck all y'all for voting down Larry Sanders tbh

also this

What's bugging her? If it's the show's shrillness or WHY IS OPIE TELLING ME WHAT I CAN SEE FOR MYSELF then I think she'll get over it

xpost yeah that's jive, I still vote they stuck around for $$$. It may be the funniest thing on Sundays at 8 still, but I don't have to watch TV on Sundays at 8.

Well yeah it's all about the money but hey ho TV

Comics books can get away with total overhauls, if Dan Castanella dies the show is FINISHED.

It's really three great seasons and THAT'S ALL FOLKS vs. eight plus great seasons and STILL GOOOINGG FOR TWELVE MORE WHAT THE FUUUUCK???

― da croupier, Tuesday, September 7, 2010 8:11 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

9, come on, dude

can't believe the handwringing over the simpsons happens now as opposed to when south park went out

i think she thinks its kind of heartless and that all the characters are nasty. tbh this stopped us both from getting into mad men at first, but we're pretty much stans of that show now.

agreed that Family Guy has done the "random asshats saying pointless funny stuff" thing better for years tho. But I like Brian and Stewie better than any of the Simpsons now I think.

haha i love that i have no idea whether you think i'm repping for too many seasons or too few, whiney.

its possible the show has some real peaks in season 13 but being in college plus getting a job that had me working sunday nights meant I got out of the loop and my gradual disinterest in the show won over. That said, when I rewatched all those sunday shows while working at a video store years later I wound up going a lot deeper into King Of The Hill than when I stopped taping it, while the death of Maude Flanders remained my personal shark jump on the simps.

i think she thinks its kind of heartless and that all the characters are nasty.

much like NV's comment on the Simpsons needing to have heart, this is just not something that would ever occur to me as a criticism of a show that is written and performed as well as AD

a bit after I stopped watching it regularly me and my sister saw that Homer gets medical marijuana episode when someone had taped it at the end of a movie. We didn't even finish the episode (laughed at the "I could blow smoke in the prez's face and all he could do is GROOVE on it" but WHY IS THERE PSYCHEDELIC SEQUENCES WHEN HE'S ONLY SMOKING POT???!), which was a real sad experience to have with a show I used to worship.

xpost I'd get that criticism after two episodes, see if you can just get her to finish Season One, Disc One. If she still hates it, no reason to go further.

the death of Maude Flanders remained my personal shark jump on the simps.

― da croupier, Tuesday, September 7, 2010 1:33 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

can we get a SPOILERS ALERT for the love of god?

WHY IS THERE PSYCHEDELIC SEQUENCES WHEN HE'S ONLY SMOKING POT???!

Thinking like this is a bad idea, man

lol what they haven't retconned that yet

xpost if its a bad idea to think, it's a good idea to move on

Jesus, what a shit pairing

As far as shows about heartless, irredeemable people go,

Strangers With Candy > It's Always Sunny >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arrested Development

this poll was lame imo, needlessly complex and missed loads of quality shows

Heartless irredeemable people = Larry Sanders yet again.

Also Seinfeld, but then me and Darragh have to have a fist-fight.

no brainer

how the fuck 30 rock beat larry sanders

30 rock vs larry sanders- str8 up, i don't think enough people have seen larry sanders. they're both contenders for #1 imo

wouldn't fight anyone over seinfeld. cept for underrated aerosmith that one time

Love 30 Rock too and it is a tough call but 30 Rock does not feature the douchebag stylings of Jeffrey Tambor.

got a guy in a funny hat tho eh

xpost I'd get that criticism after two episodes, see if you can just get her to finish Season One, Disc One. If she still hates it, no reason to go further.

cannot convince her to watch, am now reduced to quoting tobias all about the house instead, hoping some 'drip drip' approach might deliver

30 rock vs larry sanders- str8 up, i don't think enough people have seen larry sanders.

UKcentric view but I've never seen "30 Rock", don't know what channel it's on, Larry Sanders was on BBC2

it was on five... not sure if it's on anything now. other than the internet.

man we really left youse guys behind during the celtic tiger. i feel so insensitive.

(it's a staple of E4 iirc)

It's on Paramount Comedy or whatever it's called on Sky.

man we really left youse guys behind during the celtic tiger

Aye, that'll be the day

It's not physically possible to watch E4 unless you're so ripped to the tits that you don't know what you're watching anyway.

they show friends and himym

i probably watch e4 and bbc3 more than anything else

but yeah tv lives on my hard drive these days. god knows how i ever manage to buy the stuff i need without commercials to guide me.

"Arrested Development" was on BBC2 for about a month but I suppose it got pulled because they thought it was shit, was it on anywhere else?

bbc4 for a few years?

it was on bbc2 longer than that... but at about midnight on a sunday or s.thing

this was pre-iplayer, maybe even pre-rapidshare era

Still on? I missed totally that. (xp)

they show friends and himym

i probably watch e4 and bbc3 more than anything else

OK but I am a pseud-y snob twat tbf

preudy

idk, at some point in the last few years i just stopped watching tv, and i try not to be 'that guy' about it, but in the end that's how you come off

i f/w himym and family guy tho

I don't want to be "that other guy" but what the fuck is himym?

how i met your mother

which wasn't polled coz this is a feeble poll

I dig Family Guy and what I've seen of HIMYM was fair enough, but yeah I am also painfully that guy-ish without being judgemental about it. Also Mrs V watches a fuck-ton of reality shows so I just keep out of the way mostly.

Yeah, worked it out, I know absolutely nothing about that show! (xp)

live football-- all i need from tv

HIMYM stands up to sam's constant repping. good show.

"Robot Wars Extreme" repeats and "The World's Strongest Man" are all I need

University Challenge is about the only thing I actively make time to watch, but I see plenty of Family Guy and movies and sport are the only other things really.

i keep forgetting about university challenge.

Yeah, UChallenge rules

new poll imo

??

can we get a SPOILERS ALERT for the love of god?

Not wanting to be an asshat or anything, but I think this happened over ten years ago! I don't think that needs a spoiler warning.

have we ever done an oldstyle ILX television poll full history poll?

no sure what that means

i know we did a 00s tv poll recently, but have we ever done something full history of television poll thing

Too much stuff, too many countries

only dr morbius could really take part

surely not more stuff + countries than any given end of year ILM poll

I'd never heard of about half of the sitcoms in this poll, let alone seen them, so I don't think any "full history of television poll" would work

ilx must be limited by tom d's parochiality

I don't think I was exactly alone there

:)

which wasn't polled coz this is a feeble poll its a feeble show

i know, i know...

No Chico and the Man, no credibilty

I have seen that one

BBC, seventies, yes?

If people are still complaining about the lack of HIMYM, I'm going to start complaining about the lack of "Hello, Larry"

BBC, seventies, yes?

Indeed

I'm voting for Arrested Development, mostly because I think I'm in my "bored with the Beatles" phase with the Simpsons

the first season or two of the simpsons kinda sucked yall... wasn't it until like season 4 or whenever that it really got good?

^ that opinion must have made you really unpopular in elementary school

o that was just the tip of the iceberg

season one def isn't up to the later stuff, but by season two you've already got Dancin' Homer, the first Treehouse of Horror, the Dustin Hoffman substitute teacher episode, "Three Men and a Comic Book," classic shit

it's really like hating on Please Please Please just cuz it aint Revolver

lol Please Please Me, rather

i just hate the early-simpsons look and early-homer-voice

Simpsons is pretty pish until Castellaneta gets Homer's voice right.

love when they show the tracy ullman bit on that recap special and Troy McClure is like WTF

haha i dont remember that

i do remember watching it on the ulls tho!

yeah it's from the "138th episode spectacular"

All 1:48 of MG01 ("Good Night") airs. When the camera returns to Troy,
he has a look of disbelieving incredulity on his face. He laughs
suddenly and observes, "They haven't changed a bit, have they?"

yeah that bit's great. They also brazenly admit that the show'll keep going until it's "no longer profitable" on that ep iirc

Troy: Yes, the Simpsons have come a long way since an old drunk made
humans out of his rabbit characters to pay off his gambling debts.
Who knows what adventures they'll have between now and the time
the show becomes unprofitable?

brazenly

the first season or two of the simpsons kinda sucked yall...

nutz. After all it got Papa Bush to seal his reelection doom by braying "America should be like the Waltons not the Simpsons!"

i liked arrested development a lot but seriously guys. it's the fucking simpsons.

Arrested Development, as a whole, is one of television's best cult shows.

The Simpsons, as a whole, is one of television's best shows. No qualifiers.

"one of" is still a qualifier it doesn't need imo

hell, why din't you TELL us afore we done this here poll boy!

SHUCKS

WE ALL FEEL DUMBER THAN A BOX A GRITS

...

:)

umm

?

itt a dude from Europe walks into a US race relations landmine

oh wtf i say now? that was just meant to be a corn-chewing hick to whiney's hipster know it all.

eh i'm getting benefit of doubt on this one, right?

"boy" has bad racist connotations rather than just general Southerner US speak I think dude

gaw blimey guvnor

I get that you were making an allusion and not being deliberately offensive but putting on a Southern accent and using "boy" in a manner that could be construed as referring to the dude known as "The Black Guy Who Is Super Touchy About Race" is so many shades of not-smart that I kind of don't know where to begin

http://4gifs.com/gallery/d/167852-1/Sneaky_cat.gif

shd point out that most of us Europeans think that everybody south of Mason-Dixon talks like that fat sheriff out the James Bond movies tho

i don't like to make generalizations, but all irish people are violently racist so this was just a matter of time

My mother-in-law is more of a gentle racist tbf

seriously?

i'm not in a position to dispute so wtf @ me, 'boy' just goes on teh end of country talk round my way. pologies etc.

THE SIMPSONS VS THE BEATLES VS PIZZA

yeah, it's totally random culture clash

irish people only violently racist against english tbf

man I have heard the expression "smoked irishman" and it is not pretty

eh, i was aware of the 'boy' connotation, but i just assumed it was a lot more specific (and kind of old-fashioned/defunct?) than that.

also- NV OTM about mason dixon line sherriff accent tbh

pizza > simpsons > beatles imo

are there more simpsons episodes than beatles songs yet

By miles I think. Also the Beatles can fuck off.

why are both of these shows CANON anyway?

I dunno, I haven't watched one of them.

arrested development isn't CANON at all, it's a recent show that has a cult following

i loved the simpsons but it gets harder to remember that vs how done with it i am now. i am pretty sure that when i loved the simpsons the most i loved it more than i love AD, but for this immediate purpose i find it hard to care about that. i still like 30 rock better than either tho so i am already an opinion leper on the 1st century ad levantine byways of ilx television polls

Looking at the stuff AD beat to get to the final tho is a smh moment.

based on not having seen it, like

Well yeah but Taxi and Cheers and 30 Rock?? CTFO

yeah, you may have somethin with 30 rock

shd point out that most of us Europeans think that everybody south of Mason-Dixon talks like that fat sheriff out the James Bond movies tho

Nah, just Buford T. Justice.

Don't most Americans think that too?

well... yes

Not Californians tho, they all talk like Bill and Ted.

I mean, judging by the attempts at Southern accents by any number of non-Southern actors over the years

people aren't still talking bout that, surely

They are too, boy(o)

The Mason-Dixon line does not extend to California!

then why is there a southern one?

what constitutes the us south as a geopol concept baffles the rest of the world tbh

Easy, it's part of the US where they talk like that fat sheriff out the James Bond movies

As a lifelong southerner, I can tell you that "boy" has a multitude of connotations. As it was used upthread -- a rebuttal to Whiney's know-it-all city slickerness -- is perfectly acceptable.

i'm not about to throw a victory parade tbh

this poll kinda bums me out, esp. seeing stuff like wkrp, mash, cheers, taxi, cosby show bite the dust....the two finalists aren't really sitcoms at all. this seems like a sitcom poll conducted by ppl that don't really like the sitcom format IMO...

that said will vote simpsons so fast

this seems like a sitcom poll conducted by ppl that don't really like the sitcom format IMO

Surprised David Cronenberg didn't make the final tbh

this seems like a sitcom poll conducted by ppl that don't really like the sitcom format IMO

Oh, it's CONDUCTED by someone who appreciates the format a great deal. Now as for the voters...

still kind of amazed The Simpsons beat MASH tbh

MASH is another hermetically-sealed american weirdness example imo.

this seems like a sitcom poll conducted by ppl that don't really like the sitcom format IMO

Oh, it's CONDUCTED by someone who appreciates the format a great deal. Now as for the voters...

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, September 7, 2010 5:01 PM (15 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

sorry johnny, poor word choice!

Nah M*A*S*H is 9 tenths Fucking A if you can see it without the laugh track.

then i really wouldn't know when it had made a 'joke'

MASH is another hermetically-sealed american weirdness example imo.

Not sure what you mean, but it's one of the most popular American sitcoms on British TV ever, certainly it was shown for a long time (I suppose that doesn't necessariy equate with popularity)

brits/yanks ur all the same to me

Apart from "Friends" I can't think of a more popular American sitcom on British TV than "MASH"

the weirdest thing about sitcoms to me is that the classic format ones are so lonely...like they all exist in a fundamentally lonely universe...

i realize this is because of budgets and the fact that you can't have that many characters, but it always strikes me watching, like cheers or night court, like how friendless everyone is...

it's kinda weird almost...like unintentional commentary on modern life i guess or something....

the cosby show is the exception, bill always made it seem like the huxtables exist in a real, human community...like the kids have FRIENDS! which shouldn't be weird but it is weird in sitcom terms...usually the only ppl that exist are the ppl in whatever the main situation is - the family room, the bar, the place of work, etc....

I think my top 4 would include MASH, The Cosby Show and The Simspons but I have no idea what the 4th show would be.

coach

Was "Barney Miller" in this poll anyway?

I wonder if I'd seeded the bracket differently, would M*A*S*H have beat out Arrested Development and made it to the final vs. The Simpsons? (The Simpsons beat it already here, but more people come out for the finals.)

I think my top 4 would include MASH, The Cosby Show and The Simspons but I have no idea what the 4th show would be.

― feel free to answer my Korn Kuestion (HI DERE), Tuesday, September 7, 2010 12:08 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

real stories of the highway patrol

haha matt otm

i would like to see a "three-camera, laugh track" sitcom poll

Never seen Sanford and Son but is it as unrelentingly bleak as the UK sitcom it's based on?

I would very much doubt that

not really

Figured it wouldn't be. Steptoe and Son is like Beckett, no exaggeration.

a camera zooming in on bramble or corbett before a monologue is a sobering journey

Titus amd Daniel?

Oh, you won't know who Daniel is

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/networks/cbn-e/images/members/uk_daniel_corbett.jpg

:|

Altho Brambell did manage to outbleak Steptoe later on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KNMeIu_cjM&feature=related

(Warning: will scar you for life)

pretty sure bramble managed to outbleak steptoe off screen too iirc

thx for killing the thread bros

this is the only one of these polls I've voted in and I'm voting Simpsons because AD doesn't actually have any jokes, just premises.

no.

if they don't say knock knock i don't know when i'm supposed to laugh :(

I'm voting Simpsons because AD doesn't actually have any jokes, just premises.

don't understand this at all

it's a pun -- AD is about property developers ("premises")

itt: fun-hatin'

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this is the only one of these polls I've voted in and I'm voting Simpsons because AD doesn't actually have any jokes, just premises.

― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 18:24 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

OTM

don't understand this at all

you don't understand the difference between a premise and a joke...? The former contains the raw material required for something funny to happen, the latter actually is funny. "What if there were a kid named George Michael?" for example, is a premise, but it isn't really a joke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itbUSS-gZPc

I've watched a bunch of AD and while it's mildly entertaining, it's never actually made me laugh. I find it's popularity here perplexing (sort of like ILX's love affair with Wet Hot American Summer, which is kinda similar in terms of it's funny premise to actual joke ratio)

AD is brilliant as hell, but the Simpsons seasons 4-7 is not only already longer than AD's run, but probably the best 4 seasons of television ever made, ever, anywhere, ever.

I mean, REALLY.

Was "Barney Miller" in this poll anyway?

Knocked out in the first round. I was sad.

simpsons is a behemoth. nothing will beat it. that said - i voted simpsons.

It's just the truth.

You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! You no truth handler, you! Bah, I deride your truth-handling abilities!

friends 1-4 as good a four year run of sitcom as simpsons 4-7 imo. and i'm pretty sure most four year runs of south park beat it too, for me.

^ madness.

South Park, I can see, actually. But Friends?

best run of South Park was clearly 4-8

Where were you when they built the ladder to heaven?

will rep for friends

it was actually a sitcom, for a start

Bending statistics to your will is all that is.

in your heart you know i'm right

In my heart I'd rather watch reruns of "The King of Queens".

No exaggeration, I really would.

OMG what's going to happen to his big television THIS week, I wonder?!?!?!

ur mockery wounds only urself in the long run sir

I'd make a joke about Friends, but I can't much remember any of it.

yeah well i spoke to one of the writers or performers of the tv show 'fends' and they'd never heard of YOU either

fends

nerd gag about dinosaurs, stupid one says something stupid, hippy does something ditzy but cute

wait no that was The Young Ones.

ws phoebe. Not enough, though.

maybe it's a 'went through puberty with only 2 tv channels' thing. it was aniston, cox and whateverhernameis vs the angelus.

you guys are both nearly dead, as the curve goes- you think that might be it?

Been outside the 18-34 demo for coming on two years now. But the thing is, I was squarely in that demo when Friends was popular, and I just didn't care for it. It's even worse now, when I surf past it. It had zero teeth.

Seinfeld is a sitcom about a bunch of sociopaths. So is AD. And the Simpsons was at the very least written by a bunch of sociopaths.

I don't want to play identity politics with TV characters, I want them to embody my darkest impulses. Homer Simpson, Eric Cartman, and George Costanza are the best characters TV has ever seen.

Fuck a pile of Ross.

Dale Gribble and Hey Now Hank Kingsley are TV's greatest characters too

pffft brian griffin shits on all of em

Oh, Hank. Hank makes me hurt inside. In a special way, though. You can't not love Hank.

and steptoe jr kills em all for teeth/rage

Brian is also a bit of a douche tbf

George Costanza also makes me hurt inside, but in a way that's best not ever spoken of.

I have hidden under my desk and napped. Oh yes I have.

course brian griffin is a douche he's a lodger

The whole structure of Family Guy is too ramshackle to support solid personas, at least not across episodes. They're more like voices, and whether one character or another gets to voice the witty observation in that scene is less a matter of personality than timing. I don't think that's bad, but Brian is just another incarnation of Seth MacFarlane. Mind you, Seth MacFarlane is a smart, funny guy, but why not pick Stewie?

still got aspirations, no drink habit- not as funny

nah I think Stewie is funnier, especially when he is enthused by something

or when he zings on Brian's novel

being real in tandem they're as good as anything on tv, and to heck with whatever this week's 'storyline' is

I think they're as fleshed out as most other sitcom characters, yeah.

Interesting. To what degree does the creator's or writer's sensibility affect all of the characters equally, regardless of the setup? (At the risk of sounding way over-analytical about cartoons.)

I mean, to some degree ALL of the characters on Seinfeld are Larry David, right? George just moreso. (And more perfectly so.)

you don't understand the difference between a premise and a joke...?

i do. the george michael thing is hardly even a joke, and i find it bizarre that you would focus upon that when there's a blizzard of real actual jokes throughout every episode of the show.

i mean, does the word "analrapist" mean nothing to you? "all premise and no jokes" is on a Morbsian level of misappreciating and misrepresenting something to remain curmudgeonly and superior. Why not just say you don't get it? there's no shame in it.

Why not just say you don't get it? there's no shame in it.

Ha cmon if it were that easy ILM would just stop.

Interesting. To what degree does the creator's or writer's sensibility affect all of the characters equally, regardless of the setup?

well yeah when the characters are all dreamt up and set rolling from a pool of one or two creators it's more of a thing, isn't it?

There's definitely a big difference between not getting a show's humor and not liking a show's humor. I don't have any real axe to grind with AD other than I only ever found it amusing sometimes and boring and labored the rest of the time. It's disappointing too, because I like the cast.

There's definitely a big difference between not getting a show's humor and not liking a show's humor.

i can totally understand not liking a show's humour too. but denying that it even exists?

i do. the george michael thing is hardly even a joke, and i find it bizarre that you would focus upon that when there's a blizzard of real actual jokes throughout every episode of the show.

i mean, does the word "analrapist" mean nothing to you? "all premise and no jokes" is on a Morbsian level of misappreciating and misrepresenting something to remain curmudgeonly and superior. Why not just say you don't get it? there's no shame in it.

GO STEVIE!
GO CH1CK!

I don't get it

new adventures in OTMing

Arrested DevelOTMent

Okay. Tobias Funke, never-nude and clearly-closeted husband of Lynsey Bluth, is discussing his unsuccessful career as a psychiatrist, and states that business seemed to suffer when he announced himself as a combination analyst/therapist.

Cut to: Image of his business card, reading "Tobias Funke, Analrapist" (a conflation of the words therapist and analyst)

Now, you may not find this funny. You may think it peurile or stupid or offensive. You may be so irritated by the presence of Ron Howard as the narrator that you're reduced to stony-faced silence throughout regardless.

But it is a joke, not a premise. So there are jokes in AD, as well as premises.

I whole-heartedly support Shakey's right to think AD is trash and unfunny. But there are jokes.

That's funny, reminds me of a Benny Hill sketch where a succession of women keep coming up and slapping a guy in the face 'cos he'd inadvertently covered part of the sign on his office door that read Therapist so it said Rapist.

In fact, it might have said The Rapist, which is funnier

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Season 1 of AD, and yeah, there are definitely jokes. And I've even LOLed a few times, but nothing so far has made me laugh as much as anything in the first ten seasons of The Simpsons. Henry Winkler has so far been the funniest thing on the show!

but you agree, Tom, that its "a joke" yes?

^ leading argument imo

just requesting clarity is all dara

:)

see, that was a premise, but not a fully fledged 'joke' imo

pls to explain

o no u dont

Homer Simpson, Eric Cartman, and George Costanza are the best characters TV has ever seen.

SGT ERNIE BILKO
BASIL FAWLTY
PHILIP E. MARLOW

MAUDE FINDLAY
JERRI BLANK
BOB ROSS

RITCHIE
RALPHIE
POTSIE

JFK
BLOWN AWAY
WHAT ELSE DO I HAVE TO SAY

5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick) cut into quarters
3 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (5 oz) all-purpose flour

Would Eat

MEL
VERA
FLO

JOEY'S DUCK
CHANDLER'S CHICKS
THE ARMCHAIR WITH THE POP OUT LEGS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jm6B31HKBw&feature=player_embedded

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Fair results.

So, as predicted from the beginning, The Simpsons = Pizza.

margin shoulda been even wider

need 51 to sb 51

happy enough with that showing tbh

jesus 51 major challops

at least it wasn't a total blowout

wow I thought this would be 5-1

The Plain People of ILX have spoken.

ILX gets harder and harder to stereotype everyday
Many of the polls prove that there must be 100s or lurkers

Yeah, The Simpsons win a poll on an Internet message board, no stereotypes there.

don't know why polls have to avoid stereotypes.

this poll isn't surpising (did I say it was. no)

but the one where arrested development and cheers beat 30 rock and frasier surprised me.

also curb your enthusiasm (a show I never saw because I don't have HBO) lasting as long as it did surprised me. I mean, I didn't realize so many people have HBO.

If anything this poll had a surprising amount of arrested development votes. I like that show and own all 3 seasons on DVD but come on

I think I voted for the simpsons, but there's something to be said for a kick-ass show that didn't wear out its welcome (I know the last season has haters, but whatever), esp compared to a show that is the deathless poster child of wearing out its welcome.

If it would just die we could totally give it the Michael Jackson treatment and pretend the last decade didn't happen.

nobody I know who watches curb your enthusiasm has HBO, they all either torrent it or watch the dvds

xp

this poll isn't surpising (did I say it was. no)

wasn't responding to yr post, tbf?

i was responding to jeff

oic

pronounced "hoick"

but the one where arrested development and cheers beat 30 rock and frasier surprised me... If anything this poll had a surprising amount of arrested development votes. I like that show and own all 3 seasons on DVD but come on

will never understand people who are actually SURPRISED that everyone on a poll doesn't reflect their opinions exactly, and wonder what they actually think the purpose of a poll is... if i were a psychiatrist i would name this pfunkboy's syndrome.

i mean its cool and all, but isn't the purpose of a poll to find out what other people think? why should their tastes reflect yours?

That's not why I was surprised. I was surprised because the 30 Rock thread on ILX is humongous and I thought the demographic of ILX was a little more skewed towards people being of the age of Frasier vs. Cheers (but that was a dumb of me to think that)

i must admit, it hurt to watch cheers, one of my favourite shows of all time, exit the poll

It fought the good fight for many rounds.

at least 51 ppl who don't know when to laff

and no fewer than 51 who do

*pats self on back*