2008 Woodie Awards
T.V.'s Top Two Animated Shows Kick off New Season
Fox's long-running "Simpsons" and "Family Guy" start season.
Jeremiah Magan
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Entertainment
"The Simpsons" and "Family Guy," the two most popular primetime animated series in television history, have premiered once again. It is the nineteenth season for the Simpson family and the sixth for the Griffins.
For Homer and the rest of Springfield, it has been about nine seasons too long. Even coming off of their summer movie hit "The Simpsons Movie" (which was much funnier than the show has been in a long time) could not improve the quality of the series.
The intro began in usual fashion with Bart Simpson writing standards on the chalk board, this time saying "I will not wait another 20 years to make a movie;" obviously telling the audience what they already knew if they stayed through the credits.
Bart proceeds to make his way through the now-destroyed town (damage which was created during the movie) and the family runs into the house to find spider-pig on the couch. The creators were doing everything they could to remind people how good the movie was.
The episode consisted of Homer realizing that he loves riding in private jets after being treated to a weekend get-away by Mr. Burns for saving his life. Realizing that he has no chance of ever riding in one again, Homer becomes depressed and Marge takes it upon herself to help him.
She enlists the help of a life-coach (voiced by Stephen Colbert) to help Homer reach his goal. His advice is simple, seeing that he is a very confident and talented bowler, he tells Homer to wear his bowling shoes everywhere he goes.
Long story short, Homer gets his confidence back and loses interest in riding in private jets because he has to land one and none of it is funny.
"Family Guy" took a slightly different approach to the season premier, instead of continuing the story of the Griffin Family, creator Seth MacFarlane chose to animate "Star Wars" using characters from the show.
The idea is incredibly funny, but it was not executed as well as it could have been. The entire episode was an hour-long geriatric-pedophile-gay joke. The character known only as Herbert played Obi-wan Kenobi and Chris Griffin (Seth Green) played Luke Skywalker. Peter Griffin's (voiced by MacFarlane) portrayal of Han Solo was the funniest part of the entire episode.
Many of the jokes would have been seen in a regular "Family Guy" episode through the usual quick-cuts, but it was a convenient time to make a "Star Wars" episode, because George Lucas is apparently licensing out the franchise to everyone. "Family Guy" even poked fun at themselves for using the same concept that Green used in his series "Robot Chicken." At the end of the episode Peter got into an argument with Chris about "Robot Chicken" beating them to the punch.
The premier episodes were not nearly as funny as they could have been, and one can only hope that the two series will improve as the season continues.
Long-time fans know better than to think both of the shows will be good, but die-hard fans will still cling to their dying hopes. If you have to choose one of the shows to watch, go with "Family Guy," the jokes are not as stale.
For Homer and the rest of Springfield, it has been about nine seasons too long. Even coming off of their summer movie hit "The Simpsons Movie" (which was much funnier than the show has been in a long time) could not improve the quality of the series.
The intro began in usual fashion with Bart Simpson writing standards on the chalk board, this time saying "I will not wait another 20 years to make a movie;" obviously telling the audience what they already knew if they stayed through the credits.
Bart proceeds to make his way through the now-destroyed town (damage which was created during the movie) and the family runs into the house to find spider-pig on the couch. The creators were doing everything they could to remind people how good the movie was.
The episode consisted of Homer realizing that he loves riding in private jets after being treated to a weekend get-away by Mr. Burns for saving his life. Realizing that he has no chance of ever riding in one again, Homer becomes depressed and Marge takes it upon herself to help him.
She enlists the help of a life-coach (voiced by Stephen Colbert) to help Homer reach his goal. His advice is simple, seeing that he is a very confident and talented bowler, he tells Homer to wear his bowling shoes everywhere he goes.
Long story short, Homer gets his confidence back and loses interest in riding in private jets because he has to land one and none of it is funny.
"Family Guy" took a slightly different approach to the season premier, instead of continuing the story of the Griffin Family, creator Seth MacFarlane chose to animate "Star Wars" using characters from the show.
The idea is incredibly funny, but it was not executed as well as it could have been. The entire episode was an hour-long geriatric-pedophile-gay joke. The character known only as Herbert played Obi-wan Kenobi and Chris Griffin (Seth Green) played Luke Skywalker. Peter Griffin's (voiced by MacFarlane) portrayal of Han Solo was the funniest part of the entire episode.
Many of the jokes would have been seen in a regular "Family Guy" episode through the usual quick-cuts, but it was a convenient time to make a "Star Wars" episode, because George Lucas is apparently licensing out the franchise to everyone. "Family Guy" even poked fun at themselves for using the same concept that Green used in his series "Robot Chicken." At the end of the episode Peter got into an argument with Chris about "Robot Chicken" beating them to the punch.
The premier episodes were not nearly as funny as they could have been, and one can only hope that the two series will improve as the season continues.
Long-time fans know better than to think both of the shows will be good, but die-hard fans will still cling to their dying hopes. If you have to choose one of the shows to watch, go with "Family Guy," the jokes are not as stale.
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