[kingcoffee]

Th Simpsons was a brilliant show for the first 9 seasons of it's run time. I grew up on The Simpsons and as bad as it is now, I can never stay mad at it. I just lament what has happened to such a wonderful show. But once season ten started it went right down hill. The problem was and is the show writers have changed and the producers have changed. The "new" writers had no talent and since the Simpsons had already done everything they had nowhere to go. So what you got was just watered down characatures of what the characters used to be. It's just relying on the stereotypes of the characters. None of them grow and they just become stale.

Now as for South Park. I love it! I grew up on this show. I really did. I was in fifth grade when the show came on and I haven't stopped wathing it since. It's still a funny show, but it's becoming less amusing the past three or four seasons. It's become too preachy. I like how they took on the social commentary edge, but my god, it's like every episode is a parody of contemporary American culture! The commentary used to be much more subtle and funnier. The show used to be about everday kid stuff with funny little potty jokes and the wonderfully recurring death(s) of Kenny. It seems to me that Trey Parker ran out of ideas for the show and just decided to change the format of the show into a parody of real life events. Not such a bad idea, really. His insights into the problems of American politics and culture is well thought out and rational, but it's just too much. They've sacrificed their wonderfully lowbrow sense of childish humor for zany social commentary. They should mix it up more. I don't want every episode dealing with some stupid thing going on with this country and abroad. If they started killing off Kenny again I think they will become a little bit more interesting again.

Now for Family Guy. It started out superb. I thought it was going to be the next Simpsons or South Park. It really brought an even zanier, cruder style of animated sitcom to prime time tv. I know it's derivative of the Simpsons. I won't deny that. But Family Guy has the balls to go where The Simpsons had never gone. The first three seasons were my favorites. They were in top form. But once the show was cancelled by those Stiffly Stiffersons over at the FCC (who can all fucking go to hell in my opinion) the show lost it's momentum and never quite regained it. Three years off the air really took it's toll on the writing ability of the staff. I think that the show is still funny but not nearly as relevant and shocking as it used to be. It's become too popular now. It used to be a huge cult success. Now it's just a staple of youth culture. Not that I'm really complaining, but doesn't it feel better when you feel that something you really like is only liked by a comparitively small number of people? It's like a dirty little secret that only you and a few others know. It feels really good. But no matter. I have also noticed that the show really falls back on a few gimmicks: they constantly veer off into flashback scenes of some completely off the wall scenarios involving non-sequiter gags. They are almost always sparked by one of the characters saying "like that time when you...", or "I haven't felt like this since..." or "this is worse than the time..." and they go of into some weird sketch. It's funny most of the time, but the show too frequently visits upon this gag. It gets kinda annoying after a while and one bad gag of this kind can ruin a whole show.

The next gimmick they fall back on (too frequently) is the constant pop culture references. Mostly from the 1980's, which may I say is the worst decade for pop culture references along with the 1950's. I was just a child in the later half of the 80's (I was born in 1986, but I have a very excellent memory and understanding of the decade's pop culture and political landscape) but I get most of the references. Nothing is really lost on me, I just hate them. I hated the '80's!!!! It was absolutely one of the worst decades of the 20th century. I'm glad I was just a small child for the remaining 4 years becuase if I had been a teenager, I think I probably would have killed myself. Then again, I could have had the opportunity of seeing some really great bands in their heyday. But that's beside the point.

Ah, in summation these shows have jumped the shark in these ways and blahdy blah blah....