Welp, that explains everything.

[thehefner]

This is from Matt Greoning's interview with The Onion this week:

"AVC: At this point, The Simpsons is one of the longest-running television shows of all time. How do you avoid cannibalizing and repeating yourself?

MG: We have an entire staff of writers and animators who are so young that they grew up watching the show. So they have the entire history memorized, and remind us when we're repeating ourselves. The goal is to keep coming up with things that both surprise the audience and the people who've been working on the show for the past 15 or 20 years."

Welp. That explains everything. The reason The Simpsons have sucked by and large for the past eight or so seasons is because the show is being written by Simpsons fans. You're getting material from people whose whole outlook and sense of humor was fashioned by the original brilliant Simpsons episodes! There's no innovation going on, nothing new, just watered-down retreads upon watered-down retreads. What's the old saying about the end of everything being self-parody? The Simpsons started parodying themselves years ago. Now we know why. At least, that's my new theory. I'd love to hear yours.

Oh, and by the way, Matt? The past season Marge got angry with Homer and started spending more time with another, more attractive, sexy man. For, like, the third time. And Sideshow Bob came back to kill Bart for, what, the eighth?

(the moment where this Jesus icon comes from was a rare one; indeed, it might be the single most brilliant joke the Simpsons have done in five or even ten years)

Oh, also, I found this interesting:

"AVC: Speaking of Family Guy, The Simpsons has taken a few shots at it, and it's shot back. What's your take on Family Guy?

MG: The rivalry is very affectionate. Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, is a good guy and he does great work, and I certainly have no problem with the perceived competition. If anything, we have the same kind of competition that Pugsley Addams and Eddie Munster had in the old days. They duked it out a few times, and so did Seth and I, but that's probably before your time.

AVC: Family Guy often seems like a child of The Simpsons. Do you feel like you're a godfather of a whole school of comedy?

MG: I think Family Guy and American Dad have definitely staked out their own style and territory, and now the accusations are coming that The Simpsons is taking jokes from Family Guy. And I can tell you, that ain't the case."

Affectionate? Not sure if I buy that.

Comments

[themadhatter26.livejournal.com]

Yes, American Dad has staked it's claim in Craponia, land of unfunny jokes and overly annoying characters.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Agreed. But the "Little Girls" gag with Patrick Stewart made the whole season worthwhile (not that I'm gonna watch any of the other episodes, mind you).

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

I love the Jesus joke.

[themadhatter26.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you could get Juliana to track him down and see if he'll sing it into a tape recorder for you. Or better yet, a camera phone.

[gnort.livejournal.com]

I enjoy the Sideshow Bob episodes. The only thing that bothered me was that Bob came back once or twice after Bob and Bart had put aside their animosity in the Cecil episode. The good thing about this season's Bob episode was that it gave him a new reason for hating Bart and the Simpsons in general. That and seeing his son get hit in the face with a rake.

[pondering-duck.livejournal.com]

John, I wanted to ask you about this. I also have an idea for a comic book. I am right now attemtping to write it out in a straight novel form but the story is so enormous (seriously) that I get swamped. I think I may just be overly eager and am trying to force it out of me too quickly and am getting frustrated. But this was origenally an idea for a comic book. I'm starting to wonder if the story might work better in this format (it is more like a series of episodes/issues than a straight flowing novel anyway). I know you got an illustrator off of craigs list but was wondering if you could advise me what to look for in an illustrator. I can't draw worth shit and that's not me being modest, seriously, I can't. Asking me to draw is like asking a penguine to fly which The Critic has proven they can't. Anyway, the points of all these ramblings are a. know anyone who might be interested in illustrating b. what should i look for when looking for someone and c. would you mind reading over hte script (I wrote several versions of what could be a first issue last year but think I can combine them). Also, if you have any desire for my input on your Johnny Go script, I would be more than honored (seriously).

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

First off, have you thought about a series of novels? Breaking it up into a trilogy of self-contained-ish works?

Secondly, and more importantly, it bears consideration to always wonder what format your story needs to be told in. What is the real strength? If you want to do it as a comic, why? What could be done in it as a comic that it couldn't do as a book, a series of books, or a movie? I just ask because so often frustrated filmmakers adapt their movies into comics, and you and I both know how so many novels almost read like film scripts.

I just ask because, trust me, man, if I coulda done Bub and Johnny as a novel, I so would have. In many ways, it should still be a movie. But I think it's as a comic that it's gonna thrive; that's the art form in which it is meant to be told. So really ask yourself (as I'm sure you already have, but I gotta say it) what form best suits your story. If it's as a novel, fuck however long it is, that's what it has to be. Write it now, worry about it later.

I found my artist on craigslist. I learned the hard way, though, that if you want more/serious replies, you gotta be willing to pony up cash to compensate them for their work. I'm going to be paying my artist around $1,000 when all's said and done (for a 95-page graphic novel, the art, lettering, maybe coloring, plus the cover and book design). Then I'm gonna have to find the cash to self-publish a couple thousand copies, then pay for advertising, distribution, promotion, etc. I *will* lose money on this project, but I seriously believe in it enough that I'm willing to do that. You gotta ask yourself if you're prepared for that, since trying to get a comic accepted by a publishing house, even a small one, is far harder than trying to sell a novel.

Know this. And if you believe in it enough that you are certain this is what it must be, go for it. You have my support and admiration. It's gonna be hard pulling through it myself.

So check out craigslist, and also try the comic artist groups on myspace. Give a brief description of the type of story, the kind of tone you're looking for, anything special the comic artist would need to depict(someone good with action, someone good with facial expressions, etc), how much work it's going to be and at least a willingness to discuss compensation. Because they ain't gonna work for free, but they may work for cheap (Stacy's doing it for me for 10 bucks a page, which adds up, sure, but is an excellent price).

As for reading your script, I won't have the time or brainspace to devote to it for at least a month, but after that, certainly. And I'll send you mine shortly as well. Thanks!

Hope I've been of some help.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I have a handful of pet peeves that really infuriate me, passed on by my Mother's own grammatical intolerance. Dangling participles fill me with rage. And also, it's pronounced "ET-cetera," not "ECK-cetera." And it's "FebRUary, not FebUary." When people say otherwise, I want to smash.

So I could do less of a grammar superhero, but more like a grammar Hulk; a loose cannon of grammatical rage.

(any misspellings or grammatical errors here or any other time are due to my general exhaustion, so forgive me)