A decade-plus past its prime, The Simpsons has a stronger presence in American life than Cheers, Seinfeld, Community, or any other sitcom you can think of. Since Matt Groening’s show debuted in 1988, not a week has gone by that I haven’t thought about it, quoted it, or heard someone else quote it. The writing staff’s vacuum cleaner has ingested so much data and imagery that it’s hard for a fan to think about a significant TV show, movie, play, musical, painting, song, fairy tale, myth, or historical incident without remembering how The Simpsons made fun of it. Cheers is a flawless pearl glinting on a beach. But The Simpsons is the beach. It’s bigger than Cheers, bigger than sitcoms, in some ways bigger than television. It’s our virtual Smithsonian and Library of Congress, our collective data cloud, the Force, or Farce, that surrounds us, binds us, and holds the galaxy together. The Simpsons losing the Vulture comedy bracket? That’s unpossible.
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| — | Matt Zoller Seitz declaring ‘The Simpsons’ as the winner of Vulture’s Best Sitcom of the Last 30 Years Tournament |
Awesome news: Jenny Slate (of SNL and Marcel the Shell fame) is going to guest star on Parks and Rec as Jean-Ralphio’s twin sister.
And we’ve got video to prove it!
Mind = blown.
Friends vs. How I Met Your Mother | Reddit
See Happy Endings. See The Big Bang Theory. See Three’s Company.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Friends was not a good show. 10 television shows from the 90’s that you think you loved…that were actually horrible.
Also included: Mad About You, Home Improvement, Wings, Kenan and Kel, and yes, Friends. I love the contrarian spin on this (kudos Flavorpill), but something tells me it’s going to kick up some controversy.
If we’re doing this I’m going to add Step By Step and Sister Sister. Do you agree with their choices of actually bad 90s shows?
PS: Please direct all hate mail to Flavorpill.
Turns out that 20th Century Fox Television — the studio behind Mother — has been selling promotional spots in syndicated episodes to wring even more money out of the sitcom’s already rich syndication deals. Specifically, the feat is accomplished by a partnership with a company, SeamBI, which stands for Seamless Brand Integration and is responsible for digitally altering old episodes with new products and brands.
Here are some more photo examples of the advertising at work (the top one being particularly ironic)…
The company’s CEO Roy Baharav tells EW that he believes this type of product placement is going to be part of the future, especially as the value of commercials decreases and DVR watching increases.
He also says, ““Everything is designed in such a way that it’s going to feel natural. We’re not going to risk any integrity of the content.”
Maybe he hasn’t seen an episode of How I Met Your Mother? Because if he had, he’d understand that time continuity is an integral part of the show’s narrative. These episodes weren’t only shot in 2006 and 2007, but they take place specifically in 2006 and 2007. Putting in anachronistic ads takes the viewer out of the story immediately. That’s why this whole thing went viral yesterday in the first place. I’d love to hear what creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays have to say about this.
That said, my loyalty to and knowledge of the show is fueling my opinion. In the example of My Name Is Earl (which also features such retrofitted ads), I’m not as opposed, though I still believe it’s a distraction.
HUB has a pretty good late night schedule.
Thanks, Sam!
I’m suddenly nostalgic for Nick at Nite, which is nostalgic in itself.
I think the answer is somewhere in primatology. We are really, really, really most comfortable feeling like we’re hanging out with about a hundred or so people, experiencing something with them, and it’s just the most comfortable thing in the world to watch a sitcom, a multi-camera one, to just slip your foot into this warm slipper that’s been molded to fit your foot after a hard day’s work. Going back to Jackie Gleason, we have that format down. That industry has now made a science out of finding the funniest, most charming people who can pull off that weird combination of Broadway performance and fourth-wall acting, even though they’re pausing for these gigantic laughs that you can hear. If you were describing it to a Martian it would sound absolutely insane, you would have no way of logically explaining why. But the answer is, it’s more comfortable. I can attest to it. I watch reruns of Seinfeld. I mean, it’s perfect. It’s just like drinking a nice cup of tea before bed. Maybe that’s a bad idea. It just feels appropriate and good.
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| — | Dan Harmon, Community, on the Appeal of the Studio Audience | Splitsider |
Matt LeBlanc, Larry David and Paul Reiser all have shows where they play themselves. NBC 1990s ouroboros.
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| — | HitFixDaniel |
ABC just loves gobbling up other networks unwanted shows (see Scrubs).
Christine might go because CBS is so high on its current comedy pilots that it’s looking to dump all half-hour shows not named How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, or Two and a Half Men and plug in three new comedies in the fall instead (Sorry,Garry Unmarried and Accidentally on Purpose!). Apparently ABC has been trying to lure Christine over for three years, so it’d be a truly heartwarming tale if it actually ended up happening this time.
While I don’t personally watch New Adventures of Old Christine, I’m skeptical of CBS putting so much faith in their new comedy pilots and unceremoniously dropping some well established others (excluding Accidentally). That said Old Christine is a beyond perfect fit for the 8 pm slot of ABC’s Wednesday comedy block.
