Many years ago, Seth Macfarlane joked about Family Guy lasting twenty seasons, getting to a point the writers are so bereft of ideas they decide to do an entire episode about Greg the Weather-Mime. That doesn't sound as awful as the crap that's on the horizon for the show's thirteenth season.
The show's producers have released a 5-minute clip of the upcoming season premiere, which is a crossover with The Simpsons. That clip is actually pretty funny, in my opinion, and bodes very well for the show if it is indicative of the quality of the rest of the episode.
What the writers have planned after that episode is what makes me wonder if the show will become so pathetically lame that I stop watching it. There's apparently going to be an episode in which Stewie becomes pregnant with Brian's baby. Yeah, yeah, I accept the idea of a talking dog. I even accept the idea of Brian having a human son by a human woman. But a human baby boy becoming pregnant with a dog's baby? That sounds just way too idiotic to me.
Showing posts with label jump the shark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jump the shark. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2014
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
They had to do the episode in which they get robbed
With last night's episode titled "The Bozeman Reaction," the shark gets ever closer to The Big Bang Theory. Thieves break into the apartment where Sheldon and Leonard live and steal computers, external hard drives, some video game consoles and several video games. Predictably, Sheldon and Leonard get a ridiculously elaborate security system installed in their apartment. When I read the episode description on TV Guide, I immediately thought, "Oh, they're doing one of those."
In theory, there is a small, finite amount of basic plots writers can draw upon for their stories. This means that the best that writers can hope for is that they've put enough ornaments on the basic plot so that the story's familiarity does not bother readers too much. But when a sitcom starts falling back on overused plots like the overreaction to a home robbery, it is a clear sign of trouble for the show's quality.
To be fair, Sheldon's idea to move to Bozeman, Montana, is a fresh idea, at least compared to his getting trapped and electrocuted by the security system he had Wolowitz install. After the interview with the policeman, Leonard seems somewhat nonchalant about the fact that his apartment was just broken into. Though I suppose that getting regular sex with an attractive blonde is for a guy like Leonard a much greater priority than worrying that the thieves might return for a second helping. And of course, as a character, Leonard has to act as a balance to Sheldon and his hysteria.
In theory, there is a small, finite amount of basic plots writers can draw upon for their stories. This means that the best that writers can hope for is that they've put enough ornaments on the basic plot so that the story's familiarity does not bother readers too much. But when a sitcom starts falling back on overused plots like the overreaction to a home robbery, it is a clear sign of trouble for the show's quality.
To be fair, Sheldon's idea to move to Bozeman, Montana, is a fresh idea, at least compared to his getting trapped and electrocuted by the security system he had Wolowitz install. After the interview with the policeman, Leonard seems somewhat nonchalant about the fact that his apartment was just broken into. Though I suppose that getting regular sex with an attractive blonde is for a guy like Leonard a much greater priority than worrying that the thieves might return for a second helping. And of course, as a character, Leonard has to act as a balance to Sheldon and his hysteria.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Cancel the Simpsons already!
The Simpsons used to be one of the very best shows around. But it's no longer funny. There is one important, increasingly common reason that needs to be added to the usual list of jump the shark reasons, and that is loss of continuity. With The Simpsons it means an increasingly constant rewriting of the backstory, as if no one thinks the fans will remember something that happened last week or earlier in the season, much less years ago.
I'm not the first to point out the rewritten backstory in the extremely lame episode "That 90's Show," first aired about a year ago today (KABF04) and already reran three or four times. So instead of the Be Sharps barbershop quartet (in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," first aired September 30, 1993, years ago today, 9F21), Homer suddenly now was the leader of a grunge rock band called Sadgasm. Practically every flashback episode of the show this millennium contradicts past episodes. "That 90's Show" doesn't mesh that well either with "The Way We Was" (7F12, aired eighteen years ago today).
Another common continuity sin is to rewrite the backstory to have all the characters meet in the past. "Dangerous Curves" (November 9, 2008, KABF18) will now have us believe that Homer and Marge met Ned and Maude Flanders prior to being neighbors. Family Guy is also guilty of this sin (just one example: when Peter met Lois, was Glen Quagmire a sailor aboard an aircraft carrier, or a civilian residing in Rhode Island? There are two episodes to consider in answering this question).
I haven't forgotten that I declared that Family Guy jumped the shark with "The Man With Two Brians." But I will continue to watch Family Guy, giving the show a chance to impress me again (i.e., make me laugh). But I'm done with The Simpsons. No more new episodes for me. Do you hear that, Nielsens?
I'm not the first to point out the rewritten backstory in the extremely lame episode "That 90's Show," first aired about a year ago today (KABF04) and already reran three or four times. So instead of the Be Sharps barbershop quartet (in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," first aired September 30, 1993, years ago today, 9F21), Homer suddenly now was the leader of a grunge rock band called Sadgasm. Practically every flashback episode of the show this millennium contradicts past episodes. "That 90's Show" doesn't mesh that well either with "The Way We Was" (7F12, aired eighteen years ago today).
Another common continuity sin is to rewrite the backstory to have all the characters meet in the past. "Dangerous Curves" (November 9, 2008, KABF18) will now have us believe that Homer and Marge met Ned and Maude Flanders prior to being neighbors. Family Guy is also guilty of this sin (just one example: when Peter met Lois, was Glen Quagmire a sailor aboard an aircraft carrier, or a civilian residing in Rhode Island? There are two episodes to consider in answering this question).
I haven't forgotten that I declared that Family Guy jumped the shark with "The Man With Two Brians." But I will continue to watch Family Guy, giving the show a chance to impress me again (i.e., make me laugh). But I'm done with The Simpsons. No more new episodes for me. Do you hear that, Nielsens?
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The dog with puppy videos
The show: Family Guy
The episode: "The Man With Two Brians," first aired November 9, 2008, and rerun just this past Sunday.
What happened: After Peter gets a new dog (whom he calls "new Brian"), old Brian tries to regain the affection of the family by playing his puppy video. The video shows him coming out of a basket and doing other cute puppy stuff.
Why it doesn't quite make sense: According to "Road to Rhode Island," Brian was born in a puppy mill in Texas. He was separated from his mother early on. At some point between that time and the first season of Family Guy, Brian wound up homeless on the streets of Quahog. According to "Brian: Portrait of a Dog," Brian was an adult dog when he cleaned Peter's windshield and Peter decided to adopt him.
Now, this doesn't rule out that someone would have shot puppy videos of Brian. But how exactly would Brian manage to hold on to that footage throughout his tortuous path from Texas to Rhode Island? When he was homeless, would it have been a priority for him to protect a video tape? The only explanation is that the writers have forgotten the character's backstory and thus created a continuity breach.
In a comedy, a continuity breach is forgiven if it yields a very funny joke. The bigger the breach, the funnier the joke has to be. But this continuity breach is used exclusively for the purpose of creating schmaltz, and not for a joke. With Brian's puppy videos, Family Guy has jumped the shark.
The episode: "The Man With Two Brians," first aired November 9, 2008, and rerun just this past Sunday.
What happened: After Peter gets a new dog (whom he calls "new Brian"), old Brian tries to regain the affection of the family by playing his puppy video. The video shows him coming out of a basket and doing other cute puppy stuff.
Why it doesn't quite make sense: According to "Road to Rhode Island," Brian was born in a puppy mill in Texas. He was separated from his mother early on. At some point between that time and the first season of Family Guy, Brian wound up homeless on the streets of Quahog. According to "Brian: Portrait of a Dog," Brian was an adult dog when he cleaned Peter's windshield and Peter decided to adopt him.
Now, this doesn't rule out that someone would have shot puppy videos of Brian. But how exactly would Brian manage to hold on to that footage throughout his tortuous path from Texas to Rhode Island? When he was homeless, would it have been a priority for him to protect a video tape? The only explanation is that the writers have forgotten the character's backstory and thus created a continuity breach.
In a comedy, a continuity breach is forgiven if it yields a very funny joke. The bigger the breach, the funnier the joke has to be. But this continuity breach is used exclusively for the purpose of creating schmaltz, and not for a joke. With Brian's puppy videos, Family Guy has jumped the shark.
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