Editorials

There's nothing better than letting rip with your opinions, and here you can read mine on different issues with The Simpsons. You may agree or disagree, but please do not contact with your thoughts. If you'd like to share your view, then please do so in the forum, or email me only with your very own editorials which I will add. Please ensure your editorials are checked for spelling and grammar - any length is welcome.

Life With The Simpsons
Simpsons Vs. Futurama NEW

Life With The Simpsons
Here we are, the very first editorial! And what a better way to start off then to talk about how The Simpsons has shaped our lives. Over the more than 14 years The Simpsons has been on air, the show has reached a lot of feats, which it should be extremely proud of. The Simpsons deserved all of the awards and accalades it has received and why wouldn't it get them - the show was unique for this era, in that it was an animated sitcom with no laugh track or extreme continuality. It absolutely revolutionised television and introduced the now-fluent animated primetime comedies, even though they all (with the exception of Futurama) pale in comparison to The Simpsons. The Simpsons has ventured - and subsequently parodied - every aspect of life. From the average life stereotype to homosexuality, The Simpsons has tackled all of these subjects both refreshingly and honestly. The Simpsons has been at the forefront of satire and parody in the television industry for more than a decade. No other television show in history has satired or parodied anything better than The Simpsons.
Like with life, The Simpsons has faced ups and downs. Since Season 9, the show has never been the same. Unfortunately, most people agree that the show will never reach the pure brilliance that was pre-season 9. In the past few years, The Simpsons has changed for the worse. Characters, especially Homer, have gotten flat and emotionless people who are the to just spurt out silly jokes, and then there are the plots! While I don't want to focus on the latter seasons, I do want to say that whilst the show has obviously gotten worse, and will probably never fully recover, no amount of bad shows the new seasons can throw at us can or will delete the older episodes and the memories they gave us. Those memories will most likely last in television's greatest moments and why shouldn't they.
Then there's the creator and the writers, producers, and of course the cast. Well, how can anyone define them. Because, anyone who has helped create and shape television's best shows ever cannot be easily described. Hey, we can call them legends, heroes or even God's, but one thing's for sure, they will live in television history.

The Simpsons Vs. Futurama
In light of my new Futurama site and my newly-found profound interest in Futurama, I have decided to reignite the debate that many fans of both shows have participated in - which is better; The Simpsons or Futurama.
Both are created by the biggest brain in the business (lovely use of alliteration there), Matt Groening so the creator makes no difference. However, there is a different crew for either show. As we all know, The Simpsons has suffered the effects of a lacklustre crew recently and as the show closes in on sixteen seasons, chances of the show returning to its unrivalled brilliance of mid-seasons is unlikely, so it is fair to say that Futurama got the better half of the draw in the crew department, however the old Simpsons crew would outshine Futurama's crew (or any other show's crew, for that matter) anyday. I'm sure the crew has a significant role in the show's quality obviously, which is why it is important to note the crew of both shows.
The characters of both shows seem different when you watch the shows one after the other, but really, I think that the characters, or at least some of them, are kind of similar. As we all have probably guessed at one point or another, Fry very much seems like an adult version of Bart. Not only because of both characters' slim intelligence, but also because of the amount of laughs both characters give us - which is alot. Marge and Leela are the same in that regard - they give few laughs but allow other characters to reach their comedic best. Some other character comparisons include: Grampa and Professor Farnsworth (they're both old, senile), and Lisa and Zoidberg (because they're both underrated :P). So the characters of both shows are both fantastic - each character provides something to either show and the audience is given a chance to feel for each character.
Well, the plots of both shows are of course very different. The Simpsons' plots have declined recently, but that is understandable after 15 years on air, but they may not get any better. When The Simpsons was at its peak, the plots could not be beaten. But Futurama's plots are also fanastic and although they are sci-fi intensive, the plots always start, progress and end similarly to The Simpsons, and I believe that this is another reason why both shows have enjoyed at least some success. So when it comes to plots, both shows are supreme, but I think it is fair to say that at the current time, Futurama reigns supreme in the plots department.
Futurama is of course set in the future. Could this be a bonus or a drawback? Well, the fact that Futurama is set in the future gives its animators a free ride - the ability to do all sorts of gags and even stuff ups which could end up funny, whereas in The Simpsons, they cannot go too far out of the possible realm (unless for TOH), but this also helps its cause by giving us something to relate to. So the shows' settings are both drawcards to either shows and give each show their own personality and brilliance.
After all that, who can really tell which show is better? Although The Simpsons has suffered recently, it still remains probably one of - if not - the best shows on television at the moment and over the past decade and a half. And Futurama has justified itself as a fantastic animated comedy, adult at some times, and it's production hault was a very unfortunate event. So in conclusion, both shows are superior to every other show on television and what's most important is that both shows offer that feeling when you're about to watch it and just as the credits roll - the feeling of sublime happiness. Both shows deserve admiration and Matt Groening does to, for his brain has permitted these phenomenal shows to be born.