[The Jewish Cunthead]

Going up against Cheers and The Simpsons? Al Bundy really is the unluckiest bastard on TV.

(7)Married with Children


vs.


(2) The Simpsons


Voting ends Friday 11/16

[salmonjunkie]

i may have to abstain

[Jack Quinn]

this makes me sad

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Really? The Simpsons, a show that has been on for 18+ years and is adored by millions of fans. I mean it might not be your cup of tea but it can hardly be a surprise.

[Jack Quinn]

not a surprise that is is going to win, a surprise that it is not even close. Married was a great show. Simpsons is a great show too, but it almost takes a SNL route, there were some episodes and seasons that just weren't that great.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

To be fair, Married stumbled at the end... and that Seven subplot was horrifically bad.

[Jack Quinn]

yeah that was bad. I was watching an episode last night that had him in it. Ugh. Like I said, I am not surprised that the Simpsons is going to win, I was just hoping it would be a little closer

Also, I don't think any episode of the Simpsons made me laugh as hard as 2 particular episodes of Married, 1. Where Al and Jefferson try to assemble a tool bench, and 2) Al and Jefferson try to figure out what a light switch does. I laughed my ass off at both of them

[The Jewish Cunthead]

[Lucky]

And in all fairness Married had some GREAT stuff. But it was also VERY derivative and outright stupid at times. And I'm not talking the end and the Seven stuff. I'm talking 20 episodes about Bud screwing an insanely hot chick and everyone seeming to forget he nailed the last one. 20 episodes about NO MA'AM trying to scam and object to Marcy's feminists. 20 episodes about Kelly fucking some loser and Al punching him out in the end. 20 episodes about Peggy wanting to have sex. 20 episodes about Al getting fed up with his life, talking about throwing 4 TDs in a single game, getting delusions of grandeur, and then being pushed down lower then where he started.

And at least 2 episodes I can think of that were just complete spinoff attempts which were HORRIBLE. The one about Al's buddy who's son was Joey from Friends and the one where Nicole Eggert was a Kelly clone.

Personally I think this should have fallen awhile ago. And its yet more evidence that this board (a) will almost exclusively vote for stuff from the last 25 years and (b) loves potty humor and absurdist comedy.

Of the 8 comedies left we have 2 sketch shows, South Park and Simpsons which are both topical borderline sketch cartoons, and Married which is just cartoonish and potty humor (well done potty humor, but still). Really only 3 sitcoms and one of those is the very absurd Arrested Development. And Seinfeld, the show that made a name of it being the atypical sitcom. And you can probably make an argument that the Office is in the AD category.

Its weird.

[Jack Quinn]

but aren't the Simpsons just as derivative? How many times has Homer pulled a Forrest Gump and found himself as an astronaut, or some other insane position?

How many times has Bart been in trouble at school, or Lisa had her status of smartest kid threatened?

Its all derivative. Sure, Simpsons attempts to hit with topical humor, but generally its done in the same manner as their other shows. They do it well, but it is still a basic formula.

And yeah the two spinoff attempts from Married are better left forgotten. They were horrible

[Krydor]

There was one good bit with Seven: the time he showed up on a Milk carton.

I voted for the inanimate carbon rod.

[Lucky]

Hey, you don't have to tell me Simpsons has been derivative at times. And I stopped watching a long time ago but I can only imagine it got more and more derivative as it got to 20 seasons. But it never struck me as AS formulaic as Married often was. A lot of that shit was just mailed it with the same plot we'd seen a thousand times. I mean, a lot of episodes of Simpsons are about Homer being stupid or Bart being a troublemaker. But they're often different stories with the same basic character element.

"NO MA'AM gets upset when women interrupt their ________. They devise an illegal and unethical scheme to get free of women. Marcy protests them. NO MA'AM's plan fails and they are put into an embarrassing situation."

That derivative of a plot seemed to come along more frequently with Married in the 10 or so years I watched both shows.

[gooker]

Simpsons, bitches. 'Nuff said!

[punk/core]

luckylopez said:

And at least 2 episodes I can think of that were just complete spinoff attempts which were HORRIBLE. The one about Al's buddy who's son was Joey from Friends and the one where Nicole Eggert was a Kelly clone.

There was also a third episode I can remember that was an attempt at a spin off: When Steve comes back at the dean of the university, and the two DJs at the radio station rally against him and petition on the air to get him fired. Or something like that. I wanna say the girl in that episode was Keri Russell, but maybe it was just someone that kinda looked like her.

And yes, those episodes were very horrible.

[Lucky]

Oh, shit. You're right. I forgot that one. And it was Felicity playing Bud's love interest. It probably didn't click with me that that was a spinoff because Bud and Steve were both so big in it. But Steve was long gone by then and Bud probably wasn't much more of a player than Kelly was in that other one.

Christ those sucked. When Married stepped outside of its comfortable little world it really blew chunks.

[salmonjunkie]

Now that I think about it, when it all comes down to it, Simpsons was the better show.

[National Champion Chris Cole]