Post by Kirkwood Chocolate on Sept 9, 2021 5:22:09 GMT -5
Official Thread Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBqGhUMovtY
In the early 90s and 2000s, there was one TV show that could unequivocally be called the best sitcom in TV history. It was The Simpsons.
A tv show with universal appeal across all age groups. A show with incredibly well written, relatable and often very observant commentary on modern American life at the time. Over time this masterpiece of comedy would decline somewhere along the lines of it's 13th odd season, give or take where you place the downfall. The movie was alright but I honestly can't remember most of it, South Park movie was more memorable. After a certain point though, The Simpsons truly became a zombiefied version of itself; a disturbing pastiche of what the show once was. Those original golden era Simpsons episodes are still so funny to people even to this day. Even young children who never grew up with the show could find it funny, given the chance to watch. But the show has really just continued to be renewed because for one reason or another, millions of people are still watching it. The episodes are lowly rated on imdb, people don't seem excited about the show anymore, but it's The Simpsons. It's still something to watch on TV, people still watch it. And so it's continued to be renewed to this day.
How strange it is that this show that was once so beloved by so many people has today become just so... bad. So boring to watch. So mundane and predictable. So corporate and sterile. The kick of the old days of the Simpsons feels like a distant memory. The entire writer's room is probably completely different now. And yet, I think it would be fair to state that The Simpsons still has its DNA alive today.
On Sunday Sept 5th, 2021, Rick and Morty officially became "The Best Show on TV". And I will say today that Rick and Morty COULD NOT have ever become The Best Show on TV, without the existence of The Simpsons. Al Bundy is Abe Simpson, Homer Simpson is Homer Simpson, and Rick is the new Bart. Grandpa is literally the new mischievous son. Homer is now the mediocre loser constantly struggling for his family's love and attention, Jerry. Marge is now the adventurous, intelligent oftentimes dissatisfied with life veterinarian wife, Beth. (Also she's canonically supposed to be dead, but has a clone.) Lisa is now the flirtacious, flamboyant, witty and viciously competent Summer. Morty, you ask? Why, he's Maggie: a character who begins young and inexperienced at the start of the show, and over time becomes much more experienced, much more competent and slowly begins to resemble an adult. Completely unlike Maggie, forever a baby. Every character in Rick and Morty is the OPPOSITE of what their respective character was in The Simpsons. Bart is now not simply a 10 year old boy; he's the smartest and most powerful person in the universe, with a childlike sense of playfulness. And he's completely fucking depressed about it. The fact that Rick and Morty pretended to be a show about science fiction while actually being a show about turning every single cornerstone of The Simpsons on its head is exactly why it is The Anti-Simpsons. The Simpsons represents what the modern family was, Rick and Morty is a new concept of what a modern family is.
The source code has been written, and Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland have taken The Simpsons unto themselves, learned from it, accepted the cultural zeitgeist of a generation that it was and always will be. And with Rick and Morty, they delivered the absolute antithesis of The Simpsons. They very literally created, A Weapon To Surpass The Simpsons.
The Simpsons didn't just die, they were murdered.
I was a fan of Rick and Morty from the first few episodes of season 1 that started airing. I immediately began telling everyone I knew to watch the show. No one did, now they just all make jokes about how smart you have to be to understand the show. The same jokes everyone makes. Most people are so excruciatingly boring. From about the second season onwards, I started to have a renewed level of faith in the series. Episodes were becoming better. Characters were growing. There was groundwork being laid. I have steadily believed that Rick and Morty would continue to push the envelope, develop it's characters and backstories and continue to challenge itself in new storytelling directions. I believed that in time, it would surpass Futurama, South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, Married with Children. All the great sitcoms of yore would slowly over time be surpassed. I believed that in time, Rick and Morty would surpass The Simpsons.
On Sunday Sept 5th, 2021, Rick and Morty surpassed The Simpsons. What will follow is my breakdown of why exactly I am so certain that this episode in particular can stand out as the greatest episode of Rick and Morty to date. To compare it to an equivalent masterpiece of sitcom storytelling, I can only give "Rickmurai Jack" the highest honour by saying it matches the episode "Homer's Nemesis" about Frank Grimes in its complete and utter brilliance in dismantling exactly who and what the sitcom's protagonist really is. In Homer's Nemesis, Frank Grimes represents the historical American hero, a man who has worked and studied hard for evertyhing he has earned in life, and has struggled to gain much of anything at the midpoint of his life. In comparison Homer was the contemporary American hero: a man less concerned with achievement and more about sensation, a man who strives for adventure rather than hard work and diligence; a fool who strides by in life through sheer luck. "Homer's Nemesis" faced the show with the reality that really, a character like Homer Simpson should not exist. If an actual man from our reality who had to work and struggle in life was forced to meet someone like Homer Simpson, it wouldn't be surprising if they despised him as much as Frank despises Homer.
I am certain that Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, like any tv writers would, have recognized the timeless brilliance of "Homer's Nemesis". The episode stands today as a sitcom writer's Mount Everest, a challenge that many would deem impossible to surpass. I daresay that with "Rickmurai Jack", Rick and Morty has finally crafted an episode of television even better than "Homer's Nemesis". And for that reason, it has earned it's place as the Best Show on TV.
Full review to follow.
Fun fact, Genndy Tartakovsky himself created this art for the Rick and Morty team.
PREFACE
In the early 90s and 2000s, there was one TV show that could unequivocally be called the best sitcom in TV history. It was The Simpsons.
A tv show with universal appeal across all age groups. A show with incredibly well written, relatable and often very observant commentary on modern American life at the time. Over time this masterpiece of comedy would decline somewhere along the lines of it's 13th odd season, give or take where you place the downfall. The movie was alright but I honestly can't remember most of it, South Park movie was more memorable. After a certain point though, The Simpsons truly became a zombiefied version of itself; a disturbing pastiche of what the show once was. Those original golden era Simpsons episodes are still so funny to people even to this day. Even young children who never grew up with the show could find it funny, given the chance to watch. But the show has really just continued to be renewed because for one reason or another, millions of people are still watching it. The episodes are lowly rated on imdb, people don't seem excited about the show anymore, but it's The Simpsons. It's still something to watch on TV, people still watch it. And so it's continued to be renewed to this day.
How strange it is that this show that was once so beloved by so many people has today become just so... bad. So boring to watch. So mundane and predictable. So corporate and sterile. The kick of the old days of the Simpsons feels like a distant memory. The entire writer's room is probably completely different now. And yet, I think it would be fair to state that The Simpsons still has its DNA alive today.
On Sunday Sept 5th, 2021, Rick and Morty officially became "The Best Show on TV". And I will say today that Rick and Morty COULD NOT have ever become The Best Show on TV, without the existence of The Simpsons. Al Bundy is Abe Simpson, Homer Simpson is Homer Simpson, and Rick is the new Bart. Grandpa is literally the new mischievous son. Homer is now the mediocre loser constantly struggling for his family's love and attention, Jerry. Marge is now the adventurous, intelligent oftentimes dissatisfied with life veterinarian wife, Beth. (Also she's canonically supposed to be dead, but has a clone.) Lisa is now the flirtacious, flamboyant, witty and viciously competent Summer. Morty, you ask? Why, he's Maggie: a character who begins young and inexperienced at the start of the show, and over time becomes much more experienced, much more competent and slowly begins to resemble an adult. Completely unlike Maggie, forever a baby. Every character in Rick and Morty is the OPPOSITE of what their respective character was in The Simpsons. Bart is now not simply a 10 year old boy; he's the smartest and most powerful person in the universe, with a childlike sense of playfulness. And he's completely fucking depressed about it. The fact that Rick and Morty pretended to be a show about science fiction while actually being a show about turning every single cornerstone of The Simpsons on its head is exactly why it is The Anti-Simpsons. The Simpsons represents what the modern family was, Rick and Morty is a new concept of what a modern family is.
The source code has been written, and Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland have taken The Simpsons unto themselves, learned from it, accepted the cultural zeitgeist of a generation that it was and always will be. And with Rick and Morty, they delivered the absolute antithesis of The Simpsons. They very literally created, A Weapon To Surpass The Simpsons.
The Simpsons didn't just die, they were murdered.
I was a fan of Rick and Morty from the first few episodes of season 1 that started airing. I immediately began telling everyone I knew to watch the show. No one did, now they just all make jokes about how smart you have to be to understand the show. The same jokes everyone makes. Most people are so excruciatingly boring. From about the second season onwards, I started to have a renewed level of faith in the series. Episodes were becoming better. Characters were growing. There was groundwork being laid. I have steadily believed that Rick and Morty would continue to push the envelope, develop it's characters and backstories and continue to challenge itself in new storytelling directions. I believed that in time, it would surpass Futurama, South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, Married with Children. All the great sitcoms of yore would slowly over time be surpassed. I believed that in time, Rick and Morty would surpass The Simpsons.
On Sunday Sept 5th, 2021, Rick and Morty surpassed The Simpsons. What will follow is my breakdown of why exactly I am so certain that this episode in particular can stand out as the greatest episode of Rick and Morty to date. To compare it to an equivalent masterpiece of sitcom storytelling, I can only give "Rickmurai Jack" the highest honour by saying it matches the episode "Homer's Nemesis" about Frank Grimes in its complete and utter brilliance in dismantling exactly who and what the sitcom's protagonist really is. In Homer's Nemesis, Frank Grimes represents the historical American hero, a man who has worked and studied hard for evertyhing he has earned in life, and has struggled to gain much of anything at the midpoint of his life. In comparison Homer was the contemporary American hero: a man less concerned with achievement and more about sensation, a man who strives for adventure rather than hard work and diligence; a fool who strides by in life through sheer luck. "Homer's Nemesis" faced the show with the reality that really, a character like Homer Simpson should not exist. If an actual man from our reality who had to work and struggle in life was forced to meet someone like Homer Simpson, it wouldn't be surprising if they despised him as much as Frank despises Homer.
I am certain that Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, like any tv writers would, have recognized the timeless brilliance of "Homer's Nemesis". The episode stands today as a sitcom writer's Mount Everest, a challenge that many would deem impossible to surpass. I daresay that with "Rickmurai Jack", Rick and Morty has finally crafted an episode of television even better than "Homer's Nemesis". And for that reason, it has earned it's place as the Best Show on TV.
Full review to follow.
Fun fact, Genndy Tartakovsky himself created this art for the Rick and Morty team.
