Posted on 09/26/2011 8:12:50 AM PDT by no gnu taxes
I used to love this show. As a young adult in 1990, when I first heard about the show, I scoffed at it, figuring it was some lame effort at crude humor aimed at the lowest elements. But when I watched it, I saw it had a brilliant take on society, and every show had a positive message overall.
Sure they had political spoofs. But I thought they were fair and even handed.
Then around 2000, the show went downhill rapidly. The writing became crap, and the show slowly started turning MSNBC. The end of of my watching this show became around 2003 or 2004 when they had something like 3 straight episodes trashing the Iraq War with an obvious anti-Bush bias.
I guess if you were an Olbermann fan, you'd have liked it still, but now the show makes me want to vomit. I don't think I've seen an episode in 6 years, and from what I see on other forums, I'm probably right.
I tend to think other Freepers feel the same way.
****
Hear, hear! I wholeheartedly agree.
The Stellar Acting Career of Troy McClure
Originally by Jeff Soesbe
Contributions from Hari Wierny
Movies
[7F13] “Cry Yuma”
[7F13] “Here Comes the Coast Guard”
[8F01] “Preacher With a Shovel” (with Dolores Montenegro)
[8F03] “The Revenge of Abe Lincoln”
[8F03] “The Wackiest Covered Wagon in the West”
[8F14] “Calling All Quakers” (with Dolores Montenegro)
[8F14] “Gladys The Groovy Mule”
[8F14] “Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die” (1)
[9F07] “Dial M for Murderousness”
[9F07] “The Erotic Adventures of Hercules”
[9F20] “’P’ is for Psycho”
[9F20] “The President’s Neck is Missing!”
[1F21] “The Boatjacking of Supership 79”
[1F21] “Hydro, the Man With the Hydraulic Arms”
[2F07] “Good-Time Slim, Uncle Doobie, and the Great ‘Frisco Freak-Out”
[3F15] “Muppets Go Medieval” (1977) (with Dyan Cannon and The Muppets)
[3F15] “The Greatest Story Ever Hulaed”
[3F15] “They Came to Burgle Carnegie Hall”
[3F15] “Meet Joe Blow”
[3F15] “Give My Remains to Broadway”
[3F15] “The Verdict Was Mail Fraud”
[3F15] “Leper in the Backfield”
[3F15] “Make-Out King of Montana”
[3F15] “The Electric Gigolo”
[3F15] “The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel” (also director) (2)
[5F11] “David vs. Super-Goliath”
[5F11] “Suddenly Last Supper” (3)
[SI#2] “Space Mutants VII: Cry of the Space Mutant”
[SI#8] “The Itchy & Scratchy Movie” (bit part)
[SC#1] “Jagged Attraction”
[SC#1] “Look Who’s Still Oinking”
[SC#5] “Three Men And A Nuke”
[SC#12] “Ten Was Too Many”
[SC#14] “The Computer Wore Puka Shells”
[SC#14] “The Frontier Family Get Deer Ticks”
[SC#14] “The Mediocre Journey”
[SC#??] “Slow Down David Copperfield, What’s That Down Your Sock?”
[BM#1] “Calling All Lumberjacks”
[BM#1] “The Day Paul Bunyan Cried”
[RM#412] “Radioactive Man III”
[SJ] “The Pulverizer”
[SJ] “Radioactive Man II: Bring On The Sequel”
[SJ] “Sleepless in Shelbyville”
[SJ] “The Unbearable Moistness of Sweating”
[TC] “Coffee, Tea, or Fiddle Dee Dee”
[TC] “Eenie Meeni Miney, Die”
[AD] “A Bridge Too Far” (as Todd, the worlds unluckiest dentist)
[AD] “Swing, Swang, Swung” (as Bobby, the happy-go-lucky boyhood friend of Ook-Ook the lip cancer chimp)
[AD] “Three Men and a Bunsen Burner” (as the doomed Professor Landrew)
[AD] “Wake Up, Finnegan” (as Paddy the relentless bell-ringer)
Notes
“Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die” is the first McBain movie, according to the McBain trading card.
Troy turned down the part of McBain’s sidekick in “McBain IV : Fatal Discharge” to do “Contrabulous Fabtraption”. [3F15]
In 5F11, Troy McClure also plays Noah in a religious movie with an unknown title.
TV Series
[8F07] “Troy and Company’s Summertime Smile Factory”
[8F07] “Buck Henderson, Union Buster”
[8F12] “Handel With Kare”
[SC#6] “Troy McClure’s Pre-Teen Soul Machine”
TV Specials
[8F18] Miss American Girl Pageant (host)
[9F07] “Carnival of the Stars” (host)
[3F31] “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular” (host)
[3F31] “Alien Nose Jobs” (Fox Network Special)
[3F31] “Five Fabulous Weeks of the Chevy Chase Show” (Fox Network Special)
[4F20] “The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase” (host)
[SC#29] “Troy McClure’s Aloha from Louie’s House of Shave Ice” (Live Via Satellite!)
Musicals
[3F15] “Stop the Planet of the Apes : I Want To Get Off!”
[TC] “Muttonchops” (A one-man musical tribute to the great thinkers of the 19th Century.)
[AD] “Trucks” (as Rod, the happy-go-lucky fire engine)
Cartoons
[4F12] “Christmas Ape”
[4F12] “Christmas Ape Goes To Summer Camp”
[SC#6] “Barnum — The Animated Series”
Educational films and the like
[8F16] “The World Without Zinc” (child actor?)
[8F22] “Fuzzy Bunny’s Guide To You-Know-What”
[8F22] “Here Comes The Metric System”
[8F22] “Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly”
[9F14] “60 Minutes of Car Crash Victims”
[9F14] “Alice’s Adventures through the Windshield Glass”
[9F14] “The Decapitation of Larry Leadfoot”
[2F15] Pepsi Presents Fractions
[3F03] Meat Council film : “Meat And You: Partners in Freedom” (1)
[3F03] “Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun”
[3F03] “Firecrackers: The Silent Killer”
[3F07] “Shoplifters BEWARE”
[3F07] “Designated Drivers: The Lifesaving Nerds”
[3F07] “Phony Tornado Alerts Reduce Readiness”
[3F13] “Young Jebediah Springfield” (A Watch-and-Learn Production)
[3F15] “Locker Room Towel Fights : The Blinding of Larry Driscoll”
[BM#1] “A Tree Grew In Springfield”
[SJ] “Turning Comics Into Movies”
Notes
Note : The Meat Council film is number 3F03 in the “Resistance is Useless” Series.
Do-It-Yourself Videos
[9F05] “Dig Your Own Grave and Save”
[9F05] “Mothballing Your Battleship”
[9F05] “The Half-Assed Guide to Foundation Repair”
Telethons
[1F03] “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House”
[1F03] “Out With Gout ‘88”
[1F03] “Springfield Public Television Telethon”???
“I Can’t Believe They Invented It!”
[7F13] The Candy Bar That Cleans Teeth
[7F14] Eyeball Whitener
[8F07] Spiffy, the 21st Century Stain Remover
[9F20] The Juice Loosener
[AD] Styro-Glow! (the incredibly simple seventeen-step solution that makes your styrofoam look brand new)
[AD] New Improved Brick! (the waterproof sponge! Now in decorator colors!!)
[AD] Brew ‘n’ Chew (the beer flavored gum)
[AD] Obscenity! (the fragrance that isn’t afraid to speak your mind!)
[AD] The Cobinolator! (87 hard-to-use tools in one! Instructions sold separately!)
Infomercials and Miscellaneous
[8F03] Introductory video to the “Ah! Fudge” chocolate factory
[8F11] “We’re Sending our Love Down the Well” (singing)
[8F14] Introductory video to “Rancho Relaxo”
[9F11] Voice-over for the Duff Gardens commercial
[9F19] The Springfield Squares
[1F21] Impulse Buying Network (IBN)
[3F12] (celebrity funeral) Herschel Shlomo Krustofsky, aka Krusty The Clown
[3F12] (celebrity funeral) Andre The Giant, We Hardly Knew Ye
[3F12] (celebrity funeral) Shemp Howard, Today We Mourn A Stooge
[SC#17] “Where in the Heck is the People’s Republic of Kampuchea?” (travel)
[SC#17] “Boy, Oh Cheboygan!” (travel)
Self Help Videos
[1F05] “Adjusting Your Self-O-Stat” (with Brad Goodman)
[1F05] “Get Confident, Stupid!”
[1F05] “Smoke Yourself Thin”
[SC#5] “Kiss Your Butt Goodbye: Post-Meltdown Emergency Procedures”
Welcome Kiosks
[5F13] “Welcome to Springfield Airport”
[5F13] “Where’s Nordstrum?”
[5F13] “The Springfield Knowledgeum”
Medical Films
[4F24] “D.N.A.”
[4F24] “Alice Doesn’t Live Any More”
[4F24] “Mommy, What’s Wrong With That Man’s Face?”
Nature Films
[5F22] “Birds: Our Fine Feathered Colleagues”
[5F22] “Earwigs, Ew!”
[5F22] “Man Verses Nature: The Road To Victory”
Circuses
[SC#6] “Silent Partner and Wolfcastle & Krustofski Circus” (host)
[SC#6] “Circus of the Washed-Up B-List Celebrities” (circus?)
Travel Shows
[SC#15] “Where the Heck is the People’s Republic of Kampuchea?”
[SC#15] “Boy, Oh Cheboygan!”
Memorable Interruptions
[SC#9] Lisa’s book speech
[SC#9] “Your honor, I object. Fatty Airbuckle was with me the whole weekend.”
[SC#9] “Not so fast, Mr. Copperfield, what’s that in your sock?”
Autobiography
[SC#9] “The Demure McClure”
From: snpp.com
Yeah. I mean, remember the Epacac scene? Or the time Peter chasing Meg around the kitchen farting. Now THAT was funny. There were so many scenes that were laugh out loud hysterical.
That episode last night was painful. You cringed because you instantly knew where it was going. I wanted to shut it off right there but I figured, hey this is a traffic accident, I may as well finish it. Then the scene with waitress in the bar. WTF was that for? Fire the writers.
And yeah, American Dad is just BAD and annoying.
Brad Bird’s departure may have helped sink it, too.
He went on to make “The Incredibles.”
cheers
Jim
Remember that Planet of the Apes musical?
I hate every Ape I see
From Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z
But they’ll never make a monkey out of me!
Love Futurama and South Park though.
Good point. I'm still amazed that a cartoon film with such an overtly libertarian/conservative theme could get made in Hollywood. But as to the Simpsons, I think that the loss of Phil Hartman (Lionel Hutz/Troy McClure) was also significant.
The problem with “schock” comedy, and that’s all McFarlane is, is that anyone can do it for a while, but then it gets tired and boring if you don’t have wit and satire to go with it.
FG never had the latter, and now it looks like “its all been done”.. Who knows maybe they’ll get better writers, and be okay, but if you open your season that incredibly weak, I have to wonder.
I can pinpoint when it stopped being great, which was after the 7th season; although season 8’s “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment” was a masterpiece. When I quit I don’t remember exactly, but among the last few episodes I recall Homer smoked pot and the family went to Brazil, I think.
It wasn’t the liberalism, rather the endless self-reference, lack of plot, and increasing unfunniness (though this is subjective) that turned me off.
Yeah, but the writer has more influence than the actor, though of course they did kill off Hartman’s characters, too.
Cheers,
Jim
To alcohol, the cause of and answer to all of life's problems.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.