By T.F Rezac
I have thought long and hard about this. How could one of the best, history making shows ever to grace the airwaves "jump the shark" if you will. You can make the case for a variety of reasons; rise in amount of un-funny guest stars, increase in religiously themed shows, or that it has lost its edge with the emergence of such animated shows as South Park
When Phil Hartman was murdered it took away two great characters from the show. The constant appearances of Troy McClure were put to a stop and were replaced by real celebrities who lacked the recurring appeal and Lionel Hutz was replaced by Gil, the least funny person on the show.
Barney and Moe were two of the funniest characters in the tenure of the show, and when Barney stopped drinking it reduced their role in too many episodes. Barney was the lovable drunk who every one of us can relate to, and Moe was ugly and a loser with the ladies, which I can absolutely relate to.
My favorite moment from each:
Lionel Hutz:
When the family hires him to defend Homers soul against the Devil,
My favorite moment from each:
Lionel Hutz:
When the family hires him to defend Homers soul against the Devil,
Lionel Hutz: Well, I didn't win. Here's your pizza.
Marge: But we did win.
Lionel Hutz: That's okay. The box is empty
Troy McClure:
"You may remember me from such public service announcements as; 'Designated Drivers, the Lifesaving Nerds' and 'Phone Tornado Alarms Reduce Readiness."
Barney Gumble:
"I'm concerned about the beer situation. After this case and the other case, we've only got one case left!"
Moe Szyzlak: When Bart prank calls him,
"Listen to me, you; when I catch you, I'm gonna pull out your eyes and stick 'em down your pants, so you can watch me kick the crap outta you, okay? Then I'm gonna use your tongue to paint my boat! "
Marge: But we did win.
Lionel Hutz: That's okay. The box is empty
Troy McClure:
"You may remember me from such public service announcements as; 'Designated Drivers, the Lifesaving Nerds' and 'Phone Tornado Alarms Reduce Readiness."
Barney Gumble:
"I'm concerned about the beer situation. After this case and the other case, we've only got one case left!"
Moe Szyzlak: When Bart prank calls him,
"Listen to me, you; when I catch you, I'm gonna pull out your eyes and stick 'em down your pants, so you can watch me kick the crap outta you, okay? Then I'm gonna use your tongue to paint my boat! "
12 comments:
I remember the warm feeling I would get when I was younger at 5pm. The opening theme song was so comforting, I knew I had at least 30 minutes of pure enjoyment (and usually a full hour, when it went 5 & 5:30pm).
I just don't get that feeling anymore on Sundays. It's sad.
yeah, those new shows like family guy and the horrible new episodes made me genuinely forget that the simpsons was good.
i watched an old episode on dvd last year, and i could not stop laughing.
i hate how they turned Moe into a depressed suicidal loser on the new episodes. its just not funny.
Phil Hartman was the brains of a couple shows when he passed. And as he passed, so did those shows. It was obvious that his presence made the show "News Radio". I loved that show, and i loved him.
Oh to be Troy McClure...
Yes tony, what did go wrong? I can't stand watching new simpsons. It makes me sick and I refuse to watch them. Didn't all their good writers leave? also, is it true that conan o'brien used to write for them?
Losing the writers from spinal tap really hurt the show as well. I miss episodes that actually relate to real life, instead of latter ones where Homer just gets injured in the most rediculous ways, like having tractors randomly fall on him, or getting bitten by electric eels for absolutely no reason.
My all time favorite Lionel Hutz quote:
Lionel: "Oh no, it appears we've drawn Judge Schneider"
Marge: "Is that bad?"
Lionel: "I accidentally ran over his dog with my car"
Marge: "Really?"
Lionel: "Well...replace the word accidentally with repeatedly, and change the word dog to son."
Hutz: And so, ladies and gentleman of the jury I rest my case.
Judge: Hmmm. Mr. Hutz, do you know that you're not wearing any pants?
Hutz: DAAAA!! I move for a bad court thingy.
Judge: You mean a mistrial?
Hutz: Right!! That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy.
Judge: You mean the lawyer?
Hutz: Right.
Andy, yes Conan is an ex writer and producer of the show. He also used to write for SNL, and make an occasional appearance during its glory days.
Holm, I totally agree with you about Phil Hartman. In my humble opinion, Newsradio is the most underrated show to ever grace the airwaves.
For sure, Newsradio was funny. Anyone have the DVDs? I havent seen it in years.
I like the Simpsons but I cannot remember the last time I watched a non-syndicated episode. I never watch on Sundays and never see new episodes. We should all remember, however, that the first season or two were absolutely garbage. The episodes were focused around bart telling different people to eat his shorts.
Talk radio was a good show, but because its become so popular to talk about how underated it is...I no longer consider it underated.
My underated TV show: Will and Grace.
I used to watch news radio every night at 10pm (I think) on fox.
Who would have thought Joe Rogan would be doing fear factor and UFC.
Will and Grace was a funny show, but I don't think you can call it underrated when it was nominated for 83 and won 16 Emmys underratted. It was the second most popular show on television for most of its tenure only behind the juggernaut, "friends".
yeah I should have clarified that.
I meant underated in the circles of "TV people." "TV people" seem to hate popular shows like Will and Grace. So, it's underated to we hip TV snops.
If Phil Hartman wouldn't have died in middle of a season of News Radio it would have never been remembered by anyone except for those of us that were fans when it was actually airing.
Bres, I have the first 2 seasons, not like that helps you at all until I get home though.
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