F YOU, NEW YORK TIMES
07.17.09
There are certain cheap, lazy ploys that blogs do to raise traffic. Lists are one of the most popular, because they involve little research and no cohesive writing. Caption contests are despicable, because bloggers ask readers to do the work that they should have done if they cared about entertaining their readers. But perhaps the most offensive ploy is to ask a preposterous open-ended question without taking an actual stance.
Cue the New York Times’ Arts Beat blog, which wonders if “Family Guy” has surpassed “The Simpsons” because the former is nominated for the Emmy for Best Comedy Series, an honor never achieved by the show that will become the longest-running series in television history:
It’s only the second time that an animated show has been nominated in this category — the last series to get the nod was “The Flintstones” — and readers are reacting strongly. They’re especially surprised that another long running animated comedy, “The Simpsons,” has never been similarly honored…
What do you think? Should “Family Guy” have been nominated for a comedy series Emmy? Has it now surpassed “The Simpsons”?
A couple things here. The Emmys expanded the number of nominees this year from five to seven. “Family Guy” launched a heavy campaign to get nominated this year; “The Simpsons” only tried to get nominated twice in the ’90s before giving up and settling for “Best Animated Series.” taking into account “The Simpsons’” place in pop culture and television history, how someone so short-sighted and weak-minded found the temerity to ask such a galactically stupid question under the banner of the venerated New York Times is positively mind-boggling.
I can’t wait for what’s up next on Arts Beat… “Better sequel: The Godfather Part II or Transformers 2?”; “Space Heaters: Warmer than the Sun?”; and “Ouch! I Thought These Were Safety Scissors!”
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/global/images/default-avatar.jpg){kind=avatar}
![[image]](http://cdn.wg.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2012/02/0001rgxz-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.wg.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2012/02/tyler-high-five-150x150.gif)
Plus, Family Guy is written by Manatees so it makes giant fucking sense all the time.
FG hasn’t surpassed The Simpsons so much as The Simpsons became embarrassingly unfunny around 2001. Watching The Simpsons now reminds me of The Chevy Chase Show: I really want it to be funny, but it just continues to SUCK so GD much!
I liked the concept behind Fam Guy a lot better when Judd Apatow created it with The Critic.
Family Guy has been sucking BALLS this year. i didn’t laugh out loud at one single thing during any of their 7 episodes this season. the Simpsons, on the other hand, finally has great writers again. and Homer is infinitely funnier than that peter wanker.
dickey stimpins: To be fair, the movie was written by the old staff members (from the golden years), so it was really funny (unlike the show currently) and reflected that in the commercials.
But yeah, you got it right. Aside from maybe marketing, Family Guy hasn’t surpassed The Simpsons in any way. It’s absolutely retarded to make such a blanket statement, with no argument whatsoever to back it up.
I couldn’t agree more about the stupidity and uselessness of blog lists. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go write a stupid, useless list for the blog I work for. Sigh.
Looks like those clowns at the Times did it again. Haha. What a bunch of clowns.
What do you think? Has the Arts Beat blog earned a visit from the cockpunching robot?
What do you think? Should “Family Guy” have been nominated for a comedy series Emmy? Has it now surpassed “The Simpsons”?
I don’t think I drink.
No.
No.
What does “surpassed” even mean? Cultural significance? Quality of show? Both Family Guy and the Simpsons are mediocre shows at this point, yet even in a decade where the show had a marked decline in quality, the Simpsons creative team released a full-length movie that grossed half a billion dollars worldwide, which I find pretty impressive. Could Family Guy truck along for 5 more years, release a movie, and expect a similar positive reception? I doubt it.
Has Family Guy surpassed The Simpsons? Well, just because it has been nominated for Best Series more than The Simpsons does not make them legally better – unless Proposition 304 passes. And we all pray it will.
Welcome da earff!
Hold on. Fuck off a minute. The Flintstones was nominated in the Best Comedy Series category? The only time i ever laughed at anything Flintstones related was when Homer said “If The Flintstones has taught us anything, it’s that pelicans can be used to mix cement” and promptly demonstrated that he’d been misinformed.
Well I think Entourage is pretty good.
So have NY Times blogs surpassed any other blogs in existence? What do you think?
In 2009, I’m going to laugh more often at “Family Guy” then I will at “The Simpsons.”
So you have a negative amount of laughs when you watch The Simpsons?
I’ll defend Family Guy as a very funny show, and I’m glad it was nominated.
But better than The Simpsons??? Blasphemy! (mmm…sacrilicious)
“The Simpsons” place in television history is secure, and it will forever by remembered as INFINITELY more entertaining and influential than the glorified sketch comedy of “Family Guy.”
That said though, this year’s Best Comedy emmy noms are not meant to be lifetime achievement awards. They’re meant to nominate the best comedies on air THIS YEAR. And yeah, sorry, “Family Guy” is way better than “The Simpsons,” right now. Whether or not the Conan O’Brian-era Simpsons should have received a Best Comedy nom (yes it should have) is a different debate. In 2009, I’m going to laugh more often at “Family Guy” then I will at “The Simpsons.”
On the other, other hand however, the Emmy folks also thought to nominate “Entourage,” so they clearly don’t know what the fuck the definition of the word “comedy” is.
This is fucking stupid! Awards mean little to how good a show is. None of the Star Wars movies won best picture in the year of their released but they are (probably) more remembered and loved than any other movie released those years. A bunch of critics or committee members don’t decide what’s remembered/good. The public does (no need to point out Tr2nnies to me. While it’s making a lot of money, that won’t mean it’s remembered. You could say Independence Day to a random person and they’ll remember it existed, but they won’t remember it fondly (or much past White House blows up). For the most part, the public only truly keeps alive things that actually mean something (how many Elia Gonzales stories have you seen lately).
The Simpsons is a T.V. classic. Family Guy is forgettable trash. That’s how history is going to go down.
Family Guy must be better. How else could they deserve to be nominated in the same group with laugh-fests like “Entourage” and “How I Met Your Mother”?
“Better sequel: The Godfather Part II or Transformers 2?”
Well I think Transformers 2 made more money at the box office so it must be better than The Godfather II