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vovatPeople always say that what separates The Simpsons from Family Guy and other prime-time cartoons is that it has heart. Normally, I would agree. Recently, though, the emotional content has sometimes come across as tacked on. Last night's episode is a good example, in that it's mostly a wacky story about Santa's Little Helper on the police force, with the stuff about his drifting apart from Bart seeming to be more of an afterthought. Even more tacked on is the plot element about Bart getting a snake, which was even more annoying in that it came in the same season as Lisa adopting a bunch of animals in "Jazzy and the Pussycats." While I wouldn't necessarily want a rehash of "Lisa's Pony" or "Bart Gets an Elephant," both of those episodes had developed stories about what it might be like for a suburban family to try to take care of an unusual pet, while the pet subplots this season were rushed over. The best parts of this most recent episode were the corn maze at the beginning and some of Cheif Wiggum's dialogue, especially the bit about Shamrock Shakes. (And here I thought Springfield didn't HAVE a McDonald's. Well, maybe Wiggum gets them in Shelbyville.) Really, though, in how many recent episodes have the beginning sequence and irrelevant conversations been my favorite parts? Maybe I'd like the show better nowadays if they'd forget about writing plots, and just have an opening followed by the characters discussing random stuff. {g} I do also have to say I liked the part about Bart trying to put the cat on a leash, since it was so true to what cats actually do when you try something like that.
Family Guy marked Keith Olbermann's debut as a cartoon voice, which was interesting. And I did enjoy Lois' winning over the voters by repeating "9/11" and other catchphrases. Overall, though, the plot of "a familiar character is elected by the public office with good intentions, but ends up being corrupted" has been done so many times before. Granted, plot is rarely FG's strong point, but still. It was funny enough to be worth watching, but I think the show has been losing some steam as of late.
I think the American Dad episode was actually my favorite of the night, which is getting to be an increasingly more common occurrence nowadays. I liked both the main plot and the subplot with Roger. I do wish they'd use Klaus a little more, though. I really didn't like Klaus when the show first started, because he seemed to be a one-joke character. Later on, though, I think the writers figured out how to use him better. But now he rarely gets more than a line or two per show. Oh, well.
In non-television news, my allergies have been acting up recently, and the medicine I'm taking doesn't seem to be helping as much as I'd hoped it would. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I can do about that? Probably not, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?
Family Guy marked Keith Olbermann's debut as a cartoon voice, which was interesting. And I did enjoy Lois' winning over the voters by repeating "9/11" and other catchphrases. Overall, though, the plot of "a familiar character is elected by the public office with good intentions, but ends up being corrupted" has been done so many times before. Granted, plot is rarely FG's strong point, but still. It was funny enough to be worth watching, but I think the show has been losing some steam as of late.
I think the American Dad episode was actually my favorite of the night, which is getting to be an increasingly more common occurrence nowadays. I liked both the main plot and the subplot with Roger. I do wish they'd use Klaus a little more, though. I really didn't like Klaus when the show first started, because he seemed to be a one-joke character. Later on, though, I think the writers figured out how to use him better. But now he rarely gets more than a line or two per show. Oh, well.
In non-television news, my allergies have been acting up recently, and the medicine I'm taking doesn't seem to be helping as much as I'd hoped it would. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I can do about that? Probably not, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?
