DOH! Or, should I say, freakin’ sweet! The Simpsons and Family both premiered on Sunday night and boy did Family Guy best the Simpsons this time around. Normally, I wouldn’t care to watch the premiere episode of the Simpsons or Family Guy anymore, but I couldn’t resist the shenanigans that were imminent with a crossover between two of the longest running cartoons on television during the Family Guy premiere.
In case you missed either one of the episodes, and I wouldn’t blame you, there was a lot of TV last night to watch, here’s what you missed and how the Simpsons were bested by Family Guy. Spoiler Alert!
The Jokes
In the first couple of minutes of the Family Guy premiere, Chris goes on about how crossover episodes tend to bring out the best in two shows…well, he couldn’t have been more right. As of late, both shows in my opinion have been so lame, and the jokes just aren’t that funny, but on Sunday night, the teamwork effort of both shows managed to spark something of comedic genius.
For the first time in a long time, I actually laughed out loud at some of the jokes on Family Guy and who could blame me with lines like when Peter said “everybody around here looks like they have hepatitis,” or when Homer said “a dozen donuts for our albino friends,” and the best quote of them all, when Peter said “I speak for everyone when I say, I am over the Simpsons.” I also found it hilarious when Bart admitted that Nelson had been bullying him for about 24 years…a clever jab at the fact that he has been the same age for the entire length of the show’s run.
On the Simpsons premiere, however, it was more of the same, where the jokes aren’t really that funny but you keep watching because well, you grew up with the show and maybe you don’t feel like watching anything else on Sunday night.
Krusty versus Peter
On the Simpsons’ premiere episode, it seemed to focus on Krusty the Clown and his daddy issues. Unfortunately, to me, Krusty isn’t one of the funnier characters on the Simpsons, so it was a yawn fest for me to watch; starting with the weird and seemingly extra long intro. On Family Guy, on the other hand, the storyline focused on one of, if not the, major character, Peter.
As usual, Peter’s misogynistic ways reared their ugly head and this time he was forced to leave town, only to find refuge in the town of Springfield; although even as the Griffin’s happened upon Springfield, we still couldn’t find out what state the town is located in. Sometimes I wonder if the writers even know what state the Simpsons supposedly live in.
Tone
It’s no secret that Krusty is pretty depressing as a character, so I could pretty much get a sense of the tone of the episode immediately when the episode started out featuring his comedy roast. It only got worse when Krusty found out about his father’s passing and began to lament over his father’s long time disapproval of him only to learn by the end of the episode that his father did love his jokes…just not his delivery.
Although, there were a couple of moments where I laughed like when Homer was in bed experiencing apparent sleep apnea. On the Family Guy premiere, however, the tone was much lighter. For once, Family Guy writers took the high road and did not insult any religion or political parties, but rather they focused all their clever jokes on poking fun at each of the shows.
After watching both episodes, it was clear to me that the Simpsons were bested by Family Guy; at least as far as premiere episodes for fall 2014 go. I’m sure Family Guy will go right back to being not funny next week and I can only wait until November when the Simpsons finally premieres the crossover episode with Futurama; which is sure to bring out the best in the Simpsons yet again.