@@Johnno9989 It's George Meyer, producer and writer of a ton of Simpson's episodes. A good callback is later in the next season he is in the unemployment line in episode Reality Bites
@@justinambru8529 back when writers knew how to write good stories and didnt mind poking fun at themselves along with everyone else. Good times….good times….
"We're talking the original dog from Hell!" "You mean Cerberus?" It's actually impressive that someone could kill the buzz in a soulless writers' meeting.
“I don't want to sound pretentious here, but Itchy and Scratchy comprise a dramaturgical dyad.” - pretty sure I missed that one as a kid. Genius level comedy
@@BarginsGaloreJust off the top of my head; Roger Rabbit, SpongeBob, Fish Police, Sharkey & George. If I’m wrong, I don’t wanna live on this planet anymore.
he instantly vanished when he lost his job because he couldn't afford to exist anymore. it's what happens if you live in America and have a large financial setback of any kind.
My favorite part about this episode is that it's such a great commentary on The Simpsons show itself. As Lisa pointed out earlier during the "testing" phase of the episode, the problem with Itchy and Scratchy is that the show is simply being run past its prime; and that it should probably be canceled entirely so that a new show with fresh ideas can take its place. But because the executives are afraid of/too incompetent to actually create a new project, they simply (and desperately) try to revive the stale (but proven) show with a new character but to no success. That is exactly what's happening to The Simpsons today. It's a show that's lived well past its prime, and should have been canceled decades ago. But because the executive management doesn't actually know how to start and new project from scratch (or is too afraid to try something new), they keep trying to force an old staple to continue running despite dropping ratings. That's why Bill Watterson is such a gift: he knew better than to milk Calvin and Hobbes until its dying breath. I would like to end this little rant with a quote from Watterson himself: "It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them." -Bill Watterson
Lindsey Naegle is such an underrated character in terms of writing, it's difficult to actually nail down that "talking a lot but saying nothing" dialogue.
_Is_ that Lindsey Naegle? It's got her voice, but it doesn't look like most iterations of her. I know that's a thing that happens with Simpsons characters sometimes, but is it the case here?
So many good shows start out as risky art because the bigwigs in charge don't care if it fails, so the writers are given a lot of leeway. Once the show becomes popular, the bigwigs realize they have a golden goose and sink their claws into it to get all the money they can from it, which means controlling the writing to make it "safe" and "marketable", but all they're doing is smothering it to death.
@@Felamine And to make matters worse, when something good finally is allowed to be created, it often fails. Citizen Kane, Iron Giant, The Shawshank Redemption, The Majestic, and It's a Wonderful Life are all great examples of masterpieces that failed in the box office. This in turn, leads the business managers to then say, "See egghead writers? We tried letting you create art. Nobody wanted it. Now we do things our way and create business."
After George Meyer gets fired here he appears in the unemployment line with Kirk, Marge and George Bush senior in a later episode.😂 Loved little things like that in the classic episodes!
Other people in that unemployment line were Jimbo, Lurleen Lumpkin (looking beat up and pale like she did on "Marge vs. The Monorail", even though she was cleaned up and healthy on "Team Homer"), and Mr. Burns's son Larry.
I'm not a native speaker of English, so maybe I am reading it wrong? But getting busy doesn't mean like having sex? Is that what she really saying 😅😅?!
@@Shinmsl That is indeed what it usually means! I presume she doesn't realise that and is just saying things that she thinks will make the new character seem cool!
What's interesting is that the concept for this episode came from executives at FOX starting to constantly bug the writing staff to add a new character to the family. They even make fun of this concept in the Spinoff Showcase near the end of the year, directly jabbing Fox in the episode "plot" and the Flintstones and other sitcoms.
I mean Simpsons has made gimmicky characters since around Season Four, characters like Luigi, Cletus and the freaking Sea Captain. It's just they had competent writing giving them a charm. This episode makes it clear, executive forced characters are often bad, but if the writers don't give two shits about making them any good, they're even worse.
@@brettt141 Hey remember the episode where the entire town bullied bart into suicide? Or when everybody just kept praising lady gaga like a godess unirpnically OH OOH what about that episode where Homer and Marge had a fight....over watching stranger things without the other...yeah You're right THE QUALITY NEVER DIED IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER
1:15 - This is pretty much exactly how the name of the Super Bowl came to be - Lamar Hunt suggested it as the name of the AFL/NFL Championship based on a toy his daughter was playing with, but also said it "obviously can be improved upon." "Super Bowl" as the game's nickname got so popular that the NFL made it official 3 years later.
The look on her face when the writer says Cerberus… I realize there are moments that are infinitely more iconic, but damn that’s a top 3 in the series for me.
@@shumanbeans For me it's the fact that cerberus was so obviously not what she meant, but more importantly the way she just silently looks at him for a couple of seconds, and then continues as if he didn't say anything (as if his comment was too stupid to even acknowledge)
I like how the Itchy and Scratchy writers are clearly parallel to the real Simpson writers. What with them being super overly educated and articulate to be writing a cartoon show.
I wouldn’t call them “overly” educated at all. Being from Harvard, their brand of humor is smart, that’s why their episodes seemingly predict the future 20 or 30 years out.
I mean the original writers were basically geniuses lampooning pop culture and American society in extremely clever ways. Conan O’Brian and David X Cohen were far more than just cartoon writers but huge fans of comedy writing in general. And other writers had incredible heart that brought emotion to the show in the golden years. People just look down on this because it’s animated. Seeing this scene as a kid made me realize just how brilliant the writers actually are.
@@Genius_at_Work yup. A study showed that good comedians and comedy writers are much more intelligent than the average citizen. Hell even Einstein has attributed his intelligence to having a childish sense of humor
“ you mean Cerberus?” * blank stare* Fun fact, the original description of Cerberus, the three heads are usually depicted as having serpents instead of normal hair and a mane made of snakes, along with razor-sharp teeth and a serpent's tongue. The three heads of Cerberus were said to represent the past, present, and future, as well as the ability of the dog to see in all directions. So basically a treehouse of horrors character.
Next time you go in a drive thru fast food place & they wanna add a third item, tell them you don’t want to sound pretentious but “hamburger & fries comprise a dramaturgical dyad” 😅👍
Chicken fingers? I mean isn’t that a tad predictable? In your dreams, I’m talking about the original fiery bird to bring your taste buds to life! You mean the phoenix?
0:20 "Itchy and Scratchy comprise a dramaturgical dyad," for those who aren't sure what that means, dramaturgy is the art or technique of dramatic composition, and a dyad is a duo, or pair. And after knowing that, I think he sounds more pretentious than before. He talks like a walking Thesaurus! ...... may I have a heart, ThingsICantFindOtherwise?
He's not being pretentious. "Dramaturgical dyad" actually _means_ something, unlike the lady just throwing around the words "proactive" and "paradigm" in ways that don't convey any information.
Its kind of funny, the lady throws out impressive sounding words that mean nothing but sound like something you would want. While the writer throws out impressive sounding words that have meaning but convey nothing to the average person.
The accurate depiction of the creative struggle between writers and executive producers. I love how the writers are portrayed in their usual casual and understated attire and nonchalant attitudes.
Whenever he's not at The Mall, all the other characters should be asking; "Where's Joel?" - Sir CC (Shoutout to Joel from EBGames in Ashfield, Sydney -- Australia ;D)
You should be 100% sure. They absolutely are. The one who was fired is in the likeness of George Meyer. The "Cerberus" one is Bill Oakely, the "tad predictable" one is Josh Weinstein and the squid shirt one is David S.[/X] Cohen.
0:01 Itchy and Scratchy cartoons are made in a huge gated complex to rival an industrial factory, with a seven story building and water tower and smokestack, but there's no parking lot so apparently all the employees commute via bus.
Supposedly, when all the writer's immediately agreed with Poochy being the name, it was the real writer's way of self-depreciatingly showing how lazy they can be at times. Personally, I don't blame them for not caring what the damn name is after being strong-armed into putting a soulless caricature into their work.
accurate scene where it shows executive layer needs to separate itself and let the technical team do its thing without getting in its way. when executives try to meddle in technical affairs things come crashing down, hard.
