Is the simpsons just a fluke of nature???

[Scythemantis]

This has probably been discussed before...oh well.

I`ve been thinking about this for a while now. Whenever any show is extremely original and different from the norm, it winds up cancelled. But not the simpsons. Everything about it was pretty unusual for tv when it first came out, and it`s STILL sort of weird for a prime time show, even just for the yellow-buggy-eyed-people art style. Yes I know Groening already had a following from his comics and the simpsons began as shorts on Ulman, but a LOT of animated shows have been from comic artists that were even more well known and had a far bigger fan base and still got cancelled. I`m absolutely not saying the simpsons doesnt deserve its popularity, its earned it ten times over, but other shows of almost equal quality havent gotten any of the recognition they should have.

Somehow every last little element of the Simpsons was *JUST* exactly right, from the voices and scripts to the background music, timeslot and advertizing to make the show a surprise success. But it remains the ONLY attempt at an original and unique show to ever become a mainstream success and last beyond a handful of seasons. Not even Futurama managed! I thought it would attract all fans of the simpsons and reel in a few more because of the science fiction element, but no!? And the timeslot is probably partly to blame. It just seems the stars were right that day when the Simpsons christmas special aired, and I don`t know if it may ever happen again!

What`s your take?

[I.R Joey]

You know that is reallly a good point, consider that it was put on at the same time as the Cosby show (arguably the most popular show at the time) and it still managed to survive. It also completly blindsided alot of other networks who didn't see it coming (the Flash's cancelation comes to mind.)

[Failure]

The thing was back then, Fox was willing to stick with shows longer, because it was still a newbie network. They didn't have many shows in the queue, so they could stick with a show longer even if it did poorly. A new and especially different (read: innovative) show needs a network that supports it to survive. If the Simpsons premiered on the Fox network today, it probbaly would've gone the way of the Tick

[Scythemantis]

That`s just it though. Simpsons was in the right place at the right time... what i`m basically saying is that the simpsons took off due to an exact set of factors that all worked together and this will probably never be duplicated.

[Calhoun07]

Timing does have alot to do with it. Fox was a flegling network at the time and probably had more patience with shows like that, not to mention there may have been some politics involved that made Groening a favorite among the programmers, and politics always helps. But I do agree about other shows. TV networks are not giving new shows a chance any more, and cancel them before they are barely out the gate. Heck, some are cancelled before they ever get aired, like Clerks.

And while I do think there are TV series out there that are worthy of more attention (such as the late great show Lateline), for some reason TV shows that suck tend to get to stick around longer (Suddenly Susan, for example).

Of course, there are many instances where there are two or more shows of a kind of genre and one catches on while the other may fall by the way side, even if the one that falls is actually better, like Star Trek TOS vs Space 1999. Space 1999 is a superior show, IMO, to Star Trek TOS, but Space 1999 didn't get the fan base to keep it popular after it was off the air cuz it didn't get re-run as much as Star Trek and thus it didn't have as much exposure. Timing plays a big part of this.

[Failure]

Well I still consider UPN a fledging network, so there's a chance the next new, big thing could come from there. But they seem more intent on stealing other network's shows then developing any good ones themselves. Do they have any show worth watching that originated from their channel?

[Scythemantis]

Didnt Babylon 5 begin on UPN?