x-post
(maybe I am just a people-pleasing easy mark for aspiring sociopaths!)
― dell, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:50 (seventeen years ago) link
im sure 5 years ago the john hughes vs wes anderson thread wouldve gone about the same way and in 5 years when dude from the geico cavemen ad agency directs 3 stoner teen comedies itll go the same way and meanwhile planes trains & automobiles will still be funnier than all them combined
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:52 (seventeen years ago) link
I think its a legit defense - comedy does often work off of people who would otherwise be totally loathsome in reality
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:53 (seventeen years ago) link
ethan you crazy
F&G (which I think most Apatow boosters here would agree is a high point) is already older than 5 years anyway (and WAAAAAY funnier that Uncle Buck or Planes Tranes n Automobiles - yr hard-on for John Candy notwithstanding)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:54 (seventeen years ago) link
glad ilx wasnt around when john candy died so you can still have all your teeth motherfucker
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link
yr hard-on for John Candy notwithstanding
this phrase will be in my head for the rest of the day. internal rhyme!
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link
Yes, in five years John Hughes will be the new Jean-Pierre Melville.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link
btw f&g is ok but not very funny sorry
(I love John Candy, fwiw)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link
anybody who thinks wonder years for the dot com era is somehow WAAAAY FUNNIER than planes trains & automobiles can suck my fucking dick
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:56 (seventeen years ago) link
you're serious about this, obv
― kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 21:59 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah its my posting to vagina threads about dildo repair
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:01 (seventeen years ago) link
everybody needs a hook
― kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:03 (seventeen years ago) link
Here you were being all articulate n shit and I was wondering when you would start having a tantrum x
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:05 (seventeen years ago) link
The John Huges movies reflect their era: deliberately naive, awkward & unsophisticated. Lots of bright colors and simple characters - not much layering or irony. They're historical artifacts, in a time capsule, with all the distancing that goes along. Main thing is, we're not there anymore.
So it's unfair to stack 'em against Apatow's stuff, which is so contemporary. Maybe in 20 years I'll have enough perspective to see Apatow's movies as timebound relics, but right now, they seem perfectly in synch with the moment. Thus smart, knowing. And that's just how the JH movies seemed in the 80s.
― Bob Standard, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link
I didn't think this was a fight about which one was funnier. If anything, the fact that F&G is more than just a funny TV show is why it's great.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link
That's because you know that Freaks and Geeks is THE BEST TV show about teens ever.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:07 (seventeen years ago) link
The John Huges movies reflect their era: deliberately naive, awkward & unsophisticated. Lots of bright colors and simple characters - not much layering or irony.
Oh, there's lots of irony in great eighties pop. But Hughes films weren't great pop.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:08 (seventeen years ago) link
I think they come from different vantages at adolescence. Apatow and crew come from an adult's perspective and asks us to remember high school, whereas Hughes comes from a middle-schooler's perspective and asks us to fantasize about high school.
― kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:08 (seventeen years ago) link
there is definitely more of a fantasy element to Hughes' conception of high school - goes hand-in-hand with the simplified character archetypes ("the burnout, the geek, the jock, the princess, the weirdo" etc)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:10 (seventeen years ago) link
Keenan OTM. There's a fantasy element in Hughes, but it seems much more targeted at kids. Apatow's stuff seems targeted at adults.
― Bob Standard, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:11 (seventeen years ago) link
comparing F&G to the Wonder Years is woefully unfair - Wonder Years was completely hobbled by its shitty voice-over and perpetual "I knew things would never be the same again" conclusions
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:14 (seventeen years ago) link
But that's completely fair. It's part of the show.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:15 (seventeen years ago) link
just like the crappy half-hour sitcom formula writing and completely loathsome lead actor
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:15 (seventeen years ago) link
I mean Freaks and Geeks NEVER did that "oh the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia" shit
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:16 (seventeen years ago) link
http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Events/5038/JohnFranci_Cohen_9856648_400.jpg?
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:17 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah me too.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:17 (seventeen years ago) link
I really like this.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link
Maybe in 20 years I'll have enough perspective to see Apatow's movies as timebound relics, but right now, they seem perfectly in synch with the moment. Thus smart, knowing. And that's just how the JH movies seemed in the 80s.
No Ferris Bueller, no It's Garry Shandling's Show.
― Eazy, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:19 (seventeen years ago) link
well having just seen a bit of a Wonder Years episode last night let me give you an example - Kevin's gazing wistfully at his old playground. He sees three kids that look just like Paul and Winnie and him playing happily. Voiceover muses to himself how "things had changed, and they would never be the same again" - cut to him getting picked up by his hot teacher in her VW bug.
F&G never did any of this "oh my youth, where has it gone, I was so innocent then" kind of framing - it is much more conflicted about adolescence and none of the characters are ever given over to, or put in the service of, such nauseating faux-nostalgia. I defy anyone to name me a single episode where the main characters are wistfully depicted as innocent and happy.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:21 (seventeen years ago) link
ah, now I see what you mean by 'unfair' - Wonder is totally outclassed. You'd be right.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link
being unfunny & depressing = greatness
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link
Kevin never had to run naked through the school. He never really learned what life is all about.
― kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Z8K3FcXJVGBCfM:http://volcanocom.com/redskelton-gallerycom/ushop/images/IT71_CVisioneerDocumentsSadWhtFCln.jpg comedy comes from pain ethan
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link
and_what I'm beginning to see that you simply don't like life.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link
TS: "The Wonder Years" vs "Doogie Howser, MD"
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
does that include the pain of me having to watch ben stiller mug through his annoying self-help character on freaks & geeks?
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
Apatow and crew come from an adult's perspective and asks us to remember high school, whereas Hughes comes from a middle-schooler's perspective and asks us to fantasize about high school.
pls
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
Doogie. re Wonder: Shit was meaningful in the 60s. I get it. Get Cancer.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link
who wouldve thought a bunch of dudes who were young in the 80s would like a show about being young in the 80s more than being young in the 60s
― and what, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link
"cancer" is the new "pwned"
― kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link
Kenan - don't steal that from me. I'm living in a cardboard box and I need my own internet meme to feed my kids. Get Cancer.
― humansuit, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:29 (seventeen years ago) link
I was like 1 year old when Freaks and Geeks was supposed to have taken place.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:31 (seventeen years ago) link
Seth Rogen, well-informed adult, recommends 10 bourbon and oj's to a sick David Letterman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG6nMfWkvI4&NR=1
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:31 (seventeen years ago) link
I never actually saw "Freaks and Geeks" because the ad campaigns made it seem like the new standard bearer of the self-satisfied Joss Whedon template of storytelling without any of the fantasy elements that make the Whedon stories bearable/enjoyable.
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:31 (seventeen years ago) link
F&G takes place in 1980 (I was all of 7 years old). High school was '87-'91 for me, and trust me no one was driving around listening to Alice Cooper and Cheap Trick.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:31 (seventeen years ago) link
I think Harold And Kumar should have ended with Doogie coming home, going upstairs, and typing a nice little journal entry on what he did that day and what he learned.
― kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link
Actually I haven't seen any Apatow movies either, now that I think about it. "Superbad" is the first one that I've really, REALLY wanted to see.
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link
Ben Stiller played a Secret Service agent. Did you actually see this show?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:33 (seventeen years ago) link
lol, xxp
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:33 (seventeen years ago) link