Your first questions may be, why did I even watch this? People who follow my stuff regularly probably know I am very passive Simpson fan. Even worst, I hate Family Guy. So, why then would I watch a crossover between a franchise I hardly like and a franchise I despise? Because I’m a sucker for crossovers. Whether they be TV, movies, or comic books–I love them! So when I heard about this event I had to watch it.
Then I saw the five minute preview that was released a few weeks ago and…I found many people were all ready disappointed. Now I am no major fan or either as I made clear so it could be that while it seemed cool from a casual viewer like me maybe it was lacking something a real fan would catch. So I watched the whole episode Sunday night called “The Simpsons Guy” . The premise being the Grifin’s have to leave town. Their car is stolen and they end up in Springfield. And?
First of all I have to say one thing. That shot when we establish the Griffin’s are in Springfield was BEAUTIFUL! Nothing anyone else says will take that away, I loved that reveal. It was one of the best reveals EVER! Taking in the town with the Simpsons theme music, perfect! All capped off by the obligatory joke about which Springfield they are in (“I’m sure we’re not authorized to say”).
Then The Griffin’s walking around Springfield was cool to, nice to see the town from their point of view. That’s one of the little things that make crossovers cool. They finally meet Homer and family and it seems like the characters work well off each other. Homer and Peter, Bart and Stewie, and so forth. The episode was off to a good start. And I guess we have confirmation that Stewie is more sadistic than Bart. Cool.
Then the plot happened. What is it with The Simpsons or Family Guy that they can’t just tell a linear story? After awhile all the nutty stuff they thrown in gets annoying. I wonder if they should have just made this a half hour because making it an hour got old. The gags with Homer and Peter just got sillier and sillier, like a scene with a car wash which was lame, to the point I was ready to turn it off. And I still had a half hour to go.
So what happens is Peter and Homer end up in a fight over beer. It turns into a whole plot involving a lawsuit because Peter’s beer ripped off Homer’s Duff Beer. Why? I don’t know, to fill the hour? I get that the idea was to have the town folk from Family Guy interact with the town folk in Family Guy. Kind of like how Seinfeld’s finale episode had a court case to get all the supporting characters together in one place. Peter’s brewery closes which means he’s out of a job. Everyone is saying goodbye, and the minor stories are very swiftly wrapped up. There was a plot involving Santa’s Helper that was minor I wonder why they even bothered. Homer and Peter than end up in a fight…which goes on forever.
Sorry guys this isn’t a super hero comic book. Just because it’s a crossover doesn’t mean the two lead characters HAVE to fight each other. Think I’m kidding about that comic book thing? The fight goes all over the place, including the nuclear plant. Where Radiation causes the two to gain super powers. Yes, really. They then fight in the sky glowing green and…..are you even caring anymore? I know I wasn’t. I think it was an homage to Man of Steel because several landmarks get trashed during the fight. But I could be reading to much into this nonsense. After they crash in a space ship (don’t try to figure that one out), Peter seems to win. Of course Homer is fine and the two mend fences.
The fight is stupid and ruined what was a nice little crossover episode in my opinion. It just didn’t seem to fit in with what the episode was doing. It might of worked if the two were enemies from the start, but showing us how similar these families are (and how well they got along) makes a big fist fight blow out seem kind….forced. So how does the episode end? In typical fashion the reason the Griffin’s left their town is forgotten, the court case thing is swept under the rug, and we get a few more 4th wall gags before credits.
So, overall I liked it. It seemed to respect both shows and I even laughed a few time (unlike the Simpsons episode which aired earlier which sucked). And yes some of the gags worked. Some 4th wall gags were almost clever and they even swapped catch phrases a few times. I just think they did to much, but it was still nice to see these two franchises finally meet. Hey, if Flintstones could meet The Jetsons, why not? (FYI that sucked too).
What did you guys think? Was it good, or a major fail?
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