I would imagine it's hard for the characters to retain their innocence/charm when they don't age at all. There's really no other direction to go in for shows that go on for so many seasons.
But shows also get different writers and animators from time to time as well. Sometimes you could even track the changes with The Simpsons. You're right, a lot of the time it's difficult to function within the parameters of an animated show, but I'd say that it's more about retaining good, solid humor, and making sure your characters are suited for it. Watching old Simpsons, you see that the humor is funny (as moes said, that **** lasted for 7 years!). The characters didn't have to go overboard or be especially stupid/dim-witted, because there were actually jokes, and good ones at that. When shows start to get melodramatic with their characters, it's because they're obviously trying to overcompensate for the lack of any solid material. This is especially apparent with cartoons.
1A. Archer 1B. Venture Bros. 3. Sealab 2021 4. Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law 5. Frisky Dingo King of the Hill American Dad Family Guy The Simpsons
they better not replace american dad with this crap i saw 10 minutes of this last night and was pissed. at least futurama is back on comedy central now
Speaking of animated comedies I have been watching Dilbert on Netflix lately and I LOVE it, too bad it was canceled so soon
When did KOTH get bad? I have the first 6 seasons on DVD (don't think they've released any further) and love it all. Can't say I've seen all 10 or 11, but there are very few bad episodes of that show. The character depth made it awesome.
I watched an older family guy last night(road to rhode island) and man, I miss those days. I don't know if they changed writers or something, but the new episodes come nowhere close to the older ones.
just the way everyone's dissecting these shows. it makes me chuckle. as did all four episodes on animation domination sunday night. the cleveland jr. evil laugh from sunday is now my ring tone (hope that counts as credentials!).
This episode was better than the last one. I'm still not won over yet by the series but am giving it a chance.
