{"id":4001,"date":"2018-06-08T17:56:10","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T21:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bandsiusetalike.com\/biul\/?p=4001"},"modified":"2018-06-08T17:56:10","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T21:56:10","slug":"terminal-and-malignant-fancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bandsiusetalike.com\/biul\/terminal-and-malignant-fancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Terminal and Malignant Fancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, I still watch and enjoy\u00a0The Simpsons.\u00a0<\/em>Just not on Sundays when it’s new.<\/p>\n

I wait however long is necessary until it’s on YouTube, and I watch it then. Alone. Often years after it aired. Why?<\/p>\n

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Because there’s no other way to judge it fairly. It’s ruined in its proper time slot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are bloggers who are paid to “critique”\u00a0The Simpsons,\u00a0<\/em>as well as every other sitcom on Fox’s Sunday line-up. They got the job by having watched just enough of the show to entertainingly hate on it (in theory). Their work appealed to people who hate\u00a0The Simpsons,\u00a0<\/em>for any number of reasons, ranging from barely legitimate to wholly capricious, and so they helped normalize an unsustainable business model. Blogging looks (and is) easy, which resulted in a multitude of armchair critics typing out their complaints into the latest CSS. Nobody reads any of it, but it feels like “accomplishment”.<\/p>\n

This is an outbreak of\u00a0fancer.\u00a0<\/strong>Seemingly benign, but actually aggressive and malignant. People who are only “fans” of something so they can hate on it, and appear superior to whatever might be popular. Actually- it doesn’t even have to be popular. It can simply be something that someone likes, enjoys, or discovers organically.<\/p>\n

However, this is only one form of fancer. There are others, equally as deadly.<\/p>\n

For example, in recent years,\u00a0The Simpsons\u00a0<\/em>began renting out its hoary opening “couch gag” to other animation studios, with results of widely varying quality. Don Herzfeldt produced one that, had I been armed while watching it when it premiered, I would have accidentally murdered my neighbors by unleashing a hail of gunfire into the TV screen and the wall behind it. All due respect to Mr. Herzfeldt, but I would be in prison right now. It’s a good thing I waited and saw it on YouTube, where I could use the slider to see where I should skip so that I can watch the actual, broadcast-suitable cartoon that I desired.<\/p>\n

Again- all due respect. Adult Swim’s staff would screen this and say “sorry, we don’t despise our viewer base\u00a0that<\/em> much.”<\/p>\n