Do you dislike the way guest stars are introduced in The Simpsons

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sabella102

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By that I mean whenever a guest voice shows up the most common thing you hear is "Look it's [insert guest voice's name here]" which seems to make the show more a of sketch show than an animated show.

I guess other shows do this but I most often see it done on The Simpsons
 
The only way I like my guest stars on the Simpsons is when they figure INTO the plot:

Steve Buscemi playing a convict in a recent episode; Steve Martin as the Head of Sanitation; Paul & Linda McCartney helping Lisa learn to accept her newfound vegeterianism, etc. Hell, Tim Conway's appearance in the Spin-off Spectacular was even fun because it fit into the context of what they were doing.

Now, when you get 'OMG, It's JK Rowling! Let's throw in a Harry Potter reference, LOLZ!' moments, I cringe because they have nothing to do with the overall story, it's just a cheap way of getting people to tune in.
 
Celebrities used to do guest spots on the show as random characters, and for the whole ep. Nowadays they have like a 30 second cameo. KOTH at least still has guest starts as fictional characters.
 
It bugs me, especially when they have to explain who the person is ("Wow, it's David Byrne; singer, songwriter, Talking Head.") even though everyone in the room clearly recognizes them.
 
See, we've got to be careful because even in the classic era there were times when the guest stars would be introduced in that very lame sitcom fashion: "Look, it's _____!" I mean, Tony Bennett from "Dancin' Homer" immediately springs to mind.
 
I'm sorry, but that guest appearance was unnecessary. It could've been just Lisa & Apu, they just threw Sir Paul in. George Harrison's screamed quick gag. Ringo Starr is the only Beatle that guest appearance was some what important to the episode.
 
I did Like the Weird Al Yankovic Appearance. It was about time he was on that show. That's about it.

Half the time they just shove a random celebrity in and have them say some random catchphrase from one of the characters. What's that episode where Moe hunted a wild Turkey and some Rock band was in it? And in the end they were sitting down to a shoehorned in Thanksgiving dinner where they ate Tofurky or something... and one of the Singers said "Look Bart, It has gluten. Mmmmm.... Gluten." or something like that. I hate that so much.

I only like the celeb apperances when they play someone or are at least intergrated into the plot. Can't wait to see how their going to pointlessly shoehorn Madonna into an episode.

I kinda like how they do that on family guy, and they always mockingly refer to the celebrities by their full names over and over.
 
I dislike it when guest are introduced like "Look, it's _____!"...it's kind of lame. :P I like it better when the guest stars are playing characters.
But there are exceptions, like in Mr. Plow with Adam West and Linda Ronstadt. That was pretty awesome. XD
 
If the celebrity is named for a quick cameo, I'm fine with it. Quick uses like Burns hiring them for some PR gimmick with the power plant or such. These days however it's definetly more "Hey guys, I'm on The Simpsons! I get to pal around with Homer!!"

Ideally, my favourite use is when they actually play a character and what they're bringing to the table is their actual acting talent. Alot of the most emotionally strong episodes have used this idea. Compare that to "Wow, it's Fifty Cent in a cheap joke and taking way too much interest in the family!"
 
I can't really think of anything that hasn't already been said. It seems like the writers slap together some half-assed plot then find a way of putting so-n-so in the episode... or vise versa: decide which popular/random celebrity to have on the show THEN write them into it.

They even did it in the movie with Green Day, or whoever the hell they are... Jeez was that scene really necessary?.

And then there are those rare behind the scenes documentaries where the celebrity is in awe that he/she is doing voice-overs, talking with the staff and all that crap. Then they hold a picture of themself as a simpson character.

"LoOk, ImA SiMpsoN ChaRacteR!!!1! lolz!!"

Remember the time when the show was just fine and great WITHOUT the need of a celebrity or three?
 
So and So was on The Simpsons?

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Now that would be kinda cool.
 
It was a 2 fold scene: It set up the 'Lake Springfield is a toxic dump' plot of the movie and it also set up Rev. Lovejoy's line in the church about 'Another rock band to die in our town'.
 
I really don't mind if they throw some random celebrities into the mix, as long as it's funny. Also, if they declare, "HEY! It's......", it's also not a big deal to me because half of the time I don't even know who the celebrity is.

However, I must admit the best way to introduce a celebrity is to have them run with the plot, which South Park does very well. Hell, they even did that contest winner thing last week with some random kid who was in the story and had some sparse dialogue. When Kyle asked who the hell he was, he just said he was the contest winner and left. I got a kick out of that one (even though it's been done on Drawn Together, too).

I'm not saying that all guest appearances are good, (because there are some pretty lousy ones), but that they really don't bother me and I usually find them to be pretty funny.
 
You know what else bugs me? When they try to get as many esoteric celebrities like obscure writers and architects that only Harvard educated writers care about. I liked Geary's (sp?) appearance on the cartoon "Arthur," but he was bookended into the Simpsons. It's pretty pointless.
 
I think Groening used celebrities much more effectively on Futurama. On the Simpsons, the celebrities are there just to be there; a "Celebrity of the Week", as it were. On Futurama, they were an important part of the story line, they were actively doing something, interacting with Fry, Leela, Bender, etc., rather than being on just to be on.
 
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