Why didn't The Simpsons ever reference or animate George W Bush?

Why didn't The Simpsons ever reference or animate George W Bush?

They tore the shit out of Clinton in the 90s and even George Bush Sr who Homer beat the shit out of. Did the writers feel that was beneath them?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=Ervjj_qRXXQ
youtube.com/watch?v=fTxI3mRWTSw
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

After 9/11 it was considered "too serious a time" to make fun of the government. Family Guy took some shots at Jr though.

There was an episode where Homer mentioned he also fought with Dubya.

Personally it's for the best, don't be like Family Guy where they retread the same hardcore fight that goes on and on.

Oh yeah I remember that one
I guess since most people in America were already bashing Bush they felt like it would've been too much of an easy target.

South Park avoided it since it was too easy.

Though it sucks that nobody ever made fun of Obama at all, they all made him some perfect demigod that can do no wrong.

Boondocks did.

I remember early in 2001 there was some talk of an episode where Dubya comes to Springfield to avenge his father's humiliation, only for he and Homer to end up hitting it off and becoming friends.

Obama got some jokes made at his expense but George W. Bush was, like, the most lampoonable president in history since Andrew Jackson. Dubya was such a cartoon character that everyone wanted a piece of the "dumb cowboy" pie. Even in the last year of his presidency they made that entire "Li'l Bush" show. And then there was the "W." mockumentary.

George W. Bush being stupid was basically a meme for writers and audiences everywhere. With Obama, he just didn't have any traits that could be used to the same extent. Not enough potential for kosher jokes.

I expected that American Dad would've done an Obama episode mocking him since they did an episode with Bush showing that he's not such a bad guy even though he got drunk and ran around town nude but instead they kissed his ass the entire time and never once took a shot at him

yeah that episode wasn't that good.

much like his presidency.

It would have been unpatriotic to go against the great american leader who fights terrorists and shit. You don't want to be against freedom, you commie.

Now that I think about it, Obama has been an incredibly unentertaining politician

>Family Guy took some shots at Jr though.
>some
The bulk of seasons 4 through 7 jokes were at the expense of Bush Jr. In fact Seth's butthurt over Bush winning again was what led him to create American Dad.

The closest he's come to providing joke fodder was his whole birth certificate scandals but that'd be more at the expense of its believers rather than him.

Jokes about failing to close Guantanomo Bay, accelerated military intervention in the middle east, and continued use of drone strikes with high civillian casualties don't really write themselves. Jokes where the punchline is "he's black" are testy territory, too.

American Dad never really took shots at Bush in fact they had an episode where they portrayed him as being a genuinely nice person even though everyone hates him
Come to think of it AD used to be a somewhat political show but over the years morphed into an average family going on wacky adventures

yeah no. American Dad was just a show he got green lit after Family Guy was canceled, and was an attempt to actually be more even handed with political satire and not be full blown liberal douche, as well as toning down Family Guy's more offensive aspects.

I seem to remember South Park showing George W. Bush in one episode and they didn't make fun of him in the slightest. He was just the President.

>It would have been unpatriotic to go against the great american leader who fights terrorists and shit.

Ironic since Obama fucking armed ISIS and 9/11 probably was an inside job.

Goddamn Globalists man.

Thanks Obama.

They made fun of Obama supporters not the president himself
>Obama got some jokes made at his expense
Not really, he's just a straightman in everything and people don't really make fun of his persona as much as everything surrounding him. Clinton? Sex addict jock. Bush? Dumbass running country into the ground. Obama? Uh...he's black?

Why do you think people are pegging Trump to win? So writers can have prime material to ridicule the president without coming off as racist, would say Hilary is also prime for the picking but SJWs would riot.

This. W was fun as hell to make fun of, whereas there's really nothing remarkable about Obama.

If anything good can come from a Trump presidency, it's that there will definitely be no shortage of jokes to make about him.

They weren't actually taking a shot at George Bush Sr with that episode too much, not politically anyway. It was more just a gag in that case rather than tearing him up.

It was classic Simpsons, when a celebrity appeared on the show not as a cameo of "Look how cool", but rather to actually be a part of the gag as a stupid plot revolved around them.

Like that time Homer fell into two celebrities house after he was para-sailing, and there was a stupid plot about it.

MJ had a pretty good cameo as well originally

I wish more people would make fun of Hillary.

nobody is putting her in her place and that worries me.

Trump is a joke for sure and even if he got elected he'll be scrutinized daily, but Clinton, she'll continue to get away with murder.

I remember reading a while back that they made the George Bush episode in response to Barbara Bush, who said in the past that The Simpsons was the dumbest show she had ever seen.

youtube.com/watch?v=Ervjj_qRXXQ

>MJ had a pretty good cameo as well originally

yeah since he played a guy who thought was Michael Jackson.

that was a clever idea.

The episode of South Park with Obama using his campaign as a cover for a massive diamond heist was pretty good

He literally said American Dad was created because he and the other showrunners hated Bush and wanted to vent out their frustration by making fun of the current political climate at the time. Given Stan's portrayal back then it was meant to take a piss at republicans given that the country had perceive the party as "the bad guys" not necessarily to lash out on Bush himself.

>in fact they had an episode where they portrayed him as being a genuinely nice person
He was a drunken idiot who's only advice was that he was a bigger screwup than Haley yet he got elected president.

God, Bush Comes to Dinner was great.
>Come on, everybody do the Skull and Bones!
>Woot-doot-doot-doot-doo!

I know they act like Obama isn't literally Hitler. Also now Hitlery Cunton is going to be Obama part 2 again. for fucks fuck.

Yeah that one was good.

I loved that it made fun of the people who thought Obama was the messiah and change would happen and the people who feared change.

I'd take a third Obama term over a Trump presidency any day.

She met Albert Brooks at a awards show and basically gave him the cold shoulder because she disliked the Simpsons

I'd rather you drink bleach

They were ready to run that episode with Romney if he ended up winning.

I think they had something like 18 hours to knock out the Obama portions once he won reelection.

Bush Sr. was on because he outright insulted The simpsons in a speech. He said.
"We need to be more like The Waltons and less like The Simpsons".

That's why it had an extra layer of humor back then because now he gets in an actual fistfight with Homer.

>wanting a third term for any president
i want britain to leave :^)

When I saw the Home beats George Bush Sr. episode, my mom got so furious that she turned off the TV and banned the Simpsons in our house.

>More Obama
>More Trudeau
>Clinton Presidency
>Trump Presidency

Its ironic how pro liberal FG was back then and now with the advent rise of SJWs they've opted to mock the same pratices they preached a decade ago and no further proof of how much the show has changed then Brian, the show's outspoken liberal mouthpiece, becoming an absolute pathetic loser who everyone ridicules.

My Mom didn't like it because Bart was so disrespectful ; in general, but specifically to his parents.

comedy need to change with the times.

true comedy is no holds barrels even if it's not the "correct" thing to say.

Though not at his expense, his correspondance dinners were funny, thoigh I'm sure most if not all of the material came from writers.

The Family Guy staff always struct me as liberals who didn't believe what they said. Like "We're for Gay marriage, but EWWWWWW aren't gay people gross? They want to stick their wieners up each others' butts!"

That is why my aunt banned it in her house. She thought Bart was a bad influence. Also, I remember when my brother bought the Clerks cartoon DVD's and my parents watched it without him knowing, and we all had to sit down and have this huge talk about how the shows we were watching were corrupting us. They got to the part where Jay sold firecrackers to kids and gave us that talk.

He's an entertaining guy, he's just not entertainment.

Almost forgot, they didn't want us watching Aladdin because he stole that loaf of bread in the beginning. They thought it encouraged stealing.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the Waltons?

Yeah but FG was heavily in favor of one side then say South Park and The Simpsons which took shots at everyone which is why its funny to see them back track to not really having much to say about anything.

Craziest thing was them referencing Obma's dead grandmother who had died just three days before(and 2 days before he won the election)

I don't know, Family Guy comes across as really hating Jews.

>Family Guy comes across as really hating Jews.
Who doesn't?

>They weren't actually taking a shot at George Bush Sr with that episode too much, not politically anyway. It was more just a gag in that case rather than tearing him up.


>Other episodes included "Two Bad Neighbors", which sees Homer meet former President George H. W. Bush, a reference to the show's feud with the Bushes in the early 1990s. Weinstein said that the episode is often misunderstood. Many audiences expected a political satire, while the writers made special effort to keep the parody apolitical. Oakley stresses that "it's not a political attack, it's a personal attack!", and instead of criticizing Bush for his policies, the episode pokes fun at his "crotchetiness". Oakley described the episode as a companion piece to "Homer's Enemy", in that a character is juxtaposed alongside Homer and does not get along with him.

If Trump gets elected, comedians and TV writers are going to get so much material

If they aren't killed.

It'll only make them more pretentious

Clinton is also scrutinized daily, it's just that it's been going on for 30 year so it comes off as noise even when it's legitimate.

We used to have them 'til FDR, who is considered one of the greatest presidents. It was opponents of FDR who pushed term limits and then when they got into power they tried to abolish them again.

Trump'll will libel laws so much that no one will be able to criticize him on TV.

Since we're talking about Presidents
>youtube.com/watch?v=fTxI3mRWTSw

>Trump'll will
Whoops. Meant Trump will strengthen.

its a lie that shows didnt attack Bush Jr because he was an easy target

Bush son was reelected, most politicians (like Hillary) knew Iraq didnt have weapons of mass destruction, but voted for the invasion of Iraq because that was the politically correct thing do to, they were terrified of being seen as unpatriotic.

Even in Team America, the bad guys are the actors and actresses who opposed Bush Jr.

Mostly they made fun of presidents that were funny like Nixon, Carter, GHW Bush, and Clinton, but Reagan, GW Bush, and Nigger weren't so comedic.

Ah, poor George W. Bush. The guy was the very innocuous, go-along-getalong centrist middle-of-the-road president everyone wants, but when they do have him, they get butthurt anyway.

Correct. Oakley and Weinstein said they were explicitly NOT trying to get political here, they just wanted revenge for the derogatory remarks about the Simpsons Bush had made. In fact Harry Shearer urged them to get political, but they said no.

My Tumblr sense is tingling...

they got more lazy by then. and the whole joke of 2 bad neighbors is that Bush was a one and done president everyone kinda forgot about. not the start of a dynasty

If he wasn't Black, the joke of Obama would be that he's so fucking boring.

old bland show about a family, the kind of old wholesome family entertainment that Simposons and Family Guy started as a spoof of come to think of it.

I agree. The stuff he's done seriously isn't funny, it's actually quite horrible to even think about. You think making a mockery one of our nation's most important symbols is funny?

The problem is you couldn't make fun of George W. Bush without it reading like stale Democrat talking points.

So, like Leave it to Beaver? A "nostalgic" show that portrays a past that never truly existed?

Yeah, the Tea Party and the Republicans have been much more entertaining during his term.
I don't mean that as a compliment.

>REEEE HUMAN RIGHTS REEEEEE

LTB wasn't a nostalgia piece though, it was a present (at that time) that didn't actually exist.

Waah they made fun of Jews a handful of times
Antisemitism!
Shut it down!

Now what kind of message do you think that sends to Muslims, Putin, China, etc? Those guys respect one and one thing only, strength. Not Tumblr.

You might want to get it checked. You can't deny that Bush was a character while Obama is pretty boring. Trump is even more of a character.

>implying gays aren't tough
>implying these dudes aren't buff and could waste you good
>implying the ancient Greeks' elite warriors weren't all gay

It was the 08 election, and from what I understand they actually only added a few small jokes like about his grandmother and him mentioning getting a dog in his speech. The rest of the episode was completed months beforehand, actually. They were that certain Obama would win.

If McCain won, they planned on dubbing over the entire episode while piss-drunk.

>They were that certain Obama would win.
It was a pretty safe bet

Strange, I don't remember any of them rushing Omar Mateen and beating him up even thought he was one guy and there were 100+ of them. It seems more that the fags were all running for cover yelling *do stereotype gay lisp* "Oh my god, oh my god, not my expensive manicure!". You sure didn't see him shooting up a redneck bar full of ex-Marines.

Oh well, that's 50 less Democrat voters next fall including Mateen himself, who was a registered Democrat.

>gay rights
>Tumblr
Okay, bro.

>some

I don't think you know how exercise and fitness works. Training for looks, as these fellows do, and training for strength are not one and the same. Most dudes that have an Adonis body aren't actually strong at all. Really strong dudes tend to look...fat? For example, Olympic weightlifters.

I'm pretty sure Tumblr is more forit than aginnit.

Andrew Jackson was a perfect human being, though.

>implying dumbarse Reich Wingers don't all fap to the imaginary 1950s that didn't exist when all Americans were straight, white, went to church on Sunday, and reported commies to the Feds

I don't know anyone under 60 who does that. Maybe in the 1980s it was true, but no Gen Xers/Millenials want to go back to those days.

Yeah, it's obvious what "Make America Great Again" refers to.

Remember that right after Sideshow Bob Roberts aired, some meathead posted a rant on Usenet that "Boy, someone at the Simpsons must be terrified as hell of the upcoming [1994 midterm elections]. My wish is for Matt Groening to be hung from a tree branch by his large intestine and left to slowly writhe in agony there."

Anyway, the 10/24/94 Life In Hell featured Binky reading the guy's rant on a computer and remarking to himself "Why do I suddenly feel so refreshed?"

I never heard DT say we should go back to 1955 though. If anything, Democrats should long for those days more when most of the workforce was unionized, taxes were like 90%, and we had an unnaturally statist, collectivist culture that the baby boomers rebelled against and threw off.

W. wasn't a mockumentary.

Yeah, there's always a degree of overreaction. The Simpsons writers, like everyone else, varied quite a bit on the political spectrum with some guys like John Swartzwelder being staunch right wing libertarians and some like David S. Cohen being leftards.

>George W. Bush being stupid was basically a meme for writers

I bet if you checked the political/party affiliations of those particular writers...yeah. Somehow I don't think this was unbiased commentary here.

You're one of those people who thought ISIS would attack because Obama wore a tan suit, aren't you?

After the Iraq war started W was one of the biggest pop culture punching bags of the decade, right up there with Michael Jackson.

Are you underage? Comedy Central even had a show called "lil bush"

Obama literally called the Ft. Hood shooting "workplace violence". The man is completely and totally unwillingly to even mention the word "Muslim" at all.

They did, it was a breath of fresh air desu with how much of an easy target he was

>After the Iraq war started W was one of the biggest pop culture punching bags of the decade

Dude. war isn't funny. People die.