Posted by sean at 170.148.92.44 on October 21, 2003 at 11:22:24:
In Reply to: Come on. Like Clerks didn't borrow OBSESSIVELY posted by the12thBeatle on October 21, 2003 at 01:49:21:
: from movies and tv shows
First off, 'Clerks' was based on a movie, so of course there are going to be plots parodying movies. Unlike 'Family Guy' which was "original" [I mean, obviously it was a lame Simpsons knock-off, but there was no source material on the characters].
But 'Clerks' never stole jokes, unlike 'Family Guy', which stole regularly from 'The Simpsons', liberally from 'The Critic', slightly from 'South Park', sporadically from 'Duckman', one-off lines from 'The Tick', and, yes, whole segments from 'Clerks: The Animated Series'.
Both of them also referenced movies and TV [though 'Family Guy' broke no new ground in what it referenced, it just decided it was funny to make extremely specific (most people would just say 'esoteric') references]. But 'Clerks' did it much better.
And I say all these things as a fan of 'Family Guy'. In can be pretty funny, but it can also be really awful and not funny.