Smiling Friends - did u smile

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did u smile

  • yes

    Votes: 1,793 93.3%

  • no

    Votes: 218 11.3%
  • Total voters
    1,922
Wow, this one is heartbreaking. I don't disagree with Zach and Michael necessarily, but I thought they had something special in their formula with Smiling Friends, and while I can definitely see some of the stress marks and wrinkles that exist in the show as a result of its production, I didn't think it was anywhere near going downhill. It's their choice to do it, it's their show, and I'm happy for them that they're in a position where they don't have to be tied to one show to be milked forever. However, I can't help but feel they almost just don't have faith in the show, or their ability to do it well. Either way, supposedly there are two more episodes coming, I hope they at least wrap the show up in a neat bow.
 
assclown said:
At least there won't be people aruging over if smiling friends is woke or based
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I think Zach explicitly said they have no political motive and just want to make Spongebob for adults or something to that effect.
 
Season 3 had the wheels start coming off with flanderized characters + over-reliance on gibberish humor. I can get wanting to stop before "lol mr. boss is a crazy psycho! charlie is an abrasive asshole unfit for his job! mr. frog goes on another villain sue rampage!!" plots dry up. But you cannot tell me they lacked enough gas for just one more season of exuberant animation techniques or funny e-celeb cameos. They just rug-pulled the animators out of a job, incited endless hounding for more in the comments of every future project, and opened a void that a hundred shitty clones with no grasp on old-school internet humor will fail to fill.
 
Saw this on tiktok, made me lol
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And here's the audio from the post
 
The greater a'tuin said:
Season 3 had the wheels start coming off with flanderized characters + over-reliance on gibberish humor. I can get wanting to stop before "lol mr. boss is a crazy psycho! charlie is an abrasive asshole unfit for his job! mr. frog goes on another villain sue rampage!!" plots dry up. But you cannot tell me they lacked enough gas for just one more season of exuberant animation techniques or funny e-celeb cameos. They just rug-pulled the animators out of a job, incited endless hounding for more in the comments of every future project, and opened a void that a hundred shitty clones with no grasp on old-school internet humor will fail to fill.
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A part of me agrees with this, but from what I'm hearing, nobody (credibly) on the show is talking about being put out of the job, and I think that if they want to end it while it's good, it's better than it being drug out forever. Of course I wish they would go on for another two or three, I didn't think the show was starting to get bad, and that's in spite of me personally having criticized a lot of these most recent episodes here in this thread! I really thought season 3 was their most overall solid season, it's a shame they cut it off.

Really the end of an era, I don't want to sound like some hokey youtube video documentarian, but a lot of my love for Smiling Friends was bound up in the covid era malaise and depression and fear that was being pushed everywhere, and the completely bitter, drawn out, pessimistic state of cartoons and media at the time. It was a breath of fresh air from people who had been snubbed or relegated to secondary roles by mainstream animation for years, and it made me really happy. I'm gunna miss this show, it's a bit of a gut punch, but maybe it wasn't meant to last forever, they had always said something like this could happen.

It's a really cliched, overdone line, but I feel that it's very applicable here,
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
 
Cat tit bingo said:
Regular reminder that Dan harmon is a lolcow and serial self sabotager who torpedoed at least 2 other shows before Rick and Morty and season 3 onward had a huge overhaul of its writers. Rick and morty going from extreme heights to extreme lows wasn't something that just happened out of nowhere, it was a perfect storm of incompetent checked out showrunners and replacing good veteran writers with completely horrible rookies with egos the size of planets.
You don't just "pull a rick and morty" because you reach some arbitrary length and have cringey fans on reddit. news flash, every show in existence has embarrassing fans on reddit, it's fucking reddit.
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Cannot stress enough how this man is like a living breathing version of Reddit.com
 
Personally, I think the show was just hitting its stride and had at least another season or two to go before it would get stale. It ending now feels abrupt and a bit off. Disappointed in this development.
 
Angry Shoes said:
It genuinely makes me happy that even though they make fun of on Doug sometimes on OneyPlays they're also legitimate CA fans and Doug also liked them enough to cameo on an episode.
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He also let them have merch rights to his likenesses. OneyPlays made a couple Nostalgia Critic shirts and is currently selling a talking Doug plushie.
 
Cactuar King said:
Well, some of themof them. I checked Tumblr to see how they were taking it, and there was one guy talking about how miserable he was and how he had suicidal thoughts over it. But the real crown jewel of tumblr faggotry was this...
View attachment 8622303
View attachment 8622304

Though, for the most part, the opposite is true when it comes to tumblrites, most of the new posts are pretty sad.
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Yeah I would cancel my show if my fans were normalizing into these faggots (and I am not joking).
 
I do hope this was as amicable as they describe it to be. AS is infamous for fucking over the people that built them. This really was their biggest hit since Rick & Morty and I don't really think Zach and Michael could bail out on two already announced seasons without some scratches. What sucks the most is that I don't buy them being burnt out creatively after just producing less than three hours of content. I think what they really got burnt out over was the hollywood circlejerking and having to do fandom stuff, at least that's what I get from their "show got way too big" sentiment.

I really can't be mad about it. I've binged the whole show four times already and I don't see myself getting tired of it anytime soon, specially when it was tailored to my autistic sensibilities. I'll forever love the smiling friends and I hope whatever they work on next can capture the same magic. Also, please let Marc M. tag along again, I need my southern and mexican accents fix.
 
Nicholas II of Russia said:

Michael Cusack and Zach have confirmed that Season 3 was the last season of Smiling Friends, but they don't deny that there will be more special episodes in the future.

This is the premature end of an amazing era of Adult Swim, but my god, they ended in a pretty high note.
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I have a variety of emotions about this. I'm angry that it's over. Glad they are doing what they think is best and taking control of their creation. Happy they didn't let it turn into a zombie show. Sad because I absolutely think it had life left in it. Rage that once again I decided to like a show and then had the rug pulled out from under me when I should have known better. Contempt for so many threads left dangling. Anxiety over which show I really like is going to fucking end next. Conflicted that I am feeling strong emotions over a show that was basically shit posting in cartoon format. Resigned that all things I like will eventually die, some sooner than later. Determined not to like any new shows until they have at least 5 seasons now (which I will not stick to). Gratitude that they brought their creations to the world and we are better for it. Hopeful that they will continue to do what they love and bring more great things to life for us to see.
 
I have what I suspect will be an unpopular opinion. I’m guessing I’m having a hard time understanding their reasoning. I liked the show, it was great. Love the memes and all. Great guys, nice to get some internet references. But if you’re creatively burnt out after three seasons of a show that’s 10 minutes an episode…really? Are you? Or do you just miss getting donations from playing video games on YouTube? Creating is hard so work hard. Producers allowing this much creative freedom is rare. I liked smiling friends but writing for it doesn’t exactly take a PHD. I imagine it takes several ounces of pot and some acid tabs. They got a golden ticket and it really sounds like they quit because the vibes were off and they couldn’t pick their own deadlines.
 
It kind of makes sense that theyd be ready to hop off SF.
They probably made a bunch of design concessions to make sure it got picked up and then it didnt until NG fans blew up adult swim about it. All i know is id spend the entire time wondering if it was because the show is funny or just because it’s adjacent to other popular works ive made.

Let them make another show the way they want it and get it picked up by its own merit.
 
I get the sentiment of not wanting to become the modern Simpson's, but the Simpson's had 8 good seasons with 22 minutes episodes, seems a little absurd to worry about that at season 3. I felt season 3 they had finally hit a stride, and the balding wizard episode was their best one yet. Just feels like they left something unsaid.
 
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