Considering Seth McFarlane guest starred in the final futurama movie, I think it is more of a friendly rivalry rather than mockery. The only reason simpsons doesn't mock family guy in response is because it's better than that (and considering it parodies just about everything else, including HM, it just goes to show how low FG is
). FM is crude and rude and (although advertising might say otherwise) appeals to a different audience than to the Simpsons. Don't let something not made for you get to you.
I think the most important asset to The Simpsons was Brad Bird. When he left, the show went rapidly downhill. In a way, he was the Walt Disney to The Simpsons. He made sure episodes had heart and meaning, quality in animation (notice nowadays episodes have very uninspired 'angles' and shots - maybe it is harder to be more creative when you do things digitally) and generally decent storylines. So they've been on the air for twenty years - big whoop. There's still so much they can still cover, especially as an animated program. I still follow the simpsons very closely, about 50% of the time they produce episodes I'd love to watch over and over again, which is better than most series. People just tend to be too dismissive of the show because of it's drop in quality, and maybe that's ok.
My favourite season is season six. It also happens to be the season with the best dvd packaging. No other season has such a creative and strong theme to it than season six. The whole setup is amazing, the booklet, the cover (which was very smartly designed), the disc art, the dvd menus. All based on the 'who shot mr burns part 1' mystery. If only they did this for following seasons, even if there was no significant episode to base them on.
This season has my two favourite episodes, Lisa On Ice and And Maggie Makes Three. I am considering buying season 4 and 7 later on. A lot of people say the drop of quality starts at season 10, and I'd have to agree. However for some reason, season 15 had a particularly amazing run.
A new season of futurama will start airing next year. Although some of recent material of the last 2 years have been lacklaster, the other half was quite good. I hope somewhat that the rivival of the show will start some friendly competition with it's older counterpart, and hopefully produce more quality.
