You just said a mouthful. I know of no other show where you can say, “The first decade was great but the second decade went all to hell.”
People who haven’t seen the show tend to assume it’s some kind of cartoon version of Larry the Cable Guy or some other permutation of the so-called “blue collar comedy” trash that is so popular today. It is not. It has nothing to do with any of that except on the most superficial level. It is a very intellectual show.
That episode is great. One of the best.
People of a certain age remember when the Simpsons first came on and it was unlike anything else on TV, it was smart and funny; but that was 15 years ago. Now there are more crappy episodes than great ones.
It’s actually really about California. Consider how many episodes feature Hank reacting some some hippy-dippy woo-woo stuff, including teachers who have tree-hugging, vegan-dieting, yoga-promoting, New Age crystal-studying interest which Peggy/Bobby/LuAnne buys into immediately.
This last season I grew to dislike the show, mainly because it still has much potential to be good but isn’t.
For instance we have Lisa as Krusty’s assistant. But that is basically a reworking of a plot where Bart is Krusty’s assistant.
Why don’t they hire writers to write shows instead of just copy old ideas.
And when the producers of the show are confronted by legitimate complaints like this they write a joke into the show where Lisa says “Yeah when you’ve been on the air so long you’re bound to repeat yourself.”
This is a direct slap in the face to the fans. OK maybe in the 60s when shows like Bewitched redid episodes that was OK because we didn’t have computers but with every Simpson episode detailed online anyone with access to a Google search could see which shows were which. The writers could easily see they are reworking ideas. So that means they don’t care or they aren’t capable of writing new material
So why not hire new writers, the talent certainly is out there, so why are they using hacks?
I was reading a book about Lucille Ball where Lucy reflects back at the bad quality of the “Here’s Lucy,” scripts and Lucy says she didn’t know why the writers gave her such “shit” for scripts (her words), she says “we certainly paid them enough to produce quality material.”
But others on the show say that Lucy was fully in charge and knew what was going on and they don’t know why Lucy accepted bad scripts.
So sometimes thing apparently do get lost
Oh, I forgot to :rolleyes: this. Some of the best episodes have been in the last 2-3 years, but it’s now “uncool” to admit you like new Simpsons episodes.
I really do need to check out Pete and Pete one of these days–any comparison to Arrested Development is a good endorsement to me.
Re: realistic style. I guess it’s just not my bag. I tend to like my cartoons stylized and abstracted. If I want realism, I gravitate towards live action. I admit, it’s a personal bias I have. I have the same issues with computer generated 3D stuff. Sure, it’s pretty to look at it, but there’s so much more interesting possibilities (in my opinion) in using these types of mediums to create your own reality, rather than try to copy a real one.
I’m sorry that you feel that way. Sorry because of the fact that if you were to be able to look past those realitively superficial characteristics, you’d be able to find some of the best episodes of any syndicated television. My favorite Simpsons episode, “Bart Sells His Soul”, gives me warm feelings that I could only compare with my favorite books. Books, not movies. And despite the many references, there is plenty of classic, intelligent wit, puns and satire in the show as well.
If you feel that you can hate it because of Marge’s VA (which I think is excellent and only grows on me over time) and the over-all style, then I still suggest that you give it a few more tries just because of what lies in store.
Here’s the final, definitive, objective answer.
:rolleyes:
Seasons 1-2 of the Simpsons aren’t great. But at the time they aired the show was a novelty and got by on this novelty alone. A few season 2 episodes are strong, but not exceptional.
Seasons 3-7 are fucking brilliant. The absolute best comedy ever shown on television.
Past season 7 The Simpsons began to suffer from its own success - the really good writers who had made a name for themselves on the show began to get hired away. And so began the revolving door on the writing staff.
Seasons 8-10 I can watch. There are still some gems. But the focus of the show began to shift away from its strength (a strong nuclear family who actually cared about each other + intelligent humor) to a Family Guy style of cheap one-off gags and Jerkass Homer (google it).
For me the “Jump the Shark” or “Nuke the Fridge” moment was the death of Maude Flanders. Yes, there were issues behind the show on that necessitated the exit of the voice actress who played Maude. But the callous and cheap way they killed off Maude crystallized everything in my mind - the writers no longer cared about the characters and the base of the show was destroyed. The Simpsons became nothing more than a gag-vehicle - Oh, look! Homer is drunk! Oh, Look! Homer is violent! LULZ.
I haven’t watched the show much since 2000. The odd episode I catch is usually pretty bad. The movie was OK only in relation to the episodes I’d been seeing - compared with the glory days it was a C- at b est.
What you describe as superficial characteristics - the aesthetic style of the animation, the voice acting - I’d describe as extremely major components of the show. So, I think we’ll have to agree to disagree here.
This is another one of those things that generates instant eye-rolling from me. The whole ‘slap in the face to fans’ thing is self-important and presumptuous, and to make matters worse I’ve heard it about a million times. I don’t feel slapped in the face by anything they’ve done. Some of the jokes at the expense of fans aren’t great (others are terrific, of course). I think some of the changes made to characters have weakened them and I usually hate it when they do anti-endings. If you don’t like something, just say you don’t like it. Don’t take personal offense at it - what kind of sense does that make?
No, it was “uncool” to admit you like new Simpsons episodes back in 1998. We’re now in the post-post-post-post-Simpsons backlash. 
Or;
Marge; Grandpa, are you sitting on the apple pie?
Grandpa: I sure hope so…
Good summary. I like the characters (except Peggy), and I’ve got nothing against “rednecks”, but every episode of KoTH seems to me like Hank reacting in horror to some newfangled fad and eventually accepting it. Over and over. Every episode.
If they no longer cared about the characters they would’ve just replaced her voice and kept her alive.
Maude’s death led to some funny Ned episodes (Testament’s Christian-rock song was pretty good) so I don’t consider it a breaking point for the series.
I guess they could’ve replaced the voice actor and nobody could tell the dee-diddly-ifference, but no big deal.
Well, that actress did voice some other minor characters, like Helen Lovejoy, and they hired someone else to do them. But she came back to the show three years after Maude was killed off and she’s doing those again, which makes the whole thing seem even more unnecessary.
I think it was a good move, opened up new storylines too with Ned being a single father.
It is fiction and not only that it’s a cartoon, nothing to get worked up about.
Serious question - can you point me towards any of those recent episodes? My point is not to disagree… as of late, I’ve been firmly in the camp of “Simpsons used to rock but now the show sucks donkey balls”, but I am very very very willing to be convinced otherwise, since it was once my favorite show…