When did the Simpsons stop being good?

Riddle101

I'd say 2000 is when it started slipping, but post 2002 is when it went down hill.

elfy4eva

season 10, 11 and 12 are where I feel it gradually begins to slip into slapstick humor. Still some watchable episodes in those seasons but the majority are unmemorable.

Vincent Vega

AndonHandon wrote: »

Did the main writers move to Futurama? That is a show that has far more wit than the Simpsons.

Not too sure they moved moved, but it's an interesting idea, and it goes along quite well with many people's naming season 9/10 as the point it decreased.

Futurama as a project began in 1996 and first aired in early 99, so through 97/98 (simpsons season 9) on you'd imagine a lot of the team focus would have been on getting Futurama up and running.

You can notice the gradual decrease in quality in season 9 and season 10 lacks the consistency of previous seasons.

Kerplunk124

I have Season 1 to Season 10 on DvD and it's fairly easy to see that season 9 is when it starts to become ****.
Season 3 - 8 were its best. Season 5 and 6ish its peak

caustic 1

Hate The Simpsons, I mean really really hate them.

blow69

It's funny.


A few years ago if mentioning my favourite TV shows I would say "The Simpsons, the first half". And now it's the first third..

Keef2125

It started getting bad as soon as they started having celebrities in the episode just for the sake of it. And when the type humour changed from witty to just plain stupid

Thargor

The Apple/iPod ep I saw the other day was unbelievable, just a completely different show.

BetterThanThou

Really think this is just a case of nostalgia goggles, or simply different generations having conflicting views. I'm 17, I've been a massive fan of The Simpsons for as long as I can remember. I'm damn near sure I've watched every episode, probably multiple times at this point. But personally, I enjoy the newer episodes and I think The Simpsons as good as it's ever been. It's probably a bit "cleaner" and "politically correct" than it used to be, but The Simpsons was hardly an "edgy" show to begin with, so the small bit of controversial comedy that would occasionally show up is hardly something to miss. Although, it has been running for something like 24/25 seasons, without changing that much, any show that runs for that long is bound to become boring to all but the absolute biggest fans. However, it still has a great fanbase, I don't see why The Simpsons should be cancelled, not in the foreseeable future anyway.

banquo

valoren wrote: »

Season 4 is arguably the greatest season of television ever. Every episode is a classic, even the clip show.

I Wiki'd Season 4 on seeing this post and, yes, it contains so many amazing episodes that it's hard to believe they were all in just one season.

Starscream25

Everything after the hank Scorpio episode paled in comparison, never reached those heights again

Arne_Saknussem

BetterThanThou wrote: »

Really think this is just a case of nostalgia goggles, or simply different generations having conflicting views. I'm 17, I've been a massive fan of The Simpsons for as long as I can remember. I'm damn near sure I've watched every episode, probably multiple times at this point. But personally, I enjoy the newer episodes and I think The Simpsons as good as it's ever been. It's probably a bit "cleaner" and "politically correct" than it used to be, but The Simpsons was hardly an "edgy" show to begin with, so the small bit of controversial comedy that would occasionally show up is hardly something to miss. Although, it has been running for something like 24/25 seasons, without changing that much, any show that runs for that long is bound to become boring to all but the absolute biggest fans. However, it still has a great fanbase, I don't see why The Simpsons should be cancelled, not in the foreseeable future anyway.

It's a completely different show to what it used to be. For the first 5-6 years of it's run it was the cleverest funniest thing on television, way ahead of it's time and leagues ahead of the competition.

Towards the end of the 90s it began to rehash jokes it has used before and it really stood out, as the quality had been so good up on until then. A couple of years later in totally went down hill lazily repeating itself and throwing in "celebrity" guests in place of any actual original ideas. And became unwatchable.

It's become what it used to take the piss out of when it was at it's best.

wendell borton

Deleted User wrote: »

It's all summed up here: http://deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/
The main site has a quote of the day as well which is good. They also pick apart the new episodes.

The "It's been getting better" mantra has been around for a good 6 or 7 years and still isn't true. It's a shallow, humourless, out-of-touch show now.

Really good analysis, well worth the read.

Burky126

BetterThanThou wrote: »

The Simpsons was hardly an "edgy" show to begin with

It's easy to look back and compare the show with the likes of South Park and Family Guy now and just wistfully assume how innocent it all was but it almost certainly was an edgy show to begin with. The amount of hidden jokes and gags that were barely passable pre-watershed in the early 90's was quite edgy to a lot of the audience at the time. Especially those who up until that point were only familiar with the idea that cartoons were for children and not adults. It helps aswell that MAD magazine was a huge influence in the shows anti-authority stance which was a major player in laying down the counter culture movement in the Sixties.

The Simpsons gave a lot of people not just this gateway into pop culture with adult themes but also remained this hybrid creation of a wholesome,family sitcom.

HerrScheisse

When Apu worked a 96 hour shift and thought he was a Hummingbird. Cut to the CCTV with a strange little Indian fellow buzzing around the shop at high speed humming whilst flapping his arms.

The Simpsons died when that kind of unspeakable, obscure unexplainable humour stopped.

Even cutting to the CCTV to show how he behaved was goddamn genius!

chrissb8

Up until the Japan episode. After that it went to hell. Sometimes I sit there and think am I laughing out of nostalgia at the old jokes. But then a joke on an old episode that I completely forgot until then or don't even remember at all comes up and has me in stitches. The recent example being Homer's "love" letter to Marge from a brewery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGH0IgJ-7LE

LoganRice

since the dawn of time, aka, 2010s

Riddle101

HerrScheisse wrote: »

When Apu worked a 96 hour shift and thought he was a Hummingbird. Cut to the CCTV with a strange little Indian fellow buzzing around the shop at high speed humming whilst flapping his arms.

The Simpsons died when that kind of unspeakable, obscure unexplainable humour stopped.

Even cutting to the CCTV to show how he behaved was goddamn genius!

Homer with the camera in his hat, and Apu asks him if there is a bee in it. Homer freaks out and smashes it on the ground and runs away.

A another similar incident was when Marge became addicted to gambling and was out of the house for along time. Lisa comes running into Homer's bedroom and ask about the Boogeyman. Homer freaks out again and goes running into Bart and says "I think there maybe a boogeyman or boogeymen in the house. Then Marge finally comes home to find Homer(with a shotgun), Lisa and Bart hiding behind a turned over couch.

Cosmicfox

I loved that brewery bit, had forgotten all about it til just there.

I'm being generous but I think it was still good til about 2005 and still occasionally has it's moments.

Squeedily Spooch

BetterThanThou wrote: »

Really think this is just a case of nostalgia goggles, or simply different generations having conflicting views. I'm 17, I've been a massive fan of The Simpsons for as long as I can remember. I'm damn near sure I've watched every episode, probably multiple times at this point. But personally, I enjoy the newer episodes and I think The Simpsons as good as it's ever been. It's probably a bit "cleaner" and "politically correct" than it used to be, but The Simpsons was hardly an "edgy" show to begin with, so the small bit of controversial comedy that would occasionally show up is hardly something to miss. Although, it has been running for something like 24/25 seasons, without changing that much, any show that runs for that long is bound to become boring to all but the absolute biggest fans. However, it still has a great fanbase, I don't see why The Simpsons should be cancelled, not in the foreseeable future anyway.

It's changed a ridiculous amount, to say otherwise is silly. The overwhelming consensus among anyone I know who has been watching it since the beginning (longer than you've been alive) is that it's a shadow of it's former self. I can still watch an episode from the early seasons and laugh, some of the newer ones from the alst five years or so I wouldn't even giggle at, it's just not as funny anymore. It's also trying too hard to be funny when it was so effortless in the old episodes.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I was trying to figure out the worst ever Simpsons moment and I suddenly realised that nothing could sink below the Ke$ha intro they once had.

rawn

HerrScheisse wrote: »

When Apu worked a 96 hour shift and thought he was a Hummingbird. Cut to the CCTV with a strange little Indian fellow buzzing around the shop at high speed humming whilst flapping his arms.

The Simpsons died when that kind of unspeakable, obscure unexplainable humour stopped.

Even cutting to the CCTV to show how he behaved was goddamn genius!

I love that part!! EeeeeEEeeeeeEeeee

cloud493

No no. Worst bits of the simpsons is anything in london, and the whole lady gaga episode.

Rawr

For me it has felt like a lot of the more recent episodes are ok, but mostly 'meh'...very very 'meh'. Which is ironic because the Simpsons is where I got that word/disinterested-noise from.

I've sensed an attempt to return to the comedy of the earlier seasons, but regardless of writing the over delivery of the show is far too polished, sterile, and....meh.

I'll often spot a joke that know was probably meant to be funny in a classic Simpson way; which ends up ultimately defeated by bad timing, flat voice acting and soulless HD animation.

My primary grip with the Simpsons however, is and always has been Celeb Cameos.

Back in the day, this wasn't such a bad thing and was often quite clever and funny whenever used. However a clear comparison between old vs new cameo has to be the appearances of: Mike Sciosia.

In Season 3's 'Homer at the Bat' Sciosia was hired in with other pro softball players as ringers for the Nuclear Plant's team. The whole episode was full of cameos, and yet it managed to keep the story focused on Homer, fully explained the presence of all the cameos and even gave them hilarious fates, such as Sciosia's radiation sickness, and of course Ken Griffy's grotesquly swollen jaw.

Sciosia reappears in Season 22's "MoneyBart". He just suddenly pops up out of the ether onto a rollercoaster car behind Bart and Marge for no good reason what-so-ever. He drops some irrelevant lines to Bart (some form of advice..really don't care or remember) and waves off the reference to his previous appearance. And then he's gone. No 'comedy', no value, just a worthless name drop for the sake of it.

That is my main beef with later cameos in the Simpsons. Worthless name-dropping for the pure sake of having the cameo there, very often at the expense of the episode. You can imagine what I think of the Lady Gaga episode.....jebus...

Honestly, it really feels like it's time to give it a rest. Espeically after watching what has been coming out this season. Lackluster and very very tired...

cloud493

I looked at the episode summaries for season 25 on wikipedia, and nearly every episode has a 'celebrity' cameo, some more than one. Theres no need for it.

Saipanne

Not one good episode in the 21st century.

Also, it's been bad way longer than its been good. It's legacy is ruined.

WesternZulu

The humour in the earlier ones was far more subtle and far better than the 'wacky' humour that they pass off now.

One of my favourite episodes is the Bleeding Gums Murphy:

“But then I spent all my money on my fifteen-hundred-dollar a day habit

. . . . I’d like another Faberge egg, please.” – Bleed Gums Murphy

“Sir, don’t you think you've had enough?” – Faberge Salesman

“I’ll tell you when I've had enough!” – Bleeding Gums Murphy

Heisenberg1

Franticfrank wrote: »

Without a shadow of a doubt, it was when Phil Hartman died. Without Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure is went on a quick downward spiral.

"Apu, Mrs. Simpson claims that she *forgot* that bottle of... delicious... bourbon. Brownest of the brown liquors... so tempting.
[holds the bottle to his ear]

What's that? You want me to drink you? But I'm in the middle of a trial!"
[puts it down]

So the last episode with Lionel Hutz in my opinion, where he was an estate agent. Bad enough as that was, everything afterwards was a whole lot worse.

In fact I'm not even wearing a tie at all.

jebuz

The "Tomacco" episode, it had its moments but was clinging on for dear life and I knew it was starting to head in the wrong direction. Lucky for me I had already settled down with my favourite episode, the one with the Movementarians - na na na na na na na na Leader! I have the boxsets from the early seasons which peaked IMO around season 7/8. Since they don't really show the old ones on the telly anymore, there's nothing better than sitting down with a cold one and throwing on an episode for old times sake.

Heisenberg1

For me season 8 and 9 the Simpson's were at there peak after that I didn't bother.