The Fall of the Simpsons

Hector Savage

The Fall of the Simpsons how it happened

I thought this was an excellent analysis of how a once brilliant show has fallen so far.

Lorelli!

I have a vague memory of watching the first episode aired on SKY One here. I also remember there was a big hype surrounding it. At the time you got SKY with cablelink, i think. A couple of years after it first aired, cablelink were getting rid of Sky and we were like "****, better start recording The Simpson's before it goes"

I personally always felt that they should have aged them.

pumpkin4life

Series 1-2: Excellent, but maybe a little bit inconsistent. Still better than 99% of anything on television.

Series 3-8: Greatest stretch of telly a lad can watch.

Series 9: Excellent, but maybe a little bit inconsistent. Still better than 99% of anything on television.

Series 10: Watchable enough if you've nothing better to do.

Series 11+: Shìt.

The last episode of The Simpsons should have been Trash of the Titans as it's:

1: The 200th episode.

2: Really funny.

3: I like the cyclical nature of it. What better way to end a T.V show whereby the safety inspector of a town (made safety inspector in one of the very first episodes) ends up destroying the whole town?

Or the Frank Grimes episode. After that was when the decline of the show really started to set in.

Agent Coulson

Simpsons was at its best between 93 and 98

With season 6 being the highlight and one of the best seasons of tv ever across any genre.


So basically 20 years of going downhill.

Wesser

Am I expected to watch the whole video?
The man's voice is the most bored and boring voice I have ever heard.

AMKC

Lorelli! wrote: »

I have a vague memory of watching the first episode aired on SKY One here. I also remember there was a big hype surrounding it. At the time you got SKY with cablelink, i think. A couple of years after it first aired, cablelink were getting rid of Sky and we were like "****, better start recording The Simpson's before it goes"

I personally always felt that they should have aged them.

I also agree with this even if they just got a little older every year or even every two. I think not aging them at all was a big mistake. How awesome would it have been to see Lisa and Bart as mad teens. You thought they were mad before now look at them.

duffman13

Wesser wrote: »

Am I expected to watch the whole video?
The man's voice is the most bored and boring voice I have ever heard.

My god, i got about 45 seconds in, that voice is so slow and dull

Hector Savage

Wesser wrote: »

Am I expected to watch the whole video?
The man's voice is the most bored and boring voice I have ever heard.

duffman13 wrote: »

My god, i got about 45 seconds in, that voice is so slow and dull

I know but put up with it, the content is spot on and he really presents it well.

For me it's so sad that this show has been a crappy show now way longer than it ever was a great one ..

Mossy Monk

Good video. It sums up the decline really well.

Defunkd

The Simpsons are still falling though...until it is completed there is no point in an autopsy.
If i was getting 300-600k per episode, i wouldn't be in a hurry for it to end either.

loyatemu

the movie was decent, and I've watched a few more recent episodes that have been pretty funny. But I'm not trawling through 20 years of crap to find the odd good episode.

Seasons 3-6 are probably the best TV ever made - the rot set in in Season 8 IMO

The first 2 seasons are seriously underrated though - so much great stuff in them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-j2NVdhlfo

lorcand1990

Very well put together video but not exactly groundbreaking. The idea that The Simpsons started to decline from The Principle & The Pauper has been done to death.

That being said I found the laugh track & 5 jokes in 15 seconds analysis very good, along with the pop culture & celebrity references.

If nothing else it reminded me of some of my favourite Simpsons moments

Grab All Association

Mike Scully then/and Al Jean is where it went wrong after season 9. Mike did produce and write some good episodes but he and Jean were full time execs after s9. Writers exodus too by about that time.

loyatemu

Grab All Association wrote: »

Mike Scully then/and Al Jean is where it went wrong after season 9. Mike did produce and write some good episodes but he and Jean were full time execs after s9. Writers exodus too by about that time.

maybe, but there's a limit to how much you can squeeze out of an idea - realistically what show has remained vital for more than 8 seasons?

Hector Savage

Yeah, I must go back and re watch seasons 1-7, anyone know of a streaming service ? - a legal one ?

Pity Netflix don't have them.

Sofiztikated

AMKC wrote: »

I also agree with this even if they just got a little older every year or even every two. I think not aging them at all was a big mistake. How awesome would it have been to see Lisa and Bart as mad teens. You thought they were mad before now look at them.

If Bart aged normally, his teens would have been years ago. He'd be about 40.

Man, that's depressing.

If yous have time: https://deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/

This page shows the problem with writers: https://deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/zs5/

It's awful now when ya see it's on and ya know that it's twice as likely to be a **** episode than a great one.

Lorelli!

Just something that popped into my head when he was talking about it at the beginning of the clip and saying it was the first and antithesis of what was done at the time, i did notice he failed to acknowledge Married with Children which was before The Simpson's. Different but similar in how he was comparing it to other shows.

Oafley Jones

Sofiztikated wrote: »

If Bart aged normally, his teens would have been years ago. He'd be about 40.

Man, that's depressing.

Yip. I was Bart's age when the show started, now I'm Homer's. That's a weird change of perspective for an on-going show. Haven't watches it in years, but I keep hearing that it slightly improved recently. I still think that had it quit around season 7 or 8 it'd have a reputation up their with Fawlty Towers as one of the greats.

pleas advice

Wesser wrote: »

Am I expected to watch the whole video?
The man's voice is the most bored and boring voice I have ever heard.

Change the channel Marge

ERG89

Sofiztikated wrote: »

If Bart aged normally, his teens would have been years ago. He'd be about 40.

Man, that's depressing.

I'm always amazed that the writers now surely grew up watching it yet its so bad they must have lost their passion 15 years ago.
Low points are probably the celebrity ones I unfortunately watched; the Ricky Gervais written one was focused on a bad song and an undertone of buying HD televisions
Another 2 vids on the subject in particular the Armand Tamzarian (season 9 episode 2....) and more recent Lady Gaga episode

Sabre0001

Really interesting video. Liked the segment that analyses how a segment plays out now compared to what it may have been written like in the past.

briany

It's like Lisa said in The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show - long running characters just can't have the same impact they once did. Where the Simpsons were once contemporary, satirical and subversive, they're now a well-ingrained part of Western culture.

People say that 4-9 are the heyday of the show. In many ways, I agree. The characters were very well-drawn by that point (not necessarily speaking in terms of animation), and you could have some really entertaining plots going. On the other hand, when people complain about "Jerkass Homer", I believe his roots were in these seasons. In some ways, I blame Conan O' Brien, because the first episode where he starts acting really moronic is the Homer Goes to College episode where he's belligerent towards the world's nicest dean, just because he got the evil dean idea into his head through watching too many college comedies, as well as the immature pranks, and getting his nerdy, bookish room mates in trouble for no good reason. Throughout 5-9, Jerkass Homer slowly takes over, until it's only him.

ignorance is strength

When Bush said more like the Walton’s and less like the Simpsons, it was hardly an attack on the show itself, which the video strongly implies; it’s just a political remark that contrasts the two starkly different portrayals of family, which the video itself says was intended (and which supposedly makes the Simpsons brilliant). It’s quite easy to imagine the same being said today, when the Simpsons is considered tame.

I’m happy to be convinced that the Simpsons is the greatest thing to happen to TV, but I always find the arguments wanting. Five jokes in quick succession, each confounding the expectations created by the previous one - so what? Clever, but is it funny? And even if it is, why does that make it great? The Bush mischaracterisation epitomises for me the way these videos work: they frame the TV landscape as being boring and staid, and then introduce the Simpsons (or whichever) complete with exalting praise, expecting the viewer to draw the conclusion of greatness for themselves without ever really showing it. (I’m sure you could make a similar video about the Big Bang Theory and its, say, momentous portrayal of nerdy characters.)

Well made, though, and nice to hear an Irish voice.

the purple tin

Lorelli! wrote: »

Just something that popped into my head when he was talking about it at the beginning of the clip and saying it was the first and antithesis of what was done at the time, i did notice he failed to acknowledge Married with Children which was before The Simpson's. Different but similar in how he was comparing it to other shows.

And Roseanne too. It was out just before the Simpsons and got massive in the late 80's.

the purple tin

ignorance is strength wrote: »

When Bush said more like the Walton’s and less like the Simpsons, it was hardly an attack on the show itself, which the video strongly implies; it’s just a political remark that contrasts the two starkly different portrayals of family, which the video itself says was intended (and which supposedly makes the Simpsons brilliant). It’s quite easy to imagine the same being said today, when the Simpsons is considered tame.

I’m happy to be convinced that the Simpsons is the greatest thing to happen to TV, but I always find the arguments wanting. Five jokes in quick succession, each confounding the expectations created by the previous one - so what? Clever, but is it funny? And even if it is, why does that make it great? The Bush mischaracterisation epitomises for me the way these videos work: they frame the TV landscape as being boring and staid, and then introduce the Simpsons (or whichever) complete with exalting praise, expecting the viewer to draw the conclusion of greatness for themselves without ever really showing it. (I’m sure you could make a similar video about the Big Bang Theory and its, say, momentous portrayal of nerdy characters.)

Well made, though, and nice to hear an Irish voice.

The Bushes did hate the show though. Bar regularly attacked it calling it 'that stupid show' and demanding that it be taken off the air (and that was before the neighbour George Bush episode).

ignorance is strength

the purple tin wrote: »

The Bushes did hate the show though. Bar regularly attacked it calling it 'that stupid show' and demanding that it be taken off the air (and that was before the neighbour George Bush episode).

According to this video, Barbara Bush said in a magazine interview that she’d seen it and thought it was dumb, but clean. The Simpsons writers wrote a mock letter to her from Marge, which Bush graciously responded to. Hardly hatred.

pickarooney

The Armin Tamzarian story was good enough for Mad Men to rehash.

valoren

The Simpsons for me will always be Season 4. Every episode is a gem with 'Last Exit to Springfield' a standout. Clearly it became a cash cow for Fox which explains it's longevity. The writers have always been self knowing in that regard. The episode with Frank Grimes was a clear in-joke about how ridiculous the plotting had become.

Homer: Yeah, that’s me all right. And the guy standing next to me is President Gerald Ford. And this is when I was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins. Oh, and here’s a picture of me in outer space. Would you like to see my Grammy award?

lorcand1990

valoren wrote: »

The Simpsons for me will always be Season 4. Every episode is a gem with 'Last Exit to Springfield' a standout. Clearly it became a cash cow for Fox which explains it's longevity. The writers have always been self knowing in that regard. The episode with Frank Grimes was a clear in-joke about how ridiculous the plotting had become.

Homer: Yeah, that’s me all right. And the guy standing next to me is President Gerald Ford. And this is when I was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins. Oh, and here’s a picture of me in outer space. Would you like to see my Grammy award?

Although ironically Homer's Enemy is one of the highest (if not the highest) rated Simpsons episodes ever- one of my favourite episodes too

I think The Principle & The Pauper is attempting to do the same thing as the line you quoted, take the piss out of the show itself & also depict how pointless plots are in general.. Unfortunately they did it with a character that the fans loved (maybe more than even the writers expected?) & it backfired on them

Fr Tod Umptious

briany wrote: »

It's like Lisa said in The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show - long running characters just can't have the same impact they once did. Where the Simpsons were once contemporary, satirical and subversive, they're now a well-ingrained part of Western culture.

People say that 4-9 are the heyday of the show. In many ways, I agree. The characters were very well-drawn by that point (not necessarily speaking in terms of animation), and you could have some really entertaining plots going. On the other hand, when people complain about "Jerkass Homer", I believe his roots were in these seasons. In some ways, I blame Conan O' Brien, because the first episode where he starts acting really moronic is the Homer Goes to College episode where he's belligerent towards the world's nicest dean, just because he got the evil dean idea into his head through watching too many college comedies, as well as the immature pranks, and getting his nerdy, bookish room mates in trouble for no good reason. Throughout 5-9, Jerkass Homer slowly takes over, until it's only him.

I'm no expert but I certainly think that the focus switched from Bart to Homer in those seasons.