New Simpsons Episodes

breadmonkey

Does anyone else think that the new Simpsons episodes are rubbish? IMO, the plot lines have become quite bizarre and disjointed and the humour has become strange just unfunny in general. It seems as if the writers have run out of good ideas and I think they should just stop now if that's the case, rather than reduce this once great cartoon to a shadow of its former self.

L5

ross*k wrote:

Does anyone else think that the new Simpsons episodes are rubbish? IMO, the plot lines have become quite bizarre and disjointed and the humour has become strange just unfunny in general. It seems as if the writers have run out of good ideas and I think they should just stop now if that's the case, rather than reduce this once great cartoon to a shadow of its former self.

this happened after season 10

Creamy Goodness

ross*k wrote:

Does anyone else think that the new Simpsons episodes are rubbish? IMO, the plot lines have become quite bizarre and disjointed and the humour has become strange just unfunny in general. It seems as if the writers have run out of good ideas and I think they should just stop now if that's the case, rather than reduce this once great cartoon to a shadow of its former self.

homer's humour has been americanised,which renders him an overly stupid character.

marge and lisa as more annoying than ever and bart is too hyper

Infini

To be honest the Simpsons should have been taken off a few years ago. They've been on the air so long that they've pretty much exhausted all the good plotlines and are just airing crap. They should let this series keep what little dignity it has left and just let it fade into history rather than continiuing with pointless and idiotic plotlines. Besides Futurama was much better as it was new and had better jokes. They should have cancelled the simpsons instead.

Easygainer

It's because of the writers. They keep using the same crap jokes over and over - it's all Ian Maxtone Graham - he sucks. For instance, you know that gesture nearly everyone in the Simpsons makes now where they pull their collar and moan? First started in the submarine episode I think and hackneyed by about 10 other characters over and over. Then there's the reference to how good their jokes are, when they're not - remember when Mrs Krabappel is nominated for teacher of the year and there's the Ride of Broken Dreams? "mmmm that's good satire" has to be the lowest point in simpson's history.

They need good writers. Season 3 &4 etc they had Conan O'Brien for crying out loud - they were the best episodes. They need writers like that back and to cut out the cameos. At least when there were "cameos" before, the actors remained hidden - eg Meryl Streep as Jessica Lovejoy.

I don't even bother watching the new ones.

Stalfos

Easygainer wrote:

I don't even bother watching the new ones.

Strangely though, i read somewhere a while ago (maybe a tv guide) that the simpsons is more popular than ever.probably just making up

Crucifix

Infini wrote:

Besides Futurama was much better as it was new and had better jokes. They should have cancelled the simpsons instead.

I agree.
And I don't think it's just the writing, the voice-acting has gone downhill, particularly Homer.

gaui3d0pnbz86o

season 10 is where it 'jumped the shark' imho

koneko

I concur.
Someone needs to put this beast out of it's misery.

Creamy Goodness

Stalfos wrote:

Strangely though, i read somewhere a while ago (maybe a tv guide) that the simpsons is more popular than ever.probably just making up

it's more popular now as i feel it's more accessible than ever.

i mean don't get me wrong it's shown a lot but back 4-5 years ago not half and much as it is now, plus we have three stations airing it now (C4, RTE 2, Skyone)


didn't know conan wrote for the simpsons learn something new everyday.

confetti

yeah i miss the old simpler humour, now its trying to be really weird and failing miserably, even stoners wouldn't laugh at some of the new jokes, still the odd episode is good though

Creature

Easygainer wrote:

remember when Mrs Krabappel is nominated for teacher of the year and there's the Ride of Broken Dreams? "mmmm that's good satire" has to be the lowest point in simpson's history.

That was a great episode!

*In a very whiney voice*
"Hello. I'm an electric car. I can't go very fast. Or very far. And if you drive me, people will think you're gay. "

Classic.

I do agree the newer episodes are generally quite poor and I tend not to bother watching them anymore. However the older seasons are still the funniest thing to ever be shown on tv, no matter how bad the new ones get they'll never spoil the shows brilliance.

Chong

The show has become a mockery to say the least. I can bear to watch the new episodes anymore, they just aren't funny. I thought because I am 20 years of age I cant see the humour but no that cant be true because the fact of the matter is I still die with laugther watching Family Guy and South Park.

Bottom line The Simpsons has been dead since season 7. Also the thing that I believe killed it was that nearly every second episode revolves around some celebrity.

breadmonkey

What season are they in now?

Drum boy

I wouldn't say crap but they have got alot worse!

Ruffty^

Its in a crap spiral.... The same situation friends was in coming up to the end. Futurama was much better/funnier, pity its gone; thank god family guy is still going

dearg_doom

I think the newer Simpsons are being written by the very kind of people that the old Simpsons-writers used to take the piss out of. It's painful to watch these days.

blobert

Simpsons mightn't be as good as it used to but its still one of the funnier programs on tv. They are not going to stop making it on artistic grounds either, as long as people keep watching it I'd imagine they'll keep on producing more.

breadmonkey

I've totally had it now. I watched an episode today which highlights once and for all that these writeres are nothing short of appalling.

One of the basic "guidelines" for the Simpsons template has always been that everyting gets reset at the end of the program. For example:

If Homer wins the lotto, then by the end of the episode he has to lose the money somehow.

If Homer quits his job, then by the end he must be back in it.

If the Simpsons move to another town, they have to be back in Springfield at the end. etc etc

In todays episode, there were just loads of loose ends flying about everywhere. The kids went on strike from school and that wasn't even resolved! Terrible, terrible stuff. The jokes were so stale, pathetic and bizarre.

I know it might seem like nit-picking but this is clear indication that the writers don't know what they're at.

Creamy Goodness

breadmonkey wrote:

What season are they in now?

i'm not sure but i think i've heard it's in it's 16th season.

appauling isn't it. soon they'll have more **** episodes that good ones

zynaps

confetti wrote:

yeah i miss the old simpler humour, now its trying to be really weird and failing miserably, even stoners wouldn't laugh at some of the new jokes, still the odd episode is good though

Yeah, the plot simplicity (ie: not dealing with 50 random storyline fragments that just get thrown all over the place, as BreadMonkey says - just maybe 2 or 3 cogent threads) made it easier to keep it together and get a good feel for the episodes.
And they could throw in surreal/random jokes now and then without totally flooding the thing - like the episode where Lovejoy's daughter (who magically disappeared forever) was coaxing Bart with her rotten ways (etc), and he's accused of stealing from the church collection plate...

*Bart runs and dives out church window.... 2 seconds pass*
Homer: Stop him! He's headed for the window!

...
*people yelling from passing cars*
"Thief!"
"Liar!"
"Stealingmoneyfromthechurchcollectionplate!"

So yeah, I miss the old ones too. Though you do hit a diamond in the rough from time to time with the current series.

The Bollox

breadmonkey wrote:

I know it might seem like nit-picking but this is clear indication that the writers don't know what they're at.

oh no, I agree totally, its stoopid!

I mean most of the time its **** when they reveolve an episode around a celebrity but there are some gems that do that for instance the Mel Gibson one was gold!

John Travolta: "but you said you would help me move, ah geez" LOL!

also the one with Blair

"OMG! we met Mr. Bean!"

zynaps

That episode in London was probably the worst episode of the Simpsons I've seen in my life. Absolute garbage

breadmonkey

zynaps wrote:

That episode in London was probably the worst episode of the Simpsons I've seen in my life. Absolute garbage

I saw that one the other day. Truly shocking

OY

I just plain stopped about 6 seasons ago. I do not think i have watched a singel episode since about season 10. Seems to be the general thinking on this thread that this is where it died.

Still for the first 10 seasons it is a truly amazing show but i cannot bear the newer episodes. They stink!

CyberGhost

I just detest an episode where Homer gets a laser eye surgery, and his eyes crust over, it just makes me sick his eyes

and Yes, latest episodes are all very very bad

Nasty_Girl

yeah i hate that scene too!

I think the prob with the simpsons is there are too many characters, they're trying too hard to be "funny" and all storylines are exhausted.

Story one:
Marge and Homer have a problem with their relationship and fix it.

Story two:
Lisa has a fly up her a*se about something and no-one understands it.

Also there are so many plot holes that drive me cracked (which says I have too much time on me hands!!) like the one where they go for Spring Break and get banished from the state of Florida, they've been back twice!! Arg.

then there's the really stupid stuff like Apu and Manjula getting married in the simpsons' garden and such. Its like hey we've got no storylines for the simpsons themselves lets pick a secondary character and tack a storyline around that. Meh.

dearg_doom

Has anyone got band-of-the-broad??

Supposedly last week's new ep (in the US) was magic!

I really want to hear that from a source whose comedy spotting talents I could trust(ie. an Irish person:))

breadmonkey

dearg_doom wrote:

Has anyone got band-of-the-broad??

Supposedly last week's new ep (in the US) was magic!

I really want to hear that from a source whose comedy spotting talents I could trust(ie. an Irish person:))

WTF??

Undergod

I voted yes, but the new episodes still occasionally turn up a good one, like where Homer is employed my the GlobEx corporation. It was quite random in parts but still i think it worked better than a lot of their recent stuff.

Creature

Undergod wrote:

I voted yes, but the new episodes still occasionally turn up a good one, like where Homer is employed my the GlobEx corporation. It was quite random in parts but still i think it worked better than a lot of their recent stuff.

Wtf? That one is ancient! It was first aired nine years ago, hardly a "new" episode!

dearg_doom

breadmonkey wrote:

WTF??

Yep, sounds weird doesn't it?

But I read that on an American and a British forum, so I was just wondering if anyone here had seen it.

projectmayhem

what might save the simpsons is if they got back conan o'brien. he's still popping out that kind of humour the simpsons is missing on his show. he could save it, even if he only wrote bits of scripts and the odd joke.

and someone mentioned the ep where homers eyes crust over... i can't watch that episode. even if it's a cartoon based around yellow people, that's just... unformfortable

Undergod

Creature wrote:

Wtf? That one is ancient! It was first aired nine years ago, hardly a "new" episode!

Really? It seems like a new one, and I hadn't seen it until recently.

In that case they're mostly crap.

popinfresh

I though it started to go down hill after the "who shot mister Burns" episode. (Was that series 10?) Which 1 was 10

CyberGhost

did you watch this Sunday's episode? about Bart's kidnapping, OMG, what a lameness, you can see they are trying to be funny, they aren't just funny anymore.

Infini

Seriously the show has gone down the drain. They've exhausted pratically every plotline they have at their disposal and are putting out the same useless and directionless episodes over and over. God somebody cancel the show already, for the love of GOD!!

BTW, nice sig cyberghost!

Pauleeeeeeee

I heard on the radio a while back that Matt Greoning (sp?) was gonna cancel the show sometime in 2006 when they have 365 epsiodes done.

He said he wants to have an epsisode for each day of the year.
I would have thought there'd be about 360 episodes by now though?

youcancallmeal

Theres been 326 episodes so far including 13 from season 16 already. Like Pauleeeeeeee said its set to end sometime 2006 on episode 365 which would leave with just enough episodes to finish of the current season and then finally have season 17 as their final season. The numbers fit in with them having around 25 episodes per season.

For the person talking about an episode called 'band-of-the-broad' are you sure thats the right name? According to simpsons website latest episode was 'mobile homer' which aired 20/03/05, although their website is known to be slow updating. Mobile homer episode was tragically unfunny btw, another marge and homer have relationship problems type episode!

CyberGhost

Infini wrote:

Seriously the show has gone down the drain. They've exhausted pratically every plotline they have at their disposal and are putting out the same useless and directionless episodes over and over. God somebody cancel the show already, for the love of GOD!!

BTW, nice sig cyberghost!

Thanks Inf

and yea cancel simpsons bring on futurama!

youcancallme>al, hahaha that episode was super

CyberGhost

just watched the latest episode(If I'm not mistaken) where Nelson's father shows up, jeez they became pathetic!

Family guy all the way!

User45701

when u say new do u mena late season 16? cause some of them have been much better than 15 some very funny bits in some episodes like the gay wedding episode and selmas baby ect.

CyberGhost

User45701 wrote:

when u say new do u mena late season 16? cause some of them have been much better than 15 some very funny bits in some episodes like the gay wedding episode and selmas baby ect.

hmm haven't seen those

User45701

season 16 episodes 16 and 17 where quite funny
go to www.thesimpsons.com for episode info

bobbydoo

I thought the series started going downhill after Conan O'Brien left. But it was at such a height that, even in it's decline, it's still one of the best shows on TV. I can't agree with anyone cancelling it.

I always thought they should do a spin-off instead, set in the "bart is grown up" timeline shown in Lisa's Wedding and other episodes. It would give the show a fresh new spin.

Any news on the other Matt Groening project? The one he said he wanted to do about a Rock band?

Ponster

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star (latest episode I think) was very good IMHO. I was disappointed by the latest episodes as they lacked the great jokes of the older seasons. Maybe it was the Irish-ness of it.

Call Me Jimmy

yeah simpsons is **** now but it is allowed to be such because of the countless hours of amazing entertainment given to us from the middle episodes (real early episodes were **** too) I heard some1 saying bring back futurama? That's the funniest joke I've heard to do with futurama, it's crap and deserves to be buried and forgotten

dearg_doom

youcancallme>al wrote:

For the person talking about an episode called 'band-of-the-broad' are you sure thats the right name?

/groans

OMFG! band-of-the-broad == broadband..... Which is handy if you want to download new episodes.:o

I don't know what it was called, I just heard that (at the time) the last one was a lot better than usual:)





Futurama is great though, you fool!!

SoupyNorman

A huge problem lies with the simple fact of how huge the simpsons became, as a result of this the new episodes will draw in the viewers although i would imagine there has been a steady decline in ratings for the past five years.

The suits running the show have probably predicted a "cut-off" point where they will finish the show when the ratings hit a respectable low but tiny compared to the dizzying highs it once hit.

I am disgusted with the direction the simpsons took and i have to admit i noticed it very early on, i think the first sign was when Marge started to become less the voice of reason and more daring and slapstick.


I just thank god every day for family guy. (could u imagine if family guy ever went the same way aghhhh!)

CrazyTalk

Family Guy going the same way as the Simpsons?
That's too frightening to think of.
the new episodes are terrible for many reasons. The constant Celebrity Guest stars, The fact that the Celebrities don't look like generic Simpsons characters, ie. their eyes are narrow and 'realistic', and they usually play no significant part at all.
In fact, I think I just hate the way the animation is completely!
Is it me, or are the overbites that the characters have just huge? Especially Marge?

And yeah, they just seem to become so pointless, no funny jokes that you can quote or anything....*sighs*

Pigman II

popinfresh wrote:

I though it started to go down hill after the "who shot mister Burns" episode. (Was that series 10?) Which 1 was 10

Who shot mr burns was season 6+7.

Personally I think the show started sliding after the end of Season8. The main problem I find with the later ones is not that they are unfunny (although that is a significant problem) but it's that the show has lost it's heart, structure and cohesion. It's just a writing mess in 2005.