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When did the Simpsons stop being good?

1246

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,783 ✭✭✭P.Walnuts


    The Marge gets a job episode was on last night, must be one of the greatest.

    Homer: Marge the key is to blame the guy who doesn't speak english, oh Tibor how many times have you saved my ass

    Some time later...

    Smithers: (Showing Marge her new office) And this is your office.
    That idiot Tibor lost the key but you canjimmy it open with a credit card.


    Classic Tibor


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,047 ✭✭✭GerB40


    P.Walnuts wrote: »
    The Marge gets a job episode was on last night, must be one of the greatest.

    Homer: Marge the key is to blame the guy who doesn't speak english, oh Tibor how many times have you saved my ass

    Some time later...

    Smithers: (Showing Marge her new office) And this is your office.
    That idiot Tibor lost the key but you canjimmy it open with a credit card.


    Classic Tibor

    Homer: I never apologise Lisa, I'm sorry but that's just the way I am.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,474 ✭✭✭deadybai


    If anyone has seen That '90s Show you will never forgive the writers of The Simpsons again. For me the show ended at season 12. Every thing after that I consider a different show that just happens to have the same name.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,115 ✭✭✭eviltimeban


    So, here's a test and something I'd like to explore. Can anyone, who is familiar with the newer episodes, list the Top 5 post Season 10 (shall we say?) episodes that come close to capturing the spirit and humour of the first 7 / 8 seasons.

    I read on that Zombie Simpsons page that two highly rated "newer" ones are Trilogy of Error and Eternal Moonshine of the Spotless Mind. Any other recommendations, especially from more recent years? I'll go and watch them and tell you what I think.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,473 ✭✭✭Roddy23




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,999 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Riddle101 wrote: »
    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.
    He'd already shot the door a couple of times :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,115 ✭✭✭eviltimeban


    Thargor wrote: »
    He'd already shot the door a couple of times :P

    Gamblor!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,080 ✭✭✭✭Maximus Alexander


    "We don't have bums in our town, Marge, and if we did they wouldn't rush, they'd be allowed to go at their own pace."


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,882 ✭✭✭Saipanne


    When did this turn into a quotes thread?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,080 ✭✭✭✭Maximus Alexander


    Saipanne wrote: »
    When did this turn into a quotes thread?

    Post #19.

    Now quit yer bellyaching or we'll start quoting Father Ted.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,047 ✭✭✭GerB40


    Saipanne wrote: »
    When did this turn into a quotes thread?

    I'd say around two thirds into the thread. Then again people can use statistics to prove anything. Fourteen percent of people know that...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,115 ✭✭✭eviltimeban


    There's already a quotes thread somewhere (its called Dental Plan I think). I guess the Simpsons is so quotable, and people do have their own favourites, that given an opportunity to quote something, they will.

    For the record, my favourite episodes are:

    Last Exit To Springfield
    Deep Space Homer
    Homie The Clown
    Bart of Darkness
    Homer The Heretic
    Mr Plow
    Homer Badman
    Homer's Barbershop Quartet

    Honourable mentions to Bart's Comet, Itchy & Scratchy Land, El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer, Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish", Radioactive Man, and Homer the Smithers.

    Actually I could go on and on. Just get a list of Seasons 4 - 7 and you've got it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,812 ✭✭✭✭padd b1975


    When Homer became an astronaut.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,535 ✭✭✭valoren


    padd b1975 wrote: »
    When Homer became an astronaut.

    The Zombie Simpsons page mentioned previously suggested that the Frank Grimes episode, Homer's Enemy, was a deliberate flag from the writers that the show had gone full circle, that the consensus was that the show would be winding down and would finish soo thereafter.

    This is indicated during the scene in the house which goes,

    HOMER
    Yes, that's me alright. And the guy standing next to me is President Gerald Ford. (pointing to the other photos) And this is when I was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins. Oh! And here's a picture of me in outer space.

    GRIMES
    You? Went into outer space? You?

    HOMER
    Sure. You've never been? Would you like to see my Grammy award? (holds it up)


    Essentially, where do we, the writers, go from here?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,870 ✭✭✭✭Generic Dreadhead


    For anyone who would like a daily quote:
    https://www.facebook.com/SimpsonsQuotesThatNobodyGetsAnymore


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,785 ✭✭✭KungPao


    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.
    Thanks for the link. Great read for anyone interested in the demise of (perhaps) the greatest show ever on TV.


  • Registered Users Posts: 476 ✭✭Burky126


    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.


    I'll go one step worse and wager the Harlem Shake couch gag. The moment that truely shows the creators have no shame.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭elfy4eva


    So, here's a test and something I'd like to explore. Can anyone, who is familiar with the newer episodes, list the Top 5 post Season 10 (shall we say?) episodes that come close to capturing the spirit and humour of the first 7 / 8 seasons.

    I read on that Zombie Simpsons page that two highly rated "newer" ones are Trilogy of Error and Eternal Moonshine of the Spotless Mind. Any other recommendations, especially from more recent years? I'll go and watch them and tell you what I think.

    I had a quick look and couldnt find anything I could enjoy beyond season 13, here are some of the most watchable episodes of season 11 and 12 IMO.


    Treehouse of horror X season 11 (Marge runs down flanders, comic book guy abducts xena, Homers ineptitude spreads the Y2k Bug.)

    Take my wife, sleaze season 11 (Hells satans biker gang abducts marge)

    treehouse of horror XI season 12 (Homer eats broccoli and dies, bart and lisa hansel and gretel, snorkie the dolphin)

    The computer wore menace shoes season 12 (Homer makes his own website as Mr. X and gets abducted for predicting a flu shot conspiracy)


    Simpsons tall tales season 12 (Hobo tells rehashed american stories while on trainride) Tradin' stories for sponge baths haha!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,674 ✭✭✭AllGunsBlazing


    Up until 1997 it was untouchable. You literally knew the episode you were about to watch was going to be quality TV. Can't really think of another show that delivered as consistently as The Simpsons did in it's pomp.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,382 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    P.Walnuts wrote: »
    The Marge gets a job episode was on last night, must be one of the greatest.

    Homer: Marge the key is to blame the guy who doesn't speak english, oh Tibor how many times have you saved my ass

    Some time later...

    Smithers: (Showing Marge her new office) And this is your office.
    That idiot Tibor lost the key but you canjimmy it open with a credit card.


    Classic Tibor

    I'm used to seeing people promoted ahead of me. Friends, co-workers, Tibor... I never thought it'd be my own wife.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 783 ✭✭✭HerrScheisse


    Homer the clown,
    Don' mess around',
    even though da man,
    try to keep him down,
    but one day Homer will,
    break all his chain,
    but until that day, Homer don' play.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭C14N


    It seems very hard to pin down the change because it was so gradual. I mean people point to things like lazy celebrity appearances and those definitely became more obvious as time went on where it was either just "oh hi celebrity, how are you? Okay bye" or, even worse, having a celebrity on as themselves and just making a whole episode about how great they are, but even then there were elements of those in the classics.

    I think one of the bigger problems was the move toward wacky adventures and current pop-culture references. The fact that the show was so grounded is what made it so funny at first, especially because people don't expect that in a cartoon but the family become a lot less relatable as an average middle class dysfunctional household when they've had more exceptional lives than anyone in existence. When you drag it on too long, you end up with Homer having been exceptionally well-travelled, having gone to the moon space, made a Hollywood movie, been in two massively successful bands, became mayor of half the town, waste commissioner of the whole town, neighbour of two presidents, successful horse trainer etc. There's just too much. The family became celebrities in their own continuity and then it just became focused on spectacle rather than mundane but vaguely realistic. They've hung lampshades on this plenty of times but even that only goes so far and they've gone way too far.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,812 ✭✭✭✭padd b1975


    valoren wrote: »
    The Zombie Simpsons page mentioned previously suggested that the Frank Grimes episode, Homer's Enemy, was a deliberate flag from the writers that the show had gone full circle, that the consensus was that the show would be winding down and would finish soo thereafter.

    This is indicated during the scene in the house which goes,

    HOMER
    Yes, that's me alright. And the guy standing next to me is President Gerald Ford. (pointing to the other photos) And this is when I was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins. Oh! And here's a picture of me in outer space.

    GRIMES
    You? Went into outer space? You?

    HOMER
    Sure. You've never been? Would you like to see my Grammy award? (holds it up)


    Essentially, where do we, the writers, go from here?
    The Grimes episode is a favourite of mine, very dark undertones.

    Another full circle pointer was the episode where Homer is sitting in bed listing out all the careers he's had.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,578 ✭✭✭monkeysnapper


    Wow i used to love the Simpsons , but at some point around 7/8 years ago I suddenly stopped watching it .

    I didn't realise it was still going!!

    Maybe subconsciously I stopped watching because I didn't like it but I don't remember doing that .

    I'm more into my Apple TV these days watching netflix .


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,115 ✭✭✭eviltimeban


    It was the emergence of "jerkass Homer". If Homer isn't good in the show, then it's screwed.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 264 ✭✭Squeedily Spooch


    It was the emergence of "jerkass Homer". If Homer isn't good in the show, then it's screwed.

    Exactly, Homer used to be a well meaning but stupid everyman. Now, and especially in the movie, he's just a gigantic arsehole who's completely unlikeable.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,227 ✭✭✭Sam Mac


    I still enjoy watching it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,571 ✭✭✭0byme75341jo28


    After the one they went to Japan in, it was all downhill from there.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,893 ✭✭✭Davidius


    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 really not just nostalgia, there is an appreciable difference from the earlier seasons. I was born after the show started airing (I'm 23) and probably started watching around the time most people think the decline began. Most of the older episodes jokes naturally went completely over my head but it seemed to be that even then the older re-run episodes were simply better and this was when both were essentially fresh to me. I still enjoyed newer episodes but the decline became notable enough that I just stopped actively watching newer episodes when I was about 10/11 or so.

    As I got older I found the older episodes grew even funnier, but most stuff after season 9 tends to fall a bit flat. The older episodes just do a lot of things better. There's a higher density of laughs, the voice direction is better and the writing is a lot cleverer. Considering it in the context of the time it was created I think it's fair to say it was quite "edgy", it created some controversy back in its day. The Simpsons Seasons 4-7 is some of the best television ever created, and that's without even considering the historical context in which it was created. It has the perfect combination of writing, voice direction, satire/wit and accessibility. One thing that surprised was seeing what I thought was a newer episode because it seemed relatively decent compared to recent episodes I'd seen. Turned out it was a season 9 episode I'd never seen before.

    The show has definitely changed. Without making this too long, it's clear that the Simpsons themselves are a relic of a bygone era. They are a 90s era American TV family with simple/crude character designs and feel very out of place in a modern setting beside new characters with more detailed designs. This probably made their evolution into caricatures inevitable.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,300 ✭✭✭✭razorblunt


    Huge Simpsons fan, but I don't keep up to date with the newest episodes at all.

    Having celebs play themselves as nothing more than a "look it's simon cowell" was the start of the decline. As someone earlier pointed out celebs playing characters works out better, Fat Tony, Herb Simpson, Hank Scorpia etc.

    Saying that though George Harrison and Mel Brooks appearances worked well

    "That Young Frankenstein scared the hell out of me".

    The newer episodes are near hit and miss, nothing standout, very few quotable episodes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Intensive Care Bear


    The the last good episode of the Simpsons was Trash of the Titans where Homer becomes Sanitation Commissioner. That was in 1998.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,750 ✭✭✭iDave


    The jockeys as elves episode just popped into my head. Shudder.


    Whats really annoying is I remember discussing how bad the Simpsons had become before I did the junior cert. I'm pushing 30 now and sh1t episodes are still being churned out.
    Its been bad THAT long. Talk about sh1tting on your own legacy.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭C14N


    Exactly, Homer used to be a well meaning but stupid everyman. Now, and especially in the movie, he's just a gigantic arsehole who's completely unlikeable.

    Yeah I think this kind of sums it up. I'm kind of just pulling this out of my arse but it seems like older episodes would feature Homer acting selfish or inconsiderate but then he usually felt bad about it and did something to redeem himself and it got worse once that changed and he started doing things that were just really mean (Co-depenants's Day being a particularly bad case).
    Davidius wrote: »
    It's really not just nostalgia, there is an appreciable difference from the earlier seasons. I was born after the show started airing (I'm 23) and probably started watching around the time most people think the decline began. Most of the older episodes jokes naturally went completely over my head but it seemed to be even then that the older re-run episodes were simpler better and this was when both were essentially fresh to me. I still enjoyed newer episodes but the decline became notable enough that I just stopped actively watching newer episodes when I was about 10/11 or so.

    I'm kind of the same as you, I must have been about 7 or 8 when I started really liking the Simpsons (so around 2000 or season 11) but the thing was, most of what I watched was re-runs of older episodes. Sky had new episodes on Sundays for half the year but I often didn't get to see those because my parents were watching something or we were just out of the house so the majority of what I did watch was just weekday evening broadcasts on RTE or Sky1. I never really had any concept of "seasons" and which were good and which were bad until just a few years ago. Also, the Principal and the Pauper never stuck out to me as a problem any of the times I saw it. It was only from Wikipedia I found out that it was a widely despised episode that many thought destroyed the show.
    iDave wrote: »
    The jockeys as elves episode just popped into my head. Shudder.

    The main plot was terrible but I still liked the subplot with Lisa that culminated in Bill Clinton appearing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 73,732 ✭✭✭✭Welsh Megaman


    As boardsies have already pointed out, the decline begins when celebrities appear as themselves and offer nothing.

    Gone are the days when a famous actor would actually PLAY a character, a great example being Donald Sutherland as the curator of the Jebediah Springfield museum.

    The Simpsons is competing against the memory of itself...and losing.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,047 ✭✭✭GerB40


    As boardsies have already pointed out, the decline begins when celebrities appear as themselves and offer nothing.

    Gone are the days when a famous actor would actually PLAY a character, a great example being Donald Sutherland as the curator of the Jebediah Springfield museum.

    The Simpsons is competing against the memory of itself...and losing.

    Although I do agree about celebrities appearing as actual characters (Dustin Hoffman as the teacher was excellent), James Woods appearing as himself was, in my opinion, the best celeb cameo. He was hilarious..


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  • Registered Users Posts: 47 DB Cooper 23


    I remember watching an episode where the main plot consisted of Marge's hair turning grey. When that is the best story line that you can come up with I think it's time to call it a day


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,802 ✭✭✭✭suicide_circus


    iDave wrote: »
    The jockeys as elves episode just popped into my head. Shudder.


    Whats really annoying is I remember discussing how bad the Simpsons had become before I did the junior cert. I'm pushing 30 now and sh1t episodes are still being churned out.
    Its been bad THAT long. Talk about sh1tting on your own legacy.
    I'm same age as you and you are correct.

    The Simpsons has now been shiit longer than it was good.

    Really sad.

    South Park are doing it too.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,785 ✭✭✭KungPao


    I'm same age as you and you are correct.

    The Simpsons has now been shiit longer than it was good.

    Really sad.

    South Park are doing it too.
    The current season is pretty fantastic I think.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,657 ✭✭✭somefeen


    I remember the first time I watched an episode of the simpsons and thought it was crap.

    It was the episode where they find smithers' fathers remains in a quarry. Thats where I noticed they had lost it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭UCDVet


    For shows that run for a few years - I think you can talk about a bad season (like Dexter - Julia Styles or whatever her name is - that was a bad season).

    With shows that run for decades though, I think it's a lot less about how good or bad the show is and a lot more about when you discovered it and how you developed. Most of my friends loved the early seasons because that's when they started watching it. Now, they've got wives, houses, jobs and children....and they don't think the cartoon is as good as it used to be.

    I didn't watch the Simpsons at all growing up. I binge watched them in college, and I thought the early seasons were crap. I haven't watched the last 2-3 seasons, but I honestly didn't see any decline in quality.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 476 ✭✭Burky126


    UCDVet wrote: »
    I didn't watch the Simpsons at all growing up. I binge watched them in college, and I thought the early seasons were crap. I haven't watched the last 2-3 seasons, but I honestly didn't see any decline in quality.

    There's your problem,you binge watched them.There's tons of gags and details that you probably missed the first time around in the early seasons (2-9). The newer seasons don't have those subtleties in the writing that warrants a second viewing. There's a reason the early seasons are regarded as classics in television.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭C14N


    As boardsies have already pointed out, the decline begins when celebrities appear as themselves and offer nothing.

    Gone are the days when a famous actor would actually PLAY a character, a great example being Donald Sutherland as the curator of the Jebediah Springfield museum..

    But that's still not an iron clad rule. Celebrities still played themselves in classic episodes (James Woods, as someone pointed out, the parade of quick celebrities in the Gabbo episode, all 3 living Beatles getting token appearances, Aerosmith, Sting, Leonard Nimoy and countless others) and they usually weren't that well developed or important to the plot but they didn't make it bad.

    At the same time, newer ones have had celebrities in to play actual characters who matter to the plot (like Ricky Gervais, Stephen Colbert or Jeremy Irons) and they still turn out rubbish so it's very hard to blame the celebrity appearances.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,356 ✭✭✭MakeEmLaugh


    It's impossible to pick an exact moment, although many have tried- the episodes with Armin Tanzarian or Jay Leno are two of the ones people have pointed to. I think it was a slippery slope, they gradually became less consistently funny until they just weren't funny at all.

    Those episodes are great.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭C14N


    Those episodes are great.

    I can't see how someone would think the Jay Leno episode was bad. I mean the cameo was pretty lazy, sure, but the episode itself with Krusty becoming a sort of Carlin/Hicks type comedian was brilliant. Not to mention that legendary ending.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,382 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    I think part of the problem is that the celebrity guests are portrayed in a higly flattering light now, whereas in older episodes they were often self-deprecating.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭harry Bailey esq


    Super-Rush wrote: »
    Seasons 1 to 13 were fantastic. All the great quotes and episodes were from that period, particularly the Conan O'Brien years. Since then its relied way too much on celebrities.

    This. After Conan o Brien left,the show began to lose direction. Anything made from the late 90s onwards is generally unwatchable drivel.That said,i still get my fix of the Simpsons daily.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,631 ✭✭✭Dirty Dingus McGee


    This. After Conan o Brien left,the show began to lose direction. Anything made from the late 90s onwards is generally unwatchable drivel.That said,i still get my fix of the Simpsons daily.

    Conan O'Brien wrote about 3 or 4 episodes of the show (admittedly some brilliant episodes) and was on the writing staff for a couple of years.He wasn't there when the show started and gained it's mass following.Him leaving had nothing to do with the show declining he left in 1993 and the show was top class for another 5 years after he left.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,382 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    Yeah, people often overstate his importance to the shows glory days. He was a great contributor to it but they did fine without him for quite some time.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭C14N


    Yeah, people often overstate his importance to the shows glory days. He was a great contributor to it but they did fine without him for quite some time.

    I don't really know why people think he was so important. Not that he wasn't a great writer, but he was one amongst many at the time and he certainly wasn't the one guy carrying or leading the team. I can only imagine people single him out because he's by far the most famous person to work on the show but even then, he's only the most famous because of what he did after, he wasn't a bigshot when he was on the writing team.


  • Registered Users Posts: 316 ✭✭ROAAAR


    Friends is a another show that got absolutely terrible. Only the very early episodes do I find it entertaining. It's hard to see why people hold it in such high regard really. It's not the greatest writing to be fair.


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