Do you guys remember the episode where the simpsons made fun of married with children and said that it was a tv-show that did not know when to end and just did it for money with no new content? Well...
...that's called self-referential humor. Like how waaay back in season 4 with the clip show they make fun of clip shows as a desperation move for shows going on too long and running out of things to say.
The problem is the Simpsons has lived too long, and Futurama was ended too soon. Although I prefer Futurama getting cancelled early than having to watch what they've done to the Simpsons
shortylickens69 agreed it was less about the adventures of fry bender and leela like the old episodes and more about them just doing nothing interesting the reason why the old episodes where good is because the writing was better and it was interesting what adventures they go on the Comedy Central era was mediocre at best and it made me bored of watching it even the futurama movies were mediocre too imo the same can be said about the Simpsons hell disenchantment was not that good imo it seems less like the shows are on seasonal rot and more like Matt groening is getting burnt out
The question is when simpsons die no when it left golden age. And I would argue that it dies with new HD graphics in season 20. I personally love season 14 -17. Other were watchable till 20th season. I stopped watching simpsons in season 22 which was just bad.
Season 9 to season 19 was the silver age. Not the classic 90s but still entertaining. Especially to alot of 2000s kids it was some of the first episodes we saw.
It wasn't just Homer, Marge used to be a loving mother but was now known for her nagging. Bart was shown to have heart but now he's just a prankster. Lisa used to show intelligence and care for those around her, but now she is the embodiment of "female empowerment." The only character who wasn't changed is Maggie. Maggie never dies.
My best friend has never asked about my drug addiction or feeling bad, and we've been friends for 9 years. There's no point to this comment really, it just sorta struck me reading your comment.
Shake it up is all that we know Using the bodies up as we go I'm waking up to fantasy The shades all around Aren't the colors we used to see Broken ice still melts in the sun And times that are broken Can often be one again We're soul alone And soul really matters to me Take a look around You're out of touch I'm out of time (time) But I'm out of my head When you're not around You're out of touch I'm out of time (time) But I'm out of my head When you're not around Oh, oh-oh, oh Oh, oh-oh, oh Reaching out for something to hold Looking for a love Where the climate is cold Manic moves and drowsy dreams Or living in the middle Between the two extremes Smoking guns hot to the touch Would cool down If we didn't use them so much We're soul alone And soul really matters to me Too much You're out of touch I'm out of time (time) But I'm out of my head When you're not around You're out of touch I'm out of time (time) But I'm out of my head When you're not around Oh, oh-oh, oh Oh, oh-oh, oh... (Out of touch) Out of touch You're out of touch I'm out of time (time) But I'm out of my head When you're not around You're out of touch I'm out of time (time) But I'm out of my head When you're not around..
I think that is the point of the comment. There hasn't been (would not personally know, I haven't watched it since 2001) but it is well within the character of the programme to do such a thing. They are out of ideas: "let's reveal an old beloved character isn't who they say they are, or kill them off then replace them with a twin who is the same in every way than not have it feature in the continuity." Lazy and unimaginative. I thought it was terrible when they did that with Snowball the cat.
Sorry Matthew, but they actually did, I watched every single episode in hope that they may finally make a great true comeback... In fact, I love this show so much, I don't really hate the newest seasons that much... It's still better than other shows and maybe the audience should give them a chance... Nostalgia around this old show works both ways, either we find it hard to like because it's mostly rehashed ideas now, or some of the original audience still likes it, to see them try to find new ways to entertain us after having treated almost every theme imaginable... That's debatable in my opinion
The actually did? It doesn't at all surprise me. I really stopped caring long ago. I mostly disagree with you, it is better than a lot of what is on, hence why I rarely watch television these days, but a number of celebrities that owe their success to what's trending online, being injected into the show for the Simpson's to interact with, the playing up to U.S. politics, coupled with the lack of creativity - they used to put a lot of play-on-words jokes and hidden references everywhere, there is hardly an episode that doesn't allude to an old film, television show or historical event, adding an extra layer; the newer episodes of the last 15 years feels so sterile and unimaginative. The straight-in-your-face jokes that tell you the point in plain English and the inability to execute parody, with the hastily dating pop-cultural references shoehorned in everywhere that distract from the flow of the story. At least you are getting something out of it, though unfortunately, I doubt it'll get better.
For me it died when Maude died -- and I wasn't even a big Maude Flanders fan. It's just that, it became some kind of benchmark. It felt like the whole show changed after that moment. I don't really know why. I can't even really explain it. It was just a different show...
My point exactly. It was obvious yet undefinable. These characters were members of our own families. After Maude died it was like they became cartoons. Even though they were animated I NEVER thought of them as cartoons until that point. The rest of that season came across as boring and...well, cartoonish. Maude really did deserve a better death. Or even to NOT die. I would have preferred Helen Lovejoy to die. Not out of malice for her, but to see how Reverend Lovejoy deals with it as a devoutly religious man and as a community leader. What effect would the pain and depression of the town's minister have on the community? We'll never know.
Jeez, I watched a season 28 episode where Bart is in a coma, and is having constant terrors of Maude Flanders haunting him. And as it goes on (in his coma) he kills an entire train full of people and gets Homer killed to so she can pass on to the next step in the afterlife.
That's what I thought the video was going to say. I think that more than anything else sealed the deal as so many of the best episodes were voiced by the same voice actor.
It's a little misleading to make this all about one episode, there are many factors, like The Great Migration, when quite a few writers went to Futurama
Same problem happened with Futurama too. 1-4 were amazing. "movies" were ok... then it just went downhill. Bad writing. Not understanding there characters that we fell in love with. Except for a few episodes of later Futurama, most of it just kinda sucks.
@Ringo Vaughan-Hughes I agree, I stopped watching Simpsons because of Family Guy. Until Family Guy also murdered itself over time and became unlikable.
I miss the golden age of the Simpsons. A show that was a counterculture to the American middle class sitcoms of the 80's. Now, they became what they sought to fight in the 90's.
I always felt bad for the "real" Skinner getting kicked out of town tied to a train carriage. I guess he's had his revenge though, as the show's quality left with him.
My question is this: If everyone including the show's creators are aware that the writers and directors are nowhere near the standard of the golden age, why don't they simply fire them all and get in actual talent? They are one of the biggest tv shows in history, they could do this if they choose to.
Probably demands from Fox to crank out episodes, and that hinders the quality (Rushed, underfunded/demands to be met that don't help (Like a celebrity appearance)) and then the writers probably get thrown in by Fox going "Make this work" a they print more shirts with bart on it.
The thing is, you can't "plan" to create great masterpieces, it was a unique combination of talent and circumstances that led to the golden age of the Simpsons back then. It's like saying "There are no more bands as good as the Beatles, why don't the four most talented musicians just get together and create that kind of music again?" It wouldn't work. They had their moment and they way overstayed it.
Not sure it would work. people know the voices of the characters. The show has long since jumped the shark. Still I think it will be a sad day when it finally stops making episodes. That I think will come when a major voice actor dies or quits.
The Simpsons in its current form is a sad state of affairs. Truth be told, I'm not certain any show can get to six hundred episodes and still remain on top of its game. The stories and settings started getting more and more outlandish, sometimes reeking of pure desperation. A good example is the son of Frank Grimes. There was absolutely no setup to the reveal of Grimey's offspring whatsoever, and his appearance was explained away in one quick, artless statement that Frank Grimes enjoyed prostitutes. It was almost as though they just wanted to link a mediocre episode to an established successful one, but in doing so, damaged the source material. It also seems like the writing pace gradually devolved over the years from well thought-out, intelligent stories, to quick throw-away stories built to accommodate the guest-star of the week, who seem to be chosen on no other merit than who the episode's writer seems to fancy. It seems more like the writers want to convey how intelligent they think themselves to be, so the guests have deviated from people who fit a scenario for an episode, to people the writers believe will make them look more deep, so we get episodes centered around a large building, bringing in a famous architect who ends up having three lines in the whole show, leaving behind nineteen minutes of nonsense with no point. Or famous crossword puzzle designers who appear in the tail end of an episode, so a bizarre, uninteresting story is concocted to lead up to it. Or worst of all, we get that unwatchable mess about Lady Ga-Ga and her over-the-top, unfunny, world travelling train. We are a far cry from the early episodes of Sideshow Bob, or Burns' bear, Bobo. Just write it well, next time. Also, I apologize for any overlong sentences, or improperly conveyed ideas on my part. I'm writing this at work, and sometimes in a hurry. "Well, just write it when you're not at work, then." No.
"Seems more like the writers want to convey how intellingent the think themselves to be..." The scene that immediately comes to my mind is the "cheese scene" from the episode where the Simpsons go to Italy and they get the Ferrari wrecked. Lisa just "identifying" every kind of cheese was meant to be a joke but I can't imagine anyone laughing to that, it was like the writers screaming at us "look guys, we knows stuff".
I remember watching the episode about Seymour's real identity, it made me feel so sad because despite him being a character who is disliked by some of the characters, we still loved him he's an awesome character and to find out that he was just an imposter, it kinda sticks to the back of your head to think that they're are just gonna have to live with the fact that he was lying for so long.
The Simpsons is the kind of show where almost nothing ever changes and most stuff that happened in previous episodes is never mentioned again in new episodes so its exactly the same with Seymour and how everybody in Springfield feels about him now as it was before that episode aired. Usually when they do mention stuff that happened in old episodes its only a short joke and is not important to the episode or the story.
The important thing to remember is that the person we knew and cared about for so long, even if he was assuming a false identity, is still the same person. He is the only 'Seymour Skinner' who matters.
everybody have an episode that broke the magical spell for The Simpsons mine was the episode where Lisa Kudrow was a guest it was the first time that I thought that a celebrity cameo was gratuitious and also the design of her character came to that point where everything else but the Simpsons family was very detailed. her face, hair, clothes stood out so much when she was close to Lisa
I know exactly what you mean. I miss the old animation style that was rougher around the edges. I thought it had more personality. The animation became too polished and didn't fit into the world anymore. Thanks for watching!
Althony Rightano I've always wanted closure on this. I couldn't relate more. I grew up watching each episode so much I even enjoyed knowing each line. Then something happened and I could never put my finger on it. I do remember thinking, at the age of 14, I have a principal and how odd it would be to have this happen. It feels like after season 10 they just started selling us the same bag of chips but with far less inside. Their market had become so large it was if the writers were no longer needed. As long as they showed the cast doing stuff that was enough. It insults those iconic moments in the simpsons. I haven't seen an episode after season 13 and I don't care to as I've tried many times hoping to be wrong. The simpsons movie was also arbitrary and unnecessary. I want them to stop making the show so it can be streamed more easily and I can re watch seasons 1-10 again. Thanks for the closure. I just couldn't put my finger on what happened and this helped as lame as that may sound.
For me, this episode was what broke it. I attempted to watch it again around 2001, but couldn't. I ended up watching the NSync episode, with the lame Matrix reference, and the funniest thing being "Lt. L.T. Smash"
To me that the bigger issue in this episode then the reveal is the ending.The real Skinner was not shown to be a rude, mean, or bad person. Our Skinner had no problem stealing the life of the man who saved him and having him get banished from his home. And the real Skinner’s mom told him she didn’t want him. Who really thought that was funny or appropriate. Honestly I expect that kind of ending from Family Guy.
Not mean or bad but as I recall actually nonetheless incompetetent. The idea that because he was the original he should just take over and do as well or better seemed like something you're not really supposed to take seriously and the ending being him being banished I guess was doubling down on you're really not supposed to take seriously.
The show is on autopilot at this point though compared to the town of Quahog, they haven't become incredibly tasteless, just kind of bland with sometimes some nice moments.
There's always more ideas to be had. They just need to fire Al Jean, hire a new showrunner and hire better writers if they can't handle the direction of the new showrunner.
Modern Simpsons are simply promotional shows for Celebrities and campy unfunny jokes. Moronic stories that don't make sense, too many stupid subplots and literally no character development at all. They pretty much feel like a modern Reboot of the original Simpsons.
I now include everything from season 1 in the golden age. when i was younger the season 1 episodes seemed to have a bit of a crude and a harsh animation edge. when i go back and watch now the humor is also blacker. but i'm older. so i like season 1 more than i used to.
For me, it died in Season 11. It was truly the last season where I connected with the characters and stories. Frankly, when Maude Flanders died, so did the show. Funny enough, when Homer bowls a perfect game in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" and struggled to stay relevant, it became rather poignant and symbolic of the show itself. The Millenials were all growing up and the show stopped being relevant to a lot of us. At least I have my DVD collection to fall back on these days. Seasons 1-10 are still classics in my book.
As a huge fan of 90s simpsons heres my two cents: 1-2: Intelligent and funny but lacks refinement 3-8: Brilliant, intelligent, full of character and relatable/heartwarming situations, genuinely hilarious 9-10: Still has its humour but slowly lacks the intelligent quips of the former seasons 11-12: Watchable, but has already lost most of the charm and creativity of the past 13-28: Oh god... just...just let it die its so bad...such unfunny and completely lazy writing...please let it die
I think the genuinely bad part of the Simpsons started with season 20. Up to season 19 there were still a memorable episode here and there but after season 20 all of them are just forgettable and cringy... Although I agree that the decay started growing faster after season 13
I think the precise moment when it clicked for me that something had been lost in the Simpsons was the episode Catch 'Em if You Can. Homer and Marge go on holiday without the kids, Bart and Lisa try to track them down, it becomes a game of cat and mouse, 'hilarity' ensues. I get that it's a direct reference to Catch Me if You Can and yes, it's a cartoon, but two things really grated with me. First, the ridiculousness of the plot; the Simpsons never shied away from being outlandish, but kids chasing their parents around all of North America is just farcical. Second, Homer and Marge were traditionally showed to be doting parents. What they sometimes lacked in intelligence and responsibility (Homer especially) they made up for with deep devotion to their kids. For instance Homer could be neglectful of his fatherly duties at times, but think of his 'do it for her' sign in the power plant and you know that he was a loving father. That was reinforced for years over hundreds of episodes. Then in this episode Homer and Marge's suddenly have a casual indifference towards their kids' well-being; they see their 8 and 10 year old kids alone in a distant city and just run away. One of the underlying characteristics of the Simpsons was that as the decades have passed, they go through a variety of bizarre situations yet the characters themselves remain constant. Yet here was a storyline in which some of their most basic character traits were abandoned to make the plot work. That said to me that the 'heart' of the show had been lost and the characters were becoming more generic, free to be moulded to whatever the plot requires.
Along with the "Do it for her" sign, your comment reminded me of when Homer gave up his tickets for the duff blimp so Lisa could join the little miss springfield pageant and regain her self confidence. Or when Homer works 2 jobs so Lisa could keep her horse. I miss the heartfelt episodes!!!
Or when Homer and Bart tries to bond over building a soap box racer together because Homer finds out he doesn't know his own son that well. I miss the old Simpsons.
quiet rogue he wasn't sobbing, he was just looking into the night sky, reflecting. Which was a rather subtle beautiful moment that humanized Homer. A show can be emotional and still be funny. I don't get why some people just want a show to be only silly, or only dramatic. A comedy can occasionally have heart & soul, while a serious drama can still have funny moments. If one focuses too much on one thing then it doesn't seem very realistic, and static to me.
1-8 were good 9-12 were ok, some good outstanding episodes between the bad ones 13+ is just the mehest of the meh And don't even get me started on that fucking Lady Gaga episode and the one about Carl's Icelandic heritage just wtf
Entertain The Elk that's right, the voices in Latin America where changed because the assholes here in Mexico owning the whole fucking television didn't want to pay more than the missery they gave to the dubbers, actually the voices here were really really good as were the only ones Matt Groening personally chose besides the original English ones. Here the TV is owned by Televisa, which is "owned" by the government, they pay their artists misserably so all The Simpsons actors were fired just for asking for better payment, would be cool to see a video about it... so fucking sad and unfair, but still we had the original voices until like season 12 I think... and also I can still watch them in English too but whatevs, still a sad subject.
Family guy is giant bucket of liberal garbage. It jumps from appealing to adults to appealing to children, impossible for either group to watch for long periods.
If you watch it with a political mindset it's unbearably obvious. Brian is clearly the token liberal but the rest of them obviously must portray the moronic right. It's almost a hobby of mine to analyze the political leanings of fictitious characters. It can be funny, many times I've laughed, but not consistently enough to warrant continuous watching.
Don't give the show more credit than it's worse. The characters are all terribly written and I doubt they're made to be political commentary. Especially when Seth was genuinely upset and confused over a shitty joke of character raping Marge being taken off
Family Guy is garbage but I feel like the first three seasons had potential, though I was rather young when it came out so maybe I gave it more credit than it's worth. I mean if you love repetitive humor that doesn't mind reminding you just how repetitive it is then you probably enjoy Family Guy.
The thing that really toned me off was stupid jokes that ran on for long periods. like Peter just saying something continuously for 5 minutes. or them staring at the camera for 3 minutes, I swear to God they do it 'cause they're out of ideas and need to fill in time space in the show. Not to mention sitting through some stupid attempt at being edgy without actually making the payoff punchline any good.
I always thought I grew out of The Simpson's because I didn't laugh out loud at it anymore. That was until I watched an older episode of it and I realised that I hadn't changed, the show had
that was the worst. it was just a big "look at how perfect gaga is and we all have to like her" PR move. the kind of episode the simpsons at their prime would make fun of. it almost felt like the episode "joy of sect", but taken seriously. i was waiting for them to mock the entire episode at the end.
When I see "The Simpsons" on television, and select it, I leave pretty quick if it doesn't have that old school animation look, and the beautiful widescreen black bars on both sides of the screen.
No, I completely agree! I don't think for me there was an actual defining moment when the franchise suddenly started to suck, but I can say for sure that the last time I ever willingly laid eyes on the Simpsons was the movie. I had already written the show off, by and large, but I paid to see it in the theatres mostly out of curiosity as to whether it would act (as promised by many promoters and media outlets) as the "last hurrah" that allowed the franchise to finally die with dignity and go out on top. Instead, it was the harbinger of all things to come: a slick, flashy, soulless corporate parody of itself, directed entirely by committee, created by a team of scientists in a lab somewhere by extracting and cobbling together what they THOUGHT people liked about the series as a whole into a Frankensteinian monster, and then animated entirely by computers without even the hint that any of the show's millionaires had ever cared enough to touch it (much like George Lucas, these sniveling fools actually saw that as a plus). Hamer, Madge, Bert and Leeza Stimson in "PAY TO SEE THIS MOVIE, THEN GO BUY A T-SHIRT AND A HAPPY MEAL", plus celebrity guests, yay! Watch the flash, then give us your cash!
If only the day The Simpsons died had been the day it was allowed to end with dignity, go off the air, and ride quietly into the sunset. Instead, it's been turned into a lich by the dark sorcery of greed. A monstrosity with its life unnaturally prolonged beyond what any TV show should have. Neither truly living nor truly dead, yet condemned to walk the earth until the last money is finally drained from its withered, decrepit veins.
I'd say just stop watching this show and Fox will get the message once rating keeps getting lower and lower and don't buy any merchandise. This show died in 2000 with Behind The Laughter as far as i'm concerned and If The Simpsons was a pet it would be that old dog that desperately needs to be put down to end its long suffering.
Making a character detach from their established character tells the audience that the writers no longer care what happens to them; and eventually the audience doesn't care any longer either.
That is what I hate about Flanders' Ladder. Lisa would never act as mean as she did in that episode, not even towards Bart. It also doesn't make Bart bad enough to deserve the torment that Lisa gave him. August 25, 2019, 10:41am
You can't compare TV viewer ratings in 2017 vs the 90's. Far more options now, streaming, cord-cutting, etc. Fox's top show this year draws 7M per episode, and The Simpson's still draws about 4M an episode which is strong in 2017.
This was such an iconic show in my childhood. This show serves as a reminder that all good things come to an end. Nothing is forever. All is temporary.
One of the main problems with modern Simpsons is that the writers don't understand these characters, and 'The Principal and the Pauper' is an example (though not really as "modern" as other episodes). Principal Skinner's character writing and development was built how he'd been over-parented by his mother for too long, and despite having a job as a principal, the over-parenting and torment has had a bad effect on his life. Skinner turning out to be an impostor destroys his character development, because, if he didn't live with Agnes as a child, why would she be affecting his life so badly?
Much like Family Guy, the animation upgraded to HD but the writing kind of downgraded. Although to be fair, The Simpsons have more taste by not relying on so much gore and violence
Its typical of everything nowadays almost in mainstream entertainment, all flash and very little substance, CGI is ruining entertainment in one way or the other, a lot of everything is coming across consistently lazy and contrived.
I loved when Homer lost weight and his hair started to grow back because Bart was gone. Then they had the news on and Homer is thinking,"don't be the boy. don't be the boy." It's Bart and his hair falls out and so does his gut. lol
You're right about connecting with the characters. Actually, while the show is about the title family, almost every resident of the city has been given protagonism in at least 1 episode. I can't think of any other show that has done that.
I know the animation has nothing to do with the writing quality, but the look also changed once the show started getting 'colored in' in the back room of a Chinese Walmart.
Season breakdown: 1-2 good but not flushed out yet 3-8: golden age 9-12: lacking but tolerable 13-Movie: terribly lackluster Movie-Present: generally awful, becoming little more than a platform for politics, pop culture, and celebrities. At least when these matters where featured in earlier seasons, it was done more sparringly and complemented the plot and characters' nature. Now these have become the plot, and the characters have generally lost all dimension.
Matt Groening should have cancelled The Simpsons after season 10 due its decline, and so he and his writers can focus on a certain animated sitcom about a space parcel company.
I see the "Main reason" for The Simpsons decline is Matt Groening's decision to switch to Futurama, that was already in work at that time. First episode of Futurama was aired in late march 1999, and "The principle and the Pauper" was aired in late september 1997. Which means that Mr. Groening has already switched his focus on Futurama, and let other people work on The Simpsons. Futurama was fantastic for first 5 seasons, until it got canceled. And because it got canceled, almost 10 years later, Matt has watered it down too, to be more family friendly like the old The Simpsons seasons, and The Simpsons basically became lame boring, money making, family friendly franchise, and thus, both series that were once comedy gold, got killed of, for no specific reason, other than financial gain.
And then why couldn't they have just left Futurama's corpse lie peacefully, without reanimating and humiliating it. Not too unlike Fry, I suppose, but forgive me if I don't appreciate the ironic parallel.
Am I the only one who also sees seasons 1 and 2 as part of the golden age too? Yes it was the early days of establishing characters and such, but it still had meaningful episodes and lessons to learn.
VERY strongly agree. The first two seasons had amazing, continually rewatchable shows. I've watched them too many times to count and still find them a pleasure. They were more biting, for one. Year after year, the show got nicer, which took a lot of the teeth out of the satire. Eventually even Mr. Burns often became an okay guy. It was wonderful when the show first came out, amid all the ultra-smarmy sitcoms of its day, that it was willing to set up a figure like Burns for attack that showed not just his ordinary greed, but his absurdity and how sheltered and ridiculously out of touch he was. Futurama got criticized by studio execs for being too mean, but in the beginning, the Simpsons was mean too.
No, I agree. They're part of it too. Bart gets an F is a fantastic episode. He tries his hardest to study when getting a miracle snow day, he still fails, he gets upset and in his despair, shows he did learn something and Krabappel rewards him for it. It's a great happy ending.
Although I'm not a big fan of the episode, I don't get why everyone hates the idea of Skinner being a fraud. He only took on a new name, the personality was always his own. Apart from a couple of flash backs, we had never learned about his life pre-89. Also for the record - a later episode of Season 9 - Das Bus, is among the greatest.
There's definitely some good episodes after The Principal and the Pauper. I remember enjoying the Super Bowl episode in Season 10 when I was a kid. Thanks for watching!
It undermined what we knew about his relationship with Agnes, and it re-contextualized the Vietnam flashbacks that we'd already seen. And even worse, it was done as a joke. It wasn't a sincere effort to give the character more depth. It didn't open the door for the writers to take Skinner in a new direction. The twist was as phony as Seymour himself. And the really sad thing is that they could've done that to almost any other supporting character on the show without causing the same level of harm. Moe isn't really Moe? No problem. Fat Tony is actually a Russian spy? Big deal. Dr. Hibbert doesn't actually have a medical degree? Fine. But Skinner was the best-developed character at the time other than Homer and Marge, so it wasn't something that fans could easily laugh off. It''s pretty much like making an episode called The Way We Wasn't, in which we discover that Marge Simpson isn't Marge Bouvier at all, but rather another woman with similar features who accidentally killed the real Marge in a hit-and-run in 1974 and then took her place, with her family and her boyfriend not noticing. That's not good storytelling. That's an insult.
I love Skinner. This episode is not that terrible. At the end of the episode one of the characters says: "Let's never speak of this ever again" (I'm paraphrasing :)). Which tells us that the writers didn't take this absurd episode to seriously and neither should we, the audience. What I'm saying is that this episode does not define Skinner as a character. There are also a lot of different episodes about how Homer and Marge met and where they grew up (Springfield, the Bronx). Which is absurd, as well as enjoyable. Just like the Skinner episode. GO SEASON 9!!
the point is, and most people seem to agree, seasons 3 - 8 were regularly hilarious. after season 8 the funny moments became fewer and farther between. the simpsons hasn't made me laugh out loud since the turn of the century. it's become a name brand (i.e. it's coasting), is relatively easy to produce, the characters don't age and fox has used it as a crutch for almost 2 decades now.
Why is it considered that season 3-8 is the best? Why no love for season 2? Lots of classic episodes in there, including my all time favourite episode (Lisa's Substitute).
I love Season 2. Just recently rewatched Lisa's Substitute and Bart Gets an F. It's a fantastic season, but I think they hadn't completely found their voice at that point yet. I'd have no problems considering it Golden Age though.
"punishing the audience for paying attention"...I can name Four other prime time animated shows who do that exact thing and are unapologetic about it...They have zero respect for our intelligence
it started to die here, but there still were a few funny episodes in seasons nine and ten. When they killed off Maud Flanders, the Simpson, the REAL Simpsons absolutely died with that episode
I don't think it died in season 9. I think it died a long time after that. Probably after the 2007 movie. And I have to say, Season 20-present is horrifyingly pug fugly.
Nah, it died at Season 9. Especially when compared to what it was from the first 8 seasons. The 2007 movie was a nice comeback to what was a show that was only a shell of itself from the previous 10 years (1997-2007) There are very few quotable moments from Season 9 and after. Few memorable one. The Movie on the other hand told us a few things: one was that the people who serve to create the Simpsons had the creativity to story-tell. But that only served to disappoint us more as the novelty of the movie died, and it was back to business, business being the 10 or so episodes every year.
Sidney Tilley it was definitely dying on its way to making the movie but after the movie it was just a sad. all the anti religion and politics talk just totally turns me off
yeah it was dead long before the movie. Very long. like the writers and producers just kinda stopped caring or something as they watched their ship sink into a corporate sea. and the movie was terrible. Go back and watch a classic simpsons episode, like "Homer's Enemy" from season 8. Then watch the Simpsons Movie straight after. It's nothing but cringe in comparison to when the writing team wasn't just cheap interns.
I will defend Season 20 as a late peak, containing some real gems, like The Book Job. However, it has generally declined into just kind of being okay, with occasional bursts of enjoyment. Rarely anything as charming or entertaining as the first 9-12 seasons though.
The Simpsons never died, they were put on life support. Now the good memories that we had of them are tainted by the years of watching them slowly suffer as they rot.
Rob... I couldn't agree more. :( Though I will say, the classics will always be classics. I'm rewatching Season 4 right now and it's gold. Even the newer crappy episodes can't take that away from us.
I honestly feel like they should have cancelled The Simpsons and continued working on Futurama. Futurama just had way more variety and was consistently fresh and entertaining. This is because the writers were not limited to just normal day to day stuff as the show was about space. They could literally do whatever they wanted, and for the 14 years the show aired, it worked. Though its true that the golden age of The Simpsons is way behind us, and the show has seemed to have lost its charm and originality. I still find it comforting that its still around as most of the other shows of my childhood have disappeared and have been replaced by absolute GARBAGE.
The best example for ending a show after a short time but not make it feel "too soon“ is gravity falls. Had a beautiful ending and no filler episodes. It was perfect.
YES HELL YES That show was amazing and then we got that damn talking dog. AKA "if I wasn't so young and dumb at the time, I wouldn't have watched this." And then, Chloe- aka "I was young and dumb but still knew crap when I saw it." Of course, the downfall really starts in season 7(?) when we got Foop. And before that, when we got Poof, there was a dip in quality. Hell, season 2, when the Flanderization started, has been considered the end of the golden age for some fans. To me, it was when they started utilizing more gross-out and cringe comedy. But in hindsight, most of the Season 9 episodes are unwatchable, and seasons 7-8 are painful, but with a few ok bits. I'm just pissed that Foop is the only member of his _entire species_ to appear anymore. And what happened to the Pixies? Or most other magical creatures, for that matter. Season 6 is alright. Season 5 was pretty good, with the highlight being Fairy Idol, one of my favorite episodes. Season 4 was great, with episodes like Channel Chasers, Genie Meanie Minie Mo, The Big Superhero Wish, Pixies Inc, and Shelf Life. Season 3 was actually a little lower in quality than Season 4, but it still had gems such as Abracatastrophe, The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, Imaginary Gary, Pipe Down, and The Big Scoop. Season 2 was amazing, with gems like Information Stupor Highway(despite being very out-of-date on internet things, it's still more timeless than most attempts to cover modern net culture), The Boy Who Would Be Queen, Totally Spaced Out, Boys In The Band, and Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary. And Season 1? It was pretty lackluster. I'd say the Golden Age of the show was Seasons 2-5.
Sad thing is that I was born from the 2000s era and I'd watch season 1 through 8 first and I found it my favorite show ever. Then when I'ce came to season 9, it's just wasn't the same and I had stopped watching it years ago.
Fun Fact: in my country (Argentina) the Simpsons are still a huge success. People know every quote and episode, the memes are everywhere on social media, and even university professors give examples using the show. Of course everyone loves the older episodes, but it was never forgotten. Many countries in Latin America are the same. I’m always amazed at how easy Americans let it go...
Season 9, besides "The Episode", isn't that bad. If you watch every episode from 1 to whatever we're at now, except "The Episode" then you see seasons 3-9 are the best.
Disagree. It was a misstep, but the definitive end was after 'Behind The Laughter'. The song at the end that joked about how the writers were out of ideas turned out to be borderline prophecy. After that, they started in with the topical episodes: "Springfield legalizes homosexual marriage". "Springfield legalizes marijuana". "Springfield solves the deficit". Enough, already. Worse still, as a result of injecting political sermons into episodes, Lisa went from 'mildly annoying' to 'five-alarm dumpster fire'. It threw off the family dynamic and it's never been the same since.
I don't get it... what's so damn hard about coming up with good ideas for new episodes? Take "Homer the heretic", one of the greatest episodes ever. The entire plot is just about Homer not wanting to go to church. Period. In modern episodes, all kinds of crazy out-of-this-world shit is happening.... why? Keep it simple and earthbound, I'm sure there are plenty ideas to go with.
Yeah there is a reason for the south park episode "the simpsons already did it." Imagine how hard it actually was to be the writers coming up with new ideas for hundreds of new episodes.
South Park and Family Guy ruined the Simpsons. They thought they had to be more over the top so they wouldn't lose out to the other guys but they should have just stayed the same.
I could watch another 3 hrs of you break down the decline of the simpsons. It's a question everyone from our generation has. Why has the simpsons lost its heart? There has to be more to it than cheapening the audiences investment with flimsy premises. With so much good television out there how can they not get a A+ team of writers to really give it a span that acts as a renaissance, regains the shows heart, and gives a well thought out planned narrative while still giving one off episodes?
+j kowski Guess they're just too far gone. They need to age the children. Put them in high school or college or young adults. Only so much you can do with kids. It's been 28 years of the same thing!
It's simple: no good show goes on forever. You eventually run out of ideas and/or situations, that's it. I could make you so many examples of good TV shows or franchises that got milked way beyond what they could offer just for the sake of money, and that's why most of the more beloved ones are either still running or had a conclusion because they missed the right time to end. The show heart were the original writers, you can't just pick "a good writer", whatever that means, to write what you want. If you don't have an original idea you'll never get "the heart of the show" back. If you milk your show trying to add too much to your original idea you're done. That's why Breaking Bad is universally recognized as one (if not THE ONE) best TV show of all time, they got a story and character with an expiration date and they weren't afraid to commit to BIG CHANGES (actually the whole show is a metaphore of chance). That's why the show I got my avatar from isimho the best animated thing that came into the world after the golden age Simpson, his writer aren't afraid of change and consequences of their actions. Who died in the Simpsons? Basically nobody of the core cast. Why? Because they were afraid of ending the show. And I don't mean that you need to kill people to have a good show (see what GoT has become since they surpassed the book, just a random brainless kill lottery...) That's why, mark my words, Mr Robot will fail miserably, you can already see they the writers intended to do a much shorter show and that the whole 2nd season has almost no plot point in it, plus random death of characters they clearly didn't know how to use. That's why Stranger Things and 13 are going to be bad. That0s why True Detective 2nd season was bad. That's why X-Files failed miserably, they got past season 6 that would have been the obvious ending point. That's why Happy Days jumped the shark, and one as I said could literally make tons of examples. Somebody once said something like this: "There are two elements in a story: the final and everything else".
Entertain The Elk I think it would be interesting if they continued from one of the future episodes like the more recent one Holidays of Future Passed with Bart and Lisa raising their children and they could do much more with the future setting and all the new technology and aliens. Have one where Bart takes his sons camping on Mars and deal with the constant changing climates of hot and cold as he earnestly tries to be a better dad and give his sons a good childhood.
And that's why I fucking HATE! When people say shit like..."Its just a game" "Its just a cartoon" "These characters are not real" Of course their not we know that but while watching these characters we grow to love them. Apart of them becomes apart of me and you. We take something from that and hey...Maybe your going through something in life and these characters are something of a get away. When I was a kid, I use to watch Rugrats religiously lol I loved it so much it changed my perspective of life and growing up in this world of grown ups that just don't seem to understand. At the beginning I was chuckie Finster and as he grew as a character I grew along with him, I went from being afraid of everything and everyone to taking chances in life and standing up to people. "He's just a cartoon character", but a character that...yeah changed my life. So I wish writers would understand that its a huge responsibility to respect these characters and after a long run send them off on a high note.
Hurri Cane let him live how he wants. What if he has no family or friends and these characters are the only thing he has left? (I mean probably not but still) what if? Do you know him personally? Because if you do I’ll back off and you can talk to him in real life about reality but imagine if I said your entire family were characters and to not care what would you say? Would you say the exact same thing then? Or would your view change? I know that I’m kinda stretching it for the sake of someone I don’t know but hey, who knows this might be all they’ve got... and it only takes one really bad day to go crazy and maybe your comment was the straw that broke the camels back for this persons bad day... but hey what do I know I’m just some RUclips commenter
HypE Noir yea you are just a person commenting and that’s it no one should take anything anyone says seriously someone doesn’t like something oh well I don’t think John Lennon is a legend but I understand he’s a legend to so many people which I respect just not my type of music I don’t think Simpsons is dead or unfunny it’s the Simpson’s I just watch tv to be distracted and or entertained if I want a story I’ll read a book
And that episode was just the beginning. They then proceeded to ruin or retcon more and more characters. We find out that Flanders is actually 30 years older than he looks, which doesn’t make sense with his parents being Beatniks. We get to know Apu as a surprisingly cool bachelor only to have him get married and saddled with too many kids in rapid order. And the final nail in the coffin: after going to high school in the 1970s, Homer and Marge are suddenly in college in the 1990s.
I stopped watching the show in that season, i don't remember the number but i guess the year was 2001 or 2002... the Apu's kids chapter was the final nail for me
This was insanely good. I think everyone would be happy if ended at season 8. There's a reason so many of us just rewatch those 8 seasons...they're perfect tv.
"slowly getting left in the past"...part of the blame when it comes to the Simpsons should be with the hardcore fans as well. The grunge episode was one of the best in the past 9 years. Like Principle and Pauper, that Grunge episode sort of insults the life long Simpsons fan. But thing is, the show has to move on if it's going to survive. Unfortunately it hasn't and it won't.
I wouldn't, there are so many great ones between seasons 9-13 that it would've been a crying shame if it ended after 8. Lots of hilarious quotes, emotional moments, and episodes where characters actually made big changes (such as Apu getting married or Barney giving up beer).
What kills great sitcoms is when the characters begin acting in ways that are inconsistent with their personalities that the audience has grown to know and love. Probably because of changes in the writing staff.
For me it was when Homer lost the eating contest to the truck driver. It just went against his character completely and didn't make any sense. The guy who ate plastic lobsters at an all you can eat buffet, lost to some random character.
Agreed. I read that it was basically to spite the voice actress for leaving, pretty messed up. I don't view her death or ANYTHING after Season 10 as canon
When I saw the title of this video, I thought they were going to talk about the episode where Maude dies. I think that was the episode that kind of ruined the show, at least for me, anyway.
That's like saying your car is fine when the bumper falls off, you have a piece of cardboard for the passenger window and you are using the spare doughnut to commute to work every day. Sure it still runs, but is that really the point?
yeah... the idea itself wasn't bad, it could've been extremely powerful actually, but it packed too much into one episode. i don't think it ruined the show, but it wasn't the best.
Ironically, the episode before this one, where they go to New York, is my favorite episode of the Simpsons. It was like one final hurrah before it went downhill
It's not even that bad of an episode. I don't think the show started to go downhill until about the 12th-13th seasons. That's when I noticed a serious decline in quality and humor.
Even in my country where the show is dubbed, the decline after season 14 / 15 was indeed noticeable... Have you ever see this interesting site that has the same viewpoint as you ? : deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/ It's a really interesting study of the series decline and its place at first in the late 80's television, very interesting... Plus one of the comments in the last appendix was spot on for me as the moment when this zombified series even became toxic and the exact opposite of what it was at first...
Entertain The Elk What are you talking about? Season 14 is in the top 5 Simpsons seasons of all time. You're just aping some hipster prevailing opinion
to my memory the first ``modern'' episode of the simpsons, was the one where homer went to new york. that was the first time where the plot and writing seemed below their high standard
The Simpsons Seasons 1 & 2-- Good show, has potential Seasons 3-8 -- Legendary writing, "Golden era" of show Seasons 9-11-- Good, but not as good as the prior seasons Seasons 12-19-- Bad, but somewhat tolerable to watch Seasons 20-beyond -- Horrendous. Utterly unwatchable.
I've been rewatching the "golden era" recently and 9 is definitely the season that it starts to crack. There are plenty of good eps but a few really bad ones, season 10 does the reverse where there are few good eps and plenty of really bad ones and it's just downhill all the way
I wouldn't say it *died*... I mean, I agree it exited the golden age. But to say it died then is a bit of a hyperbole. I think it has slowly aged, like a human: out of its prime, not worth much in its older age, but still going, and can still be charming in its later episodes.
I would fully agree... except that I think Season 2 was my favorite. There is an reason why I have seasons 1-9 on DVD and not the rest. But the problem with the Simpsons these days is that there is no more heart in the episodes anymore.
I own those same seasons on DVD too! I agree that Seasons 1 and 2 are fantastic, but I think the writers really found their voice and hit their stride in Season 3. Thanks for commenting!
I once had a friend who believed that we shouldn't get emotionally invested in characters in movies or TV or even video games. Because they're all fake and fictional. They don't have real lives or real emotions or real stories. And the story, setting, and the personalities of these characters can take a dramatic turn into something that the viewers don't like simply because the writer(s) want to do something else on a whim. I wish I could show him this video to prove him wrong.
You shouldn't take it so far that you get obsessed with a piece of fiction and it ruins your life. But if you don't care AT ALL about the characters, you're probably not even going to watch the show in the first place.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
I felt like.losing Phil Hartman was a big blow to the show. You may remember him from such characters as Lionel Hutz.
absolutely, rip, that man was genius.
Great comment
R.I.P
NeilHolmes72 you are a goddamn genius
FUCKING THIS....100x this. I didn't realize how much I loved Lionel Hutz or Troy McClure when Phil passed.
This episode gave me one of my favourite lines though.
"Up yours, children"
Crooty i for one, welcome our insect overlord
"Children are our future - unless we stop them now."
I was thinking the same thing! I love that line
Same here.
"Eat my shorts." ;p
"...Armand Tanzarium's copy of Swank."
"Can I see your copy of Swank, Armand Tanzerium?"
"Topless nude strippers! They're not even wearing a smile."
Fun fact: Matt Groening considers this episode non-canon.
what is wrong with your face?
My face is so dense, it has so many things going on.
Your face is also the key to all this because it's a funnier face then we've ever had before
*insert RLM meme here*
Maybe that's why it's being recommended to me
Do you guys remember the episode where the simpsons made fun of married with children and said that it was a tv-show that did not know when to end and just did it for money with no new content? Well...
Both under Fox
Hypocrisy
@@cov9290 Hypocrisy? Or self-referential...?
Sweet karma!
...that's called self-referential humor. Like how waaay back in season 4 with the clip show they make fun of clip shows as a desperation move for shows going on too long and running out of things to say.
The problem is the Simpsons has lived too long, and Futurama was ended too soon. Although I prefer Futurama getting cancelled early than having to watch what they've done to the Simpsons
I agree that Simpsons should have ended it after 8 years.
Simpsons should had ended in 2000
Futurama came back and was a mess. The writing was crap and I guess they had lost their edge.
But you glad Futurama ended on a good note along with King of the Hill?
shortylickens69 agreed it was less about the adventures of fry bender and leela like the old episodes and more about them just doing nothing interesting the reason why the old episodes where good is because the writing was better and it was interesting what adventures they go on the Comedy Central era was mediocre at best and it made me bored of watching it even the futurama movies were mediocre too imo the same can be said about the Simpsons hell disenchantment was not that good imo it seems less like the shows are on seasonal rot and more like Matt groening is getting burnt out
Homer: Im in no condition to drive!
Wait i shouldnt listen to myself, im drunk!
Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that packet of powdered gravy I found in the parking lot.
Lisa: dad you cant drive, you dont have a driver license! Homer: i try it anyway "car starts" ha take that science!
Can't believe I came across this..
Can't believe you came across this!
I love it when Homer interacts with the “voice in his head” - a voice that is surprisingly reasonable and wise
The sad part is season 9 is gold compared to anything for the last 20 seasons
The question is when simpsons die no when it left golden age. And I would argue that it dies with new HD graphics in season 20.
I personally love season 14 -17. Other were watchable till 20th season. I stopped watching simpsons in season 22 which was just bad.
Season 7-9 is arguably the shows best run for me
@@Sharkmane25 Id say 2-8 but 9 wasnt bad by any means.
Season 9 to season 19 was the silver age. Not the classic 90s but still entertaining. Especially to alot of 2000s kids it was some of the first episodes we saw.
@@johnindigo5477 I agree
It wasn't just Homer, Marge used to be a loving mother but was now known for her nagging. Bart was shown to have heart but now he's just a prankster. Lisa used to show intelligence and care for those around her, but now she is the embodiment of "female empowerment." The only character who wasn't changed is Maggie. Maggie never dies.
Yeah but Maggie doesn’t pay taxes WAR TO THE SQUIDS
Even Maggie is now this super baby who attacks adults.
Maybe its supposed to mirror how we are now 😶
Maggie bonks Homer with a hammer in like season 2 or so.
Maggie power
It's like watching an old friend sink into drug addiction. They're just not themselves anymore.
Joseph Wallace shit man
Or watching them sink into depression.
Joseph Wallace Deep
My best friend has never asked about my drug addiction or feeling bad, and we've been friends for 9 years. There's no point to this comment really, it just sorta struck me reading your comment.
Joseph Wallace and wouldn't go that far u took that a bit to far
Am I out of touch?
No. It's the children who are wrong.
One of the best lines ever.
Shake it up is all that we know
Using the bodies up as we go
I'm waking up to fantasy
The shades all around
Aren't the colors we used to see
Broken ice still melts in the sun
And times that are broken
Can often be one again
We're soul alone
And soul really matters to me
Take a look around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
Oh, oh-oh, oh
Oh, oh-oh, oh
Reaching out for something to hold
Looking for a love
Where the climate is cold
Manic moves and drowsy dreams
Or living in the middle
Between the two extremes
Smoking guns hot to the touch
Would cool down
If we didn't use them so much
We're soul alone
And soul really matters to me
Too much
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
Oh, oh-oh, oh
Oh, oh-oh, oh...
(Out of touch)
Out of touch
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around..
· 0xFFF1 wtf is that picture....
hahaha
0xFFF1 A serious question that Entertain The Elk should ask himself. Grandpa simply outgrew cartoons, nothing wrong with that.
I agree that this episode wasn't good. I also hate the one where they killed the original Fat Tony, and then Fit Tony became identical
Ugh. Sounds terrible.
What do you mean? There never was such an episode. THERE. NEVER. WAS. SUCH. AN. EPISODE.
I think that is the point of the comment. There hasn't been (would not personally know, I haven't watched it since 2001) but it is well within the character of the programme to do such a thing. They are out of ideas: "let's reveal an old beloved character isn't who they say they are, or kill them off then replace them with a twin who is the same in every way than not have it feature in the continuity." Lazy and unimaginative. I thought it was terrible when they did that with Snowball the cat.
Sorry Matthew, but they actually did, I watched every single episode in hope that they may finally make a great true comeback... In fact, I love this show so much, I don't really hate the newest seasons that much... It's still better than other shows and maybe the audience should give them a chance... Nostalgia around this old show works both ways, either we find it hard to like because it's mostly rehashed ideas now, or some of the original audience still likes it, to see them try to find new ways to entertain us after having treated almost every theme imaginable... That's debatable in my opinion
The actually did? It doesn't at all surprise me. I really stopped caring long ago. I mostly disagree with you, it is better than a lot of what is on, hence why I rarely watch television these days, but a number of celebrities that owe their success to what's trending online, being injected into the show for the Simpson's to interact with, the playing up to U.S. politics, coupled with the lack of creativity - they used to put a lot of play-on-words jokes and hidden references everywhere, there is hardly an episode that doesn't allude to an old film, television show or historical event, adding an extra layer; the newer episodes of the last 15 years feels so sterile and unimaginative. The straight-in-your-face jokes that tell you the point in plain English and the inability to execute parody, with the hastily dating pop-cultural references shoehorned in everywhere that distract from the flow of the story.
At least you are getting something out of it, though unfortunately, I doubt it'll get better.
For me it died when Maude died -- and I wasn't even a big Maude Flanders fan. It's just that, it became some kind of benchmark. It felt like the whole show changed after that moment. I don't really know why. I can't even really explain it. It was just a different show...
Which was S11, EP14
My point exactly. It was obvious yet undefinable. These characters were members of our own families. After Maude died it was like they became cartoons. Even though they were animated I NEVER thought of them as cartoons until that point. The rest of that season came across as boring and...well, cartoonish. Maude really did deserve a better death. Or even to NOT die. I would have preferred Helen Lovejoy to die. Not out of malice for her, but to see how Reverend Lovejoy deals with it as a devoutly religious man and as a community leader. What effect would the pain and depression of the town's minister have on the community? We'll never know.
Jeez, I watched a season 28 episode where Bart is in a coma, and is having constant terrors of Maude Flanders haunting him. And as it goes on (in his coma) he kills an entire train full of people and gets Homer killed to so she can pass on to the next step in the afterlife.
Maude was Ned's anchor. Without her, he became more annoying and for lack of a better term, Flanderized
I think killing characters off for real in such a plotless show is just... odd. Continuity kind of ruins it, imo.
The Simpsons went downhill after I was no longer on the show.
You and Troy McClure.
That's what I thought the video was going to say. I think that more than anything else sealed the deal as so many of the best episodes were voiced by the same voice actor.
RIP Phil Hartmann
Who read this in Hutz voice
Well, your voice actor died, buddy. Very tragically...
It's a little misleading to make this all about one episode, there are many factors, like The Great Migration, when quite a few writers went to Futurama
Yeah, it was a lot of factors in a span of a couple years.
Phil Hartman's demise didn't help.
Oh that's why just as simpons got bad, futurama started and was good.
Same problem happened with Futurama too. 1-4 were amazing. "movies" were ok... then it just went downhill. Bad writing. Not understanding there characters that we fell in love with. Except for a few episodes of later Futurama, most of it just kinda sucks.
except for the last episode
Simpsons didn't just die, it was murdered.
I understood that reference
@Ringo Vaughan-Hughes family guy is awful
@Ringo Vaughan-Hughes I agree, I stopped watching Simpsons because of Family Guy. Until Family Guy also murdered itself over time and became unlikable.
I see what you did there
Maybe you should be more respectful
I miss the golden age of the Simpsons. A show that was a counterculture to the American middle class sitcoms of the 80's. Now, they became what they sought to fight in the 90's.
No way to prevent it without death
Hello, Super Nintendo Chalmers!
Michael Keane I'm learnding!
Michael Keane This tastes like burning
These Coleco's will rust up on you like that!
me fail English? that's unpossible
My cats breath smells like catfood!
I always felt bad for the "real" Skinner getting kicked out of town tied to a train carriage. I guess he's had his revenge though, as the show's quality left with him.
Ha that's an awesome thought.
Oh my god. The ‘real’ Seymour Skinner cursed Springfield for kicking him out!
Like Voldemort and the DADA teaching post !
Skinner is Voldemort !
Joel Schembri Ned’s wife was killed off because the voice actress for her left the show
@Joel Schembri yeah it sucks when shows do that I felt like that wheb they killed off Chef in South Park
My question is this: If everyone including the show's creators are aware that the writers and directors are nowhere near the standard of the golden age, why don't they simply fire them all and get in actual talent? They are one of the biggest tv shows in history, they could do this if they choose to.
I've thought this myself.
Dragalge they've probably tried many times which is why the newer episodes feel like there's New writers each time
Probably demands from Fox to crank out episodes, and that hinders the quality (Rushed, underfunded/demands to be met that don't help (Like a celebrity appearance)) and then the writers probably get thrown in by Fox going "Make this work" a they print more shirts with bart on it.
The thing is, you can't "plan" to create great masterpieces, it was a unique combination of talent and circumstances that led to the golden age of the Simpsons back then. It's like saying "There are no more bands as good as the Beatles, why don't the four most talented musicians just get together and create that kind of music again?" It wouldn't work. They had their moment and they way overstayed it.
Not sure it would work. people know the voices of the characters. The show has long since jumped the shark. Still I think it will be a sad day when it finally stops making episodes. That I think will come when a major voice actor dies or quits.
"Who knows what adventures they'll have between now and the time the show becomes unprofitable?"
RIP Phil Hartman
Hartman voiced so many great characters, including Lionel Hutz, my favorite peripheral character.
The Simpsons in its current form is a sad state of affairs. Truth be told, I'm not certain any show can get to six hundred episodes and still remain on top of its game. The stories and settings started getting more and more outlandish, sometimes reeking of pure desperation. A good example is the son of Frank Grimes. There was absolutely no setup to the reveal of Grimey's offspring whatsoever, and his appearance was explained away in one quick, artless statement that Frank Grimes enjoyed prostitutes. It was almost as though they just wanted to link a mediocre episode to an established successful one, but in doing so, damaged the source material.
It also seems like the writing pace gradually devolved over the years from well thought-out, intelligent stories, to quick throw-away stories built to accommodate the guest-star of the week, who seem to be chosen on no other merit than who the episode's writer seems to fancy. It seems more like the writers want to convey how intelligent they think themselves to be, so the guests have deviated from people who fit a scenario for an episode, to people the writers believe will make them look more deep, so we get episodes centered around a large building, bringing in a famous architect who ends up having three lines in the whole show, leaving behind nineteen minutes of nonsense with no point. Or famous crossword puzzle designers who appear in the tail end of an episode, so a bizarre, uninteresting story is concocted to lead up to it.
Or worst of all, we get that unwatchable mess about Lady Ga-Ga and her over-the-top, unfunny, world travelling train.
We are a far cry from the early episodes of Sideshow Bob, or Burns' bear, Bobo.
Just write it well, next time.
Also, I apologize for any overlong sentences, or improperly conveyed ideas on my part. I'm writing this at work, and sometimes in a hurry.
"Well, just write it when you're not at work, then."
No.
Thad Tannonbrooke i read this comment from start to finish and i wholeheartedly agree with it.
Thanks!
Love this. Thanks for watching/commenting!
"Seems more like the writers want to convey how intellingent the think themselves to be..." The scene that immediately comes to my mind is the "cheese scene" from the episode where the Simpsons go to Italy and they get the Ferrari wrecked. Lisa just "identifying" every kind of cheese was meant to be a joke but I can't imagine anyone laughing to that, it was like the writers screaming at us "look guys, we knows stuff".
Ha! The episode where they went to Italy is the very one that caused me to be no longer sad that Fox stopped releasing anymore seasons on DVD
I remember watching the episode about Seymour's real identity, it made me feel so sad because despite him being a character who is disliked by some of the characters, we still loved him he's an awesome character and to find out that he was just an imposter, it kinda sticks to the back of your head to think that they're are just gonna have to live with the fact that he was lying for so long.
The Simpsons is the kind of show where almost nothing ever changes and most stuff that happened in previous episodes is never mentioned again in new episodes so its exactly the same with Seymour and how everybody in Springfield feels about him now as it was before that episode aired.
Usually when they do mention stuff that happened in old episodes its only a short joke and is not important to the episode or the story.
The important thing to remember is that the person we knew and cared about for so long, even if he was assuming a false identity, is still the same person. He is the only 'Seymour Skinner' who matters.
Yes! Unnecessary story.
Yeah i actually choose to believe the writers were wrong.
i always suspected that Skinner deep down, he has a history of lies and trickery, remember his delightfully devilish lies in steamed hams?
everybody have an episode that broke the magical spell for The Simpsons
mine was the episode where Lisa Kudrow was a guest
it was the first time that I thought that a celebrity cameo was gratuitious
and also the design of her character came to that point where everything else but the Simpsons family was very detailed. her face, hair, clothes stood out so much when she was close to Lisa
I know exactly what you mean. I miss the old animation style that was rougher around the edges. I thought it had more personality. The animation became too polished and didn't fit into the world anymore. Thanks for watching!
i feel like that's what happened with south park too, the original characters look out of place in their own show
Althony Rightano I've always wanted closure on this. I couldn't relate more. I grew up watching each episode so much I even enjoyed knowing each line. Then something happened and I could never put my finger on it. I do remember thinking, at the age of 14, I have a principal and how odd it would be to have this happen. It feels like after season 10 they just started selling us the same bag of chips but with far less inside. Their market had become so large it was if the writers were no longer needed. As long as they showed the cast doing stuff that was enough. It insults those iconic moments in the simpsons. I haven't seen an episode after season 13 and I don't care to as I've tried many times hoping to be wrong. The simpsons movie was also arbitrary and unnecessary. I want them to stop making the show so it can be streamed more easily and I can re watch seasons 1-10 again. Thanks for the closure. I just couldn't put my finger on what happened and this helped as lame as that may sound.
Wow, I love everything about your comment. Thanks for sharing! Glad we can grieve the death of The Simpsons together. :)
For me, this episode was what broke it. I attempted to watch it again around 2001, but couldn't. I ended up watching the NSync episode, with the lame Matrix reference, and the funniest thing being "Lt. L.T. Smash"
To me that the bigger issue in this episode then the reveal is the ending.The real Skinner was not shown to be a rude, mean, or bad person. Our Skinner had no problem stealing the life of the man who saved him and having him get banished from his home. And the real Skinner’s mom told him she didn’t want him. Who really thought that was funny or appropriate. Honestly I expect that kind of ending from Family Guy.
Not mean or bad but as I recall actually nonetheless incompetetent. The idea that because he was the original he should just take over and do as well or better seemed like something you're not really supposed to take seriously and the ending being him being banished I guess was doubling down on you're really not supposed to take seriously.
"It's unfair to punish the audience for caring about the characters." Honestly, this analysis sums up why I hated The Last Jedi as well.
Add the last two Terminator movies to that also.
GoT for me.
The Last Of Us Part 2...
Reylo aint gonna happen, get over it already
jk, but i see your point
and the last terminator movie after what they've done with the character of John Connor, and that's where I draw the line on that one
i feel like modern simpsons is heartless, the characters feel so one dimensional and the humor so slapstick
The show is on autopilot at this point though compared to the town of Quahog, they haven't become incredibly tasteless, just kind of bland with sometimes some nice moments.
Yup, this is why the word "flanderization" exists.
try to keep a series about a family going for over 20 years, and you'll probably run out of ideas after just a few years.
There's always more ideas to be had. They just need to fire Al Jean, hire a new showrunner and hire better writers if they can't handle the direction of the new showrunner.
Modern Simpsons are simply promotional shows for Celebrities and campy unfunny jokes. Moronic stories that don't make sense, too many stupid subplots and literally no character development at all. They pretty much feel like a modern Reboot of the original Simpsons.
you should include the first Treehouse of horrors as the begining of the golden age.
I would include season two of the golden age. the season that really set the tone and the characters with amazing animation
Agreed.
I now include everything from season 1 in the golden age. when i was younger the season 1 episodes seemed to have a bit of a crude and a harsh animation edge. when i go back and watch now the humor is also blacker. but i'm older. so i like season 1 more than i used to.
For me, it died in Season 11. It was truly the last season where I connected with the characters and stories. Frankly, when Maude Flanders died, so did the show.
Funny enough, when Homer bowls a perfect game in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" and struggled to stay relevant, it became rather poignant and symbolic of the show itself. The Millenials were all growing up and the show stopped being relevant to a lot of us.
At least I have my DVD collection to fall back on these days. Seasons 1-10 are still classics in my book.
As a huge fan of 90s simpsons heres my two cents:
1-2: Intelligent and funny but lacks refinement
3-8: Brilliant, intelligent, full of character and relatable/heartwarming situations, genuinely hilarious
9-10: Still has its humour but slowly lacks the intelligent quips of the former seasons
11-12: Watchable, but has already lost most of the charm and creativity of the past
13-28: Oh god... just...just let it die its so bad...such unfunny and completely lazy writing...please let it die
Future seasons after the second Simpsons movie: Please no! Don't cancel now!
Me: _Excuse me wtf?_
I think it should be 13-19 bad but a little watchable and then 20-28 horrible
I think the genuinely bad part of the Simpsons started with season 20. Up to season 19 there were still a memorable episode here and there but after season 20 all of them are just forgettable and cringy... Although I agree that the decay started growing faster after season 13
Agreed
Nicely put.
I think the precise moment when it clicked for me that something had been lost in the Simpsons was the episode Catch 'Em if You Can. Homer and Marge go on holiday without the kids, Bart and Lisa try to track them down, it becomes a game of cat and mouse, 'hilarity' ensues.
I get that it's a direct reference to Catch Me if You Can and yes, it's a cartoon, but two things really grated with me. First, the ridiculousness of the plot; the Simpsons never shied away from being outlandish, but kids chasing their parents around all of North America is just farcical. Second, Homer and Marge were traditionally showed to be doting parents. What they sometimes lacked in intelligence and responsibility (Homer especially) they made up for with deep devotion to their kids. For instance Homer could be neglectful of his fatherly duties at times, but think of his 'do it for her' sign in the power plant and you know that he was a loving father. That was reinforced for years over hundreds of episodes. Then in this episode Homer and Marge's suddenly have a casual indifference towards their kids' well-being; they see their 8 and 10 year old kids alone in a distant city and just run away.
One of the underlying characteristics of the Simpsons was that as the decades have passed, they go through a variety of bizarre situations yet the characters themselves remain constant. Yet here was a storyline in which some of their most basic character traits were abandoned to make the plot work. That said to me that the 'heart' of the show had been lost and the characters were becoming more generic, free to be moulded to whatever the plot requires.
Along with the "Do it for her" sign, your comment reminded me of when Homer gave up his tickets for the duff blimp so Lisa could join the little miss springfield pageant and regain her self confidence. Or when Homer works 2 jobs so Lisa could keep her horse. I miss the heartfelt episodes!!!
Or when Homer and Bart tries to bond over building a soap box racer together because Homer finds out he doesn't know his own son that well. I miss the old Simpsons.
quiet rogue he wasn't sobbing, he was just looking into the night sky, reflecting. Which was a rather subtle beautiful moment that humanized Homer. A show can be emotional and still be funny. I don't get why some people just want a show to be only silly, or only dramatic. A comedy can occasionally have heart & soul, while a serious drama can still have funny moments. If one focuses too much on one thing then it doesn't seem very realistic, and static to me.
1-8 were good
9-12 were ok, some good outstanding episodes between the bad ones
13+ is just the mehest of the meh
And don't even get me started on that fucking Lady Gaga episode and the one about Carl's Icelandic heritage just wtf
SycophanticTeen I like Carl being from Iceland, personally.
therealCrazyJake They don't bring up it though. Whenever they make reference an old episode, it's either for a joke or a shitty sequel episode.
I hate that they never worked with Carl being from Iceland, but I liked the actual episode ( at least that which I remember).
Actually they do bring it up. It was in Season 14 episode 16
SycophanticTeen 1-10 were genius
11-18 were ok
19- shit
The Simpsons died when they killed off Maude Flanders...
I stopped watching as it became a nightmare to see new episodes of the show as they kept burying them in repeats of older episodes.
Larry Bundy Jr Hello you
Larry Bundy Jr British TV is so guilty of that. Comedy pretty much only airs friends,impractical jokers and fresh prince.
uidFluiq makes me paranoid since my account has my IRL name.
Larry Bundy Jr hey you watched this too!! Jolly!
The real "Pie Man" is literally my friend's dad from Princeton. One of the writers must've seen him there way back when (80s lol)
In Latin America they died when the original dubbers left.
I've heard that sentiment. That's so interesting. Thanks for watching/commenting!
+Entertain The Elk Do you think they should cancel the show? I do. Great video btw, keep it up!
Xbitrate. what season did that happen?
Entertain The Elk that's right, the voices in Latin America where changed because the assholes here in Mexico owning the whole fucking television didn't want to pay more than the missery they gave to the dubbers, actually the voices here were really really good as were the only ones Matt Groening personally chose besides the original English ones. Here the TV is owned by Televisa, which is "owned" by the government, they pay their artists misserably so all The Simpsons actors were fired just for asking for better payment, would be cool to see a video about it... so fucking sad and unfair, but still we had the original voices until like season 12 I think... and also I can still watch them in English too but whatevs, still a sad subject.
Or you can just learn english or have subtitles like the rest of the world? :)
It became a hollow shell, as opposed to Family Guy, which was a hollow shell right off the bat
Family guy is giant bucket of liberal garbage.
It jumps from appealing to adults to appealing to children, impossible for either group to watch for long periods.
If you watch it with a political mindset it's unbearably obvious.
Brian is clearly the token liberal but the rest of them obviously must portray the moronic right.
It's almost a hobby of mine to analyze the political leanings of fictitious characters.
It can be funny, many times I've laughed, but not consistently enough to warrant continuous watching.
Don't give the show more credit than it's worse. The characters are all terribly written and I doubt they're made to be political commentary. Especially when Seth was genuinely upset and confused over a shitty joke of character raping Marge being taken off
Family Guy is garbage but I feel like the first three seasons had potential, though I was rather young when it came out so maybe I gave it more credit than it's worth. I mean if you love repetitive humor that doesn't mind reminding you just how repetitive it is then you probably enjoy Family Guy.
The thing that really toned me off was stupid jokes that ran on for long periods.
like Peter just saying something continuously for 5 minutes.
or them staring at the camera for 3 minutes, I swear to God they do it 'cause they're out of ideas and need to fill in time space in the show.
Not to mention sitting through some stupid attempt at being edgy without actually making the payoff punchline any good.
I always thought I grew out of The Simpson's because I didn't laugh out loud at it anymore. That was until I watched an older episode of it and I realised that I hadn't changed, the show had
Yeah. For the worse.
The worst one ever yet is the one with Lady Gaga.
I think its called Lisa with a s
that was the worst. it was just a big "look at how perfect gaga is and we all have to like her" PR move. the kind of episode the simpsons at their prime would make fun of. it almost felt like the episode "joy of sect", but taken seriously. i was waiting for them to mock the entire episode at the end.
If you compare the Lady Gaga episode to the Michael Jackson one, it really shows just how much heart the show has lost
radavar its the PC culture
I kinda liked that episode.
When I see "The Simpsons" on television, and select it, I leave pretty quick if it doesn't have that old school animation look, and the beautiful widescreen black bars on both sides of the screen.
Love this.
No, I completely agree! I don't think for me there was an actual defining moment when the franchise suddenly started to suck, but I can say for sure that the last time I ever willingly laid eyes on the Simpsons was the movie.
I had already written the show off, by and large, but I paid to see it in the theatres mostly out of curiosity as to whether it would act (as promised by many promoters and media outlets) as the "last hurrah" that allowed the franchise to finally die with dignity and go out on top.
Instead, it was the harbinger of all things to come: a slick, flashy, soulless corporate parody of itself, directed entirely by committee, created by a team of scientists in a lab somewhere by extracting and cobbling together what they THOUGHT people liked about the series as a whole into a Frankensteinian monster, and then animated entirely by computers without even the hint that any of the show's millionaires had ever cared enough to touch it (much like George Lucas, these sniveling fools actually saw that as a plus).
Hamer, Madge, Bert and Leeza Stimson in "PAY TO SEE THIS MOVIE, THEN GO BUY A T-SHIRT AND A HAPPY MEAL", plus celebrity guests, yay! Watch the flash, then give us your cash!
Do you write your text first and then make a video about to build a better storytelling and rapport for the video?
Also remember that the movie came out a decade ago in 2007, that was a long time ago but they're still airing it without doing much to liven it up
Gj23jk2 you summed it all up perfectly
If only the day The Simpsons died had been the day it was allowed to end with dignity, go off the air, and ride quietly into the sunset.
Instead, it's been turned into a lich by the dark sorcery of greed. A monstrosity with its life unnaturally prolonged beyond what any TV show should have. Neither truly living nor truly dead, yet condemned to walk the earth until the last money is finally drained from its withered, decrepit veins.
God damn, this is poetic.
,,,,,
"Who knows what whacky adventures they'll have between now and when the series becomes unprofitable" - Troy Maclure, speaking truth
I'd say just stop watching this show and Fox will get the message once rating keeps getting lower and lower and don't buy any merchandise.
This show died in 2000 with Behind The Laughter as far as i'm concerned and If The Simpsons was a pet it would be that old dog that desperately needs to be put down to end its long suffering.
The show has went downhill but I'm happy it hasn't been canceled simply because it's nice to see my favorite characters interact on screen every week
Making a character detach from their established character tells the audience that the writers no longer care what happens to them; and eventually the audience doesn't care any longer either.
That is what I hate about Flanders' Ladder. Lisa would never act as mean as she did in that episode, not even towards Bart. It also doesn't make Bart bad enough to deserve the torment that Lisa gave him. August 25, 2019, 10:41am
@@adampkalb Remember what Bart saud about goths/emos? "What we need is another Vietnam, thin their ranks a little."
You can't compare TV viewer ratings in 2017 vs the 90's. Far more options now, streaming, cord-cutting, etc. Fox's top show this year draws 7M per episode, and The Simpson's still draws about 4M an episode which is strong in 2017.
You mean more beta people bitching about everything.
Twat
Joseph Stalin 100%
Yh there is more to do now. Especially play on consoles or play on electronic devices
Well that was depressing
Sorry... :(
Entertain The Elk don't worry haha the Simpsons was a big part of my childhood haha sad to see it go but it's gone on too long.
Yup
I had a horrible day and, this is just what I needed.
I can see The Simpsons talking to itself in the mirror "I used to be somebody. I used to be a contendah."
This was such an iconic show in my childhood.
This show serves as a reminder that all good things come to an end. Nothing is forever. All is temporary.
This show is too much of a 90s product to survive in this new century eh and should had ended in 2001 to die with the 90s eh?
@@Johnlindsey289 Are you Canadian?
@@MagcargoMan
no
@@Johnlindsey289 Oh okay. It was just a joke because you said "eh" twice in that post.
Dark
One of the main problems with modern Simpsons is that the writers don't understand these characters, and 'The Principal and the Pauper' is an example (though not really as "modern" as other episodes). Principal Skinner's character writing and development was built how he'd been over-parented by his mother for too long, and despite having a job as a principal, the over-parenting and torment has had a bad effect on his life. Skinner turning out to be an impostor destroys his character development, because, if he didn't live with Agnes as a child, why would she be affecting his life so badly?
IMO it looked the best with its original drawing style now it looks kinda cold and boring
Completely agree!
yeah it died when they went HD
Much like Family Guy, the animation upgraded to HD but the writing kind of downgraded. Although to be fair, The Simpsons have more taste by not relying on so much gore and violence
Original drawing style like it was on the Tracey Ullman show or 1st episode?
Its typical of everything nowadays almost in mainstream entertainment, all flash and very little substance, CGI is ruining entertainment in one way or the other, a lot of everything is coming across consistently lazy and contrived.
I had a vhs tape that I recorded The Camp Krusty episode and watched it until it broke eventually. So good.
Love that. I had a VHS tape of the Pin Pals bowling episode that I wore out.
"WE WANT KRUNCHY!"
I loved when Homer lost weight and his hair started to grow back because Bart was gone. Then they had the news on and Homer is thinking,"don't be the boy. don't be the boy." It's Bart and his hair falls out and so does his gut. lol
tell me it´s not the kid
'Back in line, maggot'.
You're right about connecting with the characters. Actually, while the show is about the title family, almost every resident of the city has been given protagonism in at least 1 episode. I can't think of any other show that has done that.
Vits Vicente Torres Hey, Arnold! was another great example of this. You truly cared about everyone in that neighborhood.
Northern Exposure, which was also a Peabody winner.
Vits Vicente Torres the amazing world of gumball has gotten close to that
not good Gumball is basically the Simpsons of CN
South Park? Ring any bell?
Imagine an alternate universe where The Simpsons actually ended long time ago...
To quote a child from The Simpsons: "Stop it! Stop it, he's already dead..."
Haha
I know the animation has nothing to do with the writing quality, but the look also changed once the show started getting 'colored in' in the back room of a Chinese Walmart.
Ralph Wiggum
I’m seeing double. 4 Krustys.
Personally, I feel like the Simpsons died with Alone Again, Natura-Diddily (the episode where Maude dies).
A popular sentiment.
Drawkcab For me I think it's when they made Barney Sober.
I TRULY stopped watching The Simpsons around Season 15(although it was a good season IMO), that is an UNPOPULAR opinion.
Joshua Ibarra YES! It's so unpopular for some reason but I completely agree! Season 16 was awful.
Yup, to me that's where The Simpsons TRULY started to go completely downhill, and yeah, Season 16 was shitty.
"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"
I'm eating a hamburger while watching this video
you know I mean steamed ham
And you call them steamed hams despite the fact that they are clearly grilled
@@sparkygriswold336 Yes! It's a regional dialect!
Well what region?
Upstate New York
Well I'm from Utica and I've never heard the expression "Steamed Hams" before.
Season breakdown:
1-2 good but not flushed out yet
3-8: golden age
9-12: lacking but tolerable
13-Movie: terribly lackluster
Movie-Present: generally awful, becoming little more than a platform for politics, pop culture, and celebrities.
At least when these matters where featured in earlier seasons, it was done more sparringly and complemented the plot and characters' nature. Now these have become the plot, and the characters have generally lost all dimension.
season 9 shouldnt be lumped in with the crap that is 10-12.
Chris Godas I thought the movie itself kicked ass though, but I agree about the quality of the episodes
Chris Godas For me the first two seasons are great for me the golden era are 1-8 seasons
I think season 9 is better than season 8
movie was terrible? Gtho nigga you high! Seen it like 10 times or more....
I know its your "Opinion" but man is it a crappy one
But at least season 9 had The City of New York VS Homer Simpson, one of the best episodes of the entire show!
I hate it now because the writers keep rewriting Marge and Homer's history. The flashbacks contradict themselves and change the past.
Punishing the fans. Disney lucasfilm: "hold my beer"
Ha
Both of these franchises are now owned by The Mouse.
Disney Lucasfilm: "Hold my green milk."
Green milk from the Last Jedi.
Matt Groening should have cancelled The Simpsons after season 10 due its decline, and so he and his writers can focus on a certain animated sitcom about a space parcel company.
the thing is, creator don't have control about how long a series most go on, they just get legal rights about it.
Dixit, I think you mean "royalties". Matt Groening probably hasn't cared about the show in 20 years or more.
Just watched "Meanwhile"- there's so much left to explore.....
He pleaded with Fox to cancel the Simpsons so he could work full time on Futurama, and was told no on personal and legal levels. Look it up.
Hell no seasons 11 and 12 are the shit
I see the "Main reason" for The Simpsons decline is Matt Groening's decision to switch to Futurama, that was already in work at that time. First episode of Futurama was aired in late march 1999, and "The principle and the Pauper" was aired in late september 1997. Which means that Mr. Groening has already switched his focus on Futurama, and let other people work on The Simpsons. Futurama was fantastic for first 5 seasons, until it got canceled. And because it got canceled, almost 10 years later, Matt has watered it down too, to be more family friendly like the old The Simpsons seasons, and The Simpsons basically became lame boring, money making, family friendly franchise, and thus, both series that were once comedy gold, got killed of, for no specific reason, other than financial gain.
I'll disagree and say that the Simpsons died many years after that. IMO the Simpsons golden years were
from Season 1-10
This guy get's it. Same year Futurama scooped up all the talent.
KoRnKnoTTeR totally agree. Stoppedcwatching it during mid season 11. 1-10 IS the Simpsons. After that the perpetual zombie autopilot on.
And then why couldn't they have just left Futurama's corpse lie peacefully, without reanimating and humiliating it. Not too unlike Fry, I suppose, but forgive me if I don't appreciate the ironic parallel.
KoRnKnoTTeR how odd i was thinking the exact same thang
he overreacted about seymore.
Am I the only one who also sees seasons 1 and 2 as part of the golden age too? Yes it was the early days of establishing characters and such, but it still had meaningful episodes and lessons to learn.
They are literally my 2 favourite seasons
They might not have quite hit the level that they did in seasons 3-8, but 1-2 were excellent in their own right. I would tend to agree with you.
VERY strongly agree. The first two seasons had amazing, continually rewatchable shows. I've watched them too many times to count and still find them a pleasure. They were more biting, for one. Year after year, the show got nicer, which took a lot of the teeth out of the satire. Eventually even Mr. Burns often became an okay guy. It was wonderful when the show first came out, amid all the ultra-smarmy sitcoms of its day, that it was willing to set up a figure like Burns for attack that showed not just his ordinary greed, but his absurdity and how sheltered and ridiculously out of touch he was. Futurama got criticized by studio execs for being too mean, but in the beginning, the Simpsons was mean too.
Barts gets an F is a classic so..
No, I agree. They're part of it too. Bart gets an F is a fantastic episode. He tries his hardest to study when getting a miracle snow day, he still fails, he gets upset and in his despair, shows he did learn something and Krabappel rewards him for it. It's a great happy ending.
Although I'm not a big fan of the episode, I don't get why everyone hates the idea of Skinner being a fraud. He only took on a new name, the personality was always his own. Apart from a couple of flash backs, we had never learned about his life pre-89. Also for the record - a later episode of Season 9 - Das Bus, is among the greatest.
There's definitely some good episodes after The Principal and the Pauper. I remember enjoying the Super Bowl episode in Season 10 when I was a kid. Thanks for watching!
It undermined what we knew about his relationship with Agnes, and it re-contextualized the Vietnam flashbacks that we'd already seen. And even worse, it was done as a joke. It wasn't a sincere effort to give the character more depth. It didn't open the door for the writers to take Skinner in a new direction. The twist was as phony as Seymour himself.
And the really sad thing is that they could've done that to almost any other supporting character on the show without causing the same level of harm. Moe isn't really Moe? No problem. Fat Tony is actually a Russian spy? Big deal. Dr. Hibbert doesn't actually have a medical degree? Fine. But Skinner was the best-developed character at the time other than Homer and Marge, so it wasn't something that fans could easily laugh off.
It''s pretty much like making an episode called The Way We Wasn't, in which we discover that Marge Simpson isn't Marge Bouvier at all, but rather another woman with similar features who accidentally killed the real Marge in a hit-and-run in 1974 and then took her place, with her family and her boyfriend not noticing. That's not good storytelling. That's an insult.
1 to 10 was great. after 10 years it started to sink
I love Skinner. This episode is not that terrible. At the end of the episode one of the characters says: "Let's never speak of this ever again" (I'm paraphrasing :)). Which tells us that the writers didn't take this absurd episode to seriously and neither should we, the audience.
What I'm saying is that this episode does not define Skinner as a character. There are also a lot of different episodes about how Homer and Marge met and where they grew up (Springfield, the Bronx). Which is absurd, as well as enjoyable. Just like the Skinner episode.
GO SEASON 9!!
the point is, and most people seem to agree, seasons 3 - 8 were regularly hilarious. after season 8 the funny moments became fewer and farther between. the simpsons hasn't made me laugh out loud since the turn of the century. it's become a name brand (i.e. it's coasting), is relatively easy to produce, the characters don't age and fox has used it as a crutch for almost 2 decades now.
Why is it considered that season 3-8 is the best? Why no love for season 2? Lots of classic episodes in there, including my all time favourite episode (Lisa's Substitute).
I love Season 2. Just recently rewatched Lisa's Substitute and Bart Gets an F. It's a fantastic season, but I think they hadn't completely found their voice at that point yet. I'd have no problems considering it Golden Age though.
Serious question: Are they still making Simpsons episodes?
Everest Zak ££££££££
Everest Zak yes
Fox: We've Got To Have Money
Of a sort, yes.
I never thought futurama was that interesting
"punishing the audience for paying attention"...I can name Four other prime time animated shows who do that exact thing and are unapologetic about it...They have zero respect for our intelligence
I’m guessing one of those shows is Family Guy?
Name
@@greenstuff3706 probably
im guessing steven universe, family guy, spongebob and star vs the forces of evil
I stopped watching in 2002. In those 15 years since, I half-heartedly paid attention to about half of an episode.
you and me both, man
I stopped watching in 1996. In those 21 years since, I half-heartedly paid attention to about none of the episodes.
Bort McBort I have 15 years old and i watch Family Guy.
I stopped watching in 1989
"Smithers" really is it's own job category
neither is "Poochie"
Rip English
21 years ago today, that disastrous episode was released
@*/. The principal and the pauper.
@Aaron Greenfield Poor Harry. He really hated this episode. I don't resent him for nearly leaving.
Even as a kid, I hated that episode..
it started to die here, but there still were a few funny episodes in seasons nine and ten. When they killed off Maud Flanders, the Simpson, the REAL Simpsons absolutely died with that episode
Thank you.
Exactly
They killed her character off because the actress quit the show
S11
Agree. I hate the Maude Flanders death... I refuse to see it as canon. Because it was just so mean spirited & spiteful
I don't think it died in season 9. I think it died a long time after that. Probably after the 2007 movie. And I have to say, Season 20-present is horrifyingly pug fugly.
Nah, it died at Season 9. Especially when compared to what it was from the first 8 seasons. The 2007 movie was a nice comeback to what was a show that was only a shell of itself from the previous 10 years (1997-2007) There are very few quotable moments from Season 9 and after. Few memorable one. The Movie on the other hand told us a few things: one was that the people who serve to create the Simpsons had the creativity to story-tell. But that only served to disappoint us more as the novelty of the movie died, and it was back to business, business being the 10 or so episodes every year.
Lord Cancer
Your name is fitting for your personality.
Sidney Tilley it was definitely dying on its way to making the movie but after the movie it was just a sad. all the anti religion and politics talk just totally turns me off
yeah it was dead long before the movie. Very long. like the writers and producers just kinda stopped caring or something as they watched their ship sink into a corporate sea.
and the movie was terrible. Go back and watch a classic simpsons episode, like "Homer's Enemy" from season 8. Then watch the Simpsons Movie straight after. It's nothing but cringe in comparison to when the writing team wasn't just cheap interns.
I will defend Season 20 as a late peak, containing some real gems, like The Book Job. However, it has generally declined into just kind of being okay, with occasional bursts of enjoyment. Rarely anything as charming or entertaining as the first 9-12 seasons though.
The Simpsons never died, they were put on life support. Now the good memories that we had of them are tainted by the years of watching them slowly suffer as they rot.
Rob... I couldn't agree more. :(
Though I will say, the classics will always be classics. I'm rewatching Season 4 right now and it's gold. Even the newer crappy episodes can't take that away from us.
The Simpsons: the "Terry Schavio" of Animated Sitcoms.
The Show since 2001 is like the family dog: We all grew up with it, love and cherish all the memories, but sadly, the time has come to put it down.
I honestly feel like they should have cancelled The Simpsons and continued working on Futurama. Futurama just had way more variety and was consistently fresh and entertaining. This is because the writers were not limited to just normal day to day stuff as the show was about space. They could literally do whatever they wanted, and for the 14 years the show aired, it worked. Though its true that the golden age of The Simpsons is way behind us, and the show has seemed to have lost its charm and originality. I still find it comforting that its still around as most of the other shows of my childhood have disappeared and have been replaced by absolute GARBAGE.
Hercserino yup i agree futurama was a amazing show
Yeah. Futurama is fucking great. Wish they would bring it back.
I agree
I think that was the original idea but sadly Futurama wasn't as succesful as they hoped it would be.
The best example for ending a show after a short time but not make it feel "too soon“ is gravity falls. Had a beautiful ending and no filler episodes. It was perfect.
I think The Day Fairly OddParents died would be interesting
YES
HELL YES That show was amazing and then we got that damn talking dog. AKA "if I wasn't so young and dumb at the time, I wouldn't have watched this." And then, Chloe- aka "I was young and dumb but still knew crap when I saw it." Of course, the downfall really starts in season 7(?) when we got Foop. And before that, when we got Poof, there was a dip in quality. Hell, season 2, when the Flanderization started, has been considered the end of the golden age for some fans. To me, it was when they started utilizing more gross-out and cringe comedy. But in hindsight, most of the Season 9 episodes are unwatchable, and seasons 7-8 are painful, but with a few ok bits. I'm just pissed that Foop is the only member of his _entire species_ to appear anymore. And what happened to the Pixies? Or most other magical creatures, for that matter. Season 6 is alright. Season 5 was pretty good, with the highlight being Fairy Idol, one of my favorite episodes. Season 4 was great, with episodes like Channel Chasers, Genie Meanie Minie Mo, The Big Superhero Wish, Pixies Inc, and Shelf Life. Season 3 was actually a little lower in quality than Season 4, but it still had gems such as Abracatastrophe, The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, Imaginary Gary, Pipe Down, and The Big Scoop. Season 2 was amazing, with gems like Information Stupor Highway(despite being very out-of-date on internet things, it's still more timeless than most attempts to cover modern net culture), The Boy Who Would Be Queen, Totally Spaced Out, Boys In The Band, and Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary. And Season 1? It was pretty lackluster. I'd say the Golden Age of the show was Seasons 2-5.
That was a grotesque one
Once Jay Leno no longer took part as the Crimson Chin, that's when it died to me.
It's already on RUclips
@kristian rikardsen if they leave it on the season 2 finale then it's great, if they try milk it for cash with more seasons then it'll get ruined
the shows reputation has been so damaged now that it is just awkward when someone in real life talks about the simpsons
as if that ever happens nowadays.
xxxaragon Show stopped being social relevant for about 20 years.
Sad thing is that I was born from the 2000s era and I'd watch season 1 through 8 first and I found it my favorite show ever. Then when I'ce came to season 9, it's just wasn't the same and I had stopped watching it years ago.
@@xxxaragon I mean if you no someone who thinks its still great it happens
Fun Fact: in my country (Argentina) the Simpsons are still a huge success. People know every quote and episode, the memes are everywhere on social media, and even university professors give examples using the show. Of course everyone loves the older episodes, but it was never forgotten. Many countries in Latin America are the same. I’m always amazed at how easy Americans let it go...
Season 9, besides "The Episode", isn't that bad. If you watch every episode from 1 to whatever we're at now, except "The Episode" then you see seasons 3-9 are the best.
Max Lee actually 10 11 and 12 are ok too
MiloSconster Is season 13 when the show got bad?
Andrew Del Pilar
IMDb ratings point that the slope began at season 12.
Season 10 was the best season, but I'm not against the belief that seasons 3-8 were incredible
What is this episode that you refer to as "The Episode"? I'm new to Simpson's discourse :)
Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed a significant decline from season 9 onwards.
Disagree. It was a misstep, but the definitive end was after 'Behind The Laughter'. The song at the end that joked about how the writers were out of ideas turned out to be borderline prophecy.
After that, they started in with the topical episodes: "Springfield legalizes homosexual marriage". "Springfield legalizes marijuana". "Springfield solves the deficit". Enough, already.
Worse still, as a result of injecting political sermons into episodes, Lisa went from 'mildly annoying' to 'five-alarm dumpster fire'. It threw off the family dynamic and it's never been the same since.
I agree with your comment especially "behind the laughter" episode came out that's when the Simpsons died for me.
Any episodes worth watching in season 11?
Not really. Lisa got worse and worse during and after season 11
Yellowdock Ooo Brothers little helper is great, and episode 5 is great too. Simpsons didn't really decline until season 12 and beyond.
Agreed, "Behind the Laughter" was the logical bookend to the series.
I don't get it... what's so damn hard about coming up with good ideas for new episodes? Take "Homer the heretic", one of the greatest episodes ever. The entire plot is just about Homer not wanting to go to church. Period. In modern episodes, all kinds of crazy out-of-this-world shit is happening.... why? Keep it simple and earthbound, I'm sure there are plenty ideas to go with.
Hit the nail right on the head.
The wackiness is what killed the show for me.
The down to earth nature of the early years was the best.
Couldnt agree more!!
they exhausted all the "grounded and simple" premises on the good seasons... nothing's left i guess
Yeah there is a reason for the south park episode "the simpsons already did it." Imagine how hard it actually was to be the writers coming up with new ideas for hundreds of new episodes.
South Park and Family Guy ruined the Simpsons. They thought they had to be more over the top so they wouldn't lose out to the other guys but they should have just stayed the same.
I could watch another 3 hrs of you break down the decline of the simpsons. It's a question everyone from our generation has. Why has the simpsons lost its heart? There has to be more to it than cheapening the audiences investment with flimsy premises. With so much good television out there how can they not get a A+ team of writers to really give it a span that acts as a renaissance, regains the shows heart, and gives a well thought out planned narrative while still giving one off episodes?
+j kowski Guess they're just too far gone. They need to age the children. Put them in high school or college or young adults. Only so much you can do with kids. It's been 28 years of the same thing!
It's simple: no good show goes on forever. You eventually run out of ideas and/or situations, that's it.
I could make you so many examples of good TV shows or franchises that got milked way beyond what they could offer just for the sake of money, and that's why most of the more beloved ones are either still running or had a conclusion because they missed the right time to end.
The show heart were the original writers, you can't just pick "a good writer", whatever that means, to write what you want.
If you don't have an original idea you'll never get "the heart of the show" back.
If you milk your show trying to add too much to your original idea you're done.
That's why Breaking Bad is universally recognized as one (if not THE ONE) best TV show of all time, they got a story and character with an expiration date and they weren't afraid to commit to BIG CHANGES (actually the whole show is a metaphore of chance).
That's why the show I got my avatar from isimho the best animated thing that came into the world after the golden age Simpson, his writer aren't afraid of change and consequences of their actions.
Who died in the Simpsons? Basically nobody of the core cast. Why? Because they were afraid of ending the show. And I don't mean that you need to kill people to have a good show (see what GoT has become since they surpassed the book, just a random brainless kill lottery...)
That's why, mark my words, Mr Robot will fail miserably, you can already see they the writers intended to do a much shorter show and that the whole 2nd season has almost no plot point in it, plus random death of characters they clearly didn't know how to use.
That's why Stranger Things and 13 are going to be bad. That0s why True Detective 2nd season was bad.
That's why X-Files failed miserably, they got past season 6 that would have been the obvious ending point.
That's why Happy Days jumped the shark, and one as I said could literally make tons of examples.
Somebody once said something like this: "There are two elements in a story: the final and everything else".
Entertain The Elk I think it would be interesting if they continued from one of the future episodes like the more recent one Holidays of Future Passed with Bart and Lisa raising their children and they could do much more with the future setting and all the new technology and aliens. Have one where Bart takes his sons camping on Mars and deal with the constant changing climates of hot and cold as he earnestly tries to be a better dad and give his sons a good childhood.
BubuSnow93 hey got has nothing brainless about it. Show some respect to George RR Martin
Dr. Siracha weiners weiners weiners weniers!!
For spanish people that day was actually a real date: September 17, 2000
The day the Homer's voice actor Carlos Revilla passed away
And that's why I fucking HATE! When people say shit like..."Its just a game" "Its just a cartoon" "These characters are not real" Of course their not we know that but while watching these characters we grow to love them. Apart of them becomes apart of me and you. We take something from that and hey...Maybe your going through something in life and these characters are something of a get away. When I was a kid, I use to watch Rugrats religiously lol I loved it so much it changed my perspective of life and growing up in this world of grown ups that just don't seem to understand. At the beginning I was chuckie Finster and as he grew as a character I grew along with him, I went from being afraid of everything and everyone to taking chances in life and standing up to people. "He's just a cartoon character", but a character that...yeah changed my life. So I wish writers would understand that its a huge responsibility to respect these characters and after a long run send them off on a high note.
Nytellem Man seriously. You need to live in reality
Nytellem. Amen bud😢
Hurri Cane let him live how he wants. What if he has no family or friends and these characters are the only thing he has left? (I mean probably not but still) what if? Do you know him personally? Because if you do I’ll back off and you can talk to him in real life about reality but imagine if I said your entire family were characters and to not care what would you say? Would you say the exact same thing then? Or would your view change? I know that I’m kinda stretching it for the sake of someone I don’t know but hey, who knows this might be all they’ve got... and it only takes one really bad day to go crazy and maybe your comment was the straw that broke the camels back for this persons bad day... but hey what do I know I’m just some RUclips commenter
HypE Noir yea you are just a person commenting and that’s it no one should take anything anyone says seriously someone doesn’t like something oh well I don’t think John Lennon is a legend but I understand he’s a legend to so many people which I respect just not my type of music I don’t think Simpsons is dead or unfunny it’s the Simpson’s I just watch tv to be distracted and or entertained if I want a story I’ll read a book
Rodger Rabbit isn’t Roger Rabbit a cartoon?
And that episode was just the beginning. They then proceeded to ruin or retcon more and more characters. We find out that Flanders is actually 30 years older than he looks, which doesn’t make sense with his parents being Beatniks. We get to know Apu as a surprisingly cool bachelor only to have him get married and saddled with too many kids in rapid order. And the final nail in the coffin: after going to high school in the 1970s, Homer and Marge are suddenly in college in the 1990s.
Maybe they're just slow
I stopped watching the show in that season, i don't remember the number but i guess the year was 2001 or 2002... the Apu's kids chapter was the final nail for me
But then again, Maggie is still a baby after more than 30 yrs.
You’re mad a show what retcons everything every other episode
How about the fact that the Simpsons kids are STILL kids?
This was insanely good. I think everyone would be happy if ended at season 8. There's a reason so many of us just rewatch those 8 seasons...they're perfect tv.
Agreed! I rewatch those seasons over and over again. Glad you enjoyed the video. Please share with your fellow Simpson fan friends! :)
you should watch Gilmore girls thats a great show thats slowly getting left in the past.
"slowly getting left in the past"...part of the blame when it comes to the Simpsons should be with the hardcore fans as well. The grunge episode was one of the best in the past 9 years. Like Principle and Pauper, that Grunge episode sort of insults the life long Simpsons fan. But thing is, the show has to move on if it's going to survive. Unfortunately it hasn't and it won't.
I wouldn't. I like some later episodes.
I wouldn't, there are so many great ones between seasons 9-13 that it would've been a crying shame if it ended after 8. Lots of hilarious quotes, emotional moments, and episodes where characters actually made big changes (such as Apu getting married or Barney giving up beer).
What kills great sitcoms is when the characters begin acting in ways that are inconsistent with their personalities that the audience has grown to know and love. Probably because of changes in the writing staff.
For me it was when Homer lost the eating contest to the truck driver. It just went against his character completely and didn't make any sense. The guy who ate plastic lobsters at an all you can eat buffet, lost to some random character.
Maude's death was what threw me off. Everything about the way that was done felt off to me.
Calvin Hobbes it did feel kind of out of place, despite it not contradicting anything else like this episode
Agreed. I read that it was basically to spite the voice actress for leaving, pretty messed up. I don't view her death or ANYTHING after Season 10 as canon
When I saw the title of this video, I thought they were going to talk about the episode where Maude dies. I think that was the episode that kind of ruined the show, at least for me, anyway.
Yeah, I've heard that episode referenced a lot. Definitely a weak episode.
Well, that episode was almost 20 years ago and the show is still running. So it couldn't have been that bad.
That's like saying your car is fine when the bumper falls off, you have a piece of cardboard for the passenger window and you are using the spare doughnut to commute to work every day. Sure it still runs, but is that really the point?
Completely agree. Perhaps that was the last straw for me after the The Principal and the Pauper. Seemed cheap and unnecessary.
yeah... the idea itself wasn't bad, it could've been extremely powerful actually, but it packed too much into one episode. i don't think it ruined the show, but it wasn't the best.
Ironically, the episode before this one, where they go to New York, is my favorite episode of the Simpsons. It was like one final hurrah before it went downhill
Seaons 3-8 really are works of art.
Yes. Just yes.
I still prefief older ones more then new ones.
Thats true! I dont watch simpsons. Anymore..
N64 MasterRace give it a rest
Agreed
5:36 Did he list 'homophobe' as one of his past jobs?...
Sweetly. Yes, he did.
Homophobic Missionary.
..., homophobe and missionary
Yeah, he was protecting springfield
Sweetly WTF OMG
It's not even that bad of an episode. I don't think the show started to go downhill until about the 12th-13th seasons. That's when I noticed a serious decline in quality and humor.
Yeah, I stopped watching in Season 14. Couldn't take it anymore.
Even in my country where the show is dubbed, the decline after season 14 / 15 was indeed noticeable...
Have you ever see this interesting site that has the same viewpoint as you ? : deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/
It's a really interesting study of the series decline and its place at first in the late 80's television, very interesting...
Plus one of the comments in the last appendix was spot on for me as the moment when this zombified series even became toxic and the exact opposite of what it was at first...
Entertain The Elk What are you talking about? Season 14 is in the top 5 Simpsons seasons of all time. You're just aping some hipster prevailing opinion
to my memory the first ``modern'' episode of the simpsons, was the one where homer went to new york. that was the first time where the plot and writing seemed below their high standard
The Simpsons
Seasons 1 & 2-- Good show, has potential
Seasons 3-8 -- Legendary writing, "Golden era" of show
Seasons 9-11-- Good, but not as good as the prior seasons
Seasons 12-19-- Bad, but somewhat tolerable to watch
Seasons 20-beyond -- Horrendous. Utterly unwatchable.
Agreed.
I think that's a good summary. I concur.
*9-11*
sorry
CorazónMexica you’re right I stop watching it round season 13
I've been rewatching the "golden era" recently and 9 is definitely the season that it starts to crack. There are plenty of good eps but a few really bad ones, season 10 does the reverse where there are few good eps and plenty of really bad ones and it's just downhill all the way
My mum didn't like the episode because of how Skinners mum just rejected him and didn't care
I haven't seen the episode in what seems like forever... but didn't she come around at the end?
I wouldn't say it *died*... I mean, I agree it exited the golden age. But to say it died then is a bit of a hyperbole. I think it has slowly aged, like a human: out of its prime, not worth much in its older age, but still going, and can still be charming in its later episodes.
-Beethoven 2017
Funny you say that when Beethoven composed his best in old age
"The day the Simpsons began its slow and depressing slide into dementia"
U cant even hear that shit ludwig
Don't ignore season 2
Well, guess I'm gonna go watch seasons 3-8 just to confirm that this random RUclips video is to be correct.
I'll be back in 2-4 months.
The Simpsons died with Phil Hartman, imo.
Well said.
You glad King of the Hill and Futurama ended on good notes?
@Courtesy Stitch I don't use the word 'hero' very often, but you, are the greatest hero in american history.
I would fully agree... except that I think Season 2 was my favorite. There is an reason why I have seasons 1-9 on DVD and not the rest. But the problem with the Simpsons these days is that there is no more heart in the episodes anymore.
I own those same seasons on DVD too! I agree that Seasons 1 and 2 are fantastic, but I think the writers really found their voice and hit their stride in Season 3. Thanks for commenting!
Rudy Smith I enjoy season 2 as well. Sure, it is not the show in its "prime", but it has many hidden gems. Very heartwarming as well.
I once had a friend who believed that we shouldn't get emotionally invested in characters in movies or TV or even video games. Because they're all fake and fictional. They don't have real lives or real emotions or real stories. And the story, setting, and the personalities of these characters can take a dramatic turn into something that the viewers don't like simply because the writer(s) want to do something else on a whim. I wish I could show him this video to prove him wrong.
Your friend was right
You shouldn't take it so far that you get obsessed with a piece of fiction and it ruins your life. But if you don't care AT ALL about the characters, you're probably not even going to watch the show in the first place.