What is the best animated show of the 2000s? ALSO: I mispronounce Matt’s name twice in the video because apparently hearing something 8 million times isn’t enough for me lol
And Maggie Makes Three was cheap, Homer being a dick, waiting for comeuppance, misery, but Maggie is cute, so he’s OK with her I don’t see how it’s one of the Simpsons best
The finest of Homer (IMO) is when he learned his mother, Mona, was alive and spent the ending credits sitting on his car hood, just watching the stars.
And the Homer that took up a 2nd job at the kwik e mart to afford Lisa's pony, the Homer that attempted to kill himself, because he got laid off from the power plant, the Homer that saved Bart from jumping springfield gorge, the Homer that took up a seasonal job as santa so he can provide a good christmas for his family.
And the Homer that took charge in an assertive way and saved Flanders' left handed store from closing down (that was truly the definitive Homer Simpson)
Thats it. At first Homer was a good hearted fool, somebody who would try to avoid working and cherishes laziness and hedonism, yet will do things to make sure his family is set, and deeply feels for their happiness, showing great humanity and true, genuine goodness. Eventually they turned him into a complete nutcase that comes off as way more than stupid sometimes. This change is a perfect metaphor of how the show went from an adult animation absolute masterpiece, to a little kids worldwide cartoon show. The first ten or twelve seasons are a timeless classic after another, whilst the newer seasons are boring, with almost no memorable moments.
Homer walking out of Moe's to take a bike ride with Marge... Homer taking the fall for Patty and Selma at the BMV by pretending to smoke... "Do it for her". Homer
Yea, they really went overboard with the celebrity guests too. I get that they're so big that they can get pretty much anyone they want, but getting some pop singer or actor does not automatically make for a good episode. Last time I saw the show (late 2006) it seems like every episode was just centered around some bigshot famous guest. It gets very boring.
When every episide was focused around a specific character and or a moral dilema. The episode that marked the decline for me was the real and imposter principal skinner
Eh, I'd rather a show stop too late than stop too soon. At least in the latter case you can decide to what point the episodes are watchable and ignore the rest, but in the former case you can never properly imagine the episodes that otherwise would've been released that wouldn't be as good as usual but still fine to watch. Futurama stopped when it was at its height. A show is best stopped past that point, when it's in a decline at the point where the episodes aren't as good as they used to be but they're still nice to watch, but you know if it continues it's going to be bad.
The episode when bart steals a video game is the deepest and most emotional episode ever. Or the episode when bart accidently kills a bird and taket care of its eggs. That one explores the relationship between bart and marge. It shows that bart is not just a evil mischief but that he also has a conscience and can take responsibility for his actions. Very heart warming
Two of my favorite quotes are in those episodes: 1. "Marge! Is Lisa at Camp Granada?" 2. Why is this taking so long? Bart was born in about five minutes. Actually, it took 53 hours. Really? Well, the time just flew by, didn't it? Back when Homer was lovably clueless
Both of those came to mind for me as well. As a kid I thought those both weren’t quite as good. As a father now, I truly see how meaningful and important those episodes were!
Because so many Homer/Ned scenes got shown in this it reminds me that originally the dynamic was that Homer hated Ned because he recognized how "good" Ned was. Because Homer cared how people saw him, living next to Ned was a reminder of someone who seemed to effortlessly go to church, raise his kids, provide for his family, etc. Scully Homer kinda just hates Ned...because it was funny to be mean to Ned. Homer doesn't feel small next to Ned, he takes advantage of him and hurts him because it's suppose to be a joke that Ned will just take it. Weirdly enough, Jerkass Homer doesn't even have a consistent outlook on Ned, because Homer merely does whatever the writers want him to do to make the episode happen. He'll respect Ned and ask for advice, play off their "friendship" or just abuse him episode to episode for no reason.
@@magicmulder Exaggeration *can* be good, I kind of prefer Ned being not just real good neighbor but exceptionally overdone extreme good/dedicated/devoted/but also religiously super-judgmental.
And Homer did get really dumb/inept even in the seasons that were still loved, the change was not just that that increased, though it did, but more that he also really stopped caring about it as well as becoming more selfish and even outright mean.
Back when the Simpsons aired opposite "The Cosby Show" on Thursday nights, they did a short bit that aired ONLY on the night that Cosby show ended. It shows Homer and Bart watching Cosby's last episode. Bart asks, "Why did they end the show when it's still a hit?" Homer warmly says, "Mr. Cosby wanted to end it before the quality began to suffer." Bart laughs. "Quality, shmallity! If I had my own TV show, I'd run that sucker INTO THE GROUND!!!" Three decades on, it's so true.
@@cellblocknine5385 It wasn't an episode. It was a bit that only aired that night after the episode ended. Maybe 15 seconds long. I had it on VHS. Not sure why it isn't a box set extra.
@King of The Zinger You do know it was popular back in the 90s, right? It's not just people living in the wrong generation. Things from previous generations can be good and deserve the respect they get. The Simpsons isn't just a giant pop culture icon for no reason
@@Muskateering I don't know that, but it was based on the old episode, where Homer meets God, who states to him that he has only 4 months or so to live. Many have noted, that the Simpson's started to go crazier after that episode.
@@TheTomimt I don't think that was the intention though, it was just an off the cuff throwaway joke (I know the episode you're taking about) but I'll look into it anyway thanks 👍🏼
@@bathroomshy , he also told Flanders to get over Maude and meet other women while he was still grieving. Pretty callous thing for the man who caused the death of Ned's wife to do....
I lost interest in the show after that also. It was a pretty cheap and desperate way for them to get viewers. As opposed to, I don't know, writing relevant stories....
@noodleking 92 Are you serious !? The while episode is about Homer's culpability... Didn't you his culpability when he was telling his story to the other people he met on the boat where he was ?
When I saw that as an older kid I thought; wow this is totally me! That's probably my number one most cherished, or where Lisa falls for the sub teacher.
@@princessmarlena1359 And, for no fault of your own, you still feel the need to reference their academic success in order to justify that argument. Weird, huh? We’re definitely in the beginning of an era where the definition of smart is shifting.
@@princessmarlena1359 Oh no of course not, I didn’t think you were using that success to justify your stance in THAT way. I meant it more that I was in agreement with you, but that we are so clearly in a culture that rewards academic success that we even justify the concept of smart != academic ability with people who are academically successful. It’s just an observation, I’ve done the same thing and I’ll likely keep doing it, again for not fault of my own, or yours.
Season 1: Homer loses his job - existential crisis Season It doesn’t matter: Homer loses his job - proceeds to get another, more zany job until he fails and is right back to where he started
Did your see the Rocko's Modern Life movie on Netflix? The entire thing was focused solely on mocking people for wanting to watch an old show. I've never seen anyone hate their own fans that much, before or since.
@@MaximumCarne The Invader Zim movie was the opposite: a labor of love that perfectly fit into the rest of the show, tied up a lot of loose ends, answered a lot of questions, and still somehow maintained the status quo at the end.
The thing is, everyone has some kindness in the early seasons, remember when Bart was mischievous and sometimes a bit sadistic but still a good person at heart, who was capable of feeling empathy and cared for others even if he rarely shows it? Now he's just a sociopath, plain evil, and couldn't care less about anyone else. Homer is no different, originally he was a lovely idiot, but he was also kind, and had some brief moments of genuine intelligence, he wasn't a complete idiot all the time and despite being very emotional and easily irritated, he was still trying to be a good father and was always willing to sacrifice anything for his family. Now he's not only mentally retarded, but he's also heartless and selfish. Every character went through similar changes, their positive qualities vanished over time while their negative qualities were exaggerated to the extreme of being everything they are, and in the process every character lost their humanity, and their kindness.
This problem especially creeps up is in animations that don’t age their characters through the seasons. Because I feel that all these late 80s mid 2000s shows suffer from keeping their characters the same age and stuck in the same situations. So they eventually run out of character building and the formation of a narrative eventually.
Thats why Iiked how adventure time handled it with him aging about a year each season. I guess it would be pretty much impossible to tell a good coming of age story if they never come of age!
They decided right away that The Simpsons wouldn't age. But at that point, they never expected to last more than a season or two. By the time it was apparent they'd last a while, it was a little too late to change. And no one could have predicted they'd last this long.
No, you can't rationalize that it all happened in two years. Why? Because every single season has to have Halloween, thanksgiving, and Christmas episodes. So 30 Christmas episodes later...
Cartoons rarely age their characters, so that is irrelevant. But anyway, they’ve been around for 30+ years, it just got stale. Everything has an expiration date.
Season 4 Lisa’s first word: “The sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word.” - Homer “Daddy” - Maggie My favorite two lines for no one that asked
No one did, but nice to know you agree with most of us. Not me though, my heart belongs to "Delivered for Bart Simpson with the message: "I am coming to kill you, slowly and painfully!"
The episode where there is a flashback to Marge and Homer's prom where her date (not Homer) was pushy and tore her dress then later Homer shows up and he fixes her dress, that was one of the sweetest Homer moments.
indeed, before they retconned it with that kurt cobain bullshit. homer and marge "how they met" story is one of the most sacred thing on earth, and they had to retcon/reboot it TWICE only because zoomers would get "confused" if there are no modern references
@@Zontar82 They've actually retconned it again (or so I'm told, I stopped watching completely when they started recasting characters to be "anti-racist"). Marge was now in high school in the 2000s (and I assume Homer was too, but Groening turned up in the Jeffrey Epstein flight logs, so who knows) in a flashback episode where she's in a drama club and has multiple musical numbers, but Marge voice actres Julie Cavner was unable to actually do these musical numbers due to her health. Instead of scrapping the episode like normal people would, they instead have her voice change to some famous actress whenever she sings.
Modern Simpsons has nothing going for it besides recycled episodes: -Homer getting a new job. -Family trip to some country. -Marge freaking out over yet another of Homer's screw-ups, only to forgive him by the episode's end. -Lisa bemoaning her unpopularity, and managing to make a new friend who she'll either lose, or drive away herself by the end. Any other plot we've already seen a thousand times before?
Same, it's one of my all time favorite relationships, with "The Way We Was" and "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" being in my top ten favorite episodes while also loving "I Married Marge". But now we have episodes like "That 90's Show" which is a horrible episode.
@@AB-lj1ke A show that ignores the usual dysfunctional family archetypes found in Simpsons and Family Guy and just becomes its own thing. That, and the Belchers are more charming and funny than both those families have ever been in a while.
I think the point is that dumb characters should have an emotional maturity to balance off the lack of intelligence... Not everyone wants to/can be super smart, but everyone aspires to be viewed as caring/compassionate... There are more important qualities than being smart...
This analysis pretty much sums up why the Simpsons turned from "greatest cartoon series ever" to unwatchable over the years. Early Simpsons had better authors, better storylines, better gags and better characters.
Idk, Psych did a good job for 8 seasons. The problem is clearly with the new writers not understanding Matt's vision. He should have never given his show to someone else.
Yeah....I can see the same thing happening to so many beloved childhood series that just need to end because it is just now awful how instead of being unique they are just copy-pasted cutouts of clichés and horrible character development. It's happened to SpongeBob, the Wolfenstein games, Harry Potter, Family Guy I could list more but I think we all know just how bad these have devolved
@@rejvaik00 Family Guy is probably the biggest offender in that list. Season 1 and 2 Family Guy is like a completely different show compared to everything after it.
No joke. I can't recall which channel it was, but there was a video essay that essentially pointed out that the show's decline was when it stopped being counterculture and started _being_ the culture.
Homer is an example of when you've been alive too long, you see yourself become a monster. It used to be about a real family that just happened to be Animated, now they're a full blown cartoon
That for me is the biggest issue with the show. The writers have just run out of ideas as the show has been on way too long. When you need to top earlier seasons but every joke and topic has been covered, of course the writers will write whackier stuff. It's impossible to stretch the golden age from season 3 to where they are now. That is completely unrealistic. 22 episodes a season for 35 seasons is way too long and quite frankly, the simpsons have overstayed their welcome, hence the decline.
@@myhatmygandhi6217 And the decline was probably specifically from wanting to and/or thinking they had to try to top themselves again and again and again and again from going so long.
"Maybe this is just what happens when your character lives for thirty years. When it loses its heart." Turned 30 a couple months ago, can definitely relate.
As well as say the simpsons is "male dominated" and "guy humor" to justify why there's no women on the writing staff. Even tho Lisa and Marge are pretty big characters too!
Point of order: the "GYM" joke isn't about Homer's illiteracy. It's about how he's so lazy and unfit, he's never heard of a "gym" before. It's not a great joke that tracks since he recognized the gym visually when he sees it, but its not poking fun at his intelligence, but rather his inexperience with the concept of exercise.
@@SPVFilmsLtd OK, let me give it a try. I'm also physically lazy and unfit, but I'm not an idiot so I know how "gym" is pronounced and what it means. Homer, on the other hand, doesn't, because the writers are mocking him as stupid and illiterate. Homer is a father who works at a job he hates to support his family, which in early Simpsons was viewed with sympathy (see "And Maggie Makes Three"). But now in the hands of woke Hollywood that makes him not someone to be viewed with affection for all of his faults, but a imbecilic loser to be ridiculed and demeaned at every opportunity.
@@loumencken9644 Pre "woke" Homer thought that he could live LITERALLY under the sea. In 1994. Also that gym episode is from 1998. I don't think he's the victim of conspiracy here. Not unless you are a "season 1 only" fan. Mostly I think you are struggling with how surrealist comedy works. Unless you also LITERALLY think you can live under the sea?
My interpretation also that the joke is about gym being so foreign he doesnt know the word. Which isnt best logic and quickly fall through. But the idea makes sense.
The Simpsons nowdays is like having a grandparent in life support. On one hand, you have so many great memories together and don't wish for them to go. On the other hand, you can't stand watching them struggling pathetically to stay alive and just want to end their suffering.
its crazy to think that there are now more simpsons episodes i havent seen than have, yet i consider it to be one of my favourite shows of all time. season 1-10 are gold - the animation, humour, sound design, everything. its like a cozy old blanket. when i first moved countries watching the simpsons was always so comforting.
And you wonder "who the hell is paying the bill for all this?". I really wonder how Fox still makes enough money on this piece of crap to justify renewing it.
TittySprinkles, it’s the merchandise sales that’s keeping Simpson’s alive, or at least it used to be until Disney bought out Fox, so it seems since Disney is practically a monopoly at this point in time Simpson’s will never die out.
So to cheer you up: the ending of the simpsons would'nt be "the ending of the simpsons". In a interview one of the writers said he allways imagined the ending of the simpsons that at the end of the last episode the family goes to a school sideshow in springfield elementary just like the first episode began. So it would be a infinite loop. That would answer the question why no one is aging but throws up the question what happens to the characters who died? Like maud.
“I used to be with IT and then they changed what IT was, now what I’m with isn’t IT and what is IT is weird and scary to me and it’ll happen to you too.”
Yo sí estaba en onda, pero luego cambiaron la onda, ahora la onda que traigo no es onda y la onda de onda me parece muy mala onda. Y te va a pasar a ti.
Seasons 1-2 Homer: Made to resemble the American dad Seasons 3-8 Homer: A good guy, with a heart, that always delivered on jokes Seasons 9-11 Homer: The same thing as seasons 3-8 Homer but something was just off. Less caring and more of a joke Seasons 12-21 Homer: A man who when he walked into the room a laugh track would play. A complete joke and jerk Seasons 21-now Homer: Basically seasons 12-21 Homer, but occasionally showed glimpses of his former self
I think you helped me realize why I always had a soft spot for Homer but always hated Peter in Family Guy. Homer was not intelligent, but had a heart and cared about his impact on others where Peter is the blank slate that Homer later became.
So you dislike a blank slate but consider physical assault care and concern? Do you have a family yourself, because you sound like you’d probably beat your children and husband.
@@steviegbcool crazy, cuz I think both shows are very different…. Love Family Guy, but without the Simpsons….there isn’t a family guy. The Simpsons is just better imo 👍🏼
I was just talking to someone about how the Simpsons used to be good. Seeing this made me realize all my favorite and most memorable episodes were the ones where homer had a heart. I grew up watching them and didnt realize the changes until now looking back.
The new Homer is more caring and more competent. Not saying he's the brightest. However, people compare him to Peter Griffin and that's off.. Peter is down right dumb.
@@NowhereMan7 i think for m the problem with spongebob is those earlier seasons you mentioned even though a cartoon could still be watched and enjoyed by older kids and even adults now its very childish and goofy like something a 5 yr old would like
I feel like so many shows have this issue of starting out with a dumb but lovable character and slowly having them get dumber with each passing season until they are insufferable. For example Patrick from Spongebob and Cosmo from Fairly Odd Parents. I also feel like they become more aggressive and mean spirited the dumber they get.
Mariah Alberti I think it has a lot to do with them getting new writers on the show who try to ‘change’ things around and probably have no idea who the original character’s personalities really were.
I agree there's really only so many times a dumb character can do something dumb and redeem themselves without the episodes being completely formulaic, so the writers just destroy the character with more and more stupid choices that they always get away with, your especially right about Patrick he went from being 3 dimensional with his own issues and standalone episodes to being a completely one dimensional punchline character who is only ever seen in a supporting role dragging everyone else down
@@josh44026 patrick scared me sometimes, when he would go from sweet and bumbly to suddenly irate. I know now they were often referencing something, and that is in fact how really dumb people often are too.
They should just give up and make these works public domain. But they believe that nostalgia sells, and also that people want new things, which are contradicting ideas that lead to awful products. Why can't they just make something new? Seems like their only creativity left is used for their accountancy.
The problem is that the Simpsons is a cartoon where nobody ages. How long can you keep such a show grounded in reality before you run out of storylines?, With Homer having a full-time job, Marge staying at home and the kids going to school there are limited options.
The bigger issue is that eventually they run out of ideas. Live action is no different. When characters start getting married and having babies, I know the writers have run out of good ideas and it's time to put it to rest.
While I think they should have slowly aged the characters the biggest problem is limited continuity so every episode ends essentially with every member of the family right back to where they were. Occasionally, a main character or secondary character is given some continuity (like Milhouse's parents becoming divorced, Lisa becoming a Buddist and vegetarian, or Flanders now owning a store that specializes for left-handed people) but otherwise it only seems to happen when voice actors leave the show or pass away. There is only just so much that can be done when every episode ends with a soft reset.
Anyone else notice that he said “He cares about his family” while playing the clip of him crying because there was no food at Marge’s aunts funeral lmao
@@bluerat2106 Similar to how you took that action out of context, as all he did was use an effective visual to go along with his point... that's the power of dumbass commentors.
@@pickleproductions5736 he was just stating the fact that people do that in their videos (which regardless of how you want to spin it is what the guy who made the video did) you all are the ones taking it negatively lol
@THE REAL TYREE SNEED yeah, no. familiar is all fine and dandy, but people still like this. all of it. most people aren't hardcore nerd babies after all. they don't write essays about the downfall of the simpsons because they're still very much fine with what it is
This was such good articulation of what a lot of us observed over the years of watching The Simpsons. Interestingly, I noticed that 30 Rock did the same thing with the Tracy Morgan character.
Homer wasn't the only one who was ruined. Marge became more hypocritical, jealous, demanding, and judgemental. Bart became more destructive, selfish, and even started showing signs of being sociopathic. Lisa became more snobby, overly mature, annoyingly self righteous, and slightly narcissistic. And Maggie....Well they haven't changed Maggie that much.
Even Ned Flander has became more stupid with time. Heck! He even gained his own term:"Flanderization!". And how about Chief Wiggum? He has became so toxic he got almost shot by his two henchmens.
The Simpsons really is 'Family Guy'. Complete with the daughter being the only sympathetic, human character. Who's used as a punching bag by everyone else.
@@Gotterdammerung05 The Simpson's-verse has become so loathsome that even Lisa--as-constant-scold doesn't bother me. A terrible place requires a strident prophetess. Marge, however, has become such a depressingly broken Stepford Wife; that it might be kindest to permit her a suicide by valium overdose; leaving Homer to collapse under his own (behavioral) weight. At which point Flanders would likely gain custody; allowing Bart and Lisa to drag Rod and Todd into real life.
I'm amazed the creator didn't mention Flanderization, which was coined after the very same show: Flanderization is the act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. Most always, the trait/action becomes completely outlandish and it becomes their defining characteristic.
@@Vivi_9 You mean Toriyama, he wanted to make Goku like his Dragonball counterpart but doesn't work because his an adult with context to how society works
@@Vivi_9 He made statement regarding how he made mistake in taking direction of Goku in Z who was slightly heroic and actually quite smart. Retool him to ignorant, funny lighthearted dumb brute who only smart and serious when fighting.
I grew up watching the early-mid seasons of the simpsons around the time that they were airing. I was quite young at the time, but it would just be something to watch if we were bored. I enjoyed the show, and a few years ago I watched one of the newer episodes and was pretty sad to realise that it’s charm was all gone.
the point of homer not knowing how to pronounce “gym” has nothing to do with illiteracy, it’s the idea that the IDEA of a gym would be so foreign to him that he’d never even bothered to learn the word until that moment. In Rainier Wolfcastle’s words: that’s the joke.
Yeah not the best example for what he was going for. It was pretty obvious he didn't read the word wrong because he didn't know how to. The point is he's kind of a slob, which was always the case.
Exactly. Because he clearly reads C. W. McAllister's journal at the top of the Murderhorn and he even reads the shredded chinese newspaper that the Powersauce bars are made of in this same episode.
The simpsons movie had an arc for homer, where he turns from a heartless jerk who ruins the family’s (and town’s) lives, eventually learning that his family’s life is parallel with his own, that if they’re unhappy, he is too. He then risks it all to get back to them, gets Bart’s trust back and makes the best ending line I think will ever be said (in an animated movie, of course). “The best kiss of your life, so far”. They then proceed to place homer back as the jerk he was and only refers to the movie once, when mr burns wants to put a dome around Springfield again. In my opinion, the movie was the best chance they had to either end the simpsons, or turn it around, and they did neither.
Im 29, so i dont remember the "old Homer" too well. A few years ago, a local channel aired a lot of the reruns of the earlier seasons. It took me by suprised how slow paced, and more "relatable" Homer and the family was. I actually enjoyed it more than i did for the post 2000s Homer than i remember more clearerly
I was Lisa's age when the show first started, now I'm Homer's age. I grew up on the show, was my favourite show. Somewhere around season 10 I stopped watching regularly. I have all the older seasons on DVD and watch those, but haven't watched a new episode in god knows how long. Not a single episode since maybe season 20. The show is complete trash now, it's sad and should've ended a long time ago. I did like the movie though, even though I had stopped watching new episodes at that point.
Exactly my experience too. There was one season where Homer was just tucking his children to bed that was really heartwarming. I was so surprised. I only knew of the movie version of Homer.
Seasons 2-8 were peak Simpsons...9-12 were still decent enough, but overall clearly on the decline...while seasons 13 and on have been horrible. I'd bet I can count on one hand the number of episodes I've seen from season 13-whatever they're at now, and I'm more than OK with that.
"You know, Maggie; the sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word." *Homer kisses Maggies forehead, turns off the light and leaves the room. Maggie takes out her pacifier and says* "Daddy." I miss the comedy of the golden age of the Simpsons but it is the heart and moments like these that I miss the most.
My headcanon is that that was the very last episode; the show ended with her sleeping. The next episode - and every one after that - was just her dreaming about her family and community. That's why so many things in the show have gone askew or been retconned: Dreams don't have to make sense, especially to a baby.
@@KasumiKenshirou my theory is that commercialization tends to ruin creative heart (i get making headcanons and theories to fill in the blanks though; not trashing that whatsoever. it's just that i feel fans shouldnt have to do all the heavy lifting to make things good, as fun as it can be.)
my favorite homer moment was in maggy makes three when he uses her pictures to write "do it for her" in his working station. i can remember watching that episode when i was a kid and realise that at some point i might also have to do sacrifices to help my family when i get older. i don't know why that episode stuck with me so much but i still watch it at least once a year to remind myself to be a good person and to do sacrifices for the people that i love. thank you homer for such a valuable life lesson.
Ive been rewatching the Simpsons, but unlike usually stopping at at around season 10, I kept watching and am on season 21 and what you said definitely stood out. Homer is painfully stupid, episodes in which he and Marge go through patches make me angry because of how he's an ass and Marge just puts up with him when she really shouldn't. Another thing that's really annoying is how Bart went from being a mischievous kid to actually evil. It's like they watched that one episode of treehouse of horror where you find out Bart is the evil twin and then based his entire character on that. Some of the evil stuff Bart does in modern Simpsons he never would have in the past because he's supposed to be a brat, not a monster
Simpsons from S1-9 is the best TV show of all time. Purely genius writing, only rivalled by Frasier. Became extremely low brow and relied on cheap pop culture jokes.
There's a lot about this that I disagree with, but my main gripe is that you gave so much credit to Matt Groening. True he created the characters and the shorts, but it was Sam Simon who shaped it into a sitcom. He created the tone of the sitcom, the writing style, and he was the one who hired all the great writers in the early 90s. James L. Brooks was also responsible for a lot of the heartfelt moments and wrote a lot of un-credited lines.
@TheWhiteWhale He's not referring to zombie Simpsons, that's very later. He's referring to the golden age which was for a lot of people was season 3-8.
The simpsons/family guy crossover episode was like watching a friend you know from your childhood trying to act cool in front of his new friends, you feel the cringe of knowing that person isnt like that and is trying way too hard to fit.
"you feel the cringe of knowing that person isn't like that" But that's the problem. That once good, close friend is now "like that". Not just "like" that, they ARE that now. They've been irreversibly changed into what they are now. There's no going back to the person they used to be. And that's what makes me deeply sad about this whole things.
In my mind, the "Behind the Laughter" is the true series finale. It was the perfect capstone to a great comedy that eventually ran out if gas as so many long-running shows do.
Lisa: "Tis better better to stay silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" Homer's Brain: "What does that mean? mmm, better say something or they'll think you're stupid" Homer: "Takes one to know one"
That episode still has one of my all-time favorite quotes though. "Kids there are now three ways to do things. The right way. The wrong way. And the Max Power way." "Isn't that just the wrong way?" "Yeah, but faster."
It's actually a good episode, there have made plenty worse. At least it has a lot of good moments like when Marge explains to Homer the purpose of the TV shows new, dumb Homer, "Your character provides the comic relief like Marlon Brando in "Äpocalypse Now"" and when Marge notices how fancy the house is with the street number spelled out instead of using numerals, "From now on we'll be spelling everything with letters"
Shaq Browny I’ve seen newer episodes that are good but they are so few and far between I don’t bother watching unless I see a clip that gets my attention.
That do it for her moment is so real. Many of us normies work in jobs we absolutely hate. But have no other options. We do it for the ones we love and keep food on the table. Early simpsons will always be in my heart.
Wow, all this time I thought the decline was a natural result of it being on too long. I didn't realize that deliberate changes were happening behind the scenes.
@@sothyvirerksin6730 Good point, though I suppose I did know that. I guess I was more surprised at the conscious changes that were made after that happened.
To me, the show jumped the shark when Maude died. There was something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on about that episode that just felt wrong for the Simpsons. I now realize that that episode was part of a larger shift that occurred, where the show lost its heart, so to speak.
Took the words out of my mouth. There was just something so pointlessly cruel about Maude dying. Killed by t shirt guns....which are then fired at her funeral
I sometimes think of Sideshow Bobs character arc. He's foiled in his attempt to frame Krusty, he goes to prison and plots to kill Bart. Plenty of episodes where he is a recurring villain until he eventually is released from prison and start working with his brother, Cecil. In this episode he's actually trying to be a better person. Not only is he not trying to kill Bart, he actually saves Bart's life when it turns out that Cecil committed fraud and tries to kill them in order to cover it up, or because of jealousy that Bob lived his dream. Bart even helps Bob climb to safety and tries to defend him when he is arrested for collaborating with his brother. Due to police incompetence, Bob goes back to prison, but his vendetta with Bart has ended and he longer wants to kill him. The Sideshow Bob villain arc has ended with his redemption, but then, as if it never happened, he's back as a villain trying to kill Bart with an increasing number of family members helping out. I've been downvoted for saying this before, but The Simpsons should have been cancelled after they finished the Sideshow Bob arc. Simply because they've stopped having original ideas and are using the same plots again and again. Usually, it's about a supporting character who's lost his job or something and one of the Simpsons helps them get it back.
Completely agree! The original Sideshow Bob arc was so perfect and complete. I remember being really disappointed when they dragged out the character just to return him to square one again. What's the point? It just ruins the original arc.
That pissed me off so much!! One of the few times I took to the newsgroup right away. (before forums and here were a thing). It was clear that Sideshow Bob wanted to change, but Chief Wiggum's stubbornness ruined it again. Bob would be back and forth a few times only for someone to ruin it for him. Ex. Krusty recording over any episodes Sideshow Bob took part in or when a drunk Marge got him stripped of his mayoral title in Italy and the vendetta started again and hasn't been the same since. Some of his episodes were good, others were like "OK, let's try again next year."
One thing that I noticed contrasts the old Homer with the new is the way he sees other women. In season 5, “The last temptation of Homer”, he feels a lot of shame and sorrow for the way he feels about Mindy, whereas in the more modern episodes we see Homer shamelessly gawking at other women, sometimes even right in front of Marge. I felt like “The last temptation of Homer” was already out of his character, but at least he feels remorse throughout the episode.
@@icyhex Homer clearly belongs with Mindy, he even said that he can’t fight fate in that episode. He’s clearly pissed off Marge a lot especially in the Cartridge family and the bonfire of the manatees. Homer has much more in common with Mindy than Marge. Mindy would have joined Homer on all of his trips to Moe’s.
What ruined Patrick Star? Every time a franchise lasts too long, the characters become caricatures of themselves. It's like how when a movie is rebooted or a sequel is made decades later, it never feels like that movie fits in the established franchise. Because they're trying to copy what existed before.
Early on patrick was always dumb but somehow how unwittingly he would drop a jewel of advice or wisdom when spongebob asked his opinion but now he is stupid for stupids sake...the show early on could be enjoyed by kids as well as adult...i still watch seasons 1-3 but now its so childish like the target demographic is 5 yr olds
@@darriencolbert1859 they also turned him into a complete jerk when he wasing being a bumbling idiot (ie. that ice cream episode where sandy was running and experiment on Spongeboy and Patricc)
Old Patrick was a bumbling idiot but still somewhat lovable and portrayed as a good friend of Spinge Bib. New Patrick comes across more like an irritating asshole who plays dumb intentionally to jerk everybody around constantly. He is unreliable and cares about no one.
@@MariaIsabellaZNN that's exactly why it's not fun to watch as an adult anymore. he went from dumb but supportive buddy, to only there to get laughs from like objects hitting him in the face, and is inexplicably a huge dick to his best friend now
Growing up with the Simpsons, 3 times in my life I've sat down to binge watch the show. All 3 times I've made it to season 10 and quit. This is the reason why ☹️
@@gameking8809 watch out, the movie was already one of the final nail in the coffin, with the super-trite "marge and homer argues and fight and threatens divorce" which is the defacto plotline of all subsequent episodes. i remember coming from work, and my little sister was still watching the later episodes and i asked her "let me guess, marge and homer are having a fight again right" and she said "wow how did you know it"
Interesting topic. Great video. I always associated my gradual dislike for the newer Simpsons episodes(at that time around '99-on) as a childhood reaction to my family moving to a new town and the end of my own era. I started liking Futurama much more than the Simpsons and now that makes more sense. I know it's all about the money, unfortunately, but the industry need to take the Seinfeld route and just kill shows off when they need to be ended, OR take a hiatus for a bit and let new material build naturally, or start a new show(like Futurama). I wish the voice actors would have said "no" and at least help end this show 10-15 years ago.
Lesson for all the fellow writers out there - when you're writing a character, think of them as a real person, not as a character. Specific character traits should only inform a character's behavior within the context of their broader personality. For example, fat is not a character; a character would be, for all intents, an actual person with a million other things going on who also happens to be fat.
uter to add, when writing a character, go out of your way to write a character history sheet for them. What they like, what they don’t like, where they are from. Favorite movies, songs, stuff like that. Even if it seems like it doesn’t matter, it will help you figure out how to write them and it will become easier to figure out how they’d react because at that point, they will feel like real people.
@@Wintertoes oh jeez just wanted to friendly remind you that your life is going well when you have to point out something so irrelevant to the main comment. well i didn't succeed ig
No back door shenanigans for Homer! So many of his early quotes have directly or indirectly steered international culture. Whenever I see someone screw up in real life, the words "If somethings hard to do, then it's not worth doing" and "Just because I don't care doesn't mean that I don't understand" seem to come from nowhere highlighting the scary truth of these statements we witness on a daily basis.
I once read that once Matt G. started working on Futurama, his best writers jumped ship or became less involved with the Simpsons due to the excitement of the new show. They hired new young/less talented fill-in writers for the Simpsons and this was kind of the death of the show for the original fans. This would have happened during season 9-10
It is a shame The Simpsons never took a break. A hiatus while working on Futurama would have dramatically improved the quality of future season. Now it seems like every episode of The Simpsons exist either purely for out of place guest appearances, or a rehash/lame parody of something I already know. Zero originality remain on the show.
Sounds about right. When Futurama started, it took a while for it to find itself. But within a few years, Futurama was daring and funny and The Simpsons was no longer watchable. Of course, the same problem eventually hit Futurama. It's very hard to keep a show funny indefinitely. Nobody's ever pulled it off. But The Simpsons is setting new records with just how long its persisted past its expiration date.
@@rickdesper When they announced that Futurama was going to be doing its last season for Comedy Central I was okay with since it had fallen off. But then the last season was really good and I wanted more!
I think i kind of agree with other viewers theory that Homer went to crap at the end of Season 8 with the Frank Grimes episode. He showed a complete lack of regard for human life and other peoples suffering, which was NOT in his character during those early seasons.
I started watching the Simpson's on Disney+ from season 1. I cried when he tried to get Christmas for his family and brought home Santas Little Helper in shame and tried to admit to his family that he ruined christmas and his whole family hugged him and were all so excited about their gift. I felt stress when he got shorted on his mall Santa check and only had a few dollars. They felt like a really family struggling
You know your show is screwed up when the “jokes” about Homer and other characters make you feel sad instead making you laugh. Also the case with seasons 6-8 of Spongebob .
Simpsons made me sad sometimes, but Futurama took it up to eleven in the episode with Frys dog. When we see what happened to him in his last 12 years, waiting for Fry to return.
@@orok6351 Same. Or when Fry thinks that his brother stole his lucky clover, but then he finds out the truth. His brother named his son, in other words Frys nephew, Philip J. Fry in remembrance of his lost brother.
Or this was the writers' subtle way of hinting that Cosby was a rapist. There were rumors about him circulating since the 1980s. For anybody in showbiz, it was no secret.
Very good summary. What is interesting, is the fact that the writers themselves were so clueless. There are so many interviews where Scully can’t stop complimenting himself for those three seasons. Personally I love seasons three to six the most. They also had exceptional Halloween episodes.
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What is the best animated show of the 2000s?
ALSO: I mispronounce Matt’s name twice in the video because apparently hearing something 8 million times isn’t enough for me lol
Avatar: the legend of Aang
Out
King of the Hill baby
Superjail
Nerdstalgic why don't you talk about Turbo
I’ll never forget the “Do It For Her” moment. Those are the moments I miss the most.
milie jones just go watch it on Disney + like I do!
And Maggie Makes Three was cheap, Homer being a dick, waiting for comeuppance, misery, but Maggie is cute, so he’s OK with her
I don’t see how it’s one of the Simpsons best
Matthew Mangan I’ve never read a more lazy and inaccurate description/critique. Congrats!
Matthew Mangan
It wasn't because she was cute. It's a parent thing
Still don’t see it
The finest of Homer (IMO) is when he learned his mother, Mona, was alive and spent the ending credits sitting on his car hood, just watching the stars.
YES!!!!
Agreed.
What episode?
That image always stuck in my mind, even though I haven't watched this show in years.
Definitely a great moment. That episode was beautiful.
I miss the Homer who has all the pictures of Maggy where he needed them the most....*sigh*
And the Homer that took up a 2nd job at the kwik e mart to afford Lisa's pony, the Homer that attempted to kill himself, because he got laid off from the power plant, the Homer that saved Bart from jumping springfield gorge, the Homer that took up a seasonal job as santa so he can provide a good christmas for his family.
@@robocock475
The Homer who was an idiot
But was still lovable
And the Homer that took charge in an assertive way and saved Flanders' left handed store from closing down (that was truly the definitive Homer Simpson)
and the homer with his mum when he said goodbye
Maggie*
Homer selling his ticket for the Duff blimp because he believes his daughter is the most beautiful gets me every time. That was peak ‘good’ Homer
Total agree
Thats it. At first Homer was a good hearted fool, somebody who would try to avoid working and cherishes laziness and hedonism, yet will do things to make sure his family is set, and deeply feels for their happiness, showing great humanity and true, genuine goodness. Eventually they turned him into a complete nutcase that comes off as way more than stupid sometimes. This change is a perfect metaphor of how the show went from an adult animation absolute masterpiece, to a little kids worldwide cartoon show. The first ten or twelve seasons are a timeless classic after another, whilst the newer seasons are boring, with almost no memorable moments.
Homer walking out of Moe's to take a bike ride with Marge...
Homer taking the fall for Patty and Selma at the BMV by pretending to smoke...
"Do it for her".
Homer
Maggie 1st words "Dad", not Homer. GOLDEN
Hey there blimpy boy, flying through the sky..so..fancy...free"
Simpsons died when it stopped being about everyday life of the family and focused on Homer meeting/being chased by celebrities and crying
so season 11...
Yup
Yea, they really went overboard with the celebrity guests too. I get that they're so big that they can get pretty much anyone they want, but getting some pop singer or actor does not automatically make for a good episode. Last time I saw the show (late 2006) it seems like every episode was just centered around some bigshot famous guest. It gets very boring.
akirak yep, about the time I gave up, every damn episode it was about Homer meeting some celebrity!! Became boring and unfunny...
When every episide was focused around a specific character and or a moral dilema. The episode that marked the decline for me was the real and imposter principal skinner
That's why I've glad how they ended Futurama before they turned it into a former shadow of itself like they did with the Simpsons.
Hear-hear! Still one of the best shows that was, unlike the Simpsons which currently isn't.
@ What's your favourite episode? Mine was Definetly 'The late Philip J. Fry'... :)
Eh, I'd rather a show stop too late than stop too soon. At least in the latter case you can decide to what point the episodes are watchable and ignore the rest, but in the former case you can never properly imagine the episodes that otherwise would've been released that wouldn't be as good as usual but still fine to watch.
Futurama stopped when it was at its height. A show is best stopped past that point, when it's in a decline at the point where the episodes aren't as good as they used to be but they're still nice to watch, but you know if it continues it's going to be bad.
@@_Vengeance_ To be perfectly frank, I'm most sorry for the last few seasons of South Park.
Not only that, but when it came back, it still somehow managed to retain the same level of writing from the first four seasons.
The episode when bart steals a video game is the deepest and most emotional episode ever. Or the episode when bart accidently kills a bird and taket care of its eggs. That one explores the relationship between bart and marge. It shows that bart is not just a evil mischief but that he also has a conscience and can take responsibility for his actions. Very heart warming
Back when they borrowed from Andy Griffith instead of Family Guy.
Lol every Christmas my family throws on the episode where bart stole the video game such a classic episode
Two of my favorite quotes are in those episodes:
1. "Marge! Is Lisa at Camp Granada?"
2. Why is this taking so long? Bart was born in about five minutes.
Actually, it took 53 hours.
Really? Well, the time just flew by, didn't it?
Back when Homer was lovably clueless
That episode was gold
Both of those came to mind for me as well. As a kid I thought those both weren’t quite as good. As a father now, I truly see how meaningful and important those episodes were!
Because so many Homer/Ned scenes got shown in this it reminds me that originally the dynamic was that Homer hated Ned because he recognized how "good" Ned was. Because Homer cared how people saw him, living next to Ned was a reminder of someone who seemed to effortlessly go to church, raise his kids, provide for his family, etc.
Scully Homer kinda just hates Ned...because it was funny to be mean to Ned. Homer doesn't feel small next to Ned, he takes advantage of him and hurts him because it's suppose to be a joke that Ned will just take it.
Weirdly enough, Jerkass Homer doesn't even have a consistent outlook on Ned, because Homer merely does whatever the writers want him to do to make the episode happen. He'll respect Ned and ask for advice, play off their "friendship" or just abuse him episode to episode for no reason.
Flanders underwent the same transformation, TV Tropes even named that trope after him - Flanderization.
@@magicmulder Exaggeration *can* be good, I kind of prefer Ned being not just real good neighbor but exceptionally overdone extreme good/dedicated/devoted/but also religiously super-judgmental.
And Homer did get really dumb/inept even in the seasons that were still loved, the change was not just that that increased, though it did, but more that he also really stopped caring about it as well as becoming more selfish and even outright mean.
Back when the Simpsons aired opposite "The Cosby Show" on Thursday nights, they did a short bit that aired ONLY on the night that Cosby show ended. It shows Homer and Bart watching Cosby's last episode. Bart asks, "Why did they end the show when it's still a hit?" Homer warmly says, "Mr. Cosby wanted to end it before the quality began to suffer." Bart laughs. "Quality, shmallity! If I had my own TV show, I'd run that sucker INTO THE GROUND!!!" Three decades on, it's so true.
The Simpsons is still decent compared to a lot of the crap on tv.
@King of The Zinger I bet a huge chunk of that Disney+ audience are people watching the early seasons. I know I am.
This is literally not an episode. You just made this entire comment up. Lol good job tho buddy. People are actually believing you!
@@cellblocknine5385 It wasn't an episode. It was a bit that only aired that night after the episode ended. Maybe 15 seconds long. I had it on VHS. Not sure why it isn't a box set extra.
@King of The Zinger You do know it was popular back in the 90s, right? It's not just people living in the wrong generation. Things from previous generations can be good and deserve the respect they get. The Simpsons isn't just a giant pop culture icon for no reason
with the homer we have now, it's hard to imagine how he was the same character who made the "do it for her" board.
True
That's why the theory of Homer being dead and the current run of the show is his fever dream before he died pretty compelling.
@@TheTomimt Interesting, what's the name of the theory?
@@Muskateering I don't know that, but it was based on the old episode, where Homer meets God, who states to him that he has only 4 months or so to live. Many have noted, that the Simpson's started to go crazier after that episode.
@@TheTomimt I don't think that was the intention though, it was just an off the cuff throwaway joke (I know the episode you're taking about) but I'll look into it anyway thanks 👍🏼
For me the jump-the-shark moment was when he accidentally killed Maude Flanders and felt no remorse whatsoever.
he did feel remorse
@@bathroomshy , he also told Flanders to get over Maude and meet other women while he was still grieving. Pretty callous thing for the man who caused the death of Ned's wife to do....
I lost interest in the show after that also. It was a pretty cheap and desperate way for them to get viewers.
As opposed to, I don't know, writing relevant stories....
@@maskedmarvyl4774 Honestly I think Homer was just really trying to help Ned, just going too far in doing so.
@noodleking 92 Are you serious !? The while episode is about Homer's culpability... Didn't you his culpability when he was telling his story to the other people he met on the boat where he was ?
"Bart gets an F" made me shed tears because it hit so close to home and it still does and it probably always will
Fr
When I saw that as an older kid I thought; wow this is totally me! That's probably my number one most cherished, or where Lisa falls for the sub teacher.
I was hit by it yesterday.
@@princessmarlena1359 And, for no fault of your own, you still feel the need to reference their academic success in order to justify that argument. Weird, huh?
We’re definitely in the beginning of an era where the definition of smart is shifting.
@@princessmarlena1359 Oh no of course not, I didn’t think you were using that success to justify your stance in THAT way.
I meant it more that I was in agreement with you, but that we are so clearly in a culture that rewards academic success that we even justify the concept of smart != academic ability with people who are academically successful.
It’s just an observation, I’ve done the same thing and I’ll likely keep doing it, again for not fault of my own, or yours.
Season 1: Homer loses his job - existential crisis
Season It doesn’t matter: Homer loses his job - proceeds to get another, more zany job until he fails and is right back to where he started
Well yeah. You can have consequences for losing job once or twice, after a while it'd get stale, so it stopped being the point of the episode?
Remember that episode when he taught he was going to die, it was great
@@h2oh256 Homer! You're alive! You're alive!
To be fair if you lose your job like once a year would you really care anymore
Where’s the love?
So they hired someone that didn’t care about the show to be the head writer and he openly mocks the fans and the creator of the Simpsons. Great idea.
Like Star Wars.
@Norman That is antisemitism, right?
Did your see the Rocko's Modern Life movie on Netflix?
The entire thing was focused solely on mocking people for wanting to watch an old show.
I've never seen anyone hate their own fans that much, before or since.
@@cymond no, but I will check it out now. I get making fun of the fans once in a while, but if that's the whole movie that sucks.
@@MaximumCarne The Invader Zim movie was the opposite: a labor of love that perfectly fit into the rest of the show, tied up a lot of loose ends, answered a lot of questions, and still somehow maintained the status quo at the end.
Ill always miss the kind-hearted Homer - moments like “Do it for Her” or the episodes where we would go above and beyond for Lisa
YEAH! Oh when the saints, go over there!
Sitting on the bonnet of his car watching the stars after saying goodbye to his mother
@@AimzS94 Strangling Bart for not calling him Daddy
The thing is, everyone has some kindness in the early seasons, remember when Bart was mischievous and sometimes a bit sadistic but still a good person at heart, who was capable of feeling empathy and cared for others even if he rarely shows it? Now he's just a sociopath, plain evil, and couldn't care less about anyone else.
Homer is no different, originally he was a lovely idiot, but he was also kind, and had some brief moments of genuine intelligence, he wasn't a complete idiot all the time and despite being very emotional and easily irritated, he was still trying to be a good father and was always willing to sacrifice anything for his family. Now he's not only mentally retarded, but he's also heartless and selfish.
Every character went through similar changes, their positive qualities vanished over time while their negative qualities were exaggerated to the extreme of being everything they are, and in the process every character lost their humanity, and their kindness.
@@stargazer162 Exactly this! Couldn't have said it better.
This problem especially creeps up is in animations that don’t age their characters through the seasons. Because I feel that all these late 80s mid 2000s shows suffer from keeping their characters the same age and stuck in the same situations. So they eventually run out of character building and the formation of a narrative eventually.
Thats why Iiked how adventure time handled it with him aging about a year each season. I guess it would be pretty much impossible to tell a good coming of age story if they never come of age!
They decided right away that The Simpsons wouldn't age. But at that point, they never expected to last more than a season or two. By the time it was apparent they'd last a while, it was a little too late to change. And no one could have predicted they'd last this long.
All of what happend in the Simpsons from season one to the current season happend in 2 years lol.
No, you can't rationalize that it all happened in two years. Why? Because every single season has to have Halloween, thanksgiving, and Christmas episodes. So 30 Christmas episodes later...
Cartoons rarely age their characters, so that is irrelevant. But anyway, they’ve been around for 30+ years, it just got stale. Everything has an expiration date.
The Simpsons predicted the decay of The Simpsons.
Cliff Eye
That was the joke, wasn't it? That their show was badly written?
Spoontastic! So you wanna play knifey spoony, do ya?!?
Oh-oh spaghettiose
Cliff Eye
That episode was already a funny one, but it’s even more hilarious in hindsight.
Season 4 Lisa’s first word:
“The sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word.” - Homer
“Daddy” - Maggie
My favorite two lines for no one that asked
No one did, but nice to know you agree with most of us.
Not me though, my heart belongs to "Delivered for Bart Simpson with the message: "I am coming to kill you, slowly and painfully!"
When Maggie says "Daddy" I actually choked up a bit. A glimmer of the brilliance on full display in Futurama
"When you think about it, mud is just wet dirt."
-Homer Simpson
DON'T FORGET, YOU'RE HERE FOREVER
DO I_T FOR__________HER________
@@andrearepetto217 Golden age Simpsons is sooo much better than Futurama
The episode where there is a flashback to Marge and Homer's prom where her date (not Homer) was pushy and tore her dress then later Homer shows up and he fixes her dress, that was one of the sweetest Homer moments.
indeed, before they retconned it with that kurt cobain bullshit. homer and marge "how they met" story is one of the most sacred thing on earth, and they had to retcon/reboot it TWICE only because zoomers would get "confused" if there are no modern references
Artie zigg
It would damage THE TOWN to find out.....
That’s how memorable some of those early ones were.
@@horatiohuffnagel7978 Artie Ziff
@@Zontar82 They've actually retconned it again (or so I'm told, I stopped watching completely when they started recasting characters to be "anti-racist"). Marge was now in high school in the 2000s (and I assume Homer was too, but Groening turned up in the Jeffrey Epstein flight logs, so who knows) in a flashback episode where she's in a drama club and has multiple musical numbers, but Marge voice actres Julie Cavner was unable to actually do these musical numbers due to her health. Instead of scrapping the episode like normal people would, they instead have her voice change to some famous actress whenever she sings.
There's a point where idiocy stops being funny and starts being sad, Homer dipped below that line about 20 years ago.
Modern Simpsons has nothing going for it besides recycled episodes:
-Homer getting a new job.
-Family trip to some country.
-Marge freaking out over yet another of Homer's screw-ups, only to forgive him by the episode's end.
-Lisa bemoaning her unpopularity, and managing to make a new friend who she'll either lose, or drive away herself by the end.
Any other plot we've already seen a thousand times before?
S20
I miss the moments Homer and Marge have that are sweet and Homer just being a great dad
Nowadays it feels like every recent episode has Homer and Marge fight and possibly break up.
Watch Bob's burgers
Same, it's one of my all time favorite relationships, with "The Way We Was" and "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" being in my top ten favorite episodes while also loving "I Married Marge". But now we have episodes like "That 90's Show" which is a horrible episode.
Aveann Bousek YES THIS.
@@AB-lj1ke A show that ignores the usual dysfunctional family archetypes found in Simpsons and Family Guy and just becomes its own thing.
That, and the Belchers are more charming and funny than both those families have ever been in a while.
This is a problem with dumb characters in general. They weren’t the smartest but they weren’t this stupid
I think the point is that dumb characters should have an emotional maturity to balance off the lack of intelligence... Not everyone wants to/can be super smart, but everyone aspires to be viewed as caring/compassionate... There are more important qualities than being smart...
same shit happened to patrick
Making fun of a mental disability is bigotry, plain and simple.
The same also happened for Joey in Friends
It's Flanderization
Just like goku
Long story short, they hired new writers who didn't understand anything about the Simpsons.
Sounds like what happened to Spider-Man with the mcu
@@lymlogan Marvel and DC's current state in general.
Long story short, you didn't pay attention while watching the video
@@Cynt3r I did, there were many reasons that the Simpsons ruined Homer, I just put one of them down as a joke.
Sounds a bit like Star Wars when handed out to people who didn't understand or cared much for it.
This analysis pretty much sums up why the Simpsons turned from "greatest cartoon series ever" to unwatchable over the years. Early Simpsons had better authors, better storylines, better gags and better characters.
real
"There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way."
"Isn't that the wrong way?"
"Yep, but faster."
How you get more likes than me when you misquote and post after me?
@alearnedman That’s the _Max Power_ way!
@@alearnedman pfp its iconic no one actually cares what your saying unless your whole profile is a meme
I love it Max!
Ugh
"You either die opposing pop culture, or you live long enough to become it."
Idk, Psych did a good job for 8 seasons. The problem is clearly with the new writers not understanding Matt's vision. He should have never given his show to someone else.
Yeah....I can see the same thing happening to so many beloved childhood series that just need to end because it is just now awful how instead of being unique they are just copy-pasted cutouts of clichés and horrible character development.
It's happened to SpongeBob, the Wolfenstein games, Harry Potter, Family Guy I could list more but I think we all know just how bad these have devolved
@@rejvaik00 Family Guy is probably the biggest offender in that list. Season 1 and 2 Family Guy is like a completely different show compared to everything after it.
No joke. I can't recall which channel it was, but there was a video essay that essentially pointed out that the show's decline was when it stopped being counterculture and started _being_ the culture.
@@multitudeofidols I think you're thinking of Super Eyepatch Wolf's video.
Without a personality, a character is no longer a character.
@Üzun yeah it's was really just supposed to be common sense.
TheRealDownbubbles2 your like billie Ellish but deeper
@@georgehorsfall2048 i somehow i dont doubt that. Didnt she date that xxxten... guy or the other one who overdosed
@@georgehorsfall2048 It's "you're" not "your"
Cesar Vialpando lmao
Homer is an example of when you've been alive too long, you see yourself become a monster.
It used to be about a real family that just happened to be Animated, now they're a full blown cartoon
Have you even seen the series because Homer has been a pretty nice guy ever since season 15
That for me is the biggest issue with the show. The writers have just run out of ideas as the show has been on way too long. When you need to top earlier seasons but every joke and topic has been covered, of course the writers will write whackier stuff. It's impossible to stretch the golden age from season 3 to where they are now. That is completely unrealistic. 22 episodes a season for 35 seasons is way too long and quite frankly, the simpsons have overstayed their welcome, hence the decline.
@@myhatmygandhi6217 And the decline was probably specifically from wanting to and/or thinking they had to try to top themselves again and again and again and again from going so long.
"Maybe this is just what happens when your character lives for thirty years. When it loses its heart."
Turned 30 a couple months ago, can definitely relate.
I thought 30 is when you get divorced and realize your career is actually a prison? Or was that just me?
@@animateddepression divorced? I thought that's when you get married :v
Did you manage to have your heart when you became thirty?
I lost mine when I was 17
@@MetalAcrean edgy ass 17 yr old lmao
Ugh I’m only 29 thanks for the warning lol
I can't believe the writers of the shit seasons mocked Groening and the original creators when the show was actually good!
When did they do that?
lawnmowerdude It says in the video
As well as say the simpsons is "male dominated" and "guy humor" to justify why there's no women on the writing staff. Even tho Lisa and Marge are pretty big characters too!
nocctea I wouldn’t say that’s a huge problem though the justification is
John Your really super cool but let’s be adults and write a strongly worded and polite letter instead.
Simpson’s predicted the Simpson’s
Interesting - but am I the only one who needs the context ?
@@Joee1257 the max power Homer Simpson example the narrator uses
*Simpsons. There’s no possessive.
ur r deep and weary smart!!!
Lol
Point of order: the "GYM" joke isn't about Homer's illiteracy.
It's about how he's so lazy and unfit, he's never heard of a "gym" before.
It's not a great joke that tracks since he recognized the gym visually when he sees it, but its not poking fun at his intelligence, but rather his inexperience with the concept of exercise.
That’s ridiculous.
@@everythingmadeeasier What clever argument you have made.
@@SPVFilmsLtd OK, let me give it a try. I'm also physically lazy and unfit, but I'm not an idiot so I know how "gym" is pronounced and what it means. Homer, on the other hand, doesn't, because the writers are mocking him as stupid and illiterate. Homer is a father who works at a job he hates to support his family, which in early Simpsons was viewed with sympathy (see "And Maggie Makes Three"). But now in the hands of woke Hollywood that makes him not someone to be viewed with affection for all of his faults, but a imbecilic loser to be ridiculed and demeaned at every opportunity.
@@loumencken9644 Pre "woke" Homer thought that he could live LITERALLY under the sea.
In 1994.
Also that gym episode is from 1998.
I don't think he's the victim of conspiracy here. Not unless you are a "season 1 only" fan.
Mostly I think you are struggling with how surrealist comedy works.
Unless you also LITERALLY think you can live under the sea?
My interpretation also that the joke is about gym being so foreign he doesnt know the word. Which isnt best logic and quickly fall through. But the idea makes sense.
The Simpsons nowdays is like having a grandparent in life support. On one hand, you have so many great memories together and don't wish for them to go. On the other hand, you can't stand watching them struggling pathetically to stay alive and just want to end their suffering.
its crazy to think that there are now more simpsons episodes i havent seen than have, yet i consider it to be one of my favourite shows of all time. season 1-10 are gold - the animation, humour, sound design, everything.
its like a cozy old blanket. when i first moved countries watching the simpsons was always so comforting.
And you wonder "who the hell is paying the bill for all this?". I really wonder how Fox still makes enough money on this piece of crap to justify renewing it.
TittySprinkles, it’s the merchandise sales that’s keeping Simpson’s alive, or at least it used to be until Disney bought out Fox, so it seems since Disney is practically a monopoly at this point in time Simpson’s will never die out.
Like Mr Burns would've said.. Well put Ox!! Well put!
So to cheer you up: the ending of the simpsons would'nt be "the ending of the simpsons". In a interview one of the writers said he allways imagined the ending of the simpsons that at the end of the last episode the family goes to a school sideshow in springfield elementary just like the first episode began. So it would be a infinite loop. That would answer the question why no one is aging but throws up the question what happens to the characters who died? Like maud.
"I’m not normally a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman."
I’m not missionary. I don’t even believe in Jeebus.
OH SAVE ME JEEBUS
Oh, Margie,
you came and you found me a turkey
on my vacation away from workey.
*_"If I go crazy will you call me Superman!"_*
@@r520jr8 "Jeebus, Allah, Buddha, I love you all!"
"Homer! I brought someone who can help!"
"Batman?!"
"No, he's a scientist."
"Batman's a scientist."
"It's not Batman!"
“I used to be with IT and then they changed what IT was, now what I’m with isn’t IT and what is IT is weird and scary to me and it’ll happen to you too.”
Yup.
Yo sí estaba en onda, pero luego cambiaron la onda, ahora la onda que traigo no es onda y la onda de onda me parece muy mala onda. Y te va a pasar a ti.
"No way man! We are going to be rocking forever...
[Present day]
...forever...forever."
@The Duke lol
True words
Seasons 1-2 Homer: Made to resemble the American dad
Seasons 3-8 Homer: A good guy, with a heart, that always delivered on jokes
Seasons 9-11 Homer: The same thing as seasons 3-8 Homer but something was just off. Less caring and more of a joke
Seasons 12-21 Homer: A man who when he walked into the room a laugh track would play. A complete joke and jerk
Seasons 21-now Homer: Basically seasons 12-21 Homer, but occasionally showed glimpses of his former self
Remember when characters like Homer, and Spongebob actually had character and depth, and not full of tropes? Yea, me too.
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
It’s sad when they change :(
Oh yeah! I 'member!
I miss when spongebob wasn’t a giggling idiot, like when he actually had other emotions and wasn’t a color splash for fetuses
I feel you
They transformed Homer Simpson into Peter Griffin.
and Peter Griffin turned into the unholy abomination we have today
Bingo!
Peter is way more interesting than Homer today. To me it goes: Early Simpsons > Early Family Guy > Late Family Guy > Late Simpsons
I think you're living in a time warp dude
"HEY BART, REMEMBUH DA TIME WE WENT TO BRAZIL?!"
I think you helped me realize why I always had a soft spot for Homer but always hated Peter in Family Guy. Homer was not intelligent, but had a heart and cared about his impact on others where Peter is the blank slate that Homer later became.
So you dislike a blank slate but consider physical assault care and concern?
Do you have a family yourself, because you sound like you’d probably beat your children and husband.
yeah but at least the gags in family guy were actually funny.
@@steviegbcool crazy, cuz I think both shows are very different…. Love Family Guy, but without the Simpsons….there isn’t a family guy. The Simpsons is just better imo 👍🏼
@@ledzep9943classic Simpsons is better. Post 2000 Simpsons is terrible has the video clearly explains
Oh yes, I hate Peter when he violates Meg for no reason. I mean it's so dumb and unnessary.
I was just talking to someone about how the Simpsons used to be good. Seeing this made me realize all my favorite and most memorable episodes were the ones where homer had a heart. I grew up watching them and didnt realize the changes until now looking back.
Nostalgia blinded clown 😂
Old Homer: Stupid but caring
New Homer: Just stupid
I like modern Simpsons. Homer's character has changed, but very recent episodes have showed a new side of Homer imo
The new Homer is more caring and more competent. Not saying he's the brightest. However, people compare him to Peter Griffin and that's off.. Peter is down right dumb.
I should add that I enjoy both shows
@@thando_simelane I haven't seen Family Guy so I can't speak to that, but I agree that Homer is more caring in modern Simpsons.
@@thando_simelane Peter isn't dumb, he's downright abusive.
He's just about lived long enough to see himself become a villain.
manic mechanic but people would be just as disappointed if they let him die a hero
@@slippy2490 yeah. It's one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" things.
I actually like the new version, it like a massive meme. Homer Simpson is meant to be stupid. I’d admit that it has gone a bit down.
manic mechanic That’s one of the burdens that comes with making a cartoon
@@slippy2490 That's why you need to have him ascending into heaven, *taking* *his* *body* *with* *him*
"you either die as a hero, or live long enough to become the villain"
Or live long enough to see yourself become the villan** i think its like this.....
@@dorianbrecevic4818 his quote was correct.
@@janski1490 nah, dorian is right
...or live long enough to be r***d by a panda 👀
Dark knight
Two words that make his slow decline realistic.
"Alcohol Abuse"
This is so similar to what happened to spongebob too
Oh he mentions spongebob
Bo Cartiglia right when I saw this comment I saw heard him say sponge bob
The drop in Spongebob is only after three seasons. Not sure if it gets even worse but if you watch seasons 3 and 4 back to back you can really tell.
@@NowhereMan7 i think for m the problem with spongebob is those earlier seasons you mentioned even though a cartoon could still be watched and enjoyed by older kids and even adults now its very childish and goofy like something a 5 yr old would like
Curse of yellow hard working soft character
I feel like so many shows have this issue of starting out with a dumb but lovable character and slowly having them get dumber with each passing season until they are insufferable. For example Patrick from Spongebob and Cosmo from Fairly Odd Parents. I also feel like they become more aggressive and mean spirited the dumber they get.
Mariah Alberti I think it has a lot to do with them getting new writers on the show who try to ‘change’ things around and probably have no idea who the original character’s personalities really were.
Kevin in The Office
But Patrick didn't get that evil
I agree there's really only so many times a dumb character can do something dumb and redeem themselves without the episodes being completely formulaic, so the writers just destroy the character with more and more stupid choices that they always get away with, your especially right about Patrick he went from being 3 dimensional with his own issues and standalone episodes to being a completely one dimensional punchline character who is only ever seen in a supporting role dragging everyone else down
@@josh44026 patrick scared me sometimes, when he would go from sweet and bumbly to suddenly irate. I know now they were often referencing something, and that is in fact how really dumb people often are too.
'Even Homer doesn't want to be the guy they turned him into.'
I'm not crying, you're crying.
Too real.
🥺 :(
😭
Is like he's been trapped inside a cartoonish body for decade
Im not stoned, your stoned
“Old homer was ignorant, new homer is plain stupid.”
“You either die a hero or a Peter griffin clone”
Yelp
10-4 good buddy remember keep on trucking and keep the rubber side truck driver
Bob Belcher too needs to hear this warning...it's early but just in case..
At least Peter griffin works because he was designed to be a dimwitted self absorbed jerk.
And Peter Griffin started as a Homer Simpson clone
I always thought the "gym" joke was about how he'd never seen a gym before in his life, not that he was illiterate.
Same :)
Yeah that's the joke
That is the joke. I’m not surprised it went over the head of someone who mispronounces Groening.
I don't think this video is a good representation of why the Simpsons started going down hill
I agree about that joke, but he definitely got dumber, to the point of struggling to read what he could easily have done in the past.
I’m starting to see a trend that beloved characters are being put in the hands of people who do not care for the material that they are working with.
Either dont care or actually dont understand the original vision for the characters or story. It's sad really
yeah, thats the case for most franchises I've noticed not just film and tv but also gaming
Ghostbusters.
They should just give up and make these works public domain.
But they believe that nostalgia sells, and also that people want new things, which are contradicting ideas that lead to awful products.
Why can't they just make something new? Seems like their only creativity left is used for their accountancy.
Star Wars springs to mind
The problem is that the Simpsons is a cartoon where nobody ages.
How long can you keep such a show grounded in reality before you run out of storylines?, With Homer having a full-time job, Marge staying at home and the kids going to school there are limited options.
The nahasapeemapetilon family ages got so much so that the kids are now older than Maggie despite her being present before their conception
The bigger issue is that eventually they run out of ideas. Live action is no different. When characters start getting married and having babies, I know the writers have run out of good ideas and it's time to put it to rest.
While I think they should have slowly aged the characters the biggest problem is limited continuity so every episode ends essentially with every member of the family right back to where they were. Occasionally, a main character or secondary character is given some continuity (like Milhouse's parents becoming divorced, Lisa becoming a Buddist and vegetarian, or Flanders now owning a store that specializes for left-handed people) but otherwise it only seems to happen when voice actors leave the show or pass away. There is only just so much that can be done when every episode ends with a soft reset.
Anyone else notice that he said “He cares about his family” while playing the clip of him crying because there was no food at Marge’s aunts funeral lmao
take clips out of context and manipulate them to make it seem like something else to support your argument. that's the power of editing
@@bluerat2106 he didn't describe the visual so you can't be genuinely accusing him of lying.
It's just a visual to go with what he was saying.
@@bluerat2106 but he did care about his family, dude just used a different clip, chill
@@bluerat2106 Similar to how you took that action out of context, as all he did was use an effective visual to go along with his point... that's the power of dumbass commentors.
@@pickleproductions5736 he was just stating the fact that people do that in their videos (which regardless of how you want to spin it is what the guy who made the video did) you all are the ones taking it negatively lol
Homer died when he ate the poisonous blowfish and we’re all in his hell.
STOP THIS 🤯
😦😵😰😨
Nice answer
"So you like donuts, eh? Well have all the donuts in the world! HA HA HA!"
@@handsomebrick “I don't understand. The last obese man got crazy after the first 300”
in the last 20 or so seasons, Homer isn't even a person anymore. He's just a walking gag, and not a very good one, at that.
Yeah that's what he said in the video^^.
I feel like 20 seasons of a profitable show say he is.
@@clydefrosch 'Profitable' does not equal 'good'.
True
@THE REAL TYREE SNEED yeah, no. familiar is all fine and dandy, but people still like this. all of it.
most people aren't hardcore nerd babies after all. they don't write essays about the downfall of the simpsons because they're still very much fine with what it is
This was such good articulation of what a lot of us observed over the years of watching The Simpsons. Interestingly, I noticed that 30 Rock did the same thing with the Tracy Morgan character.
Homer wasn't the only one who was ruined.
Marge became more hypocritical, jealous, demanding, and judgemental.
Bart became more destructive, selfish, and even started showing signs of being sociopathic.
Lisa became more snobby, overly mature, annoyingly self righteous, and slightly narcissistic.
And Maggie....Well they haven't changed Maggie that much.
Maggie became too much of a focus
Ye that's true
Well, Maggie became a murderer, lol
maggie became a war criminal
Even Ned Flander has became more stupid with time.
Heck! He even gained his own term:"Flanderization!".
And how about Chief Wiggum? He has became so toxic he got almost shot by his two henchmens.
Basically when Homer became Peter Griffin I checked out.
The Simpsons really is 'Family Guy'. Complete with the daughter being the only sympathetic, human character. Who's used as a punching bag by everyone else.
I hope this doesn't happen with south park
@@mysteriiis Marge is the only sympathetic, human character. Lisa is a stand in for the liberal biases of the creators. She's the Brian of the show.
@@Gotterdammerung05 The Simpson's-verse has become so loathsome that even Lisa--as-constant-scold doesn't bother me. A terrible place requires a strident prophetess. Marge, however, has become such a depressingly broken Stepford Wife; that it might be kindest to permit her a suicide by valium overdose; leaving Homer to collapse under his own (behavioral) weight. At which point Flanders would likely gain custody; allowing Bart and Lisa to drag Rod and Todd into real life.
@@poketcircuitfighter8288 how would it happened to South Park
I'm amazed the creator didn't mention Flanderization, which was coined after the very same show:
Flanderization is the act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. Most always, the trait/action becomes completely outlandish and it becomes their defining characteristic.
Yep unfortunately it hit Goku
@@Temujin18S nah Toei just copied DBZA Goku
@@Vivi_9 You mean Toriyama, he wanted to make Goku like his Dragonball counterpart but doesn't work because his an adult with context to how society works
@@Temujin18S it feels like a corporate decision rather than Toriyama's, but who knows
@@Vivi_9 He made statement regarding how he made mistake in taking direction of Goku in Z who was slightly heroic and actually quite smart. Retool him to ignorant, funny lighthearted dumb brute who only smart and serious when fighting.
I grew up watching the early-mid seasons of the simpsons around the time that they were airing. I was quite young at the time, but it would just be something to watch if we were bored. I enjoyed the show, and a few years ago I watched one of the newer episodes and was pretty sad to realise that it’s charm was all gone.
I remember noticing the dip in quality as a kid, the HD episodes were always watchable but not, kino.
the point of homer not knowing how to pronounce “gym” has nothing to do with illiteracy, it’s the idea that the IDEA of a gym would be so foreign to him that he’d never even bothered to learn the word until that moment. In Rainier Wolfcastle’s words: that’s the joke.
Facts. And it was hilarious
Yeah not the best example for what he was going for. It was pretty obvious he didn't read the word wrong because he didn't know how to. The point is he's kind of a slob, which was always the case.
Exactly. Because he clearly reads C. W. McAllister's journal at the top of the Murderhorn and he even reads the shredded chinese newspaper that the Powersauce bars are made of in this same episode.
Thank you for pointing this out so I didn’t have to
Also one the most memorable double bangers in the history of the show.
The simpsons movie had an arc for homer, where he turns from a heartless jerk who ruins the family’s (and town’s) lives, eventually learning that his family’s life is parallel with his own, that if they’re unhappy, he is too. He then risks it all to get back to them, gets Bart’s trust back and makes the best ending line I think will ever be said (in an animated movie, of course). “The best kiss of your life, so far”. They then proceed to place homer back as the jerk he was and only refers to the movie once, when mr burns wants to put a dome around Springfield again. In my opinion, the movie was the best chance they had to either end the simpsons, or turn it around, and they did neither.
Just pretend the show ended with the movie and you'll be much happier lol, that's what I do
The messed up part of that is that the movie *was supposed to be* the end of the Simpsons, but instead the show kept going due to ratings.
@@VolTrembaan I like to pretend the show ended after seasons 8-9. The movie came too late.
@@Memespam Oh god, that would've been soo good.
At least for me the Simpsons really dropped in quality shortly after the movie.
I guess it's hard for us outsiders to say, but how do the remaining voice actors sleep at night?
Im 29, so i dont remember the "old Homer" too well. A few years ago, a local channel aired a lot of the reruns of the earlier seasons. It took me by suprised how slow paced, and more "relatable" Homer and the family was. I actually enjoyed it more than i did for the post 2000s Homer than i remember more clearerly
I was Lisa's age when the show first started, now I'm Homer's age. I grew up on the show, was my favourite show. Somewhere around season 10 I stopped watching regularly. I have all the older seasons on DVD and watch those, but haven't watched a new episode in god knows how long. Not a single episode since maybe season 20. The show is complete trash now, it's sad and should've ended a long time ago. I did like the movie though, even though I had stopped watching new episodes at that point.
I've watched every episode and im only 12... you can imagine how my grades are 🤣
I had all the early seasons like 3-12 on dvd and I’ve binged every ep again and again in the 00s when I was a young child. So much love and nostalgia.
Shoulda caught those reruns earlier man
Exactly my experience too. There was one season where Homer was just tucking his children to bed that was really heartwarming. I was so surprised. I only knew of the movie version of Homer.
Seasons 9 - 12 of The Simpsons is a tragedy. Destroyed the legacy of an amazing show.
Yes this was the biggest tv tragedy of all times
I personally didn't think Season 9 was that bad, but the rest was tragic
For me Bart the Mother at the start of season 10 is the golden age finale. After that is post-peak
Still think there’s decent episodes in there after that. Watched the food critic and tamacco episodes recently and I enjoyed them
Seasons 2-8 were peak Simpsons...9-12 were still decent enough, but overall clearly on the decline...while seasons 13 and on have been horrible.
I'd bet I can count on one hand the number of episodes I've seen from season 13-whatever they're at now, and I'm more than OK with that.
"You know, Maggie; the sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word."
*Homer kisses Maggies forehead, turns off the light and leaves the room. Maggie takes out her pacifier and says*
"Daddy."
I miss the comedy of the golden age of the Simpsons but it is the heart and moments like these that I miss the most.
My headcanon is that that was the very last episode; the show ended with her sleeping. The next episode - and every one after that - was just her dreaming about her family and community. That's why so many things in the show have gone askew or been retconned: Dreams don't have to make sense, especially to a baby.
That's why I prefer Futurama over the Simpsons. Fry has never lost his heart or brain.
@@user-bf6gz8ej4o They're bringing Futurama back, so he still might get ruined yet.
@@DaRkLoRdZoRc My theory is that Grandpa has dementia and the later episodes are how he perceives everything.
@@KasumiKenshirou my theory is that commercialization tends to ruin creative heart (i get making headcanons and theories to fill in the blanks though; not trashing that whatsoever. it's just that i feel fans shouldnt have to do all the heavy lifting to make things good, as fun as it can be.)
my favorite homer moment was in maggy makes three when he uses her pictures to write "do it for her" in his working station. i can remember watching that episode when i was a kid and realise that at some point i might also have to do sacrifices to help my family when i get older. i don't know why that episode stuck with me so much but i still watch it at least once a year to remind myself to be a good person and to do sacrifices for the people that i love. thank you homer for such a valuable life lesson.
My god, its like Homer slowly turned into Peter Griffin.
Tbh I only watch 1-10 seasons over and over. It's so good
I have the disturbing feeling that Homer is already past Peter Griffin...
When he was raped by the panda.
homer became peter, peter became cartman.
Mustard Bastard at least cartman can be funny
Ive been rewatching the Simpsons, but unlike usually stopping at at around season 10, I kept watching and am on season 21 and what you said definitely stood out. Homer is painfully stupid, episodes in which he and Marge go through patches make me angry because of how he's an ass and Marge just puts up with him when she really shouldn't.
Another thing that's really annoying is how Bart went from being a mischievous kid to actually evil. It's like they watched that one episode of treehouse of horror where you find out Bart is the evil twin and then based his entire character on that. Some of the evil stuff Bart does in modern Simpsons he never would have in the past because he's supposed to be a brat, not a monster
Twenty-one seasons?!?!
“If something’s hard to do it’s probably not worth doing”
Homer Simpson
Word! and trying is the next step to failure
Simpsons from S1-9 is the best TV show of all time. Purely genius writing, only rivalled by Frasier.
Became extremely low brow and relied on cheap pop culture jokes.
The moral of the story is: _never try_
I remember when he worked two jobs to be able to afford a pony for Lisa.
Cactus Coe he has a good heart
There's a lot about this that I disagree with, but my main gripe is that you gave so much credit to Matt Groening. True he created the characters and the shorts, but it was Sam Simon who shaped it into a sitcom. He created the tone of the sitcom, the writing style, and he was the one who hired all the great writers in the early 90s. James L. Brooks was also responsible for a lot of the heartfelt moments and wrote a lot of un-credited lines.
I didnt know that cool
@TheWhiteWhale "unwatchable" 600 episodes that hundreds of millions of people loved and found funny
@TheWhiteWhale He's not referring to zombie Simpsons, that's very later. He's referring to the golden age which was for a lot of people was season 3-8.
@TheWhiteWhale season 1-8 though are great.
Sam Tate Um nope, who likes the new simpsons? 10 years olds I guess.
The simpsons/family guy crossover episode was like watching a friend you know from your childhood trying to act cool in front of his new friends, you feel the cringe of knowing that person isnt like that and is trying way too hard to fit.
The fact that they mock the crossover within itself is a testament to this.
"you feel the cringe of knowing that person isn't like that"
But that's the problem. That once good, close friend is now "like that". Not just "like" that, they ARE that now. They've been irreversibly changed into what they are now. There's no going back to the person they used to be. And that's what makes me deeply sad about this whole things.
In my mind, the "Behind the Laughter" is the true series finale. It was the perfect capstone to a great comedy that eventually ran out if gas as so many long-running shows do.
87 Homer: Angry boi
90s homer: Responsable boi
2000s homer: Funny boi
2020 homer: *Peter griffin*
Well Simpson died a long time ago we need a new show man .
Responsible? Really?
@@andylatino Well Hes Dumb But Not Stupid Like Peter Griffin.
@@normalguy5208 disenchantment bois
The real homer fell off a cliff remember
The jokes where Homer speaks with his own brain were mostly good though.
Lisa: "Tis better better to stay silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"
Homer's Brain: "What does that mean? mmm, better say something or they'll think you're stupid"
Homer: "Takes one to know one"
@@jacobmarsh4829 "swish"
"Eat the pudding eat the pudding eat the pudding..."
"Twenty dollars? I wanted a peanut!"
_"Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!"_
"Explain how!"
_"Money can be exchanged for goods and services."_
"Don't tell him you were at a bar! (Gasp) But what else is open at night?"
It's a pornography store. I was buying pornography.
Matt became more interested in seeing the Brinks truck backing up to his garage than care what happened to his creation. Great Video!
That episode still has one of my all-time favorite quotes though.
"Kids there are now three ways to do things. The right way. The wrong way. And the Max Power way."
"Isn't that just the wrong way?"
"Yeah, but faster."
I love that quote.
Strap-in and feel the Gs!
It's actually a good episode, there have made plenty worse. At least it has a lot of good moments like when Marge explains to Homer the purpose of the TV shows new, dumb Homer, "Your character provides the comic relief like Marlon Brando in "Äpocalypse Now"" and when Marge notices how fancy the house is with the street number spelled out instead of using numerals, "From now on we'll be spelling everything with letters"
I’ve been waiting for someone to talk about this for so long, it’s actually why I no longer watch the show...awesome video, so glad I subscribed
Thank you for watching man! Ah! I wanted to respond to the other comment but it disappeared! Lol
@Lizardguy that's still better bro I actually tried watching the latest season and I'll forever regret doing that. Like it's so bad bro
Shaq Browny I’ve seen newer episodes that are good but they are so few and far between I don’t bother watching unless I see a clip that gets my attention.
@@lawnmowerdude yeah there are a couple of episodes that we're still entertaining but others just felt so wrong like they were being forced on to me
@@Krein42 sure bro I'm on it
“Do It For Her” and Homer’s speech to Lisa on her wedding are 2 of his best moments ever. Beautiful. 👌🏽
Yeah. and maggie saying daddy when she is about to go to sleep is also beautiful. Man, the Simpsons had stuff like that back in the 1990's
That do it for her moment is so real. Many of us normies work in jobs we absolutely hate. But have no other options. We do it for the ones we love and keep food on the table. Early simpsons will always be in my heart.
Best episode for me
Both the Do it for Her episode and Lisa needs Braces are among the best episodes of TV shows in general.
Wow... This is a great analysis. I really do wonder what's going to happen to the show as the future goes on.
Wow, all this time I thought the decline was a natural result of it being on too long. I didn't realize that deliberate changes were happening behind the scenes.
Half the writers left to do Futurama and that began the fall
@@sothyvirerksin6730 Good point, though I suppose I did know that. I guess I was more surprised at the conscious changes that were made after that happened.
I only realized Homer was my favorite character when I realized we had lost him.
Libyan?
We never truly realize what we lost, until we lost it.
Agreed!!
To me, the show jumped the shark when Maude died. There was something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on about that episode that just felt wrong for the Simpsons. I now realize that that episode was part of a larger shift that occurred, where the show lost its heart, so to speak.
Took the words out of my mouth. There was just something so pointlessly cruel about Maude dying. Killed by t shirt guns....which are then fired at her funeral
I feel like it's just how they made homer have nearly no remorse
I think it showed how the creator resented Christians...
Yes!
It was a stupid plot and the characters dont seem to act normally
You can relate to classic Homer more, modern Homer is just a cartoon character.
I sometimes think of Sideshow Bobs character arc. He's foiled in his attempt to frame Krusty, he goes to prison and plots to kill Bart. Plenty of episodes where he is a recurring villain until he eventually is released from prison and start working with his brother, Cecil. In this episode he's actually trying to be a better person. Not only is he not trying to kill Bart, he actually saves Bart's life when it turns out that Cecil committed fraud and tries to kill them in order to cover it up, or because of jealousy that Bob lived his dream. Bart even helps Bob climb to safety and tries to defend him when he is arrested for collaborating with his brother. Due to police incompetence, Bob goes back to prison, but his vendetta with Bart has ended and he longer wants to kill him.
The Sideshow Bob villain arc has ended with his redemption, but then, as if it never happened, he's back as a villain trying to kill Bart with an increasing number of family members helping out. I've been downvoted for saying this before, but The Simpsons should have been cancelled after they finished the Sideshow Bob arc. Simply because they've stopped having original ideas and are using the same plots again and again. Usually, it's about a supporting character who's lost his job or something and one of the Simpsons helps them get it back.
I am so agree with you over here. Glad to know I am not the only one who thought this.
Completely agree! The original Sideshow Bob arc was so perfect and complete. I remember being really disappointed when they dragged out the character just to return him to square one again. What's the point? It just ruins the original arc.
That pissed me off so much!! One of the few times I took to the newsgroup right away. (before forums and here were a thing). It was clear that Sideshow Bob wanted to change, but Chief Wiggum's stubbornness ruined it again. Bob would be back and forth a few times only for someone to ruin it for him. Ex. Krusty recording over any episodes Sideshow Bob took part in or when a drunk Marge got him stripped of his mayoral title in Italy and the vendetta started again and hasn't been the same since. Some of his episodes were good, others were like "OK, let's try again next year."
Sounds like Doctor Who now.
Didn't Bob snap back to his old ways after Bart unintentionally ruined his good thing in Italy?
"I'm a human being, let me have my dignity back!"
I just want to see "Honk If You're Horny" in peace!
Uh-Oh Spaghettios!
I was at the guns for toys drive.
One thing that I noticed contrasts the old Homer with the new is the way he sees other women. In season 5, “The last temptation of Homer”, he feels a lot of shame and sorrow for the way he feels about Mindy, whereas in the more modern episodes we see Homer shamelessly gawking at other women, sometimes even right in front of Marge. I felt like “The last temptation of Homer” was already out of his character, but at least he feels remorse throughout the episode.
100% agreed
Oh Margie
Well you came and you found me a turkey 🎶
Last temptation fits him well because it shows that even when pushed to his absolute limits, nothing can separate him from his true love
@@icyhex
Homer clearly belongs with Mindy, he even said that he can’t fight fate in that episode. He’s clearly pissed off Marge a lot especially in the Cartridge family and the bonfire of the manatees. Homer has much more in common with Mindy than Marge. Mindy would have joined Homer on all of his trips to Moe’s.
sacrificing any character traits for anything is bad writing
My friend got into college by writing an essay on how the Simpsons changed to be more about Homer than bart
Having 3 kids and no money pretty much ruined him. Now if he had 3 money and no kids...
@E_girl it's a joke from the show
Homer's Brain : Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
"Dont kill me, i have family... Take them instead!"
What ruined Patrick Star?
Every time a franchise lasts too long, the characters become caricatures of themselves. It's like how when a movie is rebooted or a sequel is made decades later, it never feels like that movie fits in the established franchise. Because they're trying to copy what existed before.
Early on patrick was always dumb but somehow how unwittingly he would drop a jewel of advice or wisdom when spongebob asked his opinion but now he is stupid for stupids sake...the show early on could be enjoyed by kids as well as adult...i still watch seasons 1-3 but now its so childish like the target demographic is 5 yr olds
@@darriencolbert1859 they also turned him into a complete jerk when he wasing being a bumbling idiot (ie. that ice cream episode where sandy was running and experiment on Spongeboy and Patricc)
The writing for spongebob was once genius now it is lazy
Old Patrick was a bumbling idiot but still somewhat lovable and portrayed as a good friend of Spinge Bib. New Patrick comes across more like an irritating asshole who plays dumb intentionally to jerk everybody around constantly. He is unreliable and cares about no one.
@@MariaIsabellaZNN that's exactly why it's not fun to watch as an adult anymore. he went from dumb but supportive buddy, to only there to get laughs from like objects hitting him in the face, and is inexplicably a huge dick to his best friend now
Growing up with the Simpsons, 3 times in my life I've sat down to binge watch the show. All 3 times I've made it to season 10 and quit. This is the reason why ☹️
Check out the movie that wasn´t too bad.
But I still don´t see so much issue with seasons like 10. Seasons around 20+ are way worse.
@@gameking8809 watch out, the movie was already one of the final nail in the coffin, with the super-trite "marge and homer argues and fight and threatens divorce" which is the defacto plotline of all subsequent episodes. i remember coming from work, and my little sister was still watching the later episodes and i asked her "let me guess, marge and homer are having a fight again right" and she said "wow how did you know it"
Same Here
Same. After that it's just Family Guy. Which sucks
Yep 10 was the last good season
Interesting topic. Great video.
I always associated my gradual dislike for the newer Simpsons episodes(at that time around '99-on) as a childhood reaction to my family moving to a new town and the end of my own era. I started liking Futurama much more than the Simpsons and now that makes more sense.
I know it's all about the money, unfortunately, but the industry need to take the Seinfeld route and just kill shows off when they need to be ended, OR take a hiatus for a bit and let new material build naturally, or start a new show(like Futurama). I wish the voice actors would have said "no" and at least help end this show 10-15 years ago.
Larry David left *Seinfeld* before the rest of the cast did.
@@Attmay Point being that it ended on top and when it needed to, instead of dragging on.
Lesson for all the fellow writers out there - when you're writing a character, think of them as a real person, not as a character. Specific character traits should only inform a character's behavior within the context of their broader personality. For example, fat is not a character; a character would be, for all intents, an actual person with a million other things going on who also happens to be fat.
uter to add, when writing a character, go out of your way to write a character history sheet for them. What they like, what they don’t like, where they are from. Favorite movies, songs, stuff like that. Even if it seems like it doesn’t matter, it will help you figure out how to write them and it will become easier to figure out how they’d react because at that point, they will feel like real people.
great advice
@@Wintertoes don't forget forms of thyroid function disorders or other metabolism disfunctions as root of obesity.
@@Wintertoes oh jeez just wanted to friendly remind you that your life is going well when you have to point out something so irrelevant to the main comment. well i didn't succeed ig
"Lisa needs braces... dental plan... Lisa needs braces... dental plan..."
That fucking sentence has been stuck in my head for over 2 decades now. Every time I hear the word dental plan.
And a hotplate
Bullseye!
@@zacharyscott21 Ah the good ol pencil scene.
No back door shenanigans for Homer! So many of his early quotes have directly or indirectly steered international culture. Whenever I see someone screw up in real life, the words "If somethings hard to do, then it's not worth doing" and "Just because I don't care doesn't mean that I don't understand" seem to come from nowhere highlighting the scary truth of these statements we witness on a daily basis.
I once read that once Matt G. started working on Futurama, his best writers jumped ship or became less involved with the Simpsons due to the excitement of the new show. They hired new young/less talented fill-in writers for the Simpsons and this was kind of the death of the show for the original fans. This would have happened during season 9-10
It is a shame The Simpsons never took a break. A hiatus while working on Futurama would have dramatically improved the quality of future season. Now it seems like every episode of The Simpsons exist either purely for out of place guest appearances, or a rehash/lame parody of something I already know. Zero originality remain on the show.
That’s fine. I like Futurama better than the Simpsons and maybe that’s the reason why.
You're right. I don't think it's a coincidence that the show's quality went down around the same time Groening shifted his focus to Futurama.
Sounds about right. When Futurama started, it took a while for it to find itself. But within a few years, Futurama was daring and funny and The Simpsons was no longer watchable. Of course, the same problem eventually hit Futurama.
It's very hard to keep a show funny indefinitely. Nobody's ever pulled it off. But The Simpsons is setting new records with just how long its persisted past its expiration date.
@@rickdesper When they announced that Futurama was going to be doing its last season for Comedy Central I was okay with since it had fallen off. But then the last season was really good and I wanted more!
I think i kind of agree with other viewers theory that Homer went to crap at the end of Season 8 with the Frank Grimes episode. He showed a complete lack of regard for human life and other peoples suffering, which was NOT in his character during those early seasons.
Season 8-9 is where Homer really takes a turn. Imo anything after 12 is not peak Simpsons, 3-8 are the real prime cuts and the movie is underrated.
I started watching the Simpson's on Disney+ from season 1. I cried when he tried to get Christmas for his family and brought home Santas Little Helper in shame and tried to admit to his family that he ruined christmas and his whole family hugged him and were all so excited about their gift. I felt stress when he got shorted on his mall Santa check and only had a few dollars. They felt like a really family struggling
"Lisa's Substitute" is another gem from the early days. I can't watch that one without tearing up.
You know your show is screwed up when the “jokes” about Homer and other characters make you feel sad instead making you laugh. Also the case with seasons 6-8 of Spongebob .
Simpsons made me sad sometimes, but Futurama took it up to eleven in the episode with Frys dog. When we see what happened to him in his last 12 years, waiting for Fry to return.
Yeah the Simpsons make me sad out of disappointment Futurama makes me sad in the right way.
@@lolikumadesbear1999 my dog is like that but not for 12 years
@@lolikumadesbear1999 duuude that was so sad I cried
@@orok6351 Same. Or when Fry thinks that his brother stole his lucky clover, but then he finds out the truth. His brother named his son, in other words Frys nephew, Philip J. Fry in remembrance of his lost brother.
"Cosby's first law of Intergenerational Perversity"
Jokes that did not age the way they expected.
THIS! or actually...... this is one that aged like good wine, the joke just grew into something even better
Or this was the writers' subtle way of hinting that Cosby was a rapist. There were rumors about him circulating since the 1980s. For anybody in showbiz, it was no secret.
@@bdawg2592 100%
I’d say it aged better than expected.
Wouldn't be the first time they hinted at something that they people wouldn't be willing to say directly because of frivolous slander/libel charges
Very good summary.
What is interesting, is the fact that the writers themselves were so clueless.
There are so many interviews where Scully can’t stop complimenting himself for those three seasons.
Personally I love seasons three to six the most. They also had exceptional Halloween episodes.