The Weird Years of The Simpsons (1989-1994)
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- Опубликовано: 1 янв 2021
- The show struggled for five years to figure out what kind of show it wanted to be, and how to treat its characters. It could have been much weirder than it was.
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man I enjoyed this, now excuse me while I go binge watch The Simpsons
@Aaron Republic ?
@Aaron Republic Everyone saw what you wrote and thinks it was a bizarre statement that you did nothing to substantiate. (And ironically, the grammar wasn't that good either.)
@Aaron Republic its a kids show, you can't expect kids to be educated lol
The Simps
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Homer: "and where do you think you're going?"
Bart: "father/son rafting trip"
Homer: "you don't have a son"
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1950's dad.
@J Dude stop
God speed little doodle
There's actually a word for when characters devolve into parodies of themselves, and it comes from The Simpsons: flanderization.
Interesting, good to know!
Lol, wonder where that name comes from?
Surprised he didn't mention it.
@@CoryTheNorm Happened really badly to Spongebob.
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I think part of the appeal of the Simpsons is just how many characters there are. You’d think that would make the show a mess, but since everyone is based off of a stereotype all of them are instantly recognizable.
It's a good point! The show also tends to ditch characters who don't work. There are a lot of characters in early episodes who are clearly being set up for bigger things, but are then promptly abandoned.
@@JJMcCullough Or because said characters doesn't got along to the modern ideo-politics... well, a show needs to reinvent itself to remain on air... and keep earning money for the Mouse.
Which is why Hank Azaria has decided to leave the role of Apu.
That was my thought too. It’s easy to carry 30 seasons if you have 30 characters to make 30 focussed episodes out of each of them.
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In an alternative universe there’s a JJ doing weekly individual The Simpson’s episode breakdowns/analysis of 90s culture
I would like to be this alternative-universe JJ. Maybe when I'm an old man I'll do it to remember my youth.
@@JJMcCullough Like, you are the alternative JJ to, like, other planes of existence, man.
JJ's mane is looking majestic
He's becoming an '80s hair band.
@@BradyPostma -- So true!
I assumed he became an avid hockey player....
I took that hair drug Homer did in season 2
@@JJMcCullough Haha
I started watching the Simpsons at 10 years old (Bart's age). Today I'm older than Homer and Marge are on the show.
Kinda depressing.
I just realized that too. I was watching an episode recently where Homer said he was 36. Though that will always feel wrong to me because I feel when the show was first created, Homer was written as a young boomer, and that’s still how he comes off to me. There is stuff about him that reminds me of my parents but not much that reminds me of my friends.
@@JJMcCullough Yes, in the first 2 seasons he was a typical middle age dad but ever since they made him a bumbling hedonistic idiot he comes off more as a teenager trapped in an middle age man's body
I started at 5
@@JJMcCullough He was based off Gen-Xers. In the context of the world now, Homer doesn't make as much sense in context of being a 90s kid when you think about it more.
I started watching when they were still shorts on the Tracy Ulman Show. Whenever there was a school holiday, I’d be able to watch since it aired on Sunday nights (iirc) past my usual bedtime. When it got its own show I was 8.
The Office (US) had a big shift in how the characters like Michael Scott written. The look of the show to went from looking like it was actually in a depressing office to have the actual overhead lighting like another tv shows
I watched through the entire series for the first time in 2020. What struck me in particular was how much the show, in retrospect, felt like a dress rehearsal for Parks and Rec. The Office tries to turn heartwarming near the end, but a lot of the characters have been set up to be so fundamentally unlikeable from Day One, it proves difficult. Whereas with P&R it seems clear they tried hard to make the core cast much more sympathetic from the beginning.
@@JJMcCullough I think the point of the office though was to have more of an awkward and cringe worthy sense of humour and in this sense they succeeded. I personally prefer the dryer and sarcastic side of the office myself and I can understand why some may not like that.
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Yea it's cause the original Office had that kinda vibe I prefer the first couple seasons tbh
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“Well, it’s 1 am. Better go home and spend some quality time with the kids.” - Homer Simpson
That was one of my favorite lines 😄
*_Flanderization_* : 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.
I never understood why this trope was specifically named after Flanders. As this video points out, basically every character on the show was "flanderized" around the same time.
“And continues for longer it did.”
Queen Elizabeth’s life span summed up.
poor Charles 😂
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@@sdrawkcabUK By the time Elizabeth dies, prince Charles, William and George will also be dead
Genesis 1:1 " And God made the world and said into Adam and Eve "Go forth and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it." And Adam said unto God "Who is that women over there?" And pointed to the women in a blue dress. And God said unto Adam, "I don't know, she was here when I arrived."
@@palatasikuntheyoutubecomme2046 lol maybe. I'm hoping Charles. He's so unloved that support for the monarchy will plummet and we be able to finally oust these parasites
Some may called them "the weird days" but I called the more meaningful, when Homer was a clumsy yet the more relatable character of the whole series.
Thank you for reminiscing video... it reminds me how old I am 🤣...
@J Dude Cease.
I like to think of Lisa's personality like a bowling ball; always on a fixed path that fluctuates and varies with every episode. Contrast that with Lois from Family Guy, who is a little more like a pinball; just going wherever the creators want her to.
Exactly
i see that now
@J Dude no
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I want lays bag with 100% chips
A lot of people boo the later episodes. They’re actually saying boo-urns.
That was stupidly funny and I highly approve lol
You literally had to reference a classic episode to make your point. Speaks volumes.
I was saying Boo.
Hi Larry Us!! 🤣🤣
It's German
I attribute part of the chaos from seasons 3-5 to Conan O'Brien. His style of humor is so wacky, over the top, and absurd, that it is difficult not see his influence in a lot of the early episodes, even though he wasn't a writer for very long. That is not a criticism, of course. I love Conan, and I like to think he was very important in the show's evolution, as he tried to go against the "squareness" of the first two seasons.
I often feel like the decision to make Smithers gay is underrated for how wacky it is. Like there’s no real foreshadowing of it, at some point they clearly just decided “hey what if he was such a suck up he wanted to have sex with Mr Burns!” It’s the kind of thing you can imagine a Conan-like writer shouting out.
@@JJMcCullough One of my favorite anecdotes is that apparently Conan not only said, but acted out what he wanted on the script, which I can only imagine as a series of moments that pushed the boundries of reason. I guess that atmosphere explains Leonard Nemoy vanishing after the monorail incident.
Happy new year, btw :-)
I love the Conan O'Brien-influenced stuff. The title of this video immediately made me feel old, because I feel like the show's early awkward period was really only seasons 1-2 (though there are a lot of gems even there, especially in the asides and extra business) and it entered the Golden Age after that.
The show will never last...I give it another 25 years, maybe 30
The simpsons are no longer just a tv show, they have become an American institution
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@J Dude what the hell?
back in these 'golden years', there was often two different story lines and was also chock-full of side gags and obscure references. They were written on many different levels so that a child to a well educated genius and everyone in between could enjoy it. It took multiple viewings to absorb all the gags, but some were still over my head.
Today, there is usually just one story line and a few predictable side gags if they exist at all. It's like new episodes have 33-50% of the content the old episodes had.
This isn't true at all.
100% true
@@JJMcCullough I am aware that this is an old comment, but why exactly do you think this is untrue?
@@JJMcCullough He says, without giving any examples. Honestly, while Modern Simpsons does have great cultural commentary and character depictions, the plot lines and gags are both severely lacking complexity or creativity.
@@liberalcitydweller TBF the original person didn't give any examples either
JJ McCullough is looking more and more like Betty Crocker everyday.
I don’t think you know what Betty Crocker looks like
@@JJMcCullough well there were one for each part of the country, so chances are you hair looks like one of them
I’ve been thinking that he looks like the dorky, academic, Canadian version of Jim Morrison.
I wonder if they mean Julia Child? She doesn't really look like J.J though.
@@sophiecanadesheher1927 academic?
I loved the so-called “weird” years
The show was at its funniest from 1994- 1998 and i loved how dark and gory hloween specials 1-13 are
I joined the crew as a background cleanup artist in July of 1990. I later moved to character layout when that department was sent overseas. They were fun years, and I would never trade them for anything. As artists, we didn't get input into writing, but I do recall the memo going upwards to the writers that the elder abuse of Grandpa was disturbing to us and hard to execute. There was more continuity over the years of artists than writers, so if new writers did something that conflicted with what we believed to be true of Springfield (like the introduction of a woman therapist instead of bringing back Marvin Monroe), we immediately noticed.
I always just thought of those years as the "real" simpsons, and everything else afterwards was the weird years lol
I think a big reason for the changes in tone during those years was that the style was dictated by the showrunner, and in those days the position changed every two years. During Seasons 1-2 it was Brooks, Groening & Simon, during 3-4 it was Al Jean & Mike Reiss, 5-6 was David Mirkin, 7-8 was Josh Weinstein & Bill Oakley, and 9-12 was Mike Scully. They all had different preferences when it came to writing episodes (hence the slightly darker tone of the Mirkin years for example), but since Season 13 it’s been just Al Jean at the helm. Maybe if he had stepped down since then the show would’ve taken a different direction tonally - it’s very hard for the show itself to change if the staff behind the scenes doesn’t change.
King of the Hill really played around with their characters a lot early on before settling on dynamics.
True but King of the Hill is so gloriously weird and culturally specific it’s a different beast entirely. The characters behavior changed at times but the their eccentricities are never overly broad. It’s easy to imagine really unlikeable versions of each major character but somehow I quite like them all, though Peggy often makes me cringe.
Early Simpsons: will you listen to me? i’m not the messiah!
Millennials: he’s the messiah!
I think one of the biggest things that made The Simpsons so great was that it had this fully fleshed out "universe" to it. Which at the time no other animated show had really attempted to that scope. It also made the show a lot more memorable. Great change of pace, I love these videos!
Season 2 is an underrated gem. Season 3 is probably the greatest season of them all!
I'm not the biggest fan, Chris Tnumber2, but I like the earlier ones best too. Til the early to mid 2000's I was rarely disappointed and the most dedicated I was to the show. I stopped watching cable around 2005 or 2006 and never missed it, and knew to never be surprised about the way Family Guy and The Simpsons ended up
Trailer Park Boys and South Park were the ones I cared to collect on DVD where occasional seasons of anything else were enough for me
“We’re here! We’re queer! We don’t want anymore bears!”
“Sir, there’s an unruly mob to see you.”
“Does it have an appointment?”
“Uh, yes, it does.”
“I phoned ahead!”
Season 5 had a new show runner and many new writers, which may be responsible for some of the change JJ describes.
There's two kinds of people in this world, those that think the Simpsons used to be great, and those at are inhuman monsters.
OK Boomer
Them's fighting words, son.
Same for Spongebob.
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right after I took the head off Mr. Hunny-Bunny!
Man, I love it when RUclipsrs talk about things they enjoy!
"what are you talking about? The reason I hate the Simpsons today is precisely because everything is so extreme and over the top"
This is a strawman argument. Fundamentally, the reason people dislike the Simpsons (with the subsequent massive drop in ratings) is because rather than being satirical and offer biting social commentary, it became a product celebrating pop culture. It's lazy, pathetic and just not satisfying as the first 8 or so seasons. Your rationale is very weird but I guess it's an opinion one can have.
"a product celebrating pop culture" is a weird criticism I have never heard before. I've heard lots of people say Homer is "too stupid now" or the show is "too cartoony," however.
mmjahink You just said that you grudgingly agree that JJ’s opinion is in fact an opinion, and it is possible for someone, for example JJ, to hold this opinion, unlikely as it may seem.
Yeah, I think SuperEyepatchWolf's videos on The Simpsons and it's descent in quality are MUCH more in-tune with the reality of where the series is actually at, offers a LOT better and deeper insight than the flimsy arguments provided in this video, and are just a more smarter and far more accurate.
For instance, you can't just sit back and say a show's quality is measured by it's ratings compared to other shows and nothing else. Especially not when those show's ratings are determined by far more factors like availability, fanbase, time-slot, channel and method of where people watch it. Literally any video you can find about the decline of The Simpsons are far more intricate well-reasoned than this, which just amounts to an extremly stubborn and personally biased "Well I like it and I think it's still great!" and really doesn't offer anything more than that.
SuperEyePatchWolf on the other hand had a much more relevant and detailed chart that provided a much deeper proof of the Simpsons decline with more relevant information, such as the investment of regular viewers proving a gigantic and sharp decline in it's regular viewership and the specific review of the overall Simpsons fanbase with noted opinions and ratings of individual episodes.
While this video just tries to zoom out it's scope to the most generalized of concepts and just says "Nuh uh, Simpsons is still good because look, more people watch it than they do Rick and Morty. That automatically makes it better." Of course, it's easier to force the facts to look more favorable to you when you widen the scope out so far that it's like looking up at the night sky in a telescope and saying "Space sure is big."
@@the-NightStar He didn't say it was good *because* it had X million people watching it, his point was just that the opinion that the Simpsons got worse over time and is now bad is not one that everyone shares.
I have watched the SEW video as well and I like it, but it has fallacies of its own. For instance, this video went into the Simpsons' more conservative early days where the characters were less exaggerated and used that to contextualize the show's development into the dark satire of season 4/5/6, which SEW left out - and the way SEW's video was written unintentionally implies that the Simpsons' "original" identity was restricted to how it was in seasons 4/5/6, when that tone wasn't what it had in seasons 1/2/3 or the rest after 7/8.
I think SEW's video offers some neat arguments for why those seasons in particular might've been "better" written, but I also think this video does a good job of contextualizing the history of the kind of show the Simpsons is, noting how it changed and developed over the years.
And as far as this video being too broad in scope, ALL of this guy's videos have about the same breadth. A lot of this channel is just him doing overviews of different topics or what are effectively fact rundowns of examples of some specific cultural quirk - though that's not to say there hasn't been examples of very insightful and penetrating content as well, but I wouldn't call that the norm and it's not what I come to this channel expecting to see.
The Simpsons is still funny. It would be stupid if it stayed the same every year for over 30 years. It has evolved and continues to do so each season and that’s what keeps it going. The fact it doesn’t have the same cultural impact that it did when it first came out is just due to the fact that it’s not new anymore
I was a fan of Tracey Ullman's show and watched the short clips of The Simpsons. What is forgotten is that you need to review these early years from this perspective. Basically, the show, just like Tracey's show was a satire of society. The Simpsons were making fun of all the animations and gave it an edge that was not found elsewhere. They continued and pushed this edge to the boundaries. From there, the extremes offer little room for creativity and became more of a flexible middle ground! Which has lasted for over 30 years!
I would love to go back and review them all. I think Matt Groening’s Life in Hell comics were similar, comics that kind of were a satire of comics. It’s all very Generation X.
@@JJMcCullough Yes and I have collected some of those comics!
@@HamishDuh2nd Exactly but it was not a Gen X thing. It came out of the 60s and a reaction to the commercialisation of rock music! One can pinpoint this to the time when Bob Dylan became a Christian. Many of his followers were quite upset that they all got sucked into Dylan's sincerity which was now revealed to be only a method for making money. No substance! This is the reaction that The Simpsons and Married with Children tapped into!
@@HamishDuh2nd I forgot that Bush Sr. didn't like the show. Ha! However, I do recall how some middle schools and high schools in my hometown (Indianapolis) banned some of the Bart Simpsons T-shirts that they felt were "too disrespectful." Which of course just made kids want to wear them more.
@@HamishDuh2nd Of course both had marriage complexities and making statements about the modern version of marriage. In Married With Children, they had no illusion of the traditional and normal tv-scripted "I Love Lucy" type of love and by staying together, they loved each other, albeit in an unorthodox way. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf had a lot of deep-rooted anger towards one another with the illusion of having a child.
I’m a level 5 vegan. I don’t eat anything that casts a shadow.
Bojack horseman shifted part way through series 1 from wacky animated show with dark undertones to the great dramedy its rightfully revered as today and never looked back, but they never went full drama either and usually a funny, light hearted B plot to run alongside the darker main plot,
His relationship with his mother I find very bleak.
@@JJMcCullough Not only that but also the one with his friend sara lyn.
@@JJMcCullough Is that a bad thing?
I like the dark aspect of the show, especially with Arnet voicing him. Arnet is troubled, and it comes through in his acting and voice acting.
I was 38 years old when the Simpsons got their own show. I was living in NYC and was already a fan of it's creator Matt Groening for his non-animated cartoon Life in Hell (also Love is Hell, School is Hell and Work is hell) which appeared in the Village Voice newspaper. In fact one Christmas I had purchased his books of cartoons as presents for relatives and had him sign each one in person when he appeared at a book signing. He actually drew cartoon characters in each of my books inside covers to personalize them for each of my relatives saying "Merry Christmas" and adding people's first names. Seemed like a very friendly nerdy guy and wore a Tracy Ullman Show jacket. When The Simpsons show started my wife and I recorded every episode of the first two seasons on our VCR and kept them because we were sure a show that creative would soon be cancelled and never heard of again. The Simpsons is still good but the first few seasons were the BEST!
I disagree with a lot of this assessment! (Great video, though!) The main thing is that when I look back at Seasons 3-5 I'm really struck by how family-focused the show is! It might get pretty out there and zany, but I really get a sense that the characters do love each other and the writers love them too. They go on wacky adventures but they feel grounded in a way that always comes back to the "family" element and a number of them are quite sweet, even if they are also quite cynical. The particular thing I'd contrast this against is Homer in Season 1 and 2. My wife can't even watch these episodes because Homer's more abusive qualities are a bit triggering, and I remember very distinctly a time when my mom told me how unpleasant she found Homer in the early seasons before he became the sweeter and dumber character that we have today. The characters might have been getting more extreme but Homer also had a lot of edges rounded off at that time, too.
Personally I find as the series progresses that the sense of family has really tapered off, the sense of genuine affection in the family doesn't feel as authentic to me. I don't know how much of that I could actually document or really make a strong case for, but that's been my feeling about it. I've found that Bob's Burgers gives me a lot of that early kind of Simpsons "Family" aspect that I really enjoy, grounded but also a bit insane and cynical, and in a way that I don't really get from newer Simpsons episodes.
I'm sorry.
In France we have a particular comdey TV show that has become very different from its first season overtime : It's called Kaamelott, a kind of parody of the Knights of the Table Round, and it went from a collection of short sketches with no apparent storyline (except vaguely looking for the Grail) to longer and sometimes dramatic or depressing episodes with a compelling story, while keeping the characters fun when it's a part of them (like Perceval, for exemple). We were supposed to get a movie sequel to this show in 2020, but that was underestimating 2020, of course.
I think this is one of the shows that are the most representative of this kind of shift around here
I usually just listen to your videos, because there's just so much chaos clutter around you. But today I took a good look at your clutter and appreciate how actually arranged it is. And if I only look at a small area at a time, it's deeply interesting.
Love your content J.J! As someone who was born when the Simpsons were in what many people called their “heyday ” (1993) this was an interesting take. My cousin and my uncle watched every new episode first run and I’ve had many memories of the the show, merchandise, and old commercials they had in the states. I still think of Bart when I have anything Butterfinger related. Even though I did eventually grow out of the show, there’s still quotes and sweet moments that will always stuck with me. I had both Road Rage and Hit n Run growing up in my teenage years. I also saw the theatrical movie the first day it came out and it still has so much humor and heart to it even though it came out 14 years ago. Man I’m old! I’d be down for more videos like these if you enjoy it!
The Simpsons was an amazing series. It was a show that you can just sit down and watch. It was the first show that really made me laugh. Though I don't believe that the Simpsons is as good as it used to be, the show will always have a special place in my heart.
I quite like this theory in the abstract but there’s just one big quibble: the show was much, much funnier during this period you describe as so cynical. Like, I hung on for a number of years after and occasionally catch a new episode and I can’t say it ever actually makes me laugh. It seems like it’s written by people who are smart and understand story structure, but aren’t particularly witty or funny.
I catch new episodes every once in a while and there's consistently one joke per episode that makes me laugh, and it's often cheap. The show has declined massively since the 90's, and J.J's argument that people only think it sucks from the moment they stopped watching clearly contradicts the fact most fans can pinpoint the so-called golden era as being seasons 3-8.
This was interesting to watch as someone who is younger (missed its heyday) and has never watched it, because I've been hearing everyone's takes throughout my life. To those here who have watched it: how do the seasons discussed hold up in the streaming age, in a bingeable format?
I’m 20 and started watching it on Disney+ this summer. I can go down a deep dive and binge maybe 10-15 episodes in few days, but then I’ll go a week or two without watching it. The seasons he talks about here aren’t really what I would call “bingeable” content as there is no overarching plot that makes you NEED to click play on the next episode. As well when it starts to get absurdist and extreme it’s exhausting to watch dozens of episodes in a row
There’s a noticeable difference, and I say it as someone who also is too young to have grown up watching The Simpsons during its peak (23). The major issue with the show today is that it has gone back away from that middle ground it hit, becoming bland as a result. It relies heavily on celebrity cameos and really digging its heels into the same character traits over and over, turning Homer into a mean spirited moron or Lisa into a Green Party mouthpiece, as opposed to letting them breathe a bit more. It happens to every show eventually, and is why all good things must come to an end.
Not bad I'd say, provided you don't binge chronologically. Before streaming, you could line up 4-5 episodes on TV on at least two channels. I'd watch all of them.
I started watching The Simpsons about 20 years ago. Season 11 is definitely not as good as the earlier seasons in my opinion, but the seasons from that era are still very much worth watching. Season 10 has one of my favorite lines of any episode. I think the problem with the later seasons (I'd say especially starting around season 14 or so) is that the writing feels very lazy and predictable. They've never fallen into the Family Guy trap of referencing things for humor, but the jokes tend to lack the absurdist quality they once did. The older episodes had jokes that felt more like really good improv whereas the newer ones feel more like a late-night host performing a stand-up bit. I would watch seasons 1-14 or so, maybe mixing up the order so you don't get that sense of disappoint if you feel the quality dips. After that, watch the later episodes if you really like the show enough to be patient between laughs.
@@RichardHMaher If memory serves correct, they have done a few cutaway gags but that should definitely stay in the realm of Family Guy. It's a cheap device meant to set up standalone jokes for RUclips, like the time I showed my coworker the excited sheep getting sheered.
A sitcom that would be great to analyse is 'Community'
That for me is an example of a show where the individual series fluctuate in tone, like series 1 is a lot more grounded in realism but series 2 is where it really hits its stride and has a lot of the classic episodes we associate with the show and series 4 is notorious due to writer Dan Harmons departure
So yeah a very uneven but still great show in my opinion
I’ve can probably count on one hand the number of Simpsons episodes I have watched but JJ could probably talk about anything and make it interesting.
Actually Tracy Ullman is still well known here
in the UK, and she often releases new sketch shows, impersonating celebrities and such.
She's not popular though, just pushed on the indifferent public by her BBC chums.
@@lucasoheyze4597 Disagree. Her Angela Merkel had me rolling
I don't even watch The Simpsons, and I must say--someone who's very attention-deficit like me watched this entire episode for the hell of it and enjoyed every minute. I know some things about the show (I've always thought that it was Fox's "mellow" animated sitcom compared to their other ones) but never knew they would've become a Family Guy or South Park-type show if they had continued down the path of seasons 4 and 5. You really do know what you're doing, J.J.
WATCH IT NOW
JJ's hair is literally reaching meteoric heights! 😍
I see a Pantene or Herbal Essences commercial in your future JJ 😌
Some Scottish Lairds may even be envious of his mop!😲
I love this channel and the really positive and unique content you make. Keep doing what you believe in and enjoy, we all appreciate you.
Just found out my culture's iconic yellow cartoon family was a spin-off. I need a minute.
Whaaat loool what was it called
I keep finding these gems of videos from JJ. This one in particular I was super excited to watch as I was one of the people whom religiously watched the Simpsons each Sunday until my mid 20s. I still find the show awesome, I think I'm gonna restart the tradition now that I'm off on Sundays. I think the reason I like JJ's videos is because we are very much alike. We are one year apart, adore the 90s and lived a middle class childhood. All of these I relived by watching your videos, thanks JJ!
In the Halloween special of season 4 of Community, Abed remarks that the show used to be about a community college, and implies it was now mostly about crazy gags around a particular set of characters, many of whom leave in the latter seasons. That show played around with the characters a fair amount but if anything changed the premise more that the character types
Memenade and JJ: upload at the same time
Me: *the hardest choices require the strongest wills*
I noticed this to
“Did Season 9 ‘ruin’ The Simpsons?” J.J clearly knows what he’s talking about in regards to the show, so this is a take A LOT of us would love to hear.
I don’t accept the premise that the show was ever ruined. I think it has good episodes and bad episodes, but the show has so much churn in terms of writers and so on it’s hard to say it ever passed some sort of point of no return.
@@JJMcCullough oh it passed a point of no return alright
@@JJMcCulloughThe Simpsons is painfully mediocre now.
Hes wrong, season 9 is when it went down hill, when they started putting celebratys in the show that was it
‘’It sure was nice of Mr. Burns to invite us for midnight dinner at his country house in... PENNSYLVANIA!’’
JJ, if you haven't watched TheRealJim's Simpsons videos then they are HIGHLY recommended!
Holy shit, it all makes sense now. Seasons 4, 5, and 6 are my favorite seasons, and I'm one of those assholes who's complained in the past about how The Simpsons stopped being funny when the '90s ended. It turns out I was just married to the tone of those seasons. That probably says something about my personality.
No, no. It is the Simpsons which are wrong.
I just discovered your channel and now I'm fan, I really appreciate your deep dives into culture
The only recent episodes I’ve watched have fairly consistent characterizations except Homer, who is still the blank slate, apparently for whatever the writers want to do that week. He’ll be a good father, a bad father, a sensitive husband, a neglectful husband, open-minded and cheerful, angry and prejudiced, adventurous, lazy, sensitive, resentful, you name it.
Note that the source material "Life in Hell," is dark, brooding, and existential. While the 1990's exhibited plenty of nihilistic material, perhaps that did not change the character of the Simpsons so much as provide an open space for Groening's latent darkness to shine.
I’ve never seen the Simpsons, but you make this “chaotic” era sound way better than any other era you described.
The generally accepted golden era of the Simpsons went from Seasons 3-8. Like, he’s definitely in the minority opinion.
You should watch it NOW!
@@edienandy for me, once i made it to around season 10 it became almost unwatchable, and there's definitely a decline after 8. weird to see him talk about the show like this.
Modern simpsons is just family guy in yellow face...which is ironic because seth macfarlane has admitted that Family Guy was trying to be like the simpsons when the show first came out.
Yes, I enjoyed this type of format - good job JJ!!!
One direction you could take this new realm of exploration into media criticism is (I think) if you would commentate on different documentaries and/or other works of fiction that inherently have some political, pop cultural (history?), etc types of ramifications where I believe you could inter-cross knowledge from other disciplines you are very familiar with. For example, it would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on things like the older Michael Moore movies (Bowling for Columbine, Sicko come to mind), show sensations of the era like 24, or docs like Inconvenient Truth. I'm sure it will require some experimentation, but I"m sure with trying a few different things out - you'll fit into your own niche! (and subsequently grow your audience :) )
Thank you for this video. Really some of the best insights on this topic, you caught a lot of nuance.
I like the older Simpson's better, mostly due to its more energetic animation, that modern animation feels stiff, while the older animation feels more chaotic.
J.J., I will always enjoy listening to you talk about the Simpsons.
Good analysis. A good complement to the talk I attended this morning by the Simpsons writer Mike Reiss. I only wish I could have finished your video before the talk. I know how much flack you give the notion that The Simpsons predicts the future, and Reiss does too!
In doing a full rewatch of the Simpsons, I couldn't put my finger on exactly what felt so weird about 4/5. But you totally nailed it.
Like the Treehouse of Horror eps do go bigger, obviously, but they almost don't stand out against the extremeness of the rest of those seasons.
Hey man... Nice Asbury Park pennant behind you! Love to see cool people reppin' my town!
Your description of Seasons 4 to 6 as "nihilistic" are exactly why they are my favourite! They were subversive and pushed limits in a way that was sometimes shocking for the 90s, a perfect representation of that Gen X cynicism and boundary-pushing at the time. These seasons are great cultural artefacts in retrospect and better captured the cultural zeitgeist in ways that they never were able to do ever again.
Another popular piece of work from the time that is along the same lines is Fight Club.
If the best you can say about something is that it's "subversive" that's normally a thin veneer for it being bad and grabbing for shock value.
@@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts Family Guy is desperate for attention. Classic Simpsons were subversive. Key difference.
Hey, nice analysis! First time I see you on youtube, and I'm glad I found you!
Ngl you’re my favorite Canadian RUclipsr keep up the great work!
Hey, amazing content as always, but I just wanted to check in with you. You’ve been working A LOT lately. Just wanted to say thanks for all the content, but I just hope you’re doing ok man! 😄👍🏼
I'm curious if J.J knows the existence of the Youtude video: "The fall of the Simpsons, how it happen" by the irish youtuber SuperEyePachtWolf
Or the realjims youtube channel
Good video even though my favorite seasons are 3, 4 and 5 haha. Also, I love how you use some known SFX by time to time.
Honestly, I think the thing that stands out from the *really* early Simpsons - the first couple of seasons, before where most people (myself included) believe it peaked - is "heart".
I think then, more than ever, the show relied on you relating to and caring about its characters, sharing their thoughts, living their highs and lows. It was a time where the ending of an episode was more likely to be a heartwarming reconciliation than a surreal sight gag or on-the-nose satire.
I... kind of miss those simpler times.
JJ, will you ever do a video on the Canadian Healthcare System? Like if he should.
@J Dude Don't click on this guy's link- it's to a weird music video, not anything related to the comment
The best episode of the Simpson’s is “homers triple bypass”
Nah nah its the barbershop quartet one
@@stretchscreamers damn that’s a great one too. Homer and the B sharps!
Especially that ending with Maggie’s photos!
I think your analysis is great. At first I read the title and got mad because it was my general rule of thumb that the first 10 seasons were distinctly the best but I never thought of the distinction within these 10 seasons but always compared them to the latter ones.
Love the new direction of the channel!
These were the golden years for me.
Tracey Ullman Show is still well regarded. Maybe being alive when it aired is required.
Agreed. I loved her take on Queen Elizabeth II in Death to 2020 on Netflix.
You always come up with the most interesting videos. I really do enjoy them watching your videos! This is a topic I have never thought about, but it was such an entertaining video. So I don’t know if your interpretation is wrong. Can’t wait till your next video!
great video as always! love it when you talk about this show
I actually enjoy the South Parkian turn the show took toward offering weekly commentary, parody, and pastiche of current events.
The multiple celebrity cameos are also a highlight.
When you said “Fixed at” while talking about Lisa I heard “Thicc” and became confused and disturbed
Wow, everything you said made a lot of sense. This is one of the best videos of 2021 without a doubt.
LOVED this! Picture it 1990, I was in kindergarten & drew a picture in crayon of the Simpson family as my favorite TV show..... for some reason I drew them all with dangling earrings🤷🏼♀️
Me who has never watched the simpsons
Hmmm mmm yes very interesting
You should review the Canadian comic called "Angloman: Making the World Safe for Apostrophes!"
I think the idea that the Simpsons mellowed out after 1994 is belied by Homer's Enemy (season 8, episode 23) the single most nihilistic episode of American television I can think of.
I watched The Simpson's religiously from the very first episode til I ditched my TV altogether in the very early 2000s. I'd started to travel more, & barely turned the TV on when I was at home. Anything I saw on it was a pale imitation of things I could hope out in the eirld & experience firsthand. But I did still enjoy watching the Simpsons, & I think JJ did too! Your analysis Is bang on. I think I've even read creator Matt Groening acknowledge what you said about the writers maybe getting bored with & a little bit hostile towards the characters during seasons 4 & 5. Those were probably my favorite seasons. Gen X-er, as charged. ✌🏼
I respect the status its earned in pop culture, but I've never really watched The Simpsons. I remember watching an episode where Homer decided to play hooky from church one Sunday and all he did was stay home, drink beer and watch football and realized how much fun he was missing out on and said he was never going to church again. 😆
Considering that the current Simpsons totally out-rate Rick and Morty really makes one to loose all hope
@@lcoyle1998 Plus R&M airs on cable, while The Simpsons continues to be broadcast for free across the nation
Rick and Morty had only two good seasons
@@luducto1930 loved it, the research in it was amazing
I'll click on your thumbnail everytime I see one. If you want to talk about cartoons, talk about cartoons. If you want to talk about flags, talk about flags, or the rulers of france, or what judges wear, or whatever. You tell a good story. I truly enjoy watching you bounce around the screen telling me about the most obscure aspects of a cartoon from 30 years ago.
I really like your video. It was well thought out you weren't bashing anything you were just being critical and that's really nice. After watching this I'm going to go and watch the episode where Bart becomes a hall monitor and some other gems from season 3. Thank you good sir
Hi JJ! Any plans for a Flag Mystery video soon?
It was sad to see them take Lisa's character from one that brought an erudite moral balance to the family to some sort of mouth piece of the New York Times editorial board...sadness indeed.
shes just an SJW now
Went to watch some early episodes on Disney+ and hit season 5. I did see that "it's an ending" episode and noted the tone. I had forgotten it could have that kind of humor as well, but I love a lot of episodes from that era (Homer getting his hand "stuck" in the vending machine is gold).
I think even the episodes from seasons 4 5 and 6 still have a lot of heart too them, and even if its over the top the simpsons still had very heartfelt storytelling, like in season 4's duffless when homer doesnt drink for 30 days, which is an insane episode no doubt, but has marge convining homer not to drink for 30 days and ends with them literally riding into the sunset, there are just many episodes from that era that show how the simpsons really care