What exactly is wrong with The Simpsons these days?

[McNeil]

A bit of Simpsons discussion here

So from what I've seen from most peoples reactions these days towards the Simpsons, it mostly comes down to the same thing. Getting it cancelled. But I wonder what people think of the show, why they would want it cancelled if its still one of the better animated shows on TV despite its age. I don't know how many people still watch the show but I'm really curious to see the reactions.

The major complaint I keep hearing is that it isn't funny anymore, from my experience it got indeed less funny after the classic era but most episodes still have some great jokes. But the jokes isn't the only reason I watch the show, they can also come up with great plots and really well written characterisation for the cast. Looking at season 2's Lisa's Substitite, I think there's not a single good joke to be found but they have a great one time character to make it a great episode after all.

The decline of The Simpsons got noticeable when Mike Scully took over as showrunner. Season 10-12 started to become a lot more.... wackier. It was obvious he was writing some kind of a different show, he made Homer Simpson into a jerk and the rest of the family became minor characters that kept following him around. The writing wasn't great, the plots were most of the time ridiculous and all over the place, and this was the first era where the Simpsons declined badly.

Then Al Jean takes over in season 13 and to this day he is still the showrunner. Being a show runner for like 12 seasons doesn't seem right to me, its really hard to come up with idea's for new episodes when working so long on the show. I still wish he would step down, I majorly blame him for the most obvious decline that started when the Simpsons went HD.

''The Simpsons already did everything'' or how South Park says it ''Simpsons did it!'' is a common phrase, and I can see why. When I look at their latest seasons it just seems that they can't come up with good idea's for episodes anymore, They all seem so randomly made up and probably end up getting rushed. They have done so many plots, Homer and Marge having a marriage crisis, Bart gets a girlfriend, Lisa is depressed, it never ends.

So whats really wrong with the show imo is the lack of humor and well written stories, but there's also something else...

... the animation. I don't like the HD animation at all, I always loved the more ''alive'' and fluid animation of the classic era. Here's a comparison of the opening:



The way Marge spins her head in the bottom one looks like she's a robot, while the above one actually feels more like a cartoon. I could be in the minority as there are still people who prefer HD animation, and I agree that some backgrounds look beautifull in HD, but the stale character movements doesn't do it for me.

So I've probably made a wall of text by now, I wonder how other people feel about the show. Do you want it cancelled? And if so, why? Do you still like the show but still want it cancelled?

[Yunru]

Well its like this:
Any episode with bart 1.st in line its usualy good.
Any episode with homer 1.st in line its 50:50 (usualy something with marriage).
Any episode with marge sucks.
Any episode with lisa stinks. (in love with some1 or stuff doing wrong)

The last voodo episode with bart wasnt so bad. The add at the end was funny at least.

[Digglett]

The way Marge spins her head in the bottom one looks like she's a robot, while the above one actually feels more like a cartoon. I could be in the minority as there are still people who prefer HD animation, and I agree that some backgrounds look beautifull in HD, but the stale character movements doesn't do it for me.

God damn, they look so awkward in the second gif. Not even Marge's head but how Maggie shakes her fist at the other baby. It just doesn't look natural at all.

[Deleted]

Let's do a test.

Tell me a memorable moment from the Simpsons before season 12-13. example, Homer jumps over the canyon with a skateboard, pretty specific moment eh

Tell me a memorable moment from the Simpsons after season 12-13. The Simpsons have a guest star on the show, various

[yetgdhfgh]

Its been on WAYYYYY TO long

I can think of classic episodes and they still make me laugh just thinking about them its absolute timeless

The new episodes i psychically cant force myself to sit through. The jokes just isnt funny and the charm the show had is long dead.

Please somebody cancel the Simpsons so we can all sit back and admire what was one of the best TV shows of all time instead of letting it drag on needlessly

I know the only reason the show keeps going is because its a gravy train for all those involved and Matt Groening justs keeps doing it so his staff has a job and thats it. He knows the show shouldve ended 10 years ago and so do we.

[yetgdhfgh]

Simpsons, Family Guy and Southpark need to be put out to pasture they have long since run there sell by date.

When it becomes perfectly obvious the creators heart isnt in it and is only running it so the writers aint on the dole then its time for the Networks to wave the axe even if the Rating are still solide.

[McNeil]

Tell me a memorable moment from the Simpsons after season 12-13. The Simpsons have a guest star on the show, various

Yeah thats pretty hard to do, the show after season 12 simply isn't memorable anymore. Guess a memorable moment I really liked was Homer and Marge's first kiss in The Way We Weren't, wish they made more episodes as good as that one.

Putting in so many celeberty guests is just pointless, and my least favorite episode of the show has to be the one with lady Gaga

Simpsons, Family Guy and Southpark need to be put out to pasture they have long since run there sell by date.

When it becomes perfectly obvious the creators heart isnt in it and is only running it so the writers aint on the dole then its time for the Networks to wave the axe even if the Rating are still solide.

I agree I think all shows should've just ended after season 8. There should be a rule that no show should live longer than 8 seasons, its obvious that no show will be as good or even better by then. I still enjoy some South Park but even their latest seasons have been pretty bad, and would've been better if they had just ended a lot earlier.

[Foosha]

I would argue 3-12. But ya you can go on forever. Homer goes to space, sideshow bob episodes, the cookout, frank grimes, april fools(my favorite), trampoline, some of the halloween ones, the elephant. Thats only a few!

Skinner trying to catch Bart skipping school. Mix between Ferris Buellers Day off and Westworld. Fucking brilliant.

And my avatar, which was in one of the last good seasons with an actual guest appearance that made sense and was funny

[Icaras]

I would say a big part of it is that when a show like the Simpsons run long, the feel of the show starts to get VERY different.

I found the same thing with Family Guy, I really liked the show at 1st, but in the last few years the show has just felt SO different I've completely lost interest in watching it. For example, using Family Guy still, I quite liked stewie when he was a super villain baby and the show as continually implying that nobody bar Brian could understand him.

These days it seems everyone can hear him just fine and he seems to be some kind of super camp characters that the joke now is a "is he or isn't he gay!?" thing. Oh and super creepy things tricks Brian into doing that the show sort of implies, without directly saying, he gets sexual pleasure from (Yet he's still a baby....*rolls eyes*).
It all just seems really forced now, and....and it just doesn't feel like the same show, yet because it IS the same show, its not pleasant to watch (for me)

Getting back to the Simpsons, I like the same kinda think the above is a big part of it, but at the same time...I also think just the sheer age of the show is starting to make it feel like major drag. Hell, its getting to a point where some of the voice actors are dying which forces the show to kill off some characters. Makes things a little awkward. And that's not even counting the silliness of how many origins the characters have and how many futures we've seen.

Me, I think this is a perfect case of Jumping the Shark. The shows rates enough to keep the zombie on TV (Much like Happy Days when it literally jumped the shark) but that doesn't mean its a good thing. it just means less chances for new shows because people get scared of change and I'm guessing what the Simpsons because "Well, tyhats just what I always do, ya know?"

[CR77]

Im hoping the Simpsons/Family Guy cross over will be the swan song for both shows.

[Deleted]

Eh? I tought latest South Park eps where pretty good, its a series that actually started pretty terrible and improved greatly over the years, as the jokes usually is about things happening right now like their Game of Thrones/console wars season finish.

Latest simpsons season was... hm a few good eps but mostly terrible, the quality between eps is so massive in that show.
Family Guy, i think you have to be a american to appreciate that show, i dont get more then half the jokes, especially the celebrity jokes.

[Kaleredar]

They're trying too hard.


No, really, they are. Simpsons humor used to be a sort of... overall surreal trip, with as many "what the hell?" moments of hilarity as moments that offer satire or actual jokes. And it all seemed to flow so... naturally. And then, of course, you'd have the occasional "touching" moment. But after so many years, they've run their supply of "touching moments," and the surreal quality has been replaced with... well, jokes that just don't seem to land, connections the characters don't really seem to have, and little to no build-up.

Like I said, they just try too hard now. The plots are just shoveled into one direction, often rapidly and jarringly, rather than going there naturally, and sometimes end with some completely unrelated point, almost to the point that it's like they're trying to follow some formula. Sure, in earlier simpsons episodes, you'd have some zany thing happening at the start of the episode, but that quickly moved on to the actual plot that took up 2/3 of the show. It's really the other way around now. And, again, while things could shift focus in the earlier Simpsons episodes, there was usually some sort of build up, or at least some sort of compulsion to make it do that. Now things just seem to switch around because the writers needed to get to the point, regardless of whether it fit in with the story they had been building or not.

There are still a few good episodes they make. Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson mind (2007) was very good. Holidays of Future Passed (2011) was quite good as well. But the good, endearing episodes have become a rarity, not the norm. Compare that to anything from about season 2 to the early 2000s, when... well, it was pretty much comedy gold.


As for Family Guy... I never really "expected" much out of family guy. Which I guess is why I still watch it, for the stupid humor that it is. Family Guy didn't really fall, because it had no where to fall from. The Simpsons had a level of endearing connection between the characters and a sort of surreal sophistication about it that it's lost, which is why I don't watch new episodes of the Simpsons. Family Guy has made a sort of... lateral movement in its humor, which has always been crass and more or less vapid. Not to sound overly dramatic, but I can't stand to watch the Simpsons anymore seeing what it's become from what it once was.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Simpsons is suffering from two things. One is we, the people that have watched it for years, have changed over this very long period of time. Hell I was in elementary school when the Simpsons first came on the air and now I am only a few years away from 40. I have changed a ton several times over that period. The second thing it is suffering from is the people creating it have also changed around a bit as new people take over, people leave, people come, and all the therebetween. When you combine these two things together you create a melting pot of eventually losing the core audience of the show.

I also think the shift towards a much more corporate and political stance of Fox has dragged the show down as well. The Simpsons used to have a ton of hidden anti-political and anti-corporate Easter eggs in it back when Fox was just a small time player in the network game. It didn't matter if they were Democrat or Republican / rich or poor / the Simpsons just basically ragged on them. Now the Simpsons is much more a commercial for Fox and its political views and money sponsors than it used to be. They aren't as crafty about hiding them for the wise to see, but just bluntly put out there in the center.

[Deleted]

The simpsons are not funny anymore. The old seasons had good humor and now it just feels forced and artificial to keep the series alive.

[Bender]

I don't really care if it's cancelled or not, it seems to be very popular still so I guess it will live on. I've always watched the Simpsons for the satirical punch, it was the best show for that for a very long time. Then came South Park, and that made the Simpsons become so tame in comparsion. SP just does the same thing as the Simpsons but does it so much better and in a funnier way. I can't remember the last time I laughed uncontrollably at the Simpsons, meanwhile SP has me in laugh-induced spasms every other episode.

[McNeil]

There are still a few good episodes they make. Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson mind (2007) was very good. Holidays of Future Passed (2011) was quite good as well. But the good, endearing episodes have become a rarity, not the norm. Compare that to anything from about season 2 to the early 2000s, when... well, it was pretty much comedy gold.

These episodes are indeed really good, wish they could've made more like these. A show like Family Guy can hardly fall since it was never that good in the first place

Tomorrow they'll air the LEGO episode, could have potential to be really good.

[Deleted]

Let's do a test.

Tell me a memorable moment from the Simpsons before season 12-13. example, Homer jumps over the canyon with a skateboard, pretty specific moment eh

Tell me a memorable moment from the Simpsons after season 12-13. The Simpsons have a guest star on the show, various

In one of the "new" episodes an old friend from Barcelona comes to visit homer (they wrote letters to eachother as homework when they where young), the episode as a whole isn´t that great but the ending was excellent in my opinion when they are at homer´s house and his friend says goodbye to him because he is going back to his country, homer ask him if he wants to leave him at the airport and the friend answers "follow and leave me where your heart tells you". On the next scene you see Homer in front of the Sagrada Familia next to his friend.

Here is a link with the important parts of the episode

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1977...grada-familia/

[prwraith]

I've never actually seen the simpsons. Is it worth watching?

[Ghaleon]

Nah i still like it and hope it continues on for as long as it can.

- - - Updated - - -

I've never actually seen the simpsons. Is it worth watching?

Very much so you may be dismayed by the first seasons really crappy animation lol but it's good plus a lot to watch

[Frozenbeef]

Im hoping the Simpsons/Family Guy cross over will be the swan song for both shows.

Why? If you don't like them don't watch them, there are millions are people that still watch and enjoy both the simpsons and family guy, don't try to ruin other peoples enjoyment just because you lack taste 0o