The Simpsons: Classic Or Dud?

(* c. 2002 s. trife)

here in the UK it is diff. since i nevah had cable i have only watched a the first few and it's all brilliant, which me and sean agreed on.

After a while it just became so obvious that the writer's weren't really interested in carrying on any more, as demonstrated by Troy McClure's "and we'll continue to carry on until the point that the show becomes unprofitable" dig.

a total loss of innocence: homer's a fuckwad (no longer loveable), there's too many drug/alcohol/sex jokes, and everybody swears.

god bless reruns etc.

nobody cared when roseanne went down the tubes b/c roseanne was only ever a sitcom.

the simpsons generation

okay okay, it starts w/ a radiohead quote, and some of chris' writing is a bit lofty, but i think he makes some v. important points here that elevate the simpsons beyond the stuff of yr average sitcom

And I cared about Roseanne! I thought it was a terrific show for quite a while, and astoundingly terrible in the last two seasons.

One of my fave moments. I loved the caricature of the two as well.

Futurama is great also, but there just aren't the kind of moments where you can simply think about and collapse into a bout of hysterics.

(like my girlfriend and I last night, when we recalled the episode where Jasper is auditioning for something and is singing "This is the theme, from A Summer Place, from A Summer Place, the theme, from A Summer Place...")

Statements like this boggle my mind. The writing on "Roseanne" may not have been as sharp in the "lookit-this-reference-ooh-we're-smart" vein that "The Simpsons" writers have always veered towards, but the characters and their relationships were WAY more human and affecting. Even when the show sucked, the characters and relationships stood out compared to other shows on television. (Compare it to "Home Improvement", for one horrifying example. Even "Friends" is deeper than that shit.)

"The Critic" was awe-inspiring. I don't watch "The Simpsons" the way I used to, but it's still funny to me. Not as funy as "South Park", but funnier than most shows.

I don't think by saying it was "only ever a sitcom" I undermined the value that it had as such, Dan. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to prove that Roseanne ever transcended that in any way shape or form. Whereas the Simpsons, well...

Best jingle ever = "Call Mr. Plow, that's my name / that name again is Mr. Plow!"

*cuts to testcard*

The Critic was fantastic, yeah. Jay's dad was hilarious. The time when he thinks an owl in his garden is that neighbour bloke from Home Improvement nearly had me wetting myself. Hasn't been repeated for ages, sadly...

I like Family Guy, but it's very erratic in quality. The one where Death injures himself, leading to all living things becoming invincible, was really funny. But the episode straight after that one (I forget which one thanks to my terrible memory) was really weak. Also as someone else said it doesn't have the warmth of prime Simpsons.

What do people think of Space Ghost Coast To Coast? I love that - someone said of it that at times some episodes approach Dadaism. The one where everything is in black and white, Peter Fonda gets killed, the theme music is replaced by Rammstein and lots of strange subtitles keep appearing at the bottom of the screen was ace.

It's just one big car crash these days.

Lisa says something about the Simpsons not being a part of Springfield's "cultural elite," and Homer walks in brushing his teeth and says "Can you believe Flanders threw out a perfectly good toothbrush?"

Bart and Lisa have tracked down Krusty's estranged father the rabbi, and he shouts at them "I HAVE NO SON!" and slams the door.
Bart: "Awwww man, we came all this way and it's the wrong guy!"
Rabbi: (opening door a crack) "I didn't mean that literally!"

Milhouse's mom: "Well Marge, yesterday Milhouse told me my meatloaf 'sucked.' He must have gotten that word from your little boy, because they certainly DON'T USE THAT WORD ON TV."

And there are loads of great Simpsons episodes - some of the v. best - after 'Who Shot Mr Burns'!

i second that!!!

It's been done.

http://www.vulture.com/2017/07/the-simpsons-planet-of-the-apes-musical-oral-history-zauis.html

even as someone who's listened to all the dvd commentaries i'd pay good money to read that kind of oral history for every episode from season 1 to season 8 (and maybe beyond, just to see what they were thinking)

otm

https://www.facebook.com/thecontentzone/videos/768405663358314/

can't stop watching this, my god

the ascension of steamed hams memes seems like one of the few good things in 2017

Seasons 1-8: Classic
Season 9 onwards: Dud

quite a take

odd seasons bad, even seasons good up to season 25, then all good

Classic Apu
Dud Lisa

im watching Lemon of Troy. if this isn't the POO episode it is certainly in the top 5.

"Homer! Come quick! Bart's quit his tutoring job and joined a violence gang!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBg99mH8pyA

"Now Marge, you can't blame all of Bart's problems on your one little speech. If anything turned him bad, it's that time you let him wear a bathing suit instead of underwear. And let's not forget your little speech."

https://frinkiac.com/img/S06E24/685984.jpg

Every line in this episode, I swear:

"Run, boy! He's got the taste for meat now!"

"Eat my shorts!" "Yes, eat ALL our shirts!"

"I say 'radical'! That's my thing that I say!"

Apropos of this thread bump, I have heard three different people in the last week use the construction, "Say I says to _____, I says . . ."

i love how the first half is all kids and their stupid petty tribalism and the halfway through the adults all pile into the van and it's basically the same dynamics.

Homer: "Come on everybody, let's into Shelbyville and get those kids back ourselves! I've got an RV we can use -- Flanders's!"

"Missing children?"
"Sounds like Springfield's got a discipline problem."
"Maybe that why we beat 'em at football nearly half the time, huh?"

wait a minute... there's a lemon behind that rock!

oh god when Milhouse is imagining that his camouflage will turn him into the Cheshire Cat

rocky v + rocky ii = ... rocky vii, adrian's revenge!

agreed that this is probably the best episode of the series, p much every line is gold

"Hey everybody! An old man's talking!"

i also love the shelbyville/springfield mythology- the line about marrying your cousins and jebidaiahs line about 'root marm' pops into my head often

"Over here, my friends! Or is it...over here!"

https://media.giphy.com/media/JmQAzA0PcwcTu/giphy.gif

https://youtu.be/UuQFI9TXiv8

"You must be stupider than you look."
"Stupider like a FOX!"

i love when they come upon the impound lot and inside the bad kids are running circles around the tree like it's a 60s motorcycle b-movie or something.

"Spring forth, burly protector, and save me!"

https://frinkiac.com/gif/S06E24/740055/747562.gif?b64lines=4pmqIEhBUksKIFRPIFRIRSBUQUxFIE9GIE5FTFNPTiDimao=

"The town of Springfield was born on that day, and to mark that sweet moment, our people planted this lemon tree (lemons being the sweetest fruit available at the time.)"

Yep, I always hold up "Lemon of Troy" as one of the best ever. Brent Forrester only wrote a few other episodes, wonder why he didn't get used more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A2VDVC4-nM

Forrester also wrote "Homer vs. Patty and Selma," which contains one of my favorite scenes in the history of television:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxvAZq9Dr1U

YES.

"Here's Shelbyville Falls, Rolling Rock..."

https://frinkiac.com/video/S03E21/uYOQZxUnieaMtgSbX1ojlsSLPBA=.gif

i like how at the of TOL they get the tree back but it is ripped in half. in the prior scene it's still intact so the impression is that it was damaged on the journey back into Springfield. it's a silent visual gag that maybe suggests if they had shared w the neighbors in the first place the tree would be fully intact. other shows would make this into a grand King Solomon-style moral lesson but here it's just yet more satirical subtext.

also classic is the scene where Bart is making his pre battle "When we cross this line, we become men" speech as the girls in the background are just playing, deflating in a single shot the violent pride of tribal masculinity.

again, they didn't stop the show and have a character step forward and give a speech, this is just _there_. it's a part of the world.

i like the theme of reality vs. fantasy here. Milhouse thinking he can disappear into the trees and become invisible, yet he instead discovers someone, someone who alone shares his experience. Bart thinking he can propel himself upward jetpack-style with spraypaint cans: instead he just turns his feet green. the old men chronicling the heroic deeds of their offspring, violent young men who refuse to share and in the process destroy the very thing they claim to hold dear.

Bart: Hey, stop talking bad about my town, man!
Shelby: Why don't you make me!
Bart: I don't make trash, I burn it!
Shelby: Well then I guess you're a garbage man!
Bart: I know you are but what am I?
Shelby: A garbage man!
Bart: Oh I know you are but what am I?
Shelby: A garbage man!
Bart: I know you are but what am I?
Shelby: A garbage man!
Bart: Takes one to know one!
[COLLECTIVE GASPS]

i love how they set up Bart. Prof. Frink shows up at the start and asks if he wants to try the flying motorcycle he just invented. so you're expecting it to come back. the way later in the episode Bart is in trouble and says "I could use a flying motorcycle right now". finally Prof. Frink shows up with the flying motorcycle, only to say "You had your chance" and fly away and out of the episode.

yes otm the ritual of these childhood mindgames!

Bart's daydream of the future people being stunned by his ability to write his name in concrete and use a yo-yo

"What's normal to him, amazes us!"
"He will be our new god!"

"Bart! You've graffito-tagged public property!"

sorry if i keep going i will post the whole script

Two rarely mentioned highlights, both in the RV: Homer draining the vehicle's power by cooking a turkey while they are trying to escape the impound lot, and "This is the darkest day in Springfield history. If anyone wants me I'll be in the shower."

...and then the off-screen payoff to the shower line, when Bart makes Flanders stop, back up and illegally park: [tumble/cry of pain] "Oh great! Now I'm upside down!"

"...they had banished the evil lemon tree forever, because it was haunted. Now let's all celebrate, with a cool glass of turnip juice."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT7YZQEHHVE

Bart's daydream of the future people being stunned by his ability to write his name in concrete and use a yo-yo

"What's normal to him, amazes us!"
"He will be our new god!"

― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Friday, July 6, 2018 4:31 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"He must have been much cooler than his sister Lisa, about whom we know relatively nothing!"

a part of us all
a part of us all

i like how at the of TOL they get the tree back but it is ripped in half. in the prior scene it's still intact so the impression is that it was damaged on the journey back into Springfield.

It gets damaged as they sped out of Shelbyville.

https://frinkiac.com/video/S06E24/79fasnhn7iGDFpR54N8m7o7DK74=.gif

lmao

https://i.imgur.com/n8wh2n0.gif