The Simpsons: Classic Or Dud?

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(As someone who never got the "Simpsons-show-with-heart" (this may be due to the fact that Americans are mystical creatures) I actually like what I've seen of the recent episodes . . .)

― Ess Kay (esskay), Sunday, 29 September 2002 22:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

if i wanted shows with heart, i'd watch 'touched by an angel' or some such.

Oh. That reminds me. Those of you condemning New Simpsons for being pointless/no longer funny, what's your take on the similarly absurdist Family Guy?

― petra jane (petra jane), Sunday, 29 September 2002 22:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, I guess the thing about the characters and the stories is the main thing, the satire secondary. I hardly think I was simplifying the "nerd sweat" episode though.

I'd totally forgotten about Andy.

― sundar subramanian, Sunday, 29 September 2002 22:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I thought you said he was dead"
"No, I said he sleeps with the fishes"

― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 29 September 2002 23:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

Cynical, Amoral, and Destructive = good.

This is what S1m0ne would have told us if it wasn't so fucking sappy.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 30 September 2002 03:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

I enjoy Family Guy more than the new Simpsons (tho I don't really go out of my way to watch it) because it gives you that fun nihilistic anything-goes approach w/o screwing with characters you actually care about. Both shows make no sense at all, they're just a 22-minute string of jokes, some of them funny, some of them not. But I think
the difference is that The Simpsons used to treat all those pop culture references and insane non-sequiturs as if they were nothing special, just part of the atmosphere, and that was why they were so brilliant. The newer shows treat them like they're the point of the show. The result is fascinating but deranged, as if a really long footnote had suddenly become the real book.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 30 September 2002 03:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Or, to put it more succinctly:

"It's not your fault, Homer, it's those lousy writers! They make me madder than a...yak in heat!"

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 30 September 2002 03:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

the lisa-mistaken-for-college-student one reran tonight and I realized better why I liked it so much more than many other recent ones - it had heart and stuff again, at least some.

also a thomas pynchon reference. I am easy.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 30 September 2002 04:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

no hugs no learning

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 30 September 2002 07:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

There will surely be someone employed full time to post this to every C/D thread, but If Ever There Was A Classic Or Classic, This Is It.

The Shift article that mark p recommends is OTM, but misses the other effect of the richness of the material: it's not just that there are things that everyone remembers, but there are things in there just for you, and that you can hold to your heart ("Brevity is ... wit").

Simpsons = Pop Music.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 30 September 2002 12:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

"an illegal counterfeit jeans operation running right out of my car hole!"

― robin (robin), Monday, 30 September 2002 18:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Remember your Hippopotamus oath!"

― Michael Bourke, Monday, 30 September 2002 18:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

somebody else waswatchingit today then?

"you're adopted and I never liked you"

― chris (chris), Monday, 30 September 2002 18:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw the exact same episode yesterday Josh and you beat me to the punch. I thought it had heart although the theme has been done before recently (MENSA ep) AND most episodes don't share the sentiment. But the writers haven't totally lost it.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 30 September 2002 19:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw the Angry Dad one last night and it's the funniest one in about 2 seasons... totally fantastic

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 30 September 2002 23:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

three weeks pass...

no seriously what the FUCK is going on

i just saw a promo for the new season that previews an episode where MARGE GETS BREAST IMPLANTS

this is fucking BUSH LEAGUE and it should be STOPPED

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 21 October 2002 03:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

i know i know :(

i walked past the telly and there was a caterpillar that screamed like a monkey

i walked past again and marge was being sentenced to death

― minna (minna), Monday, 21 October 2002 08:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

Futurama is consistently funny. More 'edgey' than Simpsons has been for several seasons.
Every now and again Simpsons have a couple of neat in-jokes but it's very missable these days. Ralf Wiggum is King.

Futurama is on Ch4 Wednesdays at 6:30pm. Classic.

― Android (Android Elvis), Monday, 21 October 2002 09:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

I read Sunday that Futurama is on its last season. The ratings weren't good enough.

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 00:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've thought the last six or so seasons have been utter crap, but I almost cried when I read some of the season 14 synopsii. In addition to the Marge breast impant episode, there is one where Marge takes steroids (?!), and one where Homer is kicked out of the house and rents an apartment with two gay guys (and I assume with "hilarious" consequences). See http://www.snpp.com/upcoming.shtml
Its as if they are intentionally trying to smash to bits everything good that came out of the classic seasons 2-6.

― fletrejet, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 01:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

i whole-heartedly agree fletrejet...i am now convinced that no show should run for more than ten years unless its a show in which the characters change on a frequent basis (e.g. soap operas - tho they're no better with the same hackneyed stories and plotlines are just re-recycled over and over)...kudos to Chris Carter for bringing the X-Files to an end this year even tho many felt it had outstayed its welcome as it was (shame as the ending still leaves plenty of scope for future movies or specials if nothing else) - i think there should be one big Simpsons MOVIE and then no more episodes, evah - but obv. thats not going to happen

― blueski, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 13:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

i hope it goes on until all the voice actors die. i'm perfectly happy for them to make it up on volume. ideally they will make enough shows so it can be shown on a simpsons channel 24/7 and no episode ever repeats in any given month.

― big fun, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 06:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Anybody remember when simpsons had actual plots? Remeber when things actually happened? Remember when the jokes were intelligent and witty? Remeber when there were jokes at all? Anyone that likes the simpsons nowadays are just plain and simple morons. I was in love with the simpsons up untill like season eight or so--now it seems like the simpsons have become exactly what earlier seasons were making fun of in our society--stupidity. I miss when the episodes had morals and actually told a story WHILE being funny. I hate to say this, but i wouldnt mind all that much if the simpsons were cancelled right now--at least that breast implant show wouldnt make an appearance. Please fox, destroy the last 4-5 seasons of shows...i'd be happy seeing the old ones a million times over.

― FantasticME, Sunday, 24 November 2002 22:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

Speaking as somebody who can only get UK terrestrial TV, and so hasn't seen most of the even slightly new shows, I'm burning with curiosity for this new madness. If the writers on the Simpsons have decided to burn, maim and detroy everything, then good. They're obviously not being allowed by the corporation to end it with dignity, so they're going on a violent rampage as well they should. I don't want MORALS in my episodes! The episodes with morals are the WORST, while the episodes where Homer kills someone are the BEST. That's what humour IS.

That said, I'm really sorry that Futurama's getting cancelled. Dr Zoidberg is funnier than half the Simpsons cast put together.

― Al Ewing, Sunday, 24 November 2002 23:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sorry, I haven't really noticed any decline in quality. Maybe it's cos the simpsons just gets so many repeats, I can't be bothered to think, "Oh this is from such and such a series" or, "Oh this is a new/old episode". It's just on all the time and I know I can switch the box on and enjoy funny telly at practically any point in the day. Which is nice.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 25 November 2002 02:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ahhh, the breast implant show wasn't so bad. I've finally been catching some of the episodes from the last three seasons in repeat, and they're not as bad as I remembered them...though they still certainly don't measure up to the earlier episodes. There was this one where Homer started the Mr. X website and inadvertantly stumbled on the secret of flu-shot mind control...the end of that one, where everyone keeps getting gassed is, well, bent. And I love it.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 25 November 2002 03:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

No one can say another bad thing about the show in my presence, since Matt Groening is my cousin. That said, this year's Halloween special was dud.

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 25 November 2002 03:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wait, Apu cheated on Manjula? When was this and how could he do it to such a Ma-hot-mama?

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 25 November 2002 04:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

"You don't feel like you've had eight children!"

― Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 25 November 2002 04:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

When did homer kill someone? and geezus the breast implant show was horrible.

― FantasticMe, Monday, 25 November 2002 04:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

He as good as killed James Bond... and that steak-eating cowboy. Frank Grimes wasn't exactly helped into a safe zone. He's been responsible for a couple more deaths but I can't place them exactly... also beating up an ex-president remains a high point.

― Al Ewing, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 00:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, the death during the steak-eating contest was really self-inflicted. My favourite Homer death was where he "killed" himself by dumping a fake Homer off the waterfalls, which got sucked into the turbine. Also, that episode has one of those moments which offers precisely the reason why Simpsons will always be classic no matter how many crappy episodes they turn out in the future: that moment at the end where his mom rides off into the sunset and he just sits on the hood of his car for hours looking at the stars never fails to make me feel like crying.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 00:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

He slew that poor man with a giant steak. That episode is a classic, though. The fake death, the long-haired Homer, the psychedelic juice drunk by everyone in town, and a nice ending...

― Al Ewing, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 00:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wait, there was another steak-related death? Oh, I'm thinking of the one with the trucker. There are too many death-by-steak episodes on the Simpsons!

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 00:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

wait-- i thought we were talking about the one with the trucker....and i really hope u realize that in all those things u listed homer never actually kills anyone...

― FantasticMe, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 01:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

The one where he goes to see the hippies is totally different from the one where he fakes his death & meets his mom.

― Curtis Stephens, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 02:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yep, knew that, was on a tangent.

As far as Homer-caused deaths go, do the Halloween episodes count? In the first part of XII (which I'm watching now for the first time) his dunderheadedness manages to kill Lenny, Carl, Moe and Bart.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 04:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

Fantastic Me is OTM. The Simpsons has been in a major decline for the last few years. For a while it had so many great gags and twists and ideas that you felt the writers couldn't contain all their brilliance in one half hour episode. Now it feels like they're having to force ideas out for the sake out of it. It's gotten increasingly surreal, but more out of a lack of ability to do anything else, rather than to explore greater comic possibilities. It WAS the greatest tv show EVER, but now it's just passable.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 09:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

eleven months pass...

Tony Blair a 'Simpsons' guest star
Monday, November 24, 2003 Posted: 9:37 AM EST (1437 GMT)

(CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair lends his voice to "The Simpsons" in a new episode airing this week.
Fox has been running promotional ads for the episode, in which Homer takes Marge and the kids on a trip to London, at one point ramming a car through the gates of Buckingham Palace and upending the queen's horse-drawn carriage.
Over the years, hundreds of celebrities have visited Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie Simpson in their hometown of Springfield.
"The Simpsons," now in its 15th season, holds the title for "Most Celebrities Featured in an Animation series" in the Guinness Book of World Records. By the time its contract is concluded -- in spring 2005 -- the show will also claim the record for the longest-running sitcom ever, besting "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet."
With his appearance this week, Blair joins such celebrity guest stars as Magic Johnson, David Hyde Pierce, Kelsey Grammer, Paul and his late first wife Linda McCartney, Meryl Streep, Aerosmith, Jack Lemmon, Mel Gibson and Britney Spears.
A spokesman in Blair's press office told CNN the prime minister taped the voiceover in April, at the height of the Iraq war.
He said Blair is a big fan of "The Simpsons" and likes to watch the show with his three teenage children.
In the episode, Blair meets the Simpsons at London's Heathrow Airport and invites them for tea at his official residence, No. 10 Downing Street.
After getting advice from Blair on where to visit in London, Homer causes chaos by tipping tea from his Union Jack cup over the carpet. He ends up locked in the Tower of London.
The episode is entitled "The Regina Monologues" -- a play on the Latin for queen and the theater production "The Vagina Monologues."

The show, which also features the voice of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, aired Sunday in the United States and will air in Britain in January.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/22/blair.simpsons/index.html

― jadrenos (jadrenos), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 07:32 (twenty years ago) link

It's going to suck :(

What the fuck is The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet?

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 10:47 (twenty years ago) link

eleven months pass...

Last week's episode was very funny to me .. Marge "adopts" Nelson. Is there a transcript of the show (or an MPEG) online somewhere? Some of Nelson's lines while crying were f'ilarious.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 03:38 (nineteen years ago) link

You can download it via BitTorrent (like I did).

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 03:40 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...

So which season should I stop buying the DVDs? It's to the point now (Season 8) where the episodes I enjoy more for one or two gags ('I have powers...! POLITICAL POWERS!') than the whole episode. Plus this season had Frank Grimes and Poochie so we're near the shark jumping point...

― Jimmy Mod: THE HANDLESS ORGANIST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm stopping at season 8.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Seriously, Season 8 is the last great season (Bill & Josh ran).

Season 11 (Mike Scully ran) is when it sucks utter shit and represents how bad the series remains today (Al Jean's bloated solo running).

xpost

― Sir Dr. Rev. PappaWheelie Jr. II of The Third Kind (PappaWheelie 2), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link

I gotta have season 8 because John Waters and Rodney Dangerfield are two of my favorite people ever - altho there are a couple stinker episodes.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link

i think the last good season is the one with the johnny cash episode, where homer hallucinates after eating some hot chili.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link

it's the rolling stones of shows now, the early stuff is still the best because it's effortlessly great, the mid-period stuff is solid (not hilarious or brilliant, but not painful), and the later period stuff is just empty and slick and by-the-numbers.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

"i think the last good season is the one with the johnny cash episode, where homer hallucinates after eating some hot chili." = season 8

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

That's in season 8, I've just looked it up (xpost).

Season 9 has some goodies though - The Last Temptation of Krusty, the one where Homer and Marge start having sex in public and a couple of others.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:46 (seventeen years ago) link

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