There's still one great joke per episode at least.
― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 13 January 2003 19:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 13 January 2003 19:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 13 January 2003 19:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
and the 'its a cartoon, doesnt have to be realistic' excuse would be okay except The Simpsons was originally very much rooted in reality and obeyed the laws of that generally with obvious exceptions (Treehouse Of Horror) but they abandoned that years ago...sure Homer going into space isnt realistic but it was still physically possible! unlike that episode where Homer n Marge win the dancing contest after he spins her on her hair and stuff...yeurgh...
― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 January 2003 19:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
"this 'new episodes aren't as great but still better than anything else on TV' excuse is feeble and HAS TO STOP. i can name at least 37 programmes that are currently funnier and more entertaining than The Simpsons"
Yes. Maybe that excuse was valid for the episodes shortly after series 8, but the newest ones are atrocious by ANY standard, not just compared to the old classics.
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 13 January 2003 20:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 13 January 2003 20:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
I just hope syndication avoids these copious duds.
― Curtis Stephens, Monday, 13 January 2003 21:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
That was actually the best of the recent episodes I've seen. But still nothing special.
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jason m., Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― naked as sin (naked as sin), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Leee (Leee), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 08:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
right now they are broadcasting the earliest episodes, which is a shame, but they have broadcast, say 100+ i think (my brother would know more abt this since he has taped every episode shown on the bbc.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 09:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― robin (robin), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Leee (Leee), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― tremendoid (tremendoid), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link
http://snpp.com/episodeguide/season11.html
― quality does not equal quality (wetmink), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link
it was run here last week
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― dr gary bleune (dr g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― quality does not equal quality (wetmink), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― jeffrey (johnson), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:00 (eighteen years ago) link
Season 4 is the best of the ones released on DVD thus far, but my fave episode comes from season 8 (Marge Be Not Proud). My 2nd fave ep is season 4 though (Last Exit Springfield).
I'll take well thought out flashbacks and fantasies over big plot concepts (Homer as an astronaut, monorials, etc).
Basically, if George Meyer ain't in the rewrite room, the new staff goes for the cheap shots.
snpp.com/episode guide
― PappaWheelie B.C., Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:02 (eighteen years ago) link
Except that's season 7.
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:09 (eighteen years ago) link
season 10 has the last really classic episode (lisa cheats on a test, homer gets a pet lobster), at least.
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link
D'oh!
Okay, for season 8, allow me this quote:
"like, we tried nothin' man and we're all out of ideas!"
― PappaWheelie B.C., Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― PappaWheelie B.C., Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:18 (eighteen years ago) link
http://us.tv1.yimg.com/tv.yahoo.com/images/he/photo/tv_pix/fox/the_simpsons/_group_photos/nancy_cartwright24.jpg
― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link
B-b-b-but he spelled Yale with a 7.
― PappaWheelie B.C., Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link
Season 13 gave us the "Old Man Yells At Cloud" image at least.
― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 3 May 2021 19:32 (two years ago) link
Are the Rolling Stones the only (group of) people to work with both the Simpsons and Phil Spector?
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link
Ramones as well
― soref, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:35 (two years ago) link
iirc season 14 has the one where marge gets new boobs and homer sings a song about them, the one where marge gets roid rage and rapes homer, and the one where frank grimes jr shows up to get his revenge. def beyond redemption at that point
― Left, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:43 (two years ago) link
paul mccartney (sort of)
― Left, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:44 (two years ago) link
xp
The show peaked with Season 8. Specifically, "Homer's Enemy." The Frank Grimes episode should have been the series finale. They were never gonna do anything funnier, and there was no coming back after torching the show's entire conceptual superstructure that way.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 3 May 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
I'm sure something similar was said somewhere upthread, but I really feel like what the Simpsons lost after its "classic" years was more its emotional center than its humor. Without that, the constant absurdist jokes started to feel decadent and the cynicism started to feel aimless.
I've always maintained that the Simpsons just slowed down in how quickly they pummelled you with jokes. Like they just left more room to breathe and think and "get it".
I thought it was interesting that Swartzwelder said in his interview that he thought season 3 was the series peak because I feel like there was a shift between season 3 and 4 where they sacrificed some degree of character based humour for joke density and surrealism. I think a lot of the writing staff changed between those two seasons? I think seasons 2 and 3 might be my favourites, it's strange though because I would have guessed that Swartzwelder would come down more on the 'density and surrealism' side than the character/realism side.
― soref, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
Definitely George & Ringo!
― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 3 May 2021 19:48 (two years ago) link
I've been rewatching some episodes lately and I've gotten that same impression, the S2-3 ones are better than I remembered while the S7-8 ones are maybe a bit too overexposed and absurd. obviously still very funny though. last one I watched was the one where he eats the psychedelic chili pepper, the first 2/3rds of which is maybe one of the finest episodes of any animated show ever (and clearly seemed to be the inspiration for a bunch of Futurama episodes), but man I'd forgotten how cobbled together and dull the final third is. like, it ends with Marge randomly forgiving him and then they prevent a shipwreck together? its like they couldn't figure out how to end it.
― frogbs, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:56 (two years ago) link
I also say nu-Simpsons starts in 2002
Seasons 10, 11 & 12 are def a "clearly not-peak-era-but-also-not-offensively-terrible" zone
re-read the beginning of the thread
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:07 (two years ago) link
I feel like there was a shift between season 3 and 4 where they sacrificed some degree of character based humour for joke density and surrealism. I think a lot of the writing staff changed between those two seasons?
All the staff Simon hired stayed as long as he did, and several left with him after S4. Oakley/Weinstein and Conan are the only two that joined between 3 and 4.
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:14 (two years ago) link
This thread was started during S14.
― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:15 (two years ago) link
I don't remember it exactly but I think there's a quote about jazz thats something like 'jazz is about seeing how far out you can go and still get back', like when a musician improvises around a tune how far can they go while still retaining some connection to that original tune - and the I think the surrealism in the Simpsons is kind of like that. For the first 10 years of the show's life a lot of the humour comes from how there is some base level of realism, the laws of physics apply, people act like real humans to some degree, but because it's a cartoon they can stretch the realism and flirt with outright surrealism, and when they stretch it to the point of breaking and there are no rules left that's when the show stopped being any good.
like the bit with Homer jumping the gorge on a skateboard is funny because it's treading this fine line between loony tunes cartoon surrealism and realism, it's Wile E Coyote type joke but he actually ends up bruised and bloodied. It wouldn't be funny if the Simpsons was set in a world with no rules where cartoon physics applied, but it also wouldn't be funny if the Simpsons was set in a world that was strictly realistic.
― soref, Monday, 3 May 2021 20:18 (two years ago) link
― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, May 3, 2021 2:48 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
george was nearly as memorable as his co-star, a giant plate of brownies
― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:28 (two years ago) link
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:39 (two years ago) link
i was trying to think of a post-season 12 joke that i really loved and i remembered this one: "aww, i have three kids and no money. why can't i have no kids and three money?"
from episode 397 (season 18)
― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:44 (two years ago) link
I've been listening to the commentaries too and the first few times Groening noted he had a problem with a joke in that regard I thought he was being overly fussy but a few seasons later I find myself agreeing with his stance more. Made me wonder if he's still doing commentaries on like season 21 or whatever?
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:46 (two years ago) link
The big writing staff shake-up occurred between seasons four and five (with “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” and “Cape Feare” being leftovers). Homer calling a college dean a “stupid head” or bumblebee man falling over his chair after taking over for Kent Brockman was such a different kind of humor.
The Poochie episode was the beginning of the end. Yes it was funny, but the humor was just so smug and self-referential.
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 3 May 2021 20:50 (two years ago) link
Made me wonder if he's still doing commentaries on like season 21 or whatever?
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:58 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAOLTsTtZis
― Left, Monday, 3 May 2021 21:10 (two years ago) link
― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Monday, May 3, 2021 3:44 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
lol this one stuck with me too.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 3 May 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
I doubt it, because then he’d have to explain why the Critic crossover was unacceptable (he took his name off the credits) but had no issue with the later Family Guy crossover.
older, insanely richer, did not think the current show had enough integrity to bother defending
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Monday, 3 May 2021 22:34 (two years ago) link
i could have sworn i saw an interview within the last five years with groening where he said the show was still good, he may have even said it was still on par with the 'classic' era
― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 4 May 2021 12:58 (two years ago) link
― Van Halen dot Senate dot flashlight (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 13:35 (two years ago) link