The Simpsons

last new Simpsons i saw was a retro episode where they actively ruined a beloved episode from the earlier seasons. "Kamp Krustier" revisited the season 4 episode and had a storyline about Bart & Lisa having PTSD from the experience. it was needless, unnecessary, unfunny, and ultimately pointless (the source of their PTSD was seeing a kid die, and it goes away when they realize it never happened).

i caught another new episode and in it Homer became a rap mogul and was also paired with a pet goose and the whole thing was embarrassing and tryhard

the movie was good tho. last decent thing they did

It's so ridiculous to me how easy it would be to make and market an amazing Simpsons season in the "peak TV" era.

Maybe there's just some sort of contractual deal to keep things cheap/easy/uncomplicated or some bureaucratic reason the wrong person or persons is in charge of the wrong thing or things. Ultimately, who cares tho

We dooo. We dooo.

The History of Hans Moleman:

https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/hans-moleman-simpsons-character-al-jean.html

liquors drunkened me

Jesus christ this "addressing the racism of Apu" episode is fucking painful

And racist

^^Speaking of...: https://www.thewrap.com/hank-azaria-wont-voice-apu-anymore-on-the-simpsons/

Pretty accurate.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/simpsons.jpg

Wish they'd done a few more characters (Flanders, Frink). It's been so long since I watched, I don't recognize the top middle guy.

I cannot for the life of me stop watching this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb574xupgNQ

idgi

is that a VR warp

amazing

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/the-simpsons-white-actors-characters-of-color

Come for the episode review, stay for the oddly monotone socialist tract:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P40sJOkxnac

xp How about they fire the people who defended that shit in 2018?

i like renegade cut's video on left behind.

like matt “friend of epstein” groening? good idea

https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/ae069e13

nice find, i'm getting some good ones

https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/d3574cdc
https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/c0dab63a
https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/5e80fce7

https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/677b1fdf

how I feel

https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/15b7a155

something profoundly wrong about this, imo they should have had the characters age in real time a la Doonesbury or Gasoline Alley, Homer should be pushing 70

Homer was now a teenager in the late 90s, meaning his hypothetical birthday is later than Bart's was at the start of the show.
Homer is now younger than Bart.
HOW LONG CAN THEY KEEP IT UP THO pic.twitter.com/Ux85l8atbF

— Caleb (@NessMudkip) March 12, 2021

I think certain long-running newspaper cartoon strips are maybe the closest equivalent to the Simpsons in terms of things that were brilliant at one point, but then stagger on zombie fashion for decades afterwards - maybe the Simpsons will eventually get its own version of that woman who made Nancy good again?

(though the zombie newspaper comic strips are sometimes more interesting than modern Simpsons because they become focused on one weird crochety old cartoonist's various obsessions and quirks rather than being produced by committee)

i'd say the most likely return of "good simpsons" would be a spin-off focused on a single character that could exist outside of canon and the rules of the show and follow a single creator/pair of creators vision with a different art style. I don't know how many years away from that we are, maybe when they have to change the voice actors.

Yeah I mean South Park is also in this situation, it’s on like Season 26 or something but it’s never had an extended run that was particularly good or bad. The problem the Simpsons has is it’s been so mediocre for so long that everything after Season 8 or 9 just doesn’t register, so like if you go on Bortposting it’ll only be references to 25 year old episodes, because they just assume everyone stopped watching after that.

That said if they got a decent writing staff nobody would care but idk how many talented tv writers would want to work on the Simpsons right now

every sitcom writing class ever involves the room collaboratively writing an episode of the simpsons afaict so i think literally anyone could do it

agreed that... why would Fox change the formula now? the ratings have been in slight decline, but to me more remarkably steady for the past 20 years
https://www.ratingraph.com/tv-shows/the-simpsons-ratings-3857/

Awesome.

Holy shit, John Swartzwelder has given an actual interview. "Assembling a writing staff for a new show is difficult to do, because you’ve got to find people who are great at their jobs but who can’t find work anywhere.” https://t.co/XiJpzfI6i7

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) May 2, 2021

Words to live by: "Write what makes you laugh. At least you’ll get a laugh out of it."

would love to read the Swartzwelder Fearless Fosdick script.

prob done on the back of the Dick Tracy movie's success? Yeah, i would've loved to see that too.

the all ighty ollar

we did a mini Treehouse of Horror marathon over the Halloween weekend, some of those were really great!

yea I've been watching them too, I remember them pretty well (I think I had like 6 of them recorded on VHS) but since they aren't in regular rotation during the other 11 months I don't see them often. I'm surprised at how fast paced they are. some of those scripts are super tight almost to the point where the plots make zero sense, not that this really matters

even with the seasons i dont like, i find i can always enjoy the treehouse of horror eps, bc being highly compressed, zany, nonsensical, and meta is part of the blueprint for those vs being an unfunny annoyance in the 'normal' eps

Anyone else kinda weirded out by all the blood and violence at the end of last night's episode? I understood what they were going for, but it really struck me as being wildly off-brand and I was kind of disturbed by it.

"I believe I'll start, as you've so often suggested, by eating your shorts" is one of my favorite line readings in the whole series

Yeah, last night's episode was unnerving with the bloody deaths of major characters not in the context of a treehouse of horrors.

Kudos for trying something new I guess. I’m not really sure who the audience for that was. Stand-off scene was at least pretty funny

i never got into it as it bores the hell out of me!

Cool

I just rewatched "22 Short Films About Springfield" and it's amazing how like half the big Simpsons memes come from that episode alone. way ahead of its time I guess.

alright this show has gone long enough

Homer gets canceled, meets Joe Rogan in new 'Simpsons' episode https://t.co/q5MKNCWVVk pic.twitter.com/77fivcWaUH

— New York Post (@nypost) March 15, 2022

Next episode, Homer gets covid, makes his whole family sick.

Homer got cancelled in Season 6!

Randy Marsh went on the Wheel of Fortune in 2007

haha I love the cut to Stan in the audience in that bit

Cartman was cancelled in 2005.

Not a defence, but it is worth clarifying that Rogan does not actually appear in the episode--something I had to read the article itself to find out.

I continue to pretend the Simpsons has been off the air for 2 decades.

I rewatched season 3 - 7 or thereabouts recently, even though I rewatched the first 9 seasons last year. still one of the most wondrous runs of television we'll ever witness

I went to a friend's for Turning Red on d+ and we followed it with "Bart Sells His Soul" - was surprised to find they'd decropified it. so at least there's that. the last one I saw on there looked ghastly.