The Simpsons

[Daikun]

The show's composer has been fired.

He is now suing Fox.

[Daikun]

Super Eyepatch Wolf made a followup video on the fall of The Simpsons.

[Daikun]

Update on the Apu situation: The character will still exist, but Hank Azaria will no longer voice him.
https://www.slashfilm.com/apu-voice-actor

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I was in the mood to watch old seasons of The Simpsons recently, and figured that Disney+ would have addressed the cropped 16:9 aspect ratio by now, and wouldn't you know it....they still haven't done anything. Didn't they announce that they would fix that after all of the backlash at least a year ago, by this point?

[Daikun]

Disney+ should have an option to toggle the aspect ratio (instructions here). Maybe give that a try?

[Daikun]

Nine years after Krabappel's death, Bart finally gets a new teacher.
https://ew.com/tv/kerry-washington-joins-the-simpsons-bart-teacher-first-look

[Dr. Insomniac]

I watched the episode with Bart's new teacher. Meh. I've been hearing "The Simpsons is getting better again, guys!" talk over the last few years, and every time I listen and watch a recent episode, it's about as mediocre as The Simpsons episodes I saw when I stopped regularly watching. Sometimes, there's a surprising one, a Thanksgiving episode a few seasons ago was entertaining, but I genuinely don't get it when I hear talk about a new silver age of the show. I saw another episode a few months ago, the one that was homaging Fargo, and while I respect it for doing weird shit with the show, I didn't get all the praise I saw on Twitter at the time.

[Daikun]

I think these people have skewed expectations. "The crew made one good new episode, so the show must be getting better!"

[Daikun]

TheRealJims, a YouTuber who dedicates his channel entirely to Simpsons retrospectives, pointed out that Homer is waaaaaaay nicer now than he was in his infamous "Jerkass" era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsPu0q7dFxU

Do you think this shift in personality has made the show better?

[Dr. Insomniac]

I mean, based off of the recent eps I watched, not really. Though I do agree with Jims that Simpsons discourse could look a little deeper than the same "everything after Season 9 is Zombie Simpsons" adage. And I agree with the consensus that Simpsons mostly hasn't been good in 20+ years, just that I think 20+ years of a TV show's still worth some kind of analysis beyond decade-old blanket statements.

[Commode]

I knew Jims before he was cool on YouTube

[Dr. Insomniac]

Rewatched a handful of episodes, and out of all the characters who used to show up in the golden years but dropped out because the writers forgot about them or their actor died, I miss Roger Meyers Jr. I doubt he's anybody's favorite, but he's a pretty vital element since he's the guy who makes all those Itchy and Scratchy cartoons the kids watch, while representing the corrupt underbelly of TV executives. His contempt for everyone and everything around him contrasting with how much Bart and Lisa loved his work made him stand out even in minor appearances, and when he dropped off the face of the show, suddenly all of his characters traits went to Krusty who wasn't nearly as interesting with them. At least when Meyers Jr was around, he could make Krusty look less nasty and unpleasant to watch by comparison. And that's one of the unsung reasons for why plenty of Simpsons characters don't work the way they used to, many of them were double acts, and removing the seemingly less important half of the duo gives the primary half nobody to bounce off of. A little like if there wasn't a Chalmers to balance Skinner out, or what eventually happened to Ned's character when Maude died.

[Daikun]

Super Eyepatch Wolf has come full circle on the show.

[Avaitor]

I keep hearing that the recent episodes are good, and whenever I try to watch it, there are decent jokes that tend to be ruined by a rapidly declining voice cast and awkward attempts at full animation that looks like the CD-i Zelda games. It's probably still better now than it was a decade ago when I jumped ship, but it's not that great.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Remember that time Sideshow Bob got an Italian family?