The Simpsons

[Painted Outlaw]

Finished Season 1, I thought it was pretty enjoyable overall. That's not to say it was perfect, ones like "There's no Disgrace like Home" were kind of a clunker in the sense that I was wondering where the humor was but the other 11 were fair enough.

I think if I had to pick any I liked over the others, one'd be "Homer's Night Out". It ran the concept to an outrageous point then ran with it. I got a laugh or two out of it.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Season 1 is definitely the weakest season of the first ten, but it does have a lot of good points. Starting with season 2 you begin to see the framework solidify and by season 3 the show hits the ground running.

I do have to give episodes like Disgrace praise for one thing and that's treating Homer as if he isn't mentally deficient, but just dumb. Starting around season 10 the staff have had problems not just writing him as if he's two steps away from the nut house instead of simply ignorant and lower intelligence than the average.

[Painted Outlaw]

I do have to give episodes like Disgrace praise for one thing and that's treating Homer as if he isn't mentally deficient, but just dumb. Starting around season 10 the staff have had problems not just writing him as if he's two steps away from the nut house instead of simply ignorant and lower intelligence than the average.

Man, your latter point doesn't even sound like the same character. Yeah, I think I'm gonna stop after watching s9 if they miss(ed) the point that hard.

[Daikun]

Super Eyepatch Wolf made a great video showing how the show went downhill. (I was expecting Saberspark to get to this first, but hey, I'll take it.)

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

My favorite part is when he sets up a simple gag and shows the different ways it would play out in an older and newer season.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Principal & the Pauper is a good example of a well written episode centered on a bad core idea. Homer's Enemy might have been too meta for some (and is rightfully controversial for it), but the episode has that excuse. It doesn't change a core element of the show and characters to work. The Principal and the Pauper simply didn't take its own world and characters to heart, and it was something it did more and more of until the heart was completely absent in season 11. After that the series became a mindless mediocre joke factory.

But the simple answer to what happened to the Simpsons was that the last of the long running writers left during season 9. And George Meyer eventually came back weaker than he was before and John Swartzwelder either had all his scripts edited to oblivion or stopped caring. That's the core problem. The new writers from season 10 on were never on par with the older writers. Most of the writers went on to things like Futurama or King of the Hill which, if you pay attention to the dates, took off at the same time the Simpsons slid downhill.

There's no mystery as to what happened.

[Daikun]

The show's composer has been fired.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Steamed hams redux.

[Daikun]

Did anyone hear about this Simpsons documentary on TruTV? It's called The Problem With Apu.

http://www.trutv.com/full-episodes/the-problem-with-apu/2141759/index.html

I only discovered it through MovieBob's blog today.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Pink Floyd: Steamed Hams version.

[Daikun]

Bill Plympton animated tonight's couch gag! Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbI8kJuSkkY

[Daikun]

Apu might be dropped from the show.

[Peanutbutter]

It's not Azaria's call to make. Nothing is official about this until we hear from Al Jean and or FOX's top brass.

[Daikun]

The Simpsons Movie is getting a sequel.

[Dr. Insomniac]

[LumRanmaYasha]

Have no fears, they've got stories for years...

In other news, "Stark Raving Dad" is being pulled from syndication and streaming following new allegations about Michael Jackson molesting two minors in the new documentary Leaving Neverland. I'm sympathetic to James L. Brooks' reasoning even if I find it annoying when a show makes episodes unaccessible online, like all the South Park episodes featuring Muhammed. But so long as the episode remains on the dvds and fans can revisit it at their discretion I don't mind.

Also, I recently starting listening to Talking Simpsons, a Simpsons podcast that's been going through the show from the beginning episode by episode and does a great job dissecting them by considering the cultural context in which they were written. They also get a lot of pretty big name guests on the show regularly, like Bill Oakly, Josh Weinstein, and Matt Burnett to name a few. I highly recommend listening to their episode on "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show," where they had Rebecca Sugar, Ian-Jones Quarterly, and Toby Jones on to discuss their perspective on the episode as cartoon creators, wherein they share many fascinating stories and insights into the ins and outs of fandom and tv cartoon production. It's a great podcast for Simpsons-lovers and is quickly becoming one of my favorites.