Inspector Gesicht posted:

Beyond the terrible writing is simply the fact that after eight seasons you've exhausted every situation and permutation that arises from the initial premise.

iamsosmrt posted:

I think they should honestly have aged the characters or at least not given a gently caress (to an extent) and had episodes where they could be any age the writers wanted for the sake of plot. There's only so much you can do with a a 10, 8, and 1 year old plus middle aged parents. There's a whole lot you could do with high schoolers and early adults and beyond.

I could imagine the show could be pretty wild now if Homer and Marge effectively replaced Grandpa's role, except you see the events that got them there over time. Bart would be right around Homer's age at the beginning of the show now.

Anyway, I'm just spitballing. This won't ever happen and the quality of the writing wouldn't do any of this right.

Tree Goat posted:

who is going to be the first current or former member of the trump administration to voice themselves on a future episode, ideally with a fawning lisa introduction

Tree Goat posted:

who is going to be the first current or former member of the trump administration to voice themselves on a future episode, ideally with a fawning lisa introduction

Tree Goat posted:

who is going to be the first current or former member of the trump administration to voice themselves on a future episode, ideally with a fawning lisa introduction

Tree Goat posted:

who is going to be the first current or former member of the trump administration to voice themselves on a future episode, ideally with a fawning lisa introduction

iamsosmrt posted:

I think they should honestly have aged the characters or at least not given a gently caress (to an extent) and had episodes where they could be any age the writers wanted for the sake of plot. There's only so much you can do with a a 10, 8, and 1 year old plus middle aged parents. There's a whole lot you could do with high schoolers and early adults and beyond.

PostNouveau posted:

WOW, Kellyanne Conway!

Daikloktos posted:

I don't think a lot of the later Lisa stuff is entirely the writers broadening her precocious intellect. Bart does a fair bit of dating and harder-edged adolescent stuff that makes him read more like 13 or 14 in a lot of episodes.

quote:

At his farm, Cletus is milking his cow when he accidentally kicks over a lantern, prompting a series of Rube Goldberg-esque events that leads to a chicken starting a fire. Cletus's cow succeeds in extinguishing the fire, but Cletus drops his smoking pipe, leading to a wildfire around Springfield. The townspeople try to extinguish it, to no avail. At Springfield Elementary, Principal Skinner asks Groundskeeper Willie to get the fire extinguisher, but all of them have been stolen by Bart to propel his wagon. As Bart rockets around town, the foam released from the extinguishers puts out the wildfire. Bart is cheered as a hero by everyone and rewarded with a driver's license by Mayor Quimby.

Bart starts using Homer's car for his own pleasure, but is eventually tabbed for family errands, mostly chauffeuring Homer. After many inappropriate requests, Bart flees to North Haverbrook, where he meets a 15-year-old girl named Darcy, who believes Bart is much older. They begin a romantic relationship and Darcy soon proposes marriage. At the court house, Bart reveals his age, whereupon Darcy reveals that she is pregnant, much to Bart's depression. Darcy admits that Bart is not the father as they have not consummated the relationship - the real father is a Norwegian exchange student, and she wants to get married because her parents would be upset about her extramarital pregnancy. Bart agrees to marry Darcy, and they drive to Utah, where marriage restrictions are looser and they can start a new life together.

Eventually, Homer, Marge and Darcy's parents catch up with them to stop the wedding, where Darcy's father tries to reason with Bart as he believes that Bart took advantage of a girl much older than him and got her pregnant. Darcy confesses to her parents that Bart is not the father, and that she did not want her parents to be disappointed by her pregnancy. Darcy's mother, thrilled, confesses that she is pregnant too, and the family agrees to pass the two babies off as twins. Darcy and Bart end their relationship, while Bart assures her they will meet again, to which she agrees. Later, Bart admits to Homer that he looked forward to being a father, and Homer cheers him up by going with him on a ride around town at night.[1]

When Lisa struggles to find excitement and intrigue in her family heritage for a school presentation, she decides to take creative license. Inspired by Bart's "Indian butter trick" and the well-known kitchen curtains, with their stalks-of-corn pattern, Lisa claims to be Native American, from the "Hitachi" tribe, a name Lisa selects based on the Hitachi brand of the family's microwave oven. The embellishment turns into a web of lies when Lisa is chosen to represent the school and her "people" at City Hall, then as a keynote speaker for the National Native American Tribal Council. She eventually admits she lied about her heritage, but is spared from prosecution when the other speakers admit they are not true Native Americans. Homer compares his daughter to CBS News in a reference to the 2004 Killian documents controversy. As they leave, Homer mentions that his great-great-grandmother actually was a Native American, much to Lisa's chagrin.

quote:

She eventually admits she lied about her heritage, but is spared from prosecution when the other speakers admit they are not true Native Americans. Homer compares his daughter to CBS News in a reference to the 2004 Killian documents controversy. As they leave, Homer mentions that his great-great-grandmother actually was a Native American, much to Lisa's chagrin.

bobjr posted:

I just got to the episode where Bart and Homer become Catholic, and that’s an episode that reminds you Flanders used to be not bad but after his wife died became weirdly bigoted.

iamsosmrt posted:

So uh yeah, that new episode would feel less icky if Bart wasn't 10. I mean, even if he was 14, it'd be pretty icky, but teen pregnancy is not an uncommon issue in America. 10 is on the far end of the spectrum.

iamsosmrt posted:

new episode

CodfishCartographer posted:

Iron Crowned posted:

Which years out of date flavor of the week was Darcy played by?

CodfishCartographer posted:

Natalie Portman

Ghost Leviathan posted:

I found that episode interesting as a kid because I didn't know much about religion at that point, including the Protestant/Catholic divide (being in famously irreligious Australia) and it made the Simpsons a multi-faith family. (Lisa's almost entirely forgotten Buddhism aside) Also implies the Bouviers are a Huguenot family, being of apparent French descent but Protestant.

Mokelumne Trekka posted:

Like many ppl I'm Disney+ing the series until it becomes unbearable and I can say the first time I majorly cringed, like, Oh God just make this joke stop make it stop was in Season 10 Episode 1 when Lisa is bummed about a school dance and Marge says "We can throw our own dance here!" and starts singing

Phlegmish posted:

I feel like the Simpsons has always been very 'heartland' in that regard, not only is almost everyone white, they are also specifically Protestant, and this is apparently a thing that matters since people are still religious. It's almost quaint in how antiquated it is. Maybe a combination of writers taking inspiration from their own childhoods decades earlier, and the fact that it took many elements from the family sitcoms it was satirizing.

I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. Many Americans are still religious, and Protestantism is the largest denomination in the USA if you combine all the different churches. It got me thinking about how in other shows like South Park, it's a given that everyone except the Jewish family is Catholic for some reason, and the Griffins from Family Guy are Catholic as well (East Coast-based so that does make sense). Lois is from an old-money Protestant family, but then it turns out she's secretly Jewish or some dumb poo poo, I don't know the details since I didn't finish watching the episode, it being from when Family Guy had reached its nadir.

Phlegmish posted:

I feel like the Simpsons has always been very 'heartland' in that regard, not only is almost everyone white, they are also specifically Protestant, and this is apparently a thing that matters since people are still religious. It's almost quaint in how antiquated it is. Maybe a combination of writers taking inspiration from their own childhoods decades earlier, and the fact that it took many elements from the family sitcoms it was satirizing.

I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. Many Americans are still religious, and Protestantism is the largest denomination in the USA if you combine all the different churches. It got me thinking about how in other shows like South Park, it's a given that everyone except the Jewish family is Catholic for some reason, and the Griffins from Family Guy are Catholic as well (East Coast-based so that does make sense). Lois is from an old-money Protestant family, but then it turns out she's secretly Jewish or some dumb poo poo, I don't know the details since I didn't finish watching the episode, it being from when Family Guy had reached its nadir.

Milo and POTUS posted:

That wasn't remotely fgs nadir

Iron Crowned posted:

The Simpsons was a satire of TV sitcoms at the time. In 1988, just about everyone on TV was white and protestant. The difference is the Simpsons was actively turning that core value on it's head, it's why it was so controversial. Homer the Heretic was apparently very controversial among some circles because it revolved around Homer deciding to stay home from church.

Milo and POTUS posted:

That wasn't remotely fgs nadir

YeahTubaMike posted:

I agree, but what would you say is Family Guy's nadir? The worst episode I've personally seen, possibly of television as a whole, is HTTPete. Allen Gregory might come close though.

PostNouveau posted:

The one where Quagmire kills his sister's abusive boyfriend.

Mokelumne Trekka posted:

I'm not going to say this was breaking point for me, but I remember a joke in an early 2000s Simpsons episode that goes something like this:

It's a flashback episode in the 70s. Homer, Lenny and Carl are at a quarry or something.

Lenny says, "Hey, have you heard about the Internet?"
"Oh yeah, what's that?"
Lenny points to his swim trunks, "It's an inner-netting that really feels comfortable!"

TheAwfulWaffle posted:

The real travesty is a few scenes later when something scary happens and Lenny says, "I think I just logged onto my internet!"

Iron Crowned posted:

The Simpsons was a satire of TV sitcoms at the time. In 1988, just about everyone on TV was white and protestant. The difference is the Simpsons was actively turning that core value on it's head, it's why it was so controversial. Homer the Heretic was apparently very controversial among some circles because it revolved around Homer deciding to stay home from church.