|
Dunno the season, but as a kid I realized it was when they had to constantly send the Simpson family to other countries to rehash the same old plots that this poo poo was stale. I think it hit me particularly when I saw sideshow Bob after the episode where he reformed and helped the kids defeat his brother Cecil. The family went to Italy and Bob had family and a kid and they were focused on a vendetta or something. By that time I had stopped caring. The next time I watched it I was in college and saw that "Patti is a lesbian" episode... haven't bothered to watch the show since. springfieldisforgayloversofmarriage.com
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2017 21:34
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 16:04 |
|
|
After the Simpsons got bad South Park made some good Simpsons episodes.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 5, 2017 06:50
|
|
|
Has "Zombie Simpsons" been posted yet? Someone always posts it whenever there's a thread about the Simpsons Main page: https://deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/ Explanation of Zombie Simpsons: https://deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/zs1/ Basically explains how everything went so good and turned so terrible. Edit: that explanation about the experimental nature of the "pauper" episode just being another one of the writers' non-canonical episodes makes a bit more sense. Had they not edited the script and made it more of a blatant fourth wall thing I think there a lot less hate for it. It was probably intended to be like the episode with Poochie. Lisa explains why tv shows start to add new characters to spice things up, and suddenly Roy shows up and everyone reacts like he'd always been a core character. Backweb fucked around with this message at 12:26 on Feb 5, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Feb 5, 2017 12:18
|
|
|
Dogmeat posted:
The show's quality had gotten so bad by 1999 that it couldn't even deliver on the nostalgia factor for post-9/11 America. That bump in viewers in 2001 coincides with when Americans all flocked to their televisions for a sense of normalcy, continuity, comfort, and nostalgia. But the quality of the Simpsons was so bad that viewership dropped again. And then they brought back family guy lol Edit: tl;dr- America gave the show a three year period to go back to the classic model and they couldn't even do that. Backweb fucked around with this message at 10:05 on Feb 7, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2017 09:52
|
|
|
Nonviolent J posted:Im so glad it isnt Scorpio in the movie so his character isnt tarnished by that abomination This. My biggest problem with the Simpsons movie was that it didn't feel like the Simpsons. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to change Wolfcastle into Arnold? It had to get "big" and it felt anemic because of it. Bringing back Scorpio would have been bad for many reasons, but the biggest is that he's a likeable character and seemingly down to earth people's person from our perspective. Granted I haven't seen an episode since 2006 or something...
|
|
#
¿
Feb 16, 2017 11:42
|
|
|
Good direction, but it needs to send Homer to outer space again and have at least seven guest celebrities playing themselves who all need Homer's help. Lisa has to have a crush on two guys this time, and they have to be Abercrombie child models who've moved to Springfield-- surprise! Their dad is Elon Musk! Wow! Also something about whatever other family members there are. ... they all go to India where they meet Hank Scorpio! There, Homer lands Elon's new prototype spaceship and convinces Hank to run for president... where a fight between Richard Branson and Elon breaks out!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 16, 2017 12:27
|
|
|
Nonviolent J posted:The rakes go up his anus and homer starts a home proctology centre, but apu takes him to court because homer was secretly married to menjulip Guest stars: Tobey McGuire, Paul Simon, Edward Norton
|
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2017 12:12
|
|
|
"Oh really, Cousin Merle!..."
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2017 17:18
|
|
|
PostNouveau posted:Oh hey, tonight was another episode about how millennials suck. What a coincidence. I haven't watched The Simpsons since 2007 but I'm guessing Bart and/or Lisa started hanging out with a bunch of one-off episode throwaway friends who are "millennials" that we'll never see again (how close am I?). But that made me realize that when the show first aired (1989) Bart was firmly in Generation X. Fourth-grade student, 10 years old, supposedly born in 1979.  I'm curious if anybody can give me a perspective: I've got a theory that the stasis of the characters and the inertia of the show (Flanderization aside) has created a 30-year old time capsule. Looking at the earlier seasons whenever they'd have a flashback episode we can see how the writers from two decadess ago reflected upon their childhoods in the 1970s and 80s and what they insert regarding the technology that was prominent, fashions, colors, etc. My understanding is that the original "backstories" of the show have since been retconned so that Homer and Marge met in the 1990s or something, but even that provides a frame of reference to the pop culture of the past. As annoying as the writing is and as much as the show needs to be taken out and shot in the back yard its faults are a treasure trove of commentary and perspective on contemporary society that you can't get through other shows like South Park or Rick and Morty that are just too over-the-top to be satires on everyday American life. I suppose I should watch a new episode sometime just to see how well the argument stands up (and whether or not the formula still holds up despite the Flanderization), but I'm afraid I'll be annoyed at how often all the kids use their smartphones or something.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 4, 2017 10:59
|
|
|
Wizard Master posted:Nice post. Thanks! Deffo not clicking that link though. Scudworth posted:You've got some weird timing issues here, in that born in 1979 doesn't make Bart "firmly" in Gen X, the only firmly defined generation are boomers, the rest are just hazy marketing terms. I am the same age that real-time Bart would be by now and the Gen X culture leaders like Kevin Smith and Kurt Cobain and Quentin Tarantino were already pushing 30+ when I (or Bart) was not yet in high school. Millennials are both starting college and almost 40 right now (see these terms are useless?). Fair enough. I suppose 50s-60s childhoods for the writers is more accurate. 70's childhood was probably pushing it for the youngest interns maybe. I'm aware that "millennial" is a dumb marketing term, and I absolutely hate it, but there's nothing better to use to distinguish concepts of a social era than "GenX" and "millennial" because of the technological and social connotations we can put behind them. I think we'll find that the "millennial" generation will fracture right around 2000 between people who only played SNES at their friend's house once a week in elementary school and the kids who were nannied by mom's iPhone. Anyway, let's blame this on PostNouveau's terminology that I was quoting. A big problem with The Simpsons' development after the 90s was that it tried to change with modern society and was attempting to play catch-up. Early Simpsons already knew the established rules: 1980s America, biting sarcasm, miserable denizens, satire, and overturning all the established sitcom rules... a winning formula. But then the world changed around the Simpsons, which was inevitable, and the Simpsons needed to stay relevant and edgy in a time when their form of edgy was becoming commonplace, and so it had to figure out what was new. It's like Abe Simpson telling Homer that he used to be "with it" but then they changed what "it" was. Even 10 years ago it was struggling to find its new legs to stand on, constantly playing catch-up, and I'm sure this is why there are so many celebrity cameos, memes, and one-off plot contrivances incorporated in its current iteration. Combining the argument about staying relevant with the argument about it being a time capsule... The last episode that I remember watching was the one where Patty comes out of the closet and there's some weird dude pretending to be a lesbian who wants to marry her. I think it was in 2006-2007? Marge is angry that her sister is a lesbian, and Jerk Homer is asked to perform the wedding ceremony (because why the hell not, it's the Homer Simpson Show by this point). Gay culture had made serious headway since the 80s and was mainstreaming. Smithers was too established as a character to make closeted jokes about. Gay jokes weren't edgy anymore and frowned upon. The new writers wanted to show that they were progressive and in touch with current events, so they chose a single-episode hamfisted plot contrivance and made a dumb website about it: springfieldisforgayloversofmarriage.com (I can't believe I remember that stupid thing). Apparently 10 years after this plot development occurred they still haven't done anything with it, as the Wikipedia page says her only serious lesbian relationship was with the man in drag from that same episode ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_and_Selma ).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 4, 2017 16:07
|
|
|
Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:Any episode where they try to incorporate present day stuff is hated by fans, any episode where they reboot the series would be hated by fans x1000. Look at the poo poo around the new title sequence. That's why they gotta just be like "the Simpsons is dead. Long live the Simpsons" The show as it is today has no fans anyway. Just people like us, angry comic book guy types
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2017 12:24
|
|
|
When is Lisa supposed to be our first non-lesbian female president? That joke always stuck with me during the Hillary campaigns in '08 and '16...
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2017 16:05
|
|
|
Drink-Mix Man posted:Right after Trump... Are you going by late 90s "Poochie era" canon or recent Trump episode canon? Cos I never saw the Trump episode, so I dunno if they actually made a reference to that (or rehashed an old joke). Or did the super edgy Harvard graduates call Trump a lesbian?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2017 21:01
|
|
|
Drink-Mix Man posted:I didn't know they did an actual Trump episode (and I really don't think I want to know what happened in it). I was just citing President Lisa saying "We've inherited quite a budget deficit from President Trump." I completely forgot about that line. Weird how the fates aligned. Then again with the amount of implausible plot contrivances you have in the show it'd only be a matter of time that they became a crystal ball into the future. sweetmercifulcrap posted:There is no actual Trump episode. They made this (terrible) clip after he announced he was running: I always assumed "they predicted it" just referred to his campaign style. I had no clue people were confusing this with an episode from 17 years ago. I still haven't watched the clip (youtube isn't loading your link for me), so I dunno.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2017 15:18
|
|
|
Earwicker posted:I guess I stopped watching before that point I don't remember any episode centered around him It's because they're confusing Gil with Lionel Hutz PostNouveau posted:He's sometimes the Simpsons' lawyer and there was that Christmas episode that centered around him. You're thinking of Lionel Hutz, not Gil.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2017 05:24
|
|
|
Drink-Mix Man posted:Haha, nope... PostNouveau posted:No, I'm not. drat. Okay I stand corrected. I haven't watched the show since 2006. They did the same premises with Lionel Hutz back in the day.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2017 08:27
|
|
|
Serious question. "Zombie Simpsons" explanation aside, does anybody know what the production background of the Gil episodes were? Did millennial Harvard graduate writers decide to pay an homage to Lionel Hutz/Phil Hartman? Or was this one of those random grabs of an established ancillary character? Not having seen the episodes it feels exactly like a Lionel Hutz plot. Ain't ever gonna see the episodes, but whose idea was it to take in Gil? Was it Marge? I bet it was Marge, but I could see Homer doing it... Lisa too... ... especially Lisa.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 26, 2017 21:03
|
|
|
(E: can't remember if it's been posted yet) Bloodhound Gang wrote a song that's entirely Ralph-related quotes back in the day. "Ralph Wiggum" Found it years ago from a YTMND that matches clips with the song (starts loud): http://ralphwiggum.ytmnd.com/ Fanart youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DQIprqgTGQ Backweb fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Aug 13, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2017 00:01
|
|
|
khwarezm posted:Personally, I think that you can see from episodes like that that some of the usual reasons for the show's decline, 'Jerkass Homer', 'Too many Celeb cameos' etc have actually been around since the very beginning and most of the problems you see today are simply down to a less easy-to-grasp decline in the writing quality. Frank Zappa once said the problem with post-60s/70s music is that business-minded record execs who once took a risk with odd experiments and often found unexpected hits were replaced by hippies who ferociously clung to the notion that they *knew* what was cool, thus ruining the fresh spirit of the industry and the works as art. I feel that this has happened to the Simpsons. The idea of drawing in viewers with celebrity guest voices for random characters has given way to simply having a celebrity personality be the plot catalyst. The current show runners and writers have fallen into the trap of being arbiters of "hip" pop culture gimmicks, and it really ruined the show. What the show needs is to get cancelled. Barring that, what it needs is less control over the entire process and to take risks. While the writing has become lazier, more superficial, and less nuanced because of this terrible format of clinging to pop culture zeitgeist, I think another major contributor has been that the actual plots became too ridiculous over time. They had already told most of the stories they could with the core cast of characters by the time seasons 8-10 rolled around so they started introducing ancillary characters' story arcs, sending the family overseas to rehash old plots in new zany contexts, etc. Jerkass Homer appears at this point because they need some character to tie everything together with the plot of the week. It's simply become over-exaggerated over and over again.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2017 04:37
|
|
|
My Youtube homepage recommends random Simpsons clips to me from time to time because of the links I click in this thread. I got a good chuckle from a bunch of Ralph clones... (Disclaimer: I got a good chuckle, but I've also had several beers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkE1WDGup_s
|
|
#
¿
Dec 9, 2017 20:37
|
|
|
Lol I can't tell if this is a weak attempt to troll the thread, but dude I'd recommend just not responding with polite defenses. Goons are gonna be goons with that sort of thing. Anyway, because this thread has forced The Simpsons clips into my YouTube recommendations (and I'm too lazy to go through months of view history to select them and remove them individually) this video remix of Moe's "Funk Dancing for Self-Defense" class popped up in my recommendations under "Electronic Music" and I cannot get enough of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06OzHwkV3bA "Dissin' Your Flygirl 3.0 (Extended Moe Szyslak Shooting Stars Remaster)"
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2017 10:28
|
|
|
Scudworth posted:And this video is on THIS PAGE. Posted yesterday. To make up for it, here's a relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2017 21:16
|
|
|
Because of this thread I have a ton of recommended Simpsons clips on youtube. They're all basically 7-minute recaps of the A-plots from relatively new episodes, so tonight I figured why the hell not. I got a few chuckles from them, but they all seem to rely heavily on "it was just a dream" plot tropes when things get too crazy for continuity. What's the deal? Is that common now? From what I watched, it seems way too common. And not even a Patrick Duffy cameo. Also, I can't say that I notice a difference in Marge's voice, but Nelson's voice has gone to poo poo.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2018 18:57
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:E: ^^ Check out Mr. Burns' voice, Harry's hardly even trying to sound like him anymore Ah. Yeah. I'm watching this clip and can definitely hear Shearer's normal speaking voice coming through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwuqK7iv5-A. I haven't watched the show on television for more than 10 years, so the only exposure I have has been from short clips online in the past year or so. I guess that since the voices still have the same particularities to them as I remember, I'm not noticing it as much. I should watch some old episodes. E: Yeah. Gotta echo the sentiment that the VAs have lost their voices. There's a second episode in that link I posted. At 7:04 Quimby does not sound like the Quimby I remember Backweb fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Jan 27, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2018 19:35
|
|
|
SeANMcBAY posted:Are there any minor characters left that haven’t gotten at least a B plot? Editing this: realizing you meant recurring characters. I guess I'd question Dr. Monroe and Hans Moleman. Original post below. B plot? Or A plot? I'm probably getting "B plot" confused with "character background" expos from A plots, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that Dr. Marvin Monroe, Hank Scorpio, and Cecil Terwilliger were characters that never had a B plot (though they were part of the A plot). What about Hans Moleman and Mr. Black from the original Kamp Krusty? Backweb fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jan 27, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2018 20:07
|
|
|
I Love Loosies posted:Lou and Eddie Lou Lewison and Eddie Edwards
|
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2018 21:00
|
|
|
Olaf The Stout posted:I don't even want to think about how he's been married ten years, has a 3bdrm 2bath 2 story house with front and back yards, 2 cars, a garage, 3 kids and a cat and a dog. I think Hank Hill was originally 35 years old too. The backstory is that the Simpsons were basically scraping by with their lifestyle, few savings, and the house was bought for them or something like that. Regardless, the closer I push to these characters in age the more I realize how much average life in America has fundamentally changed in the past 20+ years. I feel like Homer ought to be pushing 50. I have some friends with houses, cars, and babies, but I honestly can't fathom it because of how skewed the system is these days.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2018 15:18
|
|
|
Iron Crowned posted:Pimps and Chuds Formerly Chuck's
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2018 18:43
|
|
|
Early South Park was great. Seasons 3-8 were gold. From "2 Naked Guys In A Hot Tub" to through "Manbearpig" or so. "Scott Tennorman Must Die" was awesome, but marked the change in Cartman from dumb jerk to active rear end in a top hat. Randy is falling into the Jerkass Homer trap though.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2018 09:03
|
|
|
Dick Bastardly posted:I know this is the lowest point thread but for me personally the highest point was when Flanders and his boys were in the back yard praying for their late pet rabbit and Homer's subterranean garbage pressure became too great and pushed the rabbit out of it's grave when that episode aired I was laughing so hard at that scene I couldn't breathe. it was amazing
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2019 05:45
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 16:04 |
|
|
Pull up thread! Pull up!
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2019 01:16
|
|