The Simpsons

[dx23]

The reason I probably loved Sunday's episode was because of Homer. This wasn't the dumbass Homer character that has been watered down throughout the years to look more and more like Peter Griffin. This version of Homer was the evolution of the character I always thought he was; the clumsy, mischievous but goodhearted, kind man who really cares about his family that we've seen in classic episodes. The dynamic between Homer and Bart's kids is what got me hooked. That's why I really laughed and enjoyed the Royal Tenembaums tidbit with Homer and the kids going to "Downtown Springfield" and just having fun.

[flyonthewall2983]

Exactly, though I found some of the more absurd bits funny as well. Apu's children now an army prepared to fight off Super-Snake, the whole Road Warrior-influenced airflight, Kearney as a cab driver, and last but not least the fate of Ralph Wiggum(s). It's completely easy for me to understand the hesitance some of the old-school fans might have towards anything new because I'm just as willing to admit it's overall mediocrity in the past decade.

[dx23]

Today's episode with Lady Gaga has to be the worst one they have ever done. It was pretty much unwatchable as it brought the worst of what people have been saying about the Simpsons, which is that they ran out of material.

[mfunk9786]

They ran out of material 15 years ago

[FerdinandGriffon]

Trolling, much?

[mfunk9786]

I love The Simpsons, but to take issue with last night's episode for 'running out of material' is silly.

[mfunk9786]

If you're still buying these, please consult a doctor right away. If the doctor assures you that your mental health is okay, Season 15 is out on December 4th (DVD and Blu).

[Titus]

A Simpsons artist from the show's early days has been posting here at nohomers.net over the last few days. Some really interesting stuff for fans of the show.

[domino harvey]

Complete history of art references in the Simpsons

[Roger Ryan]

Complete history of art references in the Simpsons

A fun list, but including the reference to UN CHIEN ANDALOU only makes one wonder why the hundreds of other film references found in the show weren't listed.

[Gregory]

It's centered on the art forms of painting, drawing, and sculpture, so I guess Un Chien Andalou just squeaked in because of the Dalí connection.

[Roger Ryan]

It's centered on the art forms of painting, drawing, and sculpture, so I guess Un Chien Andalou just squeaked in because of the Dalí connection.

Right, I hadn't thought of that. Although, given how many Dalí paintings are parodied in THE SIMPSONS, I think this reference should have been credited to Buñuel.

[manicsounds]

December 2012

[flyonthewall2983]

The Judd Apatow-penned spec script he wrote in 1990 will air next season.

[Titus]

This is pretty old news, but I just read the Zombie Simpsons: How the Best Show Ever Became the Broadcasting Undead "mini-book" at deadhomersociety.com, and it's probably the best and most thorough explication of the Simpsons' decline that I've ever come across. It does a great job of detailing what was so special about the show in its heyday before proceeding to explain how and why its greatness eroded over time. There's an unfortunate dismissal of "Marge Be Not Proud," but it's difficult to argue with any of the other points raised. If any other fans of the show have missed this, take an hour or two to correct that.

[The Narrator Returns]

It's true! We're so lame!

[mfunk9786]

There's a lot of unfortunate ripping of good Season 7-9 episodes in that article, though there are interesting points about them being signs of things to come... but it seems a little harsh on eps that I consider pretty great.

[matrixschmatrix]

There's a lot of unfortunate ripping of good Season 7-9 episodes in that article, though there are interesting points about them being signs of things to come... but it seems a little harsh on eps that I consider pretty great.

Well, the only S7 episode they call out is Marge Be Not Proud, and that only for its structure and not for the very high quality of the jokes. And they're absolutely right that 8-9 were full of scorched earth episodes, where the fictional structure that held everything together was openly falling to pieces- it's just that, with that writing crew, that was fine, and the process was funny as hell. There are definitely a few dud episodes (Secret War of Lisa Simpson in S8 is pretty bad, and Season 9 has five or six that are outright unfunny) but I think the point they're making in the critiques of those seasons isn't that they're not still high quality Simpsons, it's that a lot of the stuff they were doing was scorched earth, getting crazy in a show that presumably didn't have long to go. I think it does a pretty excellent job of getting across why that Diet Coke aftertaste started to show up, and how the seemingly abrupt changeover had earlier roots.

[mfunk9786]

It really is tragic that the show has been terrible for (significantly) longer than it was great. Because it was great for a looooong time.

[matrixschmatrix]

I just wish they had a syndication package that only included the non shitty episodes- it's been roulette to watch it on TV for like a decade now, and I feel like anyone much younger than 25 isn't going to understand what a great show it was unless someone gets them into it with DVDs.

[Titus]

I think the piece was way too hard on "Marge Be Not Proud." It might be a little sitcommy, but that's a tremendous episode, and it really embodies the kind of grounded, emotionally-driven vision Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were exploring in their stint as showrunners. The author I think overstates the treacly, "author's message" aspect of the episode (it's not about Bart learning shoplifting's bad or whatever, it's about the relationship between Bart and Marge and the tension caused by his growing out of childhood). This kind of episode has been part of the series since the very beginning -- it's part of what makes it great. In general, the series' emotional undergird is kind of overlooked in the article.

But the comments about Season 8 and 9 are pretty fair, I think. Season 8's a great season, but even Oakley and Weinstein have said it was a significant step backwards, and the episodes the article singles out for criticism ("Burns, Baby Burns," "The Homer They Fall") are, for the most part, pretty weak (relative to the standard classic era episode), and point to the more dramatic decline that was coming soon.

[Brian C]

Not that it was the first mediocre episode or anything, but the first time I remember thinking to myself that something is really wrong here was "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". And in retrospect I think it does indeed stand out as a Zombie Simpson precursor, with its gimmicky made-for-promos plot, its lazy portrayal of Homer as a crude, culturally insensitive simpleton, and the general lameness of the jokes.

[dx23]

I don't think that episode was bad at all. I've always felt that the Simpsons quality went downhill after Hartman's death in 1998. From then on, most episodes were bad/mediocre for a period of 10 years and then after the movie, the show improved a little bit. The last several seasons have been good, not great, with at least 2 horrible episodes per season, like the Lady Gaga crap from last season. That is probably the worst episode of the entire show.

[dustybooks]

Not that it was the first mediocre episode or anything, but the first time I remember thinking to myself that something is really wrong here was "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". And in retrospect I think it does indeed stand out as a Zombie Simpson precursor, with its gimmicky made-for-promos plot, its lazy portrayal of Homer as a crude, culturally insensitive simpleton, and the general lameness of the jokes.

Funny that you mention that. I was in eighth grade then and a religious fan of the show -- I printed out stuff from the newsgroup and taped every episode, etc. -- and I'd converted both my parents into fans as well so we consistently watched it together on Sunday night. The next morning my dad was driving me to school and said "I hope they don't keep it up with Homer acting that abusive and angry all the time." I didn't understand what he meant at the time but now I suddenly realize: my late father predicted jerkass Homer, the major element (along with the dumbing down of Lisa's characterization) that would lead me to depressingly give up on the show not long thereafter.

I would argue myself, by the way, that some of the first evidence of Homer's oncoming boorishness appears even earlier, during the Mirkin years -- "Homer vs. Flanders" comes to mind, and for me it's the worst show of the first seven years. But I'm one of the weirdos who now thinks the show peaked in seasons two and three, so maybe I'm stretching it.

[matrixschmatrix]

One of the reasons the Golden Age vs. crap years argument gets a little muddy is that while it's generally agreed upon that there was an amazing and sustained streak of brilliance for years, people disagree about some of the details there- whether that streak was all equally good or heterogenous but generally excellent, whether the crash happened all at once or over a few seasons, whether the problem was a lack of heart or a paucity of funny jokes, etc etc etc. I think that there's plenty of stuff people complain about in the crap era that one could find in the golden years, and Homer being a monstrous asshole is definitely among them- and the Simpsons definitely always had fun with the idea that anyone would really be able to tolerate Homer, and that the ability to do so could be the foundation of anything but a nightmare of a home life (the Streetcar episode goes incredibly far in the horrible Homer direction and only leavens it for about thirty seconds at the end of the episode, for instance.)

I think what's remarkable is that everything was gone by the end of Season 10. Season 9 is still pretty funny, in the way that Season 9 of Seinfeld is- the show has lost some of what made it special, and it's falling apart around the edges, but there's still room for incredible and consistently funny jokes in like 80% of the episodes. That's how a show is supposed to end, and the signs of the format getting tired go back a long way. The zombie thing isn't quite apt, to me- it's more like the show is in cryogenic stasis, stuck forever in the shutdown that happens just at the end of life. Burns was waiting for the cure for 17 stab wounds, the Simpsons is waiting for the cure for 'having nothing to say and no structure in which to say it'.