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Some on the Right have praised the Simpsons over the years. Especially the portrayal of Flanders who while somewhat dorky is genuinely a good, kind, helpful god-fearing Christian. Even the Simpsons (and much of the town, go to church.

And if you think about it, Homer is essentially a Trump voter -- often complaining about the gov't and liberal media, susceptible to simplistic ideas and slogans, etc. The adult females tend to be housewives and mothers without careers. Even the way Apu is portrayed is almost some gentle rightwing fantasy, wherein he's tolerated/accepted into the community but always portrayed as an other, and knows his place.

So like the article says the Simpsons originated in the late 80's and some of their ideas and caricatures have become anachronistic. As far as the military vets, I could see the writers switching wars, with Grandpa fighting in Vietnam and Skinner in Iraq. In the case of Grandpa I could see him mentioning being in the Vietnam War, being corrected that he was in WWII, with Grandpa testily replying that he knows where he fought, then continuing his story but now about fighting in Korea. Typical Grandpa confusion. The Simpsons haven't done much with the Iraq War unless I'm mistaken and just haven't seen later episodes.

I just don't know how you could update Grandpa's colourful war experiences to Vietnam! ("I did wear a dress for a period in the 40s. Oh, they had designers then!")

Wasn't Herman, the military antiques store owner meant to be a kind of military veteran? (Even if he apparently lost his arm whilst sticking it out the window of a school bus!). That's a character that disappeared from view after the first few series.

He's in the Pulp Fiction parody as the Zed stand-in, though I can't remember him turning up after that

That was in Season 7. They brought him back for Season 9's Treehouse of Horror as well as apparently an episode of Season 24. I think I mostly know him from Simpsons Monopoly!

Given that he was in the first season, he's probably just one of those random supporting characters that seems more prevalent because early merchandising latched onto every single character no matter how small. I mean, how else to explain Princess Kashmir and Blinky trading cards?

I now only watch the show occasionally, especially as Fox couldn't be bothered to continue with the Blu-ray releases, but one of the episodes I absolutely loathed was the one where Homer and Marge remembered being young...in the 90s. I think it was called "That 90s Show", and I really disliked retroactively making Homer and Marge, who were (as they always are in the present of the show) in their 30s/40s in the 90s, into teenagers. I think at this point, the show should move forward as much as it must do, but when characters are flashing back, it should go for vaugely-defined mid-to-late 20th century, as it always used to.

Hot take: every flash forward episode sucks, even the first one with Lisa's wedding-- hell, especially that one

swo17 wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 4:23 pm That was in Season 7. They brought him back for Season 9's Treehouse of Horror as well as apparently an episode of Season 24. I think I mostly know him from Simpsons Monopoly!

His biggest role was in that early Bart The General episode. I guess he was one of those characters that just never made it to regular rotation, like Dr Marvin Monroe or Bleeding Gums Murphy.

*Blood and Guts Murphy

domino harvey wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 5:02 pm Hot take: every flash forward episode sucks, even the first one with Lisa's wedding-- hell, especially that one

I can’t think of many others, but I’ll take that episode over The Simpson’s in NY or Japan, Australia.

The NY episode is one of the first serious stinkers for me, but I love the Australia episode. No memory of Japan.

I think each of those episodes have their moments, though.

Homer: "That's when the CHUDs came after me."

Marge: "Come on, Homer. Japan will be fun. You liked Rashomon."
Homer: "That's not how I remember it!"

I love the Australia episode. Knifey-spoony is a gag that seems to randomly pop into my head far more than any others from the show.

Ultimate ranking of tourist eps: Australia is classic, NYC has good stuff, Brazil has its moments, Japan mostly sucks, England is a war crime

Official NYC notice:
"Your car will be thrown into the East River at your expense"

On Homer's previous trip to NYC, he gets robbed first thing, tells a policeman what happened, and the cop proceeds to swipe his suitcase.

The set-up with Duffman's arrival is classic.
Great episode.

That ranking sounds right, but I can't remember much about Brazil. England isn't offensive it's just totally useless, a real lack of creative effort.

I believe the England episode is what finally convinced me to stop watching, though I could be misremembering

domino harvey wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:41 pm I believe the England episode is what finally convinced me to stop watching, though I could be misremembering

That episode was also the one that made me quit the show. I wish I could remember any reason in particular besides this overwhelming feeling that the show was no longer what I once loved.

colinr0380 wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 4:02 pmWasn't Herman, the military antiques store owner meant to be a kind of military veteran? (Even if he apparently lost his arm whilst sticking it out the window of a school bus!). That's a character that disappeared from view after the first few series.

The bus window thing makes me think that he wasn't a veteran but just obsessed with the military, war and weaponry which isn't too hard to imagine.

domino harvey wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:23 pm Ultimate ranking of tourist eps: Australia is classic, NYC has good stuff, Brazil has its moments, Japan mostly sucks, England is a war crime

Would "Bart On The Road" count? If so, it blows all of them away.

It's gotta be The Simpsons Go To ... (insert foreign country here).

They also go to Africa.
The Africa trip is a "later" episode (Season 12) and rather bad. The overall set-up involves a bag boy strike resulting in the family going without food, which makes no sense and isn't funny. The more immediate set-up has Homer eating from a very old box of animal crackers and finding the golden giraffe grand prize. The only good part is how the company reneges on the promised trip to Africa, only to cave once Homer pokes his eye with the box as the string breaks. And the box itself has an amusing front cover which Homer wants to emulate. Once they get to Africa, everything is rather disjointed and useless. And they treat Africa as essentially a single country.

The Japan episode tries really hard and is a mess.
Africa moderately tries and is a mess.

Season 12 is when The Simpsons teeters on the abyss. There are two classic episodes HOMR (Crayon in the Brain) & Trilogy of Error (Homer's thumb cut off and Linguo the Grammar robot). But the bad episodes are terrible, especially Homer v DIgnity (Homer as Burns' "prank monkey"). While most of the rest manage a good half episode and then go off the rails. it's frustrating as there's a fair amount of good material and then things fall apart.
Skinner's Sense of Snow is a good example of good material, a strong half episode and then poor development.

The best part of the Africa episode is the completely unmotivated character slam that turns a Jane Goodall-styled anthropologist character trying to save the apes into an obsessed lunatic wanting to enslave the apes to work for her ("Why don't you tell her about the diamond mine, 'Doctor'?"). It is so outrageous (with the character suddenly turning tousled haired deranged screaming "Diamonds! Diamonds!") that it becomes kind of audaciously brilliant!

Plus the ending with Homer: "Look at me, I'm a scientist! Ah, Africa!"

I'm baffled by the hostility towards the Japan episode.
If nothing else it demonstrates the range of the show by including a Rashomon joke that only film buffs would get and also the best toilet joke of all time.

Robin Davies wrote: Sun Jul 08, 2018 1:16 pm I'm baffled by the hostility towards the Japan episode.
If nothing else it demonstrates the range of the show by including a Rashomon joke that only film buffs would get and also the best toilet joke of all time.

It also has a perfect ending for the series as a whole

Spoiler

with the family about to be eaten by Godzilla

On what planet is that a perfect ending for the series as a whole? What does it have to do with anything that preceded it?

Homer's Enemy would've been the actual perfect ending, both in terms of the content of the episode itself and the dearth of quality episodes following it.