The Big Picture: The Simpsons Is Still Funny - Pt. 1

[MrBaskerville]

I have to strongly disagree on this one. I started watching Simpsons a couple of years ago, bought the DVD´s in sequence and watched everything chronologically. I had seen a couple of episodes before hand, but not a whole lot. To me the difference in quality is quite striking. It starts around season 10 where a couple of episodes here and there seems off but it´s still a great show at this point. But when we reach season 18-19 the quality seems to drop dramatically. The comedic timing is off and the amount of episodes lacking laughs is massive. From here i found that the series started losing it´s momentum while getting worse and worse every year. There´s still some good jokes around (pudding power activate!) but damn, they are hard to find.

I think it started going a bit downhill around season 10-11ish. When i watched those seasons i started finding more episodes where the characters seemed to act out of character for some cheap laughs. But the most striking thing is the fact that a lot of very weird and anti-climactic endings started appearing. But i don´t really think the series lost it until the 19-20th season, where i can find several episodes that is incapable of making me laugh.

It did start to get a bit better again in the current seasons and the one before that, but it´s still a lot weaker than it used to be imo.

 

[Wolcik]

This episode has a great example of what I like so much about Bob's way of thinking. I had a problem in puting in words my feelings throwards christmass untill now
As for the Simpson I haven't got into it yet, but I like Futurama very much, so I might update myself in the future.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I stopped watching The Simpsons when I hit around 16 (2004). Not because I thought it had got "bad", but just because I didn't find it funny any more.

Almost all of the cartoons I watched in my early teens (Spiderman, Xmen, Ninja Turtles...) lost their appeal as I got older. Like Bob said, people's tastes change as they age.

 

[Rotating Bread]

It's just not funny any more.

For me the golden age was seasons 3 to 8, episodes were expertly crafted containing well written stories with interesting, character driven plots. There were also great gags and brilliant satire to throw into the mix. After the hit and miss seasons of 9 and 10 the series went into decline and has never recovered.

There are several reasons for this
- Increasing numbers of pointless celebrity cameos rather than special guests that were integral to the plot (like in 'the simpson files').
-Lazy plots that didn't make sense or are reused from earlier episodes.
- The increasing reliance on gags and pop culture references a la Family Guy (and doing it no-where near as well as FG does).
- Constant self referential jokes and 4th wall breaking, funny if done sparingly but hugely overused in later seasons to the point where it undermines the plot.

I really don't buy the idea that 'the simpsons didn't get worse we just grew up'. I think for the reasons I have stated (and many more) I can objectively say that I think the quality of the series has declined. I find it a little patronising to say that I can't judge something because I have gotten older while it has existed, and what about all those people who don't fit that particular age range?

 

[TheRealCJ]

You wanna know what I think? (of course you don't, I'm nobody, but hear me out).

The show started as a Parody of all those "Perfect Family" sitcoms/dramas of the 80s, and as a parody of those, it worked relatively well. THEN, it expanded into satirizing pop culture in general, and it turned into a HUGE hit.

Now, it's one of the cornerstones of Modern Popculture, and so any popcultural parodies or satires it tries to do end up as a self parody, and there's nothing the writers can do to stop that.

that's why we have Homer: (a bumbling everyman who's just trying to do right by his family and live the "American Dream") being a complete idiot, destroying his family on a regular basis in the vain hopes of some Get-Rich-Quick scheme or another going all the way through.

Marge (the Antithesis of Homer, a strict no-nonsense mother, trying to protect her family as much as possible): Freaking out when she enters an ethnic neighbourhood, being obsessed with "motherly" things, and attempting to protect her children to the point of insanity.

Lisa (A big fish in a little pond, having to deal with both being the smartest person in every room while at the same time being too young to EVER be taken seriously): Being the soapbox jumper on EVERY ISSUE, taking umbridge at anything that may not be perfectly left-wing/peaceful/the 100% RIGHT THING TO DO and voicing her opinion loudly and repeatedly, and acting smug and self-congratulatory when things go her way (which the inevitably do).

And that's just the family; look at the townspeople:

Flanders (a ultra-nice, Christian neighbour, who bends over backwards to help him and other, no matter how undeserving they are) becomes: STUPID FLANDERS, ULTRACONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN, who sees no trouble not only spying, but actively communicating with the townspeople in order to stop them performing minor misdemeanors. Someone who watches EVERY SHOW ON TELEVISION just so he can attempt to find any profanity or questionable content.

Hell, the town itself! Springfield used to be a satire of the general mindset of a small-medium middle-American town, the collective townpeople may not have been the brightest people, and somewhat quick to judge, but they were also kind and down-to-earth for the most part. Now? They actively VOTE to ban Evolution and continuously harass a 10 year old boy TO THE POINT (AND BEYOND) HIS ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

 

[Ampersand]

I'm sorry but that's really not it, it might have something to do with the way show seemed to start patronizing it's audience. I can watch the same episode of one of the earlier episodes of the Simpsons withing a few times in the space of a few weeks and get jokes that I didn't even notice the first time around. However now every time a punch line comes around the characters might as well be pointing and shouting " this is the part you're supposed to laugh at!"...sadly even at that it's still not funny.
In addition to that all of the characters seem to have morphed into extremely annoying versions of themselves.

 

[Rossmallo]

I thought it was alright, it just has utter bombs of episodes that either fall flat or REALLY strike a chord and make me say "Dude, that shit ain't funny". Boys of Bummer, I'm looking at you here.

 

[Moeez]

I think all of you need to watch Midnight in Paris and have a good check on your faulty "golden age thinking".

http://media.theiapolis.com/aR/cDCDCDC/d4/e4/hM8/i17GW/r1/s1/t4/u1L2/wG4/z23/midnight-in-paris.jpg

 

[Jim Grim]

Nnnnnooooooooo, I watched the older simpsons episodes and the newer ones at about the same time when I was a kid, the older ones are much better in nearly every way. When I watch a newer Simpsons episode it just pisses me off because the characters have all become annoying loudmouth over-exaggerated versions of themselves.

 

[petrolmonkey]

Pretty much all of this. The point I realised it was getting tired with the cameos is when I remember Steve Buscemi being in it. His cameo, from what I can remember, is him walking up to Homer in a dream/fantasy sequence, and saying, Hi Homer, I'm Steve Buscemi" and then saying one other line and that was it.

It was in the middle of a song, when Homer is singing about going to "hobnob with the stars in Malibu".

Steve Buscemi had another appearance by the way, as a bank robber:
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/I_Don%27t_Wanna_Know_Why_the_Caged_Bird_Sings

I have no problem with brief cameos like that; even in the early days they did some cameos along those lines -- remember Barry White's apperance in "Whacking Day"? What about Micky Rooney on "Radioactive Man"?

Those were fine though. They actually had lines that added to the story. The Steve Buscemi part was just a lazily added part, because they could.

 

[Iron Mal]

I personally do have to disagree with Bob's arguement as it's laid out here (and do notice an awful lot of anti-youth sentiment across his videos, I would like to point out that not everyone born in the 90's or after is the hyperbolic 90's Kid that he seems to imagine we are).

While the show certainly hasn't descended into some dark pit of horrible mediocrity from where nothing escapes it can be argued that the show has declined over time.

Gags get overused, good characters get dropped, bad ones get adopted and characterisation marches onwards (making it significantly harder for said character to act seriously in-character and be funny at the sme time) and in some cases takes a step backwards (reducing once interesting and funny characters to shoved in one-note jokes).

It's only natural that in time the quality of a show will decline (I would imagine that one of the hardest things about writing for a show like the Simpsons would be to keep it funny and original after you've done somuch stuff with it) , 19 seasons is a long time and it's not suprising that some people have seen a downhill progression going on as a result.

 

[springheeljack]

I finally stopped watching The Simpsons when I saw one of their treehouse of horror episodes
usually these are my favorite type of Simpson episode because they usually do such a good job in parodying other movies
but this one was so painfully funny that I vowed to never watch another new episode

 

[Frankfurter4444]

I didn't watch The Simpsons much as a kid. So when someone says to me the show hasn't been funny or good for years, I reply "I just watched an episode this week. And it was funny. Are you sure your head isn't stuck so far up your ass you forgot what funny was?"

I'm usually right, even if the person I'm arguing with disagrees.

 

[Roxor]

My first thought on seeing the video title was "Since when has The Simpsons ever been funny?"

After watching it, and factoring in the ideas presented I still don't think I've seen an episode of The Simpsons which I thought was funny.

Actually, the USA in general seems to have a lot of difficulty in creating anything funny. It seems to me that if you want funny in English, you look to either Britain or Australia for material. If it's from the US, and claims to be a comedy, it will almost certainly be either boring or painful. The exceptions are so rare, I can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

[kuolonen]

I started going going through simpson seasons about 5 years ago. Older once were meh, few laughs in between seasons 10-20 and new ones are at times schizophrenic and errratic. So, Im inclined to side with Bob on this one. Also the animation of older ones has... not aged well. Voice acting was shite too.

But this is argument over tastes and thats one argument where there can never be winners. But hey, arguing for the sake of arguing is always fun.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

The show is still pretty funny; it's only shit when compared to the brilliance of the earlier seasons

 

[James Nixon]

It was at its best when the plots were somewhat grounded in reality, when you could actually feel emotional about what was happening or relate to it. Now they're just daft and relying on cheap laughs or celeb cameos.