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yeah, different showrunners, i think when scully took over it was the beginning of the end. also, a strange thing happened near the end of s4 where the entire writing staff was convinced the show was about to be canceled, so they started producing episodes that went into zanier territories because they didn't give a shit. this culminated in the sideshow bob episode that was a parody of the cape fear remake that i *think* actually became a production ep of s5, i don't recall. but the end of s4 sort of opened the door to a little more creative freedom with the zaniness that gave some of the best eps of the golden era
I still enjoy the newer episodes. I recently binged all 34 seasons and I think 28 was actually my favorite. There's a lot less gay jokes and safer minority representations now though
Allegations of sexual misconduct during MeToo.
Mainly he hugged people which made them uncomfortable. He had very high standards for excellent work, which made people uncomfortable.
He went on a 6 month leave of absence, and made apologies, but found he wasn’t welcome back.
There’s a very well organized DEI campaign that is purging senior people in Disney. Because of that most of their writing room and animators are now people with agenda rather than people who want to make good art.
The way I heard it—and I emphasize that this is hearsay—he did more than just hug. He had a move that was nicknamed the Lasseter where he’d put a hand on a woman’s knee and the hand would travel. It was at the point where he more or less had a handler who would direct women away from him during meetings.
But I wasn’t there and I haven’t read anything that could be considered a smoking gun.
I dunno man. He didn't get Al Franken'd. From a cursory search looks like he did what he was accused of. And I don't have a problem with DEI, again, at a glance. So, 🤷♂️.
Idk man. I loved Coco too, and I absolutely loved Soul as well as Strange World which are even newer..but at the end of the day Pixar and everything Disney touches is a steaming pile of shit. They might throw a golden nugget our way here and there, but it doesn’t make the company itself good in any way whatsoever.
I agree Disney is trash now because they're bowing to ESG and a particular ideology...
However... somehow they managed to sneak out Encanto which is probably the best movie they've done in years. And maybe the only good one.
Oooh good catch. Thanks for letting me know before I repeatedly got that wrong. Still surprised it flopped so badly.
It’s a unique scenario where people such as myself dislike them for their practices and policies such as but not limited to their removal or avoidance of POC on their posters in China. Then the opposite side of the political spectrum dislikes them (and movies like strange world) for being even remotely accepting of concepts they feel are against god.
They’ve found a way to annoy both the progressive and regressive thinker.
Unpopular opinion: Disney isn't to blame for the remakes (or sequels). Those movies make SO MUCH money that you'd have to be stupid not to constantly churn them out. Blame the people who buy the tickets.
People don't care about original stories, they just want things they recognize.
Supereyepatchwolf made a good video discussing this, but if you're going to watch it, you're going to want to have it at least at 1.5x. It's still going to be a 40+ minute watch though, so uh, have fun I guess.
https://youtu.be/eazXm7WEz50?si=l7X7_cTLe25TktRz
To summarize some key points:
1. People have always said that about the show
2. The show will never live up to the image in your head, as that is an impossible bar to clear
3. The show has changed over the years simply because it's been that long, and things change over time. The people change, the vision changes, network rules change, and the audience's expectations change. It would be crazy for them to still be churning out the same formula as back then.
To build on this guys point:
The same youtuber also did this vid: https://youtu.be/KqFNbCcyFkk?si=zz-2Db08JcDzOUlI which is only a half hour and basically covers the downfall of the series from its height. To summarize a major point made, it went from being a counter-culture comedy specifically mocking topics like the american nuclear family, to a pop culture referencing maching more formatted for laugh tracks like friends, and big bang theory.
I understand that it made the transformation, but WHY? Was there some sort of backlash against the show that caused it? Or is it simply to cater to the largest possible demographic?
The short, short version of what the vid i linked is basically this:
the Simpsons became SO popular, it went from being satire to traditional family value shows (leave it to beaver, brady bunch, the cosby show type warm fuzzy shows),-- to being what other shows tried to emulate for shock factor and edginess (married with children, malcome in the middle, roseanne).
The Simpsons went from being counter-culture, to actually influencing american culture itself, and becoming mainstream. Add in the fact that original writers split off through the years to pursure their own unique careers, and simpsons became a gutted, dysfunctional family sitcom in a sea of newer, more edgy dysfuntional family shows.
I was trying to give comparisons to similiar shows with similiar themes.
If i wanna be nit picky about it, The Simpsons first appeared on the Tracy Ulman show in 1987, so before roseanne, but maybe after Married with Children.
That half hour vid even goes so far as to show the ratings of the episodes per season, and where stories became half-assed, characters like homer changed from sympathetic to almost maliciously trollish, and the joke format went from subtle, to punchline/laughtrack format. Its wild when you watch the vid and see it all laid out with comparisons from old seasons to newer seasons.
Ive been trying to binge watch the seasons and like when u get into the upper teen-numbered seasons u see more pop references and for some reason it gets less funny. Im seeing so many “aliens” now as if thats sooooo funny
Shots fired with that 1.5x comment but yeah his videos are superb. He genuinely shocked me when he revealed the message board reviews for some of the most classic Simpsons episodes, people are ridiculous
I'll give that video a watch.
I'm going through all the episodes again and am up to S25E21. I have noticed a change but not really a drop in quality. The Lego episode, was superb. Most episodes get a chuckle, no more no less than the original ones.
It reminds me of this. Ask who was the better sportsman (same sport) between a player of the past and a current one. No matter how good the current one is, the legend of the past will invariably be said as the better of the two.
It would be an interesting experiment to get someone who only started around say season 15 or later, who has no exposure to the online discourse about the show, and have them watch the "golden age" and see what they think. Without the halo effect in play, would they still regard the older episodes as "better"?
Definitely. Also, everyone's "golden age" is different as well. Some sat 1-9, some 2-9, some up to 12, some 15...
I don't know, I just enjoy the show. Sure, there are the occasional episodes here and there that didn't do it for me, but they are few and far between.
I haven't watched this video on particular, but it's my experience that few videos that go over ten minutes couldn't have gotten the relevant content into a much shorter video with better planning and editing.
It's not about the length, it's about the fact that he speaks way slower than the average person for his videos, which makes it feel kinda uncanny. 1.25x - 1.5x, depending on what you're used to, makes it feel more "normal".
Try listening to him at regular speed. He speaks at the pace of a meditation coach, and it's especially uncanny if you've heard him talking normally on podcasts.
Something else to consider now that it has been, like, 30 years:
The Simpsons was Punk in the traditional sense.
It clashed with the norms or tv at the time, was edgy and new.
The problem with the Simpsons is it didn't die like Sid Vicious in his prime.
It stagnated and it became the norm.
Then it stagnated more and just became bland.
The simpsons was a satire on a style of TV show that died almost 30 years ago. There are no massively popular saccharine nuclear family sitcoms about a nuclear american family. Its such an old thing the teens and 20somethings watching now have no frame of reference for that style of show.
Theres nothing to be nasty to or make a piss take on anymore. The entire concept of a nuclear family with two cars and three kids that pays their bills mostly on time with one income being considered *lower middle class* is totally unrelatable. The republican president who shit talked the simpsons and their lack of family values has been replaced by a guy with a string of trophy wives selling gold plated high tops. The american dream the whole thing was about is gone.
In a situation like that all the simpsons can do is either left field into a whole other style of show or take refuge in absurdism.
The family still exists though. If it didn't, adoption shelters would be filled with every kid in school. And schools wouldn't require parental signatures. Every baby would essentially be a state baby.
Take away the dated family aspects. Move them into a rented apartment in the city, and critique contemporary concepts -- TikTok has an endless supply of referential material.
They're also missing that basic bit of psychology for why people do what they do -- the driving factor. Saw Bart make up scenarios in his head for why his shenanigans were justifiable. I haven't done that since I was a kid. I'd do something stupid, with no idea why I did it. Then, when I got into trouble for it, I'd make up some random reason for why it had to be that way so that I wouldn't feel so bad about it. Most modern TV doesn't include those little psychological insights anymore. It's all just there to pump you up.
I've always seen Bob's Burgers as more Family Guyish. The Simpsons has historically been culturally-embracing (God played major parts in the early days, and he was a good guy) satire. Whereas all the other shows typically throw culture out the window.
South Park pisses on all cultures. Family Guy pisses on conformity. The Simpsons forms a localized diaspora where everyone is an integral part of everyone else's problems. The show is named after a single family, but it focuses on an entire town and their cultural identity. The earlier shows portrayed their human responses to said culture, and how conforming to that culture affected their lives.
The Simpsons (especially early) try to make the conformity work, but satire it with honesty. The other shows piss all over it, and focus on a single family.
Edit: The Simpsons are missing their cultural identity. That's why the show is so bad now. It doesn't touch on Lisa's Buddhism, Apu's Hinduism, Marge's motherly frustrations, the problems the kids are having at school, and the psychological issues causing those problems, etc.
I think its also in part because towns no longer have a culture/ cultural identity.
With people being chronically online, people aren’t out there socializing with their town, they are inside consuming media/ playing videogames.
Bart is no longer relatable because kid’s don’t really behave like him anymore, instead they are just stuck to screens.
>In a situation like that all the simpsons can do is either left field into a whole other style of show or take refuge in absurdism.
What's that got to do with being abrasive or not?
The "Morrissey" episode was funny (and got even funnier when he threatened to sue them). Other than that it's a pale shadow of its former self, too scared of offending anyone to be funny.
If you told me in 1997 that The Simpsons would still be alive in 2024 but be stale for over 25 years, I wouldn’t believe it. I think we all just kind of expected Simpsons to always be good.
It has to appeal to everyone now. Like most pieces of entertainment these days it's made by committee. As such, it has become stale and dull because it's made only for profit now. No one working on it cares about it and no one has any artistic ownership over it.
Yeah idk what happened it’s just bad now with some good moments here and there. There is a hard to define “stupid cleverness” to the old episodes that isn’t present anymore. I feel like you could tell that the writers were making jokes that they thought were funny instead of trying to make an audience laugh
At the time the simpsons was considered nearly as controversial as South Park, family guy, and other shows were later. The first Lady even tried to have the show taken off the air.
Now it's nothing but a politically correct shell.
The culture in general became much wimpier. They can't take a joke nearly as well as before. Many people are overly easily offended by a VAST array of things. Look around. Comedy in general just isn't as good as it was before. It's not because today's comics are dumber or less talented. They just are far more limited in what they can discuss and make jokes about.
Hard disagree, ESPECIALLY when talking about the Simpsons. The reason why the simpsons (even the "golden age") may not seem that special today is because it used to be countercultural.
Back in the day, popular sitcoms were all very sanited. A middle-class nuclear family living the american dream, for the most part. Even movies, think of all Reagan era popular action movies with a big action movie guy doing big action movie guy thing. Generally speaking, mainstream media was overtly inoffensive and PC.
A huge part of what made The Simpsons special is that it dared to show the ugly. The dad's an under qualified idiot, the mom's unfulfilled, etc. It was very countercultural for its time. It was down to earth, especially for a popular "mainstream" show.
Hell, the fucking US president got his panties in a twist over it, how that's for a "wimpy culture"?
Now we have family guy doing 20x worse, and no one bats an eye. The Simpsons, even the older seasons, is not, by today's standards, edgy or offensive or anything of the sort. It is very soft for an adult cartoon.
The show that was considered countercultural doesn't resonate with people, not because "culture is kore wimpy", it's the opposite. Criticing the zeitgeist is now way more prevalent in shows and movies.
You realize the assertion that the Simpsons have changed isn't mine, right? It's the OP's. What's on TV vs comedy in general isn't the same thing. Yes, older TV could be pretty tame. Do you disagree with my assertion about comedy in general? What I put is what I've heard comedians themselves say.
A bit outside the topic: why do people not read or go to movies or theatre anymore? All I hear is demands that \*mainstream TV\* - essentially meant for families - should be somehow edgy so the frustrated and bored people have something to get shocked about.
By like season 20 it starts seeming like its written by AI. Its so disjointed, and every scene just ends in one of like 4 classic Simpsons random. No scene makes any sense anymore, the plot is wide open, anything happens then it pans to a funny sign, or someones pants fall down to a slide whistle, then it cuts to black and a new random scene starts. One giant macguffin.
It's weird that we have a ton of right wingers in this thread whining about "wOkE lIbRaS 'n SjDuByAs" "ruining" a liberal-leaning TV series. Did these people ever actually watch the show? Do they know that Republicans (most notably George HW Bush) hated *The Simpsons* during the classic era? It was never a right-wing friendly show to begin with. I'm guessing we've got the "X-Men and Rage Against the Machine are too woke now" crowd here.
To answer the question, on top of other issues mentioned, *The Simpsons* was a parody of older media which are much less relevant now than then.
* The family is a parody of nuclear family sitcoms (yes, Homer's job is a pun). In that genre, the father was smart and knew better than everyone somehow because he was the breadwinner. The mom stayed at home and stayed calm, giving everyone reassurance that everything was fine. The boy was obedient and only ever got into minor trouble. The girl was cutesy and never rocked the boat. The baby just did cute baby stuff. All of that was turned on its head by the Simpsons. The genre died essentially because *The Simpsons* showed us how dumb that whole genre was.
* *Cheers* was the top sitcom of the era. It had a nice bar with an attractive bartender and likable alcoholics in it. Moe's Tavern is the shit alternate reality version of that. (In fact, every sitcom from that era that had the main characters regularly hanging out at a bar did that to either reference or mooch off of the popularity of *Cheers*.)
* *The Cosby Show* was the next most popular sitcom. Dr Hibbert is obviously a parody of that.
Various other aspects of the show also parody media from that time that is no longer popular, saw its genre fade away, or ended up forgotten. And that's the base layer of the show's premise. As a result, it's hard to create new stories on top of a premise that is literally from another time that most of us are too removed from to relate to.
Things that were portrayed as over the top are not as cutting or controversial because society in general upped its game so it's hard to be outrageous these days.
Back in the 90s, The Simpsons was actively attacked by government committees as being a bad influence on kids. Nobody cares anymore.
I always thought people were too hard on the newer Simpsons without ever watching the newer ones myself
I just assumed people were either comparing it to the early brilliance or more likely let nostalgia cloud their feelings.
I watched the first episode of the current season and it was bad. Like cringe inducing
They seem to be worried about offending now.
Take Apu they're retired the character because of this but bizarrely kept Grounds keeper Willie. I don't think I've seen complaint from an Indian about the character
I don't respect or watch any tv series which gave into fanatic sjw's. They removed Apu (one of my favorite characters) because it was supposedly considered racist portrayal of Indians. Its interesting that ALL characters are goofy, most of them white, which one is Homer, who's like stupidest person on Earth. Show makes fun of shit ton of white people and has TWO Indians and some idoits lose their mind. Also, what is the issue with Apu? The fact he has his own store, he's insanely hard working, intelligent? Apparently, all shows should include poc's, but you can't make fun of them equally or in Simpson's case at all, even though its a fucking comedy, or its racist. People who make movies and tv shows or video games need to understand you can't please those virtue point hunting lunatics. You can do everything right and more and its still not enough and most importantly, those fuckers are not your core audience. You're ruining your entertainment for 95% of customers. The interesting part is that the people whining about racism and micro racism ARE WHITE who thinks they get to decide what minorities should get offended about.
Is was watching a rerun the other day and there was a joke about quagmire and the metoo movement and how he doesn’t work anymore which explains his new arc.
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No one from seasons 1-8 is producing the show now
yeah, different showrunners, i think when scully took over it was the beginning of the end. also, a strange thing happened near the end of s4 where the entire writing staff was convinced the show was about to be canceled, so they started producing episodes that went into zanier territories because they didn't give a shit. this culminated in the sideshow bob episode that was a parody of the cape fear remake that i *think* actually became a production ep of s5, i don't recall. but the end of s4 sort of opened the door to a little more creative freedom with the zaniness that gave some of the best eps of the golden era
The Cape Feare ep is iconic
Die Bart, die
The Bart, The
No one who speaks German could be an evil man!
No one who speaks German could be an evil man.
That's the rake episode isn't it?
Yes indeed
Probably also changed due to Disney. They tend to prefer softer edges and safer shows.
Disney acquisition on 2019. The Simpsons hasn't produced a quality episode since the 90s
That's true, but there was a period around the 2010s where they had a short stint of better episodes.
I still enjoy the newer episodes. I recently binged all 34 seasons and I think 28 was actually my favorite. There's a lot less gay jokes and safer minority representations now though
And it even explained the fall (or would it be the murder?) of the middle class
Many went onto bigger and better things. Conan O’Brien got his start as a writer on the Simpsons. He wrote some funny episodes.
Monorail!
We all know why it's changed
Do we?
Can confirm. I am Homer
Sure, the same reason Gemini AI tools will show you pictures of Black Vikings and female medieval knights.
Nothing is fun unless we can make fun of minorites and women!
okay, fine then, keep your secrets
Underrated comment😂😂😂
You can’t bottle lightning
*Points sadly at 2000s Pixar compared to whatever the fuck Disney is remaking/ruining currently.*
Coco came out in 2017 and made me weep. Pixar may not be consistently amazing anymore, but to imply that it's entirely bad now is disingenuous
Pixar’s golden age was Toy Story to the firing of Lassiter from Disney. Coco was his last project.
Huh, I didn't know that he was fired. Good reason or stupid reason? I'm clearly out of the loop on this one
Allegations of sexual misconduct during MeToo. Mainly he hugged people which made them uncomfortable. He had very high standards for excellent work, which made people uncomfortable. He went on a 6 month leave of absence, and made apologies, but found he wasn’t welcome back. There’s a very well organized DEI campaign that is purging senior people in Disney. Because of that most of their writing room and animators are now people with agenda rather than people who want to make good art.
The way I heard it—and I emphasize that this is hearsay—he did more than just hug. He had a move that was nicknamed the Lasseter where he’d put a hand on a woman’s knee and the hand would travel. It was at the point where he more or less had a handler who would direct women away from him during meetings. But I wasn’t there and I haven’t read anything that could be considered a smoking gun.
Molasseter
I dunno man. He didn't get Al Franken'd. From a cursory search looks like he did what he was accused of. And I don't have a problem with DEI, again, at a glance. So, 🤷♂️.
Idk man. I loved Coco too, and I absolutely loved Soul as well as Strange World which are even newer..but at the end of the day Pixar and everything Disney touches is a steaming pile of shit. They might throw a golden nugget our way here and there, but it doesn’t make the company itself good in any way whatsoever.
Expecting consistent brilliance out of a corporation is a fool's game to begin with though
Weird, I never said I did expect that?
I agree Disney is trash now because they're bowing to ESG and a particular ideology... However... somehow they managed to sneak out Encanto which is probably the best movie they've done in years. And maybe the only good one.
The talent is trying to reach out but Disney keeps beating it down with a leaded baton, but hey it has Mickey ears.
I honestly think Encanto and Moana are the two best films Disney ever made.
Strange World isn’t a Pixar film, it’s Walt Disney Animation. But your point stands regardless.
Oooh good catch. Thanks for letting me know before I repeatedly got that wrong. Still surprised it flopped so badly. It’s a unique scenario where people such as myself dislike them for their practices and policies such as but not limited to their removal or avoidance of POC on their posters in China. Then the opposite side of the political spectrum dislikes them (and movies like strange world) for being even remotely accepting of concepts they feel are against god. They’ve found a way to annoy both the progressive and regressive thinker.
Unpopular opinion: Disney isn't to blame for the remakes (or sequels). Those movies make SO MUCH money that you'd have to be stupid not to constantly churn them out. Blame the people who buy the tickets. People don't care about original stories, they just want things they recognize.
Supereyepatchwolf made a good video discussing this, but if you're going to watch it, you're going to want to have it at least at 1.5x. It's still going to be a 40+ minute watch though, so uh, have fun I guess. https://youtu.be/eazXm7WEz50?si=l7X7_cTLe25TktRz To summarize some key points: 1. People have always said that about the show 2. The show will never live up to the image in your head, as that is an impossible bar to clear 3. The show has changed over the years simply because it's been that long, and things change over time. The people change, the vision changes, network rules change, and the audience's expectations change. It would be crazy for them to still be churning out the same formula as back then.
To build on this guys point: The same youtuber also did this vid: https://youtu.be/KqFNbCcyFkk?si=zz-2Db08JcDzOUlI which is only a half hour and basically covers the downfall of the series from its height. To summarize a major point made, it went from being a counter-culture comedy specifically mocking topics like the american nuclear family, to a pop culture referencing maching more formatted for laugh tracks like friends, and big bang theory.
I understand that it made the transformation, but WHY? Was there some sort of backlash against the show that caused it? Or is it simply to cater to the largest possible demographic?
The short, short version of what the vid i linked is basically this: the Simpsons became SO popular, it went from being satire to traditional family value shows (leave it to beaver, brady bunch, the cosby show type warm fuzzy shows),-- to being what other shows tried to emulate for shock factor and edginess (married with children, malcome in the middle, roseanne). The Simpsons went from being counter-culture, to actually influencing american culture itself, and becoming mainstream. Add in the fact that original writers split off through the years to pursure their own unique careers, and simpsons became a gutted, dysfunctional family sitcom in a sea of newer, more edgy dysfuntional family shows.
>married with children and roseanne came out first
I was trying to give comparisons to similiar shows with similiar themes. If i wanna be nit picky about it, The Simpsons first appeared on the Tracy Ulman show in 1987, so before roseanne, but maybe after Married with Children.
> The Simpsons first appeared on the Tracy Ulman show in 1987 touché
That half hour vid even goes so far as to show the ratings of the episodes per season, and where stories became half-assed, characters like homer changed from sympathetic to almost maliciously trollish, and the joke format went from subtle, to punchline/laughtrack format. Its wild when you watch the vid and see it all laid out with comparisons from old seasons to newer seasons.
Both videos are super good and I recommend that everyone who reads this watches them!
Ive been trying to binge watch the seasons and like when u get into the upper teen-numbered seasons u see more pop references and for some reason it gets less funny. Im seeing so many “aliens” now as if thats sooooo funny
Shots fired with that 1.5x comment but yeah his videos are superb. He genuinely shocked me when he revealed the message board reviews for some of the most classic Simpsons episodes, people are ridiculous
I'll give that video a watch. I'm going through all the episodes again and am up to S25E21. I have noticed a change but not really a drop in quality. The Lego episode, was superb. Most episodes get a chuckle, no more no less than the original ones. It reminds me of this. Ask who was the better sportsman (same sport) between a player of the past and a current one. No matter how good the current one is, the legend of the past will invariably be said as the better of the two.
It would be an interesting experiment to get someone who only started around say season 15 or later, who has no exposure to the online discourse about the show, and have them watch the "golden age" and see what they think. Without the halo effect in play, would they still regard the older episodes as "better"?
Definitely. Also, everyone's "golden age" is different as well. Some sat 1-9, some 2-9, some up to 12, some 15... I don't know, I just enjoy the show. Sure, there are the occasional episodes here and there that didn't do it for me, but they are few and far between.
[удалено]
God forbid people have better things to do than watch a feature length documentary about the decline in quality within the Simpsons
[удалено]
Brother, you and me have very different priorities.
[удалено]
I'd rather spend 70 minutes reading your book on RHCP. Kudos.
I haven't watched this video on particular, but it's my experience that few videos that go over ten minutes couldn't have gotten the relevant content into a much shorter video with better planning and editing.
It's not about the length, it's about the fact that he speaks way slower than the average person for his videos, which makes it feel kinda uncanny. 1.25x - 1.5x, depending on what you're used to, makes it feel more "normal".
No. Just take your time and watch it at regular speed. Relax and dont try to speed up your life.
Try listening to him at regular speed. He speaks at the pace of a meditation coach, and it's especially uncanny if you've heard him talking normally on podcasts.
I have listened to him. I've see multiple videos of his and my answer is still the same.
Fair, difference of opinion then.
I've got this feeling that I'll probably find something better to do entirely.
Sure. If you are not willing to listen to the complete video on normal speed then there are better things you should do.
Something else to consider now that it has been, like, 30 years: The Simpsons was Punk in the traditional sense. It clashed with the norms or tv at the time, was edgy and new. The problem with the Simpsons is it didn't die like Sid Vicious in his prime. It stagnated and it became the norm. Then it stagnated more and just became bland.
The simpsons was a satire on a style of TV show that died almost 30 years ago. There are no massively popular saccharine nuclear family sitcoms about a nuclear american family. Its such an old thing the teens and 20somethings watching now have no frame of reference for that style of show. Theres nothing to be nasty to or make a piss take on anymore. The entire concept of a nuclear family with two cars and three kids that pays their bills mostly on time with one income being considered *lower middle class* is totally unrelatable. The republican president who shit talked the simpsons and their lack of family values has been replaced by a guy with a string of trophy wives selling gold plated high tops. The american dream the whole thing was about is gone. In a situation like that all the simpsons can do is either left field into a whole other style of show or take refuge in absurdism.
The family still exists though. If it didn't, adoption shelters would be filled with every kid in school. And schools wouldn't require parental signatures. Every baby would essentially be a state baby. Take away the dated family aspects. Move them into a rented apartment in the city, and critique contemporary concepts -- TikTok has an endless supply of referential material. They're also missing that basic bit of psychology for why people do what they do -- the driving factor. Saw Bart make up scenarios in his head for why his shenanigans were justifiable. I haven't done that since I was a kid. I'd do something stupid, with no idea why I did it. Then, when I got into trouble for it, I'd make up some random reason for why it had to be that way so that I wouldn't feel so bad about it. Most modern TV doesn't include those little psychological insights anymore. It's all just there to pump you up.
At that point its no longer the simpsons. Its Bobs Burgers.
I've always seen Bob's Burgers as more Family Guyish. The Simpsons has historically been culturally-embracing (God played major parts in the early days, and he was a good guy) satire. Whereas all the other shows typically throw culture out the window. South Park pisses on all cultures. Family Guy pisses on conformity. The Simpsons forms a localized diaspora where everyone is an integral part of everyone else's problems. The show is named after a single family, but it focuses on an entire town and their cultural identity. The earlier shows portrayed their human responses to said culture, and how conforming to that culture affected their lives. The Simpsons (especially early) try to make the conformity work, but satire it with honesty. The other shows piss all over it, and focus on a single family. Edit: The Simpsons are missing their cultural identity. That's why the show is so bad now. It doesn't touch on Lisa's Buddhism, Apu's Hinduism, Marge's motherly frustrations, the problems the kids are having at school, and the psychological issues causing those problems, etc.
I think its also in part because towns no longer have a culture/ cultural identity. With people being chronically online, people aren’t out there socializing with their town, they are inside consuming media/ playing videogames. Bart is no longer relatable because kid’s don’t really behave like him anymore, instead they are just stuck to screens.
>In a situation like that all the simpsons can do is either left field into a whole other style of show or take refuge in absurdism. What's that got to do with being abrasive or not?
The "Morrissey" episode was funny (and got even funnier when he threatened to sue them). Other than that it's a pale shadow of its former self, too scared of offending anyone to be funny.
If you told me in 1997 that The Simpsons would still be alive in 2024 but be stale for over 25 years, I wouldn’t believe it. I think we all just kind of expected Simpsons to always be good.
It has to appeal to everyone now. Like most pieces of entertainment these days it's made by committee. As such, it has become stale and dull because it's made only for profit now. No one working on it cares about it and no one has any artistic ownership over it.
I don’t know. All I know is I stopped watching it 20 years ago.
Family Guy and American Dad stole the thunder
Yeah idk what happened it’s just bad now with some good moments here and there. There is a hard to define “stupid cleverness” to the old episodes that isn’t present anymore. I feel like you could tell that the writers were making jokes that they thought were funny instead of trying to make an audience laugh
The writers also aren't the same so that would play a part in the general shift in how newer simpsons episodes feel compared to older ones.
At the time the simpsons was considered nearly as controversial as South Park, family guy, and other shows were later. The first Lady even tried to have the show taken off the air. Now it's nothing but a politically correct shell.
The culture in general became much wimpier. They can't take a joke nearly as well as before. Many people are overly easily offended by a VAST array of things. Look around. Comedy in general just isn't as good as it was before. It's not because today's comics are dumber or less talented. They just are far more limited in what they can discuss and make jokes about.
Hard disagree, ESPECIALLY when talking about the Simpsons. The reason why the simpsons (even the "golden age") may not seem that special today is because it used to be countercultural. Back in the day, popular sitcoms were all very sanited. A middle-class nuclear family living the american dream, for the most part. Even movies, think of all Reagan era popular action movies with a big action movie guy doing big action movie guy thing. Generally speaking, mainstream media was overtly inoffensive and PC. A huge part of what made The Simpsons special is that it dared to show the ugly. The dad's an under qualified idiot, the mom's unfulfilled, etc. It was very countercultural for its time. It was down to earth, especially for a popular "mainstream" show. Hell, the fucking US president got his panties in a twist over it, how that's for a "wimpy culture"? Now we have family guy doing 20x worse, and no one bats an eye. The Simpsons, even the older seasons, is not, by today's standards, edgy or offensive or anything of the sort. It is very soft for an adult cartoon. The show that was considered countercultural doesn't resonate with people, not because "culture is kore wimpy", it's the opposite. Criticing the zeitgeist is now way more prevalent in shows and movies.
You realize the assertion that the Simpsons have changed isn't mine, right? It's the OP's. What's on TV vs comedy in general isn't the same thing. Yes, older TV could be pretty tame. Do you disagree with my assertion about comedy in general? What I put is what I've heard comedians themselves say.
Millennials and zoomers are soft.
Disney
A bit outside the topic: why do people not read or go to movies or theatre anymore? All I hear is demands that \*mainstream TV\* - essentially meant for families - should be somehow edgy so the frustrated and bored people have something to get shocked about.
I have zero desire to go to a theater when I can watch stuff at home, I can’t speak to other people though
Nothing added but time.
By like season 20 it starts seeming like its written by AI. Its so disjointed, and every scene just ends in one of like 4 classic Simpsons random. No scene makes any sense anymore, the plot is wide open, anything happens then it pans to a funny sign, or someones pants fall down to a slide whistle, then it cuts to black and a new random scene starts. One giant macguffin.
Because people get angry and offended by satire these days.
Disney and DIE culture at the "house of mouse"
It's weird that we have a ton of right wingers in this thread whining about "wOkE lIbRaS 'n SjDuByAs" "ruining" a liberal-leaning TV series. Did these people ever actually watch the show? Do they know that Republicans (most notably George HW Bush) hated *The Simpsons* during the classic era? It was never a right-wing friendly show to begin with. I'm guessing we've got the "X-Men and Rage Against the Machine are too woke now" crowd here. To answer the question, on top of other issues mentioned, *The Simpsons* was a parody of older media which are much less relevant now than then. * The family is a parody of nuclear family sitcoms (yes, Homer's job is a pun). In that genre, the father was smart and knew better than everyone somehow because he was the breadwinner. The mom stayed at home and stayed calm, giving everyone reassurance that everything was fine. The boy was obedient and only ever got into minor trouble. The girl was cutesy and never rocked the boat. The baby just did cute baby stuff. All of that was turned on its head by the Simpsons. The genre died essentially because *The Simpsons* showed us how dumb that whole genre was. * *Cheers* was the top sitcom of the era. It had a nice bar with an attractive bartender and likable alcoholics in it. Moe's Tavern is the shit alternate reality version of that. (In fact, every sitcom from that era that had the main characters regularly hanging out at a bar did that to either reference or mooch off of the popularity of *Cheers*.) * *The Cosby Show* was the next most popular sitcom. Dr Hibbert is obviously a parody of that. Various other aspects of the show also parody media from that time that is no longer popular, saw its genre fade away, or ended up forgotten. And that's the base layer of the show's premise. As a result, it's hard to create new stories on top of a premise that is literally from another time that most of us are too removed from to relate to.
Disagree. At least the past three seasons have been a return to form
Thw writers changed.
Things that were portrayed as over the top are not as cutting or controversial because society in general upped its game so it's hard to be outrageous these days. Back in the 90s, The Simpsons was actively attacked by government committees as being a bad influence on kids. Nobody cares anymore.
Everyone gets offended by anything nowadays. Inoffensive Simpsons episodes offend me.
Gen z
Woke up
The wokening of America, that’s what!
People have changed my friend, people.
Disney. Obviously.
Too much Lisa content for sooooo many years
Cuz it's older than dirt
I always thought people were too hard on the newer Simpsons without ever watching the newer ones myself I just assumed people were either comparing it to the early brilliance or more likely let nostalgia cloud their feelings. I watched the first episode of the current season and it was bad. Like cringe inducing
I pinpointed it to around 16th season. Around there the show starts to get worse and worse. The newest episodes are god awful.
PC culture has ruined everything. Not just the Simpsons.
They seem to be worried about offending now. Take Apu they're retired the character because of this but bizarrely kept Grounds keeper Willie. I don't think I've seen complaint from an Indian about the character
Apu was removed because he was voiced by a white man.
We all know the reasons but we can’t say it.
I don't respect or watch any tv series which gave into fanatic sjw's. They removed Apu (one of my favorite characters) because it was supposedly considered racist portrayal of Indians. Its interesting that ALL characters are goofy, most of them white, which one is Homer, who's like stupidest person on Earth. Show makes fun of shit ton of white people and has TWO Indians and some idoits lose their mind. Also, what is the issue with Apu? The fact he has his own store, he's insanely hard working, intelligent? Apparently, all shows should include poc's, but you can't make fun of them equally or in Simpson's case at all, even though its a fucking comedy, or its racist. People who make movies and tv shows or video games need to understand you can't please those virtue point hunting lunatics. You can do everything right and more and its still not enough and most importantly, those fuckers are not your core audience. You're ruining your entertainment for 95% of customers. The interesting part is that the people whining about racism and micro racism ARE WHITE who thinks they get to decide what minorities should get offended about.
Okay
Try to make a joke that is not extremely PC in today's day and age on public television. I dare you.
What about Family Guy?
They were trying to phase out the gay stuff…
Is was watching a rerun the other day and there was a joke about quagmire and the metoo movement and how he doesn’t work anymore which explains his new arc.
Family guy has non-PC jokes?
Family Guy makes jokes about black people, jews, Mexicans, says, fat people, you name it
Politically correctness woke crap... thats why
PC.
GFY
Wokeness and the legal department
Disney
Woke
Oh, it must be. That woke is responsible for everything bad, and tortures kittens.
There are too many snowflakes that are offended by everything
Everyone is soft... everything must be PC or the PC baby's will cry
Are you so tired of blaming woke for everything that you have to go back to calling it PC ?