The Simpsons

[Gavin]

[color=royalblue]My Friends and I had this conversation in school on Friday last, trying to work out the best episode of the comedy series the Simpsons and we worked it down to a handful of episodes.

Personally I thought it was the episode where Homer goes to work for terrorist Hank Scorpio but that's just my opinion, there are many other fine Esipodes of the show and I want to know what other Otakus think they are.

Another thing we think is that the gereal quality of the Simpsons has deminished over the last few years, but then again I just want other peoples opinions on it.[/color]

[Semjaza]

I could go on a while... lol.

First of all, I agree that "You Only Move Twice" is the best episode (that's the Hank Scorpio one). Sure, it's totally ridiculous, but it works so well. The scene where the bum turns into a mailbox is priceless.

And yes, the Simpsons is going downhill. It's the blame of a few people I think, but I mostly blame Ian Maxtone Graham.

I'm sure most Simpsons fans are familiar with him. He is responsible for a good deal of writing on the show at this point. He even flashes his name as a joke in one episode. Anyway, the guy had seen, I believe, ONE episode before being hired as a writer. That's a problem for obvious reasons.

At this point it just feels like the Simpsons are no longer an animated version of a somewhat real family. Sure, they were always stuck in strange situations... especially past the first 2 seasons. It's getting ridiculous honestly.

A reliance on old jokes to make people think the show is anything like it used to be. It's nice for nostalgia or something, but once they go back to a joke... they NEVER drop it. Since they decided to highlight Carl and Lenny more, it just keeps getting added onto to a point that I'm tired of it personally.

They've done this with characters too. Homer is just too stupid now overall. Ralph, he was always stupid... But now he's to a point where he is so stupid it's hard to find him funny anymore. They've done this with a lot of characters.

And then we get into the whole pop culture thing. The Simpsons used to poke fun at it, but now it's embraced. Stars are no longer on for interesting or key roles... They're sticking in Britney or Kid Rock or Simon from American Idol. Anything that's popular at the time.

And it's so aggravating, mostly because if you read things Matt Groening currently works on (comics, books, etc)... it still has all the things that made the Simpsons funny in the first place! I don't know what's going on anymore.

The last 4 or so years have been really hit and miss. There's some great, memorable episodes... and then tons of trash. I miss the way it used to be, but that's me. Things change I guess.

Too bad Fox decided to treat him like crap, and beat down Futurama in the process. It really could have been a far better show. Some people aren't into it, but even so. It's first few seasons were more consistantly funny than the new Simpsons seasons it ran against.

Edit - The somewhat recent fascination with blood in the show bothers me too. In Itchy and Scratchy it's one thing. It's a parody, and blah blah blah. (Where did they go to anyway?)... But I can name at least 4 episodes in recent seasons that had a disgusting amount of blood pouring everywhere for no real reason. The joke it created or lead to wasn't even that funny.

[Change]

I think one of the greatest episodes is when Homer and Mr. Burns are traped in the log cabin after compleeting a Power Plant sponsored race. It was really great because the writing was so different for that episode.

The Simpsons has gotten worse over the years. I think the last good episode they did was the one where Homer was a missionary. Now they can just come up with Marge getting breast implants. It's not very funny, and I think the show should just go off the air.

[G/S/B Master]

NO WAY!!!! Sure it gotten worse. But it's still funny ( mostly a chuckle or an insane laugh ). Can't beleive they stop showing all new specials ( Halloween and Cristmas ones ). Now they just shown a new episode ( where Homer got his liscense provoked ). It wasn't as funny as the old ones. But they shouldn't take it off the air. Or else I'll just watch some thing really worse ( King of the hill a.k.a political cartoon gone bad )

[Semjaza]

King of the Hill is a far better show than Simpsons is currently I'd say, if you compare the recent seasons... Although this season has been really off for some reason. There's a reason that KotH is beating the Simpsons in quite a few demographics (in fact, one of the Simpsons key demographics last I checked - 20 to 30 year olds).

The Simpsons has just become so juvenile. That's my main problem with it. It's trying to be Family Guy (in fact, some recent episodes and jokes are DIRECT ripoffs of old Family Guy episodes). They are trying to do gags that have instant feedback, the main problem is that they don't do them well... compared to Family Guy, which has done them from the start and never held back.

The Simpsons is getting weak. I really would like it to go off the air at times, because while it's still better than most TV... that's not exactly saying much. For the most part, the last 2 seasons have been horribly horribly horrible. That's three times the normal horrible rate of bad episode from 4 years ago.

[Guest Steiner]

I would have to say its gone since the humour and jokes have become more mature but i still thinks its a funny show,

My favourite episode would have to be The flying hell fish episode where grandpa and Mr. burns are figting over a lost WWII Treasure.

[VinceValentine]

I love the simpsons and i think it will always be funny. I think that it is getting worse, but it will always be excellente!!! My Fave characters are Professor Frink and The Comic Book Guy!!!!!!!! they are so dam funny!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha he he he he he !!!!! :D:D:D

[TheShinje]

[size=1][color=darkblue] On the contrary, I believe the quality and humor of the simposons has grown over the years. It hasn't stopped poking at popular culture, it still does, And I am looking forward to the episode that will feature Simon Cowell, he's what makes American Idol more fun!
I think that the range of humor and the various things it pokes at is far more than when it first began, and funnier (ever seen the old comedy central shorts?) I think it should stay on the auir, because, even if you think it's declined, it's still better than alot of junk. [/size][/color]

[kiddy_phenil]

yeah, its starting to get to be a bit painful to watch.. guess they're running out of ideas after all these years on air..

[Shinkoru]

I agree Shinji. I think its gotten better and now its not targeting kids any more, a more mature audience, teens, is in mind, Ive found many more humorous jokes now than in the past, and my fav ep is halloween speical 3 :) classic :) IT is better than some junk they put out, what else could I watch at 10:30pm on week nights??? Futurama? King of the Hil? NOOO thats weekend things, simpsons is the best for funny dreaming :)

[Manic Webb]

FOX's longest running show, and it's starting to lose its funniness. Something about this show makes me hope it never ends, but then I watch one of the more recent episodes...

The Simpsons is spent. It's had a good, long run, but its humor is getting far too spread out and just plain weird. If/when this show gets cancelled, I'll miss it to death, but most TV series don't need to go past a 7th season (or in this case, 14th).

[pbfrontmanvdp]

After seeing the season finally, i think its getting better. The 2nd episode was halarious i mean [spoiler]the part with Moe tellin the story to Magie about the godfather series is halarious and then it all coming down to the Italian and American mafia in a stand off and the lone Mexican individual was to funny [/spoiler] (only put it in since not everyone saw it probably) i still think its as good if not better.

[Epitome]

My favorite episodes of the Simpsons are all of the Halloween ones. They are so funny. I like the one with the one eyed alien dude the best though. But I do think that the quality of the Simpsons is getting worse, because some of the episodes, just arent as funny.

[DeathBug]

I love the Simpsons, but they peaked around '98. Not that they have'nt had good episodes since, but it's still not up to the standards that they themselves set.

Sadly, they're still better than most of the stuff on TV. Especially when you factor reality TV into the mix.