I once read that someone had actually traced the beginning of the end, as it were, of The Simpsons to a specific episode, the one in which Principal Skinner is revealed to be an impostor. This episode aired in the 9th season, and I think its pretty fair to say that it was around that time that The Simpsons began to dramatically decline in quality. That said, seasons 1-8 are brilliant.
Flii has brought up a good point there. I always remember thinking "What the hell was the point of that?" after that episode.
Quote: flii @ April 14 2009, 4:53 PM BSTI once read that someone had actually traced the beginning of the end, as it were, of The Simpsons to a specific episode, the one in which Principal Skinner is revealed to be an impostor. This episode aired in the 9th season, and I think its pretty fair to say that it was around that time that The Simpsons began to dramatically decline in quality. That said, seasons 1-8 are brilliant.
I'd say that is pretty accurate, Season 9 started the drop in quality and Season 10 continued and it was a continous roll down hill from then on.
People generally acknowledge the show where they go to new york as the first point where they drifted away from the perfect formula, that was the one slight blip in glorious series 7.
8 had a few more, but 9 was where it started to become really evident.
Currently watching the first seasons in order with the commentary on, adds a whole new dimension to each episode, great bits of info from Al Jean and Mike Reiss(who deserve a lot more credit than Groening ever did).
EDIT-interesting article http://www.slate.com/id/2078501/
Although Futurama is still good I feel. I think a lot of the top Simpsons writers went over to that show though right?
King of the Hill is another one I have been watching lately, really underrated and very funny.
The AV club has an interesting angle on all this...
http://www.avclub.com/articles/in-a-way-theyre-all-winners-10-simpsons-episodes-f,25487/
Futurama's new movies are not as funny as the series was (for me at least). With that said I do really like the movies and found them funny. The last one and Bender's Game were my favourites.
Quote: Martin H @ April 14 2009, 6:55 PM BSTKing of the Hill is another one I have been watching lately, really underrated and very funny.
I agree that KOTH is very funny and very underrated. I actually prefer KOTH in its prime to The Simpsons at its best (this may have something to do with the fact that I lived in Texas for for 10 years). Unfortunately the decline in quality in the Simpsons has been mirrored by KOTH. In my opinion, the turning point (for the worse) in KOTH took place at the end of season 8 and beginning of season 9; in other words, ever since the Lucky character first appeared. From that point on, there have been discontinuities in the overall story arc, the main characters have at times become caricatures of themselves, and some idiot decided that it would be a good idea to kill off Cotton Hill.
Quote: Martin H @ April 14 2009, 6:55 PM BSTAlthough Futurama is still good I feel. I think a lot of the top Simpsons writers went over to that show though right?
King of the Hill is another one I have been watching lately, really underrated and very funny.
1st couple of series are only £12.99 each in HMV at the minute. I keep meaning to pick some of them up.
Quote: Martin H @ April 14 2009, 6:55 PM BSTKing of the Hill is another one I have been watching lately, really underrated and very funny.
Hank and Peggy are two of the bet characters ever created.
Arguably a lot more linked to the decline of the Simpsons than Futurama too http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0199948/
I view The Simpsons as such:
- Seasons 1-3, good, very good in spots, but the show is finding its feet. Glimpses of genius, but it's only parts of the 3rd which really pointed to the very high levels the show would scale.
- Seasons 4-8. Mostly flat out genius. Up there with anything in TV history. I especially love seasons 5, 4 and 7.
- Seasons 9 and 10. Still mostly very good but starting to lose steam.
- A few good espiodes beyond that, for a couple of seasons, but for the most part it got progresssively worse and worse, the storylines became more strained and material dried up the longer it went on. The recent episodes are totally unwatchable.
On a sidenote: Matt Groening, it seems, like he did with The Simpsons is now pissing all over Futuramas legacy. The original first four seasons of Futurama were superb, Bender's Big Game was passable but this latest offering is a sack of shit. The show doesn't work well as a feature length film, it just drags venturing into some bizarre, unfunny rom-com for an hour and a half. sidelining the funniest character Bender with some shitty storyline just so that the end makes some sort of sense. It's a shame they've signed up for this four feature length film deal because the show still had legs when fox cancelled it, there were no signs of it going downhill.
Quote: Jackson Neil @ April 16 2009, 11:57 AM BSTOn a sidenote: Matt Groening, it seems, like he did with The Simpsons is now pissing all over Futuramas legacy. The original first four seasons of Futurama were superb, Bender's Big Game was passable but this latest offering is a sack of shit. The show doesn't work well as a feature length film, it just drags venturing into some bizarre, unfunny rom-com for an hour and a half. sidelining the funniest character Bender with some shitty storyline just so that the end makes some sort of sense. It's a shame they've signed up for this four feature length film deal because the show still had legs when fox cancelled it, there were no signs of it going downhill.
It was going a bit inconsistent in series 4 though anyway.
Let Groening wee all over them if he wants, he gets all the credit anyway(no matter how undeserved).
I think everyone who works on the show has just got lazy
Most of the original writers aren't working on the show though, surely.
It gets to a point where the show becomes a lazy parody of it's former self.
Quote: Seefacts @ May 3 2009, 11:49 PM BSTMost of the original writers aren't working on the show though, surely.
It gets to a point where the show becomes a lazy parody of it's former self.
They actually brought back quite a few of the golden era's writers there a few years ago, didn't work.