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Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

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Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#121

Post by ConceptJunkie »

nathcun wrote: post #68
thrower123 wrote: post #46

If you'd like to see something really terrible, try watching the fantasy Simpsons/Futurama-esque mess that is Disenchanted on Netflix.

Some of the top writers I picked out (Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, David X/S Cohen) are involved in it, but I agree it's not great.

It started out pretty weak, but I think it's fair to admit it got a lot better by the last 3 episodes or so when it got a little more invested in the characters.

But the real test has been the fact that I haven't bothered to watch it again. I'd rather watch "The Simpsons" or "Futurama" for the N plus 1th time.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#122

Post by wefarrell »

ed_balls wrote: post #84
bliblah wrote: post #61

Nothing lasts forever. Plain and simple. I really dislike TV/Anime that never ends, seems to be the modus operandi for pretty much every mainstream show despite how bad the quality gets after 2-3 seasons. Simpsons is a great showcase of the homogenization that every sitcom will go through given enough time. It starts out as a comedy with some wholesome family moments to bring it together but eventually every characte…

> Nothing lasts forever South park is still funny. Last season was great (not sure about the current one)

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the David Bowie's of comedy. They develop a formula for success, and instead of milking it they toss it out completely and start again from scratch. True inspirations for any creative professional.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#123

Post by fortyseven »

bliblah wrote: post #61

Nothing lasts forever. Plain and simple. I really dislike TV/Anime that never ends, seems to be the modus operandi for pretty much every mainstream show despite how bad the quality gets after 2-3 seasons. Simpsons is a great showcase of the homogenization that every sitcom will go through given enough time. It starts out as a comedy with some wholesome family moments to bring it together but eventually every characte…

I was rocking along with this and then BAM a slam on Steven Universe out of nowhere.

It's all subjective, of course, but personally, I've found SU to be rock solid. The main arc is there, but the stand alone eps are just as valuable for that show. Not every episode of a show that doesn't obviously advance the main story arc is 'filler'. Some are just trying to tell a story. I notice that people tend to label those kinds of stand alone stories "filler" if they didn't like them.

I say this because I'm guilty of this kind of thing, too.

And that's not to say there AREN'T episodes of shows that are just spinning their wheels burning off quotas-- see the Arrowverse for lots of THAT. Oof.

This is why I've been increasingly becoming a fan of 13 episode seasons for some shows. Tell a good story. Get the hell out. Or if you just have 23 episode seasons, break it in half. Tell two solid arcs. Maybe bridge them if you must.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#124

Post by soneil »

jplayer01 wrote: post #13
duxup wrote: post #8

Whenever we talk about Simpsons decline it always occurs to me that even in decline... the Simpsons is still pretty good. Perhaps that says more about its high points than the "decline".

I think the decline is largely bullshit nostalgia. I still watch Simpsons and I still think it's great.

I still watch it, but it's more like comfort food now.

I couldn't honestly say whether I think the show itself has declined though. When I first started watching, a member of the family had got cable TV (a rarity in those days), and taped episodes for us. We'd get a VHS full of episodes on grainy long-play once it was full, and we'd binge on them. I'm still not sure if I've ever seen the end of the episode where Bart goes to france on an exchange trip, and Springfield gets an Albian spy in return.

But it felt so new, so American, and so different to anything else we had on terrestrial TV. It was like TV was misbehaving!

If it had never happened, and started today fresh, it'd have nowhere near the same impact. There's a higher level of quality, and a higher level of access to it, than any sane person knows what to do with.

It was a diamond in the rough. I don't think it is anymore. But the rough has changed so drastically, that it's difficult to draw an isolated comparison.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#125

Post by Farradfahren »

monetus wrote: post #101
dmortin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really dislike TV/Anime that never ends, seems to be the modus operandi for pretty much every mainstream show despite how bad the quality gets after 2-3 seasons. Isn't this an American thing where TV/movie things are primarily for money making? I mean the British Office had 2 seasons and 12 episodes. The US version had 9 seasons and 200 episodes. I didn't watch The Office, so I don't know if the US version got wo…

Maybe not British, but it is very much a Japanese tendecy, ime. If I see a good anime/comic, I try to appreciate what I saw and expect no resolution. I'm curious how often they even have resolution in the outline.

Some shows manage a decent ending - take House M.D. for example.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#126

Post by yardie »

dmortin wrote: post #97
bliblah wrote: post #61

Nothing lasts forever. Plain and simple. I really dislike TV/Anime that never ends, seems to be the modus operandi for pretty much every mainstream show despite how bad the quality gets after 2-3 seasons. Simpsons is a great showcase of the homogenization that every sitcom will go through given enough time. It starts out as a comedy with some wholesome family moments to bring it together but eventually every characte…

> I really dislike TV/Anime that never ends, seems to be the modus operandi for pretty much every mainstream show despite how bad the quality gets after 2-3 seasons. Isn't this an American thing where TV/movie things are primarily for money making? I mean the British Office had 2 seasons and 12 episodes. The US version had 9 seasons and 200 episodes. I didn't watch The Office, so I don't know if the US version got wo…

I've watched both and I think the US series is the better of the 2. Maybe it was just me but I found the Office UK's David to be a completely unlikable sociopath. The Office US had enough time to develop most of the characters and create some very funny scenarios. And most fans barely remember the trying to hard to be British 1st season.

200 episodes was probably too much, yet 12 episodes would not be enough.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#127

Post by Jarb »

eqdw wrote: post #90
ed_balls wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nothing lasts forever South park is still funny. Last season was great (not sure about the current one)

I've been binge watching all of south park for the past few weeks and it has definitely changed, along the same lines as people are saying about the Simpsons. It has not gotten worse. In fact, I think it is better than when it first started. But it has definitely changed. It's gotten quirkier and wackier, characters have become more caricaturey, etc. It's found its rut

Meh. I quit watching some time around 2010, not long after they were butt-hurt about the 200th/201st episode censorship (which, to be fair, was bs), and did some really shitty episodes. The one that comes to mind was the one with weird live-action bits. That really made me think about the show as a whole and how much it had changed. I realized that it had turned into a weekly moralizing/bashing showcase for whatever had rubbed Matt and Trey the wrong way. Instead of Cartman getting his bully's parents killed and cooking them in a chili or Chef singing about eating his chocolate salty balls, it was now about Jimmy (hate that character, btw) doing stand-up or getting a job as uber driver or making a lame LOTR or Batman "parody" without much to say about either genres. While some episodes did hit the right notes on raising awareness on an important issue (e.g. crack baby athletic league, kenny's last will, etc.), I miss the anarchic, crude humor of the first seasons.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#128

Post by afterburner »

josefresco wrote: post #120
afterburner wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget younger audiences. I was hearing people at work parrot the "both sides" BS from South Park directly.

To be fair/accurate, the South Park generation (myself included) is no longer "young". South Park is great if everyone is in on the joke. They tend to make fun of BOTH sides of every issue, showing the insanity and hypocrisy along the way. A smart person realizes what is right and wrong. The danger of this are those who "don't get it" and think being a giant asshole is funny/cool. The same thing applies to Howard Ste…

I agree, although you could interpret that approach as a cynical attempt to capture a wider audience. It's similar to when a show throws both liberals and conservatives a bone using various characters or dialogue.

Re: Why did the golden age of the Simpsons end?

#129

Post by flashgordon »

yardie wrote: post #126
dmortin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really dislike TV/Anime that never ends, seems to be the modus operandi for pretty much every mainstream show despite how bad the quality gets after 2-3 seasons. Isn't this an American thing where TV/movie things are primarily for money making? I mean the British Office had 2 seasons and 12 episodes. The US version had 9 seasons and 200 episodes. I didn't watch The Office, so I don't know if the US version got wo…

I've watched both and I think the US series is the better of the 2. Maybe it was just me but I found the Office UK's David to be a completely unlikable sociopath. The Office US had enough time to develop most of the characters and create some very funny scenarios. And most fans barely remember the trying to hard to be British 1st season. 200 episodes was probably too much, yet 12 episodes would not be enough.

I think it was wierd that the UK office finally came upon their own "redemption" moment for David Brent with the movie that came out a couple of years ago. I felt this was actually inspired by the US version where even though Steve was initially incompetent and selfish, by the time of his departure his incompetence had mellowed down a lot and his social "integration" was quite the highlight.
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