December 25th, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^
Best reply:
You get a shout out in the Simpsons you know you have arrived
@DavidTackmann
ps is that supposed to be the Michigan Union building?
December 25th, 2023 at 11:26 PM ^
a lesser man would give a shit. Ohio=Life in Hell and Groening knows it.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
The Simpsons hasn't been funny in decades.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^
So do you watch week in and week out and determine this? Or maybe did you just evolve and find it's not for you?
December 25th, 2023 at 11:39 PM ^
CB just ran out of weed.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:47 PM ^
I watch it frequently because I look forward to Bob's Burger and Family Guy, and I agree Simpsons it's dropped off dramatically the past couple of decades. The best episode will have a couple modestly funny bits, most episodes the stop paying attention to half way through.
I assumed it's living off it's reputation, but maybe you and others still enjoy it?
December 26th, 2023 at 11:36 AM ^
Not disagreeing with anything here- just laughing at the fact that "dropped off dramatically the past couple of decades" is a legit criticism- but only because so few shows make it one decade let alone a couple.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:59 PM ^
The show is a victim of its own success. They've run out of material so the plot lines are ridiculous, the pacing feels too quick, and the jokes more desperate. Feels like the writers have been trying too hard or have gotten lazy. Hard to tell, but it's not as good as it once was.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:01 AM ^
I can't imagine maintaining that level of funny for decades, even with an entire new writer's room. It's impossible.
December 26th, 2023 at 9:43 AM ^
even with an entire new writer's room.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this. The original writing team has likely moved on and the new, cheaper team of young writers don’t have the same life experiences.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
The first 7 seasons are considered the classic seasons, and one of the main writers was none other than Conan O'Brien. I was a regular viewer back in those days, but it became apparent they ran out of ideas. The Simpsons should've quit while they were ahead a long, long time ago. I guess someone is still watching them, but my view of TV programming, particularly sitcoms, is pretty low.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:10 AM ^
the people have spoken. Each episode's IMDB rating by season
(graphic by u/Hbenne in r/dataisbeautiful)
^ doubly meta reference since it's used for the mgoblog basketball preview graphic but also originally from the Simpsons (golden era, that is)
December 26th, 2023 at 1:01 AM ^
Season 10 is when I bailed. Now I see why
December 26th, 2023 at 9:48 AM ^
Pretty much same for me. Seasons 10-11 were my first years in college and I started realizing I didn't have time during my Sundays for post-Barry Lions and post-funny Simpsons
December 26th, 2023 at 8:28 AM ^
+1 for awesome data visualization there.
December 26th, 2023 at 8:38 AM ^
Looks about right to me.
December 26th, 2023 at 10:23 AM ^
That first season is way more painful for me than anything in the last decade. Surprised to see such a high rating but it is nostalgic.
Glad they got the voices and animation down, and veered away from a Bart-focused show saying Don't have a Cow man.
December 26th, 2023 at 11:03 AM ^
Yeah, the show really took off when it became more Homer-centered.
But eventually they ran out of ways to give Homer redeeming qualities and just made him an annoying idiot all the time.
December 26th, 2023 at 1:23 PM ^
I'm pretty sure the emergence of "Jerk-ass" Homer came with a change in lead writers somewhere around Season 11. The decline started then. Peak Simpsons is STILL laugh out loud funny to me--that was brilliant comedy writing. But how do you maintain that for...lord, 35 years through multiple generations of writers? It's impossible. The show has had an amazing run though.
December 26th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
Yep, that checks out. For most of the 1990s it was the best show on the air. Almost every episode was hilarious. Then it got to a point, toward the end of the decade, where the characters started to become caricatures of themselves (Flanderization) and the humor became less intelligent. I continued watching up to about season 12 or so but it was getting to where it wasn't really funny anymore. I don't know how it's lasted 20+ years beyond that.
December 26th, 2023 at 5:09 PM ^
I think homer's expression says all you need to know. no need to embiggen the cool dataset provided.
December 26th, 2023 at 7:33 PM ^
Those are perfectly cromulent sentences.
December 26th, 2023 at 1:57 AM ^
Hasn't been funny since 2007.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:42 PM ^
In 1990 I won a free trip to Ireland. Simpsons was big there.. Simpson stuff everywhere. I would make jokes with the shop owners that this Simpson stuff is a fad..give it a few months, it'll pass. LOL. I couldn't have been more wrong. 24 years later.. who would have thought?
December 25th, 2023 at 11:50 PM ^
Years ago I was dating a girl from Cork, Ireland and she loved the Simpsons. Contrast with Family Guy, which we were watching one time and it happened to be the episode where they visit Ireland. Peter walks into a pub called "Wifey McBeaty's Tavern." I laughed heartily. She did not. Anyway, yada yada, she married some German dude and now resides in London last I heard.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:52 PM ^
I'm sure you are better off without that one.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:28 AM ^
There once was a girl from Cork,
Whose sense of humor was Internationally choosy - but, alas, decidedly bespork.
Then Sopwith spoke, the dam broke.
Now she's made demi-Krauts with some City of London banker dork.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:12 AM ^
34 years?
December 26th, 2023 at 12:43 AM ^
I went to Taiwan in 2016. I turned on the hotel TV not knowing what to expect. They were showing an episode of the Simpsons dubbed in Mandarin.
December 26th, 2023 at 8:37 AM ^
I thought that show ended around 2010.
December 26th, 2023 at 9:18 AM ^
Stopped watching around season eight.
December 26th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
About the time the movie came out would have been a good time to wrap it up.
December 26th, 2023 at 10:44 AM ^
They were running on fumes at the turn of the century. They should have ended the show not long after the death of the voice of Troy McClure/Lionel Hutz. They were never able to replace him.
It’s insane that it’s still on the air. Almost all shows finish with a shaky last season or two but in the case of the Simpsons, that’s now like two-thirds of the show’s run.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:30 PM ^
There have been quite a lot of references to both Michigan the state and the university over the years. Most likely because Al Jean was born and raised in Detroit.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:35 PM ^
This. If anything, Al Jean is making fun of all the hooplah.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:37 PM ^
My 9th grade physics teacher used to talk about being Al Jean's teacher back in the day. Then the teacher was later exposed as a pervert.
That notwithstanding, Al Jean's influence on the Simpsons along with Jon Swartzwelder, Conan O'Brien, and a few others during seasons 3-7 made it the funniest show of all time.
Simpsons is kind of like the hockey careers of Jaromir Jagr or Gordie Howe, though. In its prime it was the pinnacle, but then kept going for several decades past that prime.
December 26th, 2023 at 7:01 AM ^
Speaking of The Simpsons and Gordie Howe, from 1989 ...
December 25th, 2023 at 11:37 PM ^
Unfortunately, this shows that the narrative desired by OSU is out there in pop culture.....
December 25th, 2023 at 11:54 PM ^
Here’s another narrative that’s out there in pop culture that’s less desirable to osu:
their coach was born on third base, and he thinks he hit a triple.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:43 PM ^
I can understand where they're coming from - college football is well known for its parity. Harbaugh's shenanigans are threatening to upset all that, though. Can you imagine a world where college football didn't have such competitive balance? A world where the vast majority of the money and power is in the hands of just a few teams? Where the top 2-3 schools are recruiting factories where 90% of the top players go so they can all play together? Where players and coaches are constantly looking for opportunities to leave their schools and move up to better ones? Well, that wouldn't be any fun at all. Harbaugh has to be stopped.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:14 AM ^
Best take of 2023. Bravo!
December 25th, 2023 at 11:45 PM ^
Not so sure this has anything to do with L'affaire Stalions. Simpsons episodes are usually done months in advance of broadcast. But who knows. Maybe they just think JH is imbalanced.
December 25th, 2023 at 11:49 PM ^
The Simpsons is one of the saddest stories in all of TV entertainment. In the 90s they were cutting edge comedy and absolute must see television, but they've been on for much longer now in quasi anonymity and cultural irrelevance. It's easy to forget the incredible highs that show reached because of that.
People said 20 years ago that they were no longer funny, people said it 15 years ago, 10 years ago etc. If people who've reached middle age thought a show had jumped the shark when they were in college, that's flippin crazy. Every time the show's name is brought up the conversation inevitably turns toward who is still watching this show to keep it on the air.
December 26th, 2023 at 12:03 AM ^
SNL is the same. The original stuff was before my time, but was better than anything that followed.
December 26th, 2023 at 5:57 AM ^
You may be right but it seems to me the past few years of SNL have been as good as the early years, and better than most. Don't forget that part of the glory of SNL at the start was that it was new and unusual.
December 26th, 2023 at 6:52 AM ^
I think SNL is in a different category compared to the Simpsons. SNL is almost always viewed with rose colored glasses when people look back on it, because they remember the best skits that were the big hits from each year. But if you watch any single episode, you're going to see 90% forgettable stuff (at best). To remain relevant, SNL just needs to have 4 or 5 skits REALLY hit each year, and it doesn't matter if the rest are forgettable.
December 26th, 2023 at 8:06 AM ^
IMO that’s wildly wrong. SNL goes through up and down phases, but when the stars align and you get the right group of writers and featured players, it’s always terrific. Original cast was great, then down, then the Eddie Murphy years were great, then down, then the Carvey/Farley/Sandler/Smigel years are great, then down, then the years where Fey is head writer are really good, etc…
December 26th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
A great cast and writer crew does not make a great show. They need to be paired with a great host - someone not afraid of the live stage and willing to poke fun at themselves and others. If the host is nervous, or worried about doing something edgy, the show will suck ass - great writers or cast members won't matter.
Give me an SNL episode with Justin Timberlake, or Rhianna, or Alec Baldwin, someone like that, and I'll tell you to tune in and watch a good show.