Add me to the long list of hacks who have declared the Simpsons “dead.” We have declared it dead upwards of a dozen times since the September 28, 1997 Seymour Skinner episode, but until the show finally dies, this descriptor has not and will not be any more appropriate than it is in the wake of last night’s opening credits.
The most important point to take away here is that the writers of this show believe that you a) enjoy or can at least tolerate the musical stylings of Kesha [sic], b) appreciate it when characters who have been developed over the course of twenty-plus years are used as puppets, and c) don’t need jokes, only familiar faces. Otto is being shown on my television. Whoa, now Comic Book Guy is being shown on my television! I am familiar with both of those characters! And they are singing a song (I like songs)!
In some unknown number of years, we’ll all have to drag our asses to the Simpsons’ series finale out of some measure of obligation and read/watch dozens of retrospectives and tributes — as well we should, because there’s no white-washing the truth that the first seven seasons of this show were more groundbreaking than anything else on television. Until then, know that your decision to ignore this show in recent years has been completely validated.
[A firm handshake to Videogum]
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I try to keep my commenting profanities to a minimum, unless necessary, but this is fucking terrible.
Aside from the intro, this was actually one of the better episodes they’ve made in the last couple of years.
Worst part: the 0:34-0:38 mark with Nelson lip-synching and fist pumping.
Second worst part (tie): 0:00-0:33 and 0:39-1:15.
I didna cry when me own father was hung for stealing a pig…but I’ll cry now.
The only real debate is when the show actually “died.” I personally think that the hilarity continued until the 12th season.
So they made a stupid video mocking the ubiquity of those terrible high school dub videos. I thought mocking the worst of pop culture is what they did.
I thought it was great to see the lyrics animated. It makes you appreciate how beautifully retarded the song is.
I will always stand by this show even in the slow years because it’s the fucking Simpsons, but things turned when Mama Hartman went all cunt and murdered Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure.
Mo Charlo, I think it was around 2000 or so when the show just fell apart. Sure there is a good episode here and there, but its not the same.
Then again, what the writers and cast of this show pulled off from 1991 til then was some of the best TV ever produced. They couldn’t have kept it up forver.
The last laugh comes from the main Voice Cast. They’ve been getting paid bundles to phone this shit in over the years.
I might extend The Simpsons’s life to as late as Treehouse of Horror VIII (which aired October 26, 1997), with a few tolerable episodes sprinkled later in season 9.
[insert clever Simpsons reference here]
Lighten up, Francis.
I just think of the Simpsons as two separate shows – the first 7 or 8 seasons that were just amazing, hilarious, culture defining comedy, and the subsequent N seasons that is mildly entertaining and worth watching but is just like watching a different show. Trying to hold it up to its former glory is a pointless exercise, but enjoying it for a somewhat funny and enjoyable 22-minute cartoon is still possible.
God, I am so tired of all the whining about long running shows. The opening credits had nothing to do with the actual episode. The episode was actually very good and part of what has been a good season overall. So where did this come from? Hmm, could it be part of FOX ROCKS WEEK?
[www.thefutoncritic.com]
Yes, that’s exactly what it is. A slapped together last minute bit of nonsense to comply with a stupid idea from FOX Network executives.
BOOOOOO-URNS!
I only catch a new episode here or there…seems like 2 or 3 per season. But every single time I do, Marge & Homer are splitting up over something stupid. How many times can they re-do that? And to that…how many times in the same season? Now sure, I admit that I don’t catch a LOT of episodes, but it makes me not wanna check back in on it for 2 laughs per 30 minute period of time.
Turned it on mid-opening. If I had a kid, this would be liking walking into their room and finding them having sex with the cat. And not the usual good kind; bad dirty scratchy cat sex.
7 Seasons?
Are you kidding? Season 8 is most likely the best season of all.
These episodes are in Season 8
You Only Move Twice (Probably the best episode)
The Homer They Fall
Bart After Dark (Top 10 Episode)
A Milhouse Divided
Lisa’s Date with Density
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer
The Springfield Files
The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
“The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show”
Homer’s Phobia (Easily top 5 episodes)
My Sister, My Sitter
Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment
Grade School Confidential
The Canine Mutiny
The Old Man and the Lisa
Homer’s Enemy (Again, a top 5 episode)
The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
That’s 17 out of 25 that I would consider A- material or better. You could definitely make arguments for Season 4 and 5 as best, but Season 8 is no worse than 3rd. And season 9 has plenty of great episodes (The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson), so I would say 2000 was when it turned.
Ugh, “The city of NY vs. Homer Simpson” was great? For me that’s not when the show died, but when it got the news from the doctor that it had 2-4 seasons left to live (depending on who you ask).
I don’t know why you’re so upset about this Original Poster, it’s not like the Simpsons is some indie, alternative form of entertainment. its a mainstream cartoon on a major network. OF COURSE they are going to try to appeal to a mass audience by using a (decidedly lame) current pop song. they want to pull in young viewers, so they use a (crappy) young song.
i thought it was gimmicky and stupid, but what do you expect from a show on fox?
the OP says they stopped watching years ago. if that were true you wouldn’t even know that they did this last night. so shut up and stop complaining. its not as if you NOW are going to stop watching.
Seriously… quit your bitching, people. Even though it’s not as funny as it was 10 years ago, it’s still the best show on television.
“Stupid TV. Be more funny!”
Just a thought, but maybe the reason this show seemed so different to you guys in the earlier seasons is that you were 20 years younger.
Being over 40, non-ethnic and a wage earner, I had no point of reference for that (alleged) musical intro. But I was unfortunate enough to see Ke$ha(?) on SNL recently, so it all makes tragic sense. If the Simpsons are official ambassadors of US pop culture, we just pissed in the international swimming pool.
I’d have to say that season 2-13 were the best.
They add that “Martin Sheen steals the show [...] in a brief but important slice of Simpsons history.
-Wikipedia (Principle and the Pauper)
Tell me you were the one to add those ellipses Matt.
Scazz, I can safely tell you that having watched episodes on dvd from seasons 3 through 7, this show was wayyy funnier than whatever the fuck this thing is.
I like Ke$ha. There I said it. (She’s like the junk food of music. Good on occasion but don’t make it an everyday habit.)
8) ♪ Tik Tok ♫
I’m anxious to see what Matt Ufford thinks of this bullshit. We all know his appreciation of Springfield is in the highest percentile.
Do (some) of you people want wall-to-wall reality TV on the networks for now on? Because trashing good (or barely adequate) scripted TV may just lead to that. Don’t take The Simpsons for granted, just because it doesn’t live up to their peak, which according to most was more than a decade ago.
The Simpsons has provided seemingly-countless hours of free entertainment, but many of you act like they owe you something. Has the Poochie fiasco taught you nothing?
Yeah, season 8 did have some really good ones. But it’s a different show now.
Seriously… quit your bitching, people. Even though it’s not as funny as it was 10 years ago, it’s still the best show on television.
Simpsons apologists are idiots. It doesn’t matter how long a show has been running; if it’s bad television, they shouldn’t be making/airing it. But to say that, right now, The Simpsons is the best show on TV might be the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever read.
Also, the video was taken down before I had a chance to see it. There is a God.
If the show is so terrible and washed up then why do you all still watch it? Everyone keeps saying oh this season is bad or that season is bad, well you have to watch it to find that out so why watch if its apparently so crappy?
As stated by Oski before
[www.thefutoncritic.com]
Its a promotion that Fox made them do.
Seriously this is the worst Uproxx blog. GET YOUR FACTS TOGETHER!
Also everyone else who doesn’t like the Simpsons. THEN DONT WATCH. go watch Family Guy’s repetitive cultural references or some reality TV.
jack, you realize you just commented about how terrible this blog is to a post made by a random guest commentator that popped up because the real guy tore a muscle and had to suddenly go to the hospital and maybe get surgery, right? So commenting on this post about the quality of the blog is like me taking your post and saying “the internet doesn’t do it’s research, either”. Also, going on a tv blog and suggesting, like you just did, that it’s either the simpsons or reality television… I really hope that’s a joke, and you’re pretending to be a retard.
Also, can I just say that I don’t care if it’s a fox promotion? They coulda said no or picked a song that doesn’t suck. Or lady gaga, because marge dressed like lady gaga might actually make me laugh a little. Or fucking ANYTHING but Kesha, who I won’t use the stupid friggin dollar sign for. Stop being apologists, this was retarded and all their fault. You know it, I know it, and the author knows it.
How can this be a “Fox Made them do it” excuse? For the longest time, the suits at Fox were told to GTFO by the producers every time they submitted creative ‘notes’ to the writing staff. In this case, I think the writers have got it in their heads they are infallible and believe that if they animate something, the fans/apologists will see it as a ‘satire’ on pop-culture. Well, guess what? It isn’t, it’s the defining moment when the Simpsons gloriously became what they used to make fun of.
But, of course the show makes more money selling cheap shit merchandise than it earns in advertising and syndication revenue, so it’s no wonder they pick a piece of pop-trash with a “$” in her music name.