RedPenny

I signed up just to comment here, as I was doing a Google search about the Simpsons to see if I'm the only one in the world who feels like the Simpsons became extremely poor after the 10th season. I agree with mostly everyone. I don't know what happened in the year 2000; someone told me they got new writers or something, but it is completely different in every way than the direct of the first seasons that made it successful. I went on Pirate Bay and actually found high quality downloads of even the early Simpsons seasons. I was watching Season 3 the other day and can't believe how good the production value is for something created 20 years ago! (this is of course if you get a good download but it wasn't hard to find). I'm debating downloading Season 2 if Season 3 is that good. So I have been rewatching episodes from the first 10 seasons. They are so good, funny, witty, there are so many things I actually learned from the Simpsons (intellectual knowledge that the average low brow crowd don't pickup on, even people who are very well versed in most subjects).

I also agree that the good Simpsons episodes were about more than just the Simpsons characters themselves and had relateable episodes where the jokes were organic and weren't shoved in your face. It is like all of the Simpsons seasons after the 10th shoved the jokes in your face as if the watcher wouldn't otherwise laugh at something. I am surprised that the show still gets good ratings and has still been on the air; not that it is a bad show in and of itself, but things run their course and sometimes it is better to quit while you are ahead, but then again, if they are getting good ratings, I suppose there is no reason to quit. I was born in 1989 so when the good seasons were on I was pretty young, but I remember watching them with my family and it has even shaped my sense of humour. Here I am 20 years later watching episodes I probably saw when I was 8.

After some point the Simpsons fell off the radar for me and I haven't even bothered to try out the last 13 seasons after giving a few episodes a shot and seeing disappointing results. I think the episode where Patty (or Selma) goes to China to adopt a baby and the Simpsons go along, and Homer has to pretend to be her husband, and when the Chinese adoption agency worker asks what his job is, he says "I'm a Chinese acrobat!" and all the characters gasp. This is not funny, it is just dumb. When I compare it to the episodes like where Homer and Mr. Burns get caught in that cabin when Mr. Burns has a weekend getaway for the employees to learn about teamwork (with the beginning of the episode starting off with a fire drill, and Homer gets out first, locks all the employees in and says "Mr. Burns, I think I won". Then the shows flows naturally, whereas the new episodes are just random point to random point and aren't any good.

For some reason I am able to watch the old Simpsons episodes over and over, mostly just playing them in the background while I surf the web. I swear I know them all by heart but at its good seasons it's the best TV show ever. I also love Family Guy and American Dad (third and second favourite TV shows). I'm not a big fan of Futurama but it does have its good times. I actually really like South Park too but not all of the episodes.