Any good Simpsons episodes after Season 9?

[ryan123450]

I quit watching the Simpsons about 6 years years ago. I was only watching it out of habit for at least 3 years before that. Now I am missing it a bit and thinking about doing a rewatch of the early years. I'm trying to decide when the Simpsons lost "it".

It is definitely a different show now than it was the first few seasons. I know it's been a gradual change, but from looking at an episode list, it seems to me that Season 9 was the last before it turned to total crud.

Can anyone think of any really good episodes that came after Season 9? I haven't been able to.

 

[1001001]

"Good" is very subjective. Depends on your point of view.

I'll throw one out there: Viva Ned Flanders, from Season 10.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I thought it remained pretty strong through Season 13 (the finale of that year, Poppa's Got A Brand New Badge, I still remember very fondly).

Since then it's produced good stuff, but it's pretty inconsistent.

 

[Christopher]

I found that the season or two that came out after the movie were stronger than the show had been in a while. I gather the movie brought back a lot of writers from early seasons and refocused on more substantive, character-driven storytelling rather than just a string of shallow gags, and I think that rubbed off on the show for a while, since there were some good stories here and there for a couple of years. But then it really went downhill again and I completely lost interest.

 

[Tosk]

I thought it remained pretty strong through Season 13 (the finale of that year, Poppa's Got A Brand New Badge, I still remember very fondly).

Since then it's produced good stuff, but it's pretty inconsistent.

I'm basically the same, but 12 is a lot stronger than 13 for me. I used to think 9 or 10 were the last good years, but 12 and 13 both have quite a few good episodes. (And 14 is full of stinkers.) Maybe they look better in retrospect compared to some of the later seasons?

 

[Goji]

Season 10 has a couple that are tolerable. "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" is pretty good, until the horrible musical number that ends things. I like most of "Lisa Gets an A" and "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo". That's pretty much it, actually. Season 11 is terrible all the way through, except for maybe "Last Tap Dance in Springfield". Season 12 has "Trilogy of Error", a relatively creative episode that's not especially funny but it's at least interesting.

But even in the best episodes post season 10, I have a really hard time getting past how unlikable and obnoxious almost all the main characters become. I mean, they were never role models or anything, but Homer especially becomes a constant flaming jackass in season 10 and only rarely goes back. Moe becomes suicidal, Mr. Burns becomes a pushover weakling, Lisa becomes (even more of a) nagging killjoy, Flanders becomes a nearly psychopathic Christian fundamentalist, and in every case nearly everything else about the character is completely forgotten. By season 12 or so I feel like I hardly recognize these people at all anymore. And that was twelve years ago now. Jeez.

 

[ryan123450]

That was pretty much my realization today as well: The show has been horrible for longer than it was good.

 

[Christopher]

...Flanders becomes a nearly psychopathic Christian fundamentalist, and in every case nearly everything else about the character is completely forgotten.

TV Tropes actually uses the term "Flanderization" for when a character becomes a self-caricature built around a single personality trait or gimmick.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I actually liked season 10, most memorably for the Tokyo episode. I thought it a worthy successor to the Australian episode from season 6. It was 11 where I didn't laugh once. 12 was worse.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The answer is yes, there are good episodes. They're few and far between, though. But the Simpsons has existed so long that the discussion is really about which seasons are better and which are worse by this point.

 

[Geckothan]

There's probably half a seasons worth of passable episodes after season 9, but seeing as I can't even remember which seasons they're from let alone their titles, they aren't exactly classics.

Has anyone else noticed that the voices started sounding really muffled and distant around season 10? Homer especially. I have to turn the volume up full blast to hear it (which makes the music deafeningly loud in comparison), otherwise it just sounds like all of the characters are mumbling to themselves. I know some of the voices have changed a bit over the years, but seeing as all of them suddenly started having that quality in season 10, maybe they changed some of their equipment around that time or hired someone different to do the mix? That's one of the reasons for newer episodes being unwatchable, at least for me (maybe for others too, without them realising it?).

 

[CaptainWacky]

Behind The Laughter is the last good episode.

 

[Mr Light]

I still enjoy the show. It's not as good as it used to be, but it makes me laugh, and that's all it has to do.

 

[SiddFinch1]

I haven't watched regularlyin years. When I tune in some good.moments but quality isn't what it was years ago

 

[Squiggy]

To answer the op's question: No.

That's a quantifiable fact.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I don't think the show has become "bad" since season 9, it is just very inconsistent. Even within a specific episode you will have segments that are hilarious followed by ones that don't make you laugh at all. So, it's hard to recommend specific episodes or even remember where the good moments were, because they are sprinkled throughout.

 

[the G-man]

I religiously DVR'd every episode until this current season. My system was to watch it a given episode for as long as it held my interest or made me laugh. As time went on, I found that I was shutting off most episodes about ten minutes in. This season, I cancelled the season pass and haven't looked back.

Really, the Simpsons has been, at best, an average sitcom (meaning not very good) since 'Season 11.' Yeah, there might have been a decent episode here or there but you could say the same thing about 90% of the shitcoms that have polluted the airwaves.

The only episodes over the past few years that have been slightly above average in my estimation are some of the Halloween specials, and that's only because they aren't constrained by maintain a status quo.

Ultimately, as good as the first nine seasons were, given the ratio of bad seasons to good at this point, I don't think you can actually call 'the Simpsons' a good show, only a long running one. Trying to define the entire run by the early years is akin to saying that 'Lost in Space' wasn't camp merely because the first few episodes were darker in tone than all the ones that came after.

 

[TheGodBen]

Ultimately, as good as the first nine seasons were, given the ratio of bad seasons to good at this point, I don't think you can actually call 'the Simpsons' a good show, only a long running one. Trying to define the entire run by the early years is akin to saying that 'Lost in Space' wasn't camp merely because the first few episodes were darker in tone than all the ones that came after.

The problem is that you're underselling just how good the first nine seasons were. The Simpsons wasn't just a good comedy back then, it was the definitive comedy series of the 1990s, and most people would list those first nine years on their own as one of the best television series of all time. There's a reason why the latter fifteen seasons were made, and it has everything to do with those first nine. Viewing the show as the average of all it parts means that you're missing that hugely important caveat.

 

[Mr_Homn]

Ultimately, as good as the first nine seasons were, given the ratio of bad seasons to good at this point, I don't think you can actually call 'the Simpsons' a good show, only a long running one. Trying to define the entire run by the early years is akin to saying that 'Lost in Space' wasn't camp merely because the first few episodes were darker in tone than all the ones that came after.

The problem is that you're underselling just how good the first nine seasons were. The Simpsons wasn't just a good comedy back then, it was the definitive comedy series of the 1990s, and most people would list those first nine years on their own as one of the best television series of all time. There's a reason why the latter fifteen seasons were made, and it has everything to do with those first nine. Viewing the show as the average of all it parts means that you're missing that hugely important caveat.

I agree, those first 8 or 9 seasons were greatness.

To answer the OP's question: I have not seen a funny episode in a long time. The last funny episode I remember was "Trilogy of Error" from season 12.

 

[the G-man]

Ultimately, as good as the first nine seasons were, given the ratio of bad seasons to good at this point, I don't think you can actually call 'the Simpsons' a good show, only a long running one. Trying to define the entire run by the early years is akin to saying that 'Lost in Space' wasn't camp merely because the first few episodes were darker in tone than all the ones that came after.

The problem is that you're underselling just how good the first nine seasons were. The Simpsons wasn't just a good comedy back then, it was the definitive comedy series of the 1990s, and most people would list those first nine years on their own as one of the best television series of all time. There's a reason why the latter fifteen seasons were made, and it has everything to do with those first nine. Viewing the show as the average of all it parts means that you're missing that hugely important caveat.

I understand your argument. At his point, however, those brilliant nine seasons are way less than one half of the shows run. It's like trying to argue 'Rocky 1' makes the entire film series Oscar-worthy.