The Simpsons renewed for season 23...
- Thread starter mr.peany
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I thought there was a review thread somewhere, but this is the closest recent thing I can find...
Anyway, I've found the current season mostly much weaker than the last one (the baseball episode was the only one before tonight that I liked), but tonight's Simpsons episode was the funniest one in ages. It had plenty of the goofy and surreal humor that's standard these days, only much funnier than usual, and at the same time it had the kind of character-driven storytelling and emotional sincerity that characterized the show at its best, and that's been more common these past few seasons after a long absence. The last act wasn't as strong as the rest, and there were a few jokes that fell flat, but there were more than enough excellent gags and character bits to make up for those.
Anyway, I've found the current season mostly much weaker than the last one (the baseball episode was the only one before tonight that I liked), but tonight's Simpsons episode was the funniest one in ages. It had plenty of the goofy and surreal humor that's standard these days, only much funnier than usual, and at the same time it had the kind of character-driven storytelling and emotional sincerity that characterized the show at its best, and that's been more common these past few seasons after a long absence. The last act wasn't as strong as the rest, and there were a few jokes that fell flat, but there were more than enough excellent gags and character bits to make up for those.
Yeah some of it was good
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebQmILzGAw[/yt]
Marge: "...you Brickyard Bimbo!"
or when Santa's little helper farted out the feather.
?sdrawkcab oediv taht si yhW
To fool the automated content scanners looking for copyrighted material.
The Christmas episode was a mixed bag. I think it's the first time they've done a Christmas episode in the vein of their Halloween episodes, with multiple apocryphal short segments presented as the characters' dreams on Christmas Eve (much like the setup of, I believe, the second Halloween episode). The first segment, a Polar Express parody, had the greatest proportion of gags I actually laughed at, though I'm lukewarm on the segment overall. The WWII one was kind of odd and uneven, and the Martha Stewart segment, while an amusingly mean caricature of Stewart (with the participation of Stewart playing herself, in fact), was a bit too creepy and too dependent on celebrity reference. I liked the Muppet segment, mainly for its unusual concept of actually doing the Simpsons as physical puppets, and for the nods to The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. However, the production was kind of odd; it seemed that the puppets were matted onto a CGI background and matted against each other in some cases. So it wasn't entirely successful from a visual standpoint. (But I wonder -- is this the first time we've seen a live-action human in a Simpsons episode since the passersby in the end of "Homer^3"?)
H
Hamon
Guest
It is one of the frontmost displays of Fox mesh and that's why gazillion of die hard lovers from all around the orb browse net to get hold of Simpsons sequences. The plot line of this show revolves around a working class family which consists of Homer, Oleomargarine, Baronet, Lisa, and Maggie.
I thought the mob episode from last week was pretty good. "Fit Tony". 
Homer being so distressed that he couldn't eat the steaks was also good.
Homer being so distressed that he couldn't eat the steaks was also good.
Which is funny, because the Simpsons are modeled on his own family, and Bart is Matt Groening.
(Funny ha-ha, not funny strange)
Rather, Bart is a caricature of how Matt Groening remembers his childhood self. He's probably lacking in the traits that enabled Groening himself to become a success.
I love the Simpsons... after all those years, they are still able to criticise the modern man and be funny without relating to discrimination like other shows do.
I hope they will continue for way more seasons to come... and I cannot wait for THE SIMPSONS SEQUEL...
I hope they will continue for way more seasons to come... and I cannot wait for THE SIMPSONS SEQUEL...
Wow, nobody's had anything to say about The Simpsons for three months? I hope this thread isn't too long dead. Anyway, I just caught a rerun of the episode "Angry Dad: The Movie" from earlier this season, and though it was mostly pretty lame, I have to give props to the Chiodo Brothers studio for the stop-motion Wallace & Gromit parody they did. They managed to make it look like Nick Park's distinctive animation style while simultaneously looking like The Simpsons' style, and that's quite a feat. Not so fond of the other animation parodies, though. (Although I did like the "punchcard" gag in the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon at the beginning.)
Overall, though, the renewed quality the show had a season ago has mostly evaporated, sad to say. I'm only intermittently watching anymore.
Overall, though, the renewed quality the show had a season ago has mostly evaporated, sad to say. I'm only intermittently watching anymore.
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Amaris
Guest
Yeah, I didn't like the Angry Dad episode, although I did somewhat enjoy A Midsummer's Nice Dream.
I used to be one of the people who said "The Simpsons isn't as good as it used to be, but it was a slow trail-off from season 12 'till now. It's still worth watching."
Then I was introduced to a wonderful blog called the 'Dead Homer Society.'
It helped to teach me that The Simpsons really ended somewhere around season 8 or 9 at which point most of the characters were fundamentally changed. At that point this blog refers to the show as 'Zombie Simpsons.' It's an apt name as you're simply watching the animated corpses of characters you once knew.
Now, some Zombie Simpsons can be funny, but that doesn't hide the fact that it's a different, less funny show. If you still have no clue what I'm talking about, read this entry:
http://deadhomersociety.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/compare-contrast-homer-on-tour/
That pretty much sums it up, but there are tons more posts like that in the blog. It's been really enlightening. I hadn't realized how bad the show had become until I started studying it in greater detail. The most damning posts are the ones were he reviews DVD commentary tracks from later seasons. There are countless examples where the recent show-makers simply joke about how bad the jokes are and how illogical the plots are. They simply point out that it's bad, then laugh about that fact.
I hadn't listened to those commentaries myself, but reading about them really makes you realize just how much they don't care. I'd say it's shocking, but I've seen recent episodes so it all kind of makes sense.
Anyone who still says the show is any good should spend 30 minutes reading random posts on that blog. I challenge you to do that and come back here with the same opinion you started with.
Then I was introduced to a wonderful blog called the 'Dead Homer Society.'
It helped to teach me that The Simpsons really ended somewhere around season 8 or 9 at which point most of the characters were fundamentally changed. At that point this blog refers to the show as 'Zombie Simpsons.' It's an apt name as you're simply watching the animated corpses of characters you once knew.
Now, some Zombie Simpsons can be funny, but that doesn't hide the fact that it's a different, less funny show. If you still have no clue what I'm talking about, read this entry:
http://deadhomersociety.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/compare-contrast-homer-on-tour/
That pretty much sums it up, but there are tons more posts like that in the blog. It's been really enlightening. I hadn't realized how bad the show had become until I started studying it in greater detail. The most damning posts are the ones were he reviews DVD commentary tracks from later seasons. There are countless examples where the recent show-makers simply joke about how bad the jokes are and how illogical the plots are. They simply point out that it's bad, then laugh about that fact.
I hadn't listened to those commentaries myself, but reading about them really makes you realize just how much they don't care. I'd say it's shocking, but I've seen recent episodes so it all kind of makes sense.
Anyone who still says the show is any good should spend 30 minutes reading random posts on that blog. I challenge you to do that and come back here with the same opinion you started with.
It's funny to hear that.
For me, the moment where the Simpsons,for lack of better term, "jumped the shark" was the "leprechaun jockeys" episode in season ten or eleven. That was the episode where the comic book guy just started showing up in the story at random and saying things like "worst. episode. ever" and commenting on how the show was treading old ground and ripping off better episodes.
I took that as the writers realizing they weren't up to the old standards of the series but hoping they could excuse it by having a character acknowledge the dip in quality.
Interesting to hear that the commentary tracks more or less confirm that's what they believe themselves.
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Amaris
Guest
Great link, Small White Car. They seem to be able to pinpoint one of the nebulous reasons why I've become increasingly uncomfortable and disappointed with the more recent seasons of The Simpsons (by recent I mean at least 10 seasons).
I'm going to celebrate when it's announced that "The Simpsons" is cancelled (fingers crossed for two years, 25 years is as good a time as any to pack it in). I have a weird relationship with this series. A few months ago, some friends of mine were watching "The Simpsons" and asked me to come watch TV with them. I said, "I don't like that show". "The Simpsons?!?" they asked, audibly confused and surprised. The reason they were so befuddled is because they know I wear clothing with Simpsons characters on it and own 8 seasons of the show on DVD (I also have Simpsons video games and dolls of the main characters), but I fucking hate that show.
One thing I realized watching DVDs of the golden age seasons recently is that the episodes of those seasons were art. You could just tell every moment of every episode was constructed painstakingly, with an immense amount of thought, attention to detail, and love. They talk on the commentaries during those seasons about the 'writing retreats' they'd go on and the all nighters they'd pull to try to get the animation and editing just right. Minute by minute they packed every episode with visual imagination and comedy that was as original, clever, and inspired as television drama/comedy can be. No way they work half that hard these days. Success bred laziness, greed, apathy, and a lack of concern for the legacy to be left behind.
The best episodes of this series were monuments to the potential power, intelligence, and elegance of storytelling and humour possible within the medium of television. They were paced, written, directed, and performed with a level of care and sophistication that nothing else on television could even come close to matching.
Now they're just another shitty product. I say all this at a moment when I'm actually in a good mood, having just finished watching "Spaced" for the second time...if only more shows would follow its lead and end at just the right time on just the right note instead overstaying their welcome and progressing from brilliant to stale to downright wretched. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who still watches "The Simpsons" is a masochist, happy to witness the corpse of a hallowed '90s institution raped every week.
One thing I realized watching DVDs of the golden age seasons recently is that the episodes of those seasons were art. You could just tell every moment of every episode was constructed painstakingly, with an immense amount of thought, attention to detail, and love. They talk on the commentaries during those seasons about the 'writing retreats' they'd go on and the all nighters they'd pull to try to get the animation and editing just right. Minute by minute they packed every episode with visual imagination and comedy that was as original, clever, and inspired as television drama/comedy can be. No way they work half that hard these days. Success bred laziness, greed, apathy, and a lack of concern for the legacy to be left behind.
The best episodes of this series were monuments to the potential power, intelligence, and elegance of storytelling and humour possible within the medium of television. They were paced, written, directed, and performed with a level of care and sophistication that nothing else on television could even come close to matching.
Now they're just another shitty product. I say all this at a moment when I'm actually in a good mood, having just finished watching "Spaced" for the second time...if only more shows would follow its lead and end at just the right time on just the right note instead overstaying their welcome and progressing from brilliant to stale to downright wretched. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who still watches "The Simpsons" is a masochist, happy to witness the corpse of a hallowed '90s institution raped every week.
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