Simpsons 300th Episode

[Eggie]

In my opinion; No it isn't.  

[Grog_boy]

I completely agree with CJ.... I really do like Futurama more than Simpsons. Specially 'cause Matt Groening made some really great episodes  in Futurama, and is also thruth that after he left the Simpsons the quality really went down.... On the travels episodes When they go to Japan it was totally ridiculous.... When they came to Brazil(I'm a brazillian boy!! ) It was REALLY offensive... (I don't like living here... but, they can't expose a lot of funnyless jokes saying that everybody likes Carnaval and stuff like that, I really hate carnaval...  Like most of the people here, or saying that we have rain forest in the middle of Rio de Janeiro) It was totally absurd!!!!!

And trapezoid.... Homer did went on a space travel once... And he released a ant farm in the middle of the ship remember??

[Privateer Puddin']

trap was being ironic me thinks

[AGA]

Don't call Trap an I-ron.

[Las Naranjas]

Groening has control of who the writers would be when he was gone.

He implied that he appointed writers that would ruin the show as quickly as possible and thus avoid a protracted death.

But he forgot it was on Fox.


But even the writers know it'd gone downhill, after all they make a comment about Jumping the Shark every two episodes.

[DGMacphee]

For me, it started to go downhill at two points:

1) The death of Phil Hartman -- Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure were two of the greatest characters on the Simpsons. I thought they gave the show more of an edge than Homer did.

2) Ian Maxtone-Graham becomes the head writer -- This guy joined the Simpsons writing team after writing for Saturday Night Live. I hate SNL. The jokes go nowhere. But not only that, this guy had never seen an episode of the Simpsons before he joined up. I would figure the first requirement of someone writing for a TV show is that they actually KNOW the characters and the setting. He SNLed the Simpsons, turned it into a skit that doesn't go anywhere. His most disgusting effort what the whole Maude Flanders death -- it was so far-fetched, even Ron L Hubbard was scratching his head going "What the fuck was that?"

I like any show that can pay homage to the like of Kubrick and Hitchcock -- The Simpsons used to do it time and time again, and do it well.

Now they seem more intent on taking off films like Porkys, Animal House, or Rodeny Dangerfield.

WHile I'm not tying to discredit Porkys, Aaimal House, or Dangerfield, I do think if you're going to do a take-off of something, take it from the top drawer.

For example, the Homer goes into space episode was great -- It had funny jokes and paid it's dues to Kubrick (monkeys becoming super intelligent, The Blue Danube, Homer as the Star Child at the end).

I'm not saying the key is to include a Hitchcock or Kubrick reference every epsiode -- but I do believe things like that made it smarter.

It seems like very dumbed down humour now.

I like funny references that are smart and fit the context on the episode.

Like that episode, Last Exit To Springfield (the one where Homer becomes a Union leader), where they referenced such things as "Last Exit to Brooklyn" (obviously), Jimmy Hoffa, Dr Suess, and Marathon Man.

It just needs to get smarter -- not just cheap, one-off laughs.

But I'm just a pleb on an adventure game forum -- as if they'd listen to me.

[Trapezoid]

Maybe the references are so smart you don't get them
I mean, I didn't get the Requiem for a Dream spoof in the Ribwich episode. And I still don't.

[remixor]

I can't stand The Simpsons anymore, which is disappointing because it is (was?) one of my favorite shows.  It's absolutely ridiculous these days.  It's often funny, but so what?  So are a million other shows.  The thing is, it used to be funny AND intelligent AND satirical.  It's not satirical anymore at all, which is one of the things that made it such a great original show, it's just stupid funny, full of cheap gags sure to elicit enough laughs to keep enough of the audience watching.  Homer's character alone is proof enough of the turn the series has taken.

Family Guy is definitely not as "good" a show as The Simpsons was, but I'll be damned if it isn't entertaining.  The show doesn't have the same edge as The Simpsons had from its total satirical angle (any edge it does have is purely because they try to fill it with as much "shocking" material as possible), but it has some great writers.  I don't think it's really a series with much longevity (even if it didn't get cancelled)--a lot of the reason it's funny is because of gimmicks, which will eventually get old.  I've seen every episode of Family Guy and while I laughed at every one I imagine it would get stale faster than it took The Simpsons.

[Las Naranjas]

The episode with Homer as the union leader may be my favourite.
Moreover it had a plot and the jokes come from that.

Lately they have jokes. And that's it. And since they're not in a structure, with no lead up or punch line they're really gags. Gags are fine, but you can't build a show completely on them.

And why do they seemingly devote a few minutes every episode to people pulling at their collars making stupid sounds. It might be remotely amusing one time, to some one bred on normal cartoons, but then it just becomes more and more irritating.

Or one of the newer episodes, where they brang back in Sideshow Bob...again, and devoted a huge portion of the show to him being electrocuted. I don't know how devoid of ideas someone would have to be to repeat the same clumsy and unfunny slapstick (and slapstick can be funny, as was illustrated in the shows heyday) joke 6-7 times in an episode, moreover making it run for 30 seconds at a time.

They had a period where they shortened the introduction sequence because they had too much material.
Now they've brought back the extended intro, and pad out the gaps with stupid noises and repititive animation.

[DGMacphee]

Actually, Narangas, now that i think about the Simpsons structurally, one of my biggest gripe with the current episodes is that the conclusion seems like a tacked-on gag, rather than something that actually concludes the episode.

Whereas, in early episodes, the conclusion had more relevance to the things that actually happened in the episode.

And now that I look at the current episodes structurally, they just seem like a string of random gags placed one after the other.

My conclusion: Narangas is right! The structure sucks!!!

[Adamski]

My personal favourite is Rosebud.

[Scid]

It's not fun if you can see how they wrote the show. In the old episodes, everything fit together so well you'd almost forget there was a technique they used to make their show. They fleshed everything out really well.

Whereas nowadays, you don't just know there has to be a certain trick to making simpsons episodes, you can see it in action. And I don't like that at all. I want all that stuff to remain a mystery.

It has become too generic. And also futurama rocks. Way more than the simpsons ever did.

[Eggie]

I like the Shelbyville episode, and the one where Homer joins the navy.

[Jimi]

Actually Trap, Homer went into space! Remember? When the unanimate carbon rod saved the day?

[Trapezoid]

YES I WAS MAKING JOKE HA HA
Anyway, I just think it's really silly analyzing the Simpsons like this. If you can let yourself enjoy it, then go ahead. If you can enjoy different shows for different reasons, then you can enjoy this show for different reasons than the older episodes. There's not really much you can gain by being over-cynical about a cartoon.

[Jimi]

YES I WAS MAKING JOKE HA HA...

OH NO! Trap's turned into a deranged lunatic...

[Scavenger]

The best cartoons never become successful. Its proven, and all! Even though I've watched the show almost religiously for 10 years, yes, the jokes have become stupid and offensive. And I didn't get to watch the 300th episode... lucky me.  My favourite cartoons as a small child were Sam and Max, Earthworm Jim, and some other, unnamable ones (I forget them). They had classic humour, unlike some of the manufactured cartoons we have today. And the best cartoons aren't exploited, either. Sam and Max had three things. A comic, a TV Show, and a Game. All the jokes were classic... BECAUSE it didn't have too many episodes. Futurama... what did happen to it? I have Terrestrial TV, so only 5 channels here, excluding Video and PS2. Whee! I want to create a cartoon show, because I want to be an animator when I grow up.

FOOTNOTE:
Showing repeats 5 times a week does help either.

FOOTFOOTNOTE:
Sam 'n' Max ROCKS! I only remember one episode though.

[Pumaman]

Anyway, I just think it's really silly analyzing the Simpsons like this. If you can let yourself enjoy it, then go ahead. If you can enjoy different shows for different reasons, then you can enjoy this show for different reasons than the older episodes.

I do think it's worth discussing - mainly because when I think of the Simpsons, I remember the great episodes of old.

The thing is, it used to be funny AND intelligent AND satirical.  It's not satirical anymore at all, which is one of the things that made it such a great original show, it's just stupid funny, full of cheap gags sure to elicit enough laughs to keep enough of the audience watching.  

Exactly the point - people growing up now and seeing this new breed of episodes will no doubt see it as 'just another fart gag show', and wonder what all the fuss was about. Letting the show carry on is ruining its once unbeatable reputation.

But indeed, let us not dwell on it - where there's a money there's a way, as far as Fox is concerned.

[Trapezoid]

I think the fact that people are growing up is part of it. In the Simpsons "heyday" you were all younger and more impressionable, and probably less cynical. The difference between old things and new things gets exaggerated as you grow up. How else can you explain people who think the original Star Wars movies were gifts from God?
Also, I think that most people who dislike the current Simpsons only "noticed" they didn't like the new episodes after seeing someone complain about the show on the internet. I'm sure each one of you can explain why you don't like the show because it's lost touch with what once made it great and blah blah blah-- I don't care. On the grand scale, there's a lot of copycat behavior going on, whether you realize or not.
If someone who's never seen the Simpsons were to watch every episode in reverse order, what do you think they would think of the "decline"? They would probably think the Michael Jackson episode was dated, for one thing...

[Pumaman]

Yes, of course the odd episode will look dated.

And yes there will be copy-catism going on where people say it's crap just because other people do.

But when it comes to the crunch, the show used to make me laugh. The earlier episodes still do. The latest series leaves me thinking "what the hell was that?" at the end of the episode, having not laughed once. That's all I can say on the subject.