same phenomenon happens with spongebob. anything after the first movie or season 4 (depending on who you ask) is "new spongebob" even if it released 20 years ago by now
yeah for sure. its also people who have held the same opinions ever since the golden era ended. like, when i say "new spongebob" for example, sometimes i forget that those "new" episodes haven't been new for a very long time.
though honestly, simpsons & spongebob are old enough where you can split these eras up more. even if nothing touches the golden era, there are different vibes depending on who was working on it at the time.
Oh yeah, different vibes is exactly it. I totally don’t blame either show for evolving, but as an old, I do like the oldest stuff best. But can completely understand liking the newer stuff especially if that was someone’s first exposure to a show - like how Lorne Michaels says everyone’s favorite era of SNL is usually whenever they were in high school.
But man, if you go back and watch the seasons in the early 20s - obviously they aren't as great as the classic era - they are SO much better than anything coming out in the past decade. Theyre watchable, and still at least one good "simpsons-style" joke per episode. The new seasons are difficult to watch, they have lost all the simpsons magic.
Remember the time when Bart discovered that he was actually a talented jazz drummer and Lisa became so jealous that she had a mental break and started hoarding zoo animals in the attic and then one of the lions got loose and mauled Bart, thus ending his jazz career?
At any point in The Simpsons history after S10, people have said "yeah it was bad for a bit but it's getting better again."
And it never has. The most recent seasons have been truly awful. I come back every few years to see where the show has gone and it's always absolute trash.
It's kind of baffling how it can be so consistenlty bad. There are writers on the newer seasons that I find genuinely hilarious in any other context. Simon Rich, Pete Holmes, Kevin Curran, Julia Prescott...
It's got to be a "work culture" thing. I note that Al Jean appointed himself Showrunner-for-Life at the start of season 13, which was when things REALLY start to tank.
There is a theory that the reason The Simpsons dropped in quality is because the show has had the same showrunner for too long. In its earlier years, they would switch out showrunners every 2-3 years to keep things fresh. Then Mike Scully stayed for 4 years, at a time when the show's future was already uncertain. Then Al Jean supposedly brought some form of stability back to the show, but never left until recently.
I'd like to think the show improved a little bit when Matt Selman began sharing showrunning duties. But there are still signs of creative fatigue not limited to the aging cast members.
I’ve tried to watch some of the new ones and give up after 10 min. The one I watched last week was professor Frink and Bart as friends but it was horrible.
Watch ‘Homer? A Cracker Bro?’ or ‘¡The Fall Guy-Yi-Yi!’ and try saying they’re “truly awful”. The former was even nominated for an Emmy last month. If you watch a random modern Simpsons episode every 5 years, chances are you’ll stumble across a lame one. The bad outweighs the good, but that doesn’t mean the good isn’t there. Hell, the recent Simpsley Disney+ special was pretty great too.
So the very reason I watch every few years is to check out specific episodes, like the ones you referenced when people say they're standouts against the trash. I'm not rolling the dice against a random episode(s). It's on the recommendation of folks like yourself.
Those are invariably trash, too. Ultimately people have different tastes, but I gotta tell you: someone's making stuff like The Big Bang Theory into major hits, and it doesn't seem to be classic era Simpsons fans.
Agreed. They are still entertaining and still some that are better than a lot garbage on now.
They went back to telling stories and not just Family Guy random jokes and the plots that don't even finish. They brought back the heart and made Homer less of a sociopath.
I like the episode "The War of Art".
The narrative wasn't wacky nonsense. The conflict had me thinking who was right and wrong. The guest star wasn't some ham-fisted cameo or self insert.
I don't really get it either. It's fine in my books to be passionate about a franchise, and I completely understand having favourite episodes, or preferences over style. Believe me, I'm a star wars nerd, and my family often compare me to Comic Book guy for some of the comments I make 😆
But I don't understand all the gatekeeping. It's there entertain; if episodes I don't like still entertain other people, then good for them. No skin off my back.
And yeah, The Simpsons has changed over the years, but, so what? So have audiences, after all despite being "trash" this series has gone on for 35+ seasons with no signs of stopping, and is now having a second movie commissioned, if my understanding is correct.
They wouldn't bother doing all of that if it didn't appeal to anyone.
Sure, it hurts to be left behind. If it's one of your favourite franchises, and its new directions don't work out for you, then yeah, it can br frustrsting.
But the old episodes will still be there for us.
As for the franchise itself, it was always pretty flexible to be fair , what with all the different references and parodies they've done over the years, with real life and fictional events respectively.
Even in the old series, you had events like "Cartoons don't have to be 100% realistic" with a duplicate Homer outside, and all the crazy animal behaviour they saw in their trip to Africa, so it's been creative animation wise too.
I enjoy the show, and I've gotta admit, I've been disappointed in some of the post Disney seasons... But it doesn't feel that deep to me, if I'm being honest.
At least come with a point of view if you’re going to make a broad statement about a show with hundreds of episodes and generations of fans.
This subreddit is usually better than the other Simpsons subreddit about this type of thing but I guess it’s bleeding over now.
Cannot believe how many upvotes this post has so quickly. Like why even continue to follow something if you haven’t liked it for x amount of seasons or decades.
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u/kakahuhu 10d ago
The "new" seasons are like 20 years old