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Someone on HN once commented that watching later seasons of The Simpsons is like visiting a loved one with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. This rings true to me.

Someone on HN once commented that watching later seasons of The Simpsons is like visiting a loved one with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. This rings true to me. It looks like them, but isn’t them. They occasionally have a flash of lucidity where they are back to their old selves but then that moment is gone as quickly as it came.

foolfoolz 9y ago
if you haven't seen A Fathers Watch s28e17 I highly recommend t. it is as good or batter than any "classic" Simpsons. I think a good amount of Simpsons hate is nostalgia based, but the primary component is the writers. the writing of episodes like a fathers watch follows an almost Seinfeld-like formula. the best episodes always had a similar pattern.the pattern is great but gets repetitive and works best on nostalgia where you don't remember it i can sympathize with a show on for 30 years wanting to switch up that formula even if it is less successful all the time.
- lobut 9y ago
  I think nostalgia-based makes sense ... but I just decided to watch later Simpson episodes and their jokes just suck. I watched a few episodes and didn't laugh once. The video everyone is referencing in this thread has an example of the possible "pattern" that you reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk&feature=youtu.be&t=20m51s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk&feature=youtu.be...
- icebraining 9y ago
  I just watched that episode, and it was just depressing. The jokes were completely predictable (the frogs in particular were cringe worthy) and the culture criticism sounds like a bad rehash of a George Carlin sketch - and he's been dead for a decade. By the way, I only started watching the Simpsons regularly when they were on season 15, when Fox opened up a channel in my country, so I saw the old and the new episodes at the same age. I still saw a tremendous difference, and would in fact often change the channel during the new ones.
TheCondor 9y ago
That is harsh, perhaps true. We cut our cord about 8 years ago and our TV has been limited to streaming and Netflix (DVDs too) My observation is that a great show seems to need 2 to 3 seasons to really find their pace, rhythm, and get it figured out. This is changing with the short season episodic content that everyone is doing now but network shows sort of need some time to find themselves. Beyond about season 7, they all fall apart in some way. I really can’t think of anything that lasted 10 plus season and wasn’t effectively a different show from s1, only the names are really the same; definitely the feelings it gives you will have changed. I really only watched Simpsons occasionally during the first 3 seasons, it’s hard to fathom it having anything in common with then now.
- sjcsjc 9y ago
  Always Sunny?
- ghaff 9y ago
  >Beyond about season 7, they all fall apart in some way. To give a somewhat different perspective, I personally have a "5 season rule." Maybe it's more like 5 seasons +- 2 or something like that depending upon the show. Some shows aren't that interesting once their quirkiness wears off and other change things up enough to keep going longer. But whatever the exact number, I just weary of the characters, the format, the style, etc. after a time of just about any show even if it doesn't decline in "objective" quality. I'm definitely not a person that wants some beloved series to go on forever. Generally if something has gotten a few seasons under its belt and wraps up in a reasonable way I'm very happy to let it go. (And this is truer than ever today when there are far more good shows on television/streaming than I watch.)
- gus_massa 9y ago
  I really liked "Law & Order" (classic edition). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order They had 20 seasons, the cases were interesting and weird (and secretly based in real cases), they lived in a strange word were the suspect had right, but unlike "The Simpsons" they lost. In the modern law&order versions, the CSI-whatever and other police shows, half of the suspect spontaneously confess without a lawyer and the other half confess after borderline torture. And the forensic analysis use magical methods that would not be believable even in Start Trek.

foolfoolz 9y ago

if you haven't seen A Fathers Watch s28e17 I highly recommend t. it is as good or batter than any "classic" Simpsons. I think a good amount of Simpsons hate is nostalgia based, but the primary component is the writers. the writing of episodes like a fathers watch follows an almost Seinfeld-like formula. the best episodes always had a similar pattern.the pattern is great but gets repetitive and works best on nostalgia where you don't remember it i can sympathize with a show on for 30 years wanting to switch up that formula even if it is less successful all the time.

lobut 9y ago
I think nostalgia-based makes sense ... but I just decided to watch later Simpson episodes and their jokes just suck. I watched a few episodes and didn't laugh once. The video everyone is referencing in this thread has an example of the possible "pattern" that you reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk&feature=youtu.be&t=20m51s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk&feature=youtu.be...
icebraining 9y ago
I just watched that episode, and it was just depressing. The jokes were completely predictable (the frogs in particular were cringe worthy) and the culture criticism sounds like a bad rehash of a George Carlin sketch - and he's been dead for a decade. By the way, I only started watching the Simpsons regularly when they were on season 15, when Fox opened up a channel in my country, so I saw the old and the new episodes at the same age. I still saw a tremendous difference, and would in fact often change the channel during the new ones.

TheCondor 9y ago

That is harsh, perhaps true. We cut our cord about 8 years ago and our TV has been limited to streaming and Netflix (DVDs too) My observation is that a great show seems to need 2 to 3 seasons to really find their pace, rhythm, and get it figured out. This is changing with the short season episodic content that everyone is doing now but network shows sort of need some time to find themselves. Beyond about season 7, they all fall apart in some way. I really can’t think of anything that lasted 10 plus season and wasn’t effectively a different show from s1, only the names are really the same; definitely the feelings it gives you will have changed. I really only watched Simpsons occasionally during the first 3 seasons, it’s hard to fathom it having anything in common with then now.

sjcsjc 9y ago
Always Sunny?
ghaff 9y ago
>Beyond about season 7, they all fall apart in some way. To give a somewhat different perspective, I personally have a "5 season rule." Maybe it's more like 5 seasons +- 2 or something like that depending upon the show. Some shows aren't that interesting once their quirkiness wears off and other change things up enough to keep going longer. But whatever the exact number, I just weary of the characters, the format, the style, etc. after a time of just about any show even if it doesn't decline in "objective" quality. I'm definitely not a person that wants some beloved series to go on forever. Generally if something has gotten a few seasons under its belt and wraps up in a reasonable way I'm very happy to let it go. (And this is truer than ever today when there are far more good shows on television/streaming than I watch.)
gus_massa 9y ago
I really liked "Law & Order" (classic edition). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order They had 20 seasons, the cases were interesting and weird (and secretly based in real cases), they lived in a strange word were the suspect had right, but unlike "The Simpsons" they lost. In the modern law&order versions, the CSI-whatever and other police shows, half of the suspect spontaneously confess without a lawyer and the other half confess after borderline torture. And the forensic analysis use magical methods that would not be believable even in Start Trek.