The Tail End of The Simpsons’ “Golden Age”
December 10, 2020 2:33 AM Subscribe
Don't have time to actually explain it, but: El Estúpido y Sensual Spiderman
posted by signal at 4:47 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by signal at 4:47 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
Now what can I ding dong diddly do for you?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:21 AM on December 10, 2020 [38 favorites]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:21 AM on December 10, 2020 [38 favorites]
I probably rererence "nothing at all, nothing at all" at least once a week. It's hard to overstate the contribution the Simpsons has made to my vocabulary.
posted by Braeburn at 5:24 AM on December 10, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by Braeburn at 5:24 AM on December 10, 2020 [14 favorites]
I know it’s embiggened mine.
posted by zamboni at 5:36 AM on December 10, 2020 [24 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 5:36 AM on December 10, 2020 [24 favorites]
I learned two surprising facts from this article, neither of which, strictly speaking, are what the article is about:
- This scene was from season 11
- The marking of the show's "Golden Age" is slipping to season 11, when the last time I checked it was either Homer's Enemy at the end of season 8 or The Principal & The Pauper at the start of season 9 (and I remember when it was season 7). I wonder how many other classic Simpsons moments are in the block of episodes that get referred to as Zombie Simpsons?
It's hard to overstate the contribution the Simpsons has made to my vocabulary.
In 2013 my parents sat our family down and explained that the doctor had informed them my father had stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver and he had about a year left to live.
"Of course," my mother concluded, "we're going to get a second opinion."
Later my wife told me she had looked at me at that moment to see if I needed emotional support and instead saw me physically fight down the urge to say "You're also lazy."
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:28 AM on December 10, 2020 [71 favorites]
In 2013 my parents sat our family down and explained that the doctor had informed them my father had stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver and he had about a year left to live.
"Of course," my mother concluded, "we're going to get a second opinion."
Later my wife told me she had looked at me at that moment to see if I needed emotional support and instead saw me physically fight down the urge to say "You're also lazy."
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:28 AM on December 10, 2020 [71 favorites]
I wonder how many other classic Simpsons moments are in the block of episodes that get referred to as Zombie Simpsons?
I would say that as with empires, the fall of The Simpsons can't be localized to a single moment in time, and importantly as with empires the decline was not gradual and inexorable but rather stochastic. Stupid Sexy Flanders, Pinchy the lobster, President Lisa, and Skinner's lesson on invasive species management shone through episodes fettered by an increasing reliance on foreign labour (*guest stars playing themselves) and the ascension of Jerkass Homer. Between ca. 1996 and 2000, as the values that had once guided the institution to greatness were increasingly sidelined, a viewer could still point to these moments of triumph to believe that greatness remained in play. Then in fall 2000 Homer was raped by a panda, and the Ostrogoths sacked Springfield.
posted by saturday_morning at 7:34 AM on December 10, 2020 [64 favorites]
I would say that as with empires, the fall of The Simpsons can't be localized to a single moment in time, and importantly as with empires the decline was not gradual and inexorable but rather stochastic. Stupid Sexy Flanders, Pinchy the lobster, President Lisa, and Skinner's lesson on invasive species management shone through episodes fettered by an increasing reliance on foreign labour (*guest stars playing themselves) and the ascension of Jerkass Homer. Between ca. 1996 and 2000, as the values that had once guided the institution to greatness were increasingly sidelined, a viewer could still point to these moments of triumph to believe that greatness remained in play. Then in fall 2000 Homer was raped by a panda, and the Ostrogoths sacked Springfield.
posted by saturday_morning at 7:34 AM on December 10, 2020 [64 favorites]
In conclusion, Zombie Simpsons is a land of contrasts.
posted by saturday_morning at 7:34 AM on December 10, 2020 [36 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 7:34 AM on December 10, 2020 [36 favorites]
How has nobody made that a Halloween costume yet?
posted by gottabefunky at 7:47 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gottabefunky at 7:47 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
I mean, outside of homemade versions.
posted by gottabefunky at 7:49 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 7:49 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
Parasite Unseen, my friends and I have been riffing on that episode lately and as a result, I’ve had the songs from that musical stuck in my head for over a week.
“Oh my god, I was wrong...”
posted by darkstar at 7:55 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
“Oh my god, I was wrong...”
posted by darkstar at 7:55 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
- S T U P I D - S E X Y - F L A N D E R S - remix
posted by BungaDunga at 8:19 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 8:19 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
So, I grew up in a strict Christian household and I was disallowed from watching the Simpsons during their glory years and only fell into them randomly in college, and only through a friends out-of-order VHS tapes, which was post-2000 and arguably well into the Simpsons decline.
I feel so weird thinking about the Simpsons because it's this cultural touchstone for everyone else but my major exposure to them was a bunch of random episodes on VHS and then Simpsonswave. So conversations about the Simpsons always feel so culturally alien to me, even though I'm familiar with a lot of the "greats." (Steamed Hams stands out)
P.S. Bring back Simpsonswave.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:30 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
I feel so weird thinking about the Simpsons because it's this cultural touchstone for everyone else but my major exposure to them was a bunch of random episodes on VHS and then Simpsonswave. So conversations about the Simpsons always feel so culturally alien to me, even though I'm familiar with a lot of the "greats." (Steamed Hams stands out)
P.S. Bring back Simpsonswave.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:30 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
The marking of the show's "Golden Age" is slipping to season 11
It's not. The Golden Age ended at Season 8, which is pretty much universally agreed to be the last season with more good episodes than bad. As saturday_morning notes, it's not a hard cut-off but more of an unraveling. Even if there were good bits now and then, the episodes stopped being good, e.g. does anyone remember or care about the rest of "Little Big Mom", the episode "stupid sexy Flanders" is from? It's not good. The Golden Age Simpsons was able to balance comedy, heart, and story, but sliding into Zombie Simpsons the show more and more stopped caring about story or heart and became a series of gags and celebrity cameos strung together.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:54 AM on December 10, 2020 [11 favorites]
It's not. The Golden Age ended at Season 8, which is pretty much universally agreed to be the last season with more good episodes than bad. As saturday_morning notes, it's not a hard cut-off but more of an unraveling. Even if there were good bits now and then, the episodes stopped being good, e.g. does anyone remember or care about the rest of "Little Big Mom", the episode "stupid sexy Flanders" is from? It's not good. The Golden Age Simpsons was able to balance comedy, heart, and story, but sliding into Zombie Simpsons the show more and more stopped caring about story or heart and became a series of gags and celebrity cameos strung together.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:54 AM on December 10, 2020 [11 favorites]
I wonder how many other classic Simpsons moments are in the block of episodes that get referred to as Zombie Simpsons?
As with anything, the longer the thing runs the further along the decline seems to have happened in retrospect. When it hits its hundredth season, we will look back on this era of the original cast all still being alive and the characters not yet being voiced by neural nets as part of the golden age.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:17 AM on December 10, 2020 [13 favorites]
As with anything, the longer the thing runs the further along the decline seems to have happened in retrospect. When it hits its hundredth season, we will look back on this era of the original cast all still being alive and the characters not yet being voiced by neural nets as part of the golden age.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:17 AM on December 10, 2020 [13 favorites]
Dammit darkstar, now I’m going to have that stuck in my head all day.
I hate every ape I see
From chimpan-A to chimpanzee...
Ah, I love legitimate theater.
posted by bjrubble at 9:21 AM on December 10, 2020 [15 favorites]
I hate every ape I see
From chimpan-A to chimpanzee...
Ah, I love legitimate theater.
posted by bjrubble at 9:21 AM on December 10, 2020 [15 favorites]
How has nobody made that a Halloween costume yet?
It's probably filed under "Dumb But Attractive Skiing Neighbor" with all the other unlicensed costumes
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:21 AM on December 10, 2020 [11 favorites]
It's probably filed under "Dumb But Attractive Skiing Neighbor" with all the other unlicensed costumes
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:21 AM on December 10, 2020 [11 favorites]
The first Simpsons episode that was not perfect was Season 6's "Fear of Flying".
But you know what? Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I've been watching some of the new episodes on Sunday nights, and they're still above average television.
posted by vibrotronica at 9:24 AM on December 10, 2020 [7 favorites]
But you know what? Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I've been watching some of the new episodes on Sunday nights, and they're still above average television.
posted by vibrotronica at 9:24 AM on December 10, 2020 [7 favorites]
a.k.a. "damned with faint praise"
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:28 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:28 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
It's hard to overstate the contribution the Simpsons has made to my vocabulary.
Same. You could probably create a completely convincing DeepfakeBadExample just by plugging all of The Simpsons and Achewood into a Markov generator.
posted by MrBadExample at 9:32 AM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
Same. You could probably create a completely convincing DeepfakeBadExample just by plugging all of The Simpsons and Achewood into a Markov generator.
posted by MrBadExample at 9:32 AM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
I, for one, welcome our new cartoon oral history overlords.
posted by thelonius at 9:36 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 9:36 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
> I probably rererence "nothing at all, nothing at all" at least once a week. It's hard to overstate the contribution the Simpsons has made to my vocabulary.
Hello me, my wife, my siblings and all of my friends my age.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:41 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
Hello me, my wife, my siblings and all of my friends my age.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:41 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
d r z a i u s simpsonswave is a real earworm
posted by BungaDunga at 9:47 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 9:47 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
The Golden Age ended at Season 8, which is pretty much universally agreed to be the last season with more good episodes than bad. As saturday_morning notes, it's not a hard cut-off but more of an unraveling.
I haven't rewatched anything but I know at the time I still included season 9 as a "pre-decline" season, with season 10 really the one where I started to notice that Mike Scully's show just didn't have the same consistent quality. The distinct moment that solidified the show's decline for me was "Simpson Safari" in season 12, but even then I think I still had warm feelings toward a lot of season 9. I've got the DVDs for seasons 1-9 but as with a lot of comedy I'm afraid to revisit it now for fear of finding out how much of it not only hasn't aged well, but in retrospect wasn't a good idea from the start. (Paging Apu to the white courtesy phone …)
posted by fedward at 9:55 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
I haven't rewatched anything but I know at the time I still included season 9 as a "pre-decline" season, with season 10 really the one where I started to notice that Mike Scully's show just didn't have the same consistent quality. The distinct moment that solidified the show's decline for me was "Simpson Safari" in season 12, but even then I think I still had warm feelings toward a lot of season 9. I've got the DVDs for seasons 1-9 but as with a lot of comedy I'm afraid to revisit it now for fear of finding out how much of it not only hasn't aged well, but in retrospect wasn't a good idea from the start. (Paging Apu to the white courtesy phone …)
posted by fedward at 9:55 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
I've only ever seen like half an episode one time about twenty years ago. I've absorbed more of it from memes. I don't feel like I'm missing much, though, as I reread the collected Life In Hell endlessly.
The Simpsons sure seems like another country at this point, though. Who even lives like that any more?
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:56 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
The Simpsons sure seems like another country at this point, though. Who even lives like that any more?
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:56 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
the characters not yet being voiced by neural nets
I AM SAMPSAN
I AM SAMPSAN
I AM SAMPSAN
posted by traveler_ at 9:58 AM on December 10, 2020 [21 favorites]
I AM SAMPSAN
I AM SAMPSAN
I AM SAMPSAN
posted by traveler_ at 9:58 AM on December 10, 2020 [21 favorites]
I can't read an oral history without thinking of MeFi favorite Daniel Lavery's fantastic "An Oral History of Something You Liked."
posted by Emily's Fist at 10:37 AM on December 10, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by Emily's Fist at 10:37 AM on December 10, 2020 [14 favorites]
The distinct moment that solidified the show's decline for me was "Simpson Safari" in season 12
Season 12 was well into decline territory, but I would argue that season still had one classic episode, "Skinner's Sense of Snow," and another really great one, "HOMR."
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:42 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
Season 12 was well into decline territory, but I would argue that season still had one classic episode, "Skinner's Sense of Snow," and another really great one, "HOMR."
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:42 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
The first episode I remember actually disliking was Trash of the Titans (S9E22). I distinctly remember being in middle school the Monday after it aired and as always we'd talk about the latest episode of The Simpsons. And I just felt that episode was bad. Going back to watch the seasons you can clearly see the shift in season 9 and that episode sticks out as everything wrong about what came after.
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:44 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:44 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
The distinct moment that solidified the show's decline for me was "Simpson Safari" in season 12,
I still love Simpson Safari. It's got so many great individual lines, so I'd watch it above plenty of episodes from the early seasons that are just as much 'Homer gets a wacky job'.
I'd also posit that the last great episode was season 16, The Heartbroke Kid, but that one gets a serious Albert Brooks bump.
"I want all the food in one bag, but I don't want the bag to be heavy."
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:50 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
I still love Simpson Safari. It's got so many great individual lines, so I'd watch it above plenty of episodes from the early seasons that are just as much 'Homer gets a wacky job'.
I'd also posit that the last great episode was season 16, The Heartbroke Kid, but that one gets a serious Albert Brooks bump.
"I want all the food in one bag, but I don't want the bag to be heavy."
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:50 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
Even though it's now a favorite, I still remember being disappointed at the premiere of Season 9 (sorry, Ian). There were some good moments in that season, but it was clear they wouldn't be batting 1000 anymore.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:52 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:52 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
d r z a i u s simpsonswave is a real earworm
I love youDr. Zaius Phil Hartman!
posted by darkstar at 11:03 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
I love you
posted by darkstar at 11:03 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
You could clearly see the incipient decline by episode 2.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:03 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:03 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
My recollection of the first season is that it was focused very much on Bart, and that the show only hit its stride with season 2's switch to Homer as the character with true comic potential. Can we at least agree that the Golden Age didn't start till then?
posted by Paul Slade at 11:27 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 11:27 AM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
Season 12 was well into decline territory, but I would argue that season still had one classic episode, "Skinner's Sense of Snow," and another really great one, "HOMR."
Not disagreeing with either of those. My problem is that I don't really want to invest the time in watching them all over again just to be able to pinpoint where, exactly, enough of the show went off the rails that one could just stop caring. For me that point happened somewhere between seasons 9 and 12, but it happened slowly enough that I know at the time I still had goodwill for season 9. Season 12 was the first time I'd ever had such a strong reaction to a bad episode that I wanted to turn it off before it was over. I think a big part of the reason I haven't rewatched the DVDs is that I'm afraid I'd have the "turn it off" reaction a lot more now, and I'm not sure I want to hate myself for not having had it more the first time around.
posted by fedward at 12:20 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
Not disagreeing with either of those. My problem is that I don't really want to invest the time in watching them all over again just to be able to pinpoint where, exactly, enough of the show went off the rails that one could just stop caring. For me that point happened somewhere between seasons 9 and 12, but it happened slowly enough that I know at the time I still had goodwill for season 9. Season 12 was the first time I'd ever had such a strong reaction to a bad episode that I wanted to turn it off before it was over. I think a big part of the reason I haven't rewatched the DVDs is that I'm afraid I'd have the "turn it off" reaction a lot more now, and I'm not sure I want to hate myself for not having had it more the first time around.
posted by fedward at 12:20 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
I presume you all saw this on reddit?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:24 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:24 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
I think a big part of the reason I haven't rewatched the DVDs is that I'm afraid I'd have the "turn it off" reaction a lot more now, and I'm not sure I want to hate myself for not having had it more the first time around.
I did start a rewatch lately and I did have that reaction more, or at least sooner; I didn't finish season 8—didn't even get to Grimes. (That episode was the first one I remember reacting to with genuine puzzlement when it first aired, as in like, "Is this from the usual group of writers? Because damn.") I wouldn't say I hated myself retroactively—more that it was interesting to consider the shift in my feelings then and now.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 1:45 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
I did start a rewatch lately and I did have that reaction more, or at least sooner; I didn't finish season 8—didn't even get to Grimes. (That episode was the first one I remember reacting to with genuine puzzlement when it first aired, as in like, "Is this from the usual group of writers? Because damn.") I wouldn't say I hated myself retroactively—more that it was interesting to consider the shift in my feelings then and now.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 1:45 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
I love being a part of this particular nerd subculture. When someone can mention Grimes and we know who he is, what the episode was about, and how the episode fits into the larger debate and zeitgeist of the show as a broader cultural phenomenon, I feel like I haven’t wasted my life.
Quiet, you.
posted by darkstar at 1:51 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
Quiet, you.
posted by darkstar at 1:51 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
I didn't think 'tail end' was meant to be taken seriously? ...It's a pun? ...Because his ass?
When someone can mention Grimes and we know who he is, what the episode was about, and how the episode fits into the larger debate and zeitgeist of the show as a broader cultural phenomenon, I feel like I haven’t wasted my life.
gotta admit I haven't kept up with popular culture recently and for a while there I was confused about exactly who Elon Musk had had a baby with
posted by um at 1:55 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
When someone can mention Grimes and we know who he is, what the episode was about, and how the episode fits into the larger debate and zeitgeist of the show as a broader cultural phenomenon, I feel like I haven’t wasted my life.
gotta admit I haven't kept up with popular culture recently and for a while there I was confused about exactly who Elon Musk had had a baby with
posted by um at 1:55 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
Stupid Sexy Flanders
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:09 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:09 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
How can you tell if an episode is good or bad? They all just seem Simpsony to me.
posted by hypnogogue at 2:09 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by hypnogogue at 2:09 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
The Simpsons sure seems like another country at this point, though. Who even lives like that any more?
People didn't really live like that in 1989 when it premiered, either. It's a little lost to time now, but the show's setting was supposed to be a throwback to an idealized 50s-60s small town and way of life, like a twisted version of Andy Griffith's Mayberry or the Cleavers.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:20 PM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
People didn't really live like that in 1989 when it premiered, either. It's a little lost to time now, but the show's setting was supposed to be a throwback to an idealized 50s-60s small town and way of life, like a twisted version of Andy Griffith's Mayberry or the Cleavers.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:20 PM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
So if I am tracking this correctly, the Zombie Simpsons are the Byzantine Empire?
posted by vorpal bunny at 3:09 PM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by vorpal bunny at 3:09 PM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
yes and the scattered good bits after season 7 are roughly analogous to the scattered moments when the later eastern roman emperors actually got control of parts of italy for a second.
but mostly late simpsons is just a grinding demoralizing series of wars with arabia, punctuated by the occasional pointless civil war.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 5:25 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
but mostly late simpsons is just a grinding demoralizing series of wars with arabia, punctuated by the occasional pointless civil war.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 5:25 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
My recollection of the first season is that it was focused very much on Bart, and that the show only hit its stride with season 2's switch to Homer as the character with true comic potential. Can we at least agree that the Golden Age didn't start till then?
I sat through about half of one episode and never watched again because I could not stand Homer Simpson.
If the show'd had a Ground Hog Day like structure where in every episode Homer was shamed and humiliated by yet another collapse of his narcissistic grandiosity and then died of his own stupidity it might have held my attention for a season.
In retrospect, the way the world of The Simpsons warped itself around and coddled giant incontinent squalling baby Homer was a chilling harbinger of the Toddler Trump Presidency.
posted by jamjam at 5:38 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
I sat through about half of one episode and never watched again because I could not stand Homer Simpson.
If the show'd had a Ground Hog Day like structure where in every episode Homer was shamed and humiliated by yet another collapse of his narcissistic grandiosity and then died of his own stupidity it might have held my attention for a season.
In retrospect, the way the world of The Simpsons warped itself around and coddled giant incontinent squalling baby Homer was a chilling harbinger of the Toddler Trump Presidency.
posted by jamjam at 5:38 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Well, at least we now know Frank Grimes has a MeFi account.
posted by star gentle uterus at 6:34 PM on December 10, 2020 [33 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 6:34 PM on December 10, 2020 [33 favorites]
If the show'd had a Ground Hog Day like structure where in every episode Homer was shamed and humiliated by yet another collapse of his narcissistic grandiosity and then died of his own stupidity it might have held my attention for a season.
Kind of like this I imagine except the rest of this episode is not good. I mean the video clip at the bottom.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:16 AM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Kind of like this I imagine except the rest of this episode is not good. I mean the video clip at the bottom.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:16 AM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
The Simpsons sure seems like another country at this point, though. Who even lives like that any more?
I guess it's a testimony to its longevity, but since The Simpsons debuted, Homer's situation (high-school graduate who owns a house and has a family because of a blue-collar job that his employer trained him for on company time) has gone from aspirational to completely unimaginable.
posted by Mayor West at 9:39 AM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
I guess it's a testimony to its longevity, but since The Simpsons debuted, Homer's situation (high-school graduate who owns a house and has a family because of a blue-collar job that his employer trained him for on company time) has gone from aspirational to completely unimaginable.
posted by Mayor West at 9:39 AM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
My grandfather Biscuit was born a bit over 100 years ago. By the time he was the stated age of Homer, he had bought a house and he and his wife were raising five kids on an electrician’s wages (Gram didn’t work outside the house until the kids were grown). Had he ever watched the show, he wouldn’t have seen anything remarkable about Homer’s situation.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:25 AM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:25 AM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Well, at least we now know Frank Grimes has a MeFi account.
Since September, 2002.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:56 AM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Since September, 2002.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:56 AM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Later my wife told me she had looked at me at that moment to see if I needed emotional support and instead saw me physically fight down the urge to say "You're also lazy."
My sister-in-law once got a fairly serious diagnosis from her doctor, and as he stated the percent survivability rate she had to fight the urge to say "I like those odds".
posted by Gortuk at 11:58 AM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
My sister-in-law once got a fairly serious diagnosis from her doctor, and as he stated the percent survivability rate she had to fight the urge to say "I like those odds".
posted by Gortuk at 11:58 AM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
> d r z a i u s simpsonswave is a real earworm
The Murmullo remix of Dr. Zaius is reeeally catchy too.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:32 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
The Murmullo remix of Dr. Zaius is reeeally catchy too.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:32 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
Now what can I ding dong diddly do for you?
Do you know how to twerk it?
posted by loquacious at 7:05 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Do you know how to twerk it?
posted by loquacious at 7:05 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
How can you tell if an episode is good or bad? They all just seem Simpsony to me.
Zombie Simpsons is a terrific piece of analysis on this. Basically Homer goes from sad-sack well-meaning father to invincible jerkass, and the show’s ability to tell character based stories dies along the way. From a comedy perspective it also lost the multi-layered gags of the early seasons, as well as the sheer density of comedy material (the writer burnout was legendary, but it produced an unparalleled amount of quality humor).
posted by graymouser at 1:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
Zombie Simpsons is a terrific piece of analysis on this. Basically Homer goes from sad-sack well-meaning father to invincible jerkass, and the show’s ability to tell character based stories dies along the way. From a comedy perspective it also lost the multi-layered gags of the early seasons, as well as the sheer density of comedy material (the writer burnout was legendary, but it produced an unparalleled amount of quality humor).
posted by graymouser at 1:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
> Not disagreeing with either of those. My problem is that I don't really want to invest the time in watching them all over again just to be able to pinpoint where, exactly, enough of the show went off the rails that one could just stop caring.
poochie. the correct answer is poochie. if you hit s08e14 you’ve gone too far.
note: there was exactly one good episode after the poochie debacle, but that one (“simpson tide”) was from a script written several seasons previously.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:05 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
poochie. the correct answer is poochie. if you hit s08e14 you’ve gone too far.
note: there was exactly one good episode after the poochie debacle, but that one (“simpson tide”) was from a script written several seasons previously.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:05 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
also though there’s stuff throughout that are in retrospect extremely cringe, especially but not exclusively anything involving apu.
if you want to do the speedrun version of the “figure out when the simpsons became sucky” game, just watch the treehouse of horror episodes. 1) they hold up better than the show as a whole 2) since treehouse of horror is the best part of the simpsons, you know for sure the show as a whole sucks when you get to a treehouse of horror episode that sucks.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:11 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
if you want to do the speedrun version of the “figure out when the simpsons became sucky” game, just watch the treehouse of horror episodes. 1) they hold up better than the show as a whole 2) since treehouse of horror is the best part of the simpsons, you know for sure the show as a whole sucks when you get to a treehouse of horror episode that sucks.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:11 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
I always saw the Mel Gibson cameo as a harbinger of worst episodes ever era
posted by thelonius at 8:28 AM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 8:28 AM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by The River Ivel at 2:38 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]