Originally Posted by trackercowe
There are a ton of factors you can consider in regards to the downfall of what I consider the greatest show in the history of television. I am actually thinking of writing my term essay on this exact subject. Here is just a short run down of the reasons I consider.
Turn of the Millennium (Age): Obviously every show will get worse from year to year, but once the year 2000 rolled around the show seemed to lose a whole lot of steam. This is also when the show hit double digits.
Futurama: When Matt Groening, and a few other show writers/runners left to help the development on Futurama it seemed the writing quality, and plot went downhill fast on the show.
Family Guy: When the people involved on the Simpsons saw how Family Guy became "the new thing" they started trying to copy them in a way. Now the characters act, and sound very much like those in FG (Homer is a complete idiot, Lisa is a joke, Bart is a sissy, etc). I wouldn't say the show is completely like Family Guy, but the humor seems to be geared towards Family Guy fans.
Computer Animation: This may be more personal, but I just don't appreciate computer animation when compared to that of hand-drawn. It just doesn't feel right on a show that was born using hand-drawn techniques. I also don't think computer animation looks as good in the Simpsons universe.
Worse voice acting: Kind of obvious at this point, but some characters sound completely different than they did 20+ years ago. Especially regarding the women voice actors (Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, and even Nancy Cartwright). Maybe it's the constant smoking, or maybe it was because they held out for more money a few times. I will say Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer are still pretty good.
Travel much? Another thing that rubs me the wrong way is episodes that involve the Simpson family going to another country for no real reason. It just seems like a huge marketing ploy to suck up to every nationality possible. Next time they'll be in Yemen, or Luxembourg (they've been everywhere else). The New York episode started all of this, and Japan only made it worse.
Guest stars: Same thing as above. When guest stars like Michael Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, and even Mel Gibson to an extent came on they actually played a purpose, and seemed like they wanted to be there. Now almost every celebrity guest star appearance seems half assed. How many times do they come on for one line, then leave? It gets tired fast. This is the Simpsons, not some damn show that needs to suck up to guest stars for ratings (or at least it used to be).
New show writers/runners: My buddy is more knowledgeable on this front, but Al Jean (as noted before) was terrible. I could name a few others, but you can usually tell the good ones, from the bad.
Destroying/over using characters: Since when were Lenny, and Carl Homer's best friends? Barney, or even Flanders should be Homer's best friend, not Lenny, and Carl. Also characters like the Cat Lady, Lindsay Naegle, and Duff Man are used way too much. There are others of course, but it's 2 am; and I can't think of anymore. Also characters like Burns, Barney, and even Bart are a shell of their former selves.
Too many Lisa "episodes": In the first seasons only a few episodes you would consider Lisa "episodes". Now I swear there are more episodes based around Lisa than ever before. I have always hated Lisa; and the voice acting does not help either (even listen to Smith's awful commentary).
Message episodes/skits: We get it guys! You're gay friendly, hate George Bush, are against the Iraq war and want to save the environment. It may have been funny the first time, but now these message episodes are just weak.
Dumbing down/no longer realistic: Might be somewhat of a Family Guy factor, but nothing is believable, and everything is played for a joke. This isn't the Simpsons I grew up with.
Obvious/dumb jokes: Simpsons used to be informative, even witty at times. Now I have to force myself to laugh every episode.
It's been done to death: I really can't fault them on this one, but if they wanted to they could give us something different.
I'll add more if I can think of them.
There may be a lot of complains/concerns, but I only complain because I love. This is the show of my childhood, and I force myself to try and give it a chance. I do agree that the show is better than it was a few years back; but not even close to the first 9 seasons.
The best animated show on Sunday nights is American Dad these days. I wish more people would watch that one when compared to complete crap like FG, and the Cleveland show.
Oh, and for the record season 5 was the best. Almost every episode was a classic. Funny how for almost every show season 5 is the best (Simpsons, X-Files, The Sopranos, Married With Children, Seinfeld, and a few others).
However if anyone is interested in doing a Simpsons trivia contest let me know. My buddy, and I are always sending Simpsons triva questions. Btw, my favorite episodes off the top of my head are Homer Badman, Cape Fear, and Rosebud (Mr Burns is amazing). The worst may be the dude ranch episode (complete disaster from beginning to end).
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