[CaptainCrunch]

I think it was pretty hilarious that the Simpson's knew that their well was running dry in the "Behind the Laughter Episode" where at the end of the episode, they show Homer watching a preview for next year and he exclaims "Oh yeah, we're canceled"

But they pointed to the problem with the Simpson around the over bloated character list thats expanded like the black plague.

And when that happens they get sloppy with characters. I agree with Moe, he went from a pathetic lonely sympathetic character, to being equivalent to Herbert in the Family Guy. They show way to much of that Cleatus character who has rarely been funny, but we now rarely see Comic Book Guy who was brilliant.

Even the main characters have changed, and the only one thats improved for the better is really Bart. Lisa has become an annoying windbag, Marge is really just set filler and a nag foil for Homer, and they at some point decided to make Homer a complete moron who really doesn't win at life, whereas before he always found a way in the end to be a good dad, or win occassionally at life. I go back to the episode where he returns to work and plasters up the pictures of Maggie over the Plagueas a real touching moment in the series.

I've tried to watch it over the last couple of years, and its gone from a show with some pretty decent social commentary that had quick laughs mixed with slow build up reward laughs. Now it just seems to go for the quick laughs and there's nothing really clever and no real build up.

I had high hopes for the Simpsons because I really loved the movie and I thought it would springboard the series back to being funny. But they just keep making really flat episodes.