When did you stop watching The Simpsons?

[Fatecrashers]

This year saw the beginning of the 24th season of The Simpsons, now the longest running American prime time scripted televsion series. There's no argument that the show has been steadily declining in quality since its glory years in the 90s, but when did The Simpsons stop becoming appointment viewing for you? Was it when Principal Skinner was revealed to be an imposter? When Homer got attacked by magical jockeys? When Homer got raped by a panda?

From reading the episode summaries, I can surmise that I personally stopped watching sometime around season 15, which is 2004, since there are some episodes which I cannot recall at all. I remember thinking that the episode where Homer and Marge met as children at summer camp was really mediocre, and basically shat on a lot of the Homer/Marge stories that came before it. When I saw the ad for the season 16 episode where Bart becomes friends with 50 Cent, I think that's when I decided that I would be better off if I stopped watching new episodes altogether.

Watched the newest episode and found it painful. Unfunny iPad/Steve Jobs jokes, unnecessary Kent Brockman backstory after everyone has stopped caring, plus a rehash of the storyline where everyone in Springfield started worshipping an angel skeleton. Had to go back and watch a couple season 4 episodes just to remind myself how good this show can be.

Also, is it me or is the new animation style of post-2000 Simpsons actually worse than the animation style of the old episodes? The new look just feels so clean and sterile while the old look had a comfortable hand-drawn charm that can no longer be captured.

So yeah, when did you stop watching? Share your thoughts on this formerly great show that is now a shadow of its magnificent past.

 

[kd24]

i stopped around season 9 which i believe is where skinner turned out to be a fraud. I don't want to blame the decline on that specifically, but it basically is where they decided it was their world and they could do with it what they pleased. There has been some solid episodes since then that I might catch on a replay, but I bought all of the DVDs until season 10.

That all being said, I don't think the simpsons suddenly became worse, it just became tired. The only way to fix it was to focus more on pop culture. And it's basically worked. They have a new young audience and they're in their 24th season.

I will say old simpsons had it's jokes fall flat too - just not as often as the newer stuff. But we like to remember our favorite moments from the old and let it define the series for us without remembering the bad times.

Also, I don't want to intercept the thread but can we post our favorite simpsons moments? I think the show really had something for everyone and for anyone who never watched it, maybe a clip might really change their mind. This is probably in my top 5

[YOUTUBE]Lzpk5dMhVE4[/YOUTUBE]

 

[v]

[youtube]OqfOxm_1BE0[/youtube]

 

[cookie]

literally the whole episode of "last exit to springfield"

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

As someone who is a huge fan of the older seasons, I tried and tried and tried to like everything beyond season 15, but it just kept getting worse. But after a few good episodes of Season 22, I had hope. But then it all went down and after the atrocity that is "The Doh-cial Network", I just gave up.

It's the same thing that happened to Spongebob, the characters became Flanderized to death and the creators think that incest and expressing how much Lisa is a Buddhist is good humor. It ISN'T.

 

[Kinneas]

I think I probably stopped watching around season 10 too. I think The Simpsons reacted to Family Guy badly. At some point it decided to try and compete with Family Guy by trying to out-crazy it, and lost its credibility. The Simpsons I remember cared more about a good solid plot than it did about being wacky or having a celebrity guest randomly appear half way through an episode.

I also really dislike the new episodes that centre around supporting characters like Apu and Krusty. Its weird because I remember good Krusty episodes to do with his father and stuff, but in the newer episodes it just seems so poorly planned. A lot of the dialogue is just puns and playing on stereotypes, and again I feel like a hypocrite because I'm sure the Krusty episodes I remember enjoying were mostly just Jew jokes, but for some reason it seems worse now. Maybe its because they developed the characters and then they just became "token Jew" or "token Hindu" instead of portraying them more 3-dimensionally, or maybe it is just like kd says and it just got tired.

I don't think I outgrew The Simpson, but it feels like it started to appeal to a more immature audience. That goes back to the Family Guy thing though. It's strange to think that The Simpsons went backwards in this respect, whereas South Park did the complete opposite.

The main feeling I get with new Simpsons that I really can't shake is how desperate it feels. When there's a joke, there's just something in the way that it's presented that feels like they really want me to laugh at it. I know it's supposed to do that. I'm supposed to want to laugh at it. But something has changed in the delivery. Even if it's just the tiniest pause that hints "that was the punchline", it's something that wasn't there before that makes the entire show seem too much about getting laughs and not enough about being funny. That probably makes no sense unless you know what I mean, so I hope somebody knows what I mean.

One of my favourite moments:
[youtube]sGFwLHCTsfk[/youtube]

 

[supermarth64]

I stopped watching it a few seasons after the 300th episode (which is the Tony Hawk one) just because I couldn't relate to anyone else watching it. Additionally, I grew older and preferred shows with actual people in them. It's not that the Simpsons became unfunny for me, but rather I could talk about other shows with my friends.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

I stuck it out until one season after the movie (I think that was the 19th season), I thought the movie was good, but it quickly dropped after that.

 

[Zacchaeus]

[youtube]QzE5xDs2Ors[/youtube]

I've watched a few episodes of The Simpsons in German and for some reason it becomes noticeably more entertaining just because of that

 

[Arch]

Stopped regularly watching at season 18. Just never found the interest to get back into it. Checked out a few episodes here and there from seasons after.

The thing for me is that it has completely become reliant on pop-culture for its humor. That's not to say it didn't do that before, but now they make it blatantly obvious. It's spoonfed to us. It's almost, in a roundabout way, taking cues from Family Guy to expand longevity. I still have a chuckle here or there, but ultimately it isn't the show I watched when I was a kid. I'm fine with that though, I don't expect it to be.

 

[PK Gaming]

Hmm

As a kid i'd just watch it on TV whenever it was on... I've don't think i've ever gone out of my way to watch a Simpsons episode. I think I stopped watching around 2008-9, but I don't think i've ever been cognizant of which "season" I was on before that.

 

[vonFiedler]

I know that I watched the Simpson's, but it's hard to remember much about it when Futurama shaped almost everything I know about comedy.

 

[some hero]

I stopped watching it on Sundays around 3 years ago.. I don't find it that funny anymore though.

 

[Glen]

[youtube]Zh5knx1Bt64[/youtube]

the show used to be a masterpiece, really. only when rewatching this scene recently did i realize that the way he says 'oh my god' is even funnier than the gags themselves

i used to watch it every sunday with my dad, i think we both agreed that it stopped being consistently funny (or at least 'simpsons funny') around season 11 or 12? i remember a few episodes from later seasons but i don't think i ever actively watched them

 

[Atlas]

probably around season 18. i almost always worked sundays and eventually i just stopped downloading the new eps. i still enjoy and have seen all the ones ive missed through reruns and i still believe its a good, humorous show. i now watch every sunday (when not cancelled by bullshit football games).

the quality is fine for a show thats been on for this long. im not phased by it, or surprised. there are a few bad episodes per season but for the most part theyre all good. they may not be a the go to cartoon but cmon...24 years. lay off the old dude.

Also, is it me or is the new animation style of post-2000 Simpsons actually worse than the animation style of the old episodes? The new look just feels so clean and sterile while the old look had a comfortable hand-drawn charm that can no longer be captured.

ya progress tends to do that...

 

[Tobes]

I can't remember specifically when I said "enough is enough" and quit watching Simpsons (I think the Ireland episode was when I became disgusted with the state of the show, but I would probably have quit it earlier if we had gotten cable a year or two earlier). Frankly to me The Simpsons isn't the Simpsons anymore. I get exactly what Kinneas is driving at here. The show (as well as Family Guy, Futurama, and even South Park) has forgotten what once made it great. It's started pandering to its audience, tried to make calculated attempts at laughs, tries to spoonfeed the audience the jokes (because god forbid someone doesn't get the joke), forgot who its characters really were for the sake of convenient storyline, etc. There's a reason the term is Flanderization. It's something that seems to have happened to every once great comedy cartoon of that era. They've forgotten themselves and what made them what they were in the first place, and they've forgotten the value of subtlety and brevity.

Honestly it's sad that I find an episode of Brickleberry slightly funnier than any new Simpson episode I can remember watching.

(btw I really hate when I'm youtube jumping from simpsons clip to simpsons clip and enjoying myself and then I stumble onto a "new" clip and I stop laughing)
[youtube]Jspw0597t7Y[/youtube]

 

[New World Order]

I still watch the occasional new episodes if I happen to come across them while channel surfing and nothing else is on, but I stopped tuning into Simpsons on a regular basis about 5 years ago.

 

[Milos]

Fortunately, where I live they still show older episodes of the Simpsons, so it's not that bad because the episodes are still funny. The only downside is that I usually have to watch episodes I've seen before but hey, it beats any episode that FOX puts out.

 

[Skytt]

Here in the UK they currently show "new" seasons 4 years late on Channel 4 (S20 is currently being shown as new) whilst repeating 1-10 on weekends. You can watch actual new episodes on Sky1, the UK's satellite/cable equivalent of Fox. Sometimes if I have nothing better to do i'll watch some of the new episodes, but will always try to catch the glory day repeats.

A few of the later episodes are good, not classic Simpsons material, but definitely better than most of the others. "You Kent Always Say What You Want" and "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" are good examples of this. I thought the movie was fantastic though.

IMO, I don't think anything beats classic Simpsons TV wise. The only thing that really comes close for me is Futurama which has stayed consistently funny even through cancellation and return.

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

Also, my personal favorite episode has to be Homer's Triple Bypass, followed closely by Marge vs. the Monorail.

[youtube]WTz8rKJk-Vw[/youtube]

 

[religiousjedi]

Stopped watching it regularly 4-6 years ago. It does feel like I can't relate with it anymore, just like Family Guy and Spongebob.

 

[X5Dragon]

The episode where Bart managed to get a passing grade after failing many times was the Magnus Opus for me, I didn't bother to watch constantly anymore after that.

 

[KnightoftheWind]

I believe I stopped watching after season 12. I checked out one of the newer episodes one day when I was quite bored. It didn't make me laugh, or even smile.

[youtube]mV1LWhNpTJU[/youtube]

 

[Alice]

I stopped watching it after the 300th episode (which is the Tony Hawk one).

 

[Steamroll]

Absolutely loved Marge v. The Monorail. In terms of the Simpsons in general I stopped watching in season 19 because I just felt it was getting to cut and paste between them, Family Guy, and American Dad. The pop culture jokes are old now, it's time they moved into actually making legit episodes again.