The strongest seasons are 4 & 5 The weakest are 31 & 32 The most fun I had working on segments in this project were the section on season 1 in the first one, flanderization in the second, and the one on cultural influence in this one
Interesting choice for strongest seasons. I personally always thought that seasons 6&7 were above everything else :) Love your simpsons analysis videos
I've been watching the whole time, and I'd say The Simpsons is good again starting season 32, with 31 being a transition year. So I strongly disagree with your picks for weakest seasons. Also, I'm not sure if this was something that you missed or if you just didn't feel like getting too into the weeds on this, but Matt Selman didn't become the showrunner all at once. He has been gradually getting more episodes per season over time for over a decade. Season 33 is just the first season that he had more episodes than Al Jean. You frequently referenced "A Totally Fun Thing that Bart Will Never Do Again" and "Halloween of Horror" - both of these are Matt Selman showrun episodes in majority-Al-Jean seasons. Meanwhile, "Clown V. Board of Education" is an Al Jean episode in a Matt Selman season.
An issue I really have an issue with, that no one ever seems to comment on, is how cinematography sucks in the later seasons. Compare them to the early ones. There's interesting camera angles, quick cuts, changes to emphasize jokes, etc. A lot of later seasons, it's just so... flat. Static shot of people talking, camera zooms out to show another person as they enter the conversation, cut to boring shot of person's face as they're talking, back to original static shot. The only time they ever seem to do anything interesting, is when it's a direct reference to a movie or show and they're mimicing it.
The main issue is the lack of rhythm, and it can be seen on everything: from editing, to delivery, to the writing. Old Simpsons were like music. New Simpsons are like noise.
Crazy thing is the one "recent" episode my husband and I once watched was the cruise ship one, and I distinctly remember both of us saying it was actually pretty good. It didn't entice us to go back and watch everything we missed nor continue watching the show, but you're on the money about randomly hopping into a good episode versus a bad one.
Drew Gooden made a really good point in his SNL re-watch video that I think also applies here and that is SNL has had some really bad sketches, even when they were considered to be at their peak. Those sketches aren’t as well remembered because they have been forgotten to the sands of time and we immortalized the sketches that we considered the best ones. Since the advent and popularization of social media in the mid 2000s people are now immediately able to post about when SNL has a really good or bad sketch and because people are more prone to post more negative things people tend to post more about the bad or cringe sketches than they do about the ones they love. This gives the appearance that SNL has gotten bad when in reality the bad stuff is just forgotten. Same goes with the Simpsons. People remember the iconic episodes from the first 10 seasons because they are classic TV and now tend to post mostly about the really bad episodes with the new Simpsons.
The difference between bad episodes of classic SNL and bad episodes of modern SNL is the huge difference in 'sincerity'. The old bits that fell flat, were at least *intended* to be funny. Modern bad SNL skits don't feel intended to be funny anymore, the cue to laugh is always just to fling spite at the general concept the skit is referencing, rather than punchlines or payoffs. Maybe I'm crazy, but that Drew Gooden video kinda confirmed the difference for me.
@@HugslothSNL never had sincerity… it had timing. And because Comedy’s subjective, it just depends on what anyone thinks is funny. If someone thinks the sketch from the Modern SNL’s not funny, then that just means that someone thinks it’s unfunny.
@@egateqa1351 I completely disagree, some of my favorite bits were when the actors were having as much fun as the viewer. Fallon kinda ran the 'laugh at your own bit' into the ground in later seasons though
I disagree about the point about Smithers not being the kind of guy to distrust Musk. The impression I've always got is that he doesn't worship the rich, he worships Mr Burns and, as per all the innuendos, is homosexually attracted to him. Therefore he sees Musk getting Mr Burns' attention and praise and gets jealous, which we have also seen before. I agree that Lisa would also be against him but for different reasons and maybe they could have worked together, Smithers perhaps using some knowledge about Burns to hatch a plan to make him hate Musk and get rid of him.
My only real critique of the analysis is in regard to Elon. You talk about in this section that "Well, there is no way they could not know what was going on and it must be all sneak disses" But all that forgets the fact that back when the Elon episode came out, he was a liberal darling cause of the electric car thing. People liked him, that's why he was on this episode in the first place. It's actually the same reason Elon makes a cameo in Rick and Morty. So when you talk about criticizing and satirizing the guest, that was clearly not the goal for the Elon episode, it was just purely advertisement.
@@TheOneNerd1 The episode with him came out in November 2019. When the final decision to have an episode with him in it was made - the point of no return so to speak - bad things he had done were already public. But I don't know how public.
I can see your point about Marge's voice and yes the actress has still got the absolute talent even if it sounds aged. But here's the thing, at least for me, it breaks my heart to hear it because it just sounds like being Marge, Patty, Selma and Marge's mother is a genuine strain on Julie. I just... I don't really want to see these actors keep these roles up until their deaths yknow? Even Milhouses' voice actress has retired, how much longer is the Simpsons gonna keep limping on until it becomes too much of a strain for one of its more important actors to do the voices, or until the main cast decide to retire, or at absolute worse, one of them passes away. I'd rather The Simpsons give itself a definitive ending that is just as satisfying as Behind The Laughter, the Movie or Holidays of Future Passed than to one day wake up and hear the news that no one wants to hear, the show has ended but can't go out with any fanfare because one of the main cast has passed on yknow?
Disney will run Simpsons into the ground. It's gonna be like Garfield or Frankie Valli... barely hanging on and in a permanent catatonic state. I wouldn't be surprised if when the technology gets better they just hand the show over to an milquetoast AI to appease geriatrics (the real creative exciting AIs will be open source)
I just find it more impressed Julie Kaviner’s still able to continue voicing her characters, Marge included. Most actors tend to get recast when they’re too old to play the characters, but the fact the crew behind the Simpsons were still able to let one of their actors to continue voicing in the series, makes it more impressive then it is depressing. It reminds me as to how Alan Young was still able to voice Scrooge McDuck, for 3 decades, until he passed away in 2017. Or how Frank Weller was still voicing lots of characters despite him getting higher. And yes, I do get that we should get worried that Julie Kaviner’s still voicing Marge, despite the age causing her to sound more strain then it used to be… but that’s just because as we’ve been watching the Simpsons for 3 decades in a half, of course we would care about the cast behind the shows, because we’ve been growing to care about them just as we did for the characters.
Great video. I think ironically the golden age was followed up best not by the simpsons, but by the shows that innovated from it. Futurama, south park, family guy, american dad, rick and morty, the list goes on and on
Funnily enough, I was just thinking about these videos yesterday, wondering when this one would drop. I guess you read my mind! I'm only a few minutes in right now, but you were bang on with the other two videos. Much respect for sitting through a lot of these episodes, because as you say, many are forgettable. I grew up with the post-movie era, and continue to follow the simpsons as it releases, and whilst a lot of it tries to be too current and meta, often feeling cynical and bitter, there are, imo, wonderful episodes scattered throughout that gives me hope for the series. As someone who's a big fan, and has a place in their heart for all Simpsons eras, I hope that when they finally put it to rest, they go out with a bang.
The Simpsons Ages: my observed breakdown: Stone Age: 1-2 Golden Age: 3-8 Silver Age: 9-14 Bronze Age: 15-30 Silicon Age: 31 - Present Because there seems to be a general consensus on when the quality declines, I would argue the silver age begins in season 9 and ends in 14 when rating began to decline after that season. There is a general trend of viewership loss with season 15 onward: this would suggest that the show is not as pop culturally significant (and potentially not as well received) and previous seasons. Ratings are not equivalent to quality, but for an iconic show like The Simpsons, rating falling would indicate that something went wrong from a quality perspective. With season 31, the show has gained some new life and appears to be entering a new age of quality. If you have dropped off after the Silver Age, you may be pleasantly surprised by the new episodes.
The s33 episode Lisa’s Belly is a really good one - the animated impact of Marge’s “chunky” remark in Lisa’s mind is an incredibly creative and haunting portrayal of how impactful words can be, not just on young girls but on all of us. And Lisa’s tantrum in the clothes shop is a very satisfying and relatable display of relatable 8yo behaviour.
This summary (like many of Stu's examples of 'good modern episodes' in this video) seems like a deliberate 'appeal to emotion' story in place of good humor writing, where provoking sad/relatable emotions from the audience is their only trick left. They can't necessarily make FUNNY episodes anymore, but if they want to get serious and depressingly real, they seem capable of writing *that* effectively. Like they'll never make an episode packed with memorable gags again, like 22 Short Films About Springfield, or The Radioactive Man Movie, but if you were a big fan of the sad/melancholy episodes about characters struggling with very real and unfunny problems, modern Simpsons has premises like that in spades, and those seem to be the ones that stick out to people now. And that's great, if the emotional life lesson episodes were what you watched the show for... but if you just want to sit and watch a cartoon full of hilarious gags and sharp commentary, there's nothing there for you, at all.
@@Hugsloth Actually, Lisa's Belly was also probably the funniest episode of Season 33 too with a relatively high joke ratio. Everything at the water park is genuinely really great, classic stuff. Homer trying to comfort Lisa by explaining car warranties, the mantis eggs in Skinner's office. Lisa's Belly was a really uncharacteristically great episode in the modern age and was written by guest writer Juliet Kaufman who has yet to write another episode - if I were Matt Selman, i'd have her on speed dial.
I'm so glad you metioned DOCTORS. So many people I know got their start on that show and whilst it was never an amazing piece of television it did provide a huge amount of training and also provided the West Midlands with at least one long running series. Its a shame its gone. I hope they can find something else to provide that opportunity for new starters in tele.
I didn't watch it that often over the years but I will forever remember the episode where a woman has a disorder where she sees everyone as Joe Pasquale. It was weirdly creative for a daytime soap
@@Stubagful oh yh that’s sounds weird haha was just an episode about their being a bomb going off in some medical conference, I’m surprised they didn’t save that for the final. According to to my mum it ended very small scale, but she liked it. haha
It's sad, watching one random episode of Doctors when you're sick home from school then catching another one a few months later when you're sick again is like a british pastime lol.
40:00 guarantee why they didnt let smithers do that is because Elon is terified of being potentially viewed as gay, and with smithers being so open he probably didnt want a cartoon man flirting with him
The point about the voice acting it's actually what made me drop the show after season 15, here in Argentina after season 15 they changed the voice actors so for me they were no longer simpsons
One way I thought of to end the Simpsons in a satisfying way would be for Santa's Little Helper to die and see the family cope with it, especially Bart. The dog has been there since literally episode one, it's never been a big character, nor has it ever been in the greatest health, so I think seeing the dog die and the Bart especially mourning the loss and coping with it and learning to move on would be quite a satisfying let go to the series, if I guess a bit morbid. While the future episodes are nice, I don't think the appropriate way to end "The Simpsons" would be to make a big spectacle out of it. The true way to end the Simpsons is to have it quiet, and return to their roots as a "realistic" sitcom family.
I actually really like that. They did an episode where snowball II dies that I quite liked but it wasn't quite as emotional as that. A gutpunch end would really suit it
@@Stubagful Also, I recommend listening to "So Dumb (Homer's Lament)" by Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor for Homer. No matter what the real ending is, I will always think of that song as the real finale to the series; Homer and crew breaking character a bit to sing one big long song about his life and the nature of the show in general. My biggest wish is to see that song get an animated video one day, that would be so cool.
I’m never mad at new episodes. They just feel like nothing to me. They’re starting to repeat themselves. They did another krusty clown school episode. It’s a bunch of random small gags and pop culture references. I think stale is the word I would use. The new episodes can be hit or miss. They aren’t horrible or anything. The 1-10 era the writing is just perfect.
The best way I have heard it described, is that The Simpsons went from being subversive culture, to just.. being culture. It lost its bite when the mainstream it was known for rebelling against, merged with its legacy. Simpsons *became* pop culture, but rather than mocking that, it went on so long they just embraced it as a vehicle for trends and celebrity drama.
The discourse over Marge's voice always baffled me. Like, yeah, someone doing that voice for 30 years is going to start to sound different. The fact that Julie is still able to do it is amazing.
To me, it's just more evidence that the show has gone on for too long. If you've got 40 year old characters who sound like they're 80, it feels very strange. She literally sounds like Marge's mother now.
Nothing is wrong with it. It sounds awful and fans are allowed to think that. This is a good analysis and I get most/all of his points. I'm half way through, does he ever get onto the fact the jokes are just fucking terrible now? His analysis and points on everything about the show are true so far but he hasn't mentioned the comedy.
I know you argued against it but I honestly do think post Season 33 there has been a charge for the better. The batting average is higher, they try more experimental episodes, the characters feel closer to their golden age counterparts, more deconstruction on the show itself. Like in Season 33 alone we got Bart in Jail, Lisa’s belly, A serious Flanders, Pixelated and afraid, Boyz n the highland, The Sound bleeding gums, My octopus and a teacher and Marge the meanie.
@@norso I've now twice done a type of Bob' Burgers marathon within the span of a few weeks or so during which I each time skipped the majority of the episodes and both times watching different episodes. I am only about 95% sure that there *isn't* actually an episode set in the days before a main character's birthday but not the birthday itself and that I have only dreamt watching such an episode.
25:15 I reckon it was different with Brass Eye because, whilst the targets of their satire did often appear on the programme, they generally did not actually have the full context of the situation. The most well-known example being Sir David Amess who genuinely believed he was doing a legitimate PSA about Cake. Because of that, it still managed to feel very removed from its guests and targets of satire, despite them literally being right there. Same for films like Borat. The Simpsons - and most other comedic television programmes - are a completely different kettle of fish due to their heavily scripted nature.
There's a rumour The Simpsons is coming back as a Lego theme in 2025 and your little Kwik-E-Mart walkthrough is making it even harder to resist the potential set(s).
Simpsons or shows like Doctors being low stakes testing grounds for newer writers isn't something I've ever thought about but is particularly eye opening since I do want to go into writing for animation. Great series, hope you enjoy the next 20+ years of simpsons
I think the only way that the Simpsons can refresh itself is by going back to its roots as an animated family sitcom with just a light touch of edginess. The early seasons are filled with heart-to-heart moments between Bart and Homer, for example, now Homer seems to mostly treat his kids as roommates. They need to age the family up a little, maybe put Bart and Lisa in high school or just Bart and have Lisa in middle school on her own or something. This one change alone, with all the implications it would have would be a prime opportunity to bring back the original style, a show about a whacky family trying to solve the issues of being a family in their own way.
In the Elon part, I do think you have to keep in mind that it was made in 2015 when Musk was seen as a bit more like a "Nerdy hip figure" so it comes off a lot like pandering to internet spaces where one would find praise or jokes about the guy, it wasn't until following years that his public perception soured so much. People use to brag about their Teslas and saw it as a "Stepping stone to greener energy" futurism. While there's always existed valid critiques (Anti union being the one brought up in this video) it wasn't bigger than the general public image, and you have to keep in mind, the public who this is marketed to, are normies, and normies generally just don't dig any deeper than the front label. At one point people just made "Eel on Musk" jokes on like tumblr, and he was just a figure for the most part, I'd say the perception of him really tanked a few years later, in particular, in 2018 with the Thailand incident which got the public to overall turn on him as being, to put it one way, a bit "Childish", and I'd say around 2021ish when he started to signal for crypto is when it basically put the nail in the coffin for public image. If there was an Elon episode in 2019+ I'd say you'd see it done negatively or at least critically enough that Elon wouldn't lend his voice to it. When SNL had him on, it was panned pretty widely. However in 2015 when it aired, it was just "Oh it's a bad episode" more than it being Elon in particular, which is why people focus on the Gaga episode more, because it set the "This is terrible for this reason", and we see it a few more times where they just praise a figure rather than build an episode and hide it's about a guest, as stated in the video.
I am nota Simpsons die-hard but when I think Simpson's, the first thing to come to mind is the writers. Theyre all still writers and I think some of the episodes like the one with Coleman was probably more of a treat for the writers room than the audience. I get it as a viewer tbh. It's art.
I agree as a whole that the seasons won't reach classic level, but I definitely think episodes here and there definitely do. A Mid-Childhood's Night's Dream, Pixelated & Afraid, Lisa's Belly, A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again, Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind, Barthood, Diary Queen, Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?, Holidays of Future Passed, etc, are all episodes that hold up to the classics in my opinion
My problem is, comedies are strange, because for the whole show to work, the comedies have to work. You can have interesting character beats, great meta-commentary and all that, but if your show it just not funny, it does affect negatively all aspect of the show. Take How I Met Your Mother. By the end of the series, the comedy was so bad, even when there was an emotional moment, i felt nothing. In a vacuum, is really easy to look at modern Simpson and say "they aren't that bad". But the comedy is sometimes so, so bad, that you, as a viewer, do not want to geve it even that.
I think two major issues with the strangling episode that makes it not work is that we see Abe Simpson do it too Hormer dozens of times before. Therefore he already knows what it's like. Secondly I think using a guest star to do it and then that guest star be a basketball player of all people 🤷♂️ not like an existing character like the boxer dredrick Tatum. Really brings into question what in the world is going on.
I got used to the WTFness as Pre-Simpsons frequently liked to put in Real World Celebrities for no reason, so it wasn’t a big deal. The Abe Simpson bit could’ve been done if the flashback had Abe strangle Homer for asking about cereal, instead of Homer strangling Abe all because he told him there’s no cereal.
This is an issue I also have with the modern show. I was watching old seasons yesterday and wondered why don't we ever see characters like Dr. Hibbert anymore? There's just so many "citizens of Springfield" that we never see used now.
It’s even more weird when part of Homer’s arc in the Simpsons Movie was that he had to makes things right with his son for not being a good father to him. He even tells Bart during the film’s climax that he wasn’t a good father to him because of how his father (Abe) raised him poorly. So you think the strangling gags would’ve been removed after the Simpsons Movie. You know, as a sign of continuity & character development, but this isn’t a show that has continuity, to begin with.
Not only does Homer end up living under the sea after all, it came after he and Marge split up; in other words, it _was_ Marge's attitude that stopped him!
I've said this to my parents countless times, it'd be neat if they did a whole season in a flashback/flash forward where they can explore more ideas with the family being a different age than normal.
I have one question, Stu: When you say things like "it worked well", or "I really enjoyed this", did you really find it funny, as in laugh out loud funny? My biggest problem with the modern Simpsons is that it just isn't even as remotely funny as the golden age and I feel that during this video you have given many examples of the show being clever, imaginative, culturally aware, provocative and avant-gard, but not a single instance of the modern Simpsons actually being laugh out loud funny, like the golden age. Would love to know your thoughts...
Ten modern day episodes I love. I don’t know the names. The Lego episode. The one where Lisa discovers the beached whale. The episode when Lisa and Mr. Burns gets trapped in an attic and they tell a story within a story. Lisa and her new friend create a fantasy world. Like that movie Bridge to Terabithia(sp?). Homer becomes famous from staring in an animated short. I think it was called Angry Dad. When the family gets stuck on a cruise ship. I think the ending is really sweet. ❤️ I feel like I could name four more. But I haven’t watched the show in four years. The earlier season, I have memorized thanks to syndication and DVDs.
Love Is A Many Strangled Thing I believe is the episode where the discourse around whether Bart is a sociopath or kot began. Outside of a few one off jokes that feel really off, this just isn't really common place but in this episode it's so extreme, I think this is what people think of when they think about that debate
Even Homer's VA sounds like the voice isn't quite coming to him like it used to. Compare the audio of old seasons to modern, they've started putting filters on the voices to fix the audible vocal strain, and you can tell.
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios Watch any episode from like S4 or S5, then jump to a modern episode, it's obvious they are all getting old and can't do these voices as well anymore.
@@HugslothI did exactly that, and I couldn’t tell any difference. Dan only changed his Homer voice between Season 2 and 3. His other characters like Krusty or Barney Grumple have sounded the same. Same goes to Nancy Cartwright’s characters, and Yeardly Smith as Lisa. I could barley hear any differences through their age, as I have with Harry Shear’s characters.
The biggest problem I have with any of the more recent Simpsons is that it just isn't funny. I haven't seen every classic episode, but any time I decide to check out an episode I've missed it makes me chuckle at least. I've seen a lot of modern Simpsons, on and off, but not one episode has ever been funny. The voice direction, and even the direction in general is largely to blame. It's not as polished as it used to be. Shots will linger a little too long, jokes will be over or underexposed. The animation is less expressive, or won't be as well-timed for physical comedy. On the voice acting front, compare a Season 4 Homer line read to a Season 20 or 30 one. Even if the jokes are well-written (and they often still are, despite what is often claimed), they are rarely well delivered anymore, and comedy is largely derived from delivery. I don't blame the actors, or the voice directors, as it's probably an inevitable consequence of chaining a small group of VAs to uber-famous roles for 40 straight years (directors won't be as hard on the cast, the cast is far less enthusiastic about their own performances, etc.)
So many ideas came up on my mind while watching it, so many of them got forgotten meanwhile. But probably the strongest one: On the local TV they keep re-running the show in a linear way, 4 episodes per day. Now it's around the 24th season. Very often I see an episode and I'm surprised how "early" it was, for example the "Nerder" one. You said it's a 19th season episode. I would swear it was somewhere around the 28th. It's crazy how bland the show feels, even though I also found that episode very interesting. Oh, and the strangling episode… I think you said it right. If it was just about teaching Homer to not strangle Bart anymore, that would be ok. But the part about Bart treating Homer just like garbage, that's disgusting and destroys the whole message.
It was a great series of videos. I love The Simpsons and is rare to get analysis of the show as good as this ones. For how talked about the show is, is kinda rare to hear a discussion about their position and effect on culture besides "how good they were" or "how bad they are".
To me, The Simpsons *should have* started to age the characters around season eight or nine on a consistent basis. In order to "retain" that emotional heart that was the show's initial mission statement, as you put it, we should've seen everyone in Springfield start to age to allow the writers more story opportunities for our characters (Bart and Lisa's teen years ALWAYS feels like a missed opportunity) while also allowing the show's "waning popularity" to kind of begin working in its favor. How would you feel seeing Bart at age 10 in Season 7 just to tune in 10 years later and now they're telling stories with him being 15, 18, hell 20 years old? You would have that emotional gut punch of, "God, this show and I have really aged overtime," alongside the new narrative a 17-year-old Bart is able to properly portray instead an episode where 10-year-old Bart is marrying a girl slightly older than him who is pregnant (yeah, a real episode). I know that's why those flash forward episodes work for me so much because they always ooz with raw potential and creativity. (There are more reasons why this (to me) would've been the best option, but I'm tired and wanted to make this into MY OWN video so...)
I feel like the phrase “Modern Simpsons” just doesn’t hold much weight as it was a decade ago. I’ve been watching random Simpsons episodes on Disney+ (for like every season that’s included on there) and I can say that it’s just hard to think of when Modern Simpsons ended. Like, A lot of the complaints towards the Simpsons in the 2010s have mostly been phased out by this point, especially when in the 2020s, there’s only been complaints and concerns towards the cast members while there’s been constant praises over the experimental episodes in this current era of the series. Most people agree that the Classic Simpsons ended at either Season 10, or Season 8, and most people would probably put Seasons 11-18 + the Simpsons Movie as the 2nd Simpsons era. But the Modern Era’s just hard to pick. Especially when it’s been almost 2 decades since the first season after the Simpsons movie aired. That being Season 19. I think in fairness, each era of the Simpsons have their ups & downs. When there’s Homer’s Enemy, there’s always The Principal & the Pauper. When there’s Eternal Moonshine of the Simpsons mind, there’s Alone Again Natura-Diddily. When there’s Brick Like Me, there’s Simpsons Guy. And when there’s A Serious Flanders, there’s The Flanders Ladders. I think personally believed that Seasons 19-25 are the Post Movie Era of the Simpsons, while Seasons 26-35 is when the Simpsons went all weird again. Not bad… just weird. And then Season 36 pretty much created a new era of because of that AI Reset.
As someone who also marathoned through every simpsons episode for a youtube video (a ranking on my channel), I don't think the simpsons was ever bad, even the worst seasons of the show average at ~5/10, it's mostly just mediocre with the rare masterpiece like brick like me, halloween of horror, holidays of future passed & barthood. I do think that the recent seasons (33, 34 & 35) are a large improvement, of coarse there are bad & mediocre episodes & it still doesn't reach the quality of the elusive "golden age" but the average episode quality has improved & lots of episodes from season 33, 34 & 35 are some of my all time favourites like a mid-childhood's night dream, bartless & lisa the boy scout with pixelated & afraid being in my top 3.
That Elon joke would've been so easy to simpsonize. " Honey you'll never guess who just crushed my leg. Hi first name is Elon.." "No..." "No..." "Yep that's the one!"
@V00doo1Xim That's the joke haha. Elon is a very uncommon name and Musk is by a long shot the most famous Elon and one of the most famous/rich people in the world. so the idea that this man's wife thought of two other Elon's first is absurd. It's just silly in general but also a slight dig at Musk reminding us that not everyone cares about this dude. Classic Simpsons jokes usually involve setting up a punchline and then surprising you with a different or additional one. There's a lot of commentary on this and thousands of examples but off the top of my head another phone bit is when the city is being attacked by millions of hostile birds moleman pucks up a payphone saying "hello I need the biggest bird cage you have". Most comedy stops there since the idea he thinks a birdcage would solve the problem and there'd be one big enough etc is absurd and comical. But then he says" no, that's too big". Now we have an even more absurd situation and a second layer to the joke.
As I am one of those who "were the same with Bart when Simpsons started and now are the age of Homer" I really appreciate what you have done. I watched the first seasons of Simpsons on TV, then got up to season 9 on DVD and I dropped them because, well I found other things that I considered more interesting at that time. I also saw the Simpsons movie which I consider to be "fine". Your Simpsons videos for me are like hearing what went of with the life of a person you knew once, had a nice relationship with them, but stopped contact for no particular reason. Thanks for your creation!
The Deja Vu experience isn't just you. I distinctly recall watching the show from Season 1 through to at least Penny Wiseguys in Season 24, but couldn't remember exactly when or why I dropped off. When I went back and watched the entire series in 2022, I had a similar experience where there were episodes in Season 24 that I had "never seen before" that seemed really familiar, almost as if I saw them 8-10 years ago but didn't remember them at all.
The Simpsons was a huge part of my childhood so every couple of years I would “check in” on it, the recent seasons 34-36 have slowly been getting better and better, where before when I’d come back I’d watch maybe 2 episodes before disappearing again because it just wasn’t funny and the jokes felt like family guy gags, the last few seasons actually got me back into the show by actually being funny and creative and I’m now really excited whenever a new episode airs, if they can just continue this streak I think the simpsons genuinely might make a comeback I’m not sure
If it were not for the Simpsons I never would have discovered Ray Jay Johnson. I also would not have found it interesting that the current CEO of FTX is called John J. Ray III. RIP Bill Seluga.
As someone who has ACTUALLY watched every Simpsons episode, I feel I can truly comment on the weather: "The Simpsons is good again." And as much as I enjoyed season 33 and onwards, I do struggle with the idea that it's good again, as it feels very forced to say. Since we as the fans have an idea of what we consider "good Simpsons," basically everything before season 10, that when it does not meet these standards, it isn't considered good. When newer Simpsons is actually very solid.
Something that put me off later Simpsons (by this I mean season 14 or so) was that they became a lot less subtle with their punchlines. Like they would state the joke rather than leave the audience to smile wryly to themselves.
When people say it's 'good again' what they mean is that a recent episode either, had some overly sappy emotional family storyline where they're just dealing with real-ass unfunny problems and people misconstrue it as 'mature', or it did a gimmick with its animation (Lego, Death Note parody, etc) that caught eyes (despite the writing of those episodes still not being any better than your avg shit mid-series episode)
I think the biggiest issue that limits the show is they have done so much of them remaining the same age for 30 years. At this point if they let them grow older you get them in new and different situations as the kids grow up and parents get old. They probably wont do it but would be more intresting than keeping these characters in the same place for another 10-20 years.
I'm the sort of person that's seen the majority of the early ones but would only really watch it occasionally, (am more a Doctor Who fan). My favourite episode is the Xfiles one where they actually got David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Do appreciate the amount of time that must've gone into this, nice work Stu 👏
There being so many Simpsons episodes not only makes the series overwhelming, but also leads to people taking it for granted. When it feels like a show will always be around, viewers won't feel any pressing need to watch it. Same thing kinda happened with Doctor Who in the 80s (though granted, that was hardly its only problem)
I disagree that the writers intended that Abe was a good father and Homer was a jerk to him for no reason. I think the intention was always that Homer has complicated feelings about Abe. That was pretty clear in my opinion. Abe was sometimes nice and sometimes neglectful.
I have seen every episode of The Simpsons because I am 45 years old so I do mean it when I say I believe the Simpsons has gotten good again, but I totally agree with your analysis here because that probably is the case for a lot of people. Also, your analysis about Julie Cavanaugh wasspot on very well done!
The one thing I like about Modern Simpsons is that "Jerkass Homer" is dead and buried. If anything Bart, Lisa and Marge have all had more episode where they have been selfish in recent years.
Eh. There are a few seasons that are reliably terrible and I don't think one or two decent episodes changes the fact that it was just a bad show at one point. But I think it's a relatively short period and for most of the show's run it's been...fine, if not good. I say this as someone who's seen every episode and was watching it reliably through...season 20 or so, then just started marathoning seasons every couple of years.
Now that you are done with the Simpsons, you can now focus on doing a rundown on the 1100+ episodes of the anime "One Piece" :D Joking, but your videos you did are pretty great. It's fun to see someone break down these episodes and give them some different opinions with things on Modern Simpsons (and Simpsons as a whole) that doesn't break down to "It's boring and stale". Well done
1:03:03 Thanks to this section, I now regonize that my feelings about this are a *me issue and not the show's fault. But "the way we was" is the most personally significant episode for me, because watching it as a re-run at 7/8 years old, I'd conflated Homer and Marge's story with the story of how my parents fell in love. And when my parents got divorced a few years later, I understood it through the context of *that scene in the movie. That's why "Close to you" still devastates me to this day. And so, the further away we got from the original details of Homer & Marge's backstory, the more it felt like treading on something sacred. But you're totally right - its the emotion that matters, not the details. Thanks for that.
I have to wonder if the weird moral of the strangulation episode wasn't originally pitched as an ironic anti-moral in the same vein as the South Park episode where guns are the solution to everyone's problems, and somewhere along the way the irony got lost.
Nah, I can't doubt Homer. He'd never hit our Marge of all people (I can see him hitting one of the other ladies though🤣). I'd believe Peter hitting Louis whatever reason but not Homey hitting our Marge. Besides there are reasons why he strangles Bart and is terrible to his dad, in show and running theme reasons.
honestly, all media criticism of anything that was once good or amazing or made with any earnestness or sincerity that became popular but then declined, is just reduced to: because capitalism. its always capitalism. because of course it is. like, when are we gonna get together and do something about this?
@@Stubagful but the stain of it being dragged out for profit and no other reason long after it hollowed itself out, just kinda, negates whatever mote of sincerity you could uncover, imho
Let me be clear that I'm in no way saying capitalism is above criticism as a deeply flawed economic system. And I do think it's correct to say "the Simpsons makes so much money through merch that Fox will not cancel it until forced to." But to be a devil's advocate, the Simpsons exists because of capitalism, too. It has almost always been deeply aware and critical of its own status as a product of capitalism, its relationship to its own commerciality. It didn't suddenly become capitalist in the last seasons, or start being made by people without passion. It has always been a product first and foremost (and conflicted about its own status as a commercial product).
ah yay finally out! i lost this channel and randomly remembering commenting asking when this video would be out. went through my liked videos from a few months ago just to find this. happy it’s out!
That episode, Homer vs Dignity or whatever its name was, came on the telly the other day. Where have you been all this time, my man? Fantastic work. Now to the rest of your videos.
The strongest seasons are 4 & 5
The weakest are 31 & 32
The most fun I had working on segments in this project were the section on season 1 in the first one, flanderization in the second, and the one on cultural influence in this one
Interesting choice for strongest seasons. I personally always thought that seasons 6&7 were above everything else :)
Love your simpsons analysis videos
can you just put together a list of Simpsons episodes worth watching for people who only have a passing interest
boring take.
gfy
I've been watching the whole time, and I'd say The Simpsons is good again starting season 32, with 31 being a transition year. So I strongly disagree with your picks for weakest seasons.
Also, I'm not sure if this was something that you missed or if you just didn't feel like getting too into the weeds on this, but Matt Selman didn't become the showrunner all at once. He has been gradually getting more episodes per season over time for over a decade. Season 33 is just the first season that he had more episodes than Al Jean. You frequently referenced "A Totally Fun Thing that Bart Will Never Do Again" and "Halloween of Horror" - both of these are Matt Selman showrun episodes in majority-Al-Jean seasons. Meanwhile, "Clown V. Board of Education" is an Al Jean episode in a Matt Selman season.
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan You sniff bus seats as a hobby, shut up.
An issue I really have an issue with, that no one ever seems to comment on, is how cinematography sucks in the later seasons. Compare them to the early ones. There's interesting camera angles, quick cuts, changes to emphasize jokes, etc.
A lot of later seasons, it's just so... flat. Static shot of people talking, camera zooms out to show another person as they enter the conversation, cut to boring shot of person's face as they're talking, back to original static shot. The only time they ever seem to do anything interesting, is when it's a direct reference to a movie or show and they're mimicing it.
EXACTLY!, you've hit the nail on the head
So... the cinematography is like (what I've seen of) Family Guy?
similar, but not exactly. There’s still some differences to the Simpsons as there are similarities to Family Guy.
The main issue is the lack of rhythm, and it can be seen on everything: from editing, to delivery, to the writing.
Old Simpsons were like music. New Simpsons are like noise.
@@leonardofernandez6488 Wonderfully put
They should have called the new Joker film Joker Goes GaGa
Five star comment
Large majority of American population goes Gaga
@@Stubagfulis it Pin worthy? lol
We thank you for your service.
Ooh cool seeing you here! :D
Crazy thing is the one "recent" episode my husband and I once watched was the cruise ship one, and I distinctly remember both of us saying it was actually pretty good. It didn't entice us to go back and watch everything we missed nor continue watching the show, but you're on the money about randomly hopping into a good episode versus a bad one.
These videos are fascinating as someone who's managed to basically ignore The Simpsons for my entire life
Oh, the Phil Hartman moments you have yet to see.
Oh you poor thing :( hope you can fix that, you've missed some of the best comedy TV ever written
just watch the first 9 seasons, no need to watch anything else
"Bake em away toys..."
same, I watched it occasionally on channel 4 after school whilst mum cooked tea
I've not been watching The Simpsons for almost 20 years... Somehow, you make me want to dive in again.
Thanks, Stu!
I never really got the Simpsons. I much preferred Futurama but this video was inexplicably comforting and a right riveting watch to boot.
Drew Gooden made a really good point in his SNL re-watch video that I think also applies here and that is SNL has had some really bad sketches, even when they were considered to be at their peak. Those sketches aren’t as well remembered because they have been forgotten to the sands of time and we immortalized the sketches that we considered the best ones. Since the advent and popularization of social media in the mid 2000s people are now immediately able to post about when SNL has a really good or bad sketch and because people are more prone to post more negative things people tend to post more about the bad or cringe sketches than they do about the ones they love. This gives the appearance that SNL has gotten bad when in reality the bad stuff is just forgotten. Same goes with the Simpsons. People remember the iconic episodes from the first 10 seasons because they are classic TV and now tend to post mostly about the really bad episodes with the new Simpsons.
The difference between bad episodes of classic SNL and bad episodes of modern SNL is the huge difference in 'sincerity'. The old bits that fell flat, were at least *intended* to be funny. Modern bad SNL skits don't feel intended to be funny anymore, the cue to laugh is always just to fling spite at the general concept the skit is referencing, rather than punchlines or payoffs. Maybe I'm crazy, but that Drew Gooden video kinda confirmed the difference for me.
@@HugslothSNL never had sincerity… it had timing. And because Comedy’s subjective, it just depends on what anyone thinks is funny. If someone thinks the sketch from the Modern SNL’s not funny, then that just means that someone thinks it’s unfunny.
@@egateqa1351 I completely disagree, some of my favorite bits were when the actors were having as much fun as the viewer. Fallon kinda ran the 'laugh at your own bit' into the ground in later seasons though
The end of 'a totally fun thing...' actually made me tear up.
I binged your simpsons vids over the last two days and I'm loving your content!
I disagree about the point about Smithers not being the kind of guy to distrust Musk. The impression I've always got is that he doesn't worship the rich, he worships Mr Burns and, as per all the innuendos, is homosexually attracted to him. Therefore he sees Musk getting Mr Burns' attention and praise and gets jealous, which we have also seen before. I agree that Lisa would also be against him but for different reasons and maybe they could have worked together, Smithers perhaps using some knowledge about Burns to hatch a plan to make him hate Musk and get rid of him.
Didn't they already have Smithers come out of the closet to Burns anyway? Their dynamic isn't even about boss/servant anymore.
My only real critique of the analysis is in regard to Elon.
You talk about in this section that "Well, there is no way they could not know what was going on and it must be all sneak disses"
But all that forgets the fact that back when the Elon episode came out, he was a liberal darling cause of the electric car thing. People liked him, that's why he was on this episode in the first place. It's actually the same reason Elon makes a cameo in Rick and Morty.
So when you talk about criticizing and satirizing the guest, that was clearly not the goal for the Elon episode, it was just purely advertisement.
Musk was already known to be horrible when he was on Rick and Morty, in my opinion.
@camelopardalis84 it could be bad timing considering how long animation takes
@@camelopardalis84 He was, I remember that. Apparently he was involved in the writing for that one or something.
@@camelopardalis84 Elon Tusk and Justin Roiland are friends, that´s why he appeared on the show.
@@TheOneNerd1 The episode with him came out in November 2019. When the final decision to have an episode with him in it was made - the point of no return so to speak - bad things he had done were already public. But I don't know how public.
Well it's been great stu hope you enjoy your post Simpsons life
I am eyeing an equally massive project for next year :)
@@Stubagful What could that be about?
@@camelopardalis84 It seems today, that all you see...
@@Jwnewall One can always try. It's okay to be desperate when it comes to such things.
@@Stubagful I know it's probably not this but I really hope we're getting an It's Always Sunny analysis video
I can see your point about Marge's voice and yes the actress has still got the absolute talent even if it sounds aged. But here's the thing, at least for me, it breaks my heart to hear it because it just sounds like being Marge, Patty, Selma and Marge's mother is a genuine strain on Julie. I just... I don't really want to see these actors keep these roles up until their deaths yknow? Even Milhouses' voice actress has retired, how much longer is the Simpsons gonna keep limping on until it becomes too much of a strain for one of its more important actors to do the voices, or until the main cast decide to retire, or at absolute worse, one of them passes away.
I'd rather The Simpsons give itself a definitive ending that is just as satisfying as Behind The Laughter, the Movie or Holidays of Future Passed than to one day wake up and hear the news that no one wants to hear, the show has ended but can't go out with any fanfare because one of the main cast has passed on yknow?
Disney will run Simpsons into the ground. It's gonna be like Garfield or Frankie Valli... barely hanging on and in a permanent catatonic state. I wouldn't be surprised if when the technology gets better they just hand the show over to an milquetoast AI to appease geriatrics (the real creative exciting AIs will be open source)
I just find it more impressed Julie Kaviner’s still able to continue voicing her characters, Marge included.
Most actors tend to get recast when they’re too old to play the characters, but the fact the crew behind the Simpsons were still able to let one of their actors to continue voicing in the series, makes it more impressive then it is depressing.
It reminds me as to how Alan Young was still able to voice Scrooge McDuck, for 3 decades, until he passed away in 2017. Or how Frank Weller was still voicing lots of characters despite him getting higher.
And yes, I do get that we should get worried that Julie Kaviner’s still voicing Marge, despite the age causing her to sound more strain then it used to be… but that’s just because as we’ve been watching the Simpsons for 3 decades in a half, of course we would care about the cast behind the shows, because we’ve been growing to care about them just as we did for the characters.
I don't like her withered voice because it reminds me of the grim spectre of death
Great video. I think ironically the golden age was followed up best not by the simpsons, but by the shows that innovated from it. Futurama, south park, family guy, american dad, rick and morty, the list goes on and on
I do remember loving the Neil Gaiman episode because as an aspiring writer I have like two thousand prompts that I haven’t touched in years
Genuinely, love your content. Will be watching this multiple times in the forseeable future.
I look forward to your analysis of postmodern Simpsons 20 years from now!
Funnily enough, I was just thinking about these videos yesterday, wondering when this one would drop. I guess you read my mind!
I'm only a few minutes in right now, but you were bang on with the other two videos. Much respect for sitting through a lot of these episodes, because as you say, many are forgettable. I grew up with the post-movie era, and continue to follow the simpsons as it releases, and whilst a lot of it tries to be too current and meta, often feeling cynical and bitter, there are, imo, wonderful episodes scattered throughout that gives me hope for the series. As someone who's a big fan, and has a place in their heart for all Simpsons eras, I hope that when they finally put it to rest, they go out with a bang.
I’m so glad you mentioned Barthood, as somebody who’s also seen every episode of the Simpsons it’s one of my favorites
That’s probably why I’ve seen Barthood more then twice. I just like it because it’s one of my favorite Simpsons episodes.
The Simpsons Ages: my observed breakdown:
Stone Age: 1-2
Golden Age: 3-8
Silver Age: 9-14
Bronze Age: 15-30
Silicon Age: 31 - Present
Because there seems to be a general consensus on when the quality declines, I would argue the silver age begins in season 9 and ends in 14 when rating began to decline after that season. There is a general trend of viewership loss with season 15 onward: this would suggest that the show is not as pop culturally significant (and potentially not as well received) and previous seasons. Ratings are not equivalent to quality, but for an iconic show like The Simpsons, rating falling would indicate that something went wrong from a quality perspective.
With season 31, the show has gained some new life and appears to be entering a new age of quality. If you have dropped off after the Silver Age, you may be pleasantly surprised by the new episodes.
The s33 episode Lisa’s Belly is a really good one - the animated impact of Marge’s “chunky” remark in Lisa’s mind is an incredibly creative and haunting portrayal of how impactful words can be, not just on young girls but on all of us. And Lisa’s tantrum in the clothes shop is a very satisfying and relatable display of relatable 8yo behaviour.
This summary (like many of Stu's examples of 'good modern episodes' in this video) seems like a deliberate 'appeal to emotion' story in place of good humor writing, where provoking sad/relatable emotions from the audience is their only trick left. They can't necessarily make FUNNY episodes anymore, but if they want to get serious and depressingly real, they seem capable of writing *that* effectively.
Like they'll never make an episode packed with memorable gags again, like 22 Short Films About Springfield, or The Radioactive Man Movie, but if you were a big fan of the sad/melancholy episodes about characters struggling with very real and unfunny problems, modern Simpsons has premises like that in spades, and those seem to be the ones that stick out to people now. And that's great, if the emotional life lesson episodes were what you watched the show for... but if you just want to sit and watch a cartoon full of hilarious gags and sharp commentary, there's nothing there for you, at all.
@@Hugsloth Actually, Lisa's Belly was also probably the funniest episode of Season 33 too with a relatively high joke ratio. Everything at the water park is genuinely really great, classic stuff. Homer trying to comfort Lisa by explaining car warranties, the mantis eggs in Skinner's office. Lisa's Belly was a really uncharacteristically great episode in the modern age and was written by guest writer Juliet Kaufman who has yet to write another episode - if I were Matt Selman, i'd have her on speed dial.
I’ve never watched the simpsons but these videos are so insightful and well made that they must be watched. Thank you for your hard work Stuart!
I'm so glad you metioned DOCTORS. So many people I know got their start on that show and whilst it was never an amazing piece of television it did provide a huge amount of training and also provided the West Midlands with at least one long running series. Its a shame its gone. I hope they can find something else to provide that opportunity for new starters in tele.
I didn't watch it that often over the years but I will forever remember the episode where a woman has a disorder where she sees everyone as Joe Pasquale. It was weirdly creative for a daytime soap
@@Stubagful oh yh that’s sounds weird haha was just an episode about their being a bomb going off in some medical conference, I’m surprised they didn’t save that for the final. According to to my mum it ended very small scale, but she liked it. haha
It's sad, watching one random episode of Doctors when you're sick home from school then catching another one a few months later when you're sick again is like a british pastime lol.
@@StubagfulAlso we got Silvester McCoy as a time travelling lollypop man
40:00 guarantee why they didnt let smithers do that is because Elon is terified of being potentially viewed as gay, and with smithers being so open he probably didnt want a cartoon man flirting with him
The point about the voice acting it's actually what made me drop the show after season 15, here in Argentina after season 15 they changed the voice actors so for me they were no longer simpsons
No ayudó que los episodios ya eran una verga.
@RexVergstrong sip, pero mantenían cierto encanto. Ahora hay algunos muy nuevos con esas voces pero ya no los veo
One way I thought of to end the Simpsons in a satisfying way would be for Santa's Little Helper to die and see the family cope with it, especially Bart. The dog has been there since literally episode one, it's never been a big character, nor has it ever been in the greatest health, so I think seeing the dog die and the Bart especially mourning the loss and coping with it and learning to move on would be quite a satisfying let go to the series, if I guess a bit morbid. While the future episodes are nice, I don't think the appropriate way to end "The Simpsons" would be to make a big spectacle out of it. The true way to end the Simpsons is to have it quiet, and return to their roots as a "realistic" sitcom family.
I actually really like that. They did an episode where snowball II dies that I quite liked but it wasn't quite as emotional as that. A gutpunch end would really suit it
@@Stubagful Also, I recommend listening to "So Dumb (Homer's Lament)" by Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor for Homer. No matter what the real ending is, I will always think of that song as the real finale to the series; Homer and crew breaking character a bit to sing one big long song about his life and the nature of the show in general. My biggest wish is to see that song get an animated video one day, that would be so cool.
I’m never mad at new episodes. They just feel like nothing to me. They’re starting to repeat themselves. They did another krusty clown school episode. It’s a bunch of random small gags and pop culture references. I think stale is the word I would use. The new episodes can be hit or miss. They aren’t horrible or anything. The 1-10 era the writing is just perfect.
The best way I have heard it described, is that The Simpsons went from being subversive culture, to just.. being culture. It lost its bite when the mainstream it was known for rebelling against, merged with its legacy. Simpsons *became* pop culture, but rather than mocking that, it went on so long they just embraced it as a vehicle for trends and celebrity drama.
The discourse over Marge's voice always baffled me. Like, yeah, someone doing that voice for 30 years is going to start to sound different. The fact that Julie is still able to do it is amazing.
whats wrong with the discourse?
Absolutely. Part of the reason Filthy frank quit the character is because it was ruining/hurting hos throat.
To me, it's just more evidence that the show has gone on for too long. If you've got 40 year old characters who sound like they're 80, it feels very strange. She literally sounds like Marge's mother now.
Nothing is wrong with it. It sounds awful and fans are allowed to think that. This is a good analysis and I get most/all of his points. I'm half way through, does he ever get onto the fact the jokes are just fucking terrible now?
His analysis and points on everything about the show are true so far but he hasn't mentioned the comedy.
I think the argument is around the idea that Julie is /not/ able to do it anymore
I'm watching this for the second time in 3 weeks because I know I missed some parts the first time around and you deserve more watch-hours!
I know you argued against it but I honestly do think post Season 33 there has been a charge for the better. The batting average is higher, they try more experimental episodes, the characters feel closer to their golden age counterparts, more deconstruction on the show itself.
Like in Season 33 alone we got Bart in Jail, Lisa’s belly, A serious Flanders, Pixelated and afraid, Boyz n the highland, The Sound bleeding gums, My octopus and a teacher and Marge the meanie.
They need to retire Marge's VA though, her voice is totally wrecked it's sad and hurts to listen to
@@constantanxietyattacks6878 Her Marge voice sounds these days sounds more like Patty and Selma
I agree, and I think a big part of that is Matt Selman becoming co-showrunner, he's made the show feel more fresh and experimental which I love!
I am almost certain I have seen this exact video before but I will happily watch it again.
There are two more before this one
Your videos are fantastic and I especially love your work on the Simpsons. Thanks for doing another long one as they are the best. Brilliant 👏
It's time! I commend you and send my best wishes as my brain genuinely melted when I did my simpsons 30+ season marathon.
You start seeing them in your dreams. Homer's face is burned into the inside of my eyelids
@@Stubagful yes I remember seeing the simpsons intro in my dreams it was surreal
@@norso I've now twice done a type of Bob' Burgers marathon within the span of a few weeks or so during which I each time skipped the majority of the episodes and both times watching different episodes. I am only about 95% sure that there *isn't* actually an episode set in the days before a main character's birthday but not the birthday itself and that I have only dreamt watching such an episode.
25:15 I reckon it was different with Brass Eye because, whilst the targets of their satire did often appear on the programme, they generally did not actually have the full context of the situation. The most well-known example being Sir David Amess who genuinely believed he was doing a legitimate PSA about Cake. Because of that, it still managed to feel very removed from its guests and targets of satire, despite them literally being right there. Same for films like Borat. The Simpsons - and most other comedic television programmes - are a completely different kettle of fish due to their heavily scripted nature.
There's a rumour The Simpsons is coming back as a Lego theme in 2025 and your little Kwik-E-Mart walkthrough is making it even harder to resist the potential set(s).
I don't have any shelf space left
Simpsons or shows like Doctors being low stakes testing grounds for newer writers isn't something I've ever thought about but is particularly eye opening since I do want to go into writing for animation.
Great series, hope you enjoy the next 20+ years of simpsons
Please God no
I watched all 3 of your videos back-to-back. Thanks for doing that. Huge respect.
It’s weird to think the movie came out almost 20 years ago.
I think the only way that the Simpsons can refresh itself is by going back to its roots as an animated family sitcom with just a light touch of edginess. The early seasons are filled with heart-to-heart moments between Bart and Homer, for example, now Homer seems to mostly treat his kids as roommates. They need to age the family up a little, maybe put Bart and Lisa in high school or just Bart and have Lisa in middle school on her own or something. This one change alone, with all the implications it would have would be a prime opportunity to bring back the original style, a show about a whacky family trying to solve the issues of being a family in their own way.
I don't envy you man, last year I only did all of the Treehouse of Horror episodes and by the end I was losing my mind.
In the Elon part, I do think you have to keep in mind that it was made in 2015 when Musk was seen as a bit more like a "Nerdy hip figure" so it comes off a lot like pandering to internet spaces where one would find praise or jokes about the guy, it wasn't until following years that his public perception soured so much. People use to brag about their Teslas and saw it as a "Stepping stone to greener energy" futurism. While there's always existed valid critiques (Anti union being the one brought up in this video) it wasn't bigger than the general public image, and you have to keep in mind, the public who this is marketed to, are normies, and normies generally just don't dig any deeper than the front label.
At one point people just made "Eel on Musk" jokes on like tumblr, and he was just a figure for the most part, I'd say the perception of him really tanked a few years later, in particular, in 2018 with the Thailand incident which got the public to overall turn on him as being, to put it one way, a bit "Childish", and I'd say around 2021ish when he started to signal for crypto is when it basically put the nail in the coffin for public image.
If there was an Elon episode in 2019+ I'd say you'd see it done negatively or at least critically enough that Elon wouldn't lend his voice to it. When SNL had him on, it was panned pretty widely. However in 2015 when it aired, it was just "Oh it's a bad episode" more than it being Elon in particular, which is why people focus on the Gaga episode more, because it set the "This is terrible for this reason", and we see it a few more times where they just praise a figure rather than build an episode and hide it's about a guest, as stated in the video.
Stu went from Big Finish review to a slightly less ambitious task: reviewing all of the Simpsons.
I am nota Simpsons die-hard but when I think Simpson's, the first thing to come to mind is the writers. Theyre all still writers and I think some of the episodes like the one with Coleman was probably more of a treat for the writers room than the audience. I get it as a viewer tbh. It's art.
I said it in a post before but the last few seasons have been good. I don’t think they’ll reach classic levels ever again but good in their own right.
I agree as a whole that the seasons won't reach classic level, but I definitely think episodes here and there definitely do. A Mid-Childhood's Night's Dream, Pixelated & Afraid, Lisa's Belly, A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again, Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind, Barthood, Diary Queen, Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?, Holidays of Future Passed, etc, are all episodes that hold up to the classics in my opinion
My problem is, comedies are strange, because for the whole show to work, the comedies have to work. You can have interesting character beats, great meta-commentary and all that, but if your show it just not funny, it does affect negatively all aspect of the show.
Take How I Met Your Mother. By the end of the series, the comedy was so bad, even when there was an emotional moment, i felt nothing.
In a vacuum, is really easy to look at modern Simpson and say "they aren't that bad". But the comedy is sometimes so, so bad, that you, as a viewer, do not want to geve it even that.
I think two major issues with the strangling episode that makes it not work is that we see Abe Simpson do it too Hormer dozens of times before. Therefore he already knows what it's like. Secondly I think using a guest star to do it and then that guest star be a basketball player of all people 🤷♂️ not like an existing character like the boxer dredrick Tatum. Really brings into question what in the world is going on.
What I would loved instead is them usejng Abe too teach homer to not strangle bart saying we don't want anther cade like Mother Simpson
I got used to the WTFness as Pre-Simpsons frequently liked to put in Real World Celebrities for no reason, so it wasn’t a big deal.
The Abe Simpson bit could’ve been done if the flashback had Abe strangle Homer for asking about cereal, instead of Homer strangling Abe all because he told him there’s no cereal.
This is an issue I also have with the modern show. I was watching old seasons yesterday and wondered why don't we ever see characters like Dr. Hibbert anymore? There's just so many "citizens of Springfield" that we never see used now.
It’s even more weird when part of Homer’s arc in the Simpsons Movie was that he had to makes things right with his son for not being a good father to him. He even tells Bart during the film’s climax that he wasn’t a good father to him because of how his father (Abe) raised him poorly. So you think the strangling gags would’ve been removed after the Simpsons Movie. You know, as a sign of continuity & character development, but this isn’t a show that has continuity, to begin with.
just wow, I just watched all of it and decided THIS is the best simpsons episode
Not only does Homer end up living under the sea after all, it came after he and Marge split up; in other words, it _was_ Marge's attitude that stopped him!
The simpsons doing the koyaanisqatsi parody led to you talking about it then led to me watching it after never hearing about it
When the Simpsons went from mocking popular culture to chasing it... Well, the world is a colder place.
I've said this to my parents countless times, it'd be neat if they did a whole season in a flashback/flash forward where they can explore more ideas with the family being a different age than normal.
More people need to know about Don Hertzfeldt.
If this video gets one person to watch Koyaanisquatsi, I've done my job
@@Stubagful I did a college paper on Its Such A Beautiful Day. Best B- of my life.
@@ArtemusCain What does Don Hertzfeld have to do with the film Stubagful mentions?
I have one question, Stu: When you say things like "it worked well", or "I really enjoyed this", did you really find it funny, as in laugh out loud funny? My biggest problem with the modern Simpsons is that it just isn't even as remotely funny as the golden age and I feel that during this video you have given many examples of the show being clever, imaginative, culturally aware, provocative and avant-gard, but not a single instance of the modern Simpsons actually being laugh out loud funny, like the golden age. Would love to know your thoughts...
Ten modern day episodes I love. I don’t know the names.
The Lego episode.
The one where Lisa discovers the beached whale.
The episode when Lisa and Mr. Burns gets trapped in an attic and they tell a story within a story.
Lisa and her new friend create a fantasy world. Like that movie Bridge to Terabithia(sp?).
Homer becomes famous from staring in an animated short. I think it was called Angry Dad.
When the family gets stuck on a cruise ship. I think the ending is really sweet. ❤️
I feel like I could name four more. But I haven’t watched the show in four years. The earlier season, I have memorized thanks to syndication and DVDs.
Thanks, mate! Looking forward to listening to this at work tomorrow. Your analyses are both entertaining and insightful.
Love Is A Many Strangled Thing I believe is the episode where the discourse around whether Bart is a sociopath or kot began. Outside of a few one off jokes that feel really off, this just isn't really common place but in this episode it's so extreme, I think this is what people think of when they think about that debate
Is that what Mr. Burns sounds like now? I get the character is like 200 but man
People always rag on Marge's voice but Burns sounds way worse imo
Even Homer's VA sounds like the voice isn't quite coming to him like it used to. Compare the audio of old seasons to modern, they've started putting filters on the voices to fix the audible vocal strain, and you can tell.
@@Hugslothhe sounds the same to me
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios Watch any episode from like S4 or S5, then jump to a modern episode, it's obvious they are all getting old and can't do these voices as well anymore.
@@HugslothI did exactly that, and I couldn’t tell any difference.
Dan only changed his Homer voice between Season 2 and 3. His other characters like Krusty or Barney Grumple have sounded the same.
Same goes to Nancy Cartwright’s characters, and Yeardly Smith as Lisa. I could barley hear any differences through their age, as I have with Harry Shear’s characters.
I guess it's been longer than I thought since I last watched The Simpsons; that season 35 Burns voice was almost unrecognizable to me.
The biggest problem I have with any of the more recent Simpsons is that it just isn't funny. I haven't seen every classic episode, but any time I decide to check out an episode I've missed it makes me chuckle at least. I've seen a lot of modern Simpsons, on and off, but not one episode has ever been funny. The voice direction, and even the direction in general is largely to blame. It's not as polished as it used to be. Shots will linger a little too long, jokes will be over or underexposed. The animation is less expressive, or won't be as well-timed for physical comedy. On the voice acting front, compare a Season 4 Homer line read to a Season 20 or 30 one. Even if the jokes are well-written (and they often still are, despite what is often claimed), they are rarely well delivered anymore, and comedy is largely derived from delivery. I don't blame the actors, or the voice directors, as it's probably an inevitable consequence of chaining a small group of VAs to uber-famous roles for 40 straight years (directors won't be as hard on the cast, the cast is far less enthusiastic about their own performances, etc.)
So many ideas came up on my mind while watching it, so many of them got forgotten meanwhile.
But probably the strongest one: On the local TV they keep re-running the show in a linear way, 4 episodes per day. Now it's around the 24th season. Very often I see an episode and I'm surprised how "early" it was, for example the "Nerder" one. You said it's a 19th season episode. I would swear it was somewhere around the 28th. It's crazy how bland the show feels, even though I also found that episode very interesting.
Oh, and the strangling episode… I think you said it right. If it was just about teaching Homer to not strangle Bart anymore, that would be ok. But the part about Bart treating Homer just like garbage, that's disgusting and destroys the whole message.
I have been looking forward to this 👍 well done for doing it and the previous 3 videos
The Totally Fun thing Bart will Never Do Again is one of my favorite episodes. Its nice to see that one get love.
It was a great series of videos. I love The Simpsons and is rare to get analysis of the show as good as this ones.
For how talked about the show is, is kinda rare to hear a discussion about their position and effect on culture besides "how good they were" or "how bad they are".
To me, The Simpsons *should have* started to age the characters around season eight or nine on a consistent basis.
In order to "retain" that emotional heart that was the show's initial mission statement, as you put it, we should've seen everyone in Springfield start to age to allow the writers more story opportunities for our characters (Bart and Lisa's teen years ALWAYS feels like a missed opportunity) while also allowing the show's "waning popularity" to kind of begin working in its favor. How would you feel seeing Bart at age 10 in Season 7 just to tune in 10 years later and now they're telling stories with him being 15, 18, hell 20 years old? You would have that emotional gut punch of, "God, this show and I have really aged overtime," alongside the new narrative a 17-year-old Bart is able to properly portray instead an episode where 10-year-old Bart is marrying a girl slightly older than him who is pregnant (yeah, a real episode).
I know that's why those flash forward episodes work for me so much because they always ooz with raw potential and creativity.
(There are more reasons why this (to me) would've been the best option, but I'm tired and wanted to make this into MY OWN video so...)
I feel like the phrase “Modern Simpsons” just doesn’t hold much weight as it was a decade ago. I’ve been watching random Simpsons episodes on Disney+ (for like every season that’s included on there) and I can say that it’s just hard to think of when Modern Simpsons ended. Like, A lot of the complaints towards the Simpsons in the 2010s have mostly been phased out by this point, especially when in the 2020s, there’s only been complaints and concerns towards the cast members while there’s been constant praises over the experimental episodes in this current era of the series.
Most people agree that the Classic Simpsons ended at either Season 10, or Season 8, and most people would probably put Seasons 11-18 + the Simpsons Movie as the 2nd Simpsons era. But the Modern Era’s just hard to pick. Especially when it’s been almost 2 decades since the first season after the Simpsons movie aired. That being Season 19.
I think in fairness, each era of the Simpsons have their ups & downs. When there’s Homer’s Enemy, there’s always The Principal & the Pauper. When there’s Eternal Moonshine of the Simpsons mind, there’s Alone Again Natura-Diddily. When there’s Brick Like Me, there’s Simpsons Guy. And when there’s A Serious Flanders, there’s The Flanders Ladders.
I think personally believed that Seasons 19-25 are the Post Movie Era of the Simpsons, while Seasons 26-35 is when the Simpsons went all weird again. Not bad… just weird. And then Season 36 pretty much created a new era of because of that AI Reset.
As someone who also marathoned through every simpsons episode for a youtube video (a ranking on my channel), I don't think the simpsons was ever bad, even the worst seasons of the show average at ~5/10, it's mostly just mediocre with the rare masterpiece like brick like me, halloween of horror, holidays of future passed & barthood. I do think that the recent seasons (33, 34 & 35) are a large improvement, of coarse there are bad & mediocre episodes & it still doesn't reach the quality of the elusive "golden age" but the average episode quality has improved & lots of episodes from season 33, 34 & 35 are some of my all time favourites like a mid-childhood's night dream, bartless & lisa the boy scout with pixelated & afraid being in my top 3.
That Elon joke would've been so easy to simpsonize.
" Honey you'll never guess who just crushed my leg. Hi first name is Elon.."
"No..."
"No..."
"Yep that's the one!"
who are the other 2 Elon's?
@V00doo1Xim That's the joke haha. Elon is a very uncommon name and Musk is by a long shot the most famous Elon and one of the most famous/rich people in the world. so the idea that this man's wife thought of two other Elon's first is absurd. It's just silly in general but also a slight dig at Musk reminding us that not everyone cares about this dude.
Classic Simpsons jokes usually involve setting up a punchline and then surprising you with a different or additional one. There's a lot of commentary on this and thousands of examples but off the top of my head another phone bit is when the city is being attacked by millions of hostile birds moleman pucks up a payphone saying "hello I need the biggest bird cage you have". Most comedy stops there since the idea he thinks a birdcage would solve the problem and there'd be one big enough etc is absurd and comical. But then he says" no, that's too big". Now we have an even more absurd situation and a second layer to the joke.
I don't get it
As I am one of those who "were the same with Bart when Simpsons started and now are the age of Homer" I really appreciate what you have done. I watched the first seasons of Simpsons on TV, then got up to season 9 on DVD and I dropped them because, well I found other things that I considered more interesting at that time. I also saw the Simpsons movie which I consider to be "fine".
Your Simpsons videos for me are like hearing what went of with the life of a person you knew once, had a nice relationship with them, but stopped contact for no particular reason.
Thanks for your creation!
I don't think I ever saw an episode past season 18, so this is appreciated!
1:50:53 you have a surprisingly good Homer voice which makes this bit 5000x funnier by proxy
9:30 Your point about Lisa highlights a saying: "your greatest weakness is your greatest strength pushed too far".
Enjoying the video!
The Deja Vu experience isn't just you. I distinctly recall watching the show from Season 1 through to at least Penny Wiseguys in Season 24, but couldn't remember exactly when or why I dropped off. When I went back and watched the entire series in 2022, I had a similar experience where there were episodes in Season 24 that I had "never seen before" that seemed really familiar, almost as if I saw them 8-10 years ago but didn't remember them at all.
The Simpsons was a huge part of my childhood so every couple of years I would “check in” on it, the recent seasons 34-36 have slowly been getting better and better, where before when I’d come back I’d watch maybe 2 episodes before disappearing again because it just wasn’t funny and the jokes felt like family guy gags, the last few seasons actually got me back into the show by actually being funny and creative and I’m now really excited whenever a new episode airs, if they can just continue this streak I think the simpsons genuinely might make a comeback I’m not sure
If it were not for the Simpsons I never would have discovered Ray Jay Johnson. I also would not have found it interesting that the current CEO of FTX is called John J. Ray III.
RIP Bill Seluga.
As someone who has ACTUALLY watched every Simpsons episode, I feel I can truly comment on the weather: "The Simpsons is good again."
And as much as I enjoyed season 33 and onwards, I do struggle with the idea that it's good again, as it feels very forced to say. Since we as the fans have an idea of what we consider "good Simpsons," basically everything before season 10, that when it does not meet these standards, it isn't considered good. When newer Simpsons is actually very solid.
Something that put me off later Simpsons (by this I mean season 14 or so) was that they became a lot less subtle with their punchlines. Like they would state the joke rather than leave the audience to smile wryly to themselves.
When people say it's 'good again' what they mean is that a recent episode either, had some overly sappy emotional family storyline where they're just dealing with real-ass unfunny problems and people misconstrue it as 'mature', or it did a gimmick with its animation (Lego, Death Note parody, etc) that caught eyes (despite the writing of those episodes still not being any better than your avg shit mid-series episode)
I think the biggiest issue that limits the show is they have done so much of them remaining the same age for 30 years. At this point if they let them grow older you get them in new and different situations as the kids grow up and parents get old. They probably wont do it but would be more intresting than keeping these characters in the same place for another 10-20 years.
I'm the sort of person that's seen the majority of the early ones but would only really watch it occasionally, (am more a Doctor Who fan).
My favourite episode is the Xfiles one where they actually got David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.
Do appreciate the amount of time that must've gone into this, nice work Stu 👏
Excellent choice
There being so many Simpsons episodes not only makes the series overwhelming, but also leads to people taking it for granted. When it feels like a show will always be around, viewers won't feel any pressing need to watch it. Same thing kinda happened with Doctor Who in the 80s (though granted, that was hardly its only problem)
I disagree that the writers intended that Abe was a good father and Homer was a jerk to him for no reason. I think the intention was always that Homer has complicated feelings about Abe. That was pretty clear in my opinion. Abe was sometimes nice and sometimes neglectful.
I have seen every episode of The Simpsons because I am 45 years old so I do mean it when I say I believe the Simpsons has gotten good again, but I totally agree with your analysis here because that probably is the case for a lot of people. Also, your analysis about Julie Cavanaugh wasspot on very well done!
Your my second favorite Simpsons UA-camr before TheRealJim
Amazing essay
The last couple seasons have been absolute kino it’s so weird how it’s suddenly back to being good with seasons 34-36
The one thing I like about Modern Simpsons is that "Jerkass Homer" is dead and buried. If anything Bart, Lisa and Marge have all had more episode where they have been selfish in recent years.
Yeeeey! Thanks Stu. I really need a distraction right now ❤
Eh. There are a few seasons that are reliably terrible and I don't think one or two decent episodes changes the fact that it was just a bad show at one point. But I think it's a relatively short period and for most of the show's run it's been...fine, if not good. I say this as someone who's seen every episode and was watching it reliably through...season 20 or so, then just started marathoning seasons every couple of years.
Now that you are done with the Simpsons, you can now focus on doing a rundown on the 1100+ episodes of the anime "One Piece" :D
Joking, but your videos you did are pretty great. It's fun to see someone break down these episodes and give them some different opinions with things on Modern Simpsons (and Simpsons as a whole) that doesn't break down to "It's boring and stale". Well done
1:03:03 Thanks to this section, I now regonize that my feelings about this are a *me issue and not the show's fault. But "the way we was" is the most personally significant episode for me, because watching it as a re-run at 7/8 years old, I'd conflated Homer and Marge's story with the story of how my parents fell in love. And when my parents got divorced a few years later, I understood it through the context of *that scene in the movie. That's why "Close to you" still devastates me to this day. And so, the further away we got from the original details of Homer & Marge's backstory, the more it felt like treading on something sacred. But you're totally right - its the emotion that matters, not the details. Thanks for that.
I have to wonder if the weird moral of the strangulation episode wasn't originally pitched as an ironic anti-moral in the same vein as the South Park episode where guns are the solution to everyone's problems, and somewhere along the way the irony got lost.
the one where homer gets strangled is one of the few decent episodes for a long time until you get to season 34 - 36
1:28:45 Well done on making your Lego Kwik-E-Mart tax-deductible :D
Would've been if it hadn't been a Christmas present in about 2018
Jesus Christ, you have a small fortune ther with those Simpsons Lego sets :'D
You watched every Simpsons episode/season for this video? If true, that's a lot of time. Commendable work. 👍
Beamed from ear to ear when I got the notification, looking forward to this
Engage with A Supposedly Thing I Would Never Do Again, man. That reference flew over your head.
Btw, that Simpsons episode based on DFW is not only incredibly bad, but also insulting to the material.
Nah, I can't doubt Homer. He'd never hit our Marge of all people (I can see him hitting one of the other ladies though🤣). I'd believe Peter hitting Louis whatever reason but not Homey hitting our Marge. Besides there are reasons why he strangles Bart and is terrible to his dad, in show and running theme reasons.
honestly, all media criticism of anything that was once good or amazing or made with any earnestness or sincerity that became popular but then declined, is just reduced to: because capitalism. its always capitalism. because of course it is.
like, when are we gonna get together and do something about this?
There is still some earnestness and sincerity in there. Mostly it's down Julie Kavner, who might just be the strongest voice actor who ever lived.
@@Stubagful but the stain of it being dragged out for profit and no other reason long after it hollowed itself out, just kinda, negates whatever mote of sincerity you could uncover, imho
Let me be clear that I'm in no way saying capitalism is above criticism as a deeply flawed economic system. And I do think it's correct to say "the Simpsons makes so much money through merch that Fox will not cancel it until forced to." But to be a devil's advocate, the Simpsons exists because of capitalism, too. It has almost always been deeply aware and critical of its own status as a product of capitalism, its relationship to its own commerciality. It didn't suddenly become capitalist in the last seasons, or start being made by people without passion. It has always been a product first and foremost (and conflicted about its own status as a commercial product).
Welp... looks like I'm getting hammered and doing a Simpsons marathon this weekend.
ah yay finally out! i lost this channel and randomly remembering commenting asking when this video would be out. went through my liked videos from a few months ago just to find this. happy it’s out!
That episode, Homer vs Dignity or whatever its name was, came on the telly the other day. Where have you been all this time, my man? Fantastic work. Now to the rest of your videos.