The Simpsons Season 11 Retrospective
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Stupid sexy Flanders!
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Sorry for the slight delay on this one, ended up fighting with Season 11 in how to evaluate it. On this re-watch, it struck me as a very self-conscious season. That the writers are super aware of the history of the show and what it had done. And instead of doing these character deconstructions and experimental visuals like Season 8 did, they took it in a more absurd and meta direction. It's an interesting dynamic of going for over-the-top wacky stuff, while self-consciously laughing with this audience about how wacky it is.
Take as much time as you need, your going to need it in this era of eventual ‘zombie’ Simpsons.
7:36
Yes. Yes it was.
No worries. We all love your content and understand that sometimes things take longer to finish than you want them to.
@@Xen8008 that's still a few seasons away, right? RIGHT!?
That's a ....nice way to put it
“Not Lenny!”
I think this quote purely exemplifies why he’s one of my favourite characters. He’s just so... innocent.
Also “Please don’t tell anyone how I live” is basically my life motto at this point.
I can’t wait for the season 11 top 10 list, where it turns out Kill The Alligator and Run was Jim’s favourite episode the entire time
MAN YOU SPOILED IT >=(
THE ENTIRE TIME
Hey! He lied to us through video! I hate when people do that
@@jakeaussie946 Haha, love that scene !
you spoiled the season 11 top 10 list.
I like that
I, for one, welcome our new Lenny overlords.
* gasps * Not Lenny!
It's surreal to remember how Sneed's Feed & Seed came from the same season as Save Me Jebus. Jebus was a meme almost right away back in the day, and Sneed took like 20 years.
I think I only finally stopped hearing people refer to Jebus by like, 2008 or so. Talk about a long-lived meme
It was just a less-funny version of season 9's "I'm not normally a praying man, but if you're up there please save me, Superman" bit.
Sneed
Formerly Chuck’s
Fuck me, I still say SAVE ME JEBUS time to time because of that episode, 21 years later.
I still remember CM Punk saying in a Raw promo "If you say,because it's my destiny,I swear to Jebus I'm gonna start drinking!"
This season was a turning point for the Simpsons' Spanish dub, as it was the last one that featured Homer's original voice actor, who was AWESOME. Spanish fans often feel the "new Simpsons" begin in season 12 as a result of that.
Interesting, just like the Latin American dub has the 16th as its watershed season.
Hey, at least Spanish Homer went out with a great final episode, in Behind the Laughter.
@@Clean.Eastwood Never thought about that! That's a nice way to think about it.
We got new dubbing for Homer from season 13 (Czech dubbing). His original voice actor (who was better in Homer's silly situations, while the new one is better when Homer is angry) quit bcs of health reasons. He sadly past away 3 years ago. =/
Can anyone provide a link to a video that compares these two actors? I’ve only
Heard it in English
@@Patrick3183 ua-cam.com/video/JuNj7nOmEyU/v-deo.html&ab_channel=mozomantecosoTV
This is a compilation video where you can see a side-by-side comparison of both actors dubbing the same scenes.
This is because, when an old scene came up in a clip-show episode, they chose to re-dub it, rather than simply use the old dub, as it would have been odd to have Homer's previous voice actor featured in it.
This retrospective really went off the rails in act 3, not sure it made sense to have the conclusion be footage of you running for your life from an alligator.
Haha, I did consider doing an ending that went off the rails like that and was totally random, but I chickened out
If you listen carefully, you can begin to hear Jims' frustration with the later seasons mounting 😄
Good point strider
@DragonChaserKev don't forget Alien and Terminator.
season 2X videos open with jim audibly sighing lol
lol pretty much. If he was on the fence on this one, wait till he starts going through the later seasons...
@DragonChaserKev That’s kind of a close minded way of looking at things. How do you know if something is going to disappoint if you don’t give it a chance?
Fun fact about season 11: The alligator was alive the entire time.
Spoilers geez
It's a Loki.
That’s what we were _trying_ to tell you
It randomly shows up at the party
Alive, the alligator was the whole time.
I still can't believe Homer made Lisa edit the video for flanders date thing. You know, an 8 year old child had to edit and blur out that 1% dong...
It was also recorded to the tape that had Marge giving birth to Maggie. It was luckily taped over for the most part.
Nothin’ at all!
NOTHIN’ at all!
NOTHIN’ AT ALL!
Stupid Sexy Flanders!
"why did they wait a month to go to the diner" I thought that was the joke? With my family we will be excited about going somewhere and say we should go soon and we end up going like 2 months later eventually
Oooh, yeah, I thought it was just a wacky joke but you're right, it does take a few weeks before you actually check out that new restaurant or store in town.....
@@shanemorris3554 I'm still meaning to check out a burger place that opened near me 6 months ago
Honestly he's going to fall into the void as this series continues
we'll all finally get to find out what the hell happened beyond the year 2000
@@ohnoitschris Season 12 luckily is much better than 11. Or atleast I think it is
who will
@@PeterParker-ff7ub Realjims
Season 12 was better than 11.
"Oh, Homer no... you'll kill us all!"
"Or die trying!"
Terrible episode, but I still think that's a funny line.
What episode
@@Elvusmiw Kill the Alligator and Run.
Oh yeah... I forgot
See, this is the thing: great jokes, but the episodes were lacking.
@@shanemorris3554 Agreed. That's the thing with season 11: so many great quotes. Great episodes? I really am at a loss. I'll be very interested to see what is picked as #1 for this season. I'd go with the Missionary: Impossible with Behind the Laughter as a close second as mine. But honestly? I think you'd get 7 different answers if you asked 10 different people.
I really like the animation in season 11. It looks very colorful and more vibrant than in years past. Definitely an under-rated quality to such a controversial year of the show.
Watching this made me realise that Season 11 is where my knowledge on the show dips massively. I think I knew every episode Jims has ever mentioned before inside out across every Retrospective, but this is the first time at the beginning he was running through episodes I have no memory of.
Much of it was very unmemorable. It's just a handful of good moments.
Yeah same here, like I never knew about the whole Barney goes sober plot
Season 11 definitely feels like someone had this sense that leaving the 90s and entering the 2000s should be the signal to let the Simpsons stay in the 90s so go out with a bang....while everyone else was riding that late 90s high we all were so crank it up to 11 and "jump the shark" head first into the 2000s and rode that Simpsons bubble into the decline of the 2000s to present.
Very well put. Granted, the whole world seemed to have a very optimistic vibe to it during that era, and this season captures that well. A new millennium! New beginnings! It's the future! 2000 was a great year, what could possibly go wrong?
@@ohnoitschris Narrator: Everything
Amazing review.
Here in Argentina we have a lot of love for this season. It is mostly because it's one of the most replayed seasons on TV and MOSTLY because Humberto Velez plays Homer delightfully this year. He comes off as much more childish and even more over-enthusiastic than in the original version.
We even love the Alligator episode!
Anyways, love your channel, can't wait for the ranking.
"Season 11 has a bad habit of ending so many of they're episodes with a dangerous showdown" - That's actually not as much of the writer's problem as it may seem believe it or not. See according to the commentary of "Guess Whose Coming to Criticize Dinner" the writing team admits the executive producers and marketing team kept asking them to "raise the stakes" and "have the family in danger by the end of every episode" in order for them to be able to have more material to promote the show as yeah it was excitement I guess people were after in the late 90s and early 2000s. Which thankfully isn't as much a problem nowadays as shows can end without big 3 act twists or giant action beats but that was something really pushed at the time. And if was always part of the show fine (though Venture Brothers can actually be quiet sometimes with how their episodes run especially in the later seasons. Honestly Regular Show ti me is the series that goes from 0-11 by the climax of most episodes the most) but that was certainly not the case for the Simpsons and for them to have kept doing it for so long was annoying.
So they wanted the show to be like that to produce fast paced commercials of the family in wacky and dangerous situations?
I guess it was the 2000s.
Fox really started to bug them with the show. During Season 8 the writers were constantly being told to add a new character to the Simpsons family to make the show fresh for advertisements again. Which they mock in The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie show, and even calling them out during the Spinoff showcase.
@@randomguyontheinternet7940 Fox should just leave them alone. They are successful because they did whatever they wanted.
I'm glad you accurately recognize Maude Flanders as the glue that kept this franchise together.
The Simpsons writers brutally killing off Maude Flanders just to say "fuck you" to her voice actress will never sit right with me.
it was fox execs who screwed over the voice actress. But yea, they could have wrote her off better, i.e. becoming a hostage while on a missionary expedition to the middle east / Africa.
@@rionthemagnificent2971 I understand it was the executives who mistreated her, but the writers were responsible for handling her character.
I remember (at age 11) during season 11's airing, there were SO many commercials with *"What major Simpsons character DIES this season?! Stay tuned to find out!"* A most of my peers weren't allowed to watch The Simpsons -- grew up in a strict Midwestern Catholic neighborhood -- but I remember my dad and his friends talking about it a lot. It just seems like they used it as a ratings stunt. Maybe it was executive meddling, like in the comment above this one about how the writers kept being told to "raise the stakes." And it must've been successful, because they tried that s*** again when they killed off Krusty's dad. Like anyone cared. And yet they kill off Marge's dad off camera in a one-liner joke...
What? There was never any bad blood between the production and Maude's voice actress. She even returned to the show 2 or 3 years later.
@@Clean.Eastwood
But they didn’t bring her back.
Season 11 was the reason I began watching the Simpsons as a Kid because its wacky humor was like a children's cartoon
Yeah I remember saying how much I liked the new ones (I was nine when this season first aired) because they didn't have those lame American endings where everyone hugs and learns a lesson.
Oof, can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult.
@@ajzeg01 Is not an insult
@@matthewkoester1640 Kid friendly? If anything those seasons upped inappropriate, edgy humor a la South Park. I think the first few seasons were actually more kid friendly since they were more "wholesome" in comparison.
Sneed's Feed and Seed.
Formerly Bart's
My fucking sides, hahaha
where's my guide on the only way to play hoodwink?!
@@cia4u401 Get him lads!
formerly Charles “Chuck” Tamzarian’s
The sign is a subtle joke...
The real alligator was the friends we made along the way.
This can go for the Scully years as a whole, but I have a strong nostalgic attachment to this season due to how frequently it made the syndication rounds on FOX around that time. Yes, I recognize the cracks are really starting to show here, but at the same time maybe finally reaching my Bart Simpson year (4th Grade, 10-11) played a large part in my looking past that.
I absolutely despise how the show began licking celebrity boot, deepthroating it even. As if the family and the jokes aren't enough to draw people in. It just feels like they didn't trust the humor of the show, also like you said which was spot on was it felt like the family was always brushing up with Hollywood. They live in a suburban neighborhood, just why? Why?
@Kiz Riz that’s gen x though (if true; but really from episodes he mentioned seeing live I would actually guess early 30s or late 20s which is older millennial)
@Kiz Riz he didn’t call those two boomer celebrities. He called the cameos in much earlier seasons boomer celebrities. Because he doesn’t know their names like he does with Gibson and Britney.
You’re reacting to something that isn’t actually in the video.
It’s 2021. You can have seen the later-90s episodes, like season 7, live on TV between say 4 and 8 years old and be late-20s or early-30s today. 2021-26=1995; 2021-31=1990. The evidence suggests more on the 31 side. Or 34 or something. That’s still millennial and not gen X like someone who is 45 in 2021 would be. Generational boundaries are fairly well defined.
But Jim’s specific age doesn’t actually really matter. It’s just clearly not what you’re determined to think it is.
A gen X-er would (and they do, online) call celebrities from boomers’ childhoods and teenagehoods boomer celebrities too anyway.
So what exactly are you upset about? Is it just the word boomer? Did that upset you? To call baby boomers baby boomers? Are you just upset at even hearing the phrase boomer celebrity?
@Kiz Riz you… read all of 1.5 sentences? What the heck? Why even make these comments? I literally said you were responding to your own imagining and then you tell me you didn’t read what I said and make your own disconnected point. Goodbye.
@@kaitlyn__L At first we were just suspicisious thst kiz riz was an edgelord tween idiot, but you confirmed it for everyone and i appreciate that.
Not that it matter but if i had to guess I'd say Jims is in his late twenties, based on nothing more than his pop culture references.
@Kiz Riz it was a joke. Jim has a rather sneed sense of humor. snide, i mean snide.
"Wait a minute, he's just a dummy!"
"I know, but he sells tickets.......... Let's go"
Always loved that joke.
Awww yeah! My favorite UA-camr is back! Season 11 is one of my favorite seasons from when I was a kid. So many memories of whatching these with my sister when they came out.
Likewise, while it is definitely not 'golden age' quality, this season is when I started watching the show and the nostalgia stops me from being hard on it. Also the memes are a lot of fun...
:)
@@StarSage66 Same! I'm actually kinda glad I started with season 11, since I enjoyed the show even more when I got to watch the golden years, but I'm still able to get some joy out of these mid-era seasons. It's got flaws, sure, but I don't think the bad outweighs the good.
This has to be THE meme season.
sneeds feed and seed
@@ben3129 Formerly Chuck's
Simpsons, 1999: "Sneed"
people who wouldn't be born for another 5 years: 🤣🤣🤣
"It's a continuity-rich season."
That's how you can tell it's a bad season: If it's looking back at all the good episodes.
You never know a Golden Age until you're not living in one anymore.
That kind of logic is stupid.
@@quangamershyguyyz7166 All the good episodes of the Simpsons don't spend their time referencing other episodes of the Simpsons, least of all for comedic effect.
All the modern Simpsons episodes do it in spades. It's a very minute reason why, overall, the seasons past Season 10 suck.
@@KavzarTheBlind Just admit that you’re a classic Simpsons purist, because you’re reasoning on why the modern seasons are bad is very flawed.
@@quangamershyguyyz7166 That's a nice hollow criticism you have there, as opposed to refuting me with facts as to why the modern seasons are supposedly funny.
@@quangamershyguyyz7166 Bro, simp harder
“You’re insincere, I like that” actually made me laugh out loud.
Same
The whole “when did the simpsons go from sitcom to cartoon” thing becomes so glaring when Duncan the Horse is just acting like a human and it kills me. The Loch Ness monster in s10 is also really bad too.
The whole bit about Duncan becoming a sports bad boy is painfully dated. Scratch that... WAS painfully dated because the entire thing was supposed to be a jab at Dennis Rodman at the time (or rather a few years before the episode dropped). Sometimes you look at Simpsons episodes to be a weird time capsule of odd events you forgot about. Bart Vs Australia was essentially a reference to the story of the kid who went to Singapore and got cane whipped for vandalism. That deal with the Malibu Stacy talking toy being that Barbie Doll that said "Math is tough." But it's one of those if you don't remember or weren't alive for those events, the episode makes no sense whatsoever, but a VERY painful example in this episode.
@@mightyfilm you know I never made that connection to Rodman but that makes so so much sense looking back. I think it’s because I was born in 1994 so I’ve only lived on reruns, I guess.
Hey. The only way I even remember the thing about the tourist kid in Singapore was because it was mentioned in the Weird Al parody, Headline News. I had the connection when I was younger, but completely forgot about it for years until I heard that song again recently. Didn't help it was only available on a "best of" collection that I had that got scratched up. But yeah. Older Simpsons episodes are usually an unintended time capsule with all its of the time references.
In season 5, a bunch of ants tell each other to protect the queen, before breaking into argument about who the queen actually is.
@@cometmoon4485 yeah true and have heard people say that episode is when the show jumped the shark. But I feel like there’s an actual joke there compared to Homer showing Duncan fillies to stud and Duncan understanding what’s happening and making a horse noise haha
This is where the Scully era reaches its horrific peak. Turn back while you still can.
True, but I would rather take the horrors of this season over 12 (thinking about Bart’s boy band gives me sadness)
No. We’re here for the slow decent into a Nietzschian void
@@peachpearapple7129
Or Homer violently raped by a Panda.
@@peachpearapple7129 FUCK YOU! Season 12 is what got me into the show in the first place!
@@jdenoe69 WHY,YOU LITTLE!
Been binge watching your channel for two days now. BEST Simpsons content on YT
Every time I think 'huh TheRealJims hasn't uploaded for a bit', bam, new episode. I promise to use this only for good.
Same tbh
Saaaame! What a pleasant surprise
Please try to think that more often!
I literally thought the same thing yesterday.
Thank you for giving Season 11 some strong respect but also pointing out some problems. I have always liked this season a lot and the comparison to Homestar Runner is very nice. Both events were indeed marked by the time they came out. Homestar had some rougher moments as well. This is a fantastic season and I agree that Bart is one of the best characters of this season. I think that Bart helped make this season really memorable. I will always be thankful to the season that gave us “Stupid sexy Flanders!” This season holds a special place in my heart!
I actually enjoy season 11 quite a bit. I get this was sort of the “decline of the show” but it still had a lot of life left in it. I generally prefer the more character driven stuff from earlier seasons but 11 is still a lot of fun in it’s zaniness.
The thing is, yes, it's a lot of fun if you can look past the fact that most of the jokes are directed at YOU.
"Yeah, stupid fan, stop pointing out plot holes, just say a wizard did it and move on."
"Yeah, you like Flanders's wiggling butt don't you, perv! Draw creepy fanart of that!"
"Oh, you like looking too closely into episodes and pointing out our little perverted jokes and getting us in trouble with our bosses. Get 'feeded' and 'seeded', you observant MFers!"
Yeah, it's got a lot of energy, but it's pretty clear that the energy came from a passionate dislike of the fandom, primarily the fans on forums now that the internet was so mainstream. It's why a lot of people hate this era of the show, because it's clear that the show hated them.
Behind the Laughter is actually one of the best episodes of all time to me. Less convinced with some of the other entries mind you
I agree, like its less grounded maybe a bit less well written/cohesive, but at least its consistently fun, and usually funny. I cant say that about some later seasons honestly. Its not a favorite though, i dont think. Its fine.
Every once in a while I go back and watch each season and man this season had me rolling. Good stuff I ended up loving this season post golden era Simpsons
Not as many standouts here, but I’ll always enjoy watching “Brother’s Little Helper”, “E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)”, “Grift of the Magi”, “Little Big Mom”, and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge”. All of the episodes are still funny and enjoyable, just not as much as some in the past.
Brother's Little Helper is a great episode and has my favorite Ralph moment:
"You're not going to start fires, are ya?"
"At my house, we call them "ah-ohs"!"
@Smellman Behind The Laughter would like to have a word with you.
@@imoduffuup2279 Oh, I completely forgot about that one- would be up there with the other five.
@@Smellman426 Damn right! I enjoy almost all of Season 11,except for Saddlesore Galactica and Eight Misbehavin'. I can see why these are two of the most hated episode in the series.
@@Smellman426 Damn right! I enjoy almost all of Season 11,except for Saddlesore Galactica and Eight Misbehavin'. I can see why these are two of the most hated episode in the series.
"Why isn't my baby gaining weight?" "Because it's plastic!" Always makes me laugh
"Go ahead Ralphie, the stranger is offering you a treat!"
" Oh daddy, it tastes like grandma!"
"Holy moses, it does taste like grandma!"
We're at the point where everything is a "screw the auidence" joke, so that its difficult to get invested. Sure, its a comedy but it needs something of a foundation for things to work. If not, then there is no point in getting invested in the table for when it is inevitibly flipped. Without sounding too wanky pseudo-intellectual about it, the appeal in this show is the contrast with benality with the wacky, which makes it very engaging.
Having a stoic straight-faced character do something wacky & outlandish, for a one-off joke, is very memerable because it is so distinct for what they normally would do but when that character does outlandish things every other episode, it stops being so special. That's what season 11 feels like. Its not bad but it certainly does lack the intrigue.
Very well said! That’s the vibe I got from this season even back when I was small. I missed the “family troubles” vibe of s1&2 where someone being sad was stakes-enough. Now they’re laughing off injuries and surviving deadly incidents. Though I saw another comment say that was a result of executive meddling and the writers didn’t like it, at least.
Why would you want to get invested in an absurd comedy lol
@@wmurd Because it wasn't just an absurd comedy in earlier seasons, it was actually somewhat grounded in reality with much more of a sitcom vibe than the wacky cartoon it turned into by Season 11.
That's right!
Season 11 was ACTUALLY shot by the aligator, that was alive the entire time.
*song plays*
While this is where some things started to fall apart (Homer slowly becomes less funny and more obnoxious to me as I get older). The season is pretty good when your younger and I still consider this season to be funny enough to be worth watching compared to most of the middle seasons. Definitely one of the wackier seasons and it has a few groaner episodes for sure but I still have a stance that most episodes from Seasons 3 through 11 are still fairly solid. From this point on though, it only gets more and more mixed.
Arguably seasons 12 and 13 are better than 11. Or atleast have more high points.
@Lloyd McCoy 11 was fine on it's own. 12 following wore me out and 13 was where I stopped watching the show consistently altogether.
Season 1 and 2 blow pretty much everything that follows out of the water. The show after that became way too fixated on the comedy, IMO regardless of how grounded or layered the jokes were.
This was one of the seasons that directly lead to Simpsons shitposting. I like that.
you are doing a great job. this might be one of the best series on youtube.
With season 11, its treehouse of horror is honestly one of my favorites. Having Ned turn into a werewolf, the superhero aspect and the grim ending to the third skit make it a good watch for me.
I always used to imagine what it must have felt like & what must’ve been going through Bart and Homer’s minds in their final moments. Cos I mean - they were dead either way. Shit was flying into the goddamn sun. Might as well get one last pretty view rather than being stuck in essentially a plane cabin with those jerks. But also like, damn. Getting only a few seconds to appreciate whatever you get to see out there before it’s just done and over with. That’s bleak. But the alternative seems almost worse somehow.
@@kaitlyn__L it's this, nightmare cafeteria from five, mmm homer, and toy gory from the most recent treehouse of horror that makes me feel the writers can still knock it out of the park with these
The sign is a subtle joke. The shop is called "Sneed's Feed & Seed", where feed and seed both end in the sound "-eed", thus rhyming with the name of the owner, Sneed. The sign says that the shop was "Formerly Chuck's", implying that the two words beginning with "F" and "S" would have ended with "-uck", rhyming with "Chuck". So, when Chuck owned the shop, it would have been called "Chuck's Fuck and Suck".
based post
Aw man, don’t tell me Chuck’s Fuck and Suck is gone! I don’t need any damn animal feed! Where am I going to get my sucking and fucking needs now?!?
(I hope this makes it through the UA-cam filter…….)
how did this get through youtubes filter.
@@littlesaintwilliamofnorwic8500 Can we cut the stupid internet lingo and just use real grownup words, please?
@@Bubba__Sawyer city slicker detected
Dude, I've had a busy couple of days and I find this to decompress. Thank you
Season 11 was the last season my family had on DVD when I was a kid, so it was the last season I watched regularly when I was younger. It's funny how that's shaped my view of it, I saw it as "classic Simpsons" as a kid because it was clearly older than what they played on TV and, in my opinion, better too. There's also episodes from this season I don't remember at all because the disc was too scratched to play those episodes properly so we'd just skip them
Another fantastic retrospective Jim! I always love hearing your insight and analysis. You always bring up something that I've never thought before despite having already watched it numerous times ✌
What do you think about Season 11, honestly?
I don't think it's AS BAD as people say but Kill the Alligator And Run is outright garbage.
I haven't noticed how many of the memes are from this season and I appreciate the new knowledge.
Season 11 definitely strikes me as a “dessert” season… a sweet, junk food if you will. I don’t hate it, or even dislike it, and save for a few duds I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as its reputation suggests. Psychology tells us that pain tends to feel much worse than an equal amount of pleasure feels good, and the catastrophic, dramatic reviews of this imperfect but mostly good season certainly reflect that. As a fan of Season 10, Season 11 very much feels like a continuation, but with lesser highs and lower lows. For a show that was clearly running out of ideas I think they did a good job whipping up a dessert filled with laughs and iconic moments, just don’t expect to be fulfilled or genuinely enriched. Season 12 on the other hand is where I start feeling sick.
Yeah, it is a descent, but a gradual descent.
You perfectly described what I was thinking, thanks !
@@shorewall The Simpsons fell off a cliff in Season 12.
What fucks me up with S12 is that for the first 5 episodes every one is practically worse than the last. After that it’s pretty solid (except for the Tennis episode), but I just have such a bad taste in my mouth it kinda spoils the season. Next time around I might enjoy it a little more knowing most of the worst shit is on disc 1.
@@slamjackson2137 hey it's funny ! I watched the first 5 episodes of s12 yesterday, and yeah it's kind of meh except for Tales of two Springfield that I really like.
THOH XI is very less consistent that the previous ones.
Insane clown poppy and Lisa the tree hugger are kind of forgettable but has some good laughs only because of Homer's scenes.
And Homer vs Dignity has a lot of problems, but really it's a fine episode. Some people don't like the panda scene but I never felt that the scenarists implied that Homer was raped, just attacked. But if it was the only problem of Homer vs Dignity....
Fortunately, the season has some very good episodes after these ones, so yeah it's less good than s11, but it's a fun season !
I can’t believe you’re going through all the seasons, what a madman
We're getting into the seasons I watched a lot of as a child cuz I actually got to watch them as they were coming out. I have a lot of nostalgia for season 11, I think it was the first time I was actually old enough to appreciate the Simpsons.
I liked your observation about Homer. Having watched these seasons for the first time recently, season 10 left a bad taste in my mouth from the more extreme change of his character to be more jerkass. Season 11 didn't feel quite as bad, and your comment about him being more oblivious than malicious is probably what that was. Great video as always!
Homer shooting a tranquilizer at Marge 🙄
@@j04370859 One instance doesn't equal the whole thing.
@ChiefMedicPururu It was the whole thing, that episode was already poor, scenes like that is what killed the show, this was no longer Simpsons.
@@j04370859 Season 8-9 would be that, then.
@ChiefMedicPururu Season 8 is considered the last of the classic era, Season 9 had it's declines, but I still liked it.
If it has "nothing at all", it can't be a bad season.
I spent a while coming up with a list of things I like to see in Simpsons episodes. Captain Wacky, Bart being a little chaos demon, as little schmaltz as possible, and the plot burning down at the end.
I think Season 11’s my guy.
I've been watching the retrospectives and top 10's over the past few months and they've become one of my favourite series on UA-cam😁 thanks a lot, Jim
Season 11 was the beginning of the end.
Some really fun eps in this season. I love president Lisa, pbs, and behind the laughter
These retrospectives are vastly better than the current offering of the show itself. Just going to keep watching these instead of bothering to catch up.
This is the first summary that made me actually go binge a season. Thanks!
I always thought the bit about Moe going back to his old face after the crash was a joke about how ugly he was, not a screw the audience joke.
Honestly, the idea of every episode ending in a huge fight or a giant fire sounds like it would be pretty funny
It sounds funnier than it really is.
Season 11 was when I stopped watching. I just got so tired of those "someone's trying to kill Homer" endings, and I felt like the self-referential stuff was just a substitute for good writing - I'd rather they just didn't write bad episodes instead of writing bad episodes and then pointing it out.
Same here, but for me it was Saddlesore Galactica. I still remember watching it to the end and thinking what the fuck was that? Maybe I don't like the Simpsons anymore. Thankfully many years later RealJims would come along (also Disney Plus) and give me a reason to finally watch what I missed. And hey, the show did improve in places for sure.
This is definitely just a me thing, but I'm moreso in the camp of "i don't really care if the plots in shows like this get really stupid, as long as the jokes are funny." Which is why I tend to find the show enjoyable up until like season 15
Yep, I agree. It's not funny to point out that you're not being funny.
Exactly, and this only gets worse over time. Acknowledging shit doesn't make it better!
@Jago Hazzard Fuck you! I love Season 11!
You can gauge how bad a season of the Simpsons is by how small they animate the eye pupils
The Sneed's joke is so typical of post-classic Simpsons. It's sort of clever and you laugh when you first get it. But it also lack subtlety and relies too much on being dirty to get a laugh. It's demonstrative of the series' regression.
I agree that Season 11 is not the easiest season to form an opinion on. When I finally got the DVD for this season I didn't find myself enjoying it as much as past seasons, and with both Seasons 11 and 12 I don't re-watch them as much as past seasons. There are episodes that I remember enjoying more back then like Little Big Mom, but after hearing what you said, I wonder if what I enjoyed in my younger days was just a bunch of hollow jokes and at the time amusing moments that didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I used to consider it one of the better episodes of Season 11, but now I wonder if I'd have to knock it back, but at the same time, I am not sure what to really call the best episodes of this season. Some of the early ones like Brother's Little Helper and Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner I still consider pretty good, but this is the first time I am not onboard with the Halloween episode. Treehouse of Horror 10 is solid at first, but the final segment kills it. That whole Y2K thing is just stupid looking back on it now, and I hate how such a stupid and outdated segment kills the entire Halloween episode when it was mostly solid until it got to that point. I also think the Halloween episode for next season is rather weak. I'm surprised you said the top 10 for Season 11 is easy since it's hard to think what could be the best episodes, especially since this is the real start to the show's downward spiral. Not to mention we also get two of the show's worst episodes this season, and I already know that when you do your top 10 you'll say that you immediately knocked those two episodes off before considering the rest. Besides Brother's Little Helper, Guess Who's Coming To Criticize Dinner, and Days of Whine and D'oh'ses, I have to think of others, but for the most part, even episodes from this season that aren't bad I would mostly consider watchable, but nothing great. I need to re-watch the entire season to be honest. Great job as always Jim. I love your season retrospectives, and I look forward to the top 10 as well as what you consider the absolute best of this season.
I basically agree except I love that y2k bit lol. It really captures how bizarrely worried everyone was about it. My father unplugged all of the computers and TVs and everything until after midnight had come and gone, as if it were a lightning strike in time or something. Yes it’s dated but that part doesn’t bother me at all. People were genuinely afraid of midnight hitting and it made fun of some of the scenarios people were worried about. Some people really did expect the power to go out and planes to crash (why they wouldn’t all be grounded is anyone’s guess, but you know). They thought people would die and they built essentially a bunker in their basement and crap.
So I guess I mostly find it funny for contextual and metatextual reasons rather than the actual text of the segment. So I guess there’s something to what you said.
Paragraphs. For the love of God, learn to use them!
The episode Missionary Impossible will always be a favorite of mine. The jokes are nonstop and always get a laugh out of me. Especially the final line of the episode.
"$10,000! You've save my network."
"Wouldn't be the first time."
The 28 dislikes on this video most likely came from jannies mad that Sneed's Feed & Seed is mentioned
Sneeds formerly chucks
I can still hear the voices.
I can still hear... their voices.
About me being a city slicker...
Never will I forget the day I went.
To Sneeds'...
Feed...
And...
Seed...
Wow, I wasn't expecting a comparison to Homestar Runner. I like that.
Homestar Runner is a million times better than season 11 though
@@BennSimonn I have to agree. Homestar Runner might be my favorite piece of media period.
..or the Venture Bros.
I always thought season 10 was the end of Simpsons enjoyment, but seeing this and remembering what episodes were in this season, it was still a good one!
Lots of good moments, very few start to finish good episodes with a well told story.
@@Bubba__Sawyermost of them are good from start to finish, Bart to the future being one of my favourites, seriously underrated episode
I do like season 11, but yeah, I agree that a lot of the stories didnt really go anywhere. The pbs episode is really good, I swear that "Jebus" joke makes me loose my breath by how funny it is. But it goes really all over the place in plot structure, and the missionary part of the story is kinda its own thing.
Not to mention that it ends on a (deliberately) frustrating note by abruptly stopping during the climax and never resolving the story
@@MandrakeHorse the ending is at least an act 1 callback
I am very hilarious though.
I love the fake-out ending it was perfect.
I'm so, so happy to hear someone finally compare The Simpsons with Homestar Runner. So many fans are so far up their own asses they think it was the peak of all storytelling, forgetting that it's meant to be _fun._
I enjoyed the wacky off the wall sense for humor in this season.
Same
I love these videos, so much that I’ve actually slowed down my viewing of the Simpsons to watch along with these videos! Keep up the great work dude!
Absolutely pivotal season for the development of elder Millennials' sense of humor.
If you think about it, it's The Simpsons leaving the 90s.
Honestly? A lot of people who say the Simpsons are awful now probably haven't watched the show since around this time. This is around the time it stopped being a thing I watched every week. Not that I didn't eventually see a lot of the other episodes in reruns later on, but it stopped being must see first-time TV for me around this time.
I saw a few seasons beyond this as they were showing them on Channel 4 in the UK, but basically yes. So I think I was a few years behind from the American release (as satellite TV company Sky had the brand new ones, Channel 4 had a couple years old), but stopped in 2005 or 06. I’m kind of interested to figure out which season I stopped in as these retrospectives continue on. I reckon it was probably 14. But we’ll see.
Same here. This was the season that broke back in the day
I had read before that there was some talk that season 11 would have been the last season, and that's why the finale was Behind The Laughter. If that was the case, it would explain why season 11 was so self-referential.
Huh.
Yeah, it does make sense. I'm glad it didn't end on such a terrible note because the next few seasons were stronger, but it didn't need to be around as long as it has.
Springfield Elementary Principal Skinner got Goodfellowed when it came down to that handicap ramp. Made out of stale bread.
Oh man I've been waiting for the next episode and it just happens to have been uploaded as I checked your channel for anything I hadn't watched yet, eeeexcellent
I believe this should have been the final season. Behind the Laughter would be the perfect series finale. Some say it should have ended at season 7 or 8, but no. A sitcom should end with a season that’s a dip in quality, to send the implicit message that the show has run its course. Otherwise, people will demand more.
There’s a reason many of the most beloved shows were short-lived…because they never had the opportunity to get worse. The Critic probably wouldn’t have just as razor-sharp and clever by Season 10.
Seinfeld I think is the perfect example of that. Seasons 8 and 9 were a definite drop off, but still very watchable and quotable. They let the show get wackier for a little while then just ended it.
Yep. Season 11 is the end as far as I'm concerned, and some episodes are still a chore to get through. Even the best episodes from this season would easily be the worst episodes in any of the earlier seasons.
You're one of the few UA-camrs whose videos I watch right away! I also use them to fall asleep as your voice is so soothing
Season 11 started off Great, but they started to go a bit more worse as it went on, but I did think that “Behind The Laughter” was a great final episode.
Season 12 in my opinion, was much more better, because it felt like it was more unique.
I think it started off good and trailed off then came back for the last two episodes
I don't think it started off good at all, it began with Beyond Blunderdome, which is not good.
Season 11 was just terrible, defitently the worst of the Scully era, I do agree that Season 12 was better, though it did something that was worse than all of Season 11, Homer being raped by a panda.
@@j04370859 yeah, Season 12 had it’s stinkers (Homer vs. Dignity, The Computer Wore Menace Shoes, & Simpson Safari are all bad episodes in my eyes), but they where far less worse than “Alone Again, Natura-Diddly” or “Kill the Alligator and Run”.
@@BaboDex Ehh, I liked the Safari episode, it was one of the post season 10 stuff, that holds some nostalgia for me, looking back on it, I can see why others didn't like it though.
After the Oldboy remake, sending Spike Lee to the Sun is the one Simpsons prediction I have my fingers crossed for.
I love Season 11 and its absurdity! I grew up watching Seasons 1-3 but then lost touch with the show. Years later, I saw few episodes of Season 11 and laughed so hard, I became a Simpsons fan once again. It has been like this ever since.
Been really excited for this one!
Please never stop doing these! Love these videos
Season 11 is honestly one of my favorite seasons because of how wacky and memey it is.
in other words, I just think its neat.
i do enjoy its wackiness. idk if it's a top tier season for me, but it has a unique flavor that i think gets overhated.
Just finished work and there's a new Retrospective waiting for me. Ideal :D
Well well look at TheRealJims coming with a fancy season 11 retrospective
Season 11 is weird in that while a lot of my least favourite episodes come from here, there are also a lot of episodes for which I feel a very strong nostalgia. I don't know if it was just how comedy central scheduled things back in 2004 but so many season 11 episodes were among the first Simpsons episodes I ever saw. I like this season's use of Lenny, I like Stupid Sexy Flanders, the Vegas wives, I even like that Otto episode. But things like Duncan the race horse, the leper colony, the alligator, etc. Those always felt like bummers to watch. I guess that's part of why it reminds me so much of childhood, is that a lot of those kid's cartoons like Fairly Odd Parents or Jimmy Newtron were also very chaotic in the highs and lows that they would reach. There wasn't a lot of consistent quality for those kinds of shows and as a ten year old watching, the chaos of season 11 just made the show fit more with my established TV diet.
Yes! A new RealJims video! What a way to brighten the day! I hope that everything is well with you!
Yay! Thank you for your analyses past the Golden years.
Some really fun episodes in this season (Missionary Impossibly, Mad Mad Mad Mad Marge, Last Tap Dance in Springfield, Behind The Laughter).
I've come to conclusion whole season is just giant trolling act, with "Behind The Laughter" as punchline to joke. It even puts the most (*maybe* competing with "Saddlesore Galactic", but even this one ends in less chaotic way) egregious nonsensical episode right before "Behind The Laughter", as if to emphasise how off the rails series got, and then frame all of the season as fiction-inside-of-fiction of whatever kind of inner canon this last episode had. In addition to self-awareness and characters acting as, well, actors in show business, a lot of not only this season, but few next seasons, even delving into Al Jean's tenure, really feel as more typical sitcom or even staged sketch show (I guess, it's not only my impression?), written in similar vein to Homer's attempts in create his own sitcom in beginning of BTL. In collaboration with Comic Book Guy, no less.
One thing I give credit to writers in that part of Scully's showrunning, series really not just started rely on continuity more, it got something akin of legit story arcs, which were getting development over the years, not only new stand-alone episodes, but continuing trends and evolutions. Widowhood of Flanders, Barney fighting addiction, love story of Edna and Skinner, married life and fatherhood of Apu; they got character-related material to depend on while creating new plots, which is, in theory, not a bad direction for long-running series. How all of it was handled over the years, is another story, but it seems, at once series had right idea for where to go, outside of self-deprecating humor about its own seasonal rot.