For my birthday awhile ago, one of my friends gave me a stack of DVD-Rs of The Simpsons seasons he downloaded that were not released officially yet. They were Seasons 13 - 16. So I watched these Early Jean seasons quite a bit... I would say that Season 16 is the last one that I would say I know really really well. That familiarity one gets from many DVD re-watches. So, I think that experience has partially affected how I view Season 16 and why I think of it as an "end of an era." The fact that this is Jean's 4th season (after Scully had 4) also influenced why I think of that way. (Or maybe this is all because I don't like Season 17 that much.) 😛
@@pass_nowadays when people wanna watch a show, they just wanna watch it. they don't wanna bother with putting the disc(s) in and waiting for the dvd animations/company logos to finish before just watching the episode
@@usermcskull4713 instead we now have to deal with scolling through streamin menus and every show and movie's credits being interupted with "IF YOU LIKE THIS THEN WATCH THIS"
One of my favorite things about this channel is how it's willing to look past the original classic years and willingly acknowledge the ups of the more modern era, and that bit of positivity is always a good thing. Cheers!
Yep as someone who enjoys the full run of the show to some extent, anytime I want to channel that starts talking about the classic era exclusively I'm done I don't have any interest in watching it. Glad this channel is this
"Homer, you couldn't predict 6 o'clock at 5:30" from the Left Below episode is one of my favorite Marge lines. Honestly I think the whole episode is great overall.
The transition from cels to digital coloring and the introduction of more contemporary technologies and social issues (all while still keeping the floating timeline statu quo) certainly makes it as such.
damn, thanks for the Latin American dub shoutout. it really is a huge part of why the show is huge down here. You can thank Humberto Velez for all those bootlegs of bart smoking weed and litstening to Callejeros.
After learning about that from Season 15 comments, I really wanted to give it a shout-out here. That bit of fandom knowledge, I had totally missed the boat on
Thank you for mentioning the LA side of things! Not many English speaking people/channels mention how things fare for us despite the popularity of the show here... Yeah, the departures from most of the iconic VAs was a very drastic change that caused many people drop the show entirely or see a decline on quality. Me personally, still watched some of it until i really felt that the voices were getting generic and didn't made me repeat the iconic phrases like the old ones...
@@sonicwontletmeleave Personally, I watched the last season (I dont have the service to watch the current one) and I really liked the episodes. They adapt the jokes for the LATAM audiences very good, like the old days.
But he's long ago covered the seasons that matter so he's just going on now about shows I've never seen and never will which is still entertaining enough to keep me coming back, TheRealJims is more watchable than the Simpsons has been for a long long time.
Thanks!!!, i swear i wasn't the only one who thought how much religion was a constant theme in this season, i'm surprised that Flanders didn't became the main character in the next years. Speaking of it, it's time for the *Simpsons Retrospective Secondary Character Stockwatch!* Let's see how the charts goes: *Prinicipal secondary characters* Season 2-3: Mr. Burns Season 4: Krusty Season 5-8: Mr. Burns Season 9-11: Moe Season 12: Skinner Season 13-14: Moe Season 15: Skinner Season 16: Wiggum *Biggest winners* Season 2: Mr. Burns Season 3: Bart's friend Season 4: Grounskeeper Willie and Apu Season 5: Skinner and Grandpa Season 6: Moe Season 7: Skinner and Bart's friend Season 8: Moe Season 9: Apu Season 10: Gil Season 11: Lenny and Carl Season 12: Dr. Hibbert Season 13: Mr. Burns Season 14: Cletus Season 15: Comic Book Guy Season 16: Cletus and Brandine See you for the next Simpson update!
Yay, the stockwatch recap returns! I confess, I totally did look at the S15 one after writing to double-check whether Wiggum has ever won before. (Also Flanders was totally robbed this year.)
Haha, I get critiques sometimes that I don't explain enough or give enough context. It's a combination of me being too far down the fandom rabbit hole and self consciousness about over-explaining 🤣
@@MariaIsabellaZNN It's used to describe when a character gets overly exaggerated or stereotyped to play up a specific personality trait. Like with Flanders, The Simpsons ramped up his super religiousness over time, where in the middle seasons, he eventually became the "devout evangelical Christian" stereotype
I may be the only person ever to say this, but there’s something weirdly nostalgic about these middle era seasons (14 to 17 or so) to me. Maybe it’s the art style? It’s weird because as a kid I mainly watched the classic seasons thanks to the DVDs, so I barely even remember individual episodes from this era. But there’s just something about it that puts me right back in the mid-2000s.
I'm now having flashbacks to being a teen in the mid 2000s, I'm so glad social media/tik tok, and all the other modern crap of the 2020s was only in its earliest infancy and hadn't evolved into the monster it is now.
no it's the exact same. I was born in '02 and watched this show from a young age (I was like 4 or something) so these episodes hold a lot of nostalgia even if I don't remember them all too well, because there's many here I probably have never actually watched whereas the classic episodes I used to always watch when I was a kid.
Born in the mid-90's here, and I feel similarly. My family was still regularly watching The Simpsons for at least a year or two after this season, so I still hold a bit of nostalgia for when these episodes were new. I also always felt like the animation struck a good balance in these middle seasons. Like they finally found a groove for digital animation, still managing to keep some of the charm of cel animation. I feel like there's something with the line thickness that does it for me.
Same. I was born in the early 90s and me and my friends got into Simpsons reruns around 4th grade, and then excitedly began watching the new season when it began. The Simpsons teen years were my first "new" episodes, and I loved them. I really think these seasons get a bad rap, just because some fans like to dump on anything from Mike Scully's tenure on. But the show was pretty consistently solid up through around season 20, when it became much more hit and miss (though I've never stopped watching). These middle years have a several standout episodes per season, and the worst usually never sinks below just being kinda forgettable. Rewatching these seasons really takes me back to grade-school, when the most important things in my life were watching cartoons and playing PS2 with my friends. What a great time to be alive.
That's interesting to hear! I feel like my diction is so garbled sometimes, there must be something about my scripts that makes it easy to follow without the subtitles 🤔
Same, i just think his pace is very relaxed and pronunciation very clear. Also i think the sentences r structured in a way that just makes them easy to comprehend!
18:58 oh my god thank you! i really love when people outside from latinamerica understand how our simpsons experience feels diferent compare to the north americans
While it may not be Season 18, you could make the argument that the show reached adulthood by factoring in the Tracy Ullman years. Since the Tracy Ullman shorts premiered in early 1987, the characters would in fact reach the 18-year mark in the middle of Season 16.
If you know Spanish and are looking for retrospectives and reviews highlighting the changes that were made in the Latin dubbing Max Power is the ideal channel, he is a Colombian who knows TOO MUCH about the Simpsons and makes videos very similar to this one but in Spanish
One of the most interesting things about TheRealJims channel to me is the fact that what is quite possibly the best Simpsons channel on UA-cam has a sleeping Yoshi for its icon
Spain went with something similar to Latin America, Homer's voice actor died from a heart attack before he could record anything for season 12 and from that season onwards the character felt very different.
And I heard that the most haunting thing about all of this is that his final line as Homer was something among the likes of "This is the last season" in Behind the Laughter. It turned out to be unintentionally prophetic for his case
It’s really surprising to see how many of the episodes I was watching during my big early teen Simpsons kick were from this season. I saw both the premiere and the finale on release (ehh… maybe. Maybe I recorded them on my family’s fancy new DVR.) It’s not the best the show had to offer, but it remains formative to me. As long as you feel there is enough to say, I really hope these retrospectives don’t change much, Jim. A lot of UA-camrs aren’t even willing to give the later seasons the time of day at all, I was really looking forward to you being the big person to seriously analyze season 24 or whatever.
Same, I enjoy them too. I'm bored of hearing people talk about the same episodes from the first 10 seasons over and over and over again, what else is there to say? While the decline is a real thing there's plenty of good episodes over the show's entire run and I'm glad that this channel covers them fairly.
This season always stands out in my mind, not for its own content but because of what an enormous year it was for me as a young adult. In 2004 my husband and I bought our first house, had our second child, and buried all of my great grandparents. It was one of the very last seasons I remember tuning in for every Sunday before petering off and on until about 2006. In a way, I grew up when the show did. I was 7 years old when the show premiered on Fox, just like Lisa, and here I was young adult with two toddlers of my own now. It was really the first time I realized that Lisa would always be 7-8, Bart would always be 10-11, and Maggie an infant, as well as Marge being forever locked at 34. As a kid and teen it just sort of didn't really occur to me, that passage of time, but by my mid 20's it was suddenly so obvious. Now my children are 20, 18, and 14 and all going to college and I'm going to be 41. There really was an odd moment of realizing that I was officially older than Marge will ever be, yet her VA is much much older and clearly struggling to voice Marge now. I've always wondered what the psychological effects of voicing a character who will always be younger than you might be? Just food for thought, I suppose. Fun video as always! Your videos have really reignited my interest in The Simpsons again. I guess I've finally come to terms with being "older than Marge" and can enjoy the show again. 🥰
Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but the Left Behind parody in Thank God It’s Doomsday is one of the Simpsons’ funniest parodies in my opinion, up there with “Amendment To Be.”
I remember that a lot of people dropped the series at this point here in Latin America. Losing most of the original Latin American cast was a heavy blow to the fandom here, and even after getting most of them back in season 32, the damage was done. I also remember that a lot of people was really turn off by how mean The Simpsons were back then. The marriage crisis, the general angriness, the entirety of 'Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass', the Homer self centered love (Insert reference here about Homer masturbating 8 million times)... It was exausting at times. But at the same time, there's some really fun jokes here. 'Sleeping with the Enemy' is a good Nelson episode. 'Fat Man and Little Boy' is riddled with wordplay. Liam Neeson exists. Not sure if The Simpsons became a "boring" adult this season, but definitely became somewhat of a "therapy-needing" one.
I love your season retrospectives! You do such a great job breaking down season themes and character dynamics. I hope that you continue to break the seasons down individually, even though it has now reached its final showrunner. I have been watching through each season and ranking the episodes with my sisters and it is always so interesting to see a season’s strengths and weaknesses. I also think it’s interesting to see how your initial experience watching the show can shape how you view the trajectory of the show. For me, I first starting watching the Simpsons as it aired when they were airing Season 19, so that season always comes across as “new” and engaging, even years later.
What I love about Jim's videos is we are deep into the Simpsons seasons after I stopped watching but Jim still makes them interesting. It actually makes me want to go back and watch these seasons now and give them a shot.
You totally should. I grew up with these seasons and I still love The Simpsons. I'm looking forward to when he gets to the seasons I didn't watch, so I can get an idea of what I missed. Although, it would probably just be a good idea to just watch the episodes that are on RealJim's Top 10 lists. It'll probably save you a lot of time, and by avoiding the badder episodes you won't feel discouraged. There are still good/interesting episodes outside of the top 10, but they're a good start if you want to cherry pick episodes. That's the good thing about The Simpsons: You don't have to watch the episodes in order.
I love how you're finding interesting takes on all these seasons, as someone who hasn't watched much of the show past like idk Season 12 its cool seeing someone find something to say about even the most mundane aspects or little bits of growth, makes it more compelling and interesting then just going over the quality alone.
I give this season high marks if for no other reason than "A Star Is Torn". Music has always been a big part of Lisa, and over the years they've established Homer as a talented song writer (B-Sharps, Everybody Hates Ned Flanders, and later Sadgasm), so bringing those together for a Homer/Lisa relationship episode was brilliant. Plus, both the songs and the jokes were on point: "Not affiliated with American Idol, we've never even heard of American Idol." "I'll always be there ... not even death will stop me." "I'M CALMING DOWWWWWN! WE'LL HAVE FAMILY FUN! FAMILY FUN!"
Season 16 has a soft place in my heart next to the classic seasons because I still vividly remember watching the episodes as they were airing and remember laughing a lot at joked hence why I was excited to see you cover this season. You are completely right in saying this season definitely marked the end of the adolescence of the series as it ventured into new pastures stabilizing itself into what we know as "modern Simpsons" infact more than any season before it a lot of online discourse that used to criticize the current seasons we know today goes as far back as S16. Out of all the post classic seasons I'll say this is one of the better ones.
It’s so trendy to say “The Simpsons sucked since season xx” or brag that you haven’t watched it since the ‘90s. It’s nice to see someone treat the teen seasons on face value.
I really enjoy your approach to The Simpsons as a whole, its rather refreshing! I'm so used to a plethora of folks saying "Modern Simpsons is awful" or "hasn't been good since (insert season here)" and it gets old to hear. I still watch the seasons as they come out and rewatches of all the seasons frequently and it's always interesting to hear your take on an episode or a season!
You have a strange habit of uploading exactly when I hop on the tram after work haha. Always makes my work commute relaxed and enjoyable! Keep it up :)
Excited for the next retrospective, considering how much Jims has dunked on Season 17 throughout the years. This season feels exceptionally like a "modern" season in terms of its focal characters. The Spucklers and the Crazy Cat Lady being super prevalent feels especially unique to "post-classic" Simpsons.
So cool of you to mention the Latin American change of dubs, man! Thanks! The Simpsons is a REALLY BIG deal here in Argentina, I mean, it was on TV for about 6 hours on saturdays in one of our local channels for most of my childhood, and the rest of the week it had its daily 1 hour. The impact it had in my generation and the previous one is incredible. Awesome channel, keep up the good work!
While I don’t have the same love for these seasons as the classics, I’m loving watching your reviews of them and definitely want to see this series contribute through the late years
Some of my favourites of Season 16 would be: - *Treehouse of Horror XV* - probably my favourite because it has “The Ned Zone,” which is hilarious. The other two are just alright, although I love the ending where Homer is inside of Burns. - *Sleeping With The Enemy* is great for the Nelson development and has a lot of filler in the first act. - *Future-Drama* is pretty cool for the future stuff but it’s still retreading old ground that was done better previously. Other than that, there isn’t really much memorable about it. I’m surprised how much of a step down it is compared to Season 15, which had tons of fun episodes.
This is a personal bias, but to me (and many others in LatAm I believe) this is the season The Simpsons got irredeemably bad. There was a controversy of sorts and most of the voice staff with only two exceptions (Moe, Kent Brockman) got replaced by cheaper voice actors (Fox refused to pay the dub cast better I believe) whom did a pretty awful job and didn't even bother try to localize a few of the jokes, which sometimes at least caused more memorable scenes for the LatAm Spanish Language version despite being sourced from less-than-stellar episodes (Like the Africa episode). The original voice cast wouldn't return until Season 32 and by them a few classic ones had died (Wiggum, Krusty). It's hard to see this season in a bubble sometimes, since bootleg spanish Homer sounds in my mind instead of the actual funny Humberto Velez (our Dan Castellaneta) who at least bothered tweaking or improvising some lines if it made the translated punchline better.
@@stproducciones9140 Do we know anything about Victor Espinoza? I've never seen any interviews with him, they always interview Humberto. There was an anonymous post in the only interview I could find (A ventaneando/TV Azteca interview with Victor Espinoza from the mid 00s) accusing Bart's VA from that period of backstabbing and baiting her co-workers into going into strike if their contract wasn't revised so she'd approach Fox with her own voice cast so she'd get director payment for the dub at the cost of a cheaper voice cast.
@@kat_lynx Victor Espinoza is actually doing pretty good for himself from what I've seen. He's the dub voice actor for Wong in the latin spanish dubs of the MCU movies, and I honestly think that he does a pretty good job with the character, far better than he did Homer if you ask me.
The Simpsons has now found its new form after a streach of instability. You hit the nail on the head: it’s not the start/end of a particular era, however it’s still a major change
This is one of the seasons where I can remember the ads - the perscription drugs one! Here on Channel 10 in Australia, they kept saying they flew it here as quickly as possible with footage of Burns in the plane.
Kudos for the LATAM community shotout in the end. The whole VA strike controversy that resulted in the massive recast extended far beyond the show, including other FOX series too, but I was ofc the Simpsons who felt it the most since the OG cast still did a wonderful job up to that point. We kinda also hold seasons 9-15 quite fondly precisely because of the cast's work there. And funnily enough, most of them came back just as the replacement cast were about to surpass the amount of episodes dubbed by the original (and now mostly current) one as S32 came in. And it was also a greatly timed event since it happened just a season away from the impressive 33rd.
I thought the same thing. They advanced into a really sarcastic, sour kind of post 9/11 humor that seasons 13-18 really leaned into. I think of it as the Renaissance of the Simpsons because there are some absolute classics during these years. Modern Simpsons in HD is what followed these seasons and the show got worse from there to the point where we are today.
Don't care how anyone else feels this is my most nostalgic seasons and one of my favorites. All's Fair in Oven War, Sleeping with the Enemy, Mobile Homer, Don't Fear the Roofer... hell I love the whole season except for those stale 3 in the middle
Love your retrospectives and top 10s. I don't always agree with you, but I always respect your opinion which you back up with solid reasons. Here are my random thoughts: The "adult years" analogy for 16 is great. I was in my mid teens when it first aired and I felt a bit of drift from the show. Now that I'm older, I appreciate this one a lot more. Completely agree about Lisa and I would also say Marge has a major out of character episode herself with Don't Fear The Roofer. It's a great episode, but Marge is a total jerk in it for no reason. I would argue season 18 is the final evolution of the show (well, that and the movie). A season that essentially becomes a critique of the real world forces behind the scenes of the show - and the entertainment industry itself - that ends with episode 400 and the bold choices they make with Kent Brockman as a mouthpiece. If they had ended with season 18 and the movie, I think people would look back on the entire series more fondly...maybe a little bit of side-eye to 17 and 18. There's some zombie-like shuffling to the feel of a few of their episodes I think this show does 9 year intervals of quality. 1-9 = The Classic Years - stories that felt more real (mostly) 10-18 = The Cartoon Years - things got more outlandish and topical but still had heart (mostly) 19-27 = The Zombie Years - Not very funny or heartfelt, while any attempts to recall the magic of classic episodes end up feeling like microwaved leftovers (mostly) 28-36(?) - The Resurgent Years - nowhere near as good as the classics or even the cartoonish, but there's a new energy behind things that is slowly building and may let the show end on a high note. I know there's still 2 more years to go to prove this theory - but it does seem to be coming true (mostly) Season 17 does feel kinda aimless in hindsight. I'm looking forward to your retrospective on that one for a fresh point of view Looking forward to the top 10!
Even though I take a less favorable view of the post-season-8 episodes, I really enjoy this channel because of the way it explores the nuances of each season for better and for worse. Also, Jims really down bad for Homer this time 😳
With so many religious episodes, for quite some time I thought that Season 20's Gone Maggie Gone was from this season. Also, yes, the Latin American fans do consider Season 15 as the true end of an era because of the change of VAs. It was until Season 32 with the Disney bought that they finally brought back the original VAs
That is quite interesting to read. For German fans, the end of an era occurred halfway through season 17, when Marge's German voice actress died. I find it fascinating to learn that the idea of a Simpsons era ending is so closely associated with the mid-teen seasons of the show for people of different cultures.
Something that is worth mentioning is how starting season 32, most of the dubbing team of seasons 1-15 returned to the show in Latin America. But yes, the show in here had a rather contentious reputation starting season 16
Joining others in thanking you for the Latam shout out!! Season 16 was when I detached myself from the Simpsons because the voice work was so underwhelming in comparison to what it used to be, and the funny moments the show had didn't really reflect that much or saved it for me to get my attention, which is a shame tbh. Even if I was already used to English VA thanks to the DVDs, there's just that something special in the Spanish dub y'know? :'(
I don't speak much spanish, but I loved switching over to the Latam dub sometimes for Homer's VA. He was really funny, even if I couldn't understand everything he said. :D
This is a memorable season for me. it's the last season to air while I was in school. Also remember missing the season finale for a while because I was out of town at a convention (more specifically, driving home from the airport) when it aired. And my friend, who I'd asked to record it for me, tried... but his VCR caught fire.
Seasons 16~18 become a dark time for Ned as his morals shift more fundamentalist. The Flanderization of Flanders would hit its peak with "You Kent Always Say What You Want" where Ned gets Brockman fired as even his sons are concerned for their father's devout lookout for sin on TV. They even hint that the loss of Maude might had been the cause of Ned's slip into being stricter and more judgemental. ("Daddy, we think you need a new mommy for us") Ned would slip into dishing out Neddy-no-nos afterwards like in "To Surveil with Love", but it wasn't as severe as these middle seasons.
One of my favourite Simpsons scenes ever comes from season 16. Say what you want, but they get some gems in. It’s Homer and the fat camp instructor fighting over a cheeseburger.
It's funny that you bring up the rumpus room in the context of _Coming to Homerica,_ because I distinctly remember a debate about the location of rumpus room with regards to that episode in the comments of a video of a recreation of 742 Evergreen Terrace in The Sims 2. Specifically, it was about the room directly behind the garage and next to the kitchen, and the video creator had heard of it possibly being a rumpus room or something, but someone in the comments had pointed out that, in a scene where the whole family is getting sick, that room is a bathroom.
Teen-season Simpsons' art style feels comfortable to me, maybe as for a while that's the latest you'd get with Channel 4 in England even into the HD era (Sky One had more up to date catalogues but that wasn't available with freeview). Also, jeez I hate that ending to the gay marriage episode (especially hurts in this anti-trans climate as a trans person)
I started university in autumn 2000 and, I guess like a lot of people, lost track of tv for the following years as I was busy doing other things. So, my routine of coming home from school, having dinner and then putting on The Simpsons on BBC2 at 6pm was broken and I never really watched much beyond season 10 (we were a bit behind on the BBC). It's interesting watching these retrospectives to see what direction the show went and how it's comedy changed. I'd forgotten how many episodes I love are in those latter seasons that I watched, maybe if I had carried on with seasons 11-16 back then I would have more love for them.
I haven't seen many episodes from the past couple seasons you've covered. Honestly your reviews of these later seasons is making me realize I didn't miss anything by not watching them. I saw some UA-camr say the series NEEDS to end and I can't agree more. So far I'm half way through and yeah by this time I had completely given up on the series.
I'm so glad someone finally said it. Seasons 8 - 16 always felt....odd. Not unenjoyable but there's a strangeness about them I could never put my finger on. I think you've finally said it in a way everyone can understand
@3:56 - that was the moment the SImpsons died. That horrible puke "joke", the kind of which was never done in the Simpsons before that would have been right at home in Family Guy. It only went downhill from here and this was the exact beginning point.
I actually still really liked this season. I always get a kick out of when homer threw the singing contest with that last "...I'm better than youuuuu!" lyric.
I have a soft spot for seasons 15-18, because they were on TV every day when I was younger. I love the classic era more now, but those seasons were constantly there for me. That being said, I wonder how you are gonna keep up that optimism when we reach late 20's and eventually season 30 and beyond.
I taught English at a school in Madrid and have had Spanish-speaking students pronounce Cottage as "Cotaje" when they don't know the word so therefore I am almost positive one of the writers had that similar experience.
As a latin american, I appreciate you mentioning how the original dub left after Season 15 due to a union dispute. One of the main reasons that The Simpsons has such a stonghold over latin america (despite being a very Americanized show) was because of the dubbing (particularly of Humberto Vélez) who voices Homer. Coincidentally, they brought back almost all of the cast back starting with season 32 (the first season released on Disney + when it appeared on latin america). However, some of the voices feel kinda odd, like much older and tired than how they once sounded. Like how Julie Kavner's voice of Marge sounds to you. Fun fact: Humberto Velez also voices Professor Farnsworth in Futurama, and was also brought back for the recent revival. And yes, much like with Homer, he also does a great job.
I had the DVD set of this season as a kid, the first one I ever got and I must have watched this season like 30 times, so many memorable episodes including the future one which is one of my all time favorite Simpson episodes.
Im glad you mentioned the transphobia in the gay marriage episode, people usually overlook that aspect in order to call it progressive, which it is for one part but it shouldn't be ignored.
The middle seasons as a whole haven’t aged well, much more so than the classic era. Probably because the show became more “shocking” as it tried to compete with other adult cartoons at the time.
Futurama was always the edgier one so it's covered in transphobic jokes. Family Guy in some ways does better, having a somewhat sympathetically portrayed trans character - tonnes of jokes at her expense but at least she gets to be a recurring character.
An interesting thing about Albert Brooks in Heartbroke Kid: He was almost kind of *necessary*. In the midpoint of the episode, we see Bart do the parody of the opening sequence in his new body shape, and when it comes to the skateboard through town, he runs over everyone's feet as he passes by. All of these characters gasp in pain. All of these gasps of pain had to be recorded. Jacques, an artifact guest star from Season 1, is in the opening sequence. The opening sequence parody is only truly possible because Albert Brooks is already in the recording booth to record Tab Spangler, and I almost wonder which part was written first. Did they want to do the opening sequence joke because they knew they had Albert Brooks to give Jacques a line, or did they write the opening sequence joke and then realise they needed Albert Brooks for Jacques?
This definitely feels like the most topical season of the Simpsons, not that they didn't make topical jokes or storylines before, but there was a lot of focus on, at the time (and perhaps even still today), relevant subject-matter in a lot of episodes. Again, I have vivid memories of a lot of these episodes as they aired new, though it's hard to say if I enjoyed them as much as the older episodes at the time...
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Midnight Rx and how much of a gem that episode is! We see Homer and a random characters he doesn't usually associate with (Apu and Flanders) risk everything to go to Canada and smuggle in prescription drugs. Love the song "I want a new drug" incorporated into the show. Also when Homer swallows balloons full of pills and sandwiches 😂. Comedy gold in my opinion.
I stopped watching this show after it shat out season 12. So I’m glad you still put out these recap videos to keep me posted on what’s been going on since the show got bad. I’ll probably never watch a new episode again, but I’ll still be sad when they finally pull the plug one day.
I love a lot of the wonderful future jokes of this season! Simpsons Doomsday has a great bunch and so does Future Drama! Also love the scene about Bart’s new robot cult! Feels like a great callback to Homer the Heretic from season 4. There’s a wonderful sense of adventure to this season! So many episodes feel like an exciting journey! I like the Moe and Marge teamup event too! That episode makes me laugh a lot!
Season 16, for latinamerican viewers, is also the season where lots of voice actors and actresses where replaced, Including Homer, Marge and Lisa' , which gave the show a passing of the torch to the next generation feeling
I for sure agree there was a second era after Classic Simpsons. When I've discussed it we called it Nu Simpsons. It's definitely different and hits the spot almost as good, but it's just not the same as the old stuff. Not quite a shambling corpse of it's former self yet though.
Season 16 for me is when Simpsons seasons ended airing in my country, I have not remembered seeing seasons 17-19 on TV because right after season 16 on some year they'd just start re-airing earlier seasons. I did get to see my fair share of season 20 and 21 on TV, though. I remember the two episodes featuring myPods. I remember the neighbourhood watch episode. I remember the one with Simon Cowell actually guest starring as himself.
There's definitely something weird when you're going back over a series with a lot of installments, and hit the first one where you can't say anything 'big' about; the first one that's 'just another season/movie/game'. It's not necessarily a bad thing, those are rarely BAD installments, but it's the point where things just stop feeling as interesting. Season 16 isn't the Sonic 2006 of the Simpsons, but it is the Sonic Heroes of the Simpsons, and that also feels like a bittersweet turning point.
I was born in 2001 so this was the first season of the show I saw as it aired. This is actually the era I grew up with I didn't watch the 90s era till later in life.
As a person born in 97 and raised on the simpsons, I didn’t realize the episodes that meant the most to me were the ones after everyone generally agrees that the “golden age” was well past over. These early 00’s seasons were the golden era to me lol
For my birthday awhile ago, one of my friends gave me a stack of DVD-Rs of The Simpsons seasons he downloaded that were not released officially yet. They were Seasons 13 - 16. So I watched these Early Jean seasons quite a bit... I would say that Season 16 is the last one that I would say I know really really well. That familiarity one gets from many DVD re-watches. So, I think that experience has partially affected how I view Season 16 and why I think of it as an "end of an era." The fact that this is Jean's 4th season (after Scully had 4) also influenced why I think of that way.
(Or maybe this is all because I don't like Season 17 that much.) 😛
the simpsons had some of the best dvd releases of any show ever, but these days im too lazy to put the discs in
@@pass_ I love the DVD menus!
@@pass_nowadays when people wanna watch a show, they just wanna watch it. they don't wanna bother with putting the disc(s) in and waiting for the dvd animations/company logos to finish before just watching the episode
@@usermcskull4713 instead we now have to deal with scolling through streamin menus and every show and movie's credits being interupted with "IF YOU LIKE THIS THEN WATCH THIS"
Is Season 17 gonna be another "No semifinalists" Top 10 Season like Season 13, or is it gonna be even shorter than 10 (Top 7, 8, or 9)?
One of my favorite things about this channel is how it's willing to look past the original classic years and willingly acknowledge the ups of the more modern era, and that bit of positivity is always a good thing. Cheers!
It means that I can satisfy any lingering curiosity I might have had about these seasons without having to actually *watch* them.
Yep as someone who enjoys the full run of the show to some extent, anytime I want to channel that starts talking about the classic era exclusively I'm done I don't have any interest in watching it. Glad this channel is this
@@221b I don't see why you'd bother, you obviously never really liked it that much
Compare that to a certain Simpsons podcast that hates even the acclaimed episodes post season 10.
@@highvoltage7797
Wait, seriously??
"Homer, you couldn't predict 6 o'clock at 5:30" from the Left Below episode is one of my favorite Marge lines. Honestly I think the whole episode is great overall.
It brightens my day to see Max enjoying things.
The Left Behind parody in of itself is hilarious, one of my favorite parodies in the series.
HOT DIGGITY DAMN!
Get out of here
a straight white male
Early mid 2000s simpsons is so weirdly fascinating
I feel like it can be occasionally funny than the modern seasons
Yeah I did a binge of seasons 1 to 20 and the teen seasons actually had some good episodes
The transition from cels to digital coloring and the introduction of more contemporary technologies and social issues (all while still keeping the floating timeline statu quo) certainly makes it as such.
@@KremBotop also the writing went from intelligent to dumb stuff
The humor was really MEAN in these years. Straight up disturbing and transgressive, and it kinda rocks
damn, thanks for the Latin American dub shoutout. it really is a huge part of why the show is huge down here. You can thank Humberto Velez for all those bootlegs of bart smoking weed and litstening to Callejeros.
After learning about that from Season 15 comments, I really wanted to give it a shout-out here. That bit of fandom knowledge, I had totally missed the boat on
@@TheRealJims and that's why youre a certified cool guy
@@TheRealJims Yeah everyone here says 15 is the last good season and I think not only for the voices but they are right
@@TheRealJims the spanish LATAM dub it's Unique
Thank you for mentioning the LA side of things! Not many English speaking people/channels mention how things fare for us despite the popularity of the show here...
Yeah, the departures from most of the iconic VAs was a very drastic change that caused many people drop the show entirely or see a decline on quality. Me personally, still watched some of it until i really felt that the voices were getting generic and didn't made me repeat the iconic phrases like the old ones...
I heard the original dub voices came back recently, did them coming back help the perception of the new episodes for you guys?
@@sonicwontletmeleave Personally, I watched the last season (I dont have the service to watch the current one) and I really liked the episodes. They adapt the jokes for the LATAM audiences very good, like the old days.
Humberto Velez is now part of TheRealJims' canon. 😅
Saludos desde Chile
The good news is you're almost halfway done with watching & reviewing every Season of The Simpsons.
So the series will wrap up around the Fall of 2027. Taking in account for new episodes.
But he's long ago covered the seasons that matter so he's just going on now about shows I've never seen and never will which is still entertaining enough to keep me coming back, TheRealJims is more watchable than the Simpsons has been for a long long time.
The bad news is that the other side of 2007 is unwatchable and is an inhumane torture you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
@@arrownoir
Bar 33 and perhaps what comes after that.
@@austinreed7343 33 was a suprisingly solid season. Not golden years good but not bad
I just hope we get more rumpus room footage this season that’s always a plus.
Thanks!!!, i swear i wasn't the only one who thought how much religion was a constant theme in this season, i'm surprised that Flanders didn't became the main character in the next years. Speaking of it, it's time for the *Simpsons Retrospective Secondary Character Stockwatch!*
Let's see how the charts goes:
*Prinicipal secondary characters*
Season 2-3: Mr. Burns
Season 4: Krusty
Season 5-8: Mr. Burns
Season 9-11: Moe
Season 12: Skinner
Season 13-14: Moe
Season 15: Skinner
Season 16: Wiggum
*Biggest winners*
Season 2: Mr. Burns
Season 3: Bart's friend
Season 4: Grounskeeper Willie and Apu
Season 5: Skinner and Grandpa
Season 6: Moe
Season 7: Skinner and Bart's friend
Season 8: Moe
Season 9: Apu
Season 10: Gil
Season 11: Lenny and Carl
Season 12: Dr. Hibbert
Season 13: Mr. Burns
Season 14: Cletus
Season 15: Comic Book Guy
Season 16: Cletus and Brandine
See you for the next Simpson update!
Yay, the stockwatch recap returns! I confess, I totally did look at the S15 one after writing to double-check whether Wiggum has ever won before.
(Also Flanders was totally robbed this year.)
@@TheRealJims Wow, never thought my obsession for these videos would ever be helpful for you.
Why do people say Bart’s friend instead of Mulhouse??
Thank you Jim for not spending time explaining 'Flanderisation' I have a pet peeve when people do that 😂
Haha, I get critiques sometimes that I don't explain enough or give enough context. It's a combination of me being too far down the fandom rabbit hole and self consciousness about over-explaining 🤣
What does it mean?
@@MariaIsabellaZNN It's used to describe when a character gets overly exaggerated or stereotyped to play up a specific personality trait. Like with Flanders, The Simpsons ramped up his super religiousness over time, where in the middle seasons, he eventually became the "devout evangelical Christian" stereotype
@@MariaIsabellaZNN ua-cam.com/video/gxm32LSwD7k/v-deo.html
True 😂 Or maybe it tells more about me that I have heard the explanation at least a thousand damn times. Too much youtube maybe 😅
I may be the only person ever to say this, but there’s something weirdly nostalgic about these middle era seasons (14 to 17 or so) to me. Maybe it’s the art style?
It’s weird because as a kid I mainly watched the classic seasons thanks to the DVDs, so I barely even remember individual episodes from this era. But there’s just something about it that puts me right back in the mid-2000s.
I'm now having flashbacks to being a teen in the mid 2000s, I'm so glad social media/tik tok, and all the other modern crap of the 2020s was only in its earliest infancy and hadn't evolved into the monster it is now.
no it's the exact same. I was born in '02 and watched this show from a young age (I was like 4 or something) so these episodes hold a lot of nostalgia even if I don't remember them all too well, because there's many here I probably have never actually watched whereas the classic episodes I used to always watch when I was a kid.
I've always thought this too - the art style is perfect in these episodes and it just reminds me of the mid 2000s.
Born in the mid-90's here, and I feel similarly. My family was still regularly watching The Simpsons for at least a year or two after this season, so I still hold a bit of nostalgia for when these episodes were new.
I also always felt like the animation struck a good balance in these middle seasons. Like they finally found a groove for digital animation, still managing to keep some of the charm of cel animation. I feel like there's something with the line thickness that does it for me.
Same. I was born in the early 90s and me and my friends got into Simpsons reruns around 4th grade, and then excitedly began watching the new season when it began. The Simpsons teen years were my first "new" episodes, and I loved them. I really think these seasons get a bad rap, just because some fans like to dump on anything from Mike Scully's tenure on. But the show was pretty consistently solid up through around season 20, when it became much more hit and miss (though I've never stopped watching). These middle years have a several standout episodes per season, and the worst usually never sinks below just being kinda forgettable. Rewatching these seasons really takes me back to grade-school, when the most important things in my life were watching cartoons and playing PS2 with my friends. What a great time to be alive.
English is not my native language. But Jim is the only youtuber who I prefer to watch without subtitles or translate and don't know why
That's interesting to hear! I feel like my diction is so garbled sometimes, there must be something about my scripts that makes it easy to follow without the subtitles 🤔
Agreed! To me, his pronunciation is very clear and it helps me with my vocabulary and listening ❤
Me too,Im from Argentina and when i watch his videos i usually understand any word he pronnounces
Same for me!
Same, i just think his pace is very relaxed and pronunciation very clear. Also i think the sentences r structured in a way that just makes them easy to comprehend!
18:58 oh my god thank you! i really love when people outside from latinamerica understand how our simpsons experience feels diferent compare to the north americans
While it may not be Season 18, you could make the argument that the show reached adulthood by factoring in the Tracy Ullman years. Since the Tracy Ullman shorts premiered in early 1987, the characters would in fact reach the 18-year mark in the middle of Season 16.
Would also love a series highlighting the history of different Simpsons language dubs, voice cast changes, localization of jokes, censorship etc.
I think this would be really cool too!
Dude. He's one man. And he's still got SIXTEEN seasons of English Simpsons to go
If you know Spanish and are looking for retrospectives and reviews highlighting the changes that were made in the Latin dubbing Max Power is the ideal channel, he is a Colombian who knows TOO MUCH about the Simpsons and makes videos very similar to this one but in Spanish
One of the most interesting things about TheRealJims channel to me is the fact that what is quite possibly the best Simpsons channel on UA-cam has a sleeping Yoshi for its icon
As a bonus, the channel isn't verified.
The yoshi icon us so adorable and iconic tbh
A leftover from his pre-Simpsons era, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Spain went with something similar to Latin America, Homer's voice actor died from a heart attack before he could record anything for season 12 and from that season onwards the character felt very different.
Carlos Revilla... QEPD 😔
And I heard that the most haunting thing about all of this is that his final line as Homer was something among the likes of "This is the last season" in Behind the Laughter. It turned out to be unintentionally prophetic for his case
It’s really surprising to see how many of the episodes I was watching during my big early teen Simpsons kick were from this season. I saw both the premiere and the finale on release (ehh… maybe. Maybe I recorded them on my family’s fancy new DVR.) It’s not the best the show had to offer, but it remains formative to me.
As long as you feel there is enough to say, I really hope these retrospectives don’t change much, Jim. A lot of UA-camrs aren’t even willing to give the later seasons the time of day at all, I was really looking forward to you being the big person to seriously analyze season 24 or whatever.
Same, I enjoy them too. I'm bored of hearing people talk about the same episodes from the first 10 seasons over and over and over again, what else is there to say? While the decline is a real thing there's plenty of good episodes over the show's entire run and I'm glad that this channel covers them fairly.
This season always stands out in my mind, not for its own content but because of what an enormous year it was for me as a young adult. In 2004 my husband and I bought our first house, had our second child, and buried all of my great grandparents. It was one of the very last seasons I remember tuning in for every Sunday before petering off and on until about 2006. In a way, I grew up when the show did. I was 7 years old when the show premiered on Fox, just like Lisa, and here I was young adult with two toddlers of my own now. It was really the first time I realized that Lisa would always be 7-8, Bart would always be 10-11, and Maggie an infant, as well as Marge being forever locked at 34. As a kid and teen it just sort of didn't really occur to me, that passage of time, but by my mid 20's it was suddenly so obvious.
Now my children are 20, 18, and 14 and all going to college and I'm going to be 41. There really was an odd moment of realizing that I was officially older than Marge will ever be, yet her VA is much much older and clearly struggling to voice Marge now. I've always wondered what the psychological effects of voicing a character who will always be younger than you might be? Just food for thought, I suppose.
Fun video as always! Your videos have really reignited my interest in The Simpsons again. I guess I've finally come to terms with being "older than Marge" and can enjoy the show again. 🥰
Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but the Left Behind parody in Thank God It’s Doomsday is one of the Simpsons’ funniest parodies in my opinion, up there with “Amendment To Be.”
"The baby I chose to have baptized is gone!"
No, I love it too.
Not unpopular, just objectively wrong by every accepted and known metric doll.
I remember that a lot of people dropped the series at this point here in Latin America. Losing most of the original Latin American cast was a heavy blow to the fandom here, and even after getting most of them back in season 32, the damage was done.
I also remember that a lot of people was really turn off by how mean The Simpsons were back then. The marriage crisis, the general angriness, the entirety of 'Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass', the Homer self centered love (Insert reference here about Homer masturbating 8 million times)... It was exausting at times.
But at the same time, there's some really fun jokes here. 'Sleeping with the Enemy' is a good Nelson episode. 'Fat Man and Little Boy' is riddled with wordplay. Liam Neeson exists.
Not sure if The Simpsons became a "boring" adult this season, but definitely became somewhat of a "therapy-needing" one.
I love your season retrospectives! You do such a great job breaking down season themes and character dynamics. I hope that you continue to break the seasons down individually, even though it has now reached its final showrunner. I have been watching through each season and ranking the episodes with my sisters and it is always so interesting to see a season’s strengths and weaknesses. I also think it’s interesting to see how your initial experience watching the show can shape how you view the trajectory of the show. For me, I first starting watching the Simpsons as it aired when they were airing Season 19, so that season always comes across as “new” and engaging, even years later.
What I love about Jim's videos is we are deep into the Simpsons seasons after I stopped watching but Jim still makes them interesting. It actually makes me want to go back and watch these seasons now and give them a shot.
You totally should. I grew up with these seasons and I still love The Simpsons. I'm looking forward to when he gets to the seasons I didn't watch, so I can get an idea of what I missed.
Although, it would probably just be a good idea to just watch the episodes that are on RealJim's Top 10 lists. It'll probably save you a lot of time, and by avoiding the badder episodes you won't feel discouraged. There are still good/interesting episodes outside of the top 10, but they're a good start if you want to cherry pick episodes. That's the good thing about The Simpsons: You don't have to watch the episodes in order.
I love how you're finding interesting takes on all these seasons, as someone who hasn't watched much of the show past like idk Season 12 its cool seeing someone find something to say about even the most mundane aspects or little bits of growth, makes it more compelling and interesting then just going over the quality alone.
I give this season high marks if for no other reason than "A Star Is Torn". Music has always been a big part of Lisa, and over the years they've established Homer as a talented song writer (B-Sharps, Everybody Hates Ned Flanders, and later Sadgasm), so bringing those together for a Homer/Lisa relationship episode was brilliant. Plus, both the songs and the jokes were on point:
"Not affiliated with American Idol, we've never even heard of American Idol."
"I'll always be there ... not even death will stop me."
"I'M CALMING DOWWWWWN! WE'LL HAVE FAMILY FUN! FAMILY FUN!"
Season 16 has a soft place in my heart next to the classic seasons because I still vividly remember watching the episodes as they were airing and remember laughing a lot at joked hence why I was excited to see you cover this season. You are completely right in saying this season definitely marked the end of the adolescence of the series as it ventured into new pastures stabilizing itself into what we know as "modern Simpsons" infact more than any season before it a lot of online discourse that used to criticize the current seasons we know today goes as far back as S16. Out of all the post classic seasons I'll say this is one of the better ones.
It’s so trendy to say “The Simpsons sucked since season xx” or brag that you haven’t watched it since the ‘90s. It’s nice to see someone treat the teen seasons on face value.
Lol it's not trendy to say that, this has always been the prevailing attitude, and with good reason
@@eclect It definitely is trendy. Younger people just echo UA-camr's opinions a lot nowadays without even giving it any critical thought
@@ElStink4K it isn't "trendy" to think about the Simpsons at all
@@eclectincorrect
I really enjoy your approach to The Simpsons as a whole, its rather refreshing! I'm so used to a plethora of folks saying "Modern Simpsons is awful" or "hasn't been good since (insert season here)" and it gets old to hear. I still watch the seasons as they come out and rewatches of all the seasons frequently and it's always interesting to hear your take on an episode or a season!
You have a strange habit of uploading exactly when I hop on the tram after work haha.
Always makes my work commute relaxed and enjoyable! Keep it up :)
Excited for the next retrospective, considering how much Jims has dunked on Season 17 throughout the years.
This season feels exceptionally like a "modern" season in terms of its focal characters. The Spucklers and the Crazy Cat Lady being super prevalent feels especially unique to "post-classic" Simpsons.
So cool of you to mention the Latin American change of dubs, man! Thanks! The Simpsons is a REALLY BIG deal here in Argentina, I mean, it was on TV for about 6 hours on saturdays in one of our local channels for most of my childhood, and the rest of the week it had its daily 1 hour. The impact it had in my generation and the previous one is incredible. Awesome channel, keep up the good work!
While I don’t have the same love for these seasons as the classics, I’m loving watching your reviews of them and definitely want to see this series contribute through the late years
Some of my favourites of Season 16 would be:
- *Treehouse of Horror XV* - probably my favourite because it has “The Ned Zone,” which is hilarious. The other two are just alright, although I love the ending where Homer is inside of Burns.
- *Sleeping With The Enemy* is great for the Nelson development and has a lot of filler in the first act.
- *Future-Drama* is pretty cool for the future stuff but it’s still retreading old ground that was done better previously.
Other than that, there isn’t really much memorable about it. I’m surprised how much of a step down it is compared to Season 15, which had tons of fun episodes.
This is a personal bias, but to me (and many others in LatAm I believe) this is the season The Simpsons got irredeemably bad. There was a controversy of sorts and most of the voice staff with only two exceptions (Moe, Kent Brockman) got replaced by cheaper voice actors (Fox refused to pay the dub cast better I believe) whom did a pretty awful job and didn't even bother try to localize a few of the jokes, which sometimes at least caused more memorable scenes for the LatAm Spanish Language version despite being sourced from less-than-stellar episodes (Like the Africa episode). The original voice cast wouldn't return until Season 32 and by them a few classic ones had died (Wiggum, Krusty). It's hard to see this season in a bubble sometimes, since bootleg spanish Homer sounds in my mind instead of the actual funny Humberto Velez (our Dan Castellaneta) who at least bothered tweaking or improvising some lines if it made the translated punchline better.
i feel bad for Homer's second voice actor. Humberto raised the bar incredibly high.
@@stproducciones9140 Do we know anything about Victor Espinoza? I've never seen any interviews with him, they always interview Humberto. There was an anonymous post in the only interview I could find (A ventaneando/TV Azteca interview with Victor Espinoza from the mid 00s) accusing Bart's VA from that period of backstabbing and baiting her co-workers into going into strike if their contract wasn't revised so she'd approach Fox with her own voice cast so she'd get director payment for the dub at the cost of a cheaper voice cast.
I don't speak much spanish, but I loved Humberto Velez's Homer. :D
@@kat_lynx Victor Espinoza is actually doing pretty good for himself from what I've seen. He's the dub voice actor for Wong in the latin spanish dubs of the MCU movies, and I honestly think that he does a pretty good job with the character, far better than he did Homer if you ask me.
@@shorewall He's a really funny fella.
The Simpsons has now found its new form after a streach of instability. You hit the nail on the head: it’s not the start/end of a particular era, however it’s still a major change
Never expected to hear the VA situation in Latin America in this channel but I'm glad you did!
This is one of the seasons where I can remember the ads - the perscription drugs one! Here on Channel 10 in Australia, they kept saying they flew it here as quickly as possible with footage of Burns in the plane.
I like how this channel mirrors the release schedule of Simpsons DVD boxes back in the day
Thanks for the Latin America shoutout! Greetings from Chile
Holy shit it’s been a while. I’m hyped!
Same here dude 👌😂
This channel is so great. You always manage to articulate how I feel about my favorite show but couldn't put into words all that well
Kudos for the LATAM community shotout in the end. The whole VA strike controversy that resulted in the massive recast extended far beyond the show, including other FOX series too, but I was ofc the Simpsons who felt it the most since the OG cast still did a wonderful job up to that point. We kinda also hold seasons 9-15 quite fondly precisely because of the cast's work there. And funnily enough, most of them came back just as the replacement cast were about to surpass the amount of episodes dubbed by the original (and now mostly current) one as S32 came in. And it was also a greatly timed event since it happened just a season away from the impressive 33rd.
I always thought the later teen seasons had their own charm, or maybe it's just some mid 2000s nostolga
I thought the same thing. They advanced into a really sarcastic, sour kind of post 9/11 humor that seasons 13-18 really leaned into. I think of it as the Renaissance of the Simpsons because there are some absolute classics during these years. Modern Simpsons in HD is what followed these seasons and the show got worse from there to the point where we are today.
Don't care how anyone else feels this is my most nostalgic seasons and one of my favorites. All's Fair in Oven War, Sleeping with the Enemy, Mobile Homer, Don't Fear the Roofer... hell I love the whole season except for those stale 3 in the middle
Love your retrospectives and top 10s. I don't always agree with you, but I always respect your opinion which you back up with solid reasons. Here are my random thoughts:
The "adult years" analogy for 16 is great. I was in my mid teens when it first aired and I felt a bit of drift from the show. Now that I'm older, I appreciate this one a lot more.
Completely agree about Lisa and I would also say Marge has a major out of character episode herself with Don't Fear The Roofer. It's a great episode, but Marge is a total jerk in it for no reason.
I would argue season 18 is the final evolution of the show (well, that and the movie). A season that essentially becomes a critique of the real world forces behind the scenes of the show - and the entertainment industry itself - that ends with episode 400 and the bold choices they make with Kent Brockman as a mouthpiece. If they had ended with season 18 and the movie, I think people would look back on the entire series more fondly...maybe a little bit of side-eye to 17 and 18. There's some zombie-like shuffling to the feel of a few of their episodes
I think this show does 9 year intervals of quality.
1-9 = The Classic Years - stories that felt more real (mostly)
10-18 = The Cartoon Years - things got more outlandish and topical but still had heart (mostly)
19-27 = The Zombie Years - Not very funny or heartfelt, while any attempts to recall the magic of classic episodes end up feeling like microwaved leftovers (mostly)
28-36(?) - The Resurgent Years - nowhere near as good as the classics or even the cartoonish, but there's a new energy behind things that is slowly building and may let the show end on a high note. I know there's still 2 more years to go to prove this theory - but it does seem to be coming true (mostly)
Season 17 does feel kinda aimless in hindsight. I'm looking forward to your retrospective on that one for a fresh point of view
Looking forward to the top 10!
Even though I take a less favorable view of the post-season-8 episodes, I really enjoy this channel because of the way it explores the nuances of each season for better and for worse.
Also, Jims really down bad for Homer this time 😳
Saw this in my feed and screamed with excitement. Thank you Jims, you are loved.
With so many religious episodes, for quite some time I thought that Season 20's Gone Maggie Gone was from this season.
Also, yes, the Latin American fans do consider Season 15 as the true end of an era because of the change of VAs. It was until Season 32 with the Disney bought that they finally brought back the original VAs
That is quite interesting to read. For German fans, the end of an era occurred halfway through season 17, when Marge's German voice actress died. I find it fascinating to learn that the idea of a Simpsons era ending is so closely associated with the mid-teen seasons of the show for people of different cultures.
Something that is worth mentioning is how starting season 32, most of the dubbing team of seasons 1-15 returned to the show in Latin America.
But yes, the show in here had a rather contentious reputation starting season 16
Joining others in thanking you for the Latam shout out!! Season 16 was when I detached myself from the Simpsons because the voice work was so underwhelming in comparison to what it used to be, and the funny moments the show had didn't really reflect that much or saved it for me to get my attention, which is a shame tbh. Even if I was already used to English VA thanks to the DVDs, there's just that something special in the Spanish dub y'know? :'(
I don't speak much spanish, but I loved switching over to the Latam dub sometimes for Homer's VA. He was really funny, even if I couldn't understand everything he said. :D
This is a memorable season for me. it's the last season to air while I was in school. Also remember missing the season finale for a while because I was out of town at a convention (more specifically, driving home from the airport) when it aired. And my friend, who I'd asked to record it for me, tried... but his VCR caught fire.
Seasons 16~18 become a dark time for Ned as his morals shift more fundamentalist. The Flanderization of Flanders would hit its peak with "You Kent Always Say What You Want" where Ned gets Brockman fired as even his sons are concerned for their father's devout lookout for sin on TV. They even hint that the loss of Maude might had been the cause of Ned's slip into being stricter and more judgemental. ("Daddy, we think you need a new mommy for us") Ned would slip into dishing out Neddy-no-nos afterwards like in "To Surveil with Love", but it wasn't as severe as these middle seasons.
Season 16 is my absolute favourite! Mostly because I saw all the episodes on TV and just enjoying the moments that got me laughing.
I’ve been waiting for this :)
One of my favourite Simpsons scenes ever comes from season 16. Say what you want, but they get some gems in. It’s Homer and the fat camp instructor fighting over a cheeseburger.
TheRealJims: Making my Monday worth it
These teen years are the ones I remember most, my dad always had a Simpsons DVD in the Xbox 360 when no one was playing a game
How do you not have over a million subscribers already?
omg “cot-a-hey” is just so funny, I completely forgot it til you said it and now I’m adding it to my vernacular like I have with “me-cro-wah-vey”
It's funny that you bring up the rumpus room in the context of _Coming to Homerica,_ because I distinctly remember a debate about the location of rumpus room with regards to that episode in the comments of a video of a recreation of 742 Evergreen Terrace in The Sims 2. Specifically, it was about the room directly behind the garage and next to the kitchen, and the video creator had heard of it possibly being a rumpus room or something, but someone in the comments had pointed out that, in a scene where the whole family is getting sick, that room is a bathroom.
Teen-season Simpsons' art style feels comfortable to me, maybe as for a while that's the latest you'd get with Channel 4 in England even into the HD era (Sky One had more up to date catalogues but that wasn't available with freeview). Also, jeez I hate that ending to the gay marriage episode (especially hurts in this anti-trans climate as a trans person)
11:29 Goose Gladwell is a Hank Azaria character. Declan Desmond’s pic should be here
Dang, thanks for the correction. I totally forgot that he didn't play that guy
I started university in autumn 2000 and, I guess like a lot of people, lost track of tv for the following years as I was busy doing other things. So, my routine of coming home from school, having dinner and then putting on The Simpsons on BBC2 at 6pm was broken and I never really watched much beyond season 10 (we were a bit behind on the BBC). It's interesting watching these retrospectives to see what direction the show went and how it's comedy changed. I'd forgotten how many episodes I love are in those latter seasons that I watched, maybe if I had carried on with seasons 11-16 back then I would have more love for them.
Holy shit. We're only three more seasons away from reaching the HD era and four seasons away from the 2010s.
Plus 13 seasons away from the Disney era.
@@austinreed7343 that’s a relief.
The thought of the series bouncing from one evil media conglomerate to another terrifies me.
Digging that use of Dan's theme from street fighter bro. Oosha! 💪
@11:28 Goose Gladwell is played by Hank Azaria, not by Eric Idle. Eric Idle plays Declan Desmond in a lion documentary on tv
I haven't seen many episodes from the past couple seasons you've covered. Honestly your reviews of these later seasons is making me realize I didn't miss anything by not watching them. I saw some UA-camr say the series NEEDS to end and I can't agree more. So far I'm half way through and yeah by this time I had completely given up on the series.
I'm so glad someone finally said it. Seasons 8 - 16 always felt....odd. Not unenjoyable but there's a strangeness about them I could never put my finger on. I think you've finally said it in a way everyone can understand
I love these so much !!! Thank you 🙏
@3:56 - that was the moment the SImpsons died. That horrible puke "joke", the kind of which was never done in the Simpsons before that would have been right at home in Family Guy. It only went downhill from here and this was the exact beginning point.
I actually still really liked this season. I always get a kick out of when homer threw the singing contest with that last "...I'm better than youuuuu!" lyric.
This season has strong energy of a show that wanted to end soon. But that didn't happen.
I have a soft spot for seasons 15-18, because they were on TV every day when I was younger. I love the classic era more now, but those seasons were constantly there for me. That being said, I wonder how you are gonna keep up that optimism when we reach late 20's and eventually season 30 and beyond.
I taught English at a school in Madrid and have had Spanish-speaking students pronounce Cottage as "Cotaje" when they don't know the word so therefore I am almost positive one of the writers had that similar experience.
Never thought Season 16 was bad, just another decent season.
As a latin american, I appreciate you mentioning how the original dub left after Season 15 due to a union dispute. One of the main reasons that The Simpsons has such a stonghold over latin america (despite being a very Americanized show) was because of the dubbing (particularly of Humberto Vélez) who voices Homer. Coincidentally, they brought back almost all of the cast back starting with season 32 (the first season released on Disney + when it appeared on latin america). However, some of the voices feel kinda odd, like much older and tired than how they once sounded. Like how Julie Kavner's voice of Marge sounds to you.
Fun fact: Humberto Velez also voices Professor Farnsworth in Futurama, and was also brought back for the recent revival. And yes, much like with Homer, he also does a great job.
I had the DVD set of this season as a kid, the first one I ever got and I must have watched this season like 30 times, so many memorable episodes including the future one which is one of my all time favorite Simpson episodes.
Season 16 is pretty much the beginning of what the Modern Simpsons Era would represent.
I'm glad its not just me that reads cottage cheese in my head as 'cottahey cheese'
I love Homer cleaning the garage. It's so funny, just a great showcase of Dan's voice acting.
Im glad you mentioned the transphobia in the gay marriage episode, people usually overlook that aspect in order to call it progressive, which it is for one part but it shouldn't be ignored.
The middle seasons as a whole haven’t aged well, much more so than the classic era. Probably because the show became more “shocking” as it tried to compete with other adult cartoons at the time.
Agreed. The Simpsons had a number of those transphobic remarks in their middle episodes tbh.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Futurama was always the edgier one so it's covered in transphobic jokes.
Family Guy in some ways does better, having a somewhat sympathetically portrayed trans character - tonnes of jokes at her expense but at least she gets to be a recurring character.
Lying about your sex is messed up. And they still do it today
This had to be when I checked out the show. Just catching it every now and then after this season.
An interesting thing about Albert Brooks in Heartbroke Kid: He was almost kind of *necessary*.
In the midpoint of the episode, we see Bart do the parody of the opening sequence in his new body shape, and when it comes to the skateboard through town, he runs over everyone's feet as he passes by. All of these characters gasp in pain. All of these gasps of pain had to be recorded.
Jacques, an artifact guest star from Season 1, is in the opening sequence.
The opening sequence parody is only truly possible because Albert Brooks is already in the recording booth to record Tab Spangler, and I almost wonder which part was written first. Did they want to do the opening sequence joke because they knew they had Albert Brooks to give Jacques a line, or did they write the opening sequence joke and then realise they needed Albert Brooks for Jacques?
We finally got there! Season 16 was last season I watched on TV.
Glad I'm not the only one who suffered permanent brain damage from The Simpsons and now always reads 'cottage cheese' as 'caught-a-hey cheese'
This definitely feels like the most topical season of the Simpsons, not that they didn't make topical jokes or storylines before, but there was a lot of focus on, at the time (and perhaps even still today), relevant subject-matter in a lot of episodes. Again, I have vivid memories of a lot of these episodes as they aired new, though it's hard to say if I enjoyed them as much as the older episodes at the time...
I'm nostalgic for these seasons. It's when I started watching the show. The simpler, happier days when I was in elementary school.
A fellow early Gen-Zer
@@LC-iw3ll I was born in 1995, the tail end of the millennial generation.
I remember “The Heartbroke Kid” being the first Simpsons episode I ever watched.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Midnight Rx and how much of a gem that episode is! We see Homer and a random characters he doesn't usually associate with (Apu and Flanders) risk everything to go to Canada and smuggle in prescription drugs. Love the song "I want a new drug" incorporated into the show. Also when Homer swallows balloons full of pills and sandwiches 😂. Comedy gold in my opinion.
I stopped watching this show after it shat out season 12. So I’m glad you still put out these recap videos to keep me posted on what’s been going on since the show got bad. I’ll probably never watch a new episode again, but I’ll still be sad when they finally pull the plug one day.
I love a lot of the wonderful future jokes of this season! Simpsons Doomsday has a great bunch and so does Future Drama! Also love the scene about Bart’s new robot cult! Feels like a great callback to Homer the Heretic from season 4. There’s a wonderful sense of adventure to this season! So many episodes feel like an exciting journey! I like the Moe and Marge teamup event too! That episode makes me laugh a lot!
I actually really appreciate mentioning that the 3rd act of "There's Something about Marrying" was.... really really bad.
Season 16, for latinamerican viewers, is also the season where lots of voice actors and actresses where replaced, Including Homer, Marge and Lisa' , which gave the show a passing of the torch to the next generation feeling
I for sure agree there was a second era after Classic Simpsons. When I've discussed it we called it Nu Simpsons. It's definitely different and hits the spot almost as good, but it's just not the same as the old stuff. Not quite a shambling corpse of it's former self yet though.
Season 16 for me is when Simpsons seasons ended airing in my country, I have not remembered seeing seasons 17-19 on TV because right after season 16 on some year they'd just start re-airing earlier seasons. I did get to see my fair share of season 20 and 21 on TV, though. I remember the two episodes featuring myPods. I remember the neighbourhood watch episode. I remember the one with Simon Cowell actually guest starring as himself.
There's definitely something weird when you're going back over a series with a lot of installments, and hit the first one where you can't say anything 'big' about; the first one that's 'just another season/movie/game'. It's not necessarily a bad thing, those are rarely BAD installments, but it's the point where things just stop feeling as interesting.
Season 16 isn't the Sonic 2006 of the Simpsons, but it is the Sonic Heroes of the Simpsons, and that also feels like a bittersweet turning point.
What season would be Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric?
@@austinreed7343 I think it's credit to the Simpsons that it's never fallen to that level in quality.
I was born in 2001 so this was the first season of the show I saw as it aired. This is actually the era I grew up with I didn't watch the 90s era till later in life.
As a person born in 97 and raised on the simpsons, I didn’t realize the episodes that meant the most to me were the ones after everyone generally agrees that the “golden age” was well past over.
These early 00’s seasons were the golden era to me lol
This is one of the last few seasons of the show that I regularly watched and kept up with. Post Simpsons movie, everything is kind of a fog.
You should cover the video games sometime! They're all memorable parts of my childhood