Sorry for slightly longer layoff between videos this time... These Season Retrospectives always take longer than expected with watching all the episodes. I also seemed to be really punchy or something when writing this review, because this one really went off in some weird directions
It's all good, I don't want you to get sick of doing the best Simpsons vids on the net. Your the best Simptuber by far. After A long day these are great to unwind 2. Love the witty jokes and subtle socal commentary.
Honestly I think season 13 is decent. It has some pretty good episodes but there's still a good amount of bad episodes as well. I definitely would rather watch this season than season 11 at least.
It’s weird how so many of these episodes I remember being in different seasons. I swear I thought the weed episode was from season 10 and both Homer the Moe and Bart dating Rainier Wolfcastle’s daughter being from season 12.
These Season Retrospectives are the videos I look forward to the most. It’s always interesting seeing how each season differs from the last, often far more than what I thought.
@@howiegruwitz3173 Other than a handful of decent to very good episodes, there are no good seasons past this point. Most are middle of the road to completely awful in terms of quality. The show has peaked, and still hasn't returned to the heights of yesteryear. I'm interested to see if The Movie will be covered.
I always found the reveal of Smithers dad to be distractingly horrifying. I know they needed something bad to justify Homer's trauma, but it just stood out to me. Like, all other violence in the show is presented as goofy comedy. This was a partially decayed corpse falling on Homer and staring at him. Doesn't feel like it fits the show
@@lanceuppercut_ yeah, I also recall having watched on tv once when getting back from high school, in the 2PM time slot... then again, it's been so long that I may remember it wrong.
I’m really excited to see you talk about the “bad” years, because there’s a lot of interesting choices and attempts to right the ship which made interesting shifts happen.
@@Daneoid81 according to you and all the other 🐑 how many post season 9 seasons do you own? I’ll answer that question, 0. Season 10 is hilarious and so is 12 and 13, I bet you haven’t even watched all of season 1 Lmao
@@SpaceAce1993 I'm 41 years old, I watched them all when they came out. I watched the decline in real time. You can't gaslight people into believing that it didn't turn to shit.
I hereby formerly request the Secondary Character Stockwatch to always be introduced like this here, just so we can always listen to that awesome jingle at the beginning.
Weekend At Burnsies is by far my favorite episode of season 13. Especially for the "crow bar" joke and the bit with Burns making Smithers slap him and Homer (then all together). Also, the line, "daddy's special medicine, WHICH YOU MUST NEVER DO, lets daddy see and hear magical, wonderful things that you will never experience. EVER."
Honestly, I kind of hate the episode because it feels so badly written. Like, its so all over the place and can't stay focused. Every act is a new plotline and it ends on the least interesting one of them. Still, not the worst episode of the season *sideeyes The Frying Game*
Jims: I wouldn’t recommend this season to anyone in the trans community in particular Me, a trans lady: ok thanks for the heads up but you know that now I have to watch it, right?
"It's a murder, honey. A group of crows is called a murder". I don't know why but I love Weekend at Burnsies and I Am Furious Yellow. Genuinely laugh my ass off at both of these.
I always loved this video series because it talks about all these seasons from a neutral area. He never down right says “this part was bad,” or “this part was great.” For example, when he talks about how many more plot turns are in this season, he doesn’t say: “they actually got worse.” He says something like: “they actually increased.” I just find that very different from all the other reviews I’ve seen of the Simpsons over the years. Good job man.
Thanks! For these, I definitely try to describe the season more in terms of trends, since the original intent was to describe what the various "season flavors" were like. I feel like the accompanying Top 10 always works as a good outlet to get those subjective takes in there 😀
I liked the earlier videos especially for pointing out how the different “golden era” seasons had their ups and downs too, which all too often people just paint as “brilliant” and everything past season 9 as “bad.” Like truthfully there’s a lot more nuance to the history of the show and even very good episodes past the end of the golden era and I’m glad someone is giving it a fair shake. I don’t like how people sort of write off 20 years of the show’s history like it’s all equally bad just because it isn’t quite as genius. Really I think a lot of 90s fans just grew up and stopped watching at the smallest decrease in quality and now have a very simplistic view of where it all went bad. My Simpsons growing up was 11-17 or so, plus whatever was in syndication from the first ten so I feel a little more accepting of these early 2000s seasons.
I’m not exaggerating in the slightest when I say Jim is exactly what Simpsons fans have needed all these years. These comprehensives, lists, and brand new takes on episodes are so refreshing as a long time Simpsons fan. I know for me personally your videos always make me look at these classics in a completely different view. As exaggerated as that joke about the itchy and scratchy college class is from the episode when Lisa goes to college, it works phenomenally when used on the simpsons itself. You do great work and I wish for you to stop only when the sun explodes. Edit: ^ Or if you ever feel like it’s better for you to move on from The Simpsons content. (I’d personally follow you to any new ventures if you ever grow tired of yellow)
It's just good to have someone who's actually willing to talk about anything other than """Classic Simpsons""". Those seasons have been talked about to death, but the later ones are mostly unexplored.
If you get to season 16, you've got to talk about how much Flanders and/or religion there's in it. I mean it's got: - "The Ned Zone" - "Midnight RX" - "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" - "There's Something About Marrying" - "Home Away From Homer" - "The Father, The Son and The Holy Guest Star" and Flanders keeps popping up from time to time in nearly every other episode
I started watching the Simpsons when they first aired starting around season 3. I never missed an airing. It was around the beginning of season 13 that I stopped watching them. I had been such a big fan, but I thought the quality had dropped enough that I didn't really care if I missed them. I came back to watching new airings in season 20 and have continued to this day. I did go back and binge watch seasons 13-19 as the DVD sets were released and I thought most episodes were good, but not great. They certainly don't deserve the vitriol so many people throw at them.
I love these retrospectives, I could never explain the differences between seasons (even the classic ones) but you do it perfectly, it really makes me appreciate the show more and its evolution through the years
Agreed. I grew up with the Simpsons and have a great deal of love for the series, but I can't always explain what's so special from one season to the next. TheRealJims is a real treasure.
every single time one of these happens, i get at least one and usually three to five "OH MAN THAT EPISODE! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ONE!" and go off to watch it again. And that's always great
I may be too hard or nasty with this comment, but it feels like after the failure of The Critic and his poor experience at Disney, Al Jean didn’t return to The Simpsons because it was a great creative outlet. He returned because it was a good job. I love TheRealJims, but I can’t imagine continuing to break down the Simpsons season by season after the end of the Scully era. It all starts to run together and feels like these videos will end up being repetitive
I disagree, while the Simpsons do sort of slip into mediocrity, I think it's interesting to see how different show runners and attempts at making changes in the shows affected it
My guess is that he will end this series at the beginning of the HD era, thats when a lot people wo stuck that long also lost interest and there was another small decline in quality somewhere between season 17-21
You're seriously what the Simpson fanbase needed. I'm so sick of hearing the same thing over and over with no variance. Also, I like that dig at the people who pretty much would want you to stop your retrospectives by saying the same old crap about "lolz zumbie simpsonz bad!".
Honestly, season 13, even after watching this video, feels like such a step down from the previous seasons. Like, for every season before (and most of them after) I can point to two or three episodes I really like, but with Season 13, I can’t really pick out any highlights. It’s a very 6/10 season, y’know.
Now that we've reached the never-ending Al Jean era, I wonder how much longer you'll keep making retrospectives for each season individually. They sort of blend together for me at this point. Maybe you could do some in batches (e.g. pre-HD and post-HD).
I think the pre-HD era is worth examining, if only for the nostalgic value for a lot of TheRealJims viewers. My guess is that he will end this series at the beginning of the HD era, thats when a lot people wo stuck that long also lost interest and there was another small decline in quality somewhere between season 17-21. But I think its also a good idea to maybe do 2 seasons at a time if the staff is roughly the same.
@@leob4403 I agree. Plus, each season has something differente from the others. Season 16 is considered one of the best teen seasons, while 18 is utmostly boring. The HD era differs greatly in style from the teen years, and the humour changes a lot too.
Can we appreciate the fact that TheRealJims is not one of those annoying youtubers who are always telling you to subscribe, ring the bell or asking for money in Patreon or PayPal? PS. Great video, as usual. Keep up the good work!! 👏🏻👏🏻
Just on the subject of LGBTQ+ jokes, I was recently watching as far through the series as I could before I stopped enjoying myself (I made it about halfway through season 19). I swear every second or third episode of the early Jean era has a weird gay joke. They're not overly offensive but they're generally not funny either. Usually the punch line is literally just "ha ha, you're gay".
I'm very nostalgic for 13 as it was when I started watching the show. There's a lot of episodes and gags burned into my brain that resonated as a 10 year old, and some that still resonate today. But it definitely ends up feeling like diet Scully at moments. Scully's era is very hit and miss but it had some teeth. 13 is when the Simpsons starts to feel a bit more like a dad show, y'know? In short, season 13 is a land of contrasts. It's also the last season with "traditional" animation so its visual style is nostalgic to look at, before the move to digital.
At 10:27 and (as a transwoman) feel like I have to comment: the Simpsons in general (and it extends often to Futurama too) is very transphobic in ways you wouldn't expect. Hell, Homer the Moe uses a trans-slur when they're singing in the bar that goes unedited to this day. Georgeous Grampa shows Helen's cousin as very masculine. Bender in Fry and the Slurm factory oogles a Ladybot then exclaims in fear "That's no Ladybot" (and don't get me started on Bend Her or Neutopia). I've been compiling a list of them myself but it just gets too vitriolic to actually go into detail; and I'm not someone easily offended (hell I love how South Park did Mr Garrison). It feels like someone high up genuinely does NOT like transwomen and there's a real sense of disgust whenever transwomen are brought up, no observation or comedy other than "eww, she's a man". It's not as overtly offensive as Two and a Half Men (who would shove a "he-she" joke in every episode) but with how much they're trying to correct themselves on Apu I'm annoyed/surprised that they never even brought up the anti-trans jokes. Anyway, sorry for the rant just needed to say.
I still think the most memorable gag from this season is Michael Stipe trying to stab Homer. I think about that a lot, “It’s not the R.E.M way” and all that.
Season 13 felt like a mix between the between the Sully Era and the Jean & Reiss Era turned up to 11. I personally appreciate this season toning down Jerkass Homer, there's only so many times you can make the main character completely unlikable.
I grew up watching seasons 9 to 13 when they were brand new (along with reruns of the earlier seasons) so I always saw the habit of opening an episode with a "decoy plot" that has nothing to do with the main plot just as a general trademark of the show rather than associating it with any specific era. I saw it as one of the ways The Simpsons rebels against conventions of tv writing while keeping the audience guessing ("I wonder what the real plot is going to be about and how they'll get there?"). I was surprised when I found out that a lot of Simpsons fans don't like that formula because I considered it to be an essential part of the show's identity (it's already used in the early seasons as well, though not as often). Around this season they also started doing a sort of double version of it just to mess even more with the audience's minds. Like how in Weekend at Burnsie's the first decoy plot (Marge's garden) only leads to a second one (Homer befriending with crows) before getting into the main plot.
I was a freshman in high school when this season aired. I also tended to record episodes on VHS. In English class we were reading Homer's Odyssey around the time the episode aired. My teacher asked me to record the episode that parodied it. Paid me the cost of the VHS tape, and apparently showed it every year until the DVDs for the season came out and he upgraded.
"Butter up that bacon, boy!" Honestly, for this season, I remember sections of episodes more than whole episodes. Mostly the act 1 bits. I don't even know what I would pick off the top of my head. Maybe I Am Furious (Yellow) for having some really funny bits throughout and a great guest performance by Stan Lee. Overall, though, there isn't a real standout episode like in previous years.
Thank you for sharing perspective on this insane season. Season 13 is truly epic. I like all the exciting action plots. I loved the whacky lake mystery episode. I love The épisode where Apu has to win Manjula back. I love The Stan lee story. I also like the one with Bart and Greta. Too bad she never came back. There’s lots of fun dramatic events in this season. I’m very happy that you do these videos. Truly fantastic!
Not a massive fan of Season 13, partially because of the edgy humor you touched on, and partially because it falls right before my favorite of the middle seasons. (Season 14 has some damn good episodes, IMO.) ...that said, the Krusty running gag in the Sweetest Apu makes me laugh more than it has any right to. "And Krusty, we have to invite Krusty!" "I keep telling you, off-camera he's a desperately unhappy man."
As always i'll just watch this later but just wanted to send you some good feelings there. Thank you. You're keeping my love for the simpsons in a good place Oh, mighty algorithm bless this video
The “Bronson, Missouri” gag from this season is one of my favorites in the whole series. And I use variations Homer’s “I can’t take his money, I can’t print my own money” bit way too often. And the “Tennessee Earnie Ford? I know you’re dead!” gag is so delightfully absurd.
My Most Wanted Simpsons Showdowns: 1. One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish VS Homer’s Triple Bypass 2. Homer vs The 18th Amendment VS Homer’s Enemy 3. Homer Simpson In: 'Kidney Trouble' VS Co-Dependents Day 4. I Married Marge VS Lisa’s First Word 5. Bart Of Darkness VS Brother’s Little Helper 6. Lisa’s Rival VS Lard of the Dance 7. The Two Mrs. Nahasspeemapetilons VS Eight Misbehavin 8. On A Clear Day I Can’t See My Sister VS The Boys Of Bummer 9. Half Decent Proposal VS The Ziff Who Came To Dinner 10. Girly Edition VS Jazzy and The Pussycats Please do these Simpson Showdowns please!
I want to see a showdown between Miracle on Evergreen Terrace vs. The Frying Game given the fact TheRealJims seems to be conflicted with these 2 episodes
What a coincidence! I was just thinking about how it's been a while since the last TheRealJims video. Then I logged onto UA-cam and found this immediately. What a treat.
I think season 13 was one of those 'Go to' seasons when it's airing re-runs on TV, because so many of these episodes I remember alot growing up 'while TV was still prevalent'
Maybe I'm more lenient than other diehard fans, but for me Season 13 is where the show RLY starts to fall off, I think up to Season 12 I can mostly stand some of the stuff between then and Season 9, but rewatching Season 13 I found quite a few of episodes to be particularly unsatisfying narratively.
Half the episodes here I'm thinking "Oh hey, that's a pretty good episode, we're not at the truly bad seasons yet", but then for the other half I'm like "Oh wow, yeah, I remember that episode, that was terrible." So I guess I find this season extremely variable in quality.
This is the first season of The Simpsons that absolutely should not not have been made. Sure, you could make the argument that seasons 10-12 shouldn't have been made. But at least they are passable enough that you could give them a watch and enjoy them even if they pale in comparison to the golden age. There is absolutely no reason to continue the show since it is breaking down and Scully left. And it shows.
10:14 that screenshot of strippers twerking on Smithers is perfection. The juxtaposition of the really sexy redhead in black and pink with Smithers covering his eyes in the corner is glorious. If I had to pick a screenshot to frame and hang on my wall this would be it. In fact I have a technique that can replicate the vibrancy of animation cels at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. Time to put my money where my mouth is ..... for the glory of art
It's so interesting watching your retrospective on this season. I used to watch The Simpsons DVDs before I went to bed every night, but for a long time the only DVDs I had were seasons 8, 9, 11, and 13. I'd seen some other episodes on TV, but these were the four seasons I saw regularly. I always thought of Season 13 as the "Homer gets hurt" season. Literally, it seemed every Season 13 episode involved Homer in some life or death scenario or seriously injured. As I was a kid (about 9 years old), and I'd broken a bone or two myself, I actually found Season 13 quite traumatic to watch, seeing Homer always hurt and in life-threatening danger. It got to the point I just felt so bad for Homer (I know right...) I just couldn't watch any more Season 13, and stuck only to the other boxsets I had.
I remember - screamapillar making me irrationally angry and made me change the channel. stanleys guest role being one of the best things id seen in an episode for a long while. and... not much else!
As a trans woman and a music lover, I’m torn with this season >.> for example one of my favourite gags is still Abe Simpson acting like a teenager, slamming the door and then putting on 40s jazz records loudly. Homer banging on the door and telling him to turn it off. I appreciate that even more today since jazz was viewed as deviant among white families before being assimilated into the mainstream, like rock in the 60s and 70s were.
Hi @therealjims, have you ever considered doing an analysis of various singing/musical elements in the Simpsons, and how they changed over the course of the show. For example, in "A Street Car Named Marge, the Planet of the Apes musical, vs Lisa School President Song.
Season 12 is the last season I own on dvd so from here on out it's all stuff I saw on tv as a kid for another few seasons and then after that I know literally nothing about The Simpsons
People tend to give this season and the few after it more flak then the Scully years when I think it’s still alright. Not anywhere near the level of seasons 3-8 but still watchable. I feel like if seasons 14-16 still used cel animation (has that older feeling) people would like em more. Al starts to kinda get into the groove of things before it starts to get real boring around 17/18, which is just natural rot from going for so long. I know people have said 33’s been really good so far so I’ll have to check it out someday.
I was too young for the golden years of simpsons, so I started watching either season 12, 13, or 14 as they premiered. It's been too long to remember which episodes I saw as reruns or premieres. I stopped watching around season 21. It was mostly due to not having cable anymore, but I could feel myself not really caring anymore anyways. I've been watching 33 and I'd say it's at it's best when it's not trying to be funny. Take that as you may, but I think the newEST episodes are good as a chill watch if you like the characters. But, when they try to be funny that's when they still sometimes feel the same as any other 20s season episode. Sidenote if you do watch season 33, there's an episode that's a sequel to a season 20 episode called "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe". It was one of the last memberable episodes I remember watching, so I was legitimately happy when I saw a follow up.
It's seasons 12 and 13 which are both kind of in that hybrid area where my nostalgia for episodes starts to fade and my jumping off point gets closer. At this point it's usually just a couple of episodes from a DVD that I watched repeatedly, the rest of the season is no longer engaging me 🙁 It's sad but all good things must come to an end By the year 2003, my favourite piece of simpsons content is not even the series anymore but instead the videogame "Hit and Run". That game was class.
Is the screenshot in the lower right corner at 0:34 showing a pop culture reference? (The scene where Burns tells Smithers that the power plant strikers sing without any electricity.) I am on a rewatch of the first ten seasons and just saw that episode at some point in the last few days and still felt like this was an odd joke I wasn't getting. It didn't make sense in the German dub when I saw that episode the first 10 times or so, and it still makes no sense in the original. It's funny, but I feel like I am missing context.
As "I Am Furious (Yellow)" aired on my 13th birthday, this season occupies a strange space in my Simpsons memories. Seeing episodes like "The Parent Rap," "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" and "The Old Man & the Key" in heavy syndication helped cement this as part of my nostalgic stretch of the show, yet episodes like "Little Girl in the Big Ten" and "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" feel like they came from one of the following seasons. I suppose this is to be expected, given that this was a transition year, but nevertheless it feels like a threshold is being crossed '01-'02. I can't be alone in this, being so sure that an episode like "Blame It On Lisa" aired a season or two earlier than "The Sweetest Apu." Yet there they are in the same stretch of 9 months.
While this is my favourite Simpsons season of the 2000s, it’s far from golden standards. After 3-5 years (YMMV) of surreal chaos infecting nearly every episode, it was relaxing seeing them try to take the characters a little more seriously at the very least. It had been so long since Al Jean had last run a season, that expecting the show to return entirely to the 1992 style is asking for a bit much, but the extra effort in bringing the comedy in these adventures back to the characters, instead of the situations, was a step in the right direction. I’d just hoped the next couple years could’ve expanded upon the benefits this season’s storytelling brought, instead of slowly giving back into the chaos. I think the mathematical conclusion you gave Season 13’s flavour is perfect. Math is Power! PS: Don’t worry about the humour in these retrospectives getting more surreal. Now you know how the Simpsons writers felt.
Season 13 was always on par with 10-12 for me, in the sense that the next three seasons after this has some episodes I really like, but you could still see the tone veering into what made me grow bored with where the show was going. For as much as 13 might have the occasional dud, I still find it enjoyable.
I'm very familiar with the vast majority of episodes with this season although I've never seen the weed episode before. It's a good episode. Has any other British viewers seen the episode before?
Nah. Googed it, apparently it only ever shows post watershed, so it wouldn't have been on at the usual slot for sky and will have been missed by most peeps it seems.
After the Scully holdovers I find 13 kind of refreshing. The decline is still real, but it makes me think that Jean is almost saving the show. 14 is sickening tho.
OH MY GOD I get so excited everytime you put one of these!!! Thanks a very very lot! You have my thoughts exactly! Season 13 was like decaf Scully years.
s13 made me realize how much the writers love Donovan, we get the iconic "wear your love like heaven" sequence and homer singing "mellow yellow", then in s21 we get Lisa skating to "season of the witch" and in s22 the "Jennifer juniper" scene.
Sorry for slightly longer layoff between videos this time... These Season Retrospectives always take longer than expected with watching all the episodes. I also seemed to be really punchy or something when writing this review, because this one really went off in some weird directions
No need to apologise dude!! You always make such detailed and thorough analysis’s I don’t mind the wait, take all the time u need.
yeah you're more reliable than contrapoints. mad props
It's ok I can understand not being able to keep your cool watching this point of the Simpsons.
Good to see you carry on with the higher, less popular, seasons. Thanks.
It's all good, I don't want you to get sick of doing the best Simpsons vids on the net. Your the best Simptuber by far. After A long day these are great to unwind 2. Love the witty jokes and subtle socal commentary.
"Hey ma, how 'bout some cookies?"
"No dice."
"This ain't over"
As a Missourian and Charles Bronson fan, this joke had me wheezing.
One of the best throw away gags ever. Still regularly quote it all the time
I am always amazed about the connections TheRealJims makes between episodes, and the trends and themes discovered. They are so insightful.
Honestly I think season 13 is decent. It has some pretty good episodes but there's still a good amount of bad episodes as well. I definitely would rather watch this season than season 11 at least.
Love your videos, always cheer me up.
It’s weird how so many of these episodes I remember being in different seasons. I swear I thought the weed episode was from season 10 and both Homer the Moe and Bart dating Rainier Wolfcastle’s daughter being from season 12.
I love season 13 it's so fun for me to watch
It's time for some craziness.
These Season Retrospectives are the videos I look forward to the most. It’s always interesting seeing how each season differs from the last, often far more than what I thought.
13-15 is a death spiral
@@howiegruwitz3173 Other than a handful of decent to very good episodes, there are no good seasons past this point. Most are middle of the road to completely awful in terms of quality. The show has peaked, and still hasn't returned to the heights of yesteryear. I'm interested to see if The Movie will be covered.
@The
Watcher Yeah, I'd say after Season 9, all the seasons, were either average or bad.
@@thewatcherofawesomecontent He already talked about the movie years ago ua-cam.com/video/iLgTpsI_UDk/v-deo.html
@@j04370859 season 10-12 are good
I always found the reveal of Smithers dad to be distractingly horrifying. I know they needed something bad to justify Homer's trauma, but it just stood out to me. Like, all other violence in the show is presented as goofy comedy. This was a partially decayed corpse falling on Homer and staring at him. Doesn't feel like it fits the show
I always remember the corpse it stays with you
I really liked it. It's shocking and it works- it doesn't feel like it's supposed to fit the show, and I like that.
I always felt like this was a Stand by Me parody
What always felt weird is how it implies that smithers is like 28 or 30
It's a movie parody... but I know that it creeped me the heck out as a kid.
Fun fact: this season was censored in Italy, the "Homer tries pot" episode has never aired on TV in Italy, it's only ever been seen in DVD releases.
I remember in the UK they aired it after the 9pm watershed.
Actually, this is wrong it did air once in 2003.
Source: I am Italian and I have it on VHS.
@@lanceuppercut_ yeah, I also recall having watched on tv once when getting back from high school, in the 2PM time slot... then again, it's been so long that I may remember it wrong.
@@lanceuppercut_ Huh, I don't remember it airing, the only version I can find is from home videos since it doesn't have the Italia 1 logo.
@@AlexTenThousand The one on my tape has the Italia 1 logo
I’m really excited to see you talk about the “bad” years, because there’s a lot of interesting choices and attempts to right the ship which made interesting shifts happen.
These aren’t even the bad years they’re the mid years smh
@@SpaceAce1993 no, these are the bad years, they just aren't the worst.
@@SpaceAce1993 Anything post season 9 is bad.
@@Daneoid81 according to you and all the other 🐑 how many post season 9 seasons do you own? I’ll answer that question, 0. Season 10 is hilarious and so is 12 and 13, I bet you haven’t even watched all of season 1 Lmao
@@SpaceAce1993 I'm 41 years old, I watched them all when they came out. I watched the decline in real time. You can't gaslight people into believing that it didn't turn to shit.
I hereby formerly request the Secondary Character Stockwatch to always be introduced like this here, just so we can always listen to that awesome jingle at the beginning.
Weekend At Burnsies is by far my favorite episode of season 13. Especially for the "crow bar" joke and the bit with Burns making Smithers slap him and Homer (then all together).
Also, the line, "daddy's special medicine, WHICH YOU MUST NEVER DO, lets daddy see and hear magical, wonderful things that you will never experience. EVER."
Always loved that episode, glad to see many people in the comment section seem to like it.
Honestly, I kind of hate the episode because it feels so badly written. Like, its so all over the place and can't stay focused. Every act is a new plotline and it ends on the least interesting one of them.
Still, not the worst episode of the season *sideeyes The Frying Game*
Jims: I wouldn’t recommend this season to anyone in the trans community in particular
Me, a trans lady: ok thanks for the heads up but you know that now I have to watch it, right?
Haha, dang, I made it sound too tantalising
@@TheRealJims lmao yeah kinda. though considering i somehow made it through Ace Ventura, i can probably deal with Simpsons S13
Watch at your own risk
@@PeterParker-ff7ub hey it is spodermon
"It's a murder, honey. A group of crows is called a murder".
I don't know why but I love Weekend at Burnsies and I Am Furious Yellow. Genuinely laugh my ass off at both of these.
Both are great. Burns' "Extra cheese!? What do you take me for!?" Is one of my favorite jokes ever
I always loved this video series because it talks about all these seasons from a neutral area. He never down right says “this part was bad,” or “this part was great.” For example, when he talks about how many more plot turns are in this season, he doesn’t say: “they actually got worse.” He says something like: “they actually increased.” I just find that very different from all the other reviews I’ve seen of the Simpsons over the years. Good job man.
Thanks! For these, I definitely try to describe the season more in terms of trends, since the original intent was to describe what the various "season flavors" were like. I feel like the accompanying Top 10 always works as a good outlet to get those subjective takes in there 😀
@@TheRealJims yes! Absolutely! We can decide whether we like the trends or not, so being presented with them in this way is very welcome
I liked the earlier videos especially for pointing out how the different “golden era” seasons had their ups and downs too, which all too often people just paint as “brilliant” and everything past season 9 as “bad.” Like truthfully there’s a lot more nuance to the history of the show and even very good episodes past the end of the golden era and I’m glad someone is giving it a fair shake. I don’t like how people sort of write off 20 years of the show’s history like it’s all equally bad just because it isn’t quite as genius. Really I think a lot of 90s fans just grew up and stopped watching at the smallest decrease in quality and now have a very simplistic view of where it all went bad. My Simpsons growing up was 11-17 or so, plus whatever was in syndication from the first ten so I feel a little more accepting of these early 2000s seasons.
The River Styx gag is one of those Simpsons gags that has lived rent free in my head for a while and I cannot tell you why.
You're not alone on that one.
Anytime Styx plays on the radio, I can't help saying, "This truly is Hell".
I’m not exaggerating in the slightest when I say Jim is exactly what Simpsons fans have needed all these years. These comprehensives, lists, and brand new takes on episodes are so refreshing as a long time Simpsons fan. I know for me personally your videos always make me look at these classics in a completely different view. As exaggerated as that joke about the itchy and scratchy college class is from the episode when Lisa goes to college, it works phenomenally when used on the simpsons itself. You do great work and I wish for you to stop only when the sun explodes.
Edit: ^ Or if you ever feel like it’s better for you to move on from The Simpsons content. (I’d personally follow you to any new ventures if you ever grow tired of yellow)
Agreed.
could not agree more. he's even inspired me to consider writing my own video essays. i would love to see a bigger simpsons community on youtube.
It's just good to have someone who's actually willing to talk about anything other than """Classic Simpsons""". Those seasons have been talked about to death, but the later ones are mostly unexplored.
@@matti.8465 Yep. And sometimes, it's even more interesting since those don't get talked as much.
@@matti.8465 they always end up in "is so bad pls no watchy watchy"
If you get to season 16, you've got to talk about how much Flanders and/or religion there's in it.
I mean it's got:
- "The Ned Zone"
- "Midnight RX"
- "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass"
- "There's Something About Marrying"
- "Home Away From Homer"
- "The Father, The Son and The Holy Guest Star"
and Flanders keeps popping up from time to time in nearly every other episode
"Where's your super team now?"
@@fixedfunshow "Listen, you two. I'll tell you who the true god is if you're both quiet the rest of the trip."
"I traveled the world and the seven seas... I AM WATCHING YOU THROUGH A CAMERA!"
Very excited to see you come closer and closer to the late-middle seasons before the HD-era. It’s gonna be interesting to hear your thoughts on those
Rewatching them again recently... they're underrated
I started watching the Simpsons when they first aired starting around season 3. I never missed an airing. It was around the beginning of season 13 that I stopped watching them. I had been such a big fan, but I thought the quality had dropped enough that I didn't really care if I missed them.
I came back to watching new airings in season 20 and have continued to this day. I did go back and binge watch seasons 13-19 as the DVD sets were released and I thought most episodes were good, but not great. They certainly don't deserve the vitriol so many people throw at them.
I can't help but remember and smile at that Homer bit.
"Homer, my eyes are up here."
"I've made my choice."
I love these retrospectives, I could never explain the differences between seasons (even the classic ones) but you do it perfectly, it really makes me appreciate the show more and its evolution through the years
Agreed. I grew up with the Simpsons and have a great deal of love for the series, but I can't always explain what's so special from one season to the next. TheRealJims is a real treasure.
Before I even knew I was gay, I always felt a bit iffy with season 13. Weird thing.
every single time one of these happens, i get at least one and usually three to five "OH MAN THAT EPISODE! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ONE!" and go off to watch it again. And that's always great
Futurama, Family Guy, Simpsons and King of the Hill all crushing it on Fox every Sunday night back in the early 00s. what an amazing lineup.
Nah, not Simpsons, that ended in 1998 lol
@@j04370859 No it didn’t
I may be too hard or nasty with this comment, but it feels like after the failure of The Critic and his poor experience at Disney, Al Jean didn’t return to The Simpsons because it was a great creative outlet. He returned because it was a good job.
I love TheRealJims, but I can’t imagine continuing to break down the Simpsons season by season after the end of the Scully era. It all starts to run together and feels like these videos will end up being repetitive
I disagree, while the Simpsons do sort of slip into mediocrity, I think it's interesting to see how different show runners and attempts at making changes in the shows affected it
And then he ended up returning to Disney.
My guess is that he will end this series at the beginning of the HD era, thats when a lot people wo stuck that long also lost interest and there was another small decline in quality somewhere between season 17-21
It runs together in your brain maybe, not in mine, all seasons are worthy of retrospectives
@Crpal Stuck Season 13 onwards, has the same show runner though, as he said, everything up until the HD era, all feels the same.
You're seriously what the Simpson fanbase needed. I'm so sick of hearing the same thing over and over with no variance.
Also, I like that dig at the people who pretty much would want you to stop your retrospectives by saying the same old crap about "lolz zumbie simpsonz bad!".
i always drop everything to watch a real jim's video. great way to kick off my spring break
Honestly, season 13, even after watching this video, feels like such a step down from the previous seasons. Like, for every season before (and most of them after) I can point to two or three episodes I really like, but with Season 13, I can’t really pick out any highlights. It’s a very 6/10 season, y’know.
I really like Weekend at Burnsie's and I Am Furious Yellow.
I thought 13 was a slight step up from seasons 10 through 12.
@some guy Ehh, I wouldn't argue with it being better than Season 11 and 12, but definitely not 10.
Now that we've reached the never-ending Al Jean era, I wonder how much longer you'll keep making retrospectives for each season individually. They sort of blend together for me at this point. Maybe you could do some in batches (e.g. pre-HD and post-HD).
I think the pre-HD era is worth examining, if only for the nostalgic value for a lot of TheRealJims viewers. My guess is that he will end this series at the beginning of the HD era, thats when a lot people wo stuck that long also lost interest and there was another small decline in quality somewhere between season 17-21.
But I think its also a good idea to maybe do 2 seasons at a time if the staff is roughly the same.
He should do all seasons, a lot of work went into all of these seasons so they deserve at the very least a retrospective video
@@leob4403 I agree. Plus, each season has something differente from the others. Season 16 is considered one of the best teen seasons, while 18 is utmostly boring. The HD era differs greatly in style from the teen years, and the humour changes a lot too.
@@edumeleroverdu8509 I kinda liked 18. 19 was the on where everything quickly deteriorated and never returned to its former quality.
the problem I have with Lisa as a character is that the writers often just want to write her as a 30 year old woman while still have her as a child
Mostly they try to write her as an older teen not 30. Like Lisa consistently behaves like a 17 year old
Can we appreciate the fact that TheRealJims is not one of those annoying youtubers who are always telling you to subscribe, ring the bell or asking for money in Patreon or PayPal?
PS. Great video, as usual. Keep up the good work!! 👏🏻👏🏻
And he doesn't keep saying Golden Age good
Later seasons bad by default
Just on the subject of LGBTQ+ jokes, I was recently watching as far through the series as I could before I stopped enjoying myself (I made it about halfway through season 19). I swear every second or third episode of the early Jean era has a weird gay joke. They're not overly offensive but they're generally not funny either. Usually the punch line is literally just "ha ha, you're gay".
I'm very nostalgic for 13 as it was when I started watching the show. There's a lot of episodes and gags burned into my brain that resonated as a 10 year old, and some that still resonate today. But it definitely ends up feeling like diet Scully at moments. Scully's era is very hit and miss but it had some teeth. 13 is when the Simpsons starts to feel a bit more like a dad show, y'know?
In short, season 13 is a land of contrasts.
It's also the last season with "traditional" animation so its visual style is nostalgic to look at, before the move to digital.
At 10:27 and (as a transwoman) feel like I have to comment: the Simpsons in general (and it extends often to Futurama too) is very transphobic in ways you wouldn't expect. Hell, Homer the Moe uses a trans-slur when they're singing in the bar that goes unedited to this day. Georgeous Grampa shows Helen's cousin as very masculine. Bender in Fry and the Slurm factory oogles a Ladybot then exclaims in fear "That's no Ladybot" (and don't get me started on Bend Her or Neutopia). I've been compiling a list of them myself but it just gets too vitriolic to actually go into detail; and I'm not someone easily offended (hell I love how South Park did Mr Garrison). It feels like someone high up genuinely does NOT like transwomen and there's a real sense of disgust whenever transwomen are brought up, no observation or comedy other than "eww, she's a man". It's not as overtly offensive as Two and a Half Men (who would shove a "he-she" joke in every episode) but with how much they're trying to correct themselves on Apu I'm annoyed/surprised that they never even brought up the anti-trans jokes. Anyway, sorry for the rant just needed to say.
😂
@@toooydoeur k
@@dontspikemydrink9382 🤨
@@toooydoeur get out
@@dontspikemydrink9382 nope
The Millhouse still wets the bed is one of my families favorite jokes. "You told me we were going to Red Lobster!"
They'll Never Stop The Simpsons!
Have no fears, we've got stories for years
I still think the most memorable gag from this season is Michael Stipe trying to stab Homer. I think about that a lot, “It’s not the R.E.M way” and all that.
Season 13 felt like a mix between the between the Sully Era and the Jean & Reiss Era turned up to 11. I personally appreciate this season toning down Jerkass Homer, there's only so many times you can make the main character completely unlikable.
Have you considered doing a top 10 multi story episodes segments like Simpsons Bible Stories and Revenge is Dish Best Served Three Times?
I grew up watching seasons 9 to 13 when they were brand new (along with reruns of the earlier seasons) so I always saw the habit of opening an episode with a "decoy plot" that has nothing to do with the main plot just as a general trademark of the show rather than associating it with any specific era. I saw it as one of the ways The Simpsons rebels against conventions of tv writing while keeping the audience guessing ("I wonder what the real plot is going to be about and how they'll get there?"). I was surprised when I found out that a lot of Simpsons fans don't like that formula because I considered it to be an essential part of the show's identity (it's already used in the early seasons as well, though not as often). Around this season they also started doing a sort of double version of it just to mess even more with the audience's minds. Like how in Weekend at Burnsie's the first decoy plot (Marge's garden) only leads to a second one (Homer befriending with crows) before getting into the main plot.
Me too. It really is part of the show. Some just don't connect to the main story at all.
I was a freshman in high school when this season aired. I also tended to record episodes on VHS. In English class we were reading Homer's Odyssey around the time the episode aired. My teacher asked me to record the episode that parodied it. Paid me the cost of the VHS tape, and apparently showed it every year until the DVDs for the season came out and he upgraded.
"Butter up that bacon, boy!"
Honestly, for this season, I remember sections of episodes more than whole episodes. Mostly the act 1 bits. I don't even know what I would pick off the top of my head. Maybe I Am Furious (Yellow) for having some really funny bits throughout and a great guest performance by Stan Lee. Overall, though, there isn't a real standout episode like in previous years.
Thank you for sharing perspective on this insane season. Season 13 is truly epic. I like all the exciting action plots. I loved the whacky lake mystery episode. I love The épisode where Apu has to win Manjula back. I love The Stan lee story. I also like the one with Bart and Greta. Too bad she never came back. There’s lots of fun dramatic events in this season. I’m very happy that you do these videos. Truly fantastic!
Badger plot my ass. It was probably a Millhouse plot.
Not a massive fan of Season 13, partially because of the edgy humor you touched on, and partially because it falls right before my favorite of the middle seasons. (Season 14 has some damn good episodes, IMO.)
...that said, the Krusty running gag in the Sweetest Apu makes me laugh more than it has any right to.
"And Krusty, we have to invite Krusty!" "I keep telling you, off-camera he's a desperately unhappy man."
"Aaaaah!!.... Aaaaaaah!..... Cobras! CORBAAAS!"
Oh the night terrors Homer gets makes me howl with laughter it does.
It’s kind of fascinating how Mike Scully came along & changed the show, & the later episodes by Al Jean were mostly the same for years afterwards.
As always i'll just watch this later but just wanted to send you some good feelings there. Thank you. You're keeping my love for the simpsons in a good place
Oh, mighty algorithm bless this video
If you're doing this chronologically , you're never going to stop producing videos... mostly because Simpsons will never end
The “Bronson, Missouri” gag from this season is one of my favorites in the whole series. And I use variations Homer’s “I can’t take his money, I can’t print my own money” bit way too often.
And the “Tennessee Earnie Ford? I know you’re dead!” gag is so delightfully absurd.
My Most Wanted Simpsons Showdowns:
1. One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish VS Homer’s Triple Bypass
2. Homer vs The 18th Amendment VS Homer’s Enemy
3. Homer Simpson In: 'Kidney Trouble' VS Co-Dependents Day
4. I Married Marge VS Lisa’s First Word
5. Bart Of Darkness VS Brother’s Little Helper
6. Lisa’s Rival VS Lard of the Dance
7. The Two Mrs. Nahasspeemapetilons VS Eight Misbehavin
8. On A Clear Day I Can’t See My Sister VS The Boys Of Bummer
9. Half Decent Proposal VS The Ziff Who Came To Dinner
10. Girly Edition VS Jazzy and The Pussycats
Please do these Simpson Showdowns please!
I want to see a showdown between Miracle on Evergreen Terrace vs. The Frying Game given the fact TheRealJims seems to be conflicted with these 2 episodes
That will be sweet!
Yeah I can say a lot of these eps shoved me further into the closet growing up. Such a fucking shame. :/
13:49
🎵Maybe Moe gets a cellphone🎵
What a coincidence! I was just thinking about how it's been a while since the last TheRealJims video. Then I logged onto UA-cam and found this immediately. What a treat.
I'm pretty sure that The Frying Game is responsible for my trust issues all on its own 🤣🤣🤣
I think season 13 was one of those 'Go to' seasons when it's airing re-runs on TV, because so many of these episodes I remember alot growing up 'while TV was still prevalent'
Maybe I'm more lenient than other diehard fans, but for me Season 13 is where the show RLY starts to fall off, I think up to Season 12 I can mostly stand some of the stuff between then and Season 9, but rewatching Season 13 I found quite a few of episodes to be particularly unsatisfying narratively.
13 and 14 get soft lines drawn for me. 15, though, is a hard one.
Otto is Otto backwards!
Now I'm scared.
weekend at burnsies is the best episode of this season and you cant change that
When we getting that Lindsey Naegle vid am I right?
This is the last season of The Simpsons I enjoy and consider generally good.
Half the episodes here I'm thinking "Oh hey, that's a pretty good episode, we're not at the truly bad seasons yet", but then for the other half I'm like "Oh wow, yeah, I remember that episode, that was terrible." So I guess I find this season extremely variable in quality.
Same, haha. Guess that cements its status as mediocre
You can skip to season 20 from here.
Don't pretend you guys aren't excited for the retrospectives on the terrible seasons
i guess this is the season where lenny and carl entirely usurped barney as the go-to childhood/adulthood best friends
This is the first season of The Simpsons that absolutely should not not have been made. Sure, you could make the argument that seasons 10-12 shouldn't have been made. But at least they are passable enough that you could give them a watch and enjoy them even if they pale in comparison to the golden age. There is absolutely no reason to continue the show since it is breaking down and Scully left. And it shows.
OHHHHHHH IM SO EXCITED!! THESE VIDEOS ARE ALWAYS SO HYPE
10:14 that screenshot of strippers twerking on Smithers is perfection. The juxtaposition of the really sexy redhead in black and pink with Smithers covering his eyes in the corner is glorious. If I had to pick a screenshot to frame and hang on my wall this would be it. In fact I have a technique that can replicate the vibrancy of animation cels at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. Time to put my money where my mouth is ..... for the glory of art
It's so interesting watching your retrospective on this season. I used to watch The Simpsons DVDs before I went to bed every night, but for a long time the only DVDs I had were seasons 8, 9, 11, and 13. I'd seen some other episodes on TV, but these were the four seasons I saw regularly. I always thought of Season 13 as the "Homer gets hurt" season. Literally, it seemed every Season 13 episode involved Homer in some life or death scenario or seriously injured. As I was a kid (about 9 years old), and I'd broken a bone or two myself, I actually found Season 13 quite traumatic to watch, seeing Homer always hurt and in life-threatening danger. It got to the point I just felt so bad for Homer (I know right...) I just couldn't watch any more Season 13, and stuck only to the other boxsets I had.
I remember - screamapillar making me irrationally angry and made me change the channel. stanleys guest role being one of the best things id seen in an episode for a long while. and... not much else!
For ages I never knew about the weed episode cus they won't air it in the uk.
As a trans woman and a music lover, I’m torn with this season >.> for example one of my favourite gags is still Abe Simpson acting like a teenager, slamming the door and then putting on 40s jazz records loudly. Homer banging on the door and telling him to turn it off. I appreciate that even more today since jazz was viewed as deviant among white families before being assimilated into the mainstream, like rock in the 60s and 70s were.
Hi @therealjims, have you ever considered doing an analysis of various singing/musical elements in the Simpsons, and how they changed over the course of the show. For example, in "A Street Car Named Marge, the Planet of the Apes musical, vs Lisa School President Song.
"Weekend at Burnsie's" and "I Am Furious Yellow" are classic episodes to me, and are the highlights of this season.
Season 12 is the last season I own on dvd so from here on out it's all stuff I saw on tv as a kid for another few seasons and then after that I know literally nothing about The Simpsons
People tend to give this season and the few after it more flak then the Scully years when I think it’s still alright. Not anywhere near the level of seasons 3-8 but still watchable. I feel like if seasons 14-16 still used cel animation (has that older feeling) people would like em more. Al starts to kinda get into the groove of things before it starts to get real boring around 17/18, which is just natural rot from going for so long. I know people have said 33’s been really good so far so I’ll have to check it out someday.
I was too young for the golden years of simpsons, so I started watching either season 12, 13, or 14 as they premiered. It's been too long to remember which episodes I saw as reruns or premieres. I stopped watching around season 21. It was mostly due to not having cable anymore, but I could feel myself not really caring anymore anyways.
I've been watching 33 and I'd say it's at it's best when it's not trying to be funny. Take that as you may, but I think the newEST episodes are good as a chill watch if you like the characters. But, when they try to be funny that's when they still sometimes feel the same as any other 20s season episode.
Sidenote if you do watch season 33, there's an episode that's a sequel to a season 20 episode called "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe". It was one of the last memberable episodes I remember watching, so I was legitimately happy when I saw a follow up.
Eastern Europes cat and mouse team…worker and parasite. Krusty-what the hell was that? 😆
It's seasons 12 and 13 which are both kind of in that hybrid area where my nostalgia for episodes starts to fade and my jumping off point gets closer. At this point it's usually just a couple of episodes from a DVD that I watched repeatedly, the rest of the season is no longer engaging me 🙁 It's sad but all good things must come to an end
By the year 2003, my favourite piece of simpsons content is not even the series anymore but instead the videogame "Hit and Run". That game was class.
I don't think I've ever seen that episode about marijuana. Did they skip it in the UK TV broadcast?
It was banned here I think
It was put behind Watershed aka past 9pm, you can find it on the DVDs and Disney plus though
One thing I do love about this Season is that it gave us Angry Dad
Do the history of Wiggum or Skinner.
Is the screenshot in the lower right corner at 0:34 showing a pop culture reference?
(The scene where Burns tells Smithers that the power plant strikers sing without any electricity.) I am on a rewatch of the first ten seasons and just saw that episode at some point in the last few days and still felt like this was an odd joke I wasn't getting. It didn't make sense in the German dub when I saw that episode the first 10 times or so, and it still makes no sense in the original. It's funny, but I feel like I am missing context.
It's a reference to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with how the Grinch is with his dog
@@TheRealJims You've just solved a quarter of a decade old mystery for me! Thanks!
Welcome to Al jean’s Simpsons. We’re gonna be here forever
Should probably get some snacks.
As "I Am Furious (Yellow)" aired on my 13th birthday, this season occupies a strange space in my Simpsons memories. Seeing episodes like "The Parent Rap," "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" and "The Old Man & the Key" in heavy syndication helped cement this as part of my nostalgic stretch of the show, yet episodes like "Little Girl in the Big Ten" and "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" feel like they came from one of the following seasons. I suppose this is to be expected, given that this was a transition year, but nevertheless it feels like a threshold is being crossed '01-'02.
I can't be alone in this, being so sure that an episode like "Blame It On Lisa" aired a season or two earlier than "The Sweetest Apu." Yet there they are in the same stretch of 9 months.
The start of the downfall
I’m very nostalgic for season 13 since it was the only season Target had
I hope you make a restrospect of all 33 seasons
While this is my favourite Simpsons season of the 2000s, it’s far from golden standards. After 3-5 years (YMMV) of surreal chaos infecting nearly every episode, it was relaxing seeing them try to take the characters a little more seriously at the very least. It had been so long since Al Jean had last run a season, that expecting the show to return entirely to the 1992 style is asking for a bit much, but the extra effort in bringing the comedy in these adventures back to the characters, instead of the situations, was a step in the right direction. I’d just hoped the next couple years could’ve expanded upon the benefits this season’s storytelling brought, instead of slowly giving back into the chaos. I think the mathematical conclusion you gave Season 13’s flavour is perfect. Math is Power!
PS: Don’t worry about the humour in these retrospectives getting more surreal. Now you know how the Simpsons writers felt.
Season 13 was always on par with 10-12 for me, in the sense that the next three seasons after this has some episodes I really like, but you could still see the tone veering into what made me grow bored with where the show was going. For as much as 13 might have the occasional dud, I still find it enjoyable.
Ehh, Season 10 was much better, and this season was certainly a step up from 11.
I'm very familiar with the vast majority of episodes with this season although I've never seen the weed episode before. It's a good episode. Has any other British viewers seen the episode before?
Nah. Googed it, apparently it only ever shows post watershed, so it wouldn't have been on at the usual slot for sky and will have been missed by most peeps it seems.
And the birds go tweet
Now i want cheesecake.
After the Scully holdovers I find 13 kind of refreshing. The decline is still real, but it makes me think that Jean is almost saving the show. 14 is sickening tho.
The last season I can say I actually like.
OH MY GOD I get so excited everytime you put one of these!!! Thanks a very very lot!
You have my thoughts exactly! Season 13 was like decaf Scully years.
s13 made me realize how much the writers love Donovan, we get the iconic "wear your love like heaven" sequence and homer singing "mellow yellow", then in s21 we get Lisa skating to "season of the witch" and in s22 the "Jennifer juniper" scene.