I've been re-watching The Simpsons, and I believe that I have pinpointed the start of the downfall.

I've been re-watching The Simpsons, and I believe that I have pinpointed the start of the downfall.
>Season 8 Episode 3, The Homer They Fall
Overall I enjoyed the episode, but there were a few out of place unfunny and unclever jokes/gags that are very similar to the dog shit in later seasons. Examples:
>Homer wanting the 'world's best jacket' because "it would show everybody, SHOW EVERYBODY!"
>Dr. Hibbert having a surgical 2x4 in a sterile wrapper.
>The increasingly better car wash options displaying during Homer's boxing rise montage.
>Homer knowing who Lucius Sweet is but not knowing who Drederick Tatum is.
>Homer's walkout music being "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    As I am re-watching every episode, I am also trying to determine where I cannot stomach it anymore. The last time a few years ago, I recall stopping a few episodes into Season 11, but I know that Season 10 had some straight up awful episodes as well.
    >Where do you believe the downfall started?
    >What season and episode do you stop watching at?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Season 5 when the original writers left. But the show didn’t become moronic until Season 7. Homer went from Dumb with good intentions to Special needs low iq

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    wanting the 'world's best jacket' because "it would show everybody, SHOW EVERYBODY!"
    shut up

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I’m sorry you have a juvenile sense of humour. I bet you love “Jerkass Homer.”

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Jerkass Homer can be hilarious at times

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    wanting the 'world's best jacket' because "it would show everybody, SHOW EVERYBODY!"
    Did you forget the episode where Homer blows a lot of money on a pair of sneakers just because they are supposed to look cool? That was back in Season 2.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The concept is not the issue, it’s the voice acting delivery. This particular scene was the start of the exceptionally stupid “Jerkass Homer.”

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >The concept is not the issue, it’s the voice acting delivery. This particular scene was the start of the exceptionally stupid “Jerkass Homer.”
        So you forgot that Homer was about to force Bart to get rid of his dog, just because the dog tore up a pair of sneakers? Yep, Jerkass Homer didn't exist until later seasons, keep believing that.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          If you think every case of a parent being angry - especially when the example you're highlighting is pretty relatable - then I don't think you understand what the "Jerkass Homer" stuff is about.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I don't think you understand what "Jerkass Homer" even is. "Jerkass Homer" is basically a buffoonish butthole who does things without any real reason or consideration. Homer wanting to get rid of Santa's Little Helper for being destructive and disobedient is something many families have experienced with dogs. Ripping up the shoes was the final straw.
          "Jerkass Homer" is what killed Maude Flanders, he also BBQs on top of his house and leaves a massive mess for Marge to clean up.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Nah, Homer wanting the dog out had a clear motivation, the dog was being destructive and disruptive to such extent they could no longer control him so he had to go, there was a clear motive for him, this happens in real life to some families with their pets too (a friend of mine had to put down the cat because it became feral).
          First iteration Homer was dumb, brutish and heavy handed on his approach but usually there was a motivation behind his actions and sometimes his motivations were somewhat pure at heart like betterment of their lifehood or thinking his family would enjoy something, its just he was too dumb to think better ways of achieving his goals, jerkass Homer is about silly random stuff, there isnt a clear motivation for a lot of his antics, its like a schizophrenic stopped taking his meds and started running amok, just random gags patched together.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Well said, also in the golden years when Homer was being a jerk he would later realize that his jerk behaviour was bad. Perfect example being the episode where he wishes Ned's business failed, then when it did he realized how awful it was to wish that on someone. "Jerkass Homer" would have doubled down and probably destroy Ned's car or some other stupid zinger as icing on the shit cake.

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Season 8 introduces a lot of the stuff that makes Zombie Simpsons bad (character retcons, pop culture references as jokes, Homer being outrageous) but its saving grace is that its still funny. For example, some people think the Frank Grimes episode marks the downfall but it also has some of the funniest moments of the series.

    A good rule of thumb is that once a show starts referencing itself, the decline is imminent

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Definitely agree with you there, its still funny and entertaining but the shift is noticeable.

      The downward slide was inevitable as soon as they wrote the first episode where the plot was driven by wacky nonsense completely divorced from the material reality of the central cast.

      Agreed, basically when it went from an animated sitcom to Family Guy 2.0

      For me it was the Tony Hawk episode after the movie released.

      It just all of a sudden just did not feel the same anymore

      The movies was surprisingly good considering how bad each episode was at the time. But I cannot help but wonder what the movie could have been if made around Seasons 4, 5, 6?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >pop culture references as jokes
      Dude those have been in the series since Season 2 at the latest.
      The Simpsons was one of the first shows to make humor based on the audience's understanding of other media and references and parodies.

      That's not 'zombie Simpsons' that's just 'The Simpsons.'

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The golden era of the Simpsons is s.1-6, with "Who shot Mr. Burns, p1" as the climactic end.

      Season 7 is the starting point of the decline, starting immediately with the revelation that a baby shot Mr. Burns. We then enter the Oakley and Weinstein era (7-8) era with a lot of changes to the canon and lore of the show, almost like a soft reboot.
      >Mr. Burns ha a bastard son
      >Lisa falls in love with Nelson
      >Flanders is repressing a lot of rage and was brought up by beatniks
      >Homers mom comes back from the dead
      >Lisa becomes a vegetarian
      >Milhouses parents gets divorced
      >Skinner is an imposter (holdover from s.8)

      The show would never be the same again. We're forever stuck with this new lore, I don't know how many times Flanders beatnik parents have been shown or mentioned by now.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Flanders raised by beatniks was established in season 5.

        “ Oh man! Ned spilt ink over my poems! He is a real flat tire, I mean a cube man! He's putting us on a trip to Squaresville, Mona!”

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        95 to 2001 was the silver era. 2001 to 2007/the movie was the Bronze era. Movie was when things went to shit.

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    The downward slide was inevitable as soon as they wrote the first episode where the plot was driven by wacky nonsense completely divorced from the material reality of the central cast.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      But Homer at the Bat is god tier.

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Homer's walkout music being "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
    this was great tho, I remember laughing my ass off at this idea

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I was too young at the time to know the song or pay attention to the lyrics, but the juxtaposition of Tatum with the hard rap song and Homer with the laid-back reggae song was what had me laughing.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        And yet the same joke was done much better in Rocky Balboa.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Never watched any Rocky movie after the first. Why would you?

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >didn’t see II, III, or IV
            Come on man

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            II is literally better than the first one. They stay good up through IV.

            You cucked yourself out of a prime move-watching experience for years over arbitrary reasons.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            All the Rocky movies aside V are good, even the Creed movies.
            Yeah they have their issues, they're still great movies.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    they'll never stop the simpsons
    think about this for a moment. they'll *never* stop the simpsons. even as the sun goes out and the universe enters heat death, new episodes of the simpsons will still be made. god himself will stave off entropy just to make sure new episodes of the simpsons get made. who are "they" exactly that can continue producing this one north american cartoon for ages? are they gods themselves?

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    For me it was the Tony Hawk episode after the movie released.

    It just all of a sudden just did not feel the same anymore

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Dr. Hibbert having a surgical 2x4 in a sterile wrapper.
    >The increasingly better car wash options displaying during Homer's boxing rise montage.
    >Homer's walkout music being "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
    What are you talking about, these are all kino.

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I don't think Simpsons goes bad until they shift to the HD intro. That episode is in fact quite a clear departure from the show up to then. The episode is "Take My Life, Please". Up until then there's tons of good episode and humor.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The HD intro is so brutally bad, it hurts to view it.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The HD intro is so brutally bad, it hurts to view it.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >the animators kept getting notes from the studio to make it less and less fluid until they got the pathetic two frame fist waggle

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Disgusting, also the forced baby feud is unfunny.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        who is that baby tho

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          dyewts

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Just some random one off joke about Maggie not getting along with other babies. For some reason, the later writers and show runners thought it was great and forced it. I think the baby's name is Gerald or something.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Gerald Samson

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          In one episode they have a gag where they pretend that Maggie has always had a rival in 'that baby with the monobrow' and they've continued that ever since.
          Occasionally throwing in gags here or there about the two.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Show this to a friend
        >"I dont what the big deal is, their both just animated differently."

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        I think the worst part about it is the way Marge turns her head without blinking, but then blinks afterwards. Like the studio it was outsourced to didn't understand the basic animation principle but saw a note about blinking so they threw it in with the wrong timing.

  11. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    They are unironically all good jokes.

  12. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Looking back, season 8 is recognizably the canary in the coal mine, but that's only with hindsight. At the time the seeds that were being planted just felt like little one-off jokes or slightly more goofy gags than normal. It's clear as fricking crystal though that the later writers/show runners grabbed onto those moments and fricking ran with them afterwards though.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      When you watch the commentary it becomes depressing when you start seeing new faces. Frickers ruined one of the greatest TV series with their dumbassery.

  13. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    When I was binging the series as a kid, I noticed how bad the show was with the Elf Jockeys episode. So somewhere around season 14 is when the shown won't to shit.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      https://i.imgur.com/EzyILT6.jpg

      I've been re-watching The Simpsons, and I believe that I have pinpointed the start of the downfall.
      >Season 8 Episode 3, The Homer They Fall
      Overall I enjoyed the episode, but there were a few out of place unfunny and unclever jokes/gags that are very similar to the dog shit in later seasons. Examples:
      >Homer wanting the 'world's best jacket' because "it would show everybody, SHOW EVERYBODY!"
      >Dr. Hibbert having a surgical 2x4 in a sterile wrapper.
      >The increasingly better car wash options displaying during Homer's boxing rise montage.
      >Homer knowing who Lucius Sweet is but not knowing who Drederick Tatum is.
      >Homer's walkout music being "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

      Nah, me and my family watch old simpsons episodes all the time.
      The transition between watchable and unwatchable simpsons is between seasons 10-11 with 12 being the nail on the coffin. And classic simpsons is 1-6 with 4-6 being favorite among many fans leaning towards 8 or 9 being the "downfall" (even though season 8 has the most memorable episode of the series, "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer").

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Season 11 is pretty hard to stomach, but yeah Season 12 is completely unwatchable.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I don't see how that episode is so bad. It's a shift in tone for the Simpsons, sure, but they were pretty good at poking fun of themselves at that point.

  14. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    season 8 is my favorite, wtf?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Season 8 is the last classic season.
      9 is still quite good, but that's where the first bad episodes start showing up and the characters (Homer in particular) become Flanderized again into being stereotypes of themselves.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Mine too.

  15. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Homer's walkout music being "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
    I like that gag. My problem is with the premise of the episode itself.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >the premise of the episode itself.
      Same, no boxing fan would pay to see a world class champion kill some no named amateur. It doesn't matter if it is their come back fight or now, it simply wouldn't sell.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >no boxing fan would pay to see a world class champion kill some no named amateur
        You're right. I wouldn't pay to see it, but I would still watch it and probably laugh my ass off.

  16. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    lisamania is the only good thing left in the simpsons fandom

  17. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >I've been re-watching The Simpsons, and I believe that I have pinpointed the start of the downfall.

    Literally the stupidest thing to waste your time thinking about. Just enjoy the jokes and stop watching when it isn't funny anymore.

    "When the Simpsons died" has been covered for 20 years now. You're not going to bring any fresh or interesting perspective to the discussion.

  18. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    i admit your other points may be valid to an extent...but
    >The increasingly better car wash options displaying during Homer's boxing rise montage.
    was funny

  19. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Season 4's end saw the original writing cast leave the show. I forget what episode was the season finale - production or airdate - but wonder if it would've been good as a series one.

  20. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Just for fun I'm going to be 100% honest. I grew up a Simpsons fanatic and loved the show well into season 13 although I can admit the early 90s stuff was by far the best.

    I went down the episode list to see when I finally stopped watching new episodes on the night they aired. I pinpointed it to season 26, episode 15 The Princess Guide. I have absolutely no memory of that episode and most of the ones that follow it. 26 years of yellow people making social commentary. Worth it.

  21. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    The episode that ended the Simpsons for me as a kid and got me to stop watching for years was the one with the Williams sisters; Tennis the Menace. The end of the episode Lisa essentially breaks the fourth wall and announces the episode had no moral or point.

  22. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Hey remember the 300th episode was the Tony Hawk one.

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