Alyssa Abernaut
I surprisingly had a very difficult time rating this show, but I did and a 5 out of 10 is in my opinion a fair rating when you consider the series as a whole.The reason it is so hard for me to rate this show is the simple fact that it has been on so very, very long. 621 episodes and growing, according to the numbers here on IMDb. And when a season lasts that long, it obviously will have stretches of good quality and stretches of bad quality. The Simpsons is no different.Although the series does still make me chuckle here and there, the quality has completely fallen off in the show's later years. It suffered a sudden and terrible decline and I still feel very disappointed watching it, remember and "missing" the fantastic episodes of old.Because that's the other extreme. When The Simpsons first went on the air, and for at least 8 seasons (to me, at least), it was one of the very best comedy shows ever produced. The characters were great, the writing was slick, it seemed like every single joke hit its mark and I laughed out loud all the time. It was one of the few "can't miss" shows I remember in my life, where Sundays at 8pm I just had to be home to watch it. Everyone talked about it, and regardless of how many seasons you think it lasted everyone considers those early years the "golden age" of the Simpsons.I'm not sure if the problem is people leaving, or naturally running out of ideas after being on the air so long, or simple laziness, or the writers and staff getting old, but clearly at a point this show just went from the creative tops to something almost awful.I'm basically averaging it out (6 years of awesomeness, 6 years of being OK, and since then being just bloody awful) to give this show a 5 out of 10. I know I'll be bashed by haters who find my rating too high, and Simpson-heads who can't believe anyone would go lower than 10, but this is the grade I think is fair for this show.
TheBlueHairedLawyer
I think it's safe to say that everybody born in '89 onward has grown up with The Simpsons. In its first seasons it exploded into popularity as a timeless satire on American family life, and though it pushed boundaries, it never crossed the line. It was an extremely funny, heartfelt comedy that both adults and children alike enjoyed. My problem with it is that it really began to go downhill in the digital age, mainly its introduction of low-brow sex jokes, its constant sea of "guest stars", but most of all its decline of its most beloved characters.I'm probably being an oversensitive prude, but in terms of the crude humour, we've seen a huge jump from the Homer whose dying wish in Season 2 was to wake up and watch the sunrise with Marge, to a Homer who seriously starts talking about masturbation during a therapy appointment in one of the recent episodes. It's unfortunately trying to compete in a market of godawful "adult humour" junk like Family Guy, because apparently there's no room for a decent family comedy anymore, but while lewd jokes and fart humour might work for some things, it just doesn't suit The Simpsons. Springfield's wacky and dysfunctional citizens have always been flawed, but never in a disgusting or perverted way.As for this trend of "guest stars" being on The Simpsons, one or two is fine, but when you have a new celebrity who you don't care about in each episode, from Katy Perry to Snoop Dogg, it gets old REALLY fast and comes off as a sales gimmick to promote talentless pop icons. It takes time away from the comedy and characters of the show itself when so much screen-time gets devoted to this crud. The original Simpsons was timeless. 20 years from now, people aren't going to have any idea what the hell "Alaska Nebraska" is referencing. Bringing up stupid trends and fads that come and go quicker than you can say "cash cow" doesn't really establish the newer seasons as anything timeless or memorable. I'm not sure what's up with the show's weird lean toward liberalism, either. I mean, it was never afraid to poke harmless fun at Republicans or to bring up the flaws of capitalism, but these days it's just pushy and annoying. This is especially evident with the character of Lisa, who used to be just a shy, nerdy and caring girl who always had a voice of reason. Now she's a mini Al Gore with her radical environmentalism, her smug pretentiousness and her inflated ego and notion that she's better than everybody else. She's become a huge hypocrite to boot. I'd say by-far that this show's greatest downfall has been the decline of its characters. Homer was always a slow-witted man, but he was a good man at heart who always sacrificed for his family when he knew it was important. Now he's just a jerky and selfish pig who can be unbelievably cruel to his family and anyone else around him. Very rarely is there even a glimpse anymore of his old self. Bart, a prankster who was always a bad seed but who still cared about others at his best, is now just watered-down. His "pranks" are lame instead of anything classic, and he doesn't seem to care about anyone or anything anymore. Instead of being mischievous, now he's a borderline sociopath. Marge has stayed true to her original persona but even she's a shell; each episode it's like she jumps on the bandwagon for whatever the new parenting trend may be. Even the secondary/minor characters aren't safe. For example Mr. Smithers has now become the most stereotypical gay man I've ever seen, from his rainbow pride parade parachute to his ridiculously obvious fixation on his boss, which has evolved from being funny to just plain bizarre. Nothing wrong with him being gay, but they've been hinging on the "mystery" of his sexuality for numerous seasons when it's already obvious. And my favourite character, the unnamed Blue-Haired Lawyer, who had a habit of appearing at annoying times to declare cease-and-desist cases, always appeared to still be benevolent and just doing his job, and he was willing to help Bart and Homer when they really needed it. Now he's become the show's "evil lawyer", who even admits in court that he views his injured client as a "paycheck" and who allows himself to be bribed by criminals. He's now apparently xenophobic, too. His character hasn't developed much at all except for him turning out to be an author on-the-side, and being conservative. Him and other characters like Ol' Gil, Chief Wiggum and Dr. Nick, have essentially become bad parodies of themselves. Another thing that I think has really hit The Simpsons hard, though the show is certainly not to blame, was the disappearance of promiscuous schoolteacher Edna Krabappel. I just found out that the woman who voiced her had tragically passed away. Edna was an excellent character and she'll be missed by many fans.I will say that, despite me being a sucker for nostalgia, I like the newer animation, as it gives the characters a more uniform look throughout each episode and makes things appear clearer, though I do miss the brighter look of the traditional coloration. I'm glad that the soundtrack has more or less remained consistent. I do think that Season 28 tried thus far to be slightly more character-driven and less lazily focused on celebrities, but I'm not sure how much longer this animated icon will hold up. It's come this far, and there are still many loose ends in terms of background characters so I do hope it stays on, but I hope it tries not to lose sight of what made people fall in love with the weird and wonderful town of Springfield in the first place.
