When did The Simpsons get bad?

[Leo656]

It does send a pretty bad message to anyone determined to read too much into things, the way Lisa is shown to be "destined" to (unhappily) wind up with Milhouse.

"Just wait her out, guys. 'No' turns into 'Yes' eventually, especially when their eggs start drying up and they realize they're running out of options!"

I mean, yeah, no, not everything has "a moral". But even tongue-in-cheek, most things do at least have some kind of message or theme that they're trying to convey. And like it or not, that's the "message" of Future Lisa and Future Milhouse winding up together. "If she says no today, just hang in there, she'll change her mind." That's not automatically dangerous or damaging, but... it can be. Especially with the rise of "Incel Culture" and MRAs over the past few years.

It's just plain not a good look. I feel like the Nick TMNT cartoon danced too close to this with Don/April at times, as well.

[superstaff]

I mean. Feelings can change, and sometimes, the girl/guy you crush on can change their minds, and become interested.

However, of course, that's not always the case. The idea also shouldn't be that you drop everything, and wait for your crush to reciprocate. It's a 'if it happens, it happens' type deal.

[Prowler]

I didn't even think about it that way. More like, you'd think Milhouse would lose interest in Lisa after he finished 4th grade. When you're a kid, crushes don't last for long. So the idea that Milhouse still likes Lisa 20 years later and eventually marries her is just unrealistic. And it's not like it's a couple most people wanted to see become canon.

Dunno who'd be that patient anyway. I had this crush on a girl around a decade ago but I never got around to date her. No idea what she's up to nowadays nor do I care anymore. Such is life.

[superstaff]

Yeah, realistically he would lose interest in her eventually...unless he's a neurotic freak...which he is in the show.

[Prowler]

As for Nick TMNT...

I've only seen 4 episodes of it or so. I didn't like the idea of a romance between a mutant turtle and a human being. In fact, I feel like that's the prime reason they decided to make April a teenager of the same age as the Turtles. To turn her into a love interest of one of them. Which is something I am against. The FW series was the biggest cartoon at some point in the world and clearly April being over a decade older than Turtles didn't affect the series popularity.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

As for Nick TMNT...

I've only seen 4 episodes of it or so. I didn't like the idea of a romance between a mutant turtle and a human being. In fact, I feel like that's the prime reason they decided to make April a teenager of the same age as the Turtles. To turn her into a love interest of one of them. Which is something I am against. The FW series was the biggest cartoon at some point in the world and clearly April being over a decade older than Turtles didn't affect the series popularity.

I kinda figure other than the romance stuff, they also wanted a fifth female character running alongside the turtles on their missions without just going full-blown Venus. It was kind of annoying because other than April, this made Casey and even Karai into teens to keep all in the same general age.

I guess an adult April could have been a fighter too but it woulda been weird seeing an adult run around with teenagers, let alone be taking orders from Leo and whatnot.

I guess in that respect Rise did it better, making April more or less of an sequel from the start. 2012 April still had to go from 'typical average girl that doesn't even lift' to slowly progress into 'butt-kicking ninja girl with powers' while Rise April was kicking ass day one.

Also if they wanted some girl character to tag along so badly I'm assuming they could have just made up some new character, but the fanbase probably wouldn't like that so the studio most likely went with 'it just has to be April' even if she's April in name only.

[ZariusTwo]

I feel like the writers have wanted to push Lisa with Ralph Wiggum for years but they were always being held back. Gail Simone proposed a Lisa spin-off comic for Bongo where she and Ralph solved mysteries together but it was turned down, I feel like Simone would have probably teased some things in the book had that happened.

I'm a big fan of Lisa and Ralph together, I think it largely stems from the idea all Simpsons women marry idiots. Lisa's even dreamt that she and Ralph marry and have kids, so she probably does secretly love him.

[Leo656]

Boy, that's a life. Wiping that guy's ass for him until he walks into moving traffic one day.

Objectively, girls like Lisa either hook up with some beta-male soyboy who likes being bossed around OR they end up old spinsters. Aside from single-episode one-off characters who were never seen again, there are no "soyboy" characters on the show for her to be "shipped" with and so she's gonna die alone. Because she's a shrill, unlikeable know-it-all, and no man who can get an erection without crying would ever marry someone like her in the first place.

Milhouse really is the most "realistic" option, other than her just ending up with nobody, which is actually what I think would happen. But Milhouse is the perfect kind of doormat for someone like Lisa. It actually is very believable that she'd suddenly settle for him, once she realized that he was the only one who'd ever put up with all of her bullsh*t.

Now that I'm at that age where most everyone in my circle is married (and most of those people divorced and in some cases re-married), the realities of Who ends up with Who and Why are becoming impossible to ignore.

We all got mad at our parents trying to control our love lives, preaching to us about how "That'll never work" and "People like This don't work with people like That", but... well, now that I'm 40-ish I totally get it. They knew what we didn't, yet. Relationships aren't totally a sterile science, but... eh, kinda.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

It’s sad that the voice actors are still around and being wasted on cruddy scripts. I have a hard time understanding why they can’t get the show back in shape with some better writers, or even writers from the golden age.

The actors stay because they are being paid enough money, and they may even feel a connection to the characters that they play. It’s kind of like having a toxic relationship: you know it would be wise to leave, but you stay because you care too much. Either way, yeah, their talents are being wasted.

A lot of writers from the golden age have unfortunately become woke or have lost their steam, and those who haven’t become woke are being screwed by Hollywood because of, y’know, political bias.

[ZariusTwo]

The latest episode, the very meta "Lisa The Boy Scout" poked fun at the show's declining quality over the years, offering a slew of official examples as well as ones created exclusively for the episode (some of which are ideas I would not mind being canon, especially what they do to Martin), also love how they used the older animation styles and aspect ratios.

The way they addressed the 'predictions' thing was pretty lame.

[Prowler]

Clearly The Simpsons must still have a sizeable enough fanbase to keep on going after all these years. It's a brand name that everyone knows of. And I'm sure a lot of those fans are younger people who did not grow up watching The Simpsons during its golden age. Someone who's 22 nowadays was born in the year of 2000, remember. They probably first saw The Simpsons in 2007 or 2008.

The rest are probably die hard fans who just watch it out of habit and brand loyalty at this point.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Something that was brought to my attention when I was on the Simpsons Instagram page is that I watched a clip of Marge talking and her voice sounds terrible. Comments were mentioning this too. Julie Kavner has been doing the voice for over 30 years but how much longer can she continue? Would they be willing to replace her if she finally couldn't do the voice anymore? It gives me that feeling of Rugrats where Nancy Cartwright (Bart) took over for Chuckie Finster. Mind you, that was for a different reason but that's the feeling I'm getting right now. Marge's voice is not easy to pull off.

[cammy85]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

Something that was brought to my attention when I was on the Simpsons Instagram page is that I watched a clip of Marge talking and her voice sounds terrible. Comments were mentioning this too. Julie Kavner has been doing the voice for over 30 years but how much longer can she continue? Would they be willing to replace her if she finally couldn't do the voice anymore? It gives me that feeling of Rugrats where Nancy Cartwright (Bart) took over for Chuckie Finster. Mind you, that was for a different reason but that's the feeling I'm getting right now. Marge's voice is not easy to pull off.

Interesting question!! Disney Plus is a few weeks behind and I noticed this season isn't as great as last year. But to the point... I noticed there have been episodes where certain family members are absent, more than ever. Like where only Bart appears, for example. Lisa was missing a few times, and Marge's appearances have been reduced overall. The latest D+ episode is the one with the pop sensation and Marge doesn't appear until much later. Now I really wonder hpw much longer the show will go on?

[CyberCubed]

Season 10 is the last full season I can watch. I do like some select episodes from Seasons 11-15 or so, but I wouldn't recommend entire seasons anymore.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by cammy85

Interesting question!! Disney Plus is a few weeks behind and I noticed this season isn't as great as last year. But to the point... I noticed there have been episodes where certain family members are absent, more than ever. Like where only Bart appears, for example. Lisa was missing a few times, and Marge's appearances have been reduced overall. The latest D+ episode is the one with the pop sensation and Marge doesn't appear until much later. Now I really wonder hpw much longer the show will go on?

Have there been any where Homer was missing?

It would definitely help to reduce appearances of Patty and Selma since they have deeper voices. Otherwise it'll take a huge toll on Kavner's vocal cords. I don't know how much longer she can continue doing voices because Marge's voice is finally cracking.

I really do think they should do a Simpsons arcade sequel before the cast get too old to do the voices.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

Something that was brought to my attention when I was on the Simpsons Instagram page is that I watched a clip of Marge talking and her voice sounds terrible. Comments were mentioning this too. Julie Kavner has been doing the voice for over 30 years but how much longer can she continue? Would they be willing to replace her if she finally couldn't do the voice anymore? It gives me that feeling of Rugrats where Nancy Cartwright (Bart) took over for Chuckie Finster. Mind you, that was for a different reason but that's the feeling I'm getting right now. Marge's voice is not easy to pull off.

Power of hindsight and all that. Had they known the series would be around for so many years and Julie would be stuck doing the same Marge, Patty, Selma voices for that long, they would have opted for a more normal sounding voice back then.
But honestly, as big as it was, who was expecting the Simpsons to go over the usual 3 or so seasons?

[CyberCubed]

Simpsons going on past 8-10 seasons was considered absurd even back then. And now we're 25 years after that

[Andrew NDB]

Apparently they're pledging to retire Homer choking Bart from the show now. Honestly, just cancel the show already. As if a dad choking a son was even "OK" in the 80s... it's a f***ing gag!

[Wildcat]

They’re not removing it. Google it. People just wanted something woke to complain about.

Funny that nobody brought up a lack of strangling before this. As it was pointed out it’s hardly done anymore. It just faded naturally like Bart’s prank phone calls.

[Barkworm]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Apparently they're pledging to retire Homer choking Bart from the show now. Honestly, just cancel the show already. As if a dad choking a son was even "OK" in the 80s... it's a f***ing gag!

Man, these youtube opinion videos… Honest question, how often do you feel just informed after watching one of those and not at least a little angry? Because I never watch any of them and I get angry just seeing the stupid thumbnail and the awful clickbait title. And that‘s all these pseudo-experts are trying to do - generate negativity.