The Old Man and the Simpsons Thread

[Reply #480 on:]

You're really eager to add season fourteen to your collection, Otis? I'd personally skip that one m'self, if I weren't such a completist. I am actually looking forward to season 15, though--it was the last season I watched regularly, and it was pretty good, if my memory can be trusted.

And, actually, I guess I'm kind of excited for the subsequent seasons, just because I haven't seen most of the episodes from 2005 onwards. So at least there will be a certain novelty to it all.

[Reply #481 on:]

I'm planning on getting 14 and 15, and then I'll probably wait until the series is completely over to see if I want to get the rest of them.

[Reply #482 on:]

By the time the series ends, you'll probably be able to pay for the DVDs with your social security checks.

[Reply #483 on:]

By the time the series ends perhaps all comedy will be so bad that post-season 15 Simpsons will be amazing in comparison, and I'll be able to enjoy it anyway.

[Reply #484 on:]

One can only hope.

Also: Since I'm now poor and cannot go out and spend my money as I normally would, maybe I ought to have a Simpsons marathon. I mean, I have fourteen seasons (though I still think it was dumb of me to buy the season twenty DVD) and the movie sitting on my bedroom shelf, and I haven't seen most of them in quite some time. And it's not like I'm spending the rest of my summer doing, like, outdoorsy stuff.

[Reply #485 on:]

I know I will have found my significant other when she agrees to have a Simpsons marathon with me.

Also, alert me when you come in IRC dammit! It takes me longer than 5 minutes to notice.

[Reply #486 on:]

And you'll know it's the real deal when she doesn't just use "Simpsons marathon" as a code for nookie, but actually means that she wants to watch the Simpsons with you.

[Reply #487 on:]

I've always wanted to have sex with "Mr. Plow" on in the background...

[Reply #488 on:]

Huh. I've always wanted to have sex.

And as far as "Mr. Plow" goes: If it gets Marge in the mood, chances are it would have the same effect on most other ladies.

[Reply #489 on:]

Huh. I've always wanted to have sex.

Well...that much was implied.

[Reply #490 on:]

You're really eager to add season fourteen to your collection, Otis? I'd personally skip that one m'self, if I weren't such a completist. I am actually looking forward to season 15, though--it was the last season I watched regularly, and it was pretty good, if my memory can be trusted.

Yeah I just want them all, regardless of quality, I want a complete collection. I can dip into the few good ones here and there at leisure. Also with any new DVD I like watching it all in a short space of time, always fun...

I also have Season 20 on DVD btw, yeah, not great but has a few ok moments...

[Reply #491 on:]

So The Simpsons Season 14 DVD was delayed from September to October 10th in the UK, and to December in America. Hmmm, better not get delayed again ...

[Reply #492 on:]

I'm guessing the December delay is an attempt to get higher sales, what with Christmas and such. Season fourteen's kind of lousy (though I do agree it has its moments, and it'll be nice to see some of those episodes after, like, nine years), so any bit of strategic marketing probably helps.

[Reply #493 on:]

Those greedy bastards! I wish they'd just go back to two a year, like the used to do ...

[Reply #494 on:]

Season 14 is the first season, in my opinion, that doesn't have any great episodes. Rather, it has a fair amount of great moments in REALLY sub-par episodes, and quite a few terrible episodes. Season 15 is like this as well.

[Reply #495 on:]

I think season 15 is genuinely good, though ("The President Wore Pearls," "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore," and "The Way We Weren't" in particular are really great). To me, season 15 is composed mostly of really solid episodes, several so-so ones, and one or two that are absolutely terrible ("Bart Mangled Banner" may be my least favorite episode of the series).

Season 14, meanwhile, is just so mediocre. It has its moments (I like some of "Special Edna" and "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" in particular, and I guess "Three Gays of the Condo" and "Moe Baby Blues" are all right), but overall it's just really unfunny and unmemorable and blah.

[Reply #496 on:]

Moe Baby Blues is probably the best ep in Season 14 from what I remember, although I still stick by the Homer cloning hammock as my favourite part of any Season 14 ep...

On the whole I believe Season 15 might actually be slightly better, yes, and Season 16 possibly a little better again. I quite liked some of Season 17 as well even though most people seem to hate it. After Season 17 it really went down the shitter (but not completely, quite)...

[Reply #497 on:]

I think my favorite episode of season 14 is How I Spent My Strummer Vacation. Most of the okay episodes of season 14 are at the beginning of the season, it gets progressively worse in a way.

I agree that season 15 has a few winners, My Mother The Carjacker, The Way We Weren't...I even like some of the sillier ones like Simple Simpson (PIE MAN!) and Catch 'Em If You Can.

After looking at the episode lists, I agree with Gorky...15 was stronger than 14.

I completely disagree with you, Otis, about 16 and 17...to me, the difference in quality between season 16 and everything before it is the hugest in the entire history of the show. Season 16 and on is almost unwatchable for me.

[Reply #498 on:]

I love "Catch 'Em If You Can" and "Simple Simpson," too, Josh. They're silly, like you say, but good silly--believable and somewhat touching in their silliness. I feel like season 15 has a decent amount of heart in it (not on-par with, say, seasons two or four or seven--which I absolutely love--but it's not as emotionally-manipulative and simplistic as I think most of the later seasons are), and I appreciate that.

And I haven't seen the show much past season 15, so my opinion is even more useless than usual when it comes to the subject of seasons 16 and 17.

[Reply #499 on:]

To give you somewhat of an idea...season 16 felt like they suddenly switched ALL the writers to fans of the show.

[Reply #500 on:]

Well that sounds fucking unpleasant.

Honestly, the only season I've seen in its near-entirety since season 15 is season 20, and that's only because I bought that bare-bones DVD they put out for the show's twentieth anniversary or whatever. It wasn't too awful, but there was definitely a noticeable decline in quality between seasons that had been produced five years apart--a decline even steeper than if you compared, say, season eight with season thirteen.

I shall maintain my belief that I was wise to stop watching when I did, and that season 15 was probably the last season that was more enjoyable than painful--it makes me feel better about myself, y'know? Also, I thought the movie was really great, and would have been quite pleased if it had served as a series finale.

[Reply #501 on:]

The movie was surprisingly well done, I very much enjoyed it. I remember after seeing the movie I had high hopes for the series again (I thought perhaps the last few seasons had suffered so horribly because they were putting all their efforts on the movie) and watched some of the next season (which I think was 18). Needless to say, I was disappointed to be wrong.

[Reply #502 on:]

I too enjoyed The Simpsons Movie a lot. Only the other day I saw it on some websites list of worst TV to Movie adaptations and I was horrified. They must have thought they were hip for disliking it. I also saw all of Season 20 on DVD after I bought it on holiday in America last year...

As for Season 16, it contains one of my favourite modern Simpsons episodes "Sleeping With the Enemy". That really is a great ep than one. I quite liked "There's Something About Marrying" too. Sure it was controversial, but in a good Simpsons way. "Future-Drama" was also good, but looking at the rest, perhaps I was being a little too forgiving of this season...

I actually think Season 17 is better than Season 16. I really liked "The Girl Who Slept Too Little", great Lisa ep and Gavedigger Billy was an excellent parody character. "Marge's Son Poisoning" is a strong ep, it portrays Marge's and Bart's mother and son bond very successfully. "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" was pretty good, not great, but memorable as it was a format bender. "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" is again one of my favourite modern eps, having the school separated by gender. I'm quite looking forward to getting Season 17 on DVD if they hurry the hell up!...

That's not to say that all those seasons didn’t contain any duds or outright horrendous eps, because they did...

[Reply #503 on:]

For my money, season 12 was the last season that was more enjoyable than painful. 13 was when the show turned into pure crap and the last great episode was in season 12.

That said, rather oddly, season 16 contained a few decent episodes, but they were just a strange coincidence.
And I very much enjoyed the movie.

[Reply #504 on:]

Season 12 is on the whole a good season with some great eps including one of my personal faves "Trilogy Of Error". A far better season than Season 11, that's for sure...

Also, oh no, I just saw this...

Lady Gaga to guest star in 'The Simpsons'. 'Bad Romance' singer to appear in episode titled 'Lisa Goes Gaga'
The storyline will see Gaga arrive in Springfield to cheer up Lisa, but end up kissing Marge. The singer joked that role would not be too much of a stretch, given that it sees her playing "a little bit of a slut. The apple doesn't fall far away from my artistic tree".

Source: http://www.nme.com/news/lady-gaga/58803

No, just no ...

[Reply #505 on:]

In my opinion, season 13 is the last season with a fantastic episode, which is The Blunder Years. That's the only great episode it has though. I agree that season 12 was the last great season.

[Reply #506 on:]

I would probably agree that season twelve was the last season that had truly great, top-tier episodes ("HOMR," in particular, is a top-fiftyish episode for me), but I still think seasons thirteen and fifteen had their moments (fifteen moreso than thirteen, actually).

And people who criticized the movie must not have been paying close enough attention to what had happened to the quality of the series, because I think the movie was probably the best thing the writers had produced since season nine or ten. It was genuinely funny and genuinely moving (I love the message Marge leaves for Homer on their wedding video; it kind of kills me), and the entire family was in-character. Take out a few of the more modern pop culture references (mostly Green Day, I guess), and I think the movie would have fit comfortably in the so-called Golden Age of the series.

And ending the series with the movie would have shown that the writers (and the network) knew when the hell to stop. I have no idea how they'll end the show at this point, since they've already done Big Event Episodes and Big Emotional Episodes and Big Game-Changing Episodes. It's definitely going out with a whimper and not a bang...unless the bang comes from the legions of once-devoted fans collectively shooting themselves in the soul.

[Reply #507 on:]

I think there will probably be another Simpsons Movie when the series does finally end, if it actually does end for reasons beyond something bad happening to a cast member. Season 23 could be the last season, but I think we all know it probably won't be. No more than 25 seasons tops though please, please! ...

[Reply #508 on:]

One thing I will say is...

For all the hate Lisa seems to get online, I think she and Homer have one of the most truly touching parent/child relationships in fiction.  Despite having the least common out of of all the family members, I think it's really sweet that deep down, Lisa will always be a daddy's girl, and that Homer will make just about any sacrifice for Lisa's happiness/future.

Call me an old softy, but since Homer has been made into a selfish fat moron as the seasons go on (sometimes approaching Peter Griffin's levels of sociopathy and selfishness), and Lisa becoming an insufferable little killjoy at times, it's nice that the two characters can still bring out eachother's best qualities.

Also, now for my usual bile on recent Simpsons episodes.  I swear they haven't had a funny new regular character since Lindsay Naegle.  God bless that alcoholic sexual predator.  

[Reply #509 on:]

I think "Lisa's Substitute" alone makes such a poignant statement about Homer and Lisa's relationship--but I sure am glad it's a story point that the writers have revisited time and time again. The Homer/Lisa episodes can usually be counted on for some heartwarming moments (even if they have become a bit formulaic by this point...though I suppose the same could be said for everything about this show).

I also think that Marge's relationship with Bart is pretty nuanced and realistic. "Marge Be Not Proud," anyone?

[Reply #510 on:]

I think "Lisa's Substitute" alone makes such a poignant statement about Homer and Lisa's relationship--but I sure am glad it's a story point that the writers have revisited time and time again. The Homer/Lisa episodes can usually be counted on for some heartwarming moments (even if they have become a bit formulaic by this point...though I suppose the same could be said for everything about this show).

I also think that Marge's relationship with Bart is pretty nuanced and realistic. "Marge Be Not Proud," anyone?

Agreed.  For the most part, it seems to be that girls always seem to have get on better with their fathers, and boys with their mothers.  

One thing I will say is that the only character who seems to become more interesting as the series declines in quality is Marge.  I think she's getting much better storylines now, and they feel less gimmicky then Homer whose job seems to change twice a week.   I like how they have developed and expanded her personality, without sacrificing her emotional core.  Homer's gone from being a well meaning idiot whose heart was in the right place to a selfish sociopath with no regard for his wife and children's wellbeing, Bart is a pure sadist who will go out of his way to severely hurt/humliate Lisa and Homer for no reason except spite, and Lisa went from being the nicest person on the show who genuinely wanted to make the world a better place to being a militant crusader for whatever's got her knickers in a knot that week.

But I will agree with you that Marge and Bart have an extremely nuanced, realistic relationship.  It doesn't have the emotional bite that Lisa and Homer's bond has, but it is extremely well written.  


Also I'm curious, are there any extremely minor characters from the early run, who you think should have got developed more?  I have a few.  It's probably too late to develop them without feeling gimmicky or forced however.

Terri and Sherri: They're always there, and you would have thought they would get developed the way Martin or Milhouse have been, but they seem to be in the same place they were in 20 years ago.  

Miss Hoover
I think she's a pretty funny character, but sadly doesn't have the same level of focus and character development that Miss Krabappal has had (I suppose they are too similar in personality, but the writers could have differentiated them).  She has had some pretty good lines I will say, and is a pretty underrated character.  She certainly brings more to the show then Sideshow Mel or that YESSSS guy does.

[Reply #511 on:]

I like the YESSSS guy!

How about Hans Moleman? He's been there for a long time and his only job is to get hurt or killed. But I want to know what that weird guy does everyday? Who is he?

For the most part, it seems to be that girls always seem to have get on better with their fathers, and boys with their mothers.  

That is true about relationships. But the other thing to remember is that kids always end up like their parents, sons like fathers and daughters like mothers. Some of my favourite scenes ever have involved Homer & Bart doing stupid things together (like in the movie on the roof, or when they put pots on their heads and ram into each other).  

Bart is an "10" year old version of Homer and he treats his father the way his father has treated him.

[Reply #512 on:]

I always loved Homer and Maggie's relationship. The episode about her birth alone is one of my favorites.

[Reply #513 on:]

Fox considering TV channel that plays nothing but The Simpsons

I wonder if that would mean starting at season 1 episode 1 and running it through, then restart again.

[Reply #514 on:]

Make a Futurama one!

[Reply #515 on:]

Fox considering TV channel that plays nothing but The Simpsons

[Reply #516 on:]

If they go for it they better show the New York episode again. IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS!

Make a Futurama one!

Way too few episodes to do that... even if they would show the commentaries.

[Reply #517 on:]

I know, but still, I was just saying... Wait 'til they have 10 Seasons (if it gets that far).

[Reply #518 on:]

I wonder if that would mean starting at season 1 episode 1 and running it through, then restart again.

That would make too much sense, this is Fox remember. They have no logic...

If they go for it they better show the New York episode again. IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS!

Um, Season 9 DVD? I have it in my closet; I can watch it whenever I want...

[Reply #519 on:]

If you argue that way then they never have to show any re-runs.