For people who watched The Simpsons, when or why did you stop watching? For people still watching, what are we missing?

The New York episode is hilarious!

I actually watched a bunch of the new episodes when I got Disney+. Its certainly a different show than I remember

I stopped when it was obvious the writers thought batshit insane Homer was funnier than bumbling-dad homer. This happened to the dad in Malcolm In The Middle too. Early-onset father dementia is a common disease in TV comedies with hack writing staffs.

The NYC episode was the first episode of Season 9. I think most true fans consider Season 8 to be the last season in which every episode is pretty much a stone classic. Season 9 episodes started to take on a much more surreal tone, and it's also when Homer started to shift from "well-meaning but kind of crappy husband and father" to "utter sociopath."

I continued to watch the show faithfully through Season 20 or so. You get a lot of swings in quality between various seasons and even between episodes, but most of seasons 9-20 still have at least one or two great episodes, and nearly every episode still has a couple pretty good jokes.

In the last 10 years (they've had 31 seasons!) I watch it here and there. It can still make me laugh but it seems like they're at the point of recycling ideas for, like, the second or even third times. It also makes me sad the way they've had to drop beloved characters out of the rotation because the voice actors are dying off (cf Mrs. Krabappel) ... and as was mentioned in a recent DL thread, it's painful to listen to Julie Kavner's voice these days.

They should have ended with Season 20. But I still consider it the best and most important show in TV history, so ...

I don’t think I have watched since 2005.

I stopped watching when the story lines revolved around having the guest star more than it did the comedy of the story itself. I could care less about who the voice was I just wanted the stories and characters to be funny and sarcastic. Not preachy and woke.

I admit I watch daily but only first ten seasons. There were some very clever critical funny ideas.

Tapered off after season ten. I watched now and then for a few more seasons.

Why watch when I could do something better, like stab my eyeballs out?

I love The Simpsons but stopped watching regularly years ago. When they fired Alf Clausen to save money they lost me forever as a viewer. The Simpsons should have ended gracefully years ago.

I stopped watching around 2000/2001 when the writing really got shitty. Honestly I was surprised the movie wasn’t terrible considering the time period it was released in. I can’t believe it’s still on the air today, since their heyday was over 20 years ago. But those 90’s seasons are some of the best TV ever produced and still hold up during rewatches.

I stopped tuning in regularly around season 12 or so but the show was already in decline by then. That was 20 years ago and it's still on. Believe it or not the last episode I remember catching on Sunday evening when it premiered was the clip show called "Gump Roast"...which is the episode that features, well, this disturbingly prescient song:

Like most, I was a huge fan of the show for the first ten seasons or so. I gradually checked out as the quality continued to drop. You could feel them groping wildly for a way to remain relevant. But over the last few years, I’ve checked out the odd episode here and there. A few of them have been pretty good. Not season five good, but good enough. At some point, they clearly accepted that they couldn’t out-Family Guy Family Guy and just decided to tread water, and weirdly that was a step up for them.

The show is just too topical now. The stories and humor of the first few seasons were so universal that they are still relevant today. Now every show is about what’s treading but who wants to watch an episode about MyPods now. Also all these one shot guest voice characters are pointless when the show already has a town full of crazy characters.

I stopped watching around season 11 or 12. I just lost interest.

Stopped watching around 20 years ago.

Used to be genius, now .... Worst Episode Ever.

Crusty the Clown is one of many artifacts of a pre-80s childhood that did not age well.

I remember the "tomacco" episode feeling like a real jump the shark moment. That was season 11. Didn't watch regularly after that, but I have occasionally watched a few more recent episodes on Hulu, and they were OK. Nothing laugh-out-loud funny like the first decade, but not as bad as I expected/remembered from the early 2000s. Comforting, maybe that's the word. I really wonder who those people are who never gave up on the show, because it was pretty dire for awhile.

I wish I had asked which episodes people should watch if they stopped after S10. I'm curious if there are gems among the crap.

I probably quit watching around 1998/1999, simply because I had outgrown it by that point after having watched it for a decade. I actually caught a few newer episodes in the past year when channel surfing and it’s actually still pretty good. I wouldn’t watch it on a regular basis though because I just don’t care enough to.

I probably stopped watching regularly by the late 2000s. I don’t remember the year but I remember having a moment where I realized watching it felt like a chore. I’ll still tune in for the Treehouse of Horror episodes but even those are pretty awful now.

Season 16, I stopped watching. They kept getting all the celebrity guests. And the writing wasn't there anymore. I continue to watch The treehouse of Horror every year. But the last few years, it's become lousy. I wish they would have pulled the plug on it years ago. I watch the old ones on Disney plus. They are still good.

This turned my stomach, and the channel.

Hey R22, don't have a clam, man!

I stopped watching around 2000. It's only gotten worse since then.

The worst episode from the past few years was the Lady Gaga episode. Lisa is such an whiny brat throughout the entire episode and Lady Gaga keeps repeating her mantra "love yourself!".

I used to watch the Simpsons religiously. I loved the show. But the humor got progressively cruder, nastier, and the show basically became insane. It seemed to be taking a cue from "Family Guy." It was even reduced to fart jokes; there was a Halloween episode where Homer get paralyzed and can only communicate by farting. It was a pathetic take off on "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" which wasn't a horror movie really. I can't remember when I stopped watching it. I haven't seen it in many, many years. The Simpsons should have ended a long time ago.

I quit watching after I met a couple of writers for the show. Literally a bunch of feces throwing monkeys sitting around with a room full of typewriters.

The Flintones was the first prime time cartoon for adults. It’s 50s mentality lasted only 6 years (1960 - 1966) because it could not survive the sexual revolution. Now it seems like a dated kid’s show. At least the Simpson TRIED to keep up with a rapidly changing society, but when the characters don’t age, it’s kind of cringy.

^^ FLINTSTONES I mean.

R27, really??? They were that bad?

I stopped watching in the mid '90s because I went to college and had to focus on studies and fuckin.'

I didn't really like the way they changed Lisa from a sensitive, cerebral child into a whiny, pretentious brat. And the aforementioned transformation of Homer from bumbling dad to insane moron.

When I stopped smoking weed (and therefore stopped watching TV).

I used to love it, though.

Stopped regular viewing about 20 years ago, would still sometimes tune in but stopped completely 15 years ago. Was a pretty big fan at one point. It was only really good for about 5-6 seasons.

r30, A friend of mine was workshopping a film script and these two 'writers' from the show came in to give notes. They were rude, talked during the read through and were just generally dismissive of anyone in the room who wasn't a name. They hung out afterwards and double downed on their douche bros behavior. They soured on us after none of us found their jokes or notes particularly helpful or humorous. This was in 2000 or thereabouts so I'm sure they were filtered out but it just turned me off of the show altogether.

R35, yeah, they sound douchey. Screw 'em. I would have told them "you guys are about as funny as The Simpsons". And just walked away.

It all went downhill after season 397.

I stopped about Season 8. Slowly skipped episodes. In the last 10 years if I flip into it it's instantly clear I don't want anything to do with it. Such bad writing and unimaginative drawing.

I still watch it when I'm home & it's on. It doesn't have the same quality as the first dozen seasons or so - but it's still a far sight better than most of the crap on commercial tv these days.

Around college time in 2003. I started watching family guy then. that’s over as well. I never hated the Simpsons though, and every once in a while I’ve caught an episode, but even then it just doesn’t capture of me like it used too. I think it’s because they never age.

I was a lapsed watcher by the time the movie came out. I was shocked by how good it was.

It is still great

[quote] The Flintones was the first prime time cartoon for adults. It’s 50s mentality lasted only 6 years (1960 - 1966) because it could not survive the sexual revolution. Now it seems like a dated kid’s show.

The post-1966 Saturday morning reboots like [italic]The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Hour, Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo, The Flintstones Kids[/italic] et al contributed to that perception. The first couple of years of the original show before they had children were funnier and more sophisticated. [italic]The Simpsons[/italic] has just kept going on as a single series continuously since 1989 without any attempts to reboot it.

[quote]At least the Simpson TRIED to keep up with a rapidly changing society, but when the characters don’t age, it’s kind of cringy.

Victims of their own success, perhaps. They've been on so long even their glimpses into the characters' future are set in years that the real world has now passed. I held out for 17 seasons until I couldn't take anymore. It's like watching your best friend from school become an alcoholic.

Shows like South Park and Family Guy took the edge away from The Simpsons while King of the Hill was even more earnest than the best Simpsons episodes (not necessarily a better show, but definitely more earnest).

[italic]Beavis and Butt-Head[/italic] knew when to quit. Now it's coming back for a re-reboot away from MTV. It ended when [italic]South Park[/italic] began and that never ended. I don't predict you can go home again when you couldn't on MTV.

Stopped watching around season 14 or 15. The new ones have their moments, but they’re just a different show than the classic seasons (2-9). Seasons 2-9 are definitely the best TV show ever made though.

"The Flintstones" was for "adults?" What adult would want to watch that not very funny cartoon show? They show it on MeTV; I watched it a few times and though it was dull and unfunny. And every other show seemed to have the same plot: Fred and Barney have to figure a away out of their predicament, which comes from them forgetting that the night of the big bowling tournament or lodge meeting is the same night they promised to take Betty and Wilma to the opera.

R47, it was supposed to be an animated version of The Honeymooners.

I stopped watching in the season that Principle Skinner turned out to be an imposter in one episode (late 90s). I'd stopped watching because I didn't have access to tv for a while, but hearing about that episode made me think the show had jumped the shark in my absence, and watching it again when I got back to tv just confirmed it.

R49, a lot of people felt that way actually. I think Matt Groening actually disownned the episode. Even when I used to watch reruns on Fox, that episode was one of the least played. At least that's how I remember it.

What is the easiest way to watch seasons 2-9 today?

R50 yeah IIRC they haven't retconned that episode but they ignore it as much as possible.

R51, Disney Plus. It's all on there.

The episode Matt Groening disowned was the [italic]Critic[/italic] crossover with Jon Lovitz. Except that actually was a good episode, making it all the more ironic that Al Jean's run as executive producer has been crap since he co-created that show. It was funny but many of the references to independent and foreign films must have gone over people's heads.

R54, yeah, i loved that episode and I really liked The Critic.

R49 the fans universally hate that episode. The writer of the episode was defiant on the DVD commentary, saying that if you hated it, then the episode was about you! I can kind of appreciate it through that lens.

Lovitz was funny.

The Skinner episode made no sense in light of what we knew about him before.

I've read that they keep making the show because the game The Simpsons: Tapped Out, is very profitable. IMO, The Simpsons is a 90s show and it should have ended when the 90s ended.

[quote] I've read that they keep making the show because the game The Simpsons: Tapped Out, is very profitable.

You've got a gambling problem!

I play Tapped Out. Trust me, it’s not profitable. You don’t have to spend a cent on it if you don’t want to. And there are no ads. I always thought of it as a commercial for the show.

Once a show gets past a certain amount of episodes, it becomes a sort of corporate entity; a fire that must constantly be fed. The only dictum: more.

I never stopped. It's strange to see how many people who stopped watching 20 years ago criticize a show the haven't seen for 20 years. They literally don't know what they're talking about. The show has remained interesting and funny. It still has some edge and outsider anarchy. The extra years have expanded the Simpsons universe with more depth to even the most obscure supporting characters. Not as many out of the ballpark hits but still consistent laughs. Certainly better than most shows out there.

R61, what are some good episodes to watch?

This video does a good job explaining everything wrong with the show that has the nerve to call itself [italic]The Simpsons[/italic] today.

Marge's spinster twin sisters Patti and Selma were hilarious. Then they had one of them adopt a Chinese baby (I think it was Chinese) and one of them turned gay. Total idiocy.

What's worse is when Patty almost married a heterosexual man trying to pass himself off as a lesbian…and she didn't find out until his confession on the altar!

R65, And he was literally singing "dude looks like a lady" in the bathroom as he shaved. Pretty stupid and ignorant.

It simply wore out its welcome and then, as so often, didn't know when to stop.

R67 it still makes money, which is all anyone involved cares about. If the money evaporated, they'd cancel it tomorrow. Same for Law and Order, Grey's Anatomy, South Park, Family Guy, etc. Big Bang Theory would still be on if Jim Parson didn't jump ship.

R65 That one reached Flintstones depths - it was as clever as the “Fred and Barney in drag“ episode.

Used to watch regularly from 1991-2013 then just got out of the habit. However, caught one from last season where one of the Flanders's kids was having a crisis of faith due to being orphaned. It was funny and touching. The Simpsons are still worth watching, I say.

The Ke$ha opening is painful to contemplate as is the Lady Gaga episode.

[QUOTE] .... crisis of faith due to ...

... losing his mother, Maude.

I moved out of my parents house and sodny have cable. I know I can stream it but I just don’t watch as much tv as I used to. I still enjoy it though when I do see it.

[quote]A few of them have been pretty good. Not season five good, but good enough.

I'm rewatching Season 5 right now and am surprised at how bad a lot of it is. Weirdly, episodes I thought were good on rewatch like "Marge on the Lam" are ones people seem to really hate.

[quote] The Flintones was the first prime time cartoon for adults. It’s 50s mentality lasted only 6 years (1960 - 1966) because it could not survive the sexual revolution. Now it seems like a dated kid’s show.

Not sure about this argument.

In fact I’d say the humour in Hanna-Barbera cartoons holds up remarkably well given their age. A re-run or a classic TOP CAT episode of guaranteed to get laughs out of me, and I’m a Millennial who has never seen the show it lampoons (some black-and-white sitcom about the US Army, right?) and technically won’t get many of the in-jokes. The “mentality” of the characters doesn’t impede my enjoyment of the show at all, as some things are ineffably human - sure, the cats rely on a payphone, use beatnik slang, and take their ladies on cute chaste little dates by way of courtship, but it’s still recognisable and understandable today. If the jokes and the set-ups and the characterisations in a script are funny without a topical crutch, then they’ll work forever.

You’re talking as if we all suddenly erased our own history and turned into cybernetic-aliens from THE MATRIX the minute the clock ticked over to Y2K.

Hanna-Barbera didn't turn kid-centric until after [italic]The Flintstones[/italic] ended, they moved from Screen Gems to Taft Broadcasting, and switched from prime time to Saturday morning.

It's remarkable how "cartoons" can attract an adult audience when they don't dumb themselves down.

I never thought Hanna Barbera cartoon were very funny. At least they were not side-splittingly funny like Warner Brothers or Tex Avery cartoons. I though Hanna Barbera toons were very bland.

[quote]Hanna-Barbera didn't turn kid-centric until after The Flintstones ended.

Nuh-uh. Ruff & Reddy, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and Quick Draw Mc Graw all preceded The Flintstones.

But then they double down on that after about 1967 or so.

And to whoever mentioned Tex Avery, this was how he ended his career:

While we're on the subject of cartoons, "Ren & Stimpy" is being rebooted for Comedy Central. Ugh. That show burned out VERY quickly, mostly due to the insanity of its creator, the vile John Kricfalusi or John K. (his last name is unpronounceable), as he's usually known. He was/is a child molester.

Not just a pedophile but a homophobe to boot. He was caught on tape complaining that the female executives at the studios he worked at before he got to Nickelodeon were lesbians and he complained that they wouldn’t let him drive pretty girls.

Drive = draw

Who are the Simpsons?

R80 blah-blah-blah, yackety-schmackedy.

It's so crazy when that show first started I was in my early twenties. Marge and Homer were in their 30s. Now I am almost 50. And Marge and Homer are still in their 30s. It's crazy how long that show has been on the air.

I was watching it again out of nostalgia for a few years but stopped. It got very pretentious. There was always that Harvard humor, but now it’s just snobby unfunny references. I don’t really know what audience they’re going for.

Family Guy has obviously declined, but I know I’ll still get at least one episode per episode. I barely crack a smile at The Simpsons now.

I was a fetus when the first episode aired.

The Fox Network is afraid to let it die because if you count the years on [italic]The Tracey Ullman Show[/italic], they have never known life without it.

r4 has it.

[quote] The show is just too topical now. The stories and humor of the first few seasons were so universal that they are still relevant today.

This also happened to South Park. Through around season 8, they dealt with universal themes related to childhood and family life. Casa Bonita, Awesomo, etc. are classics. Even their take on pop culture in those years used celebrities more to tell stories about greed, vanity, and so on. The episodes about Ben Afflect and Paris Hilton, for example, are still really funny for that reason. Then they turned topical and it's been uninteresting ever since.

R86, the show started when I was in high school, now I'm 48 and it's still on. It's ridiculous.

I joined Disney Plus two days ago as a direct result of reading this thread. I started watching season one, and found Homer's voice annoyingly rough. When I start back up again, I'm going to skip to S2E1.

Is Dolph still in it? For some reason I don’t recall he was my favourite character as a 6 year old kid (iirc he barely appeared and didn’t really have a personality so idk why). I also had a weird comp-het crush on Snake; I guess he’s still roaming free...

Thanks to having younger male cousins I remember more about the mediocre PlayStation games and the weird AU comic-books than I do the actual tv show itself. I couldn’t synopsise a well-known Simpsons plot without an episode guide. My cousins liked FUTURAMA better, fwiw, though I found it hard to get into (and kind of creepy and uncomfortably sexist in some ways, looking back? Just me?)

Anyway, I much preferred Adult Swim classics like SQUIDBILLIES, AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, METALOCALYPSE, VENTURE BROS, THE ERIC ANDRÉ SHOW, and ROBOT CHICKEN (occasionally some AMERICAN DAD!), over THE SIMPSONS or SOUTH PARK or FAMILY GUY. Honestly, I’d rather watch the crazier classic Nickelodeon toons or sitcoms (my lifelong favourites being HEY ARNOLD!, COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG and KENAN & KEL) or even some badly-dubbed ‘90s animé (I’m a sucker for original CARDCAPTOR SAKURA and YU-GI-OH!). Maybe I’m too young or too weird or too gay for it, but THE SIMPSONS just always left me cold.

Back to Adult Swim. Most of their in-house shows are still hilarious on rewatch. As an adult I relate way too hard to Rusty Cuyler, Toki Wartooth, Henchman 21, and on my worst days Master Shake.

All these years later, I realise I basically grew up to become Martin Prince.

I can't even sit through a single episode of this show, I don't get what the hype is. It's like humor for eleven year old boys. Say what you want about Family Guy, at least Seth MacFarlane can be witty sometimes. The Simpsons is just noise and bright colors.

In the 90’s I was in my 20’s and the show was such an important cultural touchstone for the entire decade. My friends and I quoted it constantly. So many classic episodes and that thing where people now say, “Everything predicted on The Simpsons will eventually come true.” Was quite accurate (in an abstract-thinking way). The first episode of a new season was an event, and you were crushed when the last episode of the season aired. It was rare to see a bad episode.

Then around 2000, cracks started to appear. Things it had influenced began catching up to it in a detrimental way. It felt like you’d watch an entire season of lame episodes just to say, “Well that one was good at least!” About one or two only. When the last episode of a season aired it was almost a relief.

Around 2007 I stopped tuning in. I just seemed to forget about it.

I can’t believe it’s still on.

I have this fantasy in the back of my mind suddenly “discovering” over a decade of un-watched later episodes and watching them all to discover the show had a later unseen energy I hadn’t imagined. But I think it’s just a fantasy.

R96, I think it started getting bad even before that, sometime around the late 90s.

Weird plot shenanigans and Gilligan cuts aside, the show is about a stable comfortably off middle-class nuclear-family, living in a sleepy relatively-peaceful multicultural suburb, in an aw-shucks America that doesn’t exist anymore (and hasn’t since the ‘70s-‘80s, if it ever did). No wonder it’s not relatable, and people of today don’t need it or want to see it.