The Official Simpsons Griefing Thread

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What should the final episode be like?
 
Kamen Rider Black RX said:
I think a big part of what happened to the Simpsons was societal change.

The original seasons were counter-culture for the era they were made in, a glorious response to the wholesome family values that the media was pushing. It was willing to tackle the things most sitcoms wouldn't touch, and it worked. It challenged people, and if I had to sum up that era it was the battle for America's soul between Bart Simpson and the Carebears. A satirical version of reality vs. bubble-wrapped niceness.

The problem is the show changed the way TV was made. As time went on not only were more shows emulating The Simpsons, and they were willing to take it further. The show lost it's main draw and became in essence became culture. It lost it's place on TV, so it scrambled to not be left further behind. After all, it was still making money. Episodes become more topical whereas classic Simpsons transcended it's era. Fads and guest stars take center stage in an obvious attempt to stay relevant. The characters further degrade themselves to compete with the likes of Family Guy, leading to the likes of Jerkass Homer.

I remember being on a job and talking to my coworker about how we both agreed the show has gone downhill and should be axed. The sad part was this was about 10 years ago.
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I think a far simpler explanation is that everyone just ran out of ideas.
 
Kamen Rider Black RX said:
I think a big part of what happened to the Simpsons was societal change.

The original seasons were counter-culture for the era they were made in, a glorious response to the wholesome family values that the media was pushing. It was willing to tackle the things most sitcoms wouldn't touch, and it worked. It challenged people, and if I had to sum up that era it was the battle for America's soul between Bart Simpson and the Carebears. A satirical version of reality vs. bubble-wrapped niceness.
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This is exactly the reason they started tanking. They were born out of the Reagan/Bush Sr. era when there was a very active religious right that held a lot of sway over the media and kept most television very sterile. There's a reason Barbara Bush took a potshot at them in the middle of a campaign.

By the late 90's that had all evaporated and the new counter-culture was a backlash against political correctness. The only problem was the Simpsons producers didn't get the memo and kept sticking it to a man who didn't exist anymore. This is when the Simpsons started treading water and stuff like South Park cropped up as the relevant satire of the day.

Then they just kind of stuck around and languished as commercial mascots for Fox. The Simpsons are like how Mickey Mouse stuff is all over Disney marketing even though no one has really cared about Mickey Mouse for decades.
 
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SkeletonBias420 said:
This is exactly the reason they started tanking. They were born out of the Reagan/Bush Sr. era when there was a very active religious right that held a lot of sway over the media and kept most television very sterile. There's a reason Barbara Bush took a potshot at them in the middle of a campaign.

By the late 90's that had all evaporated and the new counter-culture was a backlash against political correctness. The only problem was the Simpsons producers didn't get the memo and kept sticking it to a man who didn't exist anymore. This is when the Simpsons started treading water and stuff like South Park cropped up as the relevant satire of the day.

Then they just kind of stuck around and languished as commercial mascots for Fox. The Simpsons are like how Mickey Mouse stuff is all over Disney marketing even though no one has really cared about Mickey Mouse for decades.
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Eh, the newer Mickey Mouse shorts have been pretty good.
 
BubbleButt said:
For fuck's sake, Homer wrote a suicide note in the third episode of the series
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And they had an episode that dared to show that strippers are people too ("Homer's Night Out").

This is exactly the reason they started tanking. They were born out of the Reagan/Bush Sr. era when there was a very active religious right that held a lot of sway over the media and kept most television very sterile. There's a reason Barbara Bush took a potshot at them in the middle of a campaign.
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Barbara Bush just called the show "stupid." H.W. Bush was the one who said that families in America need to be more like The Waltons instead of The Simpsons (and then there was that episode where H.W. and Barbara move across the street from The Simpsons and Homer and Bart play pranks on him, which, believe it or not, was based on one of the writers playing pranks on Jeb and George Bush, Jr. when they were kids).

By the late 90's that had all evaporated and the new counter-culture was a backlash against political correctness. The only problem was the Simpsons producers didn't get the memo and kept sticking it to a man who didn't exist anymore. This is when the Simpsons started treading water and stuff like South Park cropped up as the relevant satire of the day.
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So that's why it felt kinda forced in its satire from seasons six to eight (even though there were good episodes to be had around that time), though I always thought it was because season five was when the good writers left and they hired writers who could make the show funny, but not as sharp and satirical as it used to be, and from there, it just got worse and worse.
 
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trombonista said:
What should the final episode be like?
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We start with the beginning of a normal, modern day Simpsons episode. Maybe play it up to it being a more out-there concept than normal. After the initial setup, we actually find out it's all in Homer's head. He's been in a coma since Bart the Daredevil, and the time equivalent to the number of years since the initial airing has passed in the real world. It's revealed Bart is successful with his life and has been paying for Homer's medical care out of guilt.

The episode then becomes this really serious discussion between Bart, Lisa and Maggie about pulling the plug on Homer (and by extension, the show itself).
 
Kamen Rider Black RX said:
We start with the beginning of a normal, modern day Simpsons episode. Maybe play it up to it being a more out-there concept than normal. After the initial setup, we actually find out it's all in Homer's head. He's been in a coma since Bart the Daredevil, and the time equivalent to the number of years since the initial airing has passed in the real world. It's revealed Bart is successful with his life and has been paying for Homer's medical care out of guilt.

The episode then becomes this really serious discussion between Bart, Lisa and Maggie about pulling the plug on Homer (and by extension, the show itself).
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I like this mostly because it throws Bart a bone. Every "future" episode features Bart as a strung-out loser with a string of unsuccessful marriages and a poor relationship with his kids if has any. Not even Homer struck out that bad. It started out kind of funny but by this point it's such a common gag it honestly feels like the writers are A-Logging their own character. Especially since a common them is Bart is actually a pretty decent and responsible kid at heart.
 
Replicant Sasquatch said:
I like this mostly because it throws Bart a bone. Every "future" episode features Bart as a strung-out loser with a string of unsuccessful marriages and a poor relationship with his kids if has any. Not even Homer struck out that bad. It started out kind of funny but by this point it's such a common gag it honestly feels like the writers are A-Logging their own character. Especially since a common them is Bart is actually a pretty decent and responsible kid at heart.
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That and the writers really want Lisa and Milhouse to be a couple. In the first future episode Lisa outright say's she was with Milhouse but the line was done as a joke.
 
BrunoMattei said:
That and the writers really want Lisa and Milhouse to be a couple. In the first future episode Lisa outright say's she was with Milhouse but the line was done as a joke.
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More than that, didn't it imply she lost her virginity to Milhouse and Marge suggests it doesn't count because he's, ya know, Milhouse?
 
BrunoMattei said:
That and the writers really want Lisa and Milhouse to be a couple. In the first future episode Lisa outright say's she was with Milhouse but the line was done as a joke.
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They're really pushing that to be a relationship, which I don't get since at the same time they want Lisa to be their icon of empowerment and feminism and blah blah blah.

Or, plot twist, that's what happens/what they want to show us: despite being a prodigy child, Lisa turns into an average, mediocre woman whose only noteworthy thing she did was marry Milhouse. Ouch.
 
Won't happen since Lisa is their pet character.

This always bothered me. Despite the show's zaniness, the writers we're always pretty good at adding a human element. But for some reason not even in the show's golden era did the writers consider a gifted child could turn out average and boring and a troubled child could get his act together. Lisa will always be an ivy-league genius in the future, and Bart will always be a mooching blue-collar slob

Edit: wait I forgot about the episode where Bart grows up and becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
 
There was also that episode where they said that all Simpson men end up to be braindead drooling morons while all the Simpson women will end up highly successful geniuses.
 
Replicant Sasquatch said:
Won't happen since Lisa is their pet character.

This always bothered me. Despite the show's zaniness, the writers we're always pretty good at adding a human element. But for some reason not even in the show's golden era did the writers consider a gifted child could turn out average and boring and a troubled child could get his act together. Lisa will always be an ivy-league genius in the future, and Bart will always be a mooching blue-collar slob

Edit: wait I forgot about the episode where Bart grows up and becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
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I would argue that Bart got his shit together in the first future episode. He was working in construction and liked his job.
 
BrunoMattei said:
I would argue that Bart got his shit together in the first future episode. He was working in construction and liked his job.
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Don't forget he mentioned he mentioned he was working out his aggression "till I go to law school", so I'm guessing that Bart becoming a judge is as canon as it can get in a show like this.
 
It's almost like the rest of the future episodes are badly written and pointless. I know that's a crazy idea though.
 
BrunoMattei said:
It's almost like the rest of the future episodes are badly written and pointless. I know that's a crazy idea though.
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More like the entirety of the series after season 10 or so is badly written and pointless.
 
vertexwindi said:
More like the entirety of the series after season 10 or so is badly written and pointless.
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What? You're talking crazy talk. No one else agrees with you and the show's wiki page disagrees as well. And if Wikipedia say's something than it's absolutely true.
 
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