The first time I remember that was that really shitty episode about Homer working for Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. The message of that episode is basically, "celebrities are better than us".
I could kinda stand Mel GIbson's appearance since he was supposed to play the straight man to Homer's lunacy. But yeah, the episode with Baldwin and Basinger (and Ron Howard) was indeed pretty awful. Only Ron Howard didn't come off as a total asshole because he was shown to be quite obviously up his own ass throughout the whole episode.
For sure, though I could still find episodes enjoyable up to like S13. I stopped watching shortly after that mostly out of laziness but it seems like I didn't miss anything good.
I kinda like rewatching that episode if only because much like how homerpalooza and summer of 4ft 2 are time capsules that capture everything about the grunge era 90s. That episode is a time capsule of the later half or the decade and the early 2000s. Probably the only thing good about post season 10 eps is they're time capsules.
No, I'm right, it was just in a Zombie-era episode.
here you go fam
It was actually the Sneed one, believe it or not.
Actually, the show didn't go HD until two seasons after the movie.
I'd argue that in retrospect, the movie falls into Zombie-era territory, as it has many of the hallmarks that would come to define the seasons to follow (Perma-Jerkass Homer, the sterile digital animation, unfunny attempts to be relevant). Hell, the plot of the Simps being run out of Springfield got recycled as the 500th episode, but done even worse.
Ironically for me it was the screaming caterpillar one aswell, and i was only a kid when it came out. Even at an early age I found it obnoxiously trying too hard to get cheap laughs and after that episode broadcast in my corner of bongland i never again actively tried to watch a new episode of the simpsons unless it was to see how horrifically bad some of the more infamous zombie simpsons episodes are
I jumped around watching the show or whatnot, so, if I were to designate a "throwing the towel" point, it would've probably been the s15 episode where they broke apart Skinner and Krabappel. That shit was the gaaaaaayest shit they've ever done, even moreso than Maude's death.