What Did They Do To The Simpsons?

Most television shows, even the best ones, tend to diminish in quality the longer they are on the air. However, there is no precedent for what's happened to the long- running Fox series The Simpsons. For most of the 1990s, this show was a hilarious, satirical romp, featuring a multitude of diverse characters and sharp and witty writing. Seasons 3-8 constitute some of the best stuff the medium has ever produced. However, over the past ten seasons or so, it has deteriorated into an objectionable, run of the mill series that is hardly recognizable to once loyal fans like myself.

There are many reasons for the decline of the show. Series creator and guiding force Matt Groening threw all his undivided attention into his new creation Futurama. Some of the old writers and producers left, to be replaced by the likes of Mike Scully and Ian Maxtone Graham. Another Fox cartoon series, Family Guy, had an unfortunate impact on The Simpsons, as the writers clearly borrowed from Peter Griffin's obnoxious, wildly over-the-top personality, which resulted in a newer, much less lovable Homer Simpson. The overuse of celebrity guest voices, which was never a strong point of the show, became ridiculous. The fact that these guest stars almost always played themselves, with too much fawning and not enough satire involved, really became embarrassing. Finally, the point of all too many shows became Homer's annoying behavior, which often took the family on trips to various locales. These plots were usually inexplicable and surreal, and relied far too heavily on cheap gags and crude humor, something the old shows did a good job of avoiding.

There are those who think The Simpsons hasn't jumped the shark, and is just as good as ever. I simply don't understand how anyone can watch an episode from season 4 or so, and compare it to one from the past five years, and not see a tremendous difference. It is a completely different show now. The voices are the same, the characters look pretty much the same, and some of the original writers are still there, but the show has degenerated into a sophmoric mess that can never be repaired. In my opinion, the writers often use the Comic Book Guy character to lampoon their own once die hard fans, who began complaining about the show's decline years ago on internet forum message boards. If you've read interviews with Groening or any of the other creative forces behind the show, or listened to the commentaries on the DVD sets, you get the sense that the character's catch phrase "worst episode ever" was a sarcastic slap in the face to those fans who were rightfully noticing the dramatic turn the show took in 1999 or so.

I still treasure the DVD sets I have of The Simpsons, but will not buy any beyond season 10. As it stands now, because it's been on the air for so long, there are actually more bad episodes of the show than good ones. Never has any television show that was so great become so terrible over the course of its series run. I try to remember all the highlights from the glory years; Bart losing his soul, Homer trying to gain weight to become declared handicapped, Bart offending Australia, the lemon tree episode, the monorail episode, Bart missing the Itchy and Scratchy movie, Flanders going insane and all the classic Halloween shows. But with the plots now centering around things like Homer getting raped by a panda, Marge taking steroids or Homer becoming a mnister so he can conduct a gay wedding, with Lisa's whining, eight year old vegetarian-Buddhist presence hovering in the background, it isn't easy.

Will The Last Civil Libertarian In America Please Close The Door

Where have all the civil libertarians gone? Nat Hentoff does what he can with the forum he has, and Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are about all that's left in Congress. The country has tilted strongly in a get tough/law and order/three strikes you're out direction. There is little or no sympathy for the imprisoned, even when DNA evidence proves their innocence. The fact that a defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty is only mentioned now when a celebrity or wealthy person is on trial. A staunch reluctance to see justice done runs through the entire legal profession as well as the general public at large.

We've become all too willing to grant police, judges and prosecutors the kind of power that no human being should have. "Power corrupts," as the classic nineteenth century civil libertarian Lord Acton noted. Every week, we can see new examples, on You Tube and elsewhere, of police officers caught on video tape blatantly abusing their authority. Where are the so-called "liberal" politicians speaking out about this obvious problem? Is anyone, even Reps. Paul or Kucinich, demanding more oversight and accountability for law enforcement officers?

The simple fact is we have too many laws and too many Americans in prison. The answer is not to make it easier to imprison more of them, for longer periods of time, for things that were formerly legal. The drug "war" has been a monstrous failure. The average citizen has little awareness of and less respect for the Bill of Rights than ever before. For a country that boasts constantly about our affinity for "rugged individualism," we place a depressingly unimportant value on individual rights. The Thought Police that Orwell warned us about are just around the corner, and more citizens each day wouldn't object in the least to their presence.

Classic liberalism is all but dead in American politics. The term "liberal" now describes a hack career politician who is devoted to mouthing empty, bureaucratic rhetoric to a few special interest groups. No one fights for the civil liberties of each individual citizen any more. Few seem to care about the injustices inflicted upon others, as long as it doesn't directly affect them. "There but for the grace of God" seems an antiquated expression now, especially among those who consider themselves religious. Civil liberties are crucial to the survival of any free society. From my quiet corner of the internet, here's a toast to civil libertarians.

Random Rants

Why can't they invent a vacuum cleaner that works? How can a machine have the power to suck up a sock but not be able to suck up a piece of lint or dog hair?

Why do they make elastic waist pants for boys and girls, normal sized women and obese men and women, but not normal sized men?

Why do so many drivers now dart out recklessly onto a road, only to drive well below the speed limit once they do so? What was the hurry- so they could slow everyone down?

Why is it against the law to ride a bicycle or jog on a sidewalk? What kind of sense does it make to put joggers and bicyclists into the flow of traffic? Weren't we all taught, at one time, not to run or ride our bikes in the street?

Why does Social Security tax only the first $100,000 of income? Isn't this backwards logic?

If it's illegal to share music files with others, is it illegal to let someone else listen to a CD you bought? Shouldn't they have to pay to listen, using this logic? Were all those in my generation who borrowed each other's LP records and tape recorded them, which was just about everyone, also guilty of theft?

Is there any "bumper to bumper" car warranty that actually covers everything between the bumpers?

Why doesn't the Disney Channel- or even Toon Disney- ever show the old Disney cartoons?

Why do people insist on saying "the exception proves the rule," when it does exactly the opposite?

What is there to like about non-alcoholic beer?