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.
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