The Osbournes. Ok MTV, we get it. They cuss and sound like idiots to people in the US, and we laugh. Let's move on.

PS:just a joke, to any Englishmen out there

I will agree with Hope and Faith (with According to Jim a close 2nd).

There was a show on recently with Regis that was so bad I just couldn't turn away.

There are very good reasons to compare more recent episodes of a show to earlier ones. For one, a precipitous drop in quality usually casts a pall over the "good" years.

There's also a difference between thinking that a show isn't as good as it once was, and thinking it's simply not very good any longer. I haven't regularly watched The Simpsons since about 1998. Once in a while I'll catch a newer episode, and am usually appalled. It's not that it's not as good as it once was (which is certainly true), but that it really isn't very good, period.

Why are there teenager soaps on tv? The little assholes are out doping and screwing and the adults who get a respite at home have to suffer with watching other little assholes doping and screwing.

Which begs the obvious question, if you rarely watch the show, how can you judge it's current quality? Especially with the show's quality becoming drastically better the last couple of seasons (not early season quality, but better than the lean years quality)

Good point. And since the topic asks "why is it still on the air," shouldn't it be compared to what else is on the air, and the quality of what might replace it, as opposed to is it the same show it was 10 years ago? Let's start with the worst dreck on TV, and work our way up. And in that case I think the Simpsons would be well safe.

Well, if every coming Simpsons episode is as awful as tonight's was, I withdraw my defense.

Which is sad, since tonights was funnier than just about any other this season.

You're kidding, right?

Does it matter at this point? Viewers rarely give a show a second chance once the quality starts to drop to the point where they don't care about watching.

Hasn't been a particularly strong season.

I get you now.

agreed, time to go and take Family Guy and its spinoff with them.