When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

For me it started in Season 9. Granted i watched it when i was still in middle school (damn this makes even me feel old :lol: ). Rewatching the episodes on dvd, it wasn't as funny as eariler seasons,sure there are still classic episodes. the last season i am buying is season 11, as after reading discriptions of season 12 and 13 episodes on wiki, i remember not liking those episodes too much. One could say the Behind the Laughter episode is/was the nail in the coffin (granted i know alot of people like this episode). I really haven't followed that closely since, occaisionally catching a few semi newer episodes here and there, either via syndication or on fox, and just not feelin it, maybe get a laugh here and there.

To me, season 2-8 was the show in its prime. My fave episodes are either the Frank Grimes episode or the Monorail show. I can usually pop those discs in and laugh my ass off (and even catching jokes/lines that are funnier now that im older that went over my head.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

My answer from this recent thread...

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/550...-simpsons.html

I thought it started to slow down in quality in season seven, but there were still some great episodes in season eight.

To me, the episode where the show lost it was the fake Skinner/Martin Sheen episode. I hung on for a few years afterwards, but the show lost something for me. Now, the few times I catch it barely rates a few chuckles (though I did like the movie).

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

God i hated that episode too. "the principle and the Pauper"

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

The episode where Homer and Marge have sex all over Springfield.

That is the episode, and that season (which is s10), is where the "classic" (good) Simpsons ended.

Beyond that was a good 2-3 years of "maybe the next episode will be better" and giving up on the show altogether.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Never has gone downhill for me. I will always be a fan, just have to be "in the mood" for the simpsons when I watch a new episode, or my dvd's. Sometimes a scene or a joke will get in my head and just want to watch that episode. I can't really marathon the simpsons like I can with shows like Venture Bros. or Dr. Katz.

I can't say the exact point where it went from "great show" to "good show" for me, but unless it takes a huge turn towards Family Guy humor, I'm not giving up on it.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Oh, man. As a Simpsons-obsessed younger lad, I remember the EXACT episode that they more-or-less lost me on. Things just went weird. That Sunday night, it all felt strange. I remember feeling strange the whole night.

It was the episode where The Simpsons go to Japan. I think that it was the Season 10 finale. I kept watching for another couple years. But it never felt the same.

Did it happen to anyone else on that episode? That always bugged me and I've always been curious if it happened to anyone else. Seriously, I do still think about it from time to time.

I still watch episodes here and there. But when I was a kid, it was like, 'no, we can't be out anywhere, I neeeed to be home by 8PM to watch The Simpsons'. My parents knew it. It was like the big weekly thing for me. Actually, I think that it was my only definate appointment every week (on top of the 'ole paper route and school, I suppose). I always bought The Simpsons books, read them thoroughly, knew the writers, etc.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

S9. S8 was the last DVD I bought.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

They started to lose me at the episode entitled "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer", with Johnny Cash as the talking coyote. I think I kept tuning in after that to see if subsequent episodes were any better, but I eventually lost interest.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

The Tracy Ullman show?

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

The shorts on Tracy Ullman were pretty dull, Simpsons didn't really pick up until Season 2 for me.

I have to agree with Vipper II, I first noticed a decline in quality on "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer", the episode itself wasn't bad but the idiotic ending sort of foreshadowed the future episodes (this is the episode where everybody busts out singing "Who wears short shorts (hot shorts?)". I still enjoy the show in a comfort food sort of way, I never thought the show was flat-out hilarious, but it was always enjoyable.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

That's actually one of my favorite epidisodes. :) Well, the first half of it, anyway.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

The first half of that episode is hilarious.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

When the wife and I are running late for something I sometimes dance around shaking my hands going "We're missing the cookoff! We're missing the cookoff!"

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

I think it was season 9. I still like the show but seasons 3-8 are the best.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Season 10 started to get inconsistent but Season 11 was the first one where I really thought the episodes were often just plain bad. That said, while the show has never risen to its previous heights, I've enjoyed a good number of later episodes after the horrible run of Seasons 11-12 finished. In fact, this season has been pretty decent overall.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

What the hell is an "epidisode"?

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

I stopped watching after the "who shot Mr. Burns" storyline concluded.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

For me, there wasn't a specific episode where the show took a turn for the worse. Somewhere around S9, the quality definitely started to slip, and in S10 it felt like there were fewer "great" episodes. I stopped watching regularly during S11 (moved to college and didn't have a TV for a while). I've caught a few newer episodes over the past couple years and I'd have to say it's time for this show to hang it up.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

+1, the show is still solid after all these years, some are good, some are OK, but I don't think I have ever seen a truly "bad" episode of the show. Family Guy on the other hand, has three amazing seasons and maybe a grand total of a seasons worth of episodes after it came back that can be called good.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Probably around season 2, when they stopped making shows with heart and replaced it with crudely drawn physical humour and implausible plots.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

It really hasn't for me. Granted, the show isn't nearly as funny now as it once was, but I still watch it every week. There isn't one episode I can point to and say "this was the beginning of the end", but I think sometime around S10 or 11 is where things started to get way too out there, even for this series. The constant retconning is a bit annoying, also.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

There was an episode where they buy a tennis court in their backyard. At that point, I hadn't watched any new episodes for about a season, so I hadn't realized the dip in quality. I sat in horror at how lame the episode was. Even some of the animation felt different. I just thought the jokes were so unfunny. I realized that I no longer cared if I saw every episode of the show. Looking back, the show's quality starting going down hill around season 8 or 9, with 10 and 11 really taking the plunge.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Never.

It's always been the same for me. I never found that The Simpsons had these great glory days. Maybe cause I'm not as hardcore a fan... but it's been steadily consistently funny.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Probably when Bush became President :). Seriously though it was around season 10 or 11.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Season 9 is the last essential season for me. 10 through 12 are hit and miss. Everything after 12 is really tough for me to get through, save the odd episode here or there that makes me remember what the show used to be.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Season 11 I think - it's the first season that had some episodes which didn't have much of anything that appealed to me. S8 was the last consistently awesome season, and S9 and S10 still had some classics but not as many.

I still wonder if the decline around S9 and S10 had to do with people leaving fro Futurama, because that show was firing on all cylinders from day 1 IMO (which makes the lackluster direct to video stuff all the more disappointing.)

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

You're on "the list."

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yxcKxpIeIOc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yxcKxpIeIOc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Season 12 was what I consider the show's first weak season, and it's just been up and down ever since, but still very much worth watching.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

I always say that its peak was 3-8 with season 1 being an anomaly and 2 being the start, the learning curve of the style most fans love. So for me, it was around Season 9 that it really nosedived. 9 and the next couple of seasons had a stray ep here and there that were just okay but overall it has become, IMO, tired and unwatchable.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

You can really start to see it come together as Season 2 starts to wind down and culminates with the Radioactive Man comic book purchase episode. Great stuff.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Around season 8 or 9, like most other people.

I wouldn't mind getting caught up on the seasons that I missed, but it would have to be via something free like Netflix streaming.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

S9 was the first season that was hit or miss for me. From there the show seemed to be in decline.

S8 was to be the last DVD set for me but I got a good deal on S9 and S10.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

it went downhill with the "Who shot Mr. Burns" nonsense, whenever that was.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

I recall that season (s11) being the one where it seemed like every other episode someone was breaking out into song.

I will add to my previous comment that s10 does start to miss, but it wasn't nearly as terrible as s11.


But I don't think I can take the current Simpsons writing seriously after hearing about that "90's Episode" where they did the BTTF "Marvin Berry" joke. I think the joke would have been funny had "Family Guy" not done the joke *TWICE* before it appeared in that 90's episode.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

I use to think S10 was when it all went downhill but I realized that the hit and misses started in S11. S12 and beyond is virtually unwatchable.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

That episode was indeed shit but I love the part where Homer runs out of the house and tosses a brick through the window of the car as Marge and Bart drive away and then hides and cowers in fear when Marge slams on the brakes.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Wow, 2 pages and no ones mentioned the death of Maude Flanders?

There was one season premiere where The Who guest starred. That was about it for me. I always watched the show up to that point but from there it seemed like every episode was written from a "what guest star can we find this week" perspective?

Although for me, I don't consider it "The Bleeding Gums Murphy" era vs. the "Ol' Gil" era, I think of it more as the "Homer working at the power plant" era vs. "Homer not working at the power plant" era. The show just seemed to lose something when Homer no longer seemed to work.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

It had already gone down the dumper and had a brief revival by that point.

Low points for me were the trip to Africa (pretty much any episode where Lisa says 'The Simpsons are going to...') and the one where Homer built the tennis court.

It's funny, I really didn't like the chili cook off episode or the one where they went to NYC, but both are favorites now.

Re: When did the Simpsons start going down hill for you?
 

Mid-Season 9. That's almost universally considered the downfall. I agree The Prinicpal and The Pauper is out there (Armin's frozen peas..., classic line), but I liked it. The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson is one of my all-time favorite episodes.

Season 10 is downright awful. Bart The Mother is terrible. I just really hate that episode.

As a lifelong fan, I can say it hasn't been the same since then. Season 19 and 20 have been a VAST improvement over anything since the late 90s, though. I still watch it religiously, but it's not like I can rewatch Seasons 10 - 20 over and over again like I can with Seasons 3 - 9.