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The Simpsons -- Who turned America's best TV show into a cartoon?
MSN.com and Slate ^ | 2/13/2003 | Chris Suellentrop

Posted on 02/16/2003 7:20:22 AM PST by ex-Texan

The Simpsons -- Who turned America's best TV show into a cartoon?

By Chris Suellentrop

At some point during its 14-year run, The Simpsons turned into one of the best sitcoms on television—and that's not a compliment. At one time, to call The Simpsons the best show on Fox would have been a vast understatement; to say it was the best sitcom on television would have been inadequate; and to describe it as the greatest TV show in history would (and still does) minimize its importance by limiting its cultural impact to the small screen. Who knows when it happened—maybe it was when Homer visited the leprechaun jockeys in Season 11, or when he was raped by a panda in Season 12—but for several years, watching The Simpsons chase Ozzie & Harriet's record for the longest-running sitcom has been like watching the late-career Pete Rose: There's still greatness there, and you get to see a home run now and then, but mostly it's a halo of reflected glory.

The hype surrounding this Sunday's 300th Simpsons episode (actually the 302nd because Fox isn't counting two holiday "specials") has underscored the show's decline. To celebrate the milestone, Entertainment Weekly picked the Top 25 episodes in Simpsons history: Twenty-four of them come from 1997 or before, meaning that only one comes from the past five seasons (which, not coincidentally, is the time period from which EW selected its "Worst Episode Ever"). Similarly, USA Today published a top-10 list written by the fan who runs the best Simpsons site on the Web. He picked nine shows from 1993 and before, and the other was from 1997. The newspaper also asked Simpsons staff members to select their 15 favorite moments and episodes, and only one person (Al Jean, the show's executive producer) chose something that happened within the past five years. Even as fans, critics, and staff members rejoice in the show's amazing longevity, they all agree: The past five or six seasons just haven't been up to snuff.

Who's to blame for this state of events? Some of the die-hard fans who populate the news group alt.tv.simpsons have settled on a "lone gunman" theory—that one man single-handedly brought down TV's Camelot. One problem: They don't agree on who's hiding in the book depository. Many fans finger Mike Scully, who served as executive producer for Seasons 9 through 12 (generally considered the show's nadir). Others target writer Ian Maxtone-Graham. Scully and Maxtone-Graham, both of whom joined the show after it had already been on the air for several seasons, are cited as evidence that The Simpsons lost touch with what made it popular in the beginning—Matt Groening's and James L. Brooks' conception of an animated TV family that was more realistic than the live-action Huxtables and Keatons and Seavers who populated 1980s television. Unlike other TV families, for example, the Simpsons would go to church, have money problems, and watch television.

But under Scully's tenure, The Simpsons became, well, a cartoon. In A.O. Scott's Slate "Assessment" of Matt Groening, he wrote that Groening is "committed to using cartoons as a way of addressing reality." But in recent years, The Simpsons has become an inversion of this. The show now uses reality as a way of addressing itself, a cartoon. This past Sunday's episode featured funny references to Spongebob Squarepants, the WNBA, Ken Burns, Tony Soprano, and Fox programming, but the Simpsons themselves, and the rest of the Springfield populace, have become empty vessels for one-liners and sight gags, just like the characters who inhabit other sitcoms. (Think Chandler Bing.)

The Simpsons no longer marks the elevation of the sitcom formula to its highest form. These days it's closer to It's Garry Shandling's Show—a very good, self-conscious parody of a sitcom (and itself). Episodes that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset (perhaps while Bart gagged in the background) now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge's neck. The show's still funny, but it hasn't been touching in years. Writer Mike Reiss admitted as much to the New York Times Magazine, conceding that "much of the humanity has leached out of the show over the years. … It hurts to watch it, even if I helped do it."

But can you blame one person for it? It would be nice to finger Maxtone-Graham, who gave a jaw-dropping interview to London's Independent in 1998. In it, he admitted to hardly ever watching The Simpsons before he joined the staff in 1995, to brazenly flouting Groening's rules for the show (including saying he "loved" an episode that Groening had his name removed from), and to open disdain for fans, saying, "Go figure! That's why they're on the Internet and we're writing the show." But just because Maxtone-Graham is a jerk (or at the very least, shows colossally bad judgment in front of an interviewer) doesn't mean he's a bad writer. On top of that, a show like The Simpsons is the product of so many creative individuals that it's difficult to blame one person—even Scully, the onetime executive producer—for anything.

So, instead, there are a few conspiracy theories for the show's not-quite demise. Perhaps the problem is too many cooks, as staff legend George Meyer implied to MSNBC.com: "We have more writers now," Meyer said. "In the early days, I think, more of the show, more of the episode was already in the first draft of the script. Now there's more room-writing that goes on, and so I think there's been a kind of homogenization of the scripts. … Certainly, the shows are more jokey than they used to be. But I think they also lack the individual flavor that they had in the early years." Another theory lays the blame on the show's many celebrity guest stars, which have made the show resemble those old Scooby Doo episodes where Sandy Duncan, or Tim Conway and Don Knotts, would show up just for the heck of it. Still others think the problem is the show's brain drain: Long-absent individuals include creators Groening and Brooks, actor Phil Hartman, and writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss (who both left briefly to do The Critic), Greg Daniels (still doing King of the Hill), and Conan O'Brien (who has been linked to the show's decline so many times that Groening once called the theory "one of the most annoying nut posts" on the Internet).

But maybe no one, not even a group of people, can be held responsible. Simpsons determinists lay the blame on unstoppable, abstract forces like time. The show's writers and producers often subscribe to this line when they publicly abase themselves for not living up to the show's high standards. Maxtone-Graham told the Independent, "I think we should pack it in soon and I think we will—we're running out of ideas," and Meyer admitted to MSNBC.com, "We're starting to see some glimmers of the end. … It's certainly getting harder to come up with stories, no question."

An incredible anxiety of influence hovers over Simpsons writers, who realize that they are judged not by the standards of network television, but by the standards of their own show's golden age. By the end of his tenure as executive producer, Scully was making nervous statements to the press like, "Basically, my goal is just not to wreck the show" and, "Yeah, we don't want to be the guys that, you know, sank the ship." Maybe The Simpsons is killing The Simpsons by setting expectations too high. After all, even while you're wincing or groaning at a particularly lame gag, you're hoping that the show will stay on the air longer than Gunsmoke. It's hard to imagine television without The Simpsons. If it sticks around for another 300 episodes, maybe, someday, the wound of the past few seasons will be remembered like the one Maggie administered to Mr. Burns: an accident, and not a fatal one.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: animation; besttvshow; cartoon; cartoons; doh; foxnetwork; mattgroening; satire; simpsons; thesimpsons
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No doubt about it ... People 'who know' -- understand how brilliant The Simpsons truly is -- especially compared to the other tripe on television. I do not agree that the show has declined terribly since the 1997 season. One of the Best Television Shows of all times ... If you don't agee with me, "You can eat my shorts."

I once met one of the Big Boys who developed the show for television. He was in one of favorite Thai take out spots on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica, wearing a leather jacket given only to cast and production staff. I promised never to disclose his name or where he was buying dinner (Simpsons' fans get kinda aggressive don't cha' know?). Nice guy. From Portland, Oregon, too.

1 posted on 02/16/2003 7:20:22 AM PST by ex-Texan
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To: ex-Texan
Howdy Tex!

J.
2 posted on 02/16/2003 7:23:46 AM PST by EggsAckley
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To: ex-Texan
The best writers and creators drifted away over the years. Producing a weekly animation product is a profoundly sophisticated and laborious challenge. It burns people out. Look how many segment producers one 30 minute Simpsons show warrants. The best writers and producers are gone.
3 posted on 02/16/2003 7:36:56 AM PST by ArneFufkin
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To: ex-Texan
James Lileks (great columnist occasionally quoted here on FR, and a big Simpson's fan) thinks it's a matter of expectations. He noticed that when "post decline" episodes started airing in reruns they were hilarious, the same episode that disappointed when it was new was great when it no longer had to live up to the expectation of a new Simpsons. Just one theory.
4 posted on 02/16/2003 7:38:10 AM PST by discostu (This tag intentionally left blank)
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To: ex-Texan
This is really silly, I for one have never watched it and will never watch it. Just like the majority of the people.
5 posted on 02/16/2003 7:49:06 AM PST by org.whodat
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To: ex-Texan
Even a bad "Simpsons" episode is still better than the vasy majority of what's on TV these days. I, for one, will continue to look forward to their show for several more years.
6 posted on 02/16/2003 7:49:42 AM PST by Future Snake Eater
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To: org.whodat
"This is really silly, I for one have never watched it and will never watch it. Just like the majority of the people."

I just love people who can judge things they have never seen. And then go on to take the "majority" with them. That way you can go through life without ever having waste time with things you just "know" you're not going to like.

Unfortunately the "majority" didn't respect your wishes and have nade the "Simpsons" one of the most-watched television programs of our era.

7 posted on 02/16/2003 8:03:09 AM PST by capt. norm
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To: ex-Texan
The word for the first episodes is "literature."
8 posted on 02/16/2003 8:07:28 AM PST by Mercat
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To: ArneFufkin; discostu
Network television has declined, and declined rapidly since 1997. Tired of all the 'reality shows' yet? As for me: I never watched any of them, don't want to see them, and I will get up and leave if one is playing in a saloon or behind the bar.

Who gives a sh!t if 'Joe Millionaire' gets married or signs a contract to play 'Joe Camel' in a sitcom. Only a few shows on network television are even worth watching. Most of the time I am too busy with my own projects. My television STAYS OFF about 95 % of the day. I turn it on primarily to watch movie or travel videos borrowed from the main library. They have a great collection of Russian, French, Italian and German films and are buying more each month.

The Simpsons is still the best show on television.

9 posted on 02/16/2003 8:07:29 AM PST by ex-Texan (primates capitulards toujours en quete de fromage!)
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To: ex-Texan
All I know is I'm always grateful the the Simpsons is done without a "laugh track." Every other sitcom has one (non-animated sitcom, anyway). Laugh tracks are like a big fake laugh bomb going off every time a character says something the writers wanted you to think was funny. they are offensive and show you what the Hollywood elite really think of their audiences.
10 posted on 02/16/2003 8:09:26 AM PST by Puddleglum
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To: ex-Texan
Jump the Shark.com has multiple pages devoted to the burning question, 'When did The Simpsons begin their irrevocable decline?' It's pretty evenly divided between those who think the show's JTS and those who think the show is just as good as it's always been.
11 posted on 02/16/2003 8:18:03 AM PST by kaylar
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To: ex-Texan
I have no idea when it happened but the show definitely is much worse than before.

I remember once when we were staying in a cabin in the NC mountains and tv reception was awful. I would sneak away when the simpson's was on and watch it on a little 2" screen tv because I had found a spot about 40 feet away where reception was tolerable. This was around 1994. It was that good!

One day around two years ago, it suddenly dawned on me that I was no longer watching my favorite show.

I still occassionally watch it but it probably just has run it's course, as all shows do. Has anyone ever noticed how awful the last few episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies" were?

12 posted on 02/16/2003 8:18:16 AM PST by yarddog
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To: ex-Texan
I like the one where I jump the shark!
13 posted on 02/16/2003 8:20:38 AM PST by Homer Simpson
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To: yarddog
Same thing with "Get Smart" ... when Buck Henry didn't manage the scripts anymore, it became less funny.
14 posted on 02/16/2003 8:20:51 AM PST by ArneFufkin
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To: ArneFufkin
Conan O'Brien was one of their best writers. T'was a sad day indeed when he left.
15 posted on 02/16/2003 8:22:15 AM PST by Hazzardgate
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To: ex-Texan
Worst post ever!
16 posted on 02/16/2003 8:23:26 AM PST by southcarolina
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To: yarddog
You are right, the last gasps of a once great show are the worst.....better to go out while you are still hot, like Seinfeld did.
17 posted on 02/16/2003 8:23:42 AM PST by Morrigan
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To: ex-Texan
The Simpsons would hold a place in my TV Hall of Fame on the basis of one line alone. When Lisa and Bart confront Grandpa for mistakenly cashing their Itchy and Scratchy royalty checks:

Lisa: But Grandpa, what did you think when you started receiving these large checks in the mail for doing absolutely nothing?

Grandpa: Oh, I just thought the Democrats were in power again.....

18 posted on 02/16/2003 8:25:53 AM PST by joebuck
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To: Hazzardgate
Absolutely. James Brooks and Sam Simon attracted a lot of innovatively creative talent to make Groenig's world real. Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Conan, John Schwarzwelder, Jon Vitti etc. etc. They're world class. But, there's only so many new and inspired capers for Homer to bungle.
19 posted on 02/16/2003 8:29:19 AM PST by ArneFufkin
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To: ex-Texan
Even here in good "old Europe" the Simpsons are popular and I watch them since 1993. They´re just GREAT!!
20 posted on 02/16/2003 8:29:47 AM PST by Michael81Dus (You have (had) G. Bush, J. Cash, B. Hope & S. Wonder - we have Schröder: no cash, no hope, no wonder)
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