Golden Years

You've heard it said a million times before: The Simpsons isn't funny anymore. You've heard people say why the new episodes suck: there's no character development, the plots are ridiculous, the jokes are too broad, whatever. I'm the first one to acknowledge that the new episodes suck. In fact, I can't completely say that, since I stopped watching the show years ago, when it was already so past its prime that I couldn't take it anymore. But that's not why I'm here. I'm not gonna talk about why the new episodes suck. Instead, I'm gonna talk about what made the old episodes so incredible.

First off, let's make one thing absolutely clear: The Simpsons wasn't funny at first. The animation was too rough, the characters hadn't really become themselves yet, and most of the jokes revolved around Bart, who just spat out catch phrases. Lots of people like to pinpoint where they thought the show got good. Some people say the end of the first season, others say it was the middle of the third season, but I say it was the middle of the second season; specifically, the episode "Bart the Daredevil." Basically, I recently started watching the series from the end of season 1, and "Bart the Daredevil" was the first episode that I genuinely found funny. It also happens to be Matt Groening's favorite episode. And many critics have noticed that this episode highlights why the series was so good at this point. Critic Jerry Kleinman has noted that this episode shows how The Simpsons stood apart from other cartoons and sitcoms: instead of just having a wacky plot, it also had real character development. This episode showed strong relationships between Bart, Homer, and Lisa that made the episode have real meaning. But the great thing about it was that it wasn't cheesy. To balance it out, we had truly funny jokes, such as the famous one where Homer falls down the gorge. One of my favorite exchanges between Simpsons characters occurs in this episode. Bart tells Otto his plan to jump Springfield Gorge, and Otto says, "As the only adult around, I feel I should say something: cool!"

The strong character development shown in this episode was what made the golden age of the Simpsons so golden. The first season wasn't very good because the characters still had a long way to go in terms of development, and the later seasons have been terrible because there hasn't been any character development. If you think about it, the Simpsons characters are really complex, and their relationships are much darker than they seem. Homer is an abusive alcoholic who tries desperately to be a good person; Marge is a stifled housewife who had to marry someone way below her standards because of a pregnancy; Bart is a victim of horrible child abuse who acts out as a way to get attention; Lisa is a gifted child who's gifts are ignored by everyone except a few people, such as Mr. Bergstrom and Bleeding Gums Murphy, both of whom essentially abandon her. Heavy shit.

Yet, the great thing about the golden era Simpsons was that it never got weighed down by all this character development. It was also really, really funny. That's also why, to me, "Bart the Daredevil" marked the start of the golden age. It had lots of character development, but it was also hilarious. Some of the episodes before it in the second season, such as "Bart Gets An F," were nothing but character development, and they suffered because of it. This episode simply wasn't funny, and its character development simply wasn't enough to carry the entire episode. It ended up being cheesy. Still, this episode still shows that the Simpsons was, at one time, more than just a collection of ridiculous jokes. Bart, who was probably initially the most joke-centric character, still had a real, human side to him.

By the sixth season, it was easy to see the direction the series was taking. At this point, there was a bit less character development. The plots had less to do with interactions among the family, and were more filled with jokes. The first sign of this trend actually occurred at the beginning of the fifth season, with the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet." This was really the first episode in the entire series where the story made absolutely no sense within the context of the show. The plot revolved around a series of flashbacks showing Homer's former fame as the leader of a barbershop quartet, which eventually led to him winning a Grammy. It was the first time that a complete change to the backstory of a character was made and absolutely no explanation was given, which is a trademark of the later Simpsons episodes. Still, the episode was funny, and it was a complete anomaly at the time. No other episode anywhere near this one made as little sense. This episode was an indication of where the show would eventually go, but it was no sign of a decline in quality, at least not for a while. 

In fact, by the sixth season the show had improved in many ways. One of my absolute favorite episodes, "Bart's Girlfriend," is from this season, and it features everything that made the show so good: strong character development and insanely funny, rapid fire jokes. So actually just two things that made the show so good. Although this episode did have a spectacular guest appearance as well. Basically, by this point the show was starting to get a little bit more ridiculous, and while it had already jumped the shark with "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," it wasn't consistently jumping the shark yet. The sometimes insane humor of this episode (Groundskeeper Willy flashing everybody, Bart getting covered in glue) never went too overboard, and it was balanced out by strong character development in Bart, and even in the one-time character Jessica. This episode also strengthened the bond between Bart and Lisa, which helped to make both characters more 3-dimensional. Another great episode from this time was "Round Springfield," an episode so sad that even the most jaded viewer can be brought to tears.

Although, by the sixth season there were signs that the show was going to decline. One symptom of the show being nothing more than a ridiculous series of over the top jokes were all the episodes where the Simpsons went to a different country. Every one that I can think of is nothing more than a collection of gimmicky stereotype jokes that aren't very funny, and the first episode like this, "Bart vs. Australia," occurred in the sixth season. This episode isn't as bad as some of the later ones, like where they go to Brazil or England, but it is probably one of the worst ones of the sixth season. It contains some good moments, but forgoes real story and intelligent humor for silly gimmicks. I wouldn't say the episode crosses the line into being offensive, but I would say that it was the start of a bad trend.

The show had some ups and downs in the sixth season, but it really picked up in the seventh. Some of the most daring, critically acclaimed episodes, such as "Bart Sells His Soul" and "Lisa the Vegetarian," were part of this season. This season also marked a turning point for the show, particularly evidenced by two episodes: "22 Short Films About Springfield" and "Homerpalooza." When the writers did "22 Short Films," they had an idea of taking its concept and making an entirely new show out of it; they wanted to make a separate show about minor characters in Springfield. If they had simply carried this idea into the regular series instead, it could have saved the show. Some of the best episodes from later on, such as "In Marge We Trust," and even ones from earlier, such as "The Otto Show," were ones that focused on minor characters. Instead, many of the later episodes focused on the Simpson family and either avoided character development altogether, or developed the characters in ridiculous ways that didn't fit their personalities. The minor characters are the ones that carry the show, and it could have helped to focus on them more.

Instead, the path of "Homerpalooza" was largely taken: gimmicky episodes with ridiculous premises and lots of guest stars. Critic John Bonne wrote ages ago that "Homerpalooza" was an "indignity" and said that it simply pandered to guest stars. I really wouldn't go that far; as with "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," "Homerpalooza" was an indication of things to come, but it hadn't gotten that bad yet. It was really funny and actually intelligent, a great satire of rock music in general. His point about episodes becoming more like this was correct though; later episodes avoided using any real characters at all and simply used lots of guest stars.

However, one issue that I disagree with most people on is the idea that the Simpsons got bad because the plots became ridiculous. Let's get one thing straight: the plots of The Simpsons were always ridiculous. Let's turn for a second to another season seven episode: "Bart on the Road." The plot of this episode is completely ridiculous: Bart gets a fake ID, rents a car, and goes on a road trip, getting stranded in Tennessee, eventually getting back to Springfield via Hong Kong. But critic Dave Foster pinpoints exactly what set this episode apart from similar later ones. He writes, that if this episode were written now, "we'd simply see Bart happen upon a license and skip town without anyone noticing, but here they do give the setup a great deal of consideration both on and off screen." It's not that the plots became more ridiculous; it's that the way they were told became more ridiculous. "Bart on the Road" was at least somewhat believable; it was ridiculous, but at least everything was explained.

Let's move on to the 8th season. This one is in fact my favorite, largely because this was when I started watching the Simpsons. It contains some of the best episodes in the series, such as the incredibly powerful "A Milhouse Divided," where Milhouse's parents get divorced, and possibly the darkest and most realistic episode of the show, "Homer's Enemy." Bonne called this episode "painful to watch," largely because he thinks Homer is a complete jerk in the episode. On the contrary, I think that the episode is wonderfully written, and that Homer tries to be a nice guy the whole time, particularly when he invites Frank Grimes over to his house for dinner. The great thing about the 8th season as well was that it really pushed the limits of animation. In "You Only Move Twice" and "The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase" the animators created entirely new set pieces that work perfectly. And then of course there's the episode where Homer eats the insanity peppers. This is, in my opinion, the best episode of the entire series. The animation is beautiful, the jokes are hilarious, the character development is strong, and the guest voice is perfect and not overused. I've watched this episode probably over 20 times, and it's always a pleasure to watch. Simply perfect.

Then there's the 9th season, which many see as the beginning of the show's rapid decline in quality, particularly with the episode "The Principal and the Pauper." Again, I see this episode as an indication of things to come, but not an indication that the show was getting bad. Despite all the gaping plotholes in this episode, it's still funny, and after it we had so many terrific episodes: the one where Homer becomes sanitation commissioner, the one where Homer goes to "The Island," and the absolutely outstanding one where Homer joins the navy. Maybe "The Principal and the Pauper" wasn't a very good episode, but it wasn't the start of the show's decline.

In my opinion, that episode was the absolutely painful "The Parent Rap," which featured the unfunny, unimaginative character Judge Constance Harm. You can tell from her name that the writers were running out of ideas by this point. There were so many things bad about this episode. For one, the writers forced the character development of Bart and Homer. By this time, there had already been tons of "Bart and Homer bonding" episodes. There didn't need to be any more. By this point, the writers really should have been focusing on already existing minor characters, rather than developing old ones and creating entirely new ones. After this episode there were a few good ones, such as the one where Homer becomes a pothead, or where he goes to rock and roll camp, but even these weren't as good as the old ones, and they were anomalies by this time.

The Simpsons used to be so good because it carried a nice balance of humor and character development. Recently it's just been too much humor, and not even good humor. I know I'm not the first one to say that the show's been declining in quality, but it's seriously time to end this show. They had a chance to quit while they were ahead, or to change the direction of the show, and now they're too late. Basically just watch every episode from "Bart the Daredevil" until whichever one comes before "The Parent Rap" and you'll see the best of what was once a brilliant show.