So what exactly happened to "The Simpsons"?

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly what happened to the show.

Two words:

Mike. Scully.

Mike Scully became the show runner for the series - i.e. the head writer and producer - in the ninth series of the show. Let's have a review of who did it before that.

The first two seasons were run by Matt Groening (for obvious reasons) along with Sam Simon and James L. Brooks, the veterans brought in to help realise the show.

Once the personality was established, the third and fourth series were run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. These are often considered the finest episodes, the ones that strike the perfect balance between satire and heart. This is where the show's true identity was solidified after it had been a touch more fluid the first two seasons.

After the first four series, virtually the entire writing staff quit aside from some of the mainstays like John Swartzwelder (who would stay until season 15 I think) and the newly joined Conan O'Brien. Five and six belonged to David Mirkin. Now I would argue that the root of the problem is actually in what Mirkin did. Five is my favourite season of Simpsons but Mirkin's decision to let Homer go into space is probably what eventually killed the show, because as Matt Groening thought at the time, what could follow it? Mirkin's series were seen by many as more cartoonish but were still critically acclaimed and beloved. Honestly I still maintain that the fifth is the flat out funniest season, and this was mostly because of O'Brien's input. He was on the show for a year, but his ideas were some of the best (like 'Homer Goes To College') and his individual jokes on other episodes were knockouts.

Seven and eight are my second favourite series of the show, run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. These two wanted to focus more on the family and be a touch more realistic after Mirkin's run. However they also wanted to push the boundaries and really work with what the medium could offer. It's these guys that did the 'Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase,' the '138th Episode Spectacular,' the episode about Hank Scorpio. This was the last hurrah of the series. Unfortunately they, along with Mirkin, also helped kill Simpsons, which I'll get to later.

In series nine, everything turned to shit when Mike Scully was appointed the show runner. The ninth series is not actually terrible, but you can tell when you watch it that the rot has well and truly set in. You will notice that all of the best episodes of this season are holdover from Oakley/Weinstein - "City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson" and "Lisa The Simpson."

However, the season isn't helped by their other episode, "The Principal And The Pauper." Using the medium as truly hardcore satire, they use it to spoof the fans who ended up hating the episode, despite the fact that it was about them. It was a stupid move, but that episode fits in with a season that slowly began to ruin the warmth and heart the show had.

Scully would stick around for four miserable seasons as show runner, finally departing after season 12. You can trace the steady decline of the show between season nine and season 12. Just watch it, seriously. By series 11 and 12 we have ridiculous, outlandish episodes like the Simpsons getting a horse ...again and then having to fight murderous jockey elves? And then there's the fact that at one point Homer says "we'll be right back" directly into the camera.

The absolute low point, however, came in "Homer vs. Dignity" in which Homer was raped by a panda and then sprayed by a skunk, all for money.

Those four seasons killed The Simpsons. The characters became ridiculous, if they even existed. Homer became the focal point of everything, which didn't help because he'd evolved into a truly reprehensible human being that rivalled Peter Griffin.

The worst part was what I call 'throwing the character onto the joke grenade.' Any character was made to do anything simply because you know, it might be funny, regardless of anything remotely resembling logic (again you can trace this to the Mirkin seasons for its origins). For an example, look no further than Marge scolding Bart for burping, then immediately farting. I laughed at this joke. It is funny, I'll admit. It ain't The Simpsons, though.

The last gasp of the show is season 11's "Behind The Laughter," in which Scully basically admits that he ruined the show by parodying how terrible it had become. I wonder whether he actually realised he was doing it?

You'll note that regardless of how terrible the episodes were in nine to 12, the show had a vividness and life about it that is now long gone. The current series make you LONG for the days of Scully because as terrible as his shows were, you at least got to laugh once in a while. For season 13 Al Jean returned as show runner and hasn't left and you can actually see a slight upswing in the show in the thirteenth series as some of its heart returns.

But Scully's run had already killed the characters too much by that point for the show to be truly salvageable. Now we get entire episodes that are JUST ABOUT GIL. GIL.

That kind of says it all really since Gil's very prominence is entirely because Phil Hartman died and they can't use Lionel Hutz as The Simpsons' lawyer any more. Someone mentioned the show got worse when Hartman died, but that is merely a correlation - or more accurately, a contributing factor to what Scully did do the show.

Obviously Scully doesn't shoulder all the blame. The writers working underneath him deserve some too, and Matt Groening, and all the other producers for letting Scully's 'creative vision' run riot, but you'll note that often the better episodes were by old hands, such as Swartzwelder before he moved on to other things.

Mike Scully killed The Simpsons, and the airless, heartless, bland, blunt episodes churned out by The Simpsons factory, episodes that even the actors don't care about and that Harry Shearer has publicly condemned for being wretched, are merely air escaping from the corpse.

I really hope someone reads this post because I put a shitload of thought and effort into writing that.

[Threadkiller [Classic]]

Sept 2, 2011 21:34:08 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly what happened to the show.

Two words:

Mike. Scully.

Mike Scully became the show runner for the series - i.e. the head writer and producer - in the ninth series of the show. Let's have a review of who did it before that.

The first two seasons were run by Matt Groening (for obvious reasons) along with Sam Simon and James L. Brooks, the veterans brought in to help realise the show.

Once the personality was established, the third and fourth series were run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. These are often considered the finest episodes, the ones that strike the perfect balance between satire and heart. This is where the show's true identity was solidified after it had been a touch more fluid the first two seasons.

After the first four series, virtually the entire writing staff quit aside from some of the mainstays like John Swartzwelder (who would stay until season 15 I think) and the newly joined Conan O'Brien. Five and six belonged to David Mirkin. Now I would argue that the root of the problem is actually in what Mirkin did. Five is my favourite season of Simpsons but Mirkin's decision to let Homer go into space is probably what eventually killed the show, because as Matt Groening thought at the time, what could follow it? Mirkin's series were seen by many as more cartoonish but were still critically acclaimed and beloved. Honestly I still maintain that the fifth is the flat out funniest season, and this was mostly because of O'Brien's input. He was on the show for a year, but his ideas were some of the best (like 'Homer Goes To College') and his individual jokes on other episodes were knockouts.

Seven and eight are my second favourite series of the show, run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. These two wanted to focus more on the family and be a touch more realistic after Mirkin's run. However they also wanted to push the boundaries and really work with what the medium could offer. It's these guys that did the 'Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase,' the '138th Episode Spectacular,' the episode about Hank Scorpio. This was the last hurrah of the series. Unfortunately they, along with Mirkin, also helped kill Simpsons, which I'll get to later.

In series nine, everything turned to s*** when Mike Scully was appointed the show runner. The ninth series is not actually terrible, but you can tell when you watch it that the rot has well and truly set in. You will notice that all of the best episodes of this season are holdover from Oakley/Weinstein - "City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson" and "Lisa The Simpson."

However, the season isn't helped by their other episode, "The Principal And The Pauper." Using the medium as truly hardcore satire, they use it to spoof the fans who ended up hating the episode, despite the fact that it was about them. It was a stupid move, but that episode fits in with a season that slowly began to ruin the warmth and heart the show had.

Scully would stick around for four miserable seasons as show runner, finally departing after season 12. You can trace the steady decline of the show between season nine and season 12. Just watch it, seriously. By series 11 and 12 we have ridiculous, outlandish episodes like the Simpsons getting a horse ...again and then having to fight murderous jockey elves? And then there's the fact that at one point Homer says "we'll be right back" directly into the camera.

The absolute low point, however, came in "Homer vs. Dignity" in which Homer was raped by a panda and then sprayed by a skunk, all for money.

Those four seasons killed The Simpsons. The characters became ridiculous, if they even existed. Homer became the focal point of everything, which didn't help because he'd evolved into a truly reprehensible human being that rivalled Peter Griffin.

The worst part was what I call 'throwing the character onto the joke grenade.' Any character was made to do anything simply because you know, it might be funny, regardless of anything remotely resembling logic (again you can trace this to the Mirkin seasons for its origins). For an example, look no further than Marge scolding Bart for burping, then immediately farting. I laughed at this joke. It is funny, I'll admit. It ain't The Simpsons, though.

The last gasp of the show is season 11's "Behind The Laughter," in which Scully basically admits that he ruined the show by parodying how terrible it had become. I wonder whether he actually realised he was doing it?

You'll note that regardless of how terrible the episodes were in nine to 12, the show had a vividness and life about it that is now long gone. The current series make you LONG for the days of Scully because as terrible as his shows were, you at least got to laugh once in a while. For season 13 Al Jean returned as show runner and hasn't left and you can actually see a slight upswing in the show in the thirteenth series as some of its heart returns.

But Scully's run had already killed the characters too much by that point for the show to be truly salvageable. Now we get entire episodes that are JUST ABOUT GIL. GIL.

That kind of says it all really since Gil's very prominence is entirely because Phil Hartman died and they can't use Lionel Hutz as The Simpsons' lawyer any more. Someone mentioned the show got worse when Hartman died, but that is merely a correlation - or more accurately, a contributing factor to what Scully did do the show.

Obviously Scully doesn't shoulder all the blame. The writers working underneath him deserve some too, and Matt Groening, and all the other producers for letting Scully's 'creative vision' run riot, but you'll note that often the better episodes were by old hands, such as Swartzwelder before he moved on to other things.

Mike Scully killed The Simpsons, and the airless, heartless, bland, blunt episodes churned out by The Simpsons factory, episodes that even the actors don't care about and that Harry Shearer has publicly condemned for being wretched, are merely air escaping from the corpse.

I really hope someone reads this post because I put a s***load of thought and effort into writing that.

This may be one of the most passionate, yet thoughtful arguments I've read on the internet in a while.

That said, I never got the hate for "The Principal and the Pauper." It may be the first chink in the armor of "The Simpsons" Golden Age, but it's still a damn funny episode, in my opinion. Of course, the show did begin a VERY steep and sudden decline almost immediately after.

[Deleted]

That post was awesome.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Honestly when I check back in after I just stopped watching I kinda like some of what I see. Sure its not great but its not God awful.

[Deleted]

Family Guy happened, that's what. It's sketch show style of comedy where you just throw jokes at a dartboard until SOMETHING makes people laugh, then work from there.

The Simpsons tried to stay current by taking that same formula (not wholesale, of course, just the important parts) and applying it to themselves.

[Brainbustaaah!]

Sept 2, 2011 21:34:08 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

-snip-

THAT WAS AWESOME! *clap clap clapclapclap*
THAT WAS AWESOME! *clap clap clapclapclap*
THAT WAS AWESOME! *clap clap clapclapclap*
THAT WAS AWESOME! *clap clap clapclapclap*

Seriously, amazing summation, and logically laid-out and defended to boot. If only more 'Net arguments were as civilly done as that.

[kidtamagotchi]

Yeah, I despised that horse/elves episode of the Simpson almost as much as The Principal and the Pauper. There was also a run of episodes where there was a boring musical number in every episode. I hated them!

Currently, the episodes aren't too bad, they still lack heart and detail, but they're watchable. My favorite episode this past season was the Cheech and Chong episode (the Fritz the Cat homage being my favorite scene).

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Sept 2, 2011 21:34:08 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly what happened to the show.

Two words:

Mike. Scully.

Mike Scully became the show runner for the series - i.e. the head writer and producer - in the ninth series of the show. Let's have a review of who did it before that.

The first two seasons were run by Matt Groening (for obvious reasons) along with Sam Simon and James L. Brooks, the veterans brought in to help realise the show.

Once the personality was established, the third and fourth series were run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. These are often considered the finest episodes, the ones that strike the perfect balance between satire and heart. This is where the show's true identity was solidified after it had been a touch more fluid the first two seasons.

After the first four series, virtually the entire writing staff quit aside from some of the mainstays like John Swartzwelder (who would stay until season 15 I think) and the newly joined Conan O'Brien. Five and six belonged to David Mirkin. Now I would argue that the root of the problem is actually in what Mirkin did. Five is my favourite season of Simpsons but Mirkin's decision to let Homer go into space is probably what eventually killed the show, because as Matt Groening thought at the time, what could follow it? Mirkin's series were seen by many as more cartoonish but were still critically acclaimed and beloved. Honestly I still maintain that the fifth is the flat out funniest season, and this was mostly because of O'Brien's input. He was on the show for a year, but his ideas were some of the best (like 'Homer Goes To College') and his individual jokes on other episodes were knockouts.

Seven and eight are my second favourite series of the show, run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. These two wanted to focus more on the family and be a touch more realistic after Mirkin's run. However they also wanted to push the boundaries and really work with what the medium could offer. It's these guys that did the 'Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase,' the '138th Episode Spectacular,' the episode about Hank Scorpio. This was the last hurrah of the series. Unfortunately they, along with Mirkin, also helped kill Simpsons, which I'll get to later.

In series nine, everything turned to s*** when Mike Scully was appointed the show runner. The ninth series is not actually terrible, but you can tell when you watch it that the rot has well and truly set in. You will notice that all of the best episodes of this season are holdover from Oakley/Weinstein - "City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson" and "Lisa The Simpson."

However, the season isn't helped by their other episode, "The Principal And The Pauper." Using the medium as truly hardcore satire, they use it to spoof the fans who ended up hating the episode, despite the fact that it was about them. It was a stupid move, but that episode fits in with a season that slowly began to ruin the warmth and heart the show had.

Scully would stick around for four miserable seasons as show runner, finally departing after season 12. You can trace the steady decline of the show between season nine and season 12. Just watch it, seriously. By series 11 and 12 we have ridiculous, outlandish episodes like the Simpsons getting a horse ...again and then having to fight murderous jockey elves? And then there's the fact that at one point Homer says "we'll be right back" directly into the camera.

The absolute low point, however, came in "Homer vs. Dignity" in which Homer was raped by a panda and then sprayed by a skunk, all for money.

Those four seasons killed The Simpsons. The characters became ridiculous, if they even existed. Homer became the focal point of everything, which didn't help because he'd evolved into a truly reprehensible human being that rivalled Peter Griffin.

The worst part was what I call 'throwing the character onto the joke grenade.' Any character was made to do anything simply because you know, it might be funny, regardless of anything remotely resembling logic (again you can trace this to the Mirkin seasons for its origins). For an example, look no further than Marge scolding Bart for burping, then immediately farting. I laughed at this joke. It is funny, I'll admit. It ain't The Simpsons, though.

The last gasp of the show is season 11's "Behind The Laughter," in which Scully basically admits that he ruined the show by parodying how terrible it had become. I wonder whether he actually realised he was doing it?

You'll note that regardless of how terrible the episodes were in nine to 12, the show had a vividness and life about it that is now long gone. The current series make you LONG for the days of Scully because as terrible as his shows were, you at least got to laugh once in a while. For season 13 Al Jean returned as show runner and hasn't left and you can actually see a slight upswing in the show in the thirteenth series as some of its heart returns.

But Scully's run had already killed the characters too much by that point for the show to be truly salvageable. Now we get entire episodes that are JUST ABOUT GIL. GIL.

That kind of says it all really since Gil's very prominence is entirely because Phil Hartman died and they can't use Lionel Hutz as The Simpsons' lawyer any more. Someone mentioned the show got worse when Hartman died, but that is merely a correlation - or more accurately, a contributing factor to what Scully did do the show.

Obviously Scully doesn't shoulder all the blame. The writers working underneath him deserve some too, and Matt Groening, and all the other producers for letting Scully's 'creative vision' run riot, but you'll note that often the better episodes were by old hands, such as Swartzwelder before he moved on to other things.

Mike Scully killed The Simpsons, and the airless, heartless, bland, blunt episodes churned out by The Simpsons factory, episodes that even the actors don't care about and that Harry Shearer has publicly condemned for being wretched, are merely air escaping from the corpse.

I really hope someone reads this post because I put a s***load of thought and effort into writing that.

Awesome post. You should consider doing a longer, more in depth analysis of The Simpson's decline for an article for the FAN website. Would make a great read

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Wow, I got the Citizen Kane clapping .gif. First time that's happened to me!

[Deleted]

Congratulations.

Sorry to hijack but I just saw the name Josh Weinstein in your post. Is that the same one who appeared in the first season of MST3K?

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Phil Hartman's senseless murder didn't really have any real effect on The Simpsons, IMO. He voiced two very funny but very peripheral characters. His death obviously affected Newsradio, which was arguably the smartest and funniest show on TV at the time of his death, far more than it did The Simpsons.

Apparently, Jean is going to be around forever since he's in deep with Brooks and other higher-up's at Fox. There's also this strange mentality, according to the Ortved book, that the show is "still funnier than any live-action show on TV". This opinion is voiced a few times, by different people. The show seems to exist in some bubble, where as long as it's on the air, that's good enough for the people who run it, as it continues making them incredibly wealthy.

PS-Props to gizzarkhenry's excellent post. I can actually tolerate up to season 12 due to the occasional quality episode, but obviously there are two dips before that; a slight but noticeable dip between season 6 and 7 and then a much larger dip between 8 and 9. I actually enjoyed some of the more surreal, cartoony touches they played around with during seasons 11 and 12 but will freely admit there's more misses than hits in those seasons. Sad, really. I was swept up in Simpsons-mania when it started, then was just old enough to realize something amazing was happening in seasons 4-6. Now, it's something of a miracle if I pay attention through a whole episode.

[Famous Rocking Chimes]

Sept 2, 2011 21:34:08 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly what happened to the show.

Two words:

Mike. Scully.

Mike Scully became the show runner for the series - i.e. the head writer and producer - in the ninth series of the show. Let's have a review of who did it before that.

The first two seasons were run by Matt Groening (for obvious reasons) along with Sam Simon and James L. Brooks, the veterans brought in to help realise the show.

Once the personality was established, the third and fourth series were run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. These are often considered the finest episodes, the ones that strike the perfect balance between satire and heart. This is where the show's true identity was solidified after it had been a touch more fluid the first two seasons.

After the first four series, virtually the entire writing staff quit aside from some of the mainstays like John Swartzwelder (who would stay until season 15 I think) and the newly joined Conan O'Brien. Five and six belonged to David Mirkin. Now I would argue that the root of the problem is actually in what Mirkin did. Five is my favourite season of Simpsons but Mirkin's decision to let Homer go into space is probably what eventually killed the show, because as Matt Groening thought at the time, what could follow it? Mirkin's series were seen by many as more cartoonish but were still critically acclaimed and beloved. Honestly I still maintain that the fifth is the flat out funniest season, and this was mostly because of O'Brien's input. He was on the show for a year, but his ideas were some of the best (like 'Homer Goes To College') and his individual jokes on other episodes were knockouts.

Seven and eight are my second favourite series of the show, run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. These two wanted to focus more on the family and be a touch more realistic after Mirkin's run. However they also wanted to push the boundaries and really work with what the medium could offer. It's these guys that did the 'Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase,' the '138th Episode Spectacular,' the episode about Hank Scorpio. This was the last hurrah of the series. Unfortunately they, along with Mirkin, also helped kill Simpsons, which I'll get to later.

In series nine, everything turned to s*** when Mike Scully was appointed the show runner. The ninth series is not actually terrible, but you can tell when you watch it that the rot has well and truly set in. You will notice that all of the best episodes of this season are holdover from Oakley/Weinstein - "City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson" and "Lisa The Simpson."

However, the season isn't helped by their other episode, "The Principal And The Pauper." Using the medium as truly hardcore satire, they use it to spoof the fans who ended up hating the episode, despite the fact that it was about them. It was a stupid move, but that episode fits in with a season that slowly began to ruin the warmth and heart the show had.

Scully would stick around for four miserable seasons as show runner, finally departing after season 12. You can trace the steady decline of the show between season nine and season 12. Just watch it, seriously. By series 11 and 12 we have ridiculous, outlandish episodes like the Simpsons getting a horse ...again and then having to fight murderous jockey elves? And then there's the fact that at one point Homer says "we'll be right back" directly into the camera.

The absolute low point, however, came in "Homer vs. Dignity" in which Homer was raped by a panda and then sprayed by a skunk, all for money.

Those four seasons killed The Simpsons. The characters became ridiculous, if they even existed. Homer became the focal point of everything, which didn't help because he'd evolved into a truly reprehensible human being that rivalled Peter Griffin.

The worst part was what I call 'throwing the character onto the joke grenade.' Any character was made to do anything simply because you know, it might be funny, regardless of anything remotely resembling logic (again you can trace this to the Mirkin seasons for its origins). For an example, look no further than Marge scolding Bart for burping, then immediately farting. I laughed at this joke. It is funny, I'll admit. It ain't The Simpsons, though.

The last gasp of the show is season 11's "Behind The Laughter," in which Scully basically admits that he ruined the show by parodying how terrible it had become. I wonder whether he actually realised he was doing it?

You'll note that regardless of how terrible the episodes were in nine to 12, the show had a vividness and life about it that is now long gone. The current series make you LONG for the days of Scully because as terrible as his shows were, you at least got to laugh once in a while. For season 13 Al Jean returned as show runner and hasn't left and you can actually see a slight upswing in the show in the thirteenth series as some of its heart returns.

But Scully's run had already killed the characters too much by that point for the show to be truly salvageable. Now we get entire episodes that are JUST ABOUT GIL. GIL.

That kind of says it all really since Gil's very prominence is entirely because Phil Hartman died and they can't use Lionel Hutz as The Simpsons' lawyer any more. Someone mentioned the show got worse when Hartman died, but that is merely a correlation - or more accurately, a contributing factor to what Scully did do the show.

Obviously Scully doesn't shoulder all the blame. The writers working underneath him deserve some too, and Matt Groening, and all the other producers for letting Scully's 'creative vision' run riot, but you'll note that often the better episodes were by old hands, such as Swartzwelder before he moved on to other things.

Mike Scully killed The Simpsons, and the airless, heartless, bland, blunt episodes churned out by The Simpsons factory, episodes that even the actors don't care about and that Harry Shearer has publicly condemned for being wretched, are merely air escaping from the corpse.

I really hope someone reads this post because I put a s***load of thought and effort into writing that.

[HMARK Center]

Great write up gizzark, glad to see it made the top of the page.

Most of the main points have been hit on here (running out of ideas after so many years, the loss of the "heart" of the show, main characters becoming one-note parodies of themselves, etc.), but there's something I started realizing about "secondary character" episodes.

Back in the day, an episode that featured/highlighted a secondary character, from Grandpa, to Ms. Krabappel, to Skinner, to Ralph Wiggum, etc. etc., made sure that said secondary character was tied in heavily with what was happening in the Simpson household, or affected their relationship dynamic with a particular Simpson. Later, if they did an episode about whichever secondary character, the Simpsons themselves were window-dressing; the secondary character became the primary one for that episode, the family not even mattering.

It's part of the overall mindset change of the series, I guess.

[BHB]

Sept 2, 2011 21:34:08 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly what happened to the show.

Two words:

Mike. Scully.

Mike Scully became the show runner for the series - i.e. the head writer and producer - in the ninth series of the show. Let's have a review of who did it before that.

The first two seasons were run by Matt Groening (for obvious reasons) along with Sam Simon and James L. Brooks, the veterans brought in to help realise the show.

Once the personality was established, the third and fourth series were run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. These are often considered the finest episodes, the ones that strike the perfect balance between satire and heart. This is where the show's true identity was solidified after it had been a touch more fluid the first two seasons.

After the first four series, virtually the entire writing staff quit aside from some of the mainstays like John Swartzwelder (who would stay until season 15 I think) and the newly joined Conan O'Brien. Five and six belonged to David Mirkin. Now I would argue that the root of the problem is actually in what Mirkin did. Five is my favourite season of Simpsons but Mirkin's decision to let Homer go into space is probably what eventually killed the show, because as Matt Groening thought at the time, what could follow it? Mirkin's series were seen by many as more cartoonish but were still critically acclaimed and beloved. Honestly I still maintain that the fifth is the flat out funniest season, and this was mostly because of O'Brien's input. He was on the show for a year, but his ideas were some of the best (like 'Homer Goes To College') and his individual jokes on other episodes were knockouts.

Seven and eight are my second favourite series of the show, run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. These two wanted to focus more on the family and be a touch more realistic after Mirkin's run. However they also wanted to push the boundaries and really work with what the medium could offer. It's these guys that did the 'Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase,' the '138th Episode Spectacular,' the episode about Hank Scorpio. This was the last hurrah of the series. Unfortunately they, along with Mirkin, also helped kill Simpsons, which I'll get to later.

In series nine, everything turned to s*** when Mike Scully was appointed the show runner. The ninth series is not actually terrible, but you can tell when you watch it that the rot has well and truly set in. You will notice that all of the best episodes of this season are holdover from Oakley/Weinstein - "City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson" and "Lisa The Simpson."

However, the season isn't helped by their other episode, "The Principal And The Pauper." Using the medium as truly hardcore satire, they use it to spoof the fans who ended up hating the episode, despite the fact that it was about them. It was a stupid move, but that episode fits in with a season that slowly began to ruin the warmth and heart the show had.

Scully would stick around for four miserable seasons as show runner, finally departing after season 12. You can trace the steady decline of the show between season nine and season 12. Just watch it, seriously. By series 11 and 12 we have ridiculous, outlandish episodes like the Simpsons getting a horse ...again and then having to fight murderous jockey elves? And then there's the fact that at one point Homer says "we'll be right back" directly into the camera.

The absolute low point, however, came in "Homer vs. Dignity" in which Homer was raped by a panda and then sprayed by a skunk, all for money.

Those four seasons killed The Simpsons. The characters became ridiculous, if they even existed. Homer became the focal point of everything, which didn't help because he'd evolved into a truly reprehensible human being that rivalled Peter Griffin.

The worst part was what I call 'throwing the character onto the joke grenade.' Any character was made to do anything simply because you know, it might be funny, regardless of anything remotely resembling logic (again you can trace this to the Mirkin seasons for its origins). For an example, look no further than Marge scolding Bart for burping, then immediately farting. I laughed at this joke. It is funny, I'll admit. It ain't The Simpsons, though.

The last gasp of the show is season 11's "Behind The Laughter," in which Scully basically admits that he ruined the show by parodying how terrible it had become. I wonder whether he actually realised he was doing it?

You'll note that regardless of how terrible the episodes were in nine to 12, the show had a vividness and life about it that is now long gone. The current series make you LONG for the days of Scully because as terrible as his shows were, you at least got to laugh once in a while. For season 13 Al Jean returned as show runner and hasn't left and you can actually see a slight upswing in the show in the thirteenth series as some of its heart returns.

But Scully's run had already killed the characters too much by that point for the show to be truly salvageable. Now we get entire episodes that are JUST ABOUT GIL. GIL.

That kind of says it all really since Gil's very prominence is entirely because Phil Hartman died and they can't use Lionel Hutz as The Simpsons' lawyer any more. Someone mentioned the show got worse when Hartman died, but that is merely a correlation - or more accurately, a contributing factor to what Scully did do the show.

Obviously Scully doesn't shoulder all the blame. The writers working underneath him deserve some too, and Matt Groening, and all the other producers for letting Scully's 'creative vision' run riot, but you'll note that often the better episodes were by old hands, such as Swartzwelder before he moved on to other things.

Mike Scully killed The Simpsons, and the airless, heartless, bland, blunt episodes churned out by The Simpsons factory, episodes that even the actors don't care about and that Harry Shearer has publicly condemned for being wretched, are merely air escaping from the corpse.

I really hope someone reads this post because I put a s***load of thought and effort into writing that.

Excellent post. Threads like this come up every few months or so and always seem to be full of people who think that that the modern episodes are just as good if not better than the old. I'm glad that it's far enough along now that most people can accept that they really aren't.

Oddly enough, some of the newer episodes are some of the best for years. They're nothing like the old style and are no where near as good but after years of randmoness and crap the creators have seemed to find a niche again and make something which is actually ok to watch.