When did The Simpsons jump the shark?

[yesitsme]

"Boys, get the alcohol-free alcohol!"

And then Ned having a smiley face plaster over where his moustache got ripped off.

'Imagination Christmas! Yaaaaaaaay!'

[Clownbaby]

It's fuckin depressing watching the newer Simpsons eps on Channel 4. I just have them on because it's something in the background now. The episodes have about 4 twists and turns in the first 5 mins or so before they actually get to the main story set up of the particular episode

[Namtab]

Watched Bart on the Road tonight for the first time in years. Another episode packed with wall to wall great gags. For some reason though, this moment really got me, especially the red face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4R1Jbwi63A

[yesitsme]

See the Trouble with Apu?  I'm sure other people have said this but what about The Trouble with Ralph Wiggum.

Making fun of the mentalists?  Come on Simpsons, you used to be better than that.

*see also The Trouble with the Elderly. 

[Blumf]

See the Trouble with Apu?  I'm sure other people have said this but what about The Trouble with Ralph Wiggum.

Making fun of the mentalists?  Come on Simpsons, you used to be better than that.

He is necessary, in part to show how the school system fails special-needs kids. (Don't forget the show iswas a satire, poking fun at the failings of society)

The beauty of Ralph is not so much the character himself, but his relation with his dad. Clancy Wiggum, the terrible and lazy cop, is a devoted father, always trying to help his son with his issues. That's the kind of detail that made The Simpsons the greatest show ever.

Naturally, there's a later (zombie) episode that shows the Chief dropping baby Ralph on his head, causing his metal problems. Yep, all that love? Guilt, mate!

[New Jack]

It's fuckin depressing watching the newer Simpsons eps on Channel 4. I just have them on because it's something in the background now. The episodes have about 4 twists and turns in the first 5 mins or so before they actually get to the main story set up of the particular episode

Maybe this is why they still keep making it! Turn it off mate, they don't know it's just background noise, Channel 4 will just go "ah, it has a viewer!"

I don't want to disturb myself by actively looking and finding but who are the "fans" of latter-day Simpsons awaiting the new episodes with glee?

Or more glibly, who is the fucking audience now? The stupid and young who refuse to watch "old" Simpsons? Alzheimer patients who can't remember the good old days? Space aliens with zero grasp of comedy? The cast?

[St_Eddie]

Maybe this is why they still keep making it! Turn it off mate, they don't know it's just background noise, Channel 4 will just go "ah, it has a viewer!"

Unless Clownbaby has a BARB box, or is watching it through All 4, it makes fuck all difference.

[yesitsme]

Unless Clownbaby has a BARB box, or is watching it through All 4, it makes fuck all difference.

I had a heated debate with a  woman once who insisted the way they count viewing figures was by watching for spikes in electricity demand at the end of shows.  Everyone knows that everyone bungs the kettle on after watching a programme so all you need to do is deduct the number of people drinking tea from those not drinking tea and hey presto you have the number of people who've just watched Robot Wars.

Or they could have been watching the news of course but still, the maths is there.

She found the idea of a TV diary totally preposterous but voting for shows via the power of Typhoo totally reasonable.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Unless Clownbaby has a BARB box, or is watching it through All 4, it makes fuck all difference.

https://youtu.be/4Oe2MGm8ljc?t=449
Glad this is actually on YouTube, always remembered this woman ringing up The Wright Stuff to say she'll deliberately switch off Jonathan Ross after a minute thinking that's how TV ratings work, they're pretty polite to her but I love the audience reaction to it, one guy in particular having a proper belly laugh out of it.

[checkoutgirl]

Watched Bart on the Road tonight for the first time in years. Another episode packed with wall to wall great gags. For some reason though, this moment really got me, especially the red face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4R1Jbwi63A

I love

Nelson - "Grammar rodeo, we're going to a grammar rodeo?"

Bart - "We're not going to a grammar rodeo, that was just a cover Milton"

Millhouse - "Martin"

Bart - "Martin"

and when they pick up some hitchhiker

"Well, I didn't think I was rehabilitated but I guess they needed the extra bed."




and "Boy this is much more fun with a second person"



And the wig outlet guy, the interaction is great. The way he gets testy with them after a few seconds and expects them to buy wigs.

"Uh, excuse me. Is this the world's fair visitor's center?"

"Used to be, back in 1982. You're 14 years too late."

"But there's another world's fair coming soon, right? Before Friday?" - "What about the sun sphere?"

"You mean the wig sphere. You're welcome to go up there if you want to see. Now, are you gentlemen gonna buy some wigs or ain't ya?"

[Clownbaby]

I caught the Mr Burns and Bobo episode the other week. It might be one of my favourites. I forgot how much I love Mr Burns and Smithers.

[checkoutgirl]

The beauty of Ralph is not so much the character himself, but his relation with his dad. Clancy Wiggum, the terrible and lazy cop, is a devoted father, always trying to help his son with his issues.

The fun is how terrible a dad Wiggum is despite his best efforts.

"Good luck Ralphie. If your nose starts bleeding it means you're picking it too much.......or not enough"

[checkoutgirl]

She found the idea of a TV diary totally preposterous but voting for shows via the power of Typhoo totally reasonable.

I don't trust viewing figures. Traditionally it's been a flawed model. They get statistics from a few thousand or sometimes only a few hundred homes and then multiply it by hundreds of thousands to get the total. That is not a true reflection. That famous Morcambe and Wise Christmas special that was supposed to be watched by 30 million people probably came from a sample of 1,000 people, 500 of which had watched that show. In that context guessing how many people are drinking tea by looking at electric power supply spikes makes about as much sense.

It might be different nowadays with cable TV and Netflix I don't know.

[St_Eddie]

She found the idea of a TV diary totally preposterous but voting for shows via the power of Typhoo totally reasonable.

The mind boggles.

and when they pick up some hitchhiker...

Clearly based on the hitchhiker character from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

In that context guessing how many people are drinking tea by looking at electric power supply spikes makes about as much sense.

Flawed as the current method for attaining viewing figures may be, that statement is a hyperbolic load of old bollocks.

It might be different nowadays with cable TV and Netflix I don't know.

I don't know about cable TV but it's definitely different with Netflix and other streaming services.  They have an actual statistic for how many viewers have watched something and not an estimate.  In years to come, the BARB box and scheduled television in general, will be a thing of the past.

[checkoutgirl]

that statement is a hyperbolic load of old bollocks.

It's actually 100% true and what you said is a hyperbolic load of old bollocks.

[checkoutgirl]

I don't know about cable TV

Now come on, don't put yourself down.

[Glebe]

To whom it may concern:

EXCITING NEWS GUYS!!!

Join us THIS MONDAY (August 6th) in Fumbally Exchange for a book signing/lecture event with SIMPSONS writer MIKE REISS!

[MojoJojo]

They do use electricity spikes to help count viewer figures. It's quick. Or they did anyway.

Netflix et Al obviously know exactly how much something is watched, but they don't have advertising so don't share. Sky and virgin could also collect precise figures, but apparently advertisers are quite happy with the models they've built around crude estimates and don't want more detail.

[St_Eddie]

They do use electricity spikes to help count viewer figures. It's quick. Or they did anyway.

I've spent a bit of time researching this and I can't find anything that says that broadcasters use electricity spikes to help determine viewing figures.  What I did find was that power companies have noticed surges during the advert breaks and in particular, have been able to narrow down the programme being watched in the case of extremely popular programmes (for example, cup finals).  I'd be happy to be corrected, if anyone can find a source for broadcasters using this data of electricity spikes, as a means of an estimating total viewers.

I could imagine that electricity spikes may have been used to some degree, back when there were only four channels to choose from but these days, with the sheer number of channels available with Freeview, a significant electrical spike could only be determined as a response to event television (again; cup finals and what have you).  A spike during an advert break is not going to tell you diddly squat about how many people watched The Gadget Show on Channel Five or a repeat of One Foot in the Grave on Yesterday, as the advert breaks all kick in at roughly the same time, across all of the channels (for example, 7:00, 7:15, 7:30).

Having said that, it does seem that there was some degree of truth to yesitsme's acquaintance saying that viewing figures are estimated via making a brew.  The more you know...

[yesitsme]

I think it was lazy journalistic way of filling a few lines.

The story always used to run along the lines of '...the electricity board reported a huge rise in demand for power as millions of viewers made a cup of tea while they contemplated the news that Don Brennan couldn't find his door keys.  The storyline, the raunchiest in Don's 40 year career earning money for old rope came as a shock to viewers...'

I doubt ITV sold adverts along based on stories like this.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Thanks to the AV Club I just discovered that Disney will soon own The Simpsons - https://news.avclub.com/disney-might-own-the-simpsons-soon-but-fox-is-hanging-1828071687 - but Fox are still insisting it'll be shown on their channel, and this suggests (perhaps unsurprisingly) that the series will continue for years to come:

"There are no plans for them to go anywhere other than Fox. There's so much upside and benefit to having a great Emmy Award-winning, smart, provocative, quality show, that there's no consideration of not ordering more."

[Clownbaby]

JUST LET IT DIE. LET IT DIE. LET THE SIMPSONS DIE.

[dontrunyoullfall]

Like Tupac albums they'll be new Simpsons episodes long after the main voice cast have shuffled off. Zombie Simpsons is inspirational for the producers.

[Ferris]

There's so much upside and benefit to having a great Emmy Award-winning, smart, provocative, quality show

:/

[greenman]

Its probably come up already but the episode that always seems to be highlighted in discussion on the shows decline is The Principal and the Pauper which I'v never really agreed with. The idea of the show not really showing internal consistency of events is simply not something I see as a big issue, I mean to some degree it has always operated with a bit of a reset switch, Scorpio doesn't still control the east coast afterall. If anything I would say that episode actually stands out as one of the best of the 9th season in having a strong dramatic story to it putting weight on characters who often lack it.

[Twed]

People confuse inconsistencies in the canon with inconsistencies in characters. The first is fine; it enables fun events like Scorpio and Principal/Pauper. The second is bad, it means that the characters are just projections for (mostly bad) gags that the writers can think of at the time.

[thecuriousorange]

The Simpsons will only end when it stops making money and amazingly people must keep watching the new episodes.

[Twed]

Brother in law thinks that The Simpsons is better than ever. It's not an age thing, he's in his late 30s. He's just a fucking idiot with no taste. Real corporate victim consumerist type. I think he enjoys all the celebrity cameos.

[MattD]

Has there actually been any concerted effort in the last few years to write decent episodes again?

[Replies From View]

Is that Tapped Out game still going?  I stopped doing that when the Reddit page made it so you could only apply for 1000 free doughnuts (the premium in-game currency) every two months rather than 10,000.

I imagine it's things like that game that rake in money, rather than new Simpsons episodes themselves.