Topic: Which season of the Simpsons is best?

[BeautifulShy]

Seeing how for the second time the rumor thread has been derailed I am making this topic. I don't really pay attention to the seasons so I don't know which is best.

[TJ Spyke]

For me, either seasons 5 or 7. I love every episode from both seasons.

There are only a handful of episodes (like 3 or 4) that I hate. To me, the worst episode of the show is easily season 17's "Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife". That was the episode written by, and guest starring, Ricky Gervais and about Home and Marge being on a parody of Wife Swap. The episode was horrible, which isn't surprising because I find Gervais vastly over-rated and not very funny.

If anyone needs reminds, here is a list of seasons and episodes: http://snpp.com/guides/ql.html
This provides a brief summary of each episode: http://snpp.com/episodeguide.html

[ShyGuy]

Which season had Monorail?

[TJ Spyke]

"Marge vs. the Monorail", from season 4.

[Ian Sane]

I have seasons 1-7 on DVD and don't intend to buy any others.  That should indicate where my tastes lie.  I think season 5 is the best but seasons 3-6 are just pure gold.  I can't think of any show that was so consistently great for a couple of years like that.  Aside from the odd clip-show I can't name a stinker within that four year span.  Hell, these are not just not-stinkers, they're outright classics!  7 is still pretty good but you can tell that things are declining (Lisa becomes a vegetarian in this season starting the era of Lisa the annoying self-righteous nag).  Season 2 starts off feeling like season 1 but transitions to a season 3 feel by the end.  It's really the season that the show became something special.  I bought season 1 for completeness sake as it's rather weak.  It's interesting that I will buy a weak first season for a show but will not buy weak later seasons if I feel a show has lost it.  I think it's because I tolerate a show starting off rough and taking time to get into the groove but don't tolerate a show degrading into junk.

[Halbred]

All of the early seasons blur together for me. A few series favorites...

"Marge vs. the Monorail" (anyone want to switch seats?)
"Cape Fear" (very well, Bart, I shall send you to heaven...before I send you to hell.)
"Plow King" (the torch has been passed to a new generation of, uh, snowplow people.)

[Stogi]

I can't think of any show that was so consistently great for a couple of years like that.

South Park?

Futurama?

[Caterkiller]

Everytime I watch episodes from the latest seasons I tend to chuckle here and there. But no out right super laughing like I do when I watch earlier episodes. A shame really but what can you do?

Anyone see that episode this past Sunday? They blew up a whale! I thought that was a bit much! I'm going to write an angry letter! I'll do it in bold red! *someone take it from there*
 
Taking this from my sponge thread. When it comes to the characters and their dialogue does anyone else feel like this?
 
The characters and their actions seemed so genuin in the first few seasons. I feel like back then, thats how these characters would act if they were in their own world doing their own things. Now it just feels like they are reading a script and being told what to do and say. It seems to be "how can we make Homer say this?" rather than "what would Homer say in this situation?"
 
I think thats what gets me the most, I just don't believe the characters mean what they say anymore.

[Ian Sane]

The characters and their actions seemed so genuin in the first few seasons. I feel like back then, thats how these characters would act if they were in their own world doing their own things. Now it just feels like they are reading a script and being told what to do and say. It seems to be "how can we make Homer say this?" rather than "what would Homer say in this situation?"

I understand what you mean.  For me a big turn-off is that Homer went from being Homer into a yelling doofus.  Not that he wasn't dumb before but he transformed into someone I legitimately find annoying.
 
I chalk a big part of it up to the turnover of writers.  The entire writing team turned over after season 4.  By some miracle the new staff managed to be equally talented and there's no drop in quality at first.  But with the Simpsons being such a successful show its talent would often get raided.  So essentially the best writers would leave the show for bigger and better things while the worst writers would stick around.  I think is a fairly common occurance with successful TV shows.  So eventually you get to a point where the creative talent just isn't their anymore.  The Simpsons changed because those that understood the humour of the show all left.
 
Ever notice that some people are just naturally very funny, while some people very obviously TRY to be funny and fail at it?  Failed attempts at comedy end up being annoying and I would rather be around a serious humourless prude then a wannabe comedian.  When a comedy show turns to **** it feels like it is written by the sort of people that try to be funny but are obviously terrible at it.  And I think that's makes a lot of sense due to the staff turnover.
 
Unfunny people who think they're funny (or wish they were) would think Homer yelling at the top of his lungs is hilarious.  Truly funny people come up with Roger Clemens mistaking Homer for Ken Griffey, Jr. and accidentally getting his hopes up.

[ShyGuy]

Conan needs to come back and write one more episode.

[NWR_insanolord]

I would say the show was at its best from seasons 3-9, with 8 being my personal favorite. Season 7, though it's still a great season, would actually be my least favorite out of those seasons, with all the others having more episodes that I like. I don't think season 7 has a single episode in my top 10, a feat which even season 10 manages. I think the decline in the quality in the writing of the show and the increase in craziness were separate occurrences, the latter happening several years before the former; they managed to do crazy with excellent writing for a while. (That was one of the great things about Futurama: it made perfect sense for everything to be crazy.)

Conan needs to come back and write one more episode.

The show's been stagnant under Al Jean; he's been in charge too long, since season 13. It would have been awesome for Conan to come back and take over as show runner. It would be even better if John Swarzwelder, the writer of 59 great episodes and the greatest comedy writer who ever lived (SNL, The Simpsons, and novels that give Douglas Adams a run for his money), were to come back, either as show runner or just a writer.

[Caterkiller]

Ever notice that some people are just naturally very funny, while some people very obviously TRY to be funny and fail at it?  Failed attempts at comedy end up being annoying and I would rather be around a serious humourless prude then a wannabe comedian.  When a comedy show turns to **** it feels like it is written by the sort of people that try to be funny but are obviously terrible at it.  And I think that's makes a lot of sense due to the staff turnover.
 
Unfunny people who think they're funny (or wish they were) would think Homer yelling at the top of his lungs is hilarious.  Truly funny people come up with Roger Clemens mistaking Homer for Ken Griffey, Jr. and accidentally getting his hopes up.

Anyone writting any kind of comedy needs to understand this and now! I know you creative heads out there have things in the works.  Burn Ian's words into your memories!

[Luigi Dude]

I'm sorry but I don't think anything can save The Simpsons.  Even though better writers would help some, the main problem is just the fact the show has been on for too long and used up all the good ideas by the end of Season 8.  There's only so much any series can do before they run out of idea's.  I mean really now, even if the good writers like Conan and John Swarzwelder were to return to the show full time again, how long would they really be able to help the show out.  I'm sure they'd have some great episodes in them but enough to last several seasons or hell, even one?

People have to remember that these teams of writers are just like sports teams.  Some times the best players will leave and as a result, bad players will take their place which will hurt the team.  But at the same time, the best players can only play for so long before they eventually wear down and become a bad player themselves.

[TJ Spyke]

It would be even better if John Swarzwelder, the writer of 59 great episodes and the greatest comedy writer who ever lived (SNL, The Simpsons, and novels that give Douglas Adams a run for his money), were to come back, either as show runner or just a writer.

I don't agree at all, especially as showrunner. While he used to be good, his latter episodes were just bad and are some of my least liked episodes ("The Lastest Gun in the West", "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", "Kill the Alligator and Run" among them). Maybe have him contribute, but not as the leader writer or showrunner.

The show has become good again (not as good as it used to be, but better than it was a few years ago). Not every episode is great, but more often than not I love a episode. I don't like when they decide to re-write canon though (like in "That 90's Show").

[oohhboy]

The Simpsons stopped being funny when it stop being The Simpsons and more the "Homer does something stupid show". It's the very same trap Family Guy fell into. Some of the best episodes had barely anything to do with the Simpson family.

The first thing they could is increase Homer's intelligence massively. He is barely a talking ape now. He started off as a naive, yet caring, clumsy, but not stupid, lazy, but not parasitic husband who was a bit foolish.

Stop the flavour of the week celebrity cameos. Stop Lisa preaching something every single time she says something. Bart needs to raise some hell.

[NWR_insanolord]

It would be even better if John Swarzwelder, the writer of 59 great episodes and the greatest comedy writer who ever lived (SNL, The Simpsons, and novels that give Douglas Adams a run for his money), were to come back, either as show runner or just a writer.

I don't agree at all, especially as showrunner. While he used to be good, his latter episodes were just bad and are some of my least liked episodes ("The Lastest Gun in the West", "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", "Kill the Alligator and Run" among them). Maybe have him contribute, but not as the leader writer or showrunner.

The show has become good again (not as good as it used to be, but better than it was a few years ago). Not every episode is great, but more often than not I love a episode. I don't like when they decide to re-write canon though (like in "That 90's Show").

He'd never do it anyway. He didn't even come in to the office for the later years of his time on the show; he wrote from home when they stopped letting him smoke in the writers' room. He'd never take that kind of a role in the show. His novels prove that he's still an amazing comedy writer, though, especially How I Conquered Your Planet and The Exploding Detective. The way the people on the DVD commentaries tell it, the problems with some of his later episodes, like the ones you mentioned, stemmed from him not being there to defend his writing and because of that the scripts got ruined by the other writers when they were going over them in the room.

[NWR_insanolord]

Also, as for the notion that the show didn't get crazy and unbelievable until season 8 or 9, I'd like to point out that Springfield built a giant monorail in season 4, season 5 included Bart getting a pet elephant and Homer going into outer space, and in season 6 a comet hit Springfield.

[Dasmos]

I'd agree with isanolord and say that seasons 3-9 are the best. The best parts of my childhood come from these seasons.

I don't like when they decide to re-write canon though (like in "That 90's Show").

lol Simpsons canon.

[Plugabugz]

The Simpsons stopped being funny when it stop being The Simpsons and more the "Homer does something stupid show". It's the very same trap Family Guy fell into.

This. Here. Truth.

There was a couple of standout moments in recent years but the quality has been generally downward since S8 or so. Family Guy is even worse than The Simpsons mainly because after PTV in Season 4 it's been generally on a downhill slide (then it has a massive reboot at the top of S8 this season then suddenly turned to poo).

Personally the problem for me comes down to that most american TV shows just run on for too long. This kinda relates to Luigi Dude's metaphor about a bad team. Doctor Who, even though its british and been going on for 40 years, is an exception coz it has a built in mechanism to reboot The Simpsons would have been better if it ended after Season 7, or if they cut the season length to 15 episodes rather than being dragged out to death bit by bit.

[UncleBob]

Am I the only person alive that still enjoys the Simpsons?

[TJ Spyke]

lol Simpsons canon.

The producers are normally great in keeping consistent with canon, they rarely have any contradictions.

Bob, I still love the show (although there are some episodes I don't like).

[oohhboy]

Am I the only person alive that still enjoys the Simpsons?

In it's current form? Yes.

Damn funny thing is that Malcolm in the Middle was basically a live action Simpsons with a smaller supporting cast that never went bad. There was so much the Simpsons could have learnt from Malcolm.

Like developing characters in a positive fashion, oppose to developing them in to caricatures of themselves. Properly leveraging the supporting that doesn't reduce your own creations into cameos. Simpsons has a whole bloody town to write stories about.

[TJ Spyke]

Never went bad? The last season of Malcolm in the Middle was so bad that it was almost unwatchable.

You talk about not developing characters? They had a whole episode about Cletus' kids singing, another about Groundskeeper Willy becoming a gentleman, etc. Although the show may not be at its best anymore, I fail to see how anyone could think the show is bad (certain episodes, sure. The show in general? No.)

[Ian Sane]

  Also, as for the notion that the show didn't get crazy and unbelievable until season 8 or 9, I'd like to point out that Springfield built a giant monorail in season 4, season 5 included Bart getting a pet elephant and Homer going into outer space, and in season 6 a comet hit Springfield. 

For me the turning point was how things ended up at the end of the episode.  After the Scorpio one the episode ended with Scorpio taking over the entire Northeast and Homer being the owner of the Denver Broncos.  And yet this has no effect on the next episode?  Later on we had an episode where Homer's incompetence as sanitary commissioner ended with the whole town moving five miles up the road!  Are you fucking kidding me?  What sort of dumb jackass comes up with such an unbelievable ending to an episode?
 
Adding a monorail or a casino that is never seen again is a little over-the-top BUT towns do build monorails and casinos in real life.  Hank Scorpio is a supervillian.  Supervillians AREN'T REAL.  When you have things that don't even exist in the real world you have lost it.
 
I officially turned the Simpsons off forever halfway through Saddlesore Galactica.  Once Homer was brought to the land of the jockeys and it is revealed that the jockeys are actually FUCKING ELVES I turned the TV off.  That completely crossed the line for me.

[oohhboy]

Boulder Dash.

The Hank Scorpio Episode is one of my favourites because it was absurd. The Simpson family were mostly an observer to events oppose to the being the sole driver. They provided commentary to events without realising how crazy everything was. They left not because they realised how evil Homer's new employer was, but how miserable utopia was, in that they couldn't deal with their idealised worlds. Marge with her house work, Bart rendered impotent by the lack of a true challenging authority that appreciated his antics, Lisa rejected by the very environment she so very much cares for and Maggie losing the the tiny amount of autonomy that she has to a swing machine.

Homer is the only one happy. But only due to the writers need to reset at the end of each episode does he quit his perfect job to deal with old problems rather than solve the new, trivial ones. He could have stayed, but the show had to reset.

They do keep things around and the characters have evolved over the years, but most of the time, especially Homer it has been a negative thing. Homer isn't himself anymore, he is an actor who plays himself set to full retard. Everybody else has been marginalised to support his increased retardation. For every non-Homer episode, there are countless full blown Homer episodes