Filmday Fridays: Why I Want to Talk About the Simpsons For the Next Few Months

In my revival post yesterday, I mentioned that I intend to launch my Filmday Friday series with a Season-by-season analysis and ranking of The Simpsons. This probably leads a few of you to wonder why I want to spend so much time looking at this show. The Simpsons was a phenomenon in the 1990s, with its unique brand of humor and many classic episodes. Bart Simpson was an icon of the 90s and even had two of his own music videos. But many of the show's most committed fans will say that the show stopped being good at the end of Season 8, or for some, the end of Season 12. Here is a video essay that places the "Fall" or "Death" of The Simpsons during this time period. It is one of the most interesting videos on this topic, but there are others on YouTube that make a similar point. 

                              

As a millennial who was born in the mid-1990s, I actually missed most of the period where the Simpsons was a cultural icon. We didn't have TV at my house (Which was nice because those advertisements can be pretty annoying), so I grew up with those Simpsons DVD Boxsets. I remember watching The Simpsons while I folded laundry for my family, it was a great comfort to me and I have so many good memories of growing up with this show. Because of this, there is a certain part of this show that has nostalgic appeal to me. With some of the shows I like best, I have a lot of good memories of watching them with family members and laughing at specific jokes. When the show was in its 19th Season, I started looking for a way to keep up with the show on an episode-by-episode basis which gave me the chance to see the more recent episodes of the show, long after the show supposedly "went bad." And there were a lot of episodes that I found extremely funny and even a few that were emotional or poignant. This doesn't mean that every single episode was amazing, but it does mean that there were many interesting episodes in these later seasons.

One expression that I have heard many times in video essays is that "no one sets out to make a bad movie," or in this case, a bad show. Because of this, I would say that there continue to be impactful episodes, profound ideas, or silly concepts in later seasons even when some people may dismiss the current show as "Zombie Simpsons" or "A shell of its former self." I believe that there are ways that an episode may not work as well as it could or may specifically bother you as a viewer. I know in my case, the most recent season (Season 32) had an episode called "Mother and Child Reunion." While I will discuss this episode in more detail in the future, it bothered me because it depicted a future where Lisa Simpson becomes completely disillusioned with higher education. In addition to being an episode that felt inconsistent with Lisa's character, it also was particularly irritating to me because I have spent many years in higher education and I take issue with people who try to dismiss college as "a waste of time" or "a mere hurdle people need to overcome before getting around to their careers." As a result, an episode with this concept would likely never be something I would enjoy watching, even if it is a high-quality episode or has some good jokes in it.

Since I have recently finished writing my dissertation proposal, I have spent the past few months thinking of a version of these questions: "What are other people saying about my topic? And how am going to take this topic in a different direction?" For this Simpsons Analysis, I want to respond to a problem I have noticed from some of the YouTubers who watch more recent episodes of the Simpsons. They often start with a dedication to being fair to the new seasons but by the time these seasons come around, they change their tone to that of a reviewer undergoing the "torment" of watching bad content for their fans. For instance, if you have the desire or patience to watch LS Mark's 5-hour watch through of The Simpsons (It was good background viewing while I was doing editorial work and packing) you will find an optimistic tone until that last few seasons where he describes most of them as boring, bland, and unfunny. I have seen every episode of the Simpsons, and I would say that every season has at least 1 or 2 episodes that are worth watching and recognizing. While I will talk about some of the bad episodes in the season, especially if these bad episodes share a common issue, I want to draw attention to the good episodes that you can find in each season.

Starting next week, I will spend each week discussing one season of The Simpsons. I will start with a brief discussion of some of the highlights of the season as well as its overall tone and "flavor." After this, I will be ranking the top 7 best and worst episodes of that season. This allows me to discuss the overall strengths of each season as well as the kinds of episodes that I tend to connect with. I am so excited to start this series next week and shine a light on the gems that you can find in each season of The Simpsons! Welcome to my new subseries: Simpsons, Season-by-Season!