I’ve got a bit of time off and looking to check a few shows off my list. I’ve decided to start with The Simpsons. I watched it on and off in the 90s enough to be familiar with it, but not enough to where I could remember plot lines and/or quotes.
Reading online tells me there’s a sharp drop after season 10 or so. The episodes are quite easy to churn through but I’m not finding it’s sticking with me (currently mid-S2). The ultimate question, is it worth getting through all 32, soon-to-be 33 seasons? I fear I’ve been broken by shows that reward ADHD like Family Guy, vulgarity like South Park or shows that blend surreal comedy with emotional depth like Bojack Horseman. Not that The Simpsons doesn’t have any of this, just that it does so in a more family-friendly way.
I started watching
The Simpsons when it first started as a small child and only about 5 years ago finally stopped watching new episodes. My SO has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the show and it’s been our primary go-to comfort TV throughout our 15 years together. We also enjoy
South Park and
Bojack Horseman quite a bit but neither of us find
Family Guy funny. The closet modern Animated Sitcom is
Bob’s Burgers being as they are both family based and have a good deal of heart at their center.
Regarding The Simpsons, the show really doesn't hit it’s stride; though there are some very funny episodes prior, until Season 3. The run from Seasons 4 through Season 8 is about as perfect stretch of TV comedy ever produced. Conan O’Brien came in as a writer during that time and wrote some of the best episodes and jokes the show ever created. IMO there were were 3 fantastic writers; O’Brien, Greg Daniels (who would later go on to write for
King Of The Hill and become the show runner for the US version of
The Office), and John Swartzwelder. David X Cohen and Mike Scully were both very good too during this time frame but probably a few clicks below the others.
Seasons 9 through 12 are still very good and really only suffer when compared with what came before, during this time you still get the majority of very good episodes and even a couple great ones each season but you also start getting some mediocre to bad episodes added into the mix.
From season 12 through season 18 leading into the
The Simpsons Movie; the show was in cruise control there are still occasionally funny episodes and there some good gags but over all the show starts lean too heavily on parody episodes and guest stars. This is also where they start to flesh out character that are better left without a backstory Crazy Cat Lady, Groundskeeper Willie and Gil are funny side characters but are fairly one note and fleshing out their characters story does nothing to make these characters more interesting.
If you want to make it a nice round number you could watch The Simpsons through Season 20 but beyond that it’s basically just going through the motions. We stopped watching new episodes essentially after FXX (and now Disney+) started offering up Every Simpsons Ever via streaming and are much more content at this point to watch reruns from the show heyday than trough through new episodes.