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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 07/31/2007 : 01:01:40 AM
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Saw the movie. It brought back fond memories of the series' golden years.
However... I haven't watched the TV show at all this season. From what I've been hearing the ratings have been terrible. Has anyone watched it lately? How's it holding up?
And anyone think that after 18 years it's time to call it quits, or do you think all the show needs is a coat of fresh paint? Certainly the success of the movie has shown it still has a lot of fans out there. |
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 07/31/2007 01:02:18 AM
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2007 : 02:15:08 AM
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| I like the movie. It's an improvement over the last seasons, which are just so-so. Still far from perfect, though, they've played it safe and kept m,ost of the subversive stuff out of the movie. Shouldn't complain, though, I'm positive it's one of those films that get better with every viewing. |
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Cannon Fodder
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Australia
176 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2007 : 05:38:44 AM
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I haven't watched any new episodes of the series for about 4-5 years and I loved the show in it's early years but after about series 5 the slow but steady decline set in.
I've heard some good reports about the movie claiming it is more like the stuff from the 'golden years' but the previews are far from promising and I never saw the need for a Simpsons movie to begin with. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 10:14:50 PM
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I noticed the exact same thing, Cannon Fodder... I own seasons 1-5 on DVD. 1-4 are excellent. Season 5 has a batting average of .500 or less.
I don't think the show fell apart all at once... there were many great episodes for many years to come... but why do you guys think the decline started to set in, and so soon? |
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Cannon Fodder
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Australia
176 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 06:55:38 AM
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| Hard to say. From what I can tell the Simpsons has always had a large amount of changover in terms of the writing team. Probably a lot of the writers from the early years moved on to other things and naturally the show changed (And declined). Also, just about any show is going to get crap after a while, once all the ideas, stories and characters have got a bit stale- I'd say the show maintained it's quality for about it's first hundred episodes, which is actually quite a few episodes- probably only seeming small amount proportionally now the show has been going for so long, and was generally pretty decent for the next hundred- after that, it's only a matter of time. There is only so much you can do, even with great characters and material. I can't really think of many shows, if any, with really long runs that maintained their quality throughout, with the possible exception of Doctor Who, which had its ups and downs. |
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Mark Hawley
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
Canada
48 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 6:03:02 PM
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My feelings are that though the first two seasons are fairly strong, looking back, the animation is often crude, the characterizations and vocalizations haven't quite crystalized yet (just listen to Homer's voice and look at the black Smithers) and many of the episodes were rather slow. This goes more for the first season more than the second. I feel the show really came into it's own during the third season, and peaked with the fourth season, and more or less sustained that quality up until, and including season 8.
Though I find it odd that you find Season 5 to be where it started to slip since looking over my DVD booklet, I can honestly say I find Season 5 to be the best season with only Season 4 and 6 challenging it.
I'm not up on Baseball, but does a batting average of .500 mean you've hit about 90% of them right out of the park? ;)
Season 9 is where things started to slip a bit, particularly with the Skinner as Imposter story. It was the first time I watched a Simpsons episode and said to myself, "what the hell were they thinking!" I've warmed to it a bit since then. If you look at is a having a silly, completely out-there revelation and seeing the townfolk so desperate to maintain the status quo that they'll do everything they can to ignore it as being the whole point, it's really not that bad and has some funny moments. Other than that, Season 9 was very strong.
I think after that, the seasons became more uneven and many of the episodes, while still very funny, were not as riotously funny as the episodes during the peak years but it was still very funny. I was actually in a local bookstore today and they had a large Simpsons shelf and I was going through some of the episode guides from seasons 10-14 and there's quite a few gems from those seasons.
As for the last few seasons, it's kind of hard to judge them. Most of episodes from the earlier seasons, I really grew to love through seeing them repeatedly in syndication, and now, since I don't have the time to watch the show as much, and that there are now so many seasons, how many times a particular show is aired is much less than it was ten years ago, I've only seen most of those episodes only once, or maybe twice in some cases.
It's hard to muster up the same kind of enthusiasm for episodes you've only seen once, especially when you compare them to episodes you've seen countless times and nearly have memorized. As I've said, even the Skinner episode improved for me in repeat viewings.
As for the movie, I thought it was pretty good. As far as movie comedies go, it keeps the gags going at rapid fire and most of them hit their mark. While I don't know if we necessarily "needed" a Simposon movie, it was fun to see them on the big screen with an enthusiastic audience. |
Edited by - Mark Hawley on 08/03/2007 6:05:57 PM |
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Prankster
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
727 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 06:30:31 AM
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Yeah, Season 5 as the beginning of the decline? That's harsh. Season 9 is, I'd agree, the last really good season, though 10 and 11 weren't terrible. Armin Tamzarian and the death of Phil Hartman were a one-two punch to the show's quality.
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Check out my online comics at [URL]http://www.phantasmictales.com[/URL]! |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2007 : 01:05:57 AM
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Just saw the movie -- I liked it. I'd say it's about the quality of a good episode (which makes it better than the vast majority of comedy movies!).
I feel that some season's are better than others, and there do seem to be less "great" episodes being produced, I'll hold back on saying "it's over!" for the Simpsons. In the past I'd view the new episodes, and maybe get a couple weeks in a row that I didn't find funny, and say "They've lost it!", but then seeing the episodes in rerun, found them to be VERY funny -- It seems with the Simpsons (and perhaps other shows), there are episodes that seem "classic" on first viewing, and then others that may take two or more viewing to grab you. Of course there are episodes that just aren't too good at all, but I think the good ones are still in the majority.
Rob |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2007 : 11:07:19 AM
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I'm in the camp that thinks the show declined around season 5 and became unwatchable around season 10. It may certainly still have moments but I don't have the energy to watch and see. For me the problem is the one that plagues a lot of decent shows- the characters quit being that- characters- and become caricatures. Homer started out as "just not too bright"- but you could at least believe he could hold a job, and he tried to be a decent father and sometimes succeeded. Eventually he mutated into a running gag that is literally too dumb to live. All the main characters suffered the same fate- Lisa became the precocious brainiac liberal outsider, Bart became a walking catch-phrase. Even as a cartoon show I appreciated it as something more than a post-modern series of references. Family Guy is actually right in that respect- if that's what you're going to be, don't even aspire to be anything else.
Married With Children was the same way- Al, Peg and especially Kelly were real characters for about 2 seasons. Then it just became "Peg is dumb (and horny), Al is dumber (and emasculated), Kelly is the dumbest of all and doesn't even merit a secondary trait". She started out as book-dumb but street smart, actually the smartest in the family in some respects. That didn't last long...
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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