The Simpsons Forever!?!

Last Sunday Fox aired The Simpsons’ 17th “Treehouse of Horror.” Though this episode will likely be the funniest of the 18th season, as all the Halloween specials usually end up being the best episode for their respective season, it didn’t have the same charm of many of the older Halloween shows. With this being said, I would even argue that each new season is losing the magic that made The Simpsons so great in the first place. The show has essentially done everything in it’s over 300 episodes. Yet, with creator Matt Groening having no plans of stopping the show anytime soon, and a Simpsons' movie being released in July of 2007(The first preview of the movie will run during the show on Sunday 11/12), I’m ready to ask what’s the point of The Simpsons anymore?

First, let me backtrack to this years “Treehouse of Horror.” This was a good episode of The Simpsons regardless of my criticism of the show. In particular, the “War of the Worlds” spoof was well-crafted and contained some crushing political satire on the war in Iraq, something that few other television show besides The Simpsons are willing to risk these days. Yet, for all its satirical accolades, the episode lacked the timeless quality previous Halloween shows are noted for having. For instance, this year there was not one line as funny as "NO TV AND NO BEER MAKE HOMER GO CRAZY" from the 5th "Treehouse of Horror." Some of the Halloween episodes are even so well-renowned and popular that particular scenes have been made into specialty models, one of which, taken from the 4th "Treehouse of Horror," is called "Homer's Ironic Punishment" and we carry it here at Star Clipper. Check it out for yourself!

Back to my main point, The Simpsons’ real decline in quality is not in the Halloween specials but the regular season. Personally, I feel The Simpsons have been going down hill since the 10th season and are long overdue for retirement. The show was once known for some very touching character-driven plots, just as likely to make you cry as they were to make you laugh. Now the show tends to favor the non sequitur humor and over-the-top zaniness of lesser shows such as Family Guy, and its hard to believe that The Simpsons are so tired that they have to imitate their much worse imitators.

Yet, this criticism is likely generational. Since I started watching the show way back when it first started in 1989, its change in tone over the next decade prompted me to shout Judas. Still, for younger generations, the increasingly stupid Homer is quite possibly their first introduction to the show, and the older episodes may seem too slow paced. I stand by my criticism however, and believe that if the show would have ended after a reasonable ten seasons it would have preserved its integrity. When Homer’s shortcomings used to be made out of his best intent, now he just seems like a hedonistic moron, or as Lisa once called him a “Baboon.” And now that Homer is being adapted to the silver screen, with the way the show is going, he is going to be the biggest baboon ever.

But what do you, the blog readers, think? Is their something about the longevity of the show that I’m just not getting? Let me know, and maybe I’ll come to the conclusion that The Simpsons should go on forever.

-Jon