We all know that for quite a while now, The Simpsons has been a show in decline. Years ago I got frustrated and mostly stopped watching, something that would have been pretty inconceivable at one time.

In the last year and a half or so I've been watching new episodes pretty regularly and for most of that time it's been the same story: middle of road quality, uneven writing, etc. Lately however, it feels like the quality has shot up, with sharper, darker satire, more pointed social commentary, etc. This has been going on for at least the later part of season 21 and the early part of the current season, 22. Both I and my girlfriend have noticed this, and been speculating about the cause. I've also been wondering about whether anyone else has noticed.

What are your thoughts? And is there a new, fresh set of writers in or something?

Based on this year's Treehouse of Horror? No.

Ignoring the fact that every episode this season has thus far been Lisa-centric, and it is therefore made of fail and suck(I loathe Lisa with every fiber of my being so maybe I'm just biased in this respect), the THOH episode was meh. Not TERRIBLE but not gonna win any awards for quality. Also, a Twilight parody from the Simpsons feels like Jughead wearing a "Don't taze me, bro" t-shirt.

edited 8th Nov '10 7:58:36 PM by Anaheyla

Come on, the The Office spoof was hilarious, though.

Mind you, I haven’t been a regular watcher for years, but there has been definite improvement from the Mike Scully era (i.e.: it’s gone from a pitiful shell of its former greatness to merely mediocre).

Compared to the last few THOH's? Yes.

I never quit watching the Simpsons. It is not as good as the golden era, but I stayed realistic... Every once in a while there are good episodes. Hey, it is not as good as the old episodes but it is still better than most of what it is on TV in my country when the new episodes air :). As for improvements, I really think that most of the newer episodes are better than what there was in the early 2000s. Though every once in a while something awful airs :(

In my opinion, it never got nearly as bad as people said, but there's definitely been an improvement in quality lately.

Could've done without the obligatory Twilight parody in this year's THOH, tho'

It's better than it was during the Bush Administration, but it's still not even close to recovering completely.

The last one I watched was the 20th anniversary one earlier this year with Krusty falling in love with one of his fangirls. I didn't like that one. >.> Kept waiting for it to get funny and then it never did.

Of the four episodes shown so far this season, I thought the Treehouse of Horror was lame, but the other three were really, really good (I'm a Lisa fan, though, so take that into account).

I never saw it when it got worse. Damn reruns.

I have to say it's getting better, the recent episodes show a lot of promise, like they got different writers.

I tried doing an Archive Binge of The Simpsons about a year ago, and stopped somewhere in the 16th season where it was apparent the show had declined.

When I catch newer episodes, they seem much better.

I started watching the new episodes, but I got bored and ceased. I don't think it will ever be enjoyable again for me.

I never got when the show started to decline. It did, but not as much as people said...

At least this years episode made more sense than the last few Mike Scully episodes, though I worry, is the increased quality of this year's ep, lack of Status Quo Is God and the show's Growing the Beard a sign of the show's last episode conclusion? *shivers*

I doubt it. It's been renewed for another season.

To be honest, I found the episodes of the last few months to be more entertaining than the ones that came a few months prior. One thing that annoys me is when people expect every subsequent addition to any series (or even an artists' discography for that matter) to be just as charming or endearing as it was when they first became hooked and they form this unwarranted hatred towards it if it doesn't live up to their personal standards. Like, dislike it if you honestly don't find it interesting anymore but don't be overzealous in your subjective reviews. Or something.

Since they took The Simpsons off the free-to-air in Australia lately I haven't been able to judge whether the newest episodes are better or not. T__T

I think the last dozen episodes have definitely been a step up, Homer is becoming less of a jerkass, Lisa’s flaws are being shown more often and… oh yeah it’s actually being funny instead of a “Family Guy” clone.

How sad is it that it felt like “the Simpsons” were emulating “Family Guy” for the last couple of years?

I think Executive Meddling may have something to do with that, just my opinion though. They're finally going back to what made them funny in the first place, whereas Family Guy is getting backlash from how terrible the show is now.

Mind you, Family Guy WAS reusing the "dumb American family with random humor" that The Simpsons had for a while.

Yeah, it's just mediocre now, not abysmally boring.

I'd say it certainly is. I mean, TV Tropes cannot go wrong, just compare the size of Cmo F entries that belong to season 22 in comparison to season 21.

Edit: Not really. It turns out it was just a confusion.

I really liked the two season 22 I've seen so far. "But they cannot bottle your genius" and Homer saying he would kill for the Nobel peace prize are ... well, priceless genius.

edited 24th Mar '11 5:32:00 PM by nabaduco

I've caught a few recent episode. Certainly a rise in quality compared to early 2000s episodes.