Examples:
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General
- In "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", a focus group asks kids if they'd prefer Itchy and Scratchy to have more down-to-earth plotlines like people have every day or wacky, far out adventures with robots and magic powers. The kids answer enthusiastically to both options. The writers commented that at the time they felt stuck between these two avenues of the fanbase, with half the fans wanting the show to stay grounded in reality, others wanting it to get crazier and crazier.
- With the departure and subsequent replacement of long time series composer Alf Clausen with Hans Zimmer and his company Bleeding Fingers Music in Season 29. Fans are split as to whether the music is as good as the previous seasons, or if it's marginally worse in comparison.
- The switch over to computer animation. While some believe that the show looks more polished, others find the original, hand-drawn animation style to be much more charming.
- The much longer couch gags that have become increasingly prevalent since the show moved to being produced in HD, sometimes eating up well over a minute of the episode. Some fans consider them to be pure padding, but others regard them (especially the ones produced by guest animators) as actually more entertaining and creative than most of the actual episodes themselves.
- In 2020, it was announced that the show's non-white characters (including Dr. Hibbert, Bumblebee Man, Dr. Nick, Carl, Lou, and Cookie Kwan) would no longer be voiced by white actors. Fans are split about whether this was a good way to address the show's Values Dissonance or if the Grandfather Clause should have stayed in effect, since people were so used to the old voices.
- Similarly, the show retiring Apu for good in 2023 is quite contested amongst fans. Some approve of it, seeing him as a very controversial Ethnic Scrappy who has done enough damage to people of South Asian descent, while others wish that he had just been recasted by a South Asian actor, seeing him as far too iconic of a character to just throw away. And then there are those who just want Hank Azaria back, being unable to hear anyone else but him as the voice of Apu. Obviously, these debates can get rather heated.
- Related to that, many consider that the scene of the episode "No Good Read Goes Unpunished" in which Lisa and Marge discuss how something can become offensive with time would probably have worked better had they not addressed it in such a direct fashion. Others contend that otherwise, the audience would not have listened.
- Marge's resentment towards Bart in "Bart The Mother". Either it was justified given Bart's usual behavior, or she went too far.
- Ever since the release of footage from the original workprint of "Some Enchanted Evening", there have been arguments on whether or not the series should have been animated more like the workprint version.
- In "The Good The Sad And The Drugly" was Milhouse right to remain bitter and get revenge on Bart, ultimately causing Jenny to break up with him? The fans can't seem to agree. While some believe given all the abuse he took in this episode (and beforehand) from Bart and others, he deserved some vengeance, others feel that he overstepped his boundaries, grabbed the Jerkass Ball and ruined one of Bart's only moments of true happiness.
Seasonal Rot/Quality of the Seasons
Fans all got along fine back in the day. Now war rages between those who believe the show is as fun and sharp as it ever was, and those who think it's well over a decade past its use-by date and new episodes are stupid and unfunny. Then there are those who acknowledge that the overall level of quality may have gone down but are satisfied if if it still makes them laugh a few dozen times an episode.
- Were the first two or three seasons part of the show's classic era or just so rife with Early-Installment Weirdness (and the first season's horrid art and bizarre animation) that it's hard to watch them again and take them seriously, considering how much the show has changed?
- Which season is the last classic-era season? Seasons 8, 9, or 10?
- Season 8 is felt to be better than Seasons 9-24 but worse than Seasons 1-7, whether it's Seasonal Rot or flawed but still fun is debatable. Seasons 9 and 10 are either considered flawed but better than later seasons, or the moment the show went downhill. The only thing fans seem to agree on is that Season 9 is probably where the series should have ended.
- Some point to Seasons 9 and /or 10, due to Mike Scully taking over as showrunner and some episodes that didn't go over well with fans, most notably the infamous "The Principal and the Pauper". Others, however, consider these seasons to be part of the show's Golden Age
- For others, it wasn't until Season 11, due to flanderization of the characters, the humor becoming cruder to compete with Family Guy and some episodes that were seen as Jumping the Shark. Seasons 11-onward are generally agreed to be worse than Seasons 1 through 10, but beyond that, there's little consensus on how they compare to each other. And there's of course those who take it a step further and say that the decline happened sometime after Season 11.
- The old joke goes 'how do you find out the age of a Simpsons fan? Easy. Ask them when the show stopped being funny' the gag coming from the idea that Simpsons fans tend to say that the show's stopped being funny pretty much the instant they graduate high school.
- Who was the better showrunner? For the classic era: Is it Al Jean & Mike Reiss, David Mirkin, or Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein? For the post-classic era: Is it Al Jean or Mike Scully? For Jean's episodes as showrunner, which were better: Seasons 13-16 when he tried to emulate Seasons 1-8, or Seasons 17-present when the show has turned into a watered-down Family Guy and South Park?
- Mirkin may have an advantage here, as his showrunnership took place in Seasons 5-6, bang in the middle of what is generally considered to be the classic era. Those two seasons probably receive less criticism than any of the others.
- One reason Season 9 (1997-98) is so divisive among Simpsons fans is that besides then-showrunner Mike Scully, his predecessors also produced episodes throughout this season. Al Jean & Mike Reiss (Seasons 3 and 4) oversaw "Lisa's Sax" and "Simpson Tide", David Mirkin (Seasons 5 and 6) oversaw "All Singing, All Dancing" and "The Joy Of Sect", and outgoing showrunners Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein (Seasons 7 and 8) had "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", "Lisa The Simpson", and the infamous "The Principal And The Pauper", with Scully overseeing the rest of the season. Thus, the season can come across as a hodgepodge of all the showrunners' philosophies up to that point in the series.
- Latin American viewers are divided in regards about the dubbed version, which changed almost completely in the sixteenth season. Some consider the voices, while nowhere as good as the originals, aren't that important, while others consider this ruined the series beyond repair.
- In the same vein, should the show keep making new episodes? Many fans who don't like the new seasons still don't want to see it go off the air, and some of the people who do like them would rather see FOX or Matt Groening Mercy Kill the series before it stops being good. Also, there are some people who just stay for the Treehouse of Horror episodes and/or the occasional obscure cultural references.
Episodes
- While "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" is a beloved episode, there's some mixed opinions about the overall conflict:
- Did Bart really deserve to be punished? Were Marge and Homer a bit too harsh on him? The viewers who see the latter finds Bart's punishment too far, even for someone like Bart. Especially considering it's on Thanksgiving and Lou and Eddie were shocked to hear about it, regretful or not. For the viewers who see the former defends Marge and Homer by stating that Bart purposely threw Lisa's centerpiece into the fire (and even if it was an accident, Bart's smartass remark suggested that he didn't feel bad about it). Considering how much of a pain Bart can be, along with the fact the parents not only have to deal with their relatives and the preparation of the feast itself in Marge's case. One's patience can go so far, especially if one has a child like Bart. However, there is a third group of fans who see that all of them were just as selfish.
- While the episode itself and the rest of the Simpsons family are firmly on Lisa's side, who was to blame for the incident in the first place? Lisa's centrepiece was taking up too much space and was light enough for her to easily pick it back up again, while Bart was carrying a hot and heavy turkey that should have taken priority in that moment. Additionally, was Lisa jealous that Bart (and the turkey) immediately upstaged the centrepiece she had spent so much time on and acted a little irrationally in the heat of the moment? Or are neither to blame; Homer or Marge should have been the ones to carry the turkey and to gently ask Lisa if she could move her centrepiece.
- "Stark Raving Dad" becoming a Missing Episode as of 2019. While allegations of child molestation, one resulting in a court trial that ended in a not guilty verdict, had been leveled by multiple parties against Michael Jackson from 1993 onward, the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland (focusing on two of the alleged victims' detailed stories of abuse and manipulation) was the tipping point for the Simpsons producers, who now feel that Jackson's motives for appearing on the show were not what they believed them to be. Especially after the show's streaming move to Disney+, which was how many people first found out that the episode was no longer available anywhere aside from the Season 3 DVD set, there is a debate between fans who feel that the producers have a right to choose to drop the episode, and those who feel Jackson's presence was/is no worse than that of other controversial guest stars (i.e. Mel Gibson, Ted Nugent, etc.) and/or do not believe the documentary in the first place and feel a classic episode is being unnecessarily locked up.
- Australian fans are split about "Bart vs. Australia". Some Aussies are most unamused by it, while others get a kick out of it.
- Jay Sherman's appearance in "A Star Is Burns" and Matt Groening's decision not to be associated with it. Is this a bad episode and did Groening do the right thing in distancing himself from it or is it a good-to-average episode and did Groening overreact?
- "Lisa the Vegetarian": Was Lisa right to express her sudden loathing of meat consumption and then learn to tolerate it, or was it an unnecessary development that detrimentally Flanderized her character?
- "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious": Was it a fun, more cynical take on Mary Poppins, or was it a Shallow Parody that relied too heavily on pop culture references?
- "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show": Due to the scenes where hardcore Simpsons fans are portrayed through characters like the details-obsessed nerds and the extremely dismissive Comic Book Guy, some of the regular alt.tv.simpsons reviewers on Usenet were so offended that they practically rage-quit on the series, as suggested by newsgroup member Matthew Kurth's comments on this episode recap
.note Many other reviewers, however, appreciated the perceived on-the-nose jabs at the newsgroup's members and felt they were well-deserved. (Strangely, but perhaps not surprisingly, these reviewers would mostly change their tune when The Simpsons pulled something similar three seasons later with "Saddlesore Galactica.")note - "Homer's Enemy" (the episode with Frank Grimes): Brilliant deconstruction of the show's absurdity, or painfully and humorlessly dark? Was the relentless torture of one-time character Frank Grimes funny and meaningful (demonstrating how an ordinary person could not survive in the chaotic Simpsons universe) or incredibly mean-spirited? The only thing fans agree on is that the episode is only accessible to long-time viewers.
- "The Principal and the Pauper" is a big one. Many, if not most, viewers (and some of the production people) hate it for the revelation that Skinner was an impostor, but a few people defend the episode and like it for its comedy, claiming the haters are irrational and just don't like change. There are even base-breaking moments within the episode: some people feel that the jokes about Skinner saying out-of-character things (e.g. the famous line "Up yours, children!") are the only redeeming quality of the episode, whereas other people think they're just lazy writing. And the ending, where the "real Skinner" is rounded out of town and the citizens pretend he never existed— is that a good parody of Status Quo Is God, or is it overly mean-spirited and/or the writers belatedly realising that they made a bad choice? Another thing fans argue about with this episode is whether or not it's canon: Lisa calls Skinner, "Principal Tamzarian" in "I (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot", but another episode has Skinner in utero, and when Matt Groening complained about the episode, he claimed that it can be dismissed as non-canon.
- "Lisa's Sax": Some call it a cute, heartwarming episode with an awesome ending to boot, while other can't get past Bart's sad subplot (If somebody hates this episode, chances are that will be the reason) and despise the character pampering Lisa is given in it.
- "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace": Was this an amusing subversion of the traditional overly sappy holiday specials, or was it too needlessly cruel to be funny?
- "Lisa The Simpson": Lisa being genetically predisposed to be the one member of her family that isn't a loser. Some consider this Creator's Pet and Double Standard of the tallest order, and critics loathed this final reveal hard as a result, while the pathos leading to it was highly appreciated.
- "Trash Of The Titans" is one of the more polarizing episodes of the show. Fans either love it due to the high-concept narrative and jokes, or hate it for how it more or less completes Homer's Flanderization into a Jerkass Villain Protagonist. The only thing people seem to agree on is that the ending where the entire town is moved was a step too far.
- Was "Viva Ned Flanders" good or bad? Some people think the plot of Homer and Ned going to Vegas was funny, but others think it was too nonsensical the revelation that Ned is sixty.
- Hell, even Ned’s age in general. He looks like he’s in his 30s but apparently went to school with Krusty, who is older than the now-39-year-old Homer (in Treehouse of Horror VIII, Ned is 35—way past the life expectancy in colonial Salem, but the episode is of course non-canon).
- Some segments of the Treehouse of Horror specials are more divisive that others
- "Desperately Xeeking Xena" to an extent. On one hand it's considered the strongest segment of the otherwise unexceptional episode, but some don't care for it being the first time the series completely eschewed spooky elements despite being a horror series.
- "Night of the Dolphins". Some fans consider it one of the funniest, most clever and memorable segments, while others consider it boring, confusing, and depressing.
- "MMM Homer" has to be one of the most contentious shorts of the series. Good because it's actually scary unlike how most of the ToH shorts have been since the rot started, or is it just plain gross and not scary?
- Over "Saddlesore Galactica". Many fans hate this episode and call it one of the worst ever, but a fair number enjoy it because it spoofs the Flanderization and absurd plots that started to crop up in Season 9. The other "meta" episodes, like "Behind the Laughter", are also divisive—some fans think self-referential humor is just obnoxious and dull (and thus a Franchise Original Sin), while others like that the show has a sense of humor about itself, but none of them are as controversial as "Galactica".
- "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" has few people who find it great but there is a conflict between those who hate it and those who think it's just okay. A common point of conflict is whether the Black Comedy jokes were truly funny, or if they were just tasteless. Another thing that breaks the base is whether killing off Maude was a good choice, an okay choice, or a really bad choice.
- "A Tale Of Two Springfields" is generally considered to be one of the best season 12 episodes, especially from fans of The Who. However a small group of fans despise the episode because of the scene when Homer attempts to blow up the city hall (and the ridiculousness of the episode in general). By the number of "Worst Simpsons Episodes" lists it's been on, you'd think it was much worse-received.
- "Homer vs. Dignity": Was the major humiliation Homer experiences in this episode (including the scene where he is raped by a panda) funny and well-deserved, or is it so painful to watch that it destroyed any remaining purity the show retained after its quality dropped? One half says it's one of the worst episodes because the second half is shamelessly contrived and out of place and the other half found it hilarious. Other episodes involving bizarre plots, such as "Saddlesore Galactica", "Kill The Alligator and Run" and "Simpson Safari" have received similar criticisms.
- Is "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" a really good spoof of The Prisoner (1967) or yet another sign that The Simpsons has descended into madness and Seasonal Rot?
- What was the last "classic episode"? While most would agree that the quality of the series declined in Season 9, with 10 being the last classic season, there are still episodes beyond them deemed "classic" and thus essential viewing. Contenders include: Season 11's "Behind the Laughter" and Season 12's "Trilogy of Error". Whether any episode from these post-classic and HD era can reach up to the heights the classics achieved is another debate.
- "The Boys of Bummer": Was this episode a clever satire of the ways in which over-patriotic sports fans take games too seriously and forget the importance of sportsmanship, or a seriously cruel and unfunny episode where Bart is subjected to relentless abuse (and is even driven to suicide at one point)?
- "Little Orphan Millie" is disliked by some due to Milhouse's parents getting back together when their divorce was considered to be Character Development for Milhouse himself. Though others defend it on the basis that Kirk and Luanne's divorce was thoroughly run into the ground in terms of jokes and getting them back together again was the only way to make them interesting again.
- "The Great Wife Hope": Reception of the episode was pretty divisive. While those who reviewed it and liked it compared it to other episodes like "Itchy And Scratchy Vs. Marge" with some good gags (the final Impending Clash Shot of Lisa and Bart was labeled by IGN as one that could have even properly closed the series), others such as Dana White (the chairman of the Ultimate Fighting Championship) outright hated it because they say it showcases what mainstream media thinks of Mixed Martial Arts (which is to say highly negatively) rather than what they really are.
- "Love Is A Many Strangled Thing": Some consider it one of the worst episodes of the series due to Bart's Jerkass Ball towards Homer, especially when he leaves him to get hanged. Others, however, find the episode funny regardless and think the concept of Homer not having to strangle Bart is rather innovative. Homer's treatment from the hands of Bart is particularly contested. To some, this makes him a Jerkass Woobie; to others, he's an Asshole Victim who deserves every second of it.
- Is "Brick Like Me" the writers' love letter to the LEGO franchise or is it a forced 25-minute advertisement to the recently-launched LEGO Simpsons range? The fact that LEGO is referred directly and not as a parody brand borders on the later part, and the CGI animation used heavily throughout the episode arguably does not help.
- "Pay Pal": The fandom is split between those who love how the episode does a subversive "mother-knows-best" plot and those who hate Homer and Lisa being at their Jerkass worst (Homer enjoying that he has finally annoyed Marge into submission and Lisa actually enjoying to a degree making Marge suffer on top of being nonchalant about being a loner — bear in mind that making Marge sad is one of the absolute limits and things he unhesitatingly regrets of Bart). Also the pretty common nowadays discussion of how much time the episode splits between plots.
- Many longtime fans find "Kamp Krustier" an unnecessary and insulting Retcon of the original episode, and doing absolutely nothing interesting with the continuation regardless. Others, especially newer fans, find the episode enjoyable as a stand-alone episode.
- "Lisa the Boy Scout" has been polarizing, to say the least. Some found it to be a hilariously-subversive formula-breaking experience, while others thought it was little more than a tiresome meta No Fourth Wall joke stretched into an entire episode despite wearing out its welcome within the first minutes.
