Excellent analysis of why the Simpsons succeeded, and how it failed.

[shortylickens]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk

For those of us who watched it from the very first episode, this theory will probably ring true.

 

[Herr Kutz]

Too long, didn’t watch

 

[BoomerD]

Back in the...90's (?) there was a crappy variety show called The Tracy Ulmann Show. The Simpsons debuted on it. The short ~5 minute skits they showed were hilarious...When The Simpsons came out as a regular show...it quickly got too stupid for my liking and I stopped watching. I don't think I've ever watched since maybe halfway through Season 2.

 

[JEDI]

Too long, didn’t watch

cliffs?

 

[mikeymikec]

Too long, didn’t watch

+1, whether you were talking about the overly-long video or the overly-long series

 

[DigDog]

I never could be bothered watching the video. If you choose to title it "why ENORMOUSLY SUCCESSFUL show failed" you are asking to be ignored.

 

[gorcorps]

Back in the...90's (?) there was a crappy variety show called The Tracy Ulmann Show. The Simpsons debuted on it. The short ~5 minute skits they showed were hilarious...When The Simpsons came out as a regular show...it quickly got too stupid for my liking and I stopped watching. I don't think I've ever watched since maybe halfway through Season 2.

The first season was pretty bad, and season 2 was just starting to find a good way to make a show out of it. I consider the golden years to be about season 3-10 or so. Still some good episodes in some following seasons, but not nearly as consistent. Not that I care if you give it another chance or not, but if you were bored and had nothing better to do I'd just skip the first 2 seasons and start with 3.

 

[bigi]

The first season was pretty bad, and season 2 was just starting to find a good way to make a show out of it. I consider the golden years to be about season 3-10 or so. Still some good episodes in some following seasons, but not nearly as consistent. Not that I care if you give it another chance or not, but if you were bored and had nothing better to do I'd just skip the first 2 seasons and start with 3.

+1. It just lost its specific Simpson's appeal around season 8-9. My guess is that the writers had changed as a generation and produced much crappier outcome after season 9 or so...

 

[PottedMeat]

cliffs?

phil hartman killed
writers bailed around seasons 8-9-10
stupid celebrity cameos

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I'm guessing that as it got older the original creators took off from the massive amount of money and just left it to stupid writers. Not surprising.

There is a reason why 22+ seasons in South Park is still fucking hilarious but the Simpsons isn't.

EDIT: And after finishing the video - yeah that's basically it. As the real creaters left, it became an influx of stupid retarded writers that have no real sense of comedy. Political correctness ensues, and all comedy is lost.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah there was a pretty big change to writers. And Groenig and one or two of the main guys (and who knows how many writers) were busy with Futurama starting in 99 (or maybe even prior to that).

I think even the format of the show changed, and its how a lot of other shows go, where they basically just try to stuff pop culture jokes/references in and focus less on the story and characters that the show built. So instead of building coherent storylines, its basically a sand box for them to use the characters to make jokes.

The thing is, I see people reference stuff from later seasons (like 8-12) when I see those people say it went to shit after like season 6 or 7. I think there's quite a bit that happened after people realize and that the show didn't go bad as quickly as commonly believed. And that people watched it longer than claimed.

 

[darkswordsman17]

phil hartman killed
writers bailed around seasons 8-9-10
stupid celebrity cameos

The issue with that last point is that they stopped having characters that were caricatures of real celebrities (Wolfcastle, Tatum, etc) and had the celebrities themselves on. The show became too pop culture/cult of personality.

 

[Sonikku]

It feels like Homer has had every job under the sun by this point.