The new intro wasn't atrocious, but it was pushing it lengthwise. The real atrocities are all the episodes this milennium. Shockingly awful, and an insult to anyone who loved the programme previously. Lisa is not a child anymore, just a propaganda spouting, self rightous whiny *****. Marge should never have been allowed to change from the bedrock of relevant normality in the family, Bart is utterly redundant as a character now, other than a lackey for Homer, and Homer Simpson? for this we need a whole new paragraph.
Homer has changed from a three-dimensional archetype of consumerism (albeit a rather dim-witted one) to an empty shell of idiocy, whose only purpose is as a catalyst for non-sensical plot lines and events. He has turned into a Peter Griffin clone (there's nothing wrong with this in other contexts, mind) with no trace of a personality. This seams to have led to a downwards spiral of standards for consistency: We had Homer doing X so why not Y?
Celebrity Guests took over the asylum a long time ago, seamingly having entire episodes written solely for their inclusion. The seeds were sown when they started appearing as themselves, and at some point the writers just handed over the controls. Ricky Gervais even wrote an episode, for God's sake.
The satire has long since changed from the cutting, precise and subtle to the kind South Park indulges in (very well indeed, I might add), but the Simpsons weilds it with neither the panache nor savagery required for this to appear as anything other than patronising, Also, the episodes never satirise both sides of the same issue, which again seems essential if the satire is to be this blatant.
Plots now seem to be written on a "what if?" basis. "What if Homer does this?" "What if Lisa does that?" "What if this happens?" and so on. Presumably we are supposed to be impressed by the sheer wackiness of the events and the utter lack of characterisation. How do we get from normal setting A to wacky setting B? Simple! We let our old friend plot drift run rampage. Chuck enough new developments into a story and no-one will care that not a single iota of focus has been cast on the plot.
Some of the new crop of characters are also used pointlessly and far too frequently. Mad Cat lady is the worst example of this. She throws cats around and speaks incomprehensibly? That's self evidently funny, and we can bung her in anywhere when we run out of ideas.
Could we ever have an episode like "Selma's Choice" again? Of course not. we would not have even a fraction of the realism, and imagining the travesty that would result if it was attempted now is very depressing indeed. We are getting to the point, if we have not already exceeded it, where the Simpsons will have more atrocious episodes than those that the original fans remember so fondly. I wish it would just end now.
/rant
Log in to comment