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A word from Matt Groening,
Welcome to the daffy, laffy, fun-as-salt-water-taffy Fourth Big Boxed Set of The Simpsons on DVD, featuring every yok, chortle, titter, and knee-slapper from perhaps the greatest season in the show's history, at least until Season 5.
This box is full of many fan favourites: Bart and Lisa's ill-fated trip to Kamp Krusty; Homer's encounter with a five-fingered God (the theologic implications of which are staggering); Maggie's great escape from the Ayn Rand School for Tots; Mare, Apu, Chief Wiggum, and Flanders singing their hearts out in "Oh! Streetcar!"; the disturbing debut of Itchy & Scratchy in "Steamboat Itchy"; the legendary Mr. Plow/Plow King rivalry; the animated adventures of Worker and Parasite; Ralph Wiggum's immortal "Choo-Choo-Choose Me" valentine to Lisa; and of course the cla-ssic monorail episode.
That's the one that has my all-time favourite Simpsons line, when Homer points at the hissing possum family and says: "I call the big one Bitey."
So, on behalf of the brilliant animators, actors, writers, musicians, production team, and assorted abused underlings, I'd like to welcome you to another great batch of The Simpsons, or, as they say in France, Les Simpson.
Your pal,
Matt Groening
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Season 4, might just be the best season of The Simpsons, but as Matt Groening said, "until Season 5".
This season has so many of my all-time favourite Simpsons episodes. And some of the funniest ones too.
There are some poor episodes, but only poor plot-wise. Everything else is indescribably brilliant.
I love the New Orleans defamation song.
If you're either wondering which season to start on if you haven't seen the show, or, if you're just wondering which season would be the best to buy first, buy season 4. It's money spent well.
But like season 3, the DVD annoys me. I strongly dislike the little menu animations that take ages to finish. I just want to watch the show!!
Episodes:
Kamp Krusty: One of the all-time greatest. 9.5/10
A Streetcar Named Marge: Excellent. 9.5/10
Homer the Heretic: Brilliant. So amazingly good. 9.6/10
Lisa the Beauty Queen: Although funny as always, quite boring, and below average plot. 7.6/10
Treehouse of Horror III: Quite good; although it has quite possibly my least favourite segment so far, King Homer. Extremely boring - shouldn't of been made. Apart from that, very good. 7.4/10
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie: Absolutely unforgettable. Really sticks in my mind when the word "cla-ssic" is aroused. 9.8/10
Marge Gets a Job: Very good. 8.8/10
New Kid on the Block: Above average. 8/10
Mr. Plow: Cla-ssic. 9.5/10
Lisa's First Word: Brilliant. 9.1/10
Homer's Triple Bypass: Very good. 8.8/10
Marge vs. The Monorail: Very overrated. Still good though. 9.4/10
Selma's Choice: Above average. 8.8/10
Brother from the Same Planet: Very, very good. Love the R&S homage. 8.9/10
I Love Lisa: Okay. 8.3/10
Duffless: Great episode, and extremely funny. 8.9/10
Last Exit to Springfield: Extremely overrated, more-so than Monorail. 9.5/10
So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show: I want to clear this up; I hate clip shows. And this is no different. Still good though. 7.9/10
The Front: Quite good. 8.2/10
Whacking Day: Average. Still funny, but pretty much filler material. 7.9/10
Marge in Chains: Good. 8/10
Krusty Gets Kancelled: Absolutely fantastic. By far the best episode of the season. And to me, this episode might just be the funniest of all time. Love the whole Worker and Parasite bit, and Krusty's extremely confused, disgruntled look at the end. Perfect. 10/10
A word from Matt Groening,
Pardon me if I sound a little emotional in this introduction, but when I come home after work and turn on the TV and gaze at all the old re-runs of The Simpsons, I get a bit choked up. When I see those yellow-skinned, overbitey cartoon characters I love so much running through their sweet, innocent paces in some almost-forgotten adventure from more than a decade ago, my eyes start to water. As I watch their high jinks and snappy retorts and merry mix-ups, I find myself stifling a sob or two. But don't get me wrong. I'm not crying because I'm sad. I'm crying because I'm filled with rage.
Do they really have to hack up the syndicated episodes of The Simpsons so poorly, butchering them to the point of near incomprehensibility? Just to squeeze in several more commercials for heavily salted snack-treats? Is this how TV repays our years of slavish, unquestioning loyalty?
What I'm trying to say is that if you're hip to the whole recycled Simpsonian merchandise thing, then you're really going to dig this little baby: the whole uncut third season of the show, with all the jokes, credits, and original animation glitches intact. We've continued with the acerbic audio commentaries by the writers, animators, and actors for every single episode - although by the end of this season, you'll notice we've run out of things to say and have filled the soundtrack with a lot of quiet scuffling and squealing. (Just some foolish horseplay, I assure you. Won't happen in the next boxed-set).
This is the season in which The Simpsons found love. We see Homer and Marge getting married at Shotgun Pete's Wedding Chapel (just over the boarder from whatever state Springfield's in).
We leer at Homer's near-romance with country singer Lurleen Lumpkin. We recoil at Marge's sister Selma's marriage to the ever-conniving Sideshow Bob. We stare in disbelief at Milhouse falling in love with someone other than Lisa (Samantha Stanky, to be precise).
Plus we get a gander at the 1971 sex-education film "Fuzzy Bunny's Guide to You Know What," not to mention Homer's psychedelic ride in the SpineMelter 2000 massage-chair or his unforgettable rhapsody in the Land of Chocolate.
All in all, not a bad batch of shows. I actually think this makes Season Two, look like season One.
Your pal,
Matt Groening
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This is the season where The Simpsons really discovered who they are.
The humour's been perfected, the animation too (although it still has quite a few glitches).
And Homer's voice is also improving.
What we have here, is probably the most underrated Simpsons season ever made.
This is definitely in my top 5 favourite Simpsons seasons.
For some reason, the animation on this season, seems to be sharper and less blurry than Season Four. Quite odd if you ask me..
But there's something in this season that I was quite disappointed with..
The DVD.
First of all, I don't care for the pink box, second, the commentaries do get boring, and I really don't care for the DVD menus.
But apart from that, this is an excellent season. Even more worth buying than the first two. And this time, the only reason for buying it, is simply because it's a damn superb season.
This season has a couple of my favourite Simpsons episodes of all time,
"Dog of Death", and "Flaming Moe's". Plus, one of my favourite Simpsons quotes of all time:
Homer: (to Bart) If you were 17 we'd be rich! But no, you had to be 10!
(from Dog of Death).
All I can say now, is that I strongly recommend this season. It's pretty much as good as season 4!
I urge you to buy the DVD anyway, just to be able to view these genius episodes.
I'll finish by saying, Season Three, is twice as good as the first two combined.
Episodes:
Stark Raving Dad: A fantastic episode, and a great appearance by Michael Jackson. 8.4/10
Mr. Lisa goes to Washington: Pretty much just as good. 8.3/10
When Flanders Failed: Not a good episode, plus, the animation is terrible. 6/10
Bart the Murderer: Brilliant episode. 8.6/10
Homer Defined: An outstanding, hilarious episode. 8/10
Like Father, Like Clown: Very poor episode. 6.1/10
Treehouse of Horror II: This might just be better than the first one in a few ways. 8.4/10
Lisa's Pony: Excellent episode. Showed that The Simpsons has not only matured as a show, but has reached it's prime. 8.6/10
Saturdays of Thunder: A pretty good episode. 7.3/10
Flaming Moe's: This is among the top 5 best Simpsons episodes of all time. Brilliant. 9.8/10
Burns Verkaufen Der Kraftwerk: Above average. 7.4/10
I Married Marge: Quite good. 7.5/10
Radio Bart: Really good, but gets boring after a few viewings. 7.6/10
Lisa the Greek: Pretty good. 7.4/10
Homer Alone: One of the greatest. 9/10
Bart the Lover: Quite a sad episode. Very good. 7.8/10
Homer at the Bat: Average. 7/10
Seperate Vocations: A good episode, very entertaining. 7.7/10
Dog of Death: Perfect. I love it. 10/10
Colonel Homer: Very good. 8/10
Black Widower: Excellent. One of the best Sideshow Bob episodes. 9.1/10
The Otto Show: Superb. 9/10
Bart's Friend Falls in Love: Below average. 6.6/10
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?: Way above average. 8.5/10
A word from Matt Groening,
Welcome to Season Two of The Simpsons on DVD - twenty-two jam-packed episodes of malicious cartoon frivolity that helped make 1990 and 1991 such entertaining and annoying years.
This is when full-blown Simpsons Mania hit america, and millions of thoughtful young people across the land were either wearing or selling Bart Simpson T-shirts.
The wild success of the TV show, along with ever product that had Bart's leering face slapped on it, would have been daunting had we been able to look up from our drawing tables.
But everyone who worked on The Simpsons was so consumed with the making of the weekly cartoon that we were able to maintain the exhaustion and worry and carefully nursed bitterness that lies behind all successful Hollywood extravaganzas.
If the first season was a series of wild experiments that succeeded beyond out dreams, the second season was a nonstop workathon that was redeemed by the knowledge we were amusing and irritating so many people.
Many of the shows from this season remain among my all-time favourites. I'm particularly fond of Bart's pride in getting a grade of D-minus at the end of "Bart Gets and F"; the debut of the ever slobbering Kang and Kodos in the first of our annual Treehouse of Horror episodes; Homer almost making it across Springfield Gorge on Bart's skateboard; Mr. Burns taking a reluctant bit of Blinky, the three-eyed fish; Maggie bonking Homer with a mallet after watching an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon; Bart going to Hell in "Bart Gets Hit by a Car"; and the flashback scene in "The Way We Was", when Homer catches his first glimpse of Marge in high school (she was hot).
So put on a ratty old Simpsons T-shirt, grab a bowlful of heavily salted snack treats, and sink into the couch for a marathon of Simpsons cla$$ics. If you look carefully, you can see actual drops of blood, sweat and tears on many of the animation cells. Enjoy!
Your chum,
Matt Groening
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The season when The Simpsons found who they really are. A major improvement.
If this season had never been created, The Simpsons would not be the same, and my guess is, they would not be very popular.
Another huge improvement is the animation; it's been spit-polished and perfected - It's outstanding compared to season 1. The characters actually resemble people this time.
The DVD is a must-buy, if only to see how much of an improvement this season was.
Episodes:
Bart Gets an F - Great episode, although slightly overrated. 7/10
Simpson and Delilah - Even better. 7.2/10
Treehouse of Horror I - Still stands today as one of the best halloween episodes ever made. 8/10
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish - Not the worst, but not the best. 6.4/10
Dancin' Homer - Very boring. One of the worst. 5.9/10
Dead Putting Society - An average episode. 6.5/10
Bart vs. Thanksgiving - Okay. 6.4/10
Bart the Daredevil - Good. 6.7/10
Itchy & Scratchy & Marge - Excellent. 8/10
Bart Gets Hit by a Car - Above average. 7.8/10
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish - A fantastic episode. 8.2/10
The Way We Was - Pretty good. 7.7/10
Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment - Absolutely brilliant. 8.9/10
Principal Charming - Quite good. 7.6/10
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? - Well written. 7.8/10
Bart's Dog Gets an F - Very good. 7.7/10
Old Money - One of the best. 8.1/10
Brush with Greatness - Very good. 7.7/10
Lisa's Substitute - Above average. 7.8/10
The War of the Simpsons - One of my least favourites. 5/10
Three Men and a Comic Book - Really good. 7.9/10
Blood Feud - Far above average. 7.8/10
A word from Matt Groening,
Welcome to the first of many deluxe overpriced DVD sets of The Simpsons. With 280 odd shows in the can and no end in sight, you might be able to complete your Simpsons DVD collection just before the next format comes along. Thanks for buying!
What we have here are thirteen crudely animated episodes, first aired in 1989 and 1990, all spiffed up, cleaned up, and augmented with bells and whistles, bonus materials, and self-pitying audio commentaries. If Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Marge look weirdly off-model, if their voices sound spooky or different, and if the animation seems particularly glitch-filled, just remember this:
we didn't know what the hell we were doing back then.
What's fun for me in looking back at all these old episodes is how many jokes and characters have stayed vivid for more than a decade. I love Santa's Little Helper leaping into Homer's arms at Christmas; the debut of Blinky, the three-eyed fish; Bart's game-winning Scrabble word "KWYJIBO" ("a fat, dumb, balding North American ape with no chin"); the Simpsons giving each other electroshock therapy courtesy of Dr. Marvin Monroe; Lisa playing saxophone with Bleeding Gums Murphy; Homer being mistaken for bigfoot; and Marge's bowling instructor Jacques strangely losing his French accent when yelling for onion rings.
I also dig Grandpa Simpson's letter to TV advertisers: "I am disgusted with the way old people are depicted on television. We are not all vibrant, fun-loving sex maniacs. Many of us are bitter, resentful individuals, who remember the good old days when entertainment was bland and inoffensive."
So enjoy. We've got more Simpsons episode to make, then broadcast, then re-run, then chop for syndication, then sell you on DVD. But you know something? We wouldn't have it any other way!
Your pal,
Matt Groening.
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Ok, I admit that this is my least favourite season that I own of DVD.
That's mostly because it's far less sophisticated. Plus it's rated "G" - unlike all other seasons.
It's still funny, but the unique "Simpsons" humour is nowhere to be found. The humour is different.
This season has a completely different feel, and it actually isn't all that bad.
(But I'm glad they figured out what works best for the show..)
As for the DVD, on the subject of "Special Features", this DVD is surely the best.
Special Features include:
Extremely interesting never-before-seen out-takes from "Some Enchanted Evening"
A featurette (most likely a news report) about how much they thought Bart was a negative influence.
And loads of easter-eggs.
I suggest to any fan of The Simpsons, buy this DVD (if you already haven't). Why? Because it's interesting to see the first glimpse (not including the Tracy-Ullman shorts) of the Simpsons, and mostly just to see how different it was.
Episodes:
The Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - A great first episode. 7.2/10
Bart the Genius - Better than I thought it would be. 6.5/10
Homer's Odysee - Definitely not the best. 4.9/10
There's No Disgrace Like Home - Average. 5.3/10
Bart the General - A decent episode. 6/10
Moaning Lisa - A good episode. 6.6/10
The Call of the Simpsons - Good. 6.7/10
The Telltale Head - Average. 6/10
Life on the Fast Lane - Great. 7.3/10
Homer's Night Out - Okay. 6.2/10
The Crepes of Wrath - Quite good. 6.8/10
Krusty Get's Busted - Very good. 7.4/10
Some Enchanted Evening - Brilliant episode; one of my favourites. 8.3/10
I've finally reached my 100th review!!!
I might not write anymore, at least not untill bold and italics can be used in them..
Least favourite episode(s): I'll have to answer it this way:
Episodes that should never of been made:
The Principal and the Pauper, Homer's Enemy, Hurricane Neddy (After all the episodes of The Simpsons I've seen, it'd be safe to say that I know Ned Flanders. After seeing this episode, It becomes obvious that I knew him far better than any Simpsons writer would. Why? because I would never make such a god-awful, character-ruining episode.) Alone Again, Natura-Diddily (has a stupid episode name to top it off), I D'oh Bot.
Most out-of-character/character ruining episode(s):
Strong Arms of the Ma, Little Big Girl, I D'oh Bot (so fricken what if it's a cat), and Homer's Enemy.
Episode(s) with the worst plots:
Lemon of Troy. Although it's funny as always, it's about a damn lemon tree. There were better plots ten seasons later!
I D'oh Bot: Proof that the writers have not only run out of ideas, but are willing to sacrifice innocent characters because of it.
Episode(s) with worst/no humour:
G I D'oh. Quick Summary: Humour? Two words: Non. Existant.
Springfield Up: Absolutely stupid "humour", not only stupid, but embarrassing to watch. Impossible to laugh (although I did manage to laugh at how ridiculous it was..) - The only laughing you'll be doing, is laughing yourself to tears at what a train-wreck this show has become.
Ice Cream of Margie.
Most disgusting episode(s):
Homer Simpson in: Kidney Trouble, Homer's Enemy, Strong Arms of the Ma, Homer vs. Dignity (only slightly).
Episode(s) with worst animation:
All of season 1, especially Homer's Odyssee. When Flanders Failed. The War of the Simpsons.
Episode(s) with the worst taste:
The Principal and the Pauper, Little Big Girl, Homer's Phobia (honestly, why not make an episode about how much Homer despises black people?), I D'oh Bot, and last but least, Bart vs. Australia.
Most overrated episode(s):
HOMR (An absolute non-sensical, stupid plot, combined with the Simpsons' unique "child-only" humour policy.
Behind the Laughter (It's so damn boring), Homer's Phobia (shouldn't of won an emmy).
Worst Treehouse of Horror episode:
Treehouse of Horror III (simply because of the boring "King Kong" parody)
Treehouse of Horror XIV.
So basically, my least favourite ep(s) are,
Little Big Girl, Springfield Up, I D'oh Bot, G I D'oh and Homer's Phobia.
Least favourite character(s):
Although he can be one of the funniest, Homer really annoys me. Just like Peter Griffin. I don't really have a problem with any other characters..
You might of read this and blah blah blah, and I've posted this so much times, here and there, but it's so good, I feel like posting it again.
ps. this was written around about the same time "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" aired in 2000.
"The Death of the Simpsons"
by Rob Morino, Matinee's Staff Film Critic.
We've known for a while, whether we admitted it to ourselves or chose to ignore it, hoping it would go away. The most recent episode of The Simpsons, now in its eleventh season, is perhaps the most clear sign yet that the problem isn't going anywhere.
The greatest show ever for my generation, and perhaps others, has become a pale, pathetic imitation of itself. The inevitable comedic decline that turned Seinfeld into a joke during its last season has afflicted The Simpsons, but perhaps what's most disheartening is that the show is only now enjoying an unprecedented popularity, the result of having become the longest running show in primetime.
I remember, some years ago - I think '92 or '93 - reading a quote from one of the show's producers, basically saying that they wanted to reduce The Simpsons to "cult status". It was a remark said half in jest, and at the time I didn't comprehend its true meaning. But that's exactly what happened. After its initial popularity, when the show was as much about selling T-shirts and other merchandise, the show evolved into one of the most genius half-hours of comedy in television history. And it became at once a popular television show and a cult phenomenon.
Then the show became unfunny. In the pursuit of the almighty laugh, the producers of The Simpsons sacrificed the consistency of the characters and the magical world they had created - the greatest violation that could have been committed against television's most unique show.
The aforementioned episode, "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", continued a recent trend on the show of treating the deaths of characters as a twisted, heartless joke. It was vaguely funny but more disquieting when Homer's enemy, Frank Grimes, was electrocuted at the end of his sole episode, with Homer cracking jokes at his funeral. This was a show that had something intelligent and meaningful to say nearly every week, yet on that occasion, the message was either absent or sorely dismal. It paled next to the sentiment conveyed by the earlier death of Bleeding Gums Murphy. There was a death that was treated with the significance and respect it deserved.
No, the offing of Frank Grimes was the start of a different attitude towards the people of Springfield. It symbolized one important event: the producers had stopped loving their characters. What else could explain the haphazard way in which the characters were allowed to devolve into ludicrously schizophrenic versions of themselves, and what else to explain the manner in which Maude Flanders was sent to her death in this episode?
All the citizens of Springfield find themselves at a race track that has appeared out of nowhere. The Flanders family is in the last row at the top of the bleachers, the Simpsons seated in front of them. And Maude goes to get hot dogs, and a disgustingly fatter-than-usual Homer yells down to the cheerleaders to fire a T-shirt out of their shoulder cannons up to him. So, inexplicably, they fire half a dozen at him, and at the last moment, he sees a bobby-pin on the ground, says "Ooh, a bobby-pin," bends down to pick it up and thus clears the way for the shirts to hit Maude square in the chest, knocking her off the back of the bleachers and down several stories onto the macadam, DOA.
Now let's assume for a moment that this situation is plausible up to the firing of the T-shirts. No, strike that. The entire situation is ludicrous. That is to say, none of it makes sense. A half dozen T-shirts fly at Homer, traveling fast enough and with sufficient force to knock a grown woman off the back of bleaches whose back wall is not high enough to prevent the accident, all because Homer was distracted by a bobby-pin - a bobby-pin?! - even though he'd spent the entire scene to that point screaming like a two-year-old for one of those T-shirts. It is as if the writers intentionally thought of the weakest plot possible to dispose of a character that, like it or not, was a significant part of the Simpsons universe. It was silly! It was bad farce.
And then they had the funeral, which was an even bigger joke. The casket is covered in corporate logo stickers; Reverend Lovejoy delivers a eulogy that references Maude's status as a supporting player on the show in an uninspired way; the goddamn cheerleaders fire off a twenty-one T-shirt salute. What the hell are we watching?
The show has bent reality, has skewed it slightly in the past to give us an intriguing perspective. But never during its glory days, (seasons 3-I'm talking the middle seasons, did it turn their reality into something so nonsensical and irreverent as to be insulting to the audience.
The rest of the episode was concerned with Ned's return to the dating scene - and we're talking eight minutes after Maude, a character we've watched for ten years - and some vague business about him questioning God. Normally, this would make zero sense, Ned dating in the same episode in which his wife is killed in a freak accident. But then, when you think about it, Ned, like many of the other characters, lost his soul long ago. There was an episode recently wherein, amazingly, it turned out that Ned was a senior citizen. Had been all along. And because we've watched the show, invested our interest for nearly a decade, we're betrayed. It was an insult to our common sense, which told us that Ned could not, with everything that had been established before, be sixty-some-odd years old.
The Simpsons found a delicate balance between reality and fantasy, consistency and inconsistency, during its early years that continued until its recent decline. The show played with these fine lines: the family doesn't age, yet time clearly passes - seasons change, holidays and birthdays come and go, events from early in the show are referenced later as though they had really happened in a time past - and we were able to accept it, because those were the laws of the show's special reality.
Flash forward to early in the current season. Homer becomes a food critic, having Lisa ghost-write his reviews. She eventually backs out of the arrangement, leaving Homer to his own grammatical devices. He starts writing about the bread at a particular restaurant, and turns to the dog for help. "Rough," says Santa's Little Helper. Okay, that's barely acceptable, since it's a pun: 'rough', 'ruff'. Homer says no. "Chewy?" the dog asks. No, no, you can't do that. It's lame, it's cheap, and it ruins the show. It's a dumb, pandering mentality, and it reigns currently on The Simpsons. In the Maude's death episode, a bear in the woods walks over to a garbage can and disposes of a bag of its excrement, moments after Homer complains about having to do the same thing, despite the fact that bears don't have to. We've seen animals do funny things before. The writers have used animal incongruity with finesse in the past. But not anymore.
Once, popular culture was slipped into the show in the most wonderfully subtle and rewarding ways. In recent years, the stories have fallen back on it. During the recent episode where Homer joins the Naval Reserves, which started out promising but grew increasingly insipid, we were beaten over the head with references to the 1995 film Crimson Tide, in such an obvious way it disgraced the early shows, where a car driving past a building could have been an image lifted out of a film, and it took a literate, watchful eye to spot it. That subtlety vanished long ago.
Gone too is the wit that came up with the little nuggets of dialogue that you permanently inscribed into the lexicon that you and your friends share. You know the lines - the ones you can say to your friends without having to explain where they came from, during which episode they were spoken, or even what character said them. And there's a line for virtually every situation of everyday life. A friend of mine once remarked that, in terms of post-modernism, "it begins and ends with The Simpsons." You can reference virtually everything by evoking a line or a scene from the show - that is, the show as it used to be. What we've gotten lately is a wasteland, devoid of wit, of intelligence, of panache - even of the exuberance and self-confidence the earlier show exuded.
Watching the new episodes, it's clear that the creative team behind the show has lost faith not only in their creation but in their ability to connect us with it on a weekly basis. "This isn't the best we can do, but it's The Simpsons and that's what matters" oozes off the screen nowadays more than anything else. The writers has resigned themselves to imitating their own show. It would seem there aren't enough people asking where the hell that mountain came from in the episode where a Power Bar-like company sponsors Homer to climb it - we've never seen that before, even though if it was there, we would have seen it dozens of times. Or asking about any of the other numerous examples of the show side-stepping its own creative integrity for the sake of telling us another story.
Maybe The Simpsons should have taken a bow two seasons ago, when it was still watchable. Or maybe, if the show goes on long enough, its creativity will become cyclic, and we'll get a resurgence in the quality of the show. Or, perhaps, the show will go on as long as there are ratings, but will continue to lose sight of its own charm, putting Homer and company into increasingly bizarre situations, tailoring the characters to that week's episode, regardless of the impact on the show in the larger context. People may still watch. But the people who cared most for the show, who recognized its genius and who feel betrayed because they know that it can be so much more than it is, because it was, will have long since left. The couch will be empty, but the glow from the television will flicker on into the night, serving no purpose except to reassure The Simpsons that it still exists.
For all that the show did for me when it was as great as used to be, I find it hard to resign myself to that possibility. Stubbornly, I cling to the hope that the show will recover before it rides off forever into television history. But I can't ignore the fact that it may be too late, and, as the T-shirts fired off at Maude's funeral suggest, it may be time we admit it to ourselves and, once and for all, accept the sad truth we've suspected for a long while, and "Let her R.I.P."
It's written so professionally. This guy sure knows his stuff.
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