The Simpsons

[Jjs Goodman]

Welp, apparently it's only lasting one episode, as expected, and apparently it's not even a "divorce":

 

http://tvline.com/2015/06/11/the-simpsons-homer-marge-divorce-season-27/

 

Not surprised though, I don't really trust what the crew says anymore after the whole "OMG A MAJOR CHARACTER IS DYING IN THE S26 PREMIERE!!!111" incident. As Elastic said:

 

The struggle for relevancy continues...

[terminoob]

Welp, apparently it's only lasting one episode, as expected, and apparently it's not even a "divorce":

 

http://tvline.com/2015/06/11/the-simpsons-homer-marge-divorce-season-27/

 

Not surprised though, I don't really trust what the crew says anymore after the whole "OMG A MAJOR CHARACTER IS DYING IN THE S26 PREMIERE!!!111" incident. As Elastic said:

 

No one said it was a divorce, though. A legal separation and a divorce are two different things.

[Metal Snake]

Welp, apparently it's only lasting one episode, as expected, and apparently it's not even a "divorce":

 

http://tvline.com/2015/06/11/the-simpsons-homer-marge-divorce-season-27/

 

Not surprised though, I don't really trust what the crew says anymore after the whole "OMG A MAJOR CHARACTER IS DYING IN THE S26 PREMIERE!!!111" incident. As Elastic said:

 

Not surprised in the least. So many have already said it better, but I still feel the need to say it. The Simpsons is a prime example of a show where the status quo is God. Nothing will ever change in it, nothing new in it will happen that will intrigue an audience of fans who grew up with it or an audience of new fans, the only thing that's going to happen from this point forward is that their ratings are going to continue to decline until it finally ends. No ratings trap is going to save them from that fate.

[CyanideFishbone]

Not suprised either, considering the show can't take a risk to save it's life now. 

[terminoob]

Not suprised either, considering the show can't take a risk to save it's life now. 

 

Seriously? It couldn't before either. It's not supposed to be a show that has stakes or takes risks.

[Wumbo]

If anything, the show could benefit from risk-taking now more than ever.

[terminoob]

If anything, the show could benefit from risk-taking now more than ever.

 

It's mostly a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of thing at this point. I feel like anything they do would be met with resentment from almost everyone. I mean, who the hell could they have killed off in season 26 that people would've been happy with? No one gave a shit about Krusty's dad so they killed him off and people still got mad (yeah, they could've not said it was an "important character" but still - if they just dropped "a character is going to die" then I feel like people would've just assumed it'd be a Frank Grimes situation where a character gets introduced and killed off in the same episode). How would people have reacted if they killed off someone actually vaguely important like, say, Sideshow Bob? Then we'd get no more Sideshow Bob episodes and those episodes are the best.

With Harry Shearer leaving I feel like a world of opportunities opened up for new character dynamics to present themselves but instead they're just recasting all of his characters. I'd love to see Flanders, Burns, or Skinner written off so we could get some new personalities for everyone to bounce off of, but at the same time they're cast staples and if any of them get written off people would be pissed because so many people want consistency even if they don't admit it. People were friggin' pissed when they announced the opening was going to change back in '09, and that was just an opening. They'd be extra pissed if something important got changed.

[WhoBibbles]

Bumping this topic cuz this:

 

Wow, the seperation episode finally premiered and the Internet goes crazy by calling the episode "WORST EPISODE EVER" already. I'm gonna see the ep tomorrow but I wanna know what do you guys think. Is it really the bottom of the barrel for The Simpsons? Discuss.

[CDCB]

Unfunny piece of crap. I nearly went bald from the stress of watching it. 

But seriously, it's definitely in my bottom 5. Not quite Lisa Goes Gaga bad but darn close to it....

[NegiSpongie]

Why's everyone so surprised? It was pretty obvious that they weren't gonna divorce, they even said so themselves. Didn't expect it to go with that twist at the end though.

[Young Nug]

nothing man

this show is so nothing now 

literally fucking dead air nothing important happens anymore in this show 

it tries to be edgy sometimes when it's not being complacent bumbling along at a steady pace of dead 5/10 episodes but that is the saddest part

this was a show that was blessed with a guest feature from Michael Jackson and they made him voice a fat white mental patient 

this is was a show that went to Australia and literally turned the country into a joke

sesson after season it took what was popular and relevant and shat on it and bit at it like an alligator and still managed to be funny and sweet and timeless nearly every single time 

Its been 17 years since this thing was remotely passable. 15 if you're generous. And we've arrived at the point where a show that could at one time, have me howling every 2 minutes in laughter, now had me staring at the television, silent, with a mix of boredom, very light disappointment, and some incredulity in my face.

It's not outright bad. It's competent. Competently written, directed, animated- but that's it. It's only competent, and barely so. And the worst part is that, a few times a year, there is a spark of malicious life, a clever gag, sequence, or, hell, even a full fledged great episode.

But it's a trap. No matter how good one episode is, the next will not deliver. There will never be consistency with this show, one of quality, at least, certainly not anymore, except for those evil flashes of cleverness that keep coming less and less often as time goes on. 

But right now, this thing is toothless. Flashes of "hm, this could be alright" are immediately stamped out within the same minute by another asinine gag or character problem.

I waited 30 long, toothless minutes for this lame, boring divorce premiere of nothingness to be over.

I dunno how long I'm gonna have to wait for it to all be over. But I hope it's not long. I really do.

[Jane]

I think what the show needs is a few years break and a staff shake up, or just end the show with a movie/special.

[Metal Snake]

Nuggets is spot-on in his description of the current state of this show. Nothing. There is nothing left it for it do, there is no (non-monetary) reason for it to still be airing, and soon, there will be no one left for it to entertain. The premiere only got three million viewers.

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-simpsons-season-27-ratings-38209/

For a season premiere of a FOX animated show like The Simpsons, that is pathetic. For the uninformed, The Simpsons was getting well over twenty million viewers for an average episode in its prime. It's frightening. It's like just how low does this show's popularity have to sink before it dawns on FOX that... "*finger snap* We need to find a quality cartoon to replace this!"? Even more frightening, I am legit wondering if they ever will replace it. It's obviously going to end eventually. At this point, it either goes down, or it goes down with the graveyard that is the current Animation Domination.

W-what more can I say? It's just a waiting game at this point. And sadly, the waiting game is more fun than watching modern-day The Simpsons. How do you play the waiting game?

...

You sit/stand and wait until the game is over.

[WhoBibbles]

Even as a person who likes modern Simpsons thinks this show needs to end now. The series premiere has to be the most pointless episode ever, it was just a ratings trap and even it failed at that. There's no need to see the episode. Spoiler, alert, It was all just a dream, how anti-climatic but I knew Homer and Marge wouldn't be seperated at all. At least Brian's temporary death in Family Guy had a point, there was no reason for this episode to exist. The story is so lazy, characters are so unlikeable (Bart tried to kill Homer WTF) and the humor is lame. Simpsons only exists because Al Jean wants to reach to 30th season so badly. Move on already FOX, move on Al Jean, Simpsons is no longer the most beloved and focused adult cartoon; Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman, Bob's Burgers, Archer are the gold for adult cartoons; even new seasons of South Park are so gold. The episode has a few good gags but other that that, it's a huge sap in the face.

 

Nuggets is spot-on in his description of the current state of this show. Nothing. There is nothing left it for it do, there is no (non-monetary) reason for it to still be airing, and soon, there will be no one left for it to entertain. The premiere only got three million viewers.

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-simpsons-season-27-ratings-38209/

For a season premiere of a FOX animated show like The Simpsons, that is pathetic. For the uninformed, The Simpsons was getting well over twenty million viewers for an average episode in its prime. It's frightening. It's like just how low does this show's popularity have to sink before it dawns on FOX that... "*finger snap* We need to find a quality cartoon to replace this!"? Even more frightening, I am legit wondering if they ever will replace it. It's obviously going to end eventually. At this point, it either goes down, or it goes down with the graveyard that is the current Animation Domination.

W-what more can I say? It's just a waiting game at this point. And sadly, the waiting game is more fun than watching modern-day The Simpsons. How do you play the waiting game?

...

You sit/stand and wait until the game is over.

Thank goodness we have Bob's Burgers and If they continue with it, Golan the Insatiable. Otherwise Animation domination is just a place for two cash zombie cow shows that changed the adult animation and a new family-themed show created by a Family Guy writer, how original.

[70s]

There is nothing left it for it do, there is no (non-monetary) reason for it to still be airing, and soon, there will be no one left for it to entertain. The premiere only got three million viewers.

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-simpsons-season-27-ratings-38209/

For a season premiere of a FOX animated show like The Simpsons, that is pathetic. For the uninformed, The Simpsons was getting well over twenty million viewers for an average episode in its prime. It's frightening.

While this is all true (and there's no argument from me that the show should end soon), it's important to note that the TV landscape and the way people watch TV is drastically different than it was when The Simpsons was in its prime over a decade ago. Standards are much lower for live veiwership because most people simply don't watch TV live anymore. 

[Burgerpants]

http://news.yahoo.com/simpsons-end-coming-soon-says-013353992.html

[Clappy]

Here I was getting ready to rant about The Simpsons season premiere and how MASSIVE of a waste of my time it was.....but Nuggets beat me to it on a god-tier level.

Honestly what else is there left to say?  That episode was a piece of trash ratings trap, which is what I feel like The Simpsons has become at least the last two years just to tell their viewer base, "HEY.  LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO TO KEEP THINGS FRESH.  WE STILL EXIST.  WATCH US PLEASE!"

I mean hey it's better to be competent and nothing compared to being painfully atrocious like Family Guy has become.  But this is The Simpsons.  It's an animated program that has changed the television landscape.  Which makes me sad how badly I wish Fox would end this show.  It's sad how long the waiting game has been.  It's sad that everyone involved has sunk this low to try and use ratings traps to have people talk about it.  It's an insult to my intelligence because even at their low state, I know this writing team can still pull out a 7/10 episode when it wants to.  But right now, I will just go relive any positive memories I have on FXX.  Because modern day Simpsons has become as lifeless as ever.

[FAS]

Bumping this topic cuz this:

 

Wow, the seperation episode finally premiered and the Internet goes crazy by calling the episode "WORST EPISODE EVER" already. I'm gonna see the ep tomorrow but I wanna know what do you guys think. Is it really the bottom of the barrel for The Simpsons? Discuss.

I don't hate it with a burning passion and I'm one of those people that give bad episodes some redeemable quality. There's some funny moments here and there and I did liked the trippy dream and the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons. But that's it honestly. The rest of the season premiere sucked to be honest. The writing was off the wall and the execution of this plot was lame and poorly done. I mean seriously several dreams in one episodes? Now that's just confusing. It's very forgettable...

EDIT: Also, I think this show needs a new showrunner so that there can be a different writing staff. At least Family Guy shakes things up with that (changing showrunners and writers every few seasons). Matt Selman needs to be the new showrunner as he's my favorite writer hired after season 8 (although he wrote the shitty"That 90s show" episode).

[Jane]

Holy cow, this is some of the best animation the show's had in years. Probably my favorite couch gag by far.

[CyanideFishbone]

Honestly been looking to get into the early episodes. Where should I start?