Shark Bytes

the simpsons jumped the shark when Phil Hartman died. They had to replace many fill-in characters that he played and the majority were filled with the character of the female businesswomen who is terrible unfunny.

There are also other factors like the shortening of episodes which made it more difficult to have multiple plots and also writers coming and going. But when Hartman died in 1998 the show was never the same. This would be between season 8 and 9.

btw: I just watched an episode today...a newer episode...and it was awful.

How is this show still getting made, The Simpsons started the shark jump with the Mr. Burns gets shot two-parter. That was a gimmick that wasn't funny and having Maggie as the shooter was a cop-out. I remember as a kid being let-down when I saw it. The show was never the same after that. They were already running out of ideas back then and was straying from their original winning formula, hence that gimmick. It's a tragedy that it's still on all these years later. Fans who died before 1995 are lucky, all they know is the greatness, not how bad it went on to be. No one who watches in 2008 has an eighth of a brain.

I don't see why everyone gets moist over the movie. All in all they've made days worth of writing and animating. Only this time they have to put triple extra effort in. The colouring and landscapes were better but it was the same writing and (failed) humour with a more urgent story. Oh, wait, how many times have they saved the whole town?

Personally I think they jumped when they started making inconsistant character back stories. Like when Homer and Marge met, in that camp or at High School? That was just pooping out another back story whilst trying not to contradict previous episodes.

I could right more but there is far too much to write about.

Homer's stupidity is what makes him funny, but he got TOO stupid. That's why "Homer gets really, really, stupid" is there. The stupidity used to be natural and that was what made it funny, but now it's extremely forced. You ever hear how "trying too hard" makes you fail? The same applies here.

I'm suprised that "homer gets really stupid" is the main reason given, homer was always extremely stupid, best shown when he was union leader "Lisa needs braces- dental plan", absolutely classic. Homer's stupidity just used to be written far better, like the rest of the show.

I'd like to know why the show went downhill, but considering that Family Guy started around the time The Simpsons started going downhill (1999), and that's exactly the sort of humour the Simpsons writers have failed to emulate (Family Guy is hilarious), so it seems Family Guy is responsible.

The Simpsons have become Family Guy 2.

I compared the modern episodes to classic episodes and also to Family Guy. The demographic has changed to people who like gross-out humor and vulgarity. Family Guy bashes religion? Religion bashing can be done right (early episodes of The Simpsons did it well), but now the Simpsons is skewering religion even harder than before. Peter does something stupid and bad things happen? Let's make "Homer do something stupid" the basic plot of every new Simpsons episode! Family Guy is gross? The Simpsons can resort to vulgarity and gross-out humor, too! (The creme de la creme was the silo full of pig poop on the Simpsons Movie. Not gross enough...how about, Homer telling Marge he "helped" fill it up?) Essentially, the only thing that lets you know you're watching the Simpsons and not Family Guy (besides Homer instead of Peter, that disgusting slob) is the absense of manatee gags.

Dear Matt Groening, and everyone else who works on The Simpsons...we want the Simpsons, not the Simpsons' attempts to keep up with the Griffinses. We fell in love with the show because it was fresh and original and funny without resorting to sex, drugs, or vulgarity.

For the first two seasons, it was very good but still finding it's feet, 3-9 were absolute genius, nearly every time, perhaps 1993 produced the best ones, but it was still excellent to that point. Seasons 10-12 it started to struggle, with the odd good bit, but more and more crap, until by season 13 (2001) it was just an average sitcom. They really need to kill it.

Homer votes for Obama, never watch it again

Jumping the shark is a colloquialism used by TV critics and fans to denote that point in a TV show or movie series' history where the plot veers off into ridiculous story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, undergoing too many changes to retain the original appeal of the series. Shows that have "jumped the shark" are typically deemed to have passed their peak as after this point critical fans can point to a noticeable decline in the show's overall quality.


I was just wanted to add that THE MOVIE was awful....and maggie had already spoken in the show. Don't you remember elizabeth taylor?
And that stupid pig is awful! I felt like hommer when he's smart inside the theater when everybody laughed at the "spider-pig" song.

No matter how much they deny it. It was indeed a LONG (annoying) episode

Of course they have jumped the shark. It has a lot of stupidity now and easy jokes or parodies (the easy way not to work).
They should learn from "south park" that has gotten smarter since the show began, not the other way around. They have something to say and they're not afraid of doing so.

The simpsons has changed from a laugh out loud, top of the ladder show, to being a sitcom on par with "comedy's" such as two and a half men. It must have been season 10 when i last truely laughed at homer, his personality is now so lowbrow the writers have become stuck with what can only be described as an annoying character. I can only hope that Matt Groening realises his mistakes and either steps up the show or finally pulls the cord.

I don't think Simpsons ever really jumped, but quality definitely declined. While there was no defining moment for this, I think the problems happened when the writers started trying to write jokes and not worrying about the story. All the classic Simpsons episodes had some hillarious plot (300 pound Homer, the Monorail, Homer's gay friend, etc.) and kept you laughing the whole time. New episodes, while I still laugh at a couple individual jokes, as a whole aren't funny. The plot is almost non-existent (changes 3 times per episode) and never funny in itself.

Other than Homer, the Simpsons characters themselves aren't particularly funny. It was the way they all came together in the great plots of the classic episodes that made it what it was.

Also, the increased and desperate use of guest stars who added nothing to the episode seemed like 'jumping'.

simpsons should have cancelled their show ages ago. even south park can be better now. thtas why i watch that instead of the simpsons

Speaking of the Poochie episode, there were more references to the writers' opinions about the fans and the show itself than Bart telling CBG he owes them:

Did you notice that Bart disliked the Poochie episode, and when CBG pans the episode, Bart is suddenly defending it? Then he flip-flops, getting happy when Homer tells them they're going to kill Poochie, and cheering when Poochie dies on the way to his home planet.

Lisa, a member of the focus group, tells Roger Meyers (the CEO) that there's nothing wrong with the show, it just lost its impact. (To be fair, the Simpsons lost its impact in Season 9, not 8)

When a writer tells Krusty that Itchy and Scratchy are a dramaturgical dyad, Krusty replies, "Hey! This isn't art, it's business!" (When it comes to the Simpsons, it's been that way since Season 9)

The writers also slammed themselves, when Marge criticizes the "lousy writers" as the reason everyone hates Poochie.

Playful jab or biting satire? You be the judge. I liked the episode, it was a good satire about ruining a show by adding Cousin Oliver. As well as the stupid "extreme" marketing.

As for TV owing them nothing and people getting entertainment for free, that's not necessarily true. We DO pay, but through middlemen. Namely, the companies who pay to advertise on the show. Think about that when you pay $1.49 for a 20 oz bottle of Coke when it costs them much, much less than they're charging you. It's to recoup their losses for advertisements.

Though I have to say there are some points where I laugh my ass off sometimes to this awesome show (movie for example). I just can't help to notice that shitload of episodes are just boring fillers :S