- Joined
- Jul 4, 2014
I think it's funny is when the down fall happened was when I started to go on internet forums about The Simpsons. Go figure.
The Official Simpsons Griefing Thread
- Thread starter *Asterisk*
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2014
When you keep removing old characters, voices of others decays, and you run out of story ideas, you should know that maybe ...
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2022
A lot of people felt that the episode was a bit too dark and not nearly as funny as it could be. It made out Homer to be a little too over-extreme in his incompetency.I think it should always be looked at for the reason why it was made in the first place: what would happen if a normal, realistic human being actually decided to interact with The Simpsons world?
People always seem to forget the barrier that exists in television. You are supposed to laugh at the characters in comedy, but that doesn't mean you would actually get along with them in real life or should try emulating them in your personality. One you look at Homer's Enemy from that angle, more of its critics would probably learn to enjoy that episode.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2024
I just realized you can't see the Michael Jackson episode on TV because of unproven allegations but Matt Groening was literally in the Epstein Files.
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- Oct 3, 2022
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- Oct 3, 2022
wait...
DENTAL PLAN
lisa's first period
DENTAL PLAN
lisa's first period
DENTAL PLAN
lisa's first period
what have I done
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2014
Also today is his birthday.... he would have went there for it if Epstein wasn't caught.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2014
How is Zombie Simps doing in ratings? And if it is doing really bad (it already doesn't do anywhere near as good as The Simpsons), then why the hell is the show still going?
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
Unsurprisingly, not good. I found this blog post from a decade ago that did an analysis of various aspects of The Simpsons, including its ratings. The relevant graph:
Obviously this only goes back to the mid-2010s, but the trend has continued downward ever since then, from an average of about 5 million viewers per episode for the 2015-16 season to 2 million in 2023-24. And even then, the average for the season is typically propped up by one or two episodes that do significantly better, usually the Treehouse of Horror. It's worse when you consider the U.S. population is a lot larger than it was when the show first started, meaning a smaller fraction is watching. At any rate, it's long past being a cultural institution like it was in the 90s.
Why is it still on the air? Could be a few factors. For one, streaming could be propping it up and used as an incentive to keep it going. Disney+ and/or Hulu need content to keep people subscribed, so might as well pump out a few more lazy episodes (even if people are only ever watching the good seasons). There's also the merchandise angle that might bring in enough money to justify its continuation, though I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I've seen anyone with any Simpsons merch in the wild. The only figure I could find in that regard is that people spent $750 million on merch in 2008, and I can't help but think it's gotten lower since then. There's also advertising; it might not be what it was at its heyday, but companies are still willing to shell out a fair amount of cash to get a commercial during The Simpsons. And it's also a known quantity, where Fox knows what they have and can keep it going year after year instead of gambling on yet another adult cartoon that fails to catch on.
If I had to guess, a big reason it's still on the air is stubbornness and spite keeping it going at this point. People have been talking about how shitty the show has gotten for nearly three to four times as long as the golden age was (depending on where you measure it), and the showrunners have no doubt been internalizing the complaints for as long. They don't want to make changes in response to the criticism because they're too convinced of their genius, and they don't want to end the show because that also would be seen as admitting defeat. So they keep it going as a fuck you to the people who would rather it be put out of its misery instead of shambling along long past the point most people stopped caring.
The bigger question is whether they'll kill it off when one of the main cast members either retires or dies. Obviously they've handled this before, either by killing off the character or recasting them, but the main cast is all in their 60s or beyond, far from their primes. Hell, Julie Kavner is 75 (and sounds like she's 95), and Harry Shearer is 82! At this point, it's a question of when it'll happen, not if, and whether people will respond even more negatively to the idea of recasting. Or maybe they'll just use AI to replace them and incur wrath that way.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2014
Either way my "headcanon" is that Zombie Simps doesn't count as The Simpsons. It's a different show. A crappy endless fanfiction show.
I notice I have been doing that with quite a number of media series in Current Year. Pokeymons, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Simpsons ...
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- Aug 14, 2024
even then by late season 3/4 futurama was shit. And than post fox era is “what if we say penis and drug jokes for our comeback seasons because that’s edgy still… right?”
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2018
Writers vastly underestimated how many people related/sympathized with Frank Grimes over Homer plus the fact that they pretty much codified what we now know as Jerkass Homer in the episode, with Homer being an unlikable cunt the entire episode and getting zero comeuppance and said portrayal becoming his default characteristics from that point onwards...
Problem is that they made Grimes a sad sack who fans felt sympathy for and fell 100% flat on making him a "normal person encountering Homer" combined with Homer being presented at his absolute worse and the ending, which became a thousand times worse because it was the official start of Homer going full evil Jerkass Homer, which still lingers over the character to this day even after Al Jean finally gave into fan complaints and demanded Homer be written to be less of a monster.
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- Joined
- Oct 1, 2022
Part of the issue with this analysis is that while ratings are in fact down, ratings are also down across all television networks. The population of America might be larger, but people aren't watching television. The ratings that The Simpsons are achieving are about average for what a lot of television shows get for live airings. Looking at Family Guy, they've only been averaging out to somewhere in the million range the last several years.Unsurprisingly, not good. I found this blog post from a decade ago that did an analysis of various aspects of The Simpsons, including its ratings. The relevant graph:
Obviously this only goes back to the mid-2010s, but the trend has continued downward ever since then, from an average of about 5 million viewers per episode for the 2015-16 season to 2 million in 2023-24. And even then, the average for the season is typically propped up by one or two episodes that do significantly better, usually the Treehouse of Horror. It's worse when you consider the U.S. population is a lot larger than it was when the show first started, meaning a smaller fraction is watching. At any rate, it's long past being a cultural institution like it was in the 90s.
Why is it still on the air? Could be a few factors. For one, streaming could be propping it up and used as an incentive to keep it going. Disney+ and/or Hulu need content to keep people subscribed, so might as well pump out a few more lazy episodes (even if people are only ever watching the good seasons). There's also the merchandise angle that might bring in enough money to justify its continuation, though I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I've seen anyone with any Simpsons merch in the wild. The only figure I could find in that regard is that people spent $750 million on merch in 2008, and I can't help but think it's gotten lower since then. There's also advertising; it might not be what it was at its heyday, but companies are still willing to shell out a fair amount of cash to get a commercial during The Simpsons. And it's also a known quantity, where Fox knows what they have and can keep it going year after year instead of gambling on yet another adult cartoon that fails to catch on.
If I had to guess, a big reason it's still on the air is stubbornness and spite keeping it going at this point. People have been talking about how shitty the show has gotten for nearly three to four times as long as the golden age was (depending on where you measure it), and the showrunners have no doubt been internalizing the complaints for as long. They don't want to make changes in response to the criticism because they're too convinced of their genius, and they don't want to end the show because that also would be seen as admitting defeat. So they keep it going as a fuck you to the people who would rather it be put out of its misery instead of shambling along long past the point most people stopped caring.
The bigger question is whether they'll kill it off when one of the main cast members either retires or dies. Obviously they've handled this before, either by killing off the character or recasting them, but the main cast is all in their 60s or beyond, far from their primes. Hell, Julie Kavner is 75 (and sounds like she's 95), and Harry Shearer is 82! At this point, it's a question of when it'll happen, not if, and whether people will respond even more negatively to the idea of recasting. Or maybe they'll just use AI to replace them and incur wrath that way.
Some of this is probably do to things like DVRs and streaming so you don't necessarily have to watch the show when it initially airs. You can say they are milking The Simpsons dry, but the problem is that this is their model with everything now and days. Everything is either remakes of a once ended show or season 27 of a show you remember watching twenty years ago.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
While that is true, the blog post did account for that and how it doesn't fully explain the Simpsons drop. Relevant quote:
There are definitely fewer people watching TV shows live, but Nielsen has factored DVR usage into ratings for quite a while, as well as internet streaming to an extent. Popular shows still get decent ratings, as you can see in the charts here, though most of what's popular is the various crime and medical dramas out there. It's still a lot better than what The Simpsons does.
But you also raise a good point with Family Guy as well, which is that the audience for adult animation just isn't all that big in America. The notion of animation being "kids' stuff" is a persistent norm, and that probably impacts how many people choose to watch on a regular basis. And for those that do care, they're probably looking for something other than yet another Simpsons season, especially online, where animators aren't limited by broadcast restraints.
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kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
Late to talking on Homer's Enemy but it's undoubtedly one of the best episodes simply for remaining with the viewer decades afterwards. It's a brilliant bit of dark comedy and Frank Grimes is the prototypical A-logger that barely knows Homer and passed judgment on him.
And while Homer was played up in being an idiot, he tries to make amends only for Frank to sperg out in front of his family like a faggot.
And while Homer was played up in being an idiot, he tries to make amends only for Frank to sperg out in front of his family like a faggot.
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- Mar 29, 2014
- NodNerb
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
Always a classic. I love how the kids look like extras in those G.I.Joe PSA's
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- Jan 16, 2023
Like I've posted earlier in the thread, the idea of a redeemed Grimey is always interesting to pontificate - realizing (or forced to) that Homer is trying to make amends, relents in accepting his goodwill and makes peace with him - perhaps after helping fix some wacky scheme caused by Homer in an attempt to make up - and instantly rewarded with praise by townsfolk and/or promoted by Burns in fixing the issue. Which still ties into the inanity of a normal dude being in a cartoon's world while showing still being decent to those meaning well, well, pays off.
At which point he can settle into a "sane guy" role in the nuclear plant, good-naturedly (by Grimes's standards) commenting to Homer to see sense and not do something dumb, only to eyeroll when Homer inevitably does so anyways.
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kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
I don't find a reason for it. Grimes isn't a normal person, his life was hilariously hard from the get-go and he is an over-achiever, and he just won't work comedically for the show as a straight man.