Honestly, I feel like Season 5 might be the last season to be almost entirely gems in terms of episodes. Seasons 6 & 7 do have their fair share of good episodes, but some of them are weaker than others. Season 8 is more half/half and season 9 is when the mediocre/bad episodes managed to overtake the good ones.
I always felt like Season 4 started the cartoonish plots myself, perhaps it had to do with the move from Klasky-Csupo to Film Roman.
For me in Season 6, it's definitely Fear of Flying. The opening is really strong with Homer getting kicked out of Moe's, but once Marge's plot is introduced, that's thrown away and never resolved. And Marge's plot just wasn't that funny to me, which is a shame because some of the jokes in that early segment are some of the best of the season (like Guy Incognito).
Whenever they do those A/B plot type stories, it's always the B plot that goes unresolved.
It's a damn shame considering Homer getting kicked out of Moe's could have been tied into the Marge plot a little better (like say, Moe finds out about Marge's problem and in exchange for his help, Homer demands to have his ban from the bar be lifted) than just being left unresolved like it did. Alternatively, it could just be the bar story for the entire episode, as the show was better at handling full "A" plot episodes better than most of their "A/B" plot episodes even back in the early seasons.
It got worse in recent years, but as I said, there's more than a few episodes in the earlier ones that had this issue too. Only difference is that the writers back then could easily acknowledge it, try to tie it into the A-plot at the end, or just keep the B-plot a small smattering of gags like the "Homer tries to beat Bart at Video Boxing" plot in "Moaning Lisa" or the Lionel Hutz babysitter stuff and Homer & Wiggum's adventure in "Marge on the Lam". Nowadays it's either a copout, sloppily merged into the A-plot or just forgoten about until the end of the episode or altogether.
There is that cut Family Guy song from that episode where Stewie becomes president that has a list of people Stewie hates. One of them was "that guy who watched The Simpsons in 1994, and won't admit the damn thing isn't funny anymore."
I used to dislike pretty much all of Season 1, with Some Enchanted Evening being my least favourite. I found the animation crude, the jokes less funny and the characters weak compared to current Simpsons. But that was when Season 6 was first airing. Now I'd gladly watch nothing but Season 1 over modern Simpsons.
So often, the first act just feels like a weak attempt to pad out a short episode because they don't have any ideas. Or vice versa - they come up with a first-act scenario and can't make a full episode out of it.
[Star Trek fight theme plays as Homer and Barney battle in an arena]
I'm glad you enjoyed what Season 1 has to offer.
Man, cartoon writers love themselves a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan, don’t they just? Although Family Guy is hardly in a position to attack The Simpsons for being past its prime.
Nah, prime Family guy ended almost immediately after it got a revival. As a fan at the time, I also remember seeing American Dad (which came out right about the same time) and thinking it was shit on arrival. The random episodes I've seen over the years have yet to change my mind about either show.