Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with thesimpsons

What on earth happened to The Simpsons?

schmichael — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:58:32 -0800

What happened to The Simpsons? My family used to love The Simpsons. And I know that everyone says that, but we were nuts. My Dad was an American emigre, and I think The Simpsons helped him to connect in a small, sad way with his lost country. In the days before DVDs with HDD recorders and TiVo, he used to tape every single episode on (severely limited) NZ TV. Over time he managed to get an almost-complete collection of grimy old VHS tapes (current to the current season, at the time about 14). And I used to watch them relentlessly, over and over.

But then I grew up - and, it seemed to me, Simpsons grew down. I grew increasingly bored with the new episodes, and by season 15, I stopped watching. Now, whenever I watch a new episode - which is not often - I usually give up after a couple of minutes. The sense of humour is wrong, the characters are all wrong, the plots are gasping for air... it feels like the show's heart is gone.

When I go back and watch episodes in the vicinity of season 6, I still love it. Episodes like Homie the Clown are just, it seems to me, on a completely different level than current efforts.

How much of this feeling is really coming from the decline in show quality? And can someone explain what exactly has changed in the nature of the show? I saw a recent episode with a slick new intro, and it just felt wrong. It was like they've had to sex the show up, make everything shiny and spotless, increase the tempo to breaking point, to continue to grab people's attention as the competition between media becomes more and more vicious, and TV gets louder, faster, and gaudier.

And am I paying to much creedence to the mementoes of my childhood? Maybe my nostalgia covers up for weaker jokes in the old stuff. Maybe the new episodes are perfectly good without this inbuilt assumption of how the show should work and how the characters should act. And I'm just turning into an old codger sniffing distrustfully at the new-fangled.

Or maybe The Simpsons really has jumped the shark - maybe it's jumped it more than once.

Teach me, Askmefi!

How to make a Flaming Moe cocktail from the Simpsons

willie11 — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:27:45 -0800

Help me figure out how to make a Flaming Moe (Flaming Homer) for a Simpsons Costume Party tonight, please! 1) Yes, I'm open to actually using children's cough syrup, though not thrilled about it.
2) It absolutely must catch on fire
3) I've seen the stock recepes online and they look disgusting.

So, have any ideas about how to make a decent Flaming Moe?

I regret nothing!

Fourmyle — Mon, 24 Jan 2005 17:24:08 -0800

Someone jumps or falls from a great height, presumably to their death, and shouts, "I regret nothing!" I've seen this used as a joke in a number of places, but where does it originate? It appeared on The Simpsons in 1992 - a guy yells it when he falls through an opening drawbridge while waiting in line for the Itchy and Scratchy movie - but it seems like it has to be a reference to something else.

Simpsons' Source Story

John Kenneth Fisher — Sat, 18 Sep 2004 22:07:44 -0800

A recent viewing of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror with the segment "Genesis Tub" reminds me of (what I assume) is the original short story that inspired it.... but I just... cannot... think of it....

I almost certainly have the nuances wrong, but in the story, a scientist creates microscopic life that begins to worship him as God. At one point, he has them create a forcefield which completely blocks them off from the outside world, but they soon shut it down, because they can no longer stand being isolated from their God. Anyone remember who and what this story is?

You know Snake, the criminal character from The Simpsons? What is his accent?

ssmith — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:26:36 -0800

You know Snake? The criminal character from The Simpsons? What is his accent - where's it from? It seems pretty highbrow for a lowbrow kind of guy. <---- This guy

The Simpsons and US Culture

rschram — Sat, 20 Dec 2003 15:26:45 -0800

What episodes of "The Simpsons" reflect an aspect of US culture the best? Do you find that "The Simpsons" is a good reflection of US culture, or do you think its ideologically distorting?