Straight up! The golden era of Simpsons (S2-8 or 9 depending on who you ask) is genuinely some of the best network television ever. Insanely consistent without a dud episode in sight, tons of all-time-great episodes in that era, changed the game in television in general and forced a radical shift across the board and got massive ratings, I don't know what else you could want out of a series of its kind.
Yet people forget that and tie it to just how AWFUL the new stuff is, it bogs down just how good the past stuff was. Could you imagine if after S8 they said "Fuck it, we're ending this show with a movie", basically doing The Simpsons Movie over 10 years sooner? Could you imagine the blowout success and the writing quality coming together for a massive 2 hour series finale? Good god it would've been on the level of Star Wars merchandise but they waited too long and South Park/Family Guy out-edged them so The Simpsons outlived its usefulness in that regard. Now its just "The show Christian moms let their kids watch because Adult Swim is too spooky" and I say this from experience.
I remember being at my grandparents' house for Xmas and we kids were allowed control over the TV while the adults were on the patio & the unrelated "cousins" who were brought up really Christian wouldn't let me turn the channel (even though we were unsupervised) to the Simpsons because their parents told them it was "of the Devil"
I'm talking an experience I had in the early 2010s over at a friends house. No Adult Swim but shitty ass Simpsons? That was allowed. If you were lucky, Fox or one of their affiliates would be rerunning an old episode alongside a new one but that's it. I was as mad as hell because [adult swim] was and still is the shit, at least once you wade through the Fox reruns early on.
Don't forget Primal, Joe Pera Talks With You (Definitely my recent favorite. An actually wholesome [as] show is a welcome addition in times like this), Eric Andre, Black Jesus, Black Dynamite, ATHF and a bunch more. If it weren't for the shit Fox reruns it'd be the most experimental shit on television even if it can be hit or miss.
Straight up! The golden era of Simpsons (S2-8 or 9 depending on who you ask) is genuinely some of the best network television ever. Insanely consistent without a dud episode in sight, tons of all-time-great episodes in that era, changed the game in television in general and forced a radical shift across the board and got massive ratings, I don't know what else you could want out of a series of its kind.
Yet people forget that and tie it to just how AWFUL the new stuff is, it bogs down just how good the past stuff was. Could you imagine if after S8 they said "Fuck it, we're ending this show with a movie", basically doing The Simpsons Movie over 10 years sooner? Could you imagine the blowout success and the writing quality coming together for a massive 2 hour series finale? Good god it would've been on the level of Star Wars merchandise but they waited too long and South Park/Family Guy out-edged them so The Simpsons outlived its usefulness in that regard. Now its just "The show Christian moms let their kids watch because Adult Swim is too spooky" and I say this from experience.
I remember being at my grandparents' house for Xmas and we kids were allowed control over the TV while the adults were on the patio & the unrelated "cousins" who were brought up really Christian wouldn't let me turn the channel (even though we were unsupervised) to the Simpsons because their parents told them it was "of the Devil"
I'm talking an experience I had in the early 2010s over at a friends house. No Adult Swim but shitty ass Simpsons? That was allowed. If you were lucky, Fox or one of their affiliates would be rerunning an old episode alongside a new one but that's it. I was as mad as hell because [adult swim] was and still is the shit, at least once you wade through the Fox reruns early on.
Squidbillies & Boondocks & T&EASGJ! & Samurai Jack carrying the weight of the entire country's worthwhile TV output
Don't forget Primal, Joe Pera Talks With You (Definitely my recent favorite. An actually wholesome [as] show is a welcome addition in times like this), Eric Andre, Black Jesus, Black Dynamite, ATHF and a bunch more. If it weren't for the shit Fox reruns it'd be the most experimental shit on television even if it can be hit or miss.
Off The Air is definitely choice
In that case you'll probably enjoy this video essay about it