I am old enough to have witnessed the golden age of The Simpsons as it was happening, and I know that, even then, people thought it was past its prime. I was among the many who tut-tutted that it was trash beginning in the early 2000s, but… I was getting over being sick a week or so ago, and I gave myself an experiment that bore surprising results. I knew there were a couple episodes I liked in the early teen seasons (or at least, ones that stuck in my head and made me chuckle), so how far could I go through The Simpsons before I find a season with NO good episodes? I skipped ToH episodes just so I have more new stuff for spooky season, but I’m in the mid 20s seasons and I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying these episodes. I skip around based on synopsis, so I’m not watching all of them, but I feel like this show is much better than I thought it was at that point in its life. Just wanted to share this somewhere.
SKINNER: “Children, you can stop writing letters to soldiers overseas- that was just busywork.”
Had a similar experience. Watched some random recent episodes and was pleasantly surprised to not only some quality episodes but a tone and approach that definitely seemed fresh and updated and even at times creative.
There are definitely some very bad episodes, and some seasons that are worse than most, but I've just started catching up with the latest season, and it's pretty good so far.
Been keeping up with new episodes as they come out over the course of the last few decades. The show has changed since it's early days, and sure the quality has ebbed and flowed over the years, but it still hits imo.
