Did Season 9 Ruin The Simpsons? 

The only way to save the Simpsons is to break the status quo and let the characters finally grow and develop. I'm pretty sure no one would freak out if Bart finally turned 11 and advanced to the 5th grade.

I’m rewatching the Simpsons right now, and I was just thinking about how seasons 7-8 have a great “late series” feeling to them. Like they escalated to the perfect level of weirdness right before the series went off the air... but then it goes on for another 23 years

It went downhill when Futurama started and all the good writers went there.

Season 9 is like pizza that's been out for a while. It's still warm enough to be good but just cold enough to make you feel like something is missing.

Skinner’s “Up yours Children” in Principle and the Pauper is honestly one of my favorite lines

Something to think about: if the characters had aged 1 year per season, Bart would now be older than Homer was at the beginning.

"homer, bill gates is here" is the funniest shit ever bruh

Seasons 2-8 will always be perfect to me Season 2 has a great dramatic feel that can tug on your heartstrings. I still get teary-eyed when Grampa’s love Bea dies or when Lisa says goodbye to her substitute or when Bart realizes he’s going to fail grade 2 and breaks down and cries. Season 3 is where the comedy starts to strike gold but we still get those wonderful feel-good moments. When Flanders Failed comes to mind as a great ending as well as Lisa’s Pony. Season 4 is hilarious and zany in all the right ways. There’s too many great episodes to name but many agree Last Exit to Springfield is the greatest show in the entire series, and I’m inclined to agree. Marge VS the Monorail is another classic that just feels perfect. I also love Mr. Plow just for the nostalgia alone. Season 5 is clever and extremely funny continuing off of the perfection of season 4. It grows more insight on characters that were at once seen as 2-dimensional such as Apu in Homer and Apu. You’ve also got some sweet classics in here like Marge on the Lam and Homer Goes to College. Season 6 is the pinnacle of The Simpsons, delivering the best of the very best. With the exception of A Star is Burns, it’s hard to find an episode in this season with a negative review. Like I can’t even just pick 1-3 episodes to highlight they’re all pretty much perfect. Season 7 is extremely funny and starts using some unique twists in its story telling such as 22 Short Films About Springfield. You’ve also got some great philosophical moments in Bart Sells His Soul as well as some biting satire on Hollywood in Radioactive Man. Yet you’ve also got the somber dramatic themes and moments that hark back to season 2 like Mother Simpson and Summer of 4 foot 2 Season 8 is zany but it has just the right amount of zaniness before they took it too far in season 9 and beyond. Homer becoming a heavyweight boxer might be a zany premise, but the jokes throughout are still funny and clever. The Twisted World of Marge Simpson might have an abrupt and zany ending, but I laughed my ass off when Whitey Ford is knocked unconscious by pretzels. It also introduces us to some terrific one-off characters like Mr Burns’ son Larry (voice by Rodney Dangerfield), Homer’s suppressed sub-conscious disguised as a talking coyote (voiced by Johnny Cash), and Homer’s boss at Cypress Creek Hank Scorpio (voiced by Albert Brooks).

Skinner/Tanzarian's problem was that Skinner was probably the most deeply developed non-Simpson character in terms of background (with the possible exception of Apu) so destroying that on a whim was stupid. The episode itself has some of the greatest moments in the series.

I think it would have been better if the big twist about Skinner was that he was actually a steamed ham the whole time

The Simpsons officially died at the exact moment where the opening go changed from Homer running through the garage door to Marge ramming him though it.

When homer got “violated” by a panda is when it died for me that has to be the worst moment of the series only coming close is the Simpsons guy but that’s my opinion

To young viewers the celebrity cameos aren’t even celebrity cameos and just ‘This guy is here now hahaha’. I’m 14 and have been watching for all my life and can say with certainty that I do not have a single clue who a majority of random guests are.

Gotta agree with Salty, I feel Julie Kavner, while a great actress, cannot believably do Marge anymore. It’s actually sad hearing Marge talk these days.

Definitely agree with the central thesis of this video: Season 9 was probably the last season of the show where I felt like the good outweighed the bad and was when most of the cracks in the show's quality began to show. The dive in quality between seasons 9 and 10 is astounding.

Season 1 is amazing. It’s got so much soul. I don’t get why it gets overlooked.

Poochy is the best character ngl

Lisa the Simpson also contradicts other episodes, unless the simpson gene forces all the Male simpsons get crayons stuck in their brains. It doesn't help that they use it as an excuse to dumb down Bart's character over time. Originally he had an attention disorder, he wasn't actually stupid. Now a days they try to play up how dumb he is, but also try to make him out as a criminal master mind in the background. You have to have some of the highest IQ on the planet to successfully be a criminal mastermind, the two characteristics don't mix well together.

Season 8 may have been the last solid season, but I still like a lot of season 9 and 10. IMO, season 10 should have been the final season. It’s season 11 that things really started to go downhill. Simpsons thrived on 90s energy and died when it was gone.

Principle and the Popper ruined skinner, but even that episode can still make you laugh. “Why is Grandpa here? Because Jasper didn’t want to come alone”.

The movie was the last time the Simpsons had any heart (Marge's message to Homer is up there with the most emotional moments from the show). There are episodes that try to be emotional in the recent seasons but they only feel forced. Nothing about this show feels natural anymore because no one has a character anymore. The movie was the last time the Simpsons felt human and should've been where it stopped.

It's sad to think that what started out as a genuinely funny and insanely creative series that changed TV animation forever and paved the way for hundreds of terrific cartoons that wouldn't exist without its influence has now become a depressing example of what happens when a network refuses to let a show end gracefully simply because of its iconic status and probably just to see if they can get it to 1000 episodes (which they most likely will). What's even sadder is the fact that the writers refuse to change the status quo in any drastic way, thus leaving these characters in a seemingly permanent and empty state of mere existence. There is no more heart, no more soul, no reason to care anymore. This show is a husk of its former self and it will outlive us all. FOX will never learn.

To me, the Simpsons ended at the end of Season 10. When the 90s ended and one of their voice actors who did many of the smaller side characters was killed. That was when the Simpsons ended for me. I did wait around to eventually see the movie back in 2007 but after that, it was already clear that it was never going to be the Simpsons of the 90s that I once remembered. Feel sorry for those who started watching the show in the early 2000s and never knew how the Simpsons was before that time.

As a Simpsons fan from the beginning, the episode I remember first thinking “man, they’re running out of ideas” was the one where Homer sells grease.

I grew up watching whatever Simpsons episodes I could find on DVD and they all felt the same to me. It wasn't until they switched to HD that I noticed the drop in quality.

The simpsons is on a huge life support system.... All anyone wants to do.... Is just pull the plug to end its suffering

Season 8 is the last of the golden age, but you wouldn’t have to hold a gun to my head to keep watching through Season 11. 11 is the last stop, killing Maude Flanders is their jump-the-shark moment.

Homer's Enemy is actually my favourite episode...

At least this wasn't sponsored by Raid: Shadow Legends

I cant stand listening to Julie Kavner anymore. She sounds like she is in so much pain when she does Marge's voice.

I still think that season 9 was excellent, and that season 10 was where the show really declined. Either side of the infamous 'Principal and the Pauper episode (the scene where Homer asks all those questions in the car was brilliant, I thought that 'The City of New York vs. Homer' and 'Lisa's Sax' were excellent. During the show's golden age and even during season 9 I'd argue, it had 'heart', combining funny or even wacky moments with more 'touching' scenes. From season 10, I think the show lost that, and Homer became more of a jerk.

im 18 so im fairly young compared to the simpsons and when i heard about the principal and the pauper, i didnt think it was a big deal because ive seen the simpsons do crazier and weirder stuff that but when i finally saw the essence of the first seasons i finally understood why the hate against the episode, i like the episode but i can see more clearly why it got so much hate

The City Of New York VS Homer Simpson is amazing, and the fact it’s a season 8 holdover shows.

Lisa the simpson was my biggest disappointment: mostly cause of the gender stereotype also ignores Homer's brother, and the episode where Homer gets smart(which I liked better.), but ALSO because it was Lisa not finding a solution to HER OWN problem- she just gives up, but gets a free pass cause girl. Its got great jokes, but I think the solution could have been Lisa finds out that the "Simpsons gene" was psychosomatic- which it ultimately seems to be, and the reason Homer and Bart gave into it was because... they GAVE INTO it. Like Lisa actually does in the ACTUAL episode.

Simpsons Tide episode had some of the best lines. Homer: "Is the Poop deck really what I think it is?"

Basically, after the 90's in went downhill. That's all one needs to say.

Honestly the The Simpsons decline in quality came with all the OG writers left. Since then it's been hit and miss with each season. With the current one having a lot of misses.

I never liked the favouritism towards Lisa as the show progressed. She had some good episodes early on, such as "Lisa's Substitute" but as time went on, she went from a down-to-earth foil to a whiny, selfish know-it-all. The Lisa Ego Trip episodes such as "Lisa's Sax" and "Lisa the Simpson" end more or less the same way: Bart is a failure but Lisa feels better about herself so everyone's happy!

I love every season up to and including season 10. It rapidly becomes unwatchable after that. They should have ended the Pricipal and Pauper episode with the classic trope of “it was all just a dream” with one of the protagonists awaking from a dream at the end of the episode, cancelling all the events of the episode and restoring the status quo.

"Simpson Tide" contains one of my all-time favorite jokes from the show Sub Captain, delivering his speech to motivate the crew before embarking: "I am a man of few words. … … Any questions?"

For me, the funniest moment was when Homer skateboarded over the ravine and then kept hitting everything on the way down. Then, he rolls out of the ambulance and falls again!

The darned thing is, there are adults with school age kids now, who do not remember a time when the Simpsons was NOT on the television.

Great video. I think Season 9 was when the series started to dip in quality a little. Seasons 9 and 10 are still worth watching. 11 on? Ehh...

2:15 I feel like 500 people are going to make among us jokes just of that clip.

The simps that ruined the seasonsons

You know what’s sad? Here in Sweden, seasons 1-8 barely airs on TV anymore since last year and now they’re only airing 9-current season. Even though season 9 isn’t the best and marks the beginning of the end of the series we all knew and loved, it at least had a few episodes that were entertaining.

Finally somebody points out how Marge's voice becomes more and more strained in the modern episodes, I never saw anybody else talk about it so I thought it was just me

You are discounting so many good episodes post season 9, I would say once the show went HD it truly went to “Zombie Simpsons”.

"Who knows what crazy adventures they'll get into before the show ceases to be profitable."

I actually view season 9 as the point where the kids who grew up with it stopped watching on a regular basis. As a kid who was in the 1st grade when season 1 came out. I was hearing less simpsons references on Monday morning by season 9. Some kids did keep watching but it was notably not as great but also less of my peers were into it. So it's like a jumping off the ship point I know well. Resubscribed again because of this video.

Kid: my parents don’t let me watch spongebob Also kid: *watches Simpson’s*

First, season 1 was a great season. “Some Exchanged Evening, The Crepes Of Wrath, & The Telltale Head” were classic episodes. Finally, The Simpson’s went down hill when Joel H. Cohen & Marc Wilmore joined the writting staff. Most of their episodes are terrible. Yes, Marc is gone, but still.

Huh. A lot of what I saw as a kid was apparently from season 9... The Lord of the Flies parody was my favorite episode, maybe because seeing kids surviving on an island on their own without adults was cool to kid me.

Been binge watching a lot of simpsons lately, and I noticed that just in general, around season 9 and 10 is when I started to laugh a lot less often. There were still good gags here and there but a lot of it was just the copy and paste "Homer is dumb and a jerk" stuff.

I always feel like Behind the Laughter is a great jumping off point. It is a good ending to the series.

Season 9 was the last great season IMO. Season 1 and 2 get overlooked but they were solid, just getting off the ground, feeling characters out, i.e. Smithers was black at one point. Season 3 was the beginning of greatness that lasted for me until season 10, still watchable for the most part but you can tell something was brewing with the writing. I think I've only seen 3 or 4 episodes after season 10 but to the Simpsons' credit I don't think their run between season 3-9 will ever be matched in animation.

Honestly, even the worst Season 9 episodes have some pretty classic moments. I'd say "Monty Can't Buy Me Love" from Season 10 was the first episode that really felt like the show it would later become with all the elements there: thinly veiled (and lame) caricatures, nonsensical plot turns, Burns acting out of character. All that's missing is HD.

When the show transferred to digital ink and paint, I've started to get bored of the series.

"Duncanville so we should be in great hands" wat

You hit on a good point when discussing how the show circa seasons 7-8 was treated as if things were winding down, so why not go nuts with ambitious storylines. Just as important, I think, is that shortly afterward, the creative team seemed to catch onto the idea that the show wasn't going anywhere, so they became less discerning with which jokes were worth putting into scripts. When you're aware that you're going to have to fill some 40+ hours of time over the next five years, lame gags (like what fills most of Simpson Tide) and repeated jokes ("call backs" if you're being really, really generous) are no longer rejected.

Classic Simpsons died with Phil Hartman.

FYI Phil Hartman would of kept doing his characters but his wife murdered him.

Perhaps season 9 had the earliest signs of a decline, but it's still firmly a classic season. It's harder to make that claim for seasons 10 and 11, but there's still a lot of memorable moments in them. Season 12, on the other hand, is the first season that feels like modern-day Simpsons. Finally, season 15 is the first season that I don't feel any pull to watch again. For me, the last legitimately memorable episode is season 14's "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can".

I loyally watched The Simpsons throughout the entire 90’s. After the episode where they had Kid Rick on, I stopped.

The episode with the Kesha song intro was literally the last episode I kept up with weekly. Pretty much just watch the new Treehouse of Horror eps.

SALTY HOW DARE YOU. YOU DISSAPEAR FOR MONTHHS THEN SHOW UP IN SOME OTHER CHANNELS VIDEO!? WE NEED YOU BACK

I own seasons 1-8 on dvd. That's enough for me, I have not a single lingering interest to own anything past that.

I think the other problem people have with TP&TP was that other changes to the status quo felt like organic developments for characters, while the Skinner "revelation" felt character destroying, if you didn't just forget about it. True, Simpsons is not big on continuity, but a show that has almost no plot arcs relies heavily on the attachment to the characters, and a lot of the character stuff was thrown overboard. Also, the humor became less character driven and more gag driven.

My favorite seasons were Seasons 3 through 9, with Season 8 being particularly good. Season 10 is when things started to go downhill really fast. My least favorite episode from that season is "When You Dish Upon a Star," which took the gimmick of celebrities appearing as themselves (which had been kept under control up to that point) and ran it into the ground so that Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, and Ron Howard pretty much took over the show for that week. Mel Gibson followed not long afterward, and 'N Sync a couple of years after that. I watched THE SIMPSONS to get away from reality, not to have it constantly shoved in my face. I preferred the earlier seasons, when there was more of a world-building, "alternate universe" atmosphere.

I feel like seasons 2-9 is golden Simpsons. 10-13 are the last watchable seasons for me. 14-(current year) is complete Zombie Simpsons.

1:29 Oh I thought it was Flanderisation

I feel like the changes in the animation from the classic mostly hand-drawn, to the computerized super-clean version, killed off a vital part of the Simpsons' charm, humor and overall feeling. And it's not just because it looks different, but because the process of creating the show became different, too. At least that's my suspicion. It's like when an old 80s band drops a new album in 2021 and it's totally overproduced. Lacking rawness, small imperfections, the things that helped make their music special. You're essentially sterilizing art, leaving only an empty husk which mimics the original creative vision but is dead inside. Obviously the Simpsons have many qualities, but for me personally I think the modernized visuals play a huge part in it's "demise".

I agree this season marked a big turning point for the show, but I still consider it part of their 'Golden Age'. The first truly BAD season in my opinion was season 11. They completely altered the tone of the show and there were very few redeeming episodes. That, and they made some major changes, the biggest being Maude's death, which probably wouldn't have been so awful if it had been conveyed in a more tasteful and less mean-spirited way. Anyway, good video. 🙂 I agreed with pretty much everything.

I don't think it matters if the characters aged or not as the show went on. True, it would open up new storylines and possibilities, but they would still have the massive problem of the show no longer being funny.

As someone who grew up starting with season 2 in 1990-91, and watching tons of re-runs, I can tell you that even around about 2000 I noticed that there was a lot of celebrity cameos that honestly I didn't care about. Now, cameos had been a thing since the earliest seasons, but it was starting to get really hammy and just silly with the cameos. A classic episode where the cameo works brilliantly is Marge VS the Monorail, starring Leonard Nimoy as himself. Even though he's Nimoy is only part of the 3rd act, he really helps kick off some of the jokes. Another in that same vein is Barry White in the Whacking Day episode. I think it's really when they started to use cameo's of people that were simply hip and trendy of the time, that's when things went downhill. The Tony Hawk episode, lady gaga, etc. I stopped watching around season 11 or 12, or at least went to off and on, then after the movie hit, I stopped watching completely. I saw the season 20 opener and that was is. Seasons 2-10 is where the magic is, though obviously in the middle there is where the best stuff is, Last Exit to Springfield of season 4 being my favorite episode of the series.

For me it was the season 10 episode "Lisa Gets An A". I was already getting burned out early on in season 10, but then I saw that intro of Homer using a free sample toothpick to eat things off of store shelves and thought "This isn't funny" and changed the channel.

Poochy was one Outrageous dude.

I'm binging Classic Simpsons and I love it so much. I'm currently on season 7.

I feel like season 9 is too overhated, if you skip the second episode (principal and the pauper) bc a lot of people seem to have mixed feelings about that episode, you are left with a very solid season with plenty of amazing episodes like the New York episode, when homer gets a gun, Marge as a real state agent, the leader cult one, Moe's car insurance fraud, the trillion dollar one and when Homer climbs the mountain and trains with Rainier Wolfcastle

1993 to 2001 were my favourite years for the show. It probably contributed more to pop culture in those 8 years than any other animated series.

I'm on a big series rewatch and just got to Season 9 -- it's weird how the decline just sorta sneaks up on you

You can’t compare it to gravity falls, that show had a planned arc from the start.

Wait...technically it’s not a copy of a spongebob gag if the Simpsons did it first

I’m watching the Simpson’s and I got to season 20 (and I just started 3 weeks ago) and I must say, I laughed sooo much more in the older episodes then the newer ones

The Simpsons is now a zombie that's just begging to be put out of its misery. Its just overstayed its welcome.

*didn't leave a link to "where i come to cry"* *Unsubs*

Rewatching The Simpsons and I’m currently half way through season 10. The show still seems to be going strong. They have a few dark humor episodes but they also have a lot wholesome humor episodes. I will say the episode “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson” from season 9 has been my favorite episode so far and has some of the best Homer moments in the series.

For me the last great episode was lard of the dance season 10. Episodes after that looked different and didn't have the same feel. I always wondered why that episode was different to the rest of season 10 then I found out they always used to animate the first episode of the next season while creating the current season.

Season 1 is important.

I share the same opinion that Salty, I think I watch every episode before they went to HD, and the Quality drops REALLY HARD, each season before each HD, dip a bit each time, But when it came to HD something was Lost and now it was also visually represented with the intro and the couch gags.

The ending of the “lord of the flies” episode is a spot on take down of the original book, which has a very sudden and unsatisfactory deus ex machina ending. The story just ends on the final page with a random boat just turning up to collect the kids.

I remember watching Principal and the Pauper the first time it aired. I wasn't bothered about the backstory issues at the time, I just didn't find the episode funny at all. Life would never be the same again.

Season 3 - 8 is all The Simpsons you will ever need. Perfect.

I disagree and think that Homer Joins the Navy is one of the funniest episodes.

Principal Skinner was an Imposter *No Imposters remain*

I’ve always liked "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" because it shows that even if things are bad, there can always be a good ending.

Season 10 is the nail in the coffin

Why is it even still airing? No one watches it anymore. The new seasons just fail to recapture the magic of the old ones.

Me laughing in class Theach :why u laugh My maind : DA SIMPS

Homers enemy is the best episode lol