What Made The Simpsons Writing So Special 

"Hello, my name is Mr. Burns, and I believe you have a letter for me." "Okay Mr. Burns, what's your first name?" "I... don't know..."

The current HD animation is soulless. The characters look static and dead compared to the early seasons rough animation which gave the characters charm and added to the comedy with their facial expressions.

Modern Simpsons is something Classic Simpsons would make fun of.

_You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try._ *~ Matt Groening*

They just don’t make em’ like Steamed Hams anymore...

Not just the writing, but the animation. Something about the fuzziness and bad audio quality of the original adds charm to it.

To make a long story short: only the creator knows it's creation. You can keep a show alive a long time without losing it's soul but the creator is the soul. The moment a majority of the original writers left is the moment the soul was muddied.

The Simpsons has been running for nearly 30 years, but football in the groin had a football in the groin.

I don't even think the animation is better, I think that the old animation was way more pretty, now they resemble family guy in terms of the look of the series,( and also in the dumb humor )

I started watching the entire show during quarantine. I just have to say that the writing was so much better in the early seasons. I legit got sad when homer spends what he thinks were gonna be his last moments in that one episode where everyone thinks he was gonna die because they thought he ate the poison part of a fish.

"Yep, our show sucks now. Too bad we're not going to do anything about it." This painfully illustrates modern Cartoon Network and all the kids that think being "self aware" is some genius form of comedy that deflects criticism. I always thought it was worse that way because they acknowledge they're bad, but refuse to anything about it. It is so refreshing to see someone else point this out, because it's a real problem in the industry.

I hate the way Homer’s humour seems to have went from him being unintentionally stupid to him actively trying to be funny (which usually fails miserably and is just cringe to watch)

Simpson's writer 1: *makes a self aware joke about how bad the show is* Simpson's writer 2: "Geez, Homer, you sure do suck tonight." Simpson's writer 1: "Yeah, suck like a fox!" *Both laugh until their heads fall on the table crying about their life choices*

90's Simpsons were the high point of the series.

Honestly surprised he didn’t have his avatar in the Simpson style for this vid

Best example of tagging: Homer: you’re never gonna eat meat again? Lisa: no I’m a vegetarian now. Homer: you mean you’re never gonna eat bacon? Lisa: no Homer: your never gonna eat pork chops? Lisa: no Homer: your never gonna eat ham? Lisa: DAD those all come from the same animal. Homer: (sniggers) yeah right Lisa, like there’s some magical animal where all the delicious meats come from.

I actually forgot this was a ls mark video after the writer guy started talking

At least Homer is still a better father than Peter Griffin

Don’t leave out Season 8. There were a lot of really good episodes in that season.

YOU'LL NEVER STOP THE SIMPSONS HAVE NO FEAR WE'VE GOT STORIES FOR YEARS

I’ve been watching some of the older episodes recently. Nearly all of them had an emotional ending that left the viewer feeling good, like when Marge goes to Rancho Relaxo, the Mr. Bergstrom episode or when Homer covers up the sign at his desk with photos of Maggie so it says “Do it for her”. None of that happens now, in fact some episodes finish short and they have something totally unrelated to fill in the last couple of minutes.

I think we can all agree that modern Simpsons is boring to watch.

These shows always go downhill when they get taken over by people who are trying to emulate what made the original great. Ultimately, they're going to simultaneously interpret and emulate the show, and if their interpretation isn't perfect the show's going to suddenly be different.

Modern day Simpsons animation. Is so refined that it looks so generic. That you appreciate the authenticity and artistic integrity that the older seasons had.

"Hello, Mr. Thompson." "I think he's talking to you."

Huh, i never thought about how structurely complex simpson jokes were.

The last time I laughed was when homer sent lisa a meme of himself merging with the bushes

What about “Bart vs. Australia” where Bart ends having to apologize to the Australian government because he tried to find out the way toilet water spins?

I'm in the mood for some Steamed Hams right now .

You: "The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be..." The Old Man Singers: "Ain't what they used to be..."

8:54 Never ever have I caught that "Snippy Longstockings" background joke until today.

The quote I always think of is Homer singing “I am so smart! S-M-R-T!”

Bart Gets an F is my favourite episode. The whole episode is straight to the point, even if it is your FIRST episode you can still feel for the character. This is all you need to watch to know Barts character. Season 1 and 8 are also great.

Jesus I’ve spent the past 4 hours watching this channel. It’s so easy to go down the rabbit hole. Good job Mark!

Apu was removed from the show because he was “racially stereotypical”. But that was his personality and my favourite side character and they should not have removed him!

Just recently started watching the old episodes again and didn’t wanna stop watching. The new episodes I ignore and do not acknowledge.

I used to only like the new episodes because they were in HD But now I know how bad they are now

Okay first off. Great episode, I love it, any time in my life where I get to talk Simpson’s or share in a moment that reflects the void that any avid fan feels growing up with the simpsons. The way You and Alan perfectly explain why the “Golden years” through the tagging, was so eloquently put. I just loved this whole video. My next part is directly for Alan Denton. Please. Make a channel. Where you dissect old Simpson’s jokes or episodes, or just talk about them. Your way with words are so good that with content like what you did for the “rocking skinners car joke”, on the Bart’s comet episode. Like even if it’s just revealing all the tagging. I knew what the heck was going to to happen even, with all the tags!! And I was still just, laughing away, at the way were you broke it down and talked about it. It gave me a good feeling, knowing that it wasn’t wasted, or taking advantage of. The shows golden years that is. because we watched, we payed attention to every tag.. Just thank you so much for this. And yes Alan Denton. Please make more!!!

I gotta say, Bart’s Comet is like my second favorite episode, the scene in the bomb shelter and the whole town joining Flanders in song is moving.

It used to be so hillarious, i always forget how funny it was because of how far it has fallen.

Bart's Comet is hilarious. I'm getting into astronomy, so I might be biased.

I'm a long time Sonic fan. I thought Sonic Boom was hilarious! Thanks for working on Sonic Boom!

In some ways The Simpsons had to start sucking because the 80's culture, and especially the 80's TV culture, that the show was built to satirize just plain ceased to exist. Take the Flanderization of Ned Flanders. In his original incarnation, the point of him was that he was the cultural ideal of the perfect man, someone Homer hated for purely petty reasons, because he was everything Homer was supposed to be but knew he could never be. The dad in every sitcom before Fox came along was more of a Ned than a Homer. Only a few years later, that cultural reference point makes absolutely no sense at all because that idea of what a man is supposed to be is long dead, in no small part because of The Simpsons. They had to do something else with him, so they focused on the part of his character that aged the worst, namely the idea that the ideal man should be religious.

When you asked about our favorite lines im surprised at how little people have said “I’ll krump with you sweetie pie”

The golden ages are considered season 1-9

The older episodes emphasized what you can do with animation, jokes you could make with an exaggerative cartoon style, newer ones seem to hop on the newest trends with the same stiff family guy-etc animation, and not pushing it's boundaries like back in the day.

Now a days the Simpsons is just dull, boring and less funny plus the plots aren’t interesting

every time they talk about the "good" season, the list goes shorter and shorter it was seasons 2-9 not a long time ago.

That example of the balloon episode had me DYING in laughter. And that was a 30 second clip. Considering nothing in recent years of the Simpsons has had me crack up like that says it all.

front face simpsons appear in my sleep paralysis

I need to do a video on why I feel the top three seasons of the Simpsons are 2, 1 and 9. (Yes of course 3-8 are amazing)

"i'm sure everybody has a simpsons line they bring up every so often" I pretty much quote the simpsons in my everyday life at this point

"OH MY GOD! TRAMAPOLINE! TRABAPOLINE!"

Modern simpsons just screams please end me end the pain

Oh man, that intro music made me remember all of Simpsons hit and run.

Man. Flashbacks. I still own my “The Best of The Simpsons”, “The Simpsons Go Hollywood” & “Political Party” VHS tapes. And I own the first 7 seasons on DVD. They just don’t make TV like they used to.

Alan's explanation of Children's television explains SOOOOOOOOO much about modern kids tv & why it sucks so bad.

"Gym? What's a gym? Ohhh, a gym!"

"I'll never show my naked rear end again!" "I'd like to believe that this time. I really would."

I loved the stacking of jokes the Simpsons could pull off, the best thing about the show

That kind of 'joke tagging' was also done a ton by Monty Python, and it's really obvious in tons of their work. When you have team of 4 solid comedians who could all come up with good punchlines to any setup, that means they get to make punchlines for each others punchlines, and then punchlines for those punchlines, on and on and on. For some people it's a bit too weird and british to be enjoyable but it does the tagging so well. I mean throughout the entirety of Monty Python and the Holy Grail there's a running tagging joke about something that started as a budget issue. They can't afford horses. So they foley the sound of them by banging coconut halves together. What about the actors? Just have them prance like they're on horses and have one holding the coconuts. One of the first jokes is "where'd you get the coconuts?" and that gets carried on and on, with the joke even becoming the killing blow against a magician impeding their progress. From "where've you got coconuts from?" to "how did they get here?" to "how much can a bird carry?" to "what kind of bird?" It even had the classic "joke going on so long it stops being funny, then keeps being funny because it's still going" thing long before it was run into the ground with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

Denton missed the first "Tag"; when Skinner says "That's my car, children" the kids start actively aiming rocks at his car, ignoring the balloon.

I’ve always said that that was one of the strongest openings to a Simpsons episode. I guess he also noticed it. He skipped the gag where the bullies start deliberately throwing rock at the car when skinner tells them that it’s his car

At 3:58 I heard the music in the background, and thought to myself "I should probably shut my DS". Then I realized that my DS is closed, and that I was hearing it from the phone

I loved to simpsons when I was a kid and my favorite show of all time is South Park

thank you SO much for helping to make *something* good out of Sonic Boom, Alan.

the last drop of quality end in the season 13 with They'll Never Stops The Simpsons song.. we watch a lot of references for say this is the final and the new seasons are worse than before: Jumping the shark, bart have a bear( recycling stories like the Bart´s elephant) marge robot... well, it was good while it lasted

Two things I can see saving the simpsons: Let it end and show reruns, or let it evolve like most modern shows nowadays do.

Simpsons: slowly dying since 1998

The Boondocks holds the best examples of tags in a comedy show imo

what made the Simpsons good memes

I find it pretty awesome you actually brought in Alan for this video. Definitely learned something new today.

Also,this is making me feel a bit better that Bojack is ending, before it starts to go down hill.

Congratulations on making it into a videogamedunkey video earlier!

Let’s just pretend that the Simpsons ended/got cancelled after season 8. Though I think even S8 was kinda a sign that it was kinda getting bad.

I laughed at skinner’s car thing so hard

This verdict is written on a cocktail napkin! And it still says guilty! And guilty is spelled wrong!

The voice acting in the old Simpsons was so much better. Not just because everyone didn't sound burned out, but for some reason, the new episodes sound like each of their lines were recorded all at different times. It just doesn't sound like they're responding to each other.

If you guys like the old Simpson's humor, check out John Swartzwelder's Frank Burly books. Swartzwelder was one of the most prolific Simpson's writers from the golden years.

I feel so proud that I recognised all the names from the golden age

I would definitely add season 8 in the Golden Age of the show.

Great video! Really enjoyed watching this.

Damn your video quality has really improved over the past couple of months keep it up 👍

They used to have a "Laughmocracy" in the Writers Room.

Oh my god, a writer for the second season of sonic boom. I seriously admire your work. Is sonic boom ever gonna come back?

I think if the Simpsons ended at season 10 I'd die happy

Wow! I didn’t realize you hit 80k mark! Dude, that’s awesome! Keep up videos like this, their so enjoyable!

The Simpsons use to use Cels and Hand painted colors , And the Animation Director During the Golden years was non other Than Pixar's Brad Bird!!! He left in the late 90's with most of the other staff members. And at the same time a few years later they Switched to Computer coloring and Drawings on Paper rather than Cels. I love the old look so much!

What's his accent? It's driving me mad trying to work it out! Northern Irish and American maybe?

I still wish they would do 1 of 2 things 1 fill in gaps in old plots (using questions from old episodes to to fuel new plots) 2 realize that the Simpsons is a psychological show and EXPLORE minor character's psychological characteristics.

Amazing choice for background music

Why are the Simpsons yellow instead of their original color green?

It's pretty awesome to see one of the writers of Sonic boom appear in this video. 😁

i never thought i'd see sunny day in these kinds of videos but here we go, the show's pretty good

LS Mark deserves way more subscribers for the amount of work he does

This channel is amazing how does this guy only have 75k

Rewatching the seasons I’ve recently come upon “Lisa On Ice” from S6, which is a hilarious episode, but it might just be the introduction of “Jerkass Homer”, something’s just off about the vibe of the episode, despite being packed with hilarious jokes. And it just happens to be the 2nd episode written by Mike Scully ****Dun Dun DUNNNNNNNNNNN******

I enjoyed the message from this video a lot. It's easy enough point to some aspect of a show to indicate its decline. However how many shows have state as well written this long. Even shows have been around this long normally change some fundamental aspects such as who the main characters are. For sure to stay this entertaining is a testament to his writing.

oh heck, you are the lead story editor on sonic boom? I love the show and how self aware it is, you guys are doing good work there and hope you continue, also how does sega let you get away with some of the writing?

I wonder if you going to talk about video games not video games cartoon