So, honestly...

So, honestly. What season or single episode would you recommend someone to stop at and consider the "golden age" of the Simpsons?

Season 9 is where the mediocrity starts to creep in.
Season 3-8 is the sweet spot, but 1 and 2 have their moments

For once, the tripfag is correct.

The worst thing is, barring The Episode, the descent is slow and subtle and you don't realize how shit it is until 3 more seasons in.

Stop at Behind the Laughter.

these

Watch until you see this at the end of the episode

I think this obsession over the "golden age" is a cancer in the Simpsons fandom and all Simpsons discussion on the internet. It's pointless and stupid. I'm not saying it hasn't declined for longer than it was good, I'm just saying we've all had these discussions and defining the cutoff point really doesn't matter.

Watch until you can't stand it anymore. That should be your Simpsons experience.

You know the episode

although honestly this is the best way to go

Great finale choice.

This would have been a great finale
It's at season 11, where it's still watchable, but noticeably went downhill. So that sounds like a fine time to stop.

It's not cancerous to appreciate the best era of a TV show that is now barely watchable. People like you are the cancer. Sue us for discussing a classic show, right?

You're not discussing it, you're picking it apart so you can be the one who says "I figured it out" whenever you decide on whatever arbitrary end point to go with. Just as long as nobody else has said it yet. That's the way it is, that's the way it always goes. We've had this discussion a million times on the internet. It's the only thing people talk about in relation to the Simpsons anymore and it isn't productive or interesting.

But, you know. Gives you something to bitch about, I guess. And you can be smug and superior about having the right answer while everyone else is a pack of fools for not agreeing with you.

Bart the Mother always struck me as a good cutoff point. Last Phil Hartman appearance, touching plot that takes a last minute turn to crazy... it feels like when old Simpsons ended.

Behind The Laughter is a typical shitty Scully episode, there's nothing particularly good about it.

These are the only correct answers.

Treehouse of Horror 8

Yeah at some point some spammer started a meme about how it should be the unofficial series finale. In truth, I could think of much better episodes than this dated parody of Behind The Music.

I think about this sometimes and it's like this

in all the too many years I've been on this shitty board listening to whiners bitch about how shitty the Simpsons is since season 9 (10 at a push usually seems to be, with a few outliers even going as far as 11), I've seen a lot - too many - Simpsons reaction images posted

you know what?

shitloads of them come from much later than people seem to think

like this is from season 13, and it's not even one of the better episodes of the season, but if you hadn't just been told that, where would you place it?

late, right? like 9, maybe 10? nope

13

there's no golden age because nobody stopped watching it, not here anyway

they're still sitting around bitching, jerking themselves off about how smart they are and how much better they'd do it, but when have they given me Smithers getting asses waved in his face? when have they ever done that kind of thing for me?

jerks

yeah right stop at a show that you literally have to explain music television to someone who's never seen it for, years after music television and let's face it broadcast schedules stopped being relevant to anybody under 50

smart move

the smartest move

Who the fuck is watching Sampsahs in Current Year?

Boco and other people with congenital deformities.

Simpsons starts becoming outlandish and unfunny in season 8.

If you start from the Tracey Ullman shorts and stop at Summer of 4 Ft. 2, the only skippable episodes will have been the clip shows and Homerpalooza.

>Season 11
>still watchable
You haven't seen any of those episodes in a long time, have you?

The correct answer.

How many more times are you gonna samefag your own post?

>It's the only thing people talk about in relation to the Simpsons anymore

That alone should tell you more about the state of the show than anything else.

From the looks of things season 9 is overrated if anything. Bar a few classics, most of it is just very very average. It may not sink as low as 10 and it certainly does have some classic humor but it does have some dull, dull episodes as well (Realty Bites, The Joy of Sect, This Little Wiggy to a lesser extent). Certainly not a classic season.

>the only skippable episodes will have been the clip shows and Homerpalooza
Don't you mean Whacking Day?

This Little Wiggy is mediocre, don't understand what's wrong with the other two.

For me, the last of the Golden Era is Season Eight, specifically "Homer's Enemy".

Season 9's highs are really high but its lows are really low.

Shit taste, Realty Bites is a great episode.

you are you lying faggot

don't put your dick in his mouth just because he opens it ffs

>season 8

see this is what I mean

season 6 is when Homer became an astronaut to try and outdo an inanimate carbon rod

That's because it's the only season with four different showrunners and it's probably not a coincidence that the worst of Season 9 was produced by Mike Scully.

Seasons 1 and 2 are the only good seasons. My dream is that suddenly Simpsons Season 3 will air and it will be done in the old style and everything will be like it was back then with depressing down-to-earth stories about living in a broken family and people having their hearts broken.

The cutoff for the golden age seems to be getting earlier and earlier as time passes. Eventually people will be saying only the Ullman shorts were good, and then we'll get Groening-purists who only read Life In Hell

Season 9 is the mishmash transitional season between the classic and the post-classic. Season 10 is roughly in the same vein as 11 and 12 boosted by a handful of decent episodes.

THEY'LL NEVER STOP THE SIMPSONS

Not at all. Back in the 90s they used to say Season 5 was the beginning of the end and Homer Goes To College was the worst episode ever.

Season 5 was the peak of hilarity for the show, so it's my favorite.

Not so. There are those who had this opinion in mid-90's alt.tv.simpsons, where I was a regular and fairly well known for a time. I disagreed with them aggressively back then, but as I aged, I realize how correct they were. It should have been kept as a grounded, family drama and not the mockery it quickly became. That said, I do enjoy seasons 3-8, but I'm sad that it became what it did.

Hi, Cordless. Shouldn't you be working on Season 45 of Maggie & Eric now?

Wow, this is a difficult choice. Every season has its ups and downs, Personally it's a toss-up between 4 and 7. I'll choose 4 because it has my one of my all-time favorites (top 5 at least), "Last Exit to Springfield."

Season 6. almost every episode is perfect.

That's like asking with straw in the hay loft made you itchy. I don't know bro!

Simpsons spin-off showcase

Definitely each to their own. S1 was one of the best seasons in my opinion because of "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," "Life on the Fast Lane." and "Some Enchanted Evening" to name a few. Sure, it was a bit short and the animation wasn't the best, but the humor and the heart was there.

S15 had some of the best post-classics, including "My Mother the Carjacker," "The President Wore Pearls," and "Fraudcast News." Al Jean was still fairly new at the time.

Sucked outside of Wiggum P.I.

I liked love-matic grandpa

I honestly think it's a tossup between season 3 and 4. The Mirkin and Oakley/Weinstein seasons are fantastic too but something about those original Jean/Reiss seasons was truly amazing and kinda got lost along the way.

Season 4 had a few questionable moments though. I notice that those episodes had an oddly high amount of grossout/shock jokes compared to Seasons 1-3.

Finish Season 9. While there's a few stinkers (Principal and the Pauper is shit), the rest of the season is pretty good and has a ton of memorable episodes (City of New York vs Homer Simpson, The Cartridge Family, Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, The Joy of Sect, etc) and finishes on a pretty solid last couple of episodes.

Season 10 is where you saw a REALLY noticeable dip in quality. The writing got progressively worse and episodes like 'When You Dish Upon A Star' ushered in the era of cameo-driven Simpsons episodes that defined early Zombie Simpsons.

I don't think anyone's suggesting that there aren't a few gems in later seasons... but it becomes a case of diminishing returns - you have to put up with more and more stinkers to find the genuinely good episodes.

At some point it stops being worth putting up with it.

2-8 are all magnificent and near each other in terms of quality, but in forms far too disparate to directly compare (none of the four showrunners/teams had an objectively "perfect" idea of what The Simpsons is, no matter what people say of Jean/Reiss's run)

>The Cartridge Family, Miracle on Evergreen Terrace
Opinion dismissed.

I never quite appreciated Seasons 1-2. The episodes most of the time are too dark and not funny enough, and I blame that mostly on James L. Brooks and his obsession with melodrama. Al Jean and Mike Reiss added a lot of badly-needed humor to the show.

Everyone's tastes are different I suppose. There used to be a German autist on Usenet who would write entire essays about the glories of Season 2 and how the show went to pot in Season 5.

Some of the most autistic Simpsons fans I've ever seen were German for some reason.

As of now, I picked Season 5. It just feels like Simpsons at its peak, with each episode making me laugh out loud but still keep me deeply invested in the story. If there is one criticism I have, it's that I feel the first two-thirds of the season is feel far superior to the last third. Not that the later half is bad, but it feels like they threw out all there best ideas at the beginning, making the later episodes feel more low key in comparison. I think they could have mix it up a little better to make a quality more consistent. Still it's a brilliant season with so many classic moments. I also love the animation during this season which is just so lively, colorful and energetic. It makes some of the more over-the-top slapstick moments all the funnier. I may prefer another season sometime in the future but for now, I can't go wrong with Season 5.

yeah I agree. I never entirely understood the love for season 4 either.

What makes O&W's run on the show less liked than J&R and Mirkin's?

Is it me, or has the Scully era's image been improving in recent years while Seasons 7-8's reputation has been shrinking?

>Principal and the Pauper is shit
stupid plot, but still full of great lines
>can I see your copy of Swank Arman?
>yes you can

OOOOHH The Germans

I don't see anyone praising the Scully seasons.

>Professor Frink, Professor Frink.
>He'll make you laugh, he'll make you think.
>He likes to run and then the thing with the.. person.

Some people are trying to rehabilitate them and argue that they're not so bad in relation to the HD seasons.

I feel sorry for season 1. It's got a lot of underrated gems like "Life on the Fast Lane," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire."

I used to consider season 8 the best but while i don't anymore it's still a excellent and pretty underrated season, i say it's at least slightly stronger than 2 and 5, one thing i noticed about this season is how many underrated episodes it has. Burns Baby Burns, Hurricane Neddy, Simpsoncali, My Sister My Sitter, Grade School Confidential, The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase are all episodes people usually don't view as very strong by classic standards but i love.

>My Sister My Sitter
I really dislike this one. Bart is just too much of an over-the-top jackass and neither him or Lisa are remotely likable in the episode. Plus it's really asking the audience to suspend disbelief to think Marge would be dumb enough to let an 8 and 10 year old be home alone and the former babysit the latter. That's more Homer level of idiocy.

Season 2 is absolutely somewhat crude (I think the animation is slightly creepy actually) but it's absolutely not trumped by season 8. Season 2 is introspective and remarkable in how it's episodes easily established and defined the Simpsons family. The season as a whole can be quite dull at times and is centered arguably more on emotion and characters than humour, (e.g Bart vs. Thanksgiving) and while it's not my favorite, it's easily one of the top accomplishments of the Simpsons writers. Now I personally think the season is very funny, but I'd also argue that the jokes are more carefully crafted than those in season 8. (Which is more of a "hit and miss" season)

>No, that's the beauty part! Come winter the gorillas simply freeze to death!

>Not liking This Little Wiggy
Utter pleb taste

I don't find it all that good desu.

The cracks began showing in the second half of Season 8 and Season 9, but mostly still enjoyable. Seasons 10-16 are hit and miss. 17+, theres only a very select few watchable episodes.

Wrong episode.

But the most infamous episode of season 9 isn't Scully's.

>tfw Homer's Spanish VA died shortly after recording Behind the Laughter.
It just wasn't the same without based Revilla.

Bill Oakley did admit that he thought the quality of the writing was a bit weak near the end of Season 8.

While I can understand Season 1 not winning everyone over (Some episodes are admittedly pretty boring and weird), I honestly feel Season 2 is severely underrated. Season 2 truly felt like a lot of heart and soul was put into it.

It starts going downhill in Season 9, however with the final episode of Season 11 being Behind the Laughter and Season 11 still being watchable, that tends to be my stopping point.

All four showrunners laid some lemons in Season 9. For example, O&W had Principal and the Pauper and Lisa The Simpson, both total trash.

Lisa the Simpson at least had the DNA movie.

Why is Lisa The Simpson bad? Asking because I haven't seen it in a long long time and don't remember a lot.

>GREETINGS, EARTH CHILDREN.
>What planet are YOU from?
>...Earth.

>OVULATE, DAMN YOU, OVULATE!
>You are out of sperm.

>While you're enjoying our Hall of Wonders, your car will unfortunately be subject to repeated-
>What did he say?! What about my car?!

>I tell you, that dog has had some AMAZING adventures...

>Oh yeah, the special schools are ALL over him

>FIGHTING ONLY MAKES IT TIGHTER!

>Hello? Sarah? Ralphie? It's me! Chief Wiggum!

>What IS your fascination with my forbidden closet of mystery?

>All the murderers are long dead, and I'm sure their ghosts are probably in Hell.

>I know, let's go pick some huckleberries!

>Why do I always shout first? Just gives em a chance to run away...
>...
>Well, I'm an idiot...

>I REMIND MY STAFF NOT TO COME TO MY ASSISTANCE, NO MATTER HOW REALISTIC MY PERFORMANCE MAY BE.

It had some good bits.

Right? Simpsons has outlasted so many things it parodies. People probably have no idea why Aunt is singing to an iguana. So much reference humor in simpsons is lost not watching it in the time it aired.

It makes telling people when to stop hard, because you might not like any of the 90's shit anyway. Like Krusty giving away burgers when the US gets the gold and Russia didn't compete, based on mcdonalds doing the same thing. There's so many things lost on people. A good series finale would stand on its own 100% and not rely on very particular information to get it.

Some people think its ending sends a bad message.

The more times I spam this meme, it will become true.

>season 9 is overrated if anything
I see more people exclude it from classic era than include it. Its overhated if anything.

>reality bites
>joy of sect
>this little wiggy
>dull
There are plenty of actual dull episodes in that season, and you chose some of funnier episodes of the season?

Season 8 is my favorite and I don't see how it's a decline in any form. When thinking about the episodes I really enjoyed as a kid, The Springfield Files, Homer's Enemy and The Mysterious Voyage of Homer are a few that just really stick out to me. Seasons 6 and 7 are close though.

Season 8 isn't really the decline, it's Season 9 where the decline starts. Season 9 is far from shit and there are still good episodes in there, but if you're bingewatching the show you'll notice that's where the consistent quality starts to dip, with a noticeable tone-shift and more and more 'in your face' humor sneaking its way into the show.

Mirkin also had All Singing All Dancing.
The two J&R episodes were honestly fine, though. Lisa's Sax felt like a season 7 episode to me. And the outlandishness of Simpson Tide was the fun kind.

The main difference is that Season 8 only shows signs of decline in a couple episodes tops. Where as Season 9 shows it in a dozen episodes at least.

I don't think Simpson Tide was necessarily supposed to be a canon episode anyway.

>That's where I saw the leprechaun.
>He told me to burn things.


>You've done grand, laddie! Now you know what you have to do! Burn the house down! Burn 'em all!

I'm kinda surprised Season 5 is up there, Season 6 is pretty much the more consistent version of Season 5.

Well, it definetly started in season 8. In Season 7 the ideas are still inspired but the quality-drop season 7-8 is the first substantial one in the series. There are tendencies that were developed that escalates in the new simpsons in season 6 especially, but much more so in season 8 (kinda dull and lazy jokes/exaggerated animation basically, I might have to elaborate on that some day)

I actually think season 9 is only slightly less preferable to season 8 by the way. Maybe that's not empirically correct, but whatever it's been a little while.