4. Trying To Imitate Family Guy/Losing Sight Of The Story
When people talk about the decline in quality of The Simpsons, they often ignore the "why" of the situation (they also tend to ignore the fact that the show has improved in quality over the past five or six seasons, but that's another matter entirely). Take a look at when the show seriously dipped in quality, and you'll notice something: it was around the time Family Guy was really taking off. The Seth MacFarlane show, which had been cancelled due to low ratings, became a huge hit on DVD, and was brought back by Fox, something unheard of at the time. As Family Guy hit its stride, The Simpsons started to change. Gone were plots with solid structure and moral lessons to be learned at the end of the episode. In was "random" humour, zany antics, and plots that were generally loosely cobbled together strings of events. Remind you of another show you know? Take, for example, "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" from Season 16. The mid to late teens of The Simpsons saw the show at its lowest. This episode saw Homer creating showboating dances for the NFL, and Ned creating Passion of the Christ style bible movies. Sound more like a Family Guy plot? Well, Peter would eventually play in the NFL and become a huge showboater, and the series spoofed Passion of the Christ in their first episode back after cancellation. This era was the Simpsons at their lowest, because they forgot that their humour was in the story, not random antics (and endless guest stars).
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
