10 Times The Simpsons Jumped The Shark

It seems hard to believe these days, but once upon a time few shows had their finger on the pulse as much as The Simpsons. They could tear apart popular culture like nobody’s business, and some of their movie spoofs - those of Citizen Kane and Cape Fear, most notably - remain among the best parodies in comedy.

Contrast this to modern Simpsons, and it seems the writers have conflated “making a reference to pop culture” with “making a joke about pop culture”. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is season 31’s “Bobby, It's Cold Outside”, in which the Simpson family sing “Baby Shark” for about 40 seconds. No jokes, no commentary, just that song that kids like, then move on to the next scene.

The Simpsons using a musical montage as filler is nothing new, but it’s rarely done as lazily as this. What’s more, this episode came out in late 2019, way after the height of “Baby Shark”’s relevance. The Simpsons’ turnaround time is fairly long, but the dated reference isn’t exactly adding anything to the episode. It just looks dreadfully out of touch.