10 Worst Things FOX Did To The Simpsons
5. Going Too Topical
The Simpsons has always, always, always had pop culture references. In fact, a huge part of the show’s charm was how well tapped into the zeitgeist. Recently though, the pop culture has moved from timeless to a desperate scramble to stay relevant.
In the recent seasons, we’ve had episodes revolving around Alexa, Bart and Homer as vloggers, Pokémon Go, and several episodes which have just been ‘Homer gets an app’. Even the movie parodies, which used to be the show’s speciality, have recently been lazy, rushed and barely worthwhile.
The worst example of this was Haw Haw Land, a La La Land parody. Although to be fair, aside from the title and the opening ‘dancing on cars’ montage, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what on earth the episode was supposed to be doing. Continuing his dreadful run from Game of Thrones, Ed Sheeran also pops up in a limp cameo.
The issue might not even be what they’re doing so much as how they’re doing it. It’s lazy to just say The Simpsons isn’t as good anymore, but it’s also the truth. Parodies are hard to do. You need to know the original source material yet create something new; The Simpsons just might not be up to it any more.