It’s Still Good: In Defense of New Episodes of The Simpsons

http://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/its-still-good-in-defence-of-new-episodes-of-the-simpsons.php

Every time I have a conversation about The Simpsons, be it with fellow critics or just casual TV fans, nine times out of ten I will hear a variation of the same phrase: “That show hasn’t been good in years.” That’s usually followed with lamentations over the series’ perpetual decline in quality and reminiscing over the good old days of the show’s peak. Oddly, when I ask these people when they last watched new episodes, they almost always say over a decade ago, at the very least. I don’t blame anyone if they did drop the show at some point during its exceptionally long run, but I have to stand up for the show in its current state. With close to three decades of episodes under its belt, following a solid nine years as The Greatest Television Show Ever, The Simpsons has done something truly unexpected and become great again.

The problem with setting the gold standard for an entire medium is that you will immediately be judged against it for your entire life. The Simpsons is home to some of the most influential work on modern television, with some of the funniest jokes ever written, that any self-respecting internet fiend can quote verbatim to this day. To watch a classic episode like Last Exit to Springfield or Cape Feare is to watch impeccably constructed storytelling executed by some of the masters of the field. Conan O’Brien is wildly famous and beloved for his talk show work, but there’s a reason his obituary will bring up Marge Vs. The Monorail. It’s easy to overlook how damn good the show was in those days, and too often I hear claims that bad seasons of the show undo the greatness of the peak seasons. That’s just daft. It’s true that there were some dark times, where the show felt strained and painfully unfunny, but now, as the show gets ready for its 28th season, it’s been through something of a renaissance.