The Simpsons. REVIEW

Why The Simpsons' Poor Reputation Will Never Be Repaired (Despite Improving)

Despite many of season 33's episodes being surprisingly good, The Simpsons will never be able to reclaim the show's Golden Age critical acclaim.

While The Simpsons season 33 evidenced that the long-running animated sitcom can improve, the series will never be able to overcome its overall negative reputation. At the height of its popularity, The Simpsons was widely regarded as one of the best television shows in the medium's history. A confluence of factors contributed to The Simpsons' so-called "Golden Age" of television comedy success, from an extraordinarily talented writer's room to a revision process that saw each script go through dozens of edits until it was perfected.

The Simpsons' critical reception has ranged from abysmal to moderately positive in the years since its heyday. Despite the fact that classic Simpsons episodes continue to predict the future with alarming accuracy, the show's new episodes are frequently criticized for being disjointed, satirically blunt, and uninspired. Even looking back on an unusually strong season of The Simpsons highlights the fact that the show will never be able to replicate its early success.

The Simpsons' gradual decline can be attributed to a number of factors. Iconic writers such as John Swartzwelder, Conan O'Brien, and Larry Doyle left the show, the show's fame meant it was now arguably more famous than many of the shows, movies, and real-life figures parodied on The Simpsons, and a stream of Simpsons-influenced shows such as South Park, Family Guy, and Bob's Burgers began to render the original series increasingly irrelevant. Regardless of what caused The Simpsons' decline, the show can't return to its Golden Age glory days for a variety of equally complex reasons.

Throughout seasons 9, 10, and even 11, The Simpsons continued to deliver strong, quotable fan-favorite episodes such as "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" (season 10, episode 11) and the underappreciated Simpsons Christmas special "Grift of the Magi" (season 11, episode 9). While the series was still undeniably good for the most part, there were a lot more glaringly bad episodes in these seasons.

While The Simpsons has always had flaws, there was a three-episode stretch in season 11 (episodes 13-15) where none of the show's usual charms could save each episode's unfocused characterization, plots that felt incomplete, inconsistent tones, and abrupt, unlikely twists. By The Simpsons season 13, these once-minor flaws had become unavoidable.