The Simpsons: Post-Golden Age
Without rewatching before putting the list together (having seen all pre-widescreen episodes on reruns multiple times over the years)
Trying to collect any episodes making the mediocrity worthwhile.
Why starting only from season 11?
Many people disagree where the golden age ended and most likely the average Comic Book Guy chooses the week between the excellent The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (1997) and the much maligned (imvho still well written) The Principal and the Pauper (1997).
But then you miss out on moments like Lisa getting her saxo-mo-phone, Must. Kill. Moe., The extended Simpsons family character study, It's my first day, Garbage man can, What's a "gaim"?, The nr. 22 bus, Can we switch? I don't trust these guys, and that's only season 9.
These are maybe not up to par with Khlav Kalash but starting this early there wouldn't be enough posts left for the other seasons. Which would be countering my point that getting anything is better than nothing when you can pick and choose afterwards.
In reality, most episodes in the early part of the 21st century still had memorable scenes.
First five episodes of season 11:
shifty-eyes dog
TESTING!
all meat comes from the same trough
A wizard did it
ToMacco goat.. or if you prefer the slightly more realistic Glove Slap!
There's in season 10 also Bart the Mother (1998) which would end up being Phil Hartman's last contribution. It was also David X. Cohen's last full episode writing credit (edit: before he got one in season 32). The reason obviously being that he developed Futurama with Matt. Coincidentally Hartman was apparently originally supposed to voice Zapp Brannigan. Oh, what might have been..
All of this happened later than season 9 and 11:
The last regular use of cel animation (Season 14)
John Swartzwelder's last episode (Season 15)
Switch to wide-screen/digital 1080p (Season 20) (This is less related to writing quality than it is to the character designs.)
The casual relinquishing of Alf Clausen and the use of original scores for new episodes
Marcia Wallace's passing
Cancel culture (hate to bring it up but that's technically what happened with Apu although I was not particularly affected by the decision to retire him - plus other things under this blanket umbrella)
By the way, in The Simpsons terms seasons are always discussed according to how the episodes were aired rather than produced. Which is why a specific point of decline is difficult to set. Unlike Futurama and Firefly which are best viewed in production/intended order. Luckily, since for example season 9 had episodes which were part of a four-episode order under different show runners, who are a higher focus than for other shows.
Not included, but honorable mentions go to:
Treehouse of Horror XIII (2002) Springfielders as animals (sidenote: around this time there was a trend with, ehrm, special attention given to Marge: Cat Marge and.. Large Marge (2002)
E Pluribus Wiggum (2008) for being my first 1 star rating
Trying to collect any episodes making the mediocrity worthwhile.
Why starting only from season 11?
Many people disagree where the golden age ended and most likely the average Comic Book Guy chooses the week between the excellent The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (1997) and the much maligned (imvho still well written) The Principal and the Pauper (1997).
But then you miss out on moments like Lisa getting her saxo-mo-phone, Must. Kill. Moe., The extended Simpsons family character study, It's my first day, Garbage man can, What's a "gaim"?, The nr. 22 bus, Can we switch? I don't trust these guys, and that's only season 9.
These are maybe not up to par with Khlav Kalash but starting this early there wouldn't be enough posts left for the other seasons. Which would be countering my point that getting anything is better than nothing when you can pick and choose afterwards.
In reality, most episodes in the early part of the 21st century still had memorable scenes.
First five episodes of season 11:
shifty-eyes dog
TESTING!
all meat comes from the same trough
A wizard did it
ToMacco goat.. or if you prefer the slightly more realistic Glove Slap!
There's in season 10 also Bart the Mother (1998) which would end up being Phil Hartman's last contribution. It was also David X. Cohen's last full episode writing credit (edit: before he got one in season 32). The reason obviously being that he developed Futurama with Matt. Coincidentally Hartman was apparently originally supposed to voice Zapp Brannigan. Oh, what might have been..
All of this happened later than season 9 and 11:
The last regular use of cel animation (Season 14)
John Swartzwelder's last episode (Season 15)
Switch to wide-screen/digital 1080p (Season 20) (This is less related to writing quality than it is to the character designs.)
The casual relinquishing of Alf Clausen and the use of original scores for new episodes
Marcia Wallace's passing
Cancel culture (hate to bring it up but that's technically what happened with Apu although I was not particularly affected by the decision to retire him - plus other things under this blanket umbrella)
By the way, in The Simpsons terms seasons are always discussed according to how the episodes were aired rather than produced. Which is why a specific point of decline is difficult to set. Unlike Futurama and Firefly which are best viewed in production/intended order. Luckily, since for example season 9 had episodes which were part of a four-episode order under different show runners, who are a higher focus than for other shows.
Not included, but honorable mentions go to:
Treehouse of Horror XIII (2002) Springfielders as animals (sidenote: around this time there was a trend with, ehrm, special attention given to Marge: Cat Marge and.. Large Marge (2002)
E Pluribus Wiggum (2008) for being my first 1 star rating
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