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The decline of the Simpsons 📉
(jlai.lu)
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this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2024
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I'm not disputing that The Simpsons declined in quality, but I do kind of question the high scores for the first season or two.
I'm not a superfan or anything, but my perception of the show was that it took 3 or 4 seasons to really get good?
You have to remember the setting...the first couple of seasons the Simpsons was a huge change from standard sitcoms in the late 80s. It got eyes on it as it grew into itself.
I was gonna say these ratings are at least a decade removed from that context, but TIL that IMDb has been around since 1990.
During the first 3 seasons Simpsons was animated by KlaskyCsupo, "animation executive producer" and "supervising animation director" was Gábor Csupó. After he left animation style changed to more conventional.
So while the characters, writing and plotlines were not as genial as in the following seasons the animation style was much more interesting, with strange perspectives and point of views, distorted spaces, etc. Just look at this early recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LUf-GGHpuU
KlaskyCsupo also animated for Rugrats and Aaahh Real Monsters as well if those early seasons seem familiar but you can't put your finger on why.
I think I'm going to need to see this in motion
Here is a compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gPay3RUp1c
I never noticed this, it just looks like this for a few frames, but yeah, it's a strange design choice, it makes the characters look like they are made from clay or rubber.
To get uniquely good, I'd agree, but I recently started rewatching from the start and it starts strong. At least for a start, anyways. Some cliche plot lines, but it's never JUST the main plot line so even the cliches aren't boring or lazily done.
Fair enough - I'm not as familiar with the earliest seasons, so it was more the impression I had than a definite opinion :-)
I was seventeen when the Simpsons became their own show. The cultural impact was enormous and immediate. By the summer of 1990, images of the Simpsons were freaking everywhere. Clothes, glasses, miscellaneous trinkets, everywhere.
So it's not really necessary for the first couple of seasons to come short against seasons three and four.
The seismic wave the show caused from its beginning were enough to garner those scores you see.
Uhm, the values are going up after a few seasons
Indeed but I'm questioning the scores themselves in S1 and S2. Put it this way, I didn't think that those seasons were considered almost as good as most the next 8, I would have expected them to be mostly in the 6.8-7.2 range.
They were amazing when they came out, which is when they were rated.
I don't think that's true though - these are the IMDb ratings, which remain open, and didn't exist when the episodes came out.
It's basically the same. Here's info from the nelson TV ratings: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_episodes
Fair enough. As I said at the start, it was just the impression I had - evidently not the case :-)
I'm glad you asked actually. Looking up any info is not easy. Apparently nelson TV ratings are really hard to look into these days. Even in that link I tried to follow the refrences for more info and hit a dead end pretty fast.
Also I find it interesting that they do match up with the IMDb numbers. Because your not wrong, the nostalgia is strong for those early seasons. Pretty cool is not unwarranted.
If you were around during the early 90s on Usenet you would see a lot of people talking about how Simpsons peaked in season 1. More grounded. More focused on struggling family.
The ratings in the graph reflect this. The first couple seasons were solid 7-8 seasons. The next bunch of seasons were solid 8-9.5 seasons.
Also, seasons 1 isn’t great in hindsight. But it was still groundbreaking and probably factors into its score.