I don’t think this is the best episode of the Simpsons, it’s not even in the period most consider the best seasons (4-8), but it’s my favorite episode. It perfectly encapsulates what made the Simpsons amazing in the 90s: right amount of heart, wacky but not balls to the wall, and integrating a celebrity without it seeming like the episode was one long promo for that celebrity – fully understand the irony of that because he’s playing Michael Jackson in the episode. You can read more of my review here: https://imdgflicks.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/throwback-thursday-tv-review-simpsons-s3e01-stark-raving-dad/

Every now and again you find something hanging around in the back of the fridge or freezer you forgot to throw away. That's how I feel about The Simpsons. Its humour is, in my opinion, long past its "use by" date, feeling stale and tired. Its a shame it hasn't been shelved as what it did do back in the day, premiering on "The Tracey Ullman Show" (remember her?) was fantastic, witty and current. For myself I'd rather remember The Simpsons for what it was than what I believe its become. 4/10 from me.

To address the failing quality: The Simpsons once mocked and then it became mainstream pop culture. So that is a cause of why it has declined. And another cause is that there is a new PC comedy trend to laugh at things. As in the audience is expected to laugh at the object itself without having an actual joke behind it. As in, "This is a computer, Laugh at it!" Because of that we see a transformation of the jokes. The celebrity guests were once the butt of the joke. Mulder and Scully came on and the Simpsons mocked them. Now the joke is the celebrity guest. As in, "This is Lady Gaga," or "this is Michelle Obama." They aren't spoofed or satirized in any way, the audience is just asked to laugh at the fact that they have a celebrity guest. And the final reason is the laugh track comedy, in which the Simpsons has none. That is no laugh track. But now the writing sets up the jokes with almost a pause for laughter as if the tracks were there. In the past the jokes were piled onto one another. There would be several jokes stacked right next to one another in a single event. Now it has become joke, pause to acknowledge the joke, continue. But no ones really laughing because it's no longer mocking culture, it's no longer spoofing the celebrity guests, and it's lost virtually all of its edge.