|
"THE SIMPSONS" NOT AGING
VERY GRACEFULLY
March 31, 2006
Can we finally compare "The Simpsons" to that beloved family dog that's old and suffering and needs to be mercifully put to sleep no matter how many great memories we have from better times. It may very well be, especially now that Fox has renewed the animated classic for two more seasons, its 18th and 19th years of broadcast.
Yes, Homer and Marge and the brood have really been a part of our lives that long. It was in January 1990 that the show first debuted, an expansion of the crude "Simpsons" shorts that appeared on "The Tracey Ullman Show." The 400th episode is slated to air in May 2007. In almost two decades, the show has survived several schedule changes, massive turnover on its writing staff, "South Park," "Family Guy," increased FCC censorship, threatened strikes by the actors who voice Springfield's inhabitants, creator Matt Groening turning his attention to "Futurama," and the average viewer's never-ending appetite for something new.
For the first 10 years - longer than most hit shows last - "The Simpsons" was a brilliant and blistering satire of family life in America, not to mention the funniest show on TV by a considerable margin. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when, but once the series reached double digits in years, the quality finally started to suffer. By year 13, you could count the number of inspired bits per episode on one hand (a four-fingered Simpson hand at that) rather than the normal pink-fleshed hands and toes you would need for the early season.
Currently, "The Simpsons" largely gets by on goodwill earned over its lifetime. Oh, the show is still good for a couple chuckles and one nice belly laugh per episode, but it's been years since it could even claim the title of best primetime cartoon. Not that this is Groening's fault, or the doing of any one producer or team of writers. It's just incredibly difficult to find new stories to tell when your show's been on for 17 years and reinvention isn't an option because the characters never age. How many times can we be amused by Homer's staggering deficiencies at work or Bart's penchant for destroying school property? "The Simpsons" has used its characters in every conceivable way by now, thrown them in the middle of every possible situation. There's a lot of truth in that "South Park" episode where Butters' repeated attempts to concoct an evil scheme are met with cries of "Simpsons did it!" American's favorite TV family has indeed done it all, and even they can't help repeating themselves.
I don't watch the new episodes every week now, but I did tune in this past Sunday, as the episode was written by comedy hero and "Simpsons" fan Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the original British version of "The Office" and HBO's Hollywood comedy "Extras." I figured if anyone could inject a new twist into "The Simpsons" universe it's him. But, sadly, Gervais' episode didn't bring anything new to Homer's crumb-covered table. Gervais appeared in the episode, too, voicing a man who falls for Marge after being forced to trade wives with Homer as part of a Fox reality show.
So let's see: Another man tries to woo Marge away from Homer? Yup, seen that before. A couple times. The first and most memorable time may be when Jacques the bowling instructor puts the moves on Marge way back in season one. And "The Simpsons" writers have taken swipes at Fox's embarrassing reality-show-laden schedule again and again over the last few years. Why go there yet again?
Simply put, the show no longer has the ability to surprise, so there's no need for an 18th season, a 19th season, or the feature-length movie version that's supposedly in the works (probably 10 years too late). Truthfully, "The Simpsons" was so fantastic in its heyday that 40 more years of below-average seasons couldn't tarnish the show's legacy. But the more new episodes that air, the more we'll miss those glory days gone by.
|
|
