• Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    I wish we could just let entertainment brands die. How many other opportunities were denied to other creators so the Simpsons could keep its budget over the decades.

    I don’t care about Fox’s profits, it doesn’t help me in my personal life or make new better shows.

    Let stories have endings again.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Classic TV shows never had endings. They were always ridden into the ground before being surprise-cancelled.

      It was rare that a show would have an actual last episode like MASH or Cheers. Those too went far longer than they should have.

      • zout@fedia.io
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        9 days ago

        If I recall correctly, MASH didn’t even have comedy anymore in the end. Just some bleak dark meh.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 days ago

        I remember the cast of Friends wanted to stop after season 8 I think.

        Then they got offered $1 million per episode along with residuals.

        It’s not just corporations that want to keep things going. The actors actually “unionized” (so they all got paid the same amount) and agreed that they wouldn’t continue the show unless they all wanted to.

        How I Met Your Mother got to the point that Jason Segal wanted to leave. The last season was just awful and you could tell that he was phoning it in.

      • errer@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        I don’t think there’s Simpsons will ever die, even if all the voice actors pass on. They have way more than enough audio to train AI on their voices, and the Simpsons predates any agreement to not train on their voices. It’ll go for 60 years if it continues to bring in money.

        • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          You don’t need AI, you can just find some one to recast, the Simpsons has done it before and recently Rick and Morty recast their primary voice actor that dies the voices for both titular characters.

    • Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      9 days ago

      On the other hand how many shows got their start sheltered under the languishing hulk that is late season Simpsons?

      • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        How many of them lasted enough to justify an ending?

        Honestly I’m just jaded with the American entertainment industries all together (fyi I’m American).

    • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 days ago

      Unfortunately as long as there’s a profit to be made, some corpos will always buy your favorite IP out and wear it like a skin suit.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    I haven’t watched a new episode of the show in over ten years. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    The recent seasons are . . . fine. They’re not terrible. I’m not a big fan of changing the voices out but obviously Fox (or Disney, now) will never let it die so we’ll have Simpsons for the rest of time.

    HOWEVER. What it is now, is a pale shadow of it’s groundbreaking, culture-changing self that broke into mass consciousness with such wit and charm that fans can, and do, engage in entire conversations based solely on the show’s quotes and contexts.

    Those first few years were stunning in the quality of humor they provided. The fact that it kept going - for years afterwards - was no less amazing. When it began to falter, people were not just annoyed or bored with it - they were alarmed.

    Of course that in itself was a long time ago. All that’s over now. It’s just a glow in the rearview mirror for most of us, but I say unto thee - in all seriousness - it’s the cultural equivalent of Shakespeare and will be taught for generations.

    The first 8 or so seasons, anyway. It’s not Batman.

  • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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    9 days ago

    During the pandemic, I bored-watched the past few seasons. Like everything after 2018.

    There’s a lot of really good episodes. Every season, at least 2-3 episodes are really standout. The most recent one with Conan O’Brien was solid.

    The writers know what they’re writing. And there’s less milking of relevance, and more just trying to tell a fun story.

    • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      There’s a lot of really good episodes. Every season, at least 2-3 episodes are really standout.

      OK, but out of a 22 to 23 episodes a season, that means at best…what, around 9 to 13% of episodes are really good? I think I’d rather just watch Bob’s Burgers than watch the Simpsons and hope every 7th or 8th episode approaches its former glory.

      • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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        8 days ago

        Someone should come up with a curated list of episodes that us “pre S9, yelling at clouds, grouchy old” fans would enjoy

      • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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        8 days ago

        I went to a random “Best episodes of the Simpsons season X” and did that. If I liked that episode, I’d play the whole season.

  • Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    New Simpsons is fine for what it is. I find if you accept that it’s changed over the years, borrowed concepts and writers from other animated series, etc., and the four-quadrant audience it tries to appeal to is vastly different than it was in it’s heyday, it’s watchable (though admittedly with a much different clunker:classic ratio).

    Still though:

  • MintyFresh@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    I tried watching a newer one a while back, and was really troubled by how old the voice actors are. Lisa sounds like an old lady.

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    Fox killed dozens, possibly hundreds of shows, because they weren’t as good as peak Simpsons. They were wrong to expect everything to be that good… but it was that good.

    Nowadays it’s just kinda there.

  • synae[he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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    8 days ago

    Just turned 40, still watching. I’ve seen every episode so far, may as well keep up with it (… which I’ve been saying to myself for 20 years)

  • BlueFootedPetey@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    Does the new stuff entertain me as much as the old stuff? No. And honestly I cant say if that’s me or the show. But I it’s still entertaining. My only real gripe with the newer stuff is how many jokes depend on me speed reading or pausing to read a block of text.

  • SSTF@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    There is no correct way to be a fan of something.

    Just because somebody likes more of a franchise by volume does not make them more of a true fan. Equally, just because people like new entries that you reject does not make you more of a true fan.

    Critiquing and discussing the content of a franchise is something to be encouraged. Making personal judgements about other people and posing your view of a franchise as the true one is completely petty, stupid, and unproductive.