If I were to compile a list of the 25 best seasons of animated television, The Simpsons Seasons 1-10 would walk into my top 10. The first and last seasons of that bunch are sketchy but I firmly believe that those in between are the greatest seasons of animated television ever broadcast. Consistently hilarious, unashamedly clever and always relevant with a stellar cast of characters. These were the hallmarks of The Simpsons Golden Age.
Unfortunately, everything that made The Simpsons good has deteriorated disastrously in the last ~15 years. There hasn't been an episode that could stand alongside those of old in 5 years and the general quality has taken nose-dive. Most characters have become caricatures of themselves; Homer is no longer an honest, loving father but a selfish, near-sociopathic asshole; the continuity that has always been loose but was once coherent is now in tatters; subtlety has died a painful death, to the extent that some jokes are even explained and repeated several times in case the viewer didn't get it; and worst of all the shameless bastardisation of it all, reducing episodes to 22-minute long advertisements packed full of extremely clever and hilarious parodies of popular products (Apple=Mapple LOL, they must have spent weeks on that) and plots driven almost exclusively by B-Z list "stars" flaunting themselves and their own products.
"Lisa Goes Gaga" is the embodiment of the latter. I didn't laugh once in this episode. It is literally an advertisement for Lady Gaga. I remember when guest stars used to voice characters within the show back when The Simpsons was good. Gaga plays herself in this episode and the entire plot revolves around her and her music.
This episode is 2 years old now but I saw it recently and sought it out on IMDb specifically to express my hatred for the worst episode I've seen. RIP The Simpsons
Unfortunately, everything that made The Simpsons good has deteriorated disastrously in the last ~15 years. There hasn't been an episode that could stand alongside those of old in 5 years and the general quality has taken nose-dive. Most characters have become caricatures of themselves; Homer is no longer an honest, loving father but a selfish, near-sociopathic asshole; the continuity that has always been loose but was once coherent is now in tatters; subtlety has died a painful death, to the extent that some jokes are even explained and repeated several times in case the viewer didn't get it; and worst of all the shameless bastardisation of it all, reducing episodes to 22-minute long advertisements packed full of extremely clever and hilarious parodies of popular products (Apple=Mapple LOL, they must have spent weeks on that) and plots driven almost exclusively by B-Z list "stars" flaunting themselves and their own products.
"Lisa Goes Gaga" is the embodiment of the latter. I didn't laugh once in this episode. It is literally an advertisement for Lady Gaga. I remember when guest stars used to voice characters within the show back when The Simpsons was good. Gaga plays herself in this episode and the entire plot revolves around her and her music.
This episode is 2 years old now but I saw it recently and sought it out on IMDb specifically to express my hatred for the worst episode I've seen. RIP The Simpsons
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