Ah, yes...the 'musical' episodes... This past Sunday's season finale was a BIG ONE, with Hugh Jackman and....Robert Reich!
The problem is that the show was created to parody a very specific era in American culture, that's where most of the humour came from. After 10+ years on TV, the cultural landscape that it was created to mock, the America of the 80's and early-90's, no longer existed. The irony being that The Simpsons had helped to destroy it. Although this isn't unique to The Simpsons, most comedies eventually suffer this fate if they stick around long enough. Although it is disappointing that a show that emerged as a rebellious, subversive cultural force is now very much part of the sleepy media establishment. It rarely courts controversy, when it does it quickly backs down and apologises. It now just exists so celebrities can say they've been on The Simpsons.
I bowed out after season 25. How do you feel about post 20 seasons so far, or as they get referred to; Zombie Simpsons.
they are different to the earlier seasons, as someone said the world they came from was less prominent. some episodes are shockingly bad- one all about lady gaga, and the 'guests' come with the sound of the barrel being scraped, but all in all i'm still enjoying it more than recent tv shows i've seen! though i do wish they'd call it a day the drop off in quality in the simpsons is nowhere near as bad as it was in futurama!
i thought this was a good example of the fun silly of the latter seasons the bit starts 29 seconds in and lasts until the 1 minute mark, if you don't want to watch the whole thing
example of the lessening potency of their cultural references, when you consider they used to use gilbert and sullivan!
I like Disenchantment a lot. But it's very different from The Simpsons, in that there's a continuing narrative that grows and changes. Every episode of The Simpsons is more-or-less stand-alone. There are good jokes in Disenchantment, but there's also an interesting, ongoing, storyline.