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Were I to choose a area of expertise, it would undoubtedly be The Simpsons. I quote it all the time. I know by heart specific installments and creative leads effortlessly. I annoy friends and family by quoting scenes while they air. I adore The Simpsons.

It's also the weakest offering on TV.

Revealing yourself as a Simpsons fan brings necessary disclaimers: “Skip the recent seasons!” Typically viewers hope their beloved series to last as long as miserly TV executives permit. I feel differently. I would gladly see The Simpsons sent to the knacker’s yard, instead of given a second movie, as was announced just a few days ago.

The Peak Years and Its Influence

Fans agree the show falls short to the brilliance of its “golden era” – generally recognized roughly during the initial eight runs – where it had a mind-boggling roster of talent. Featuring such names as several comedy legends, the show’s writers were experts of realistic scenarios, surreal, sophisticated and simple jokes, frequently shifting between styles within one joke.

The Simpsons pushed what was acceptable on television, notably with the eldest son's cheeky laziness and the father's fondness for beer, food and general laziness. The 41st president famously once said that his goal was to make American families “more Walton-esque and a lot less like the Simpsons”. Some time after, The Simpsons fought back by having Homer fist-fight Bush underground.

However, a key charm was the show’s wacky cynicism clashing against its emotional warmth.

A key originator is frequently praised as giving realism to the characters in a reality unseen in cartoons before then. Virtually each key figures were treated as multidimensional actors rather than drawings on a screen; in one episode Homer could travel to space, at other times he’d grieve the departure by his mother.

The Steady Drop and Today's Problems

However, the series hasn't truly been good in many years, indicating a long downturn since my birth. Today we face installment after installment of awful, awful episodes. Ironically, the show was joking about the rising struggle in keeping itself fresh as early as 1995. As one character said in a classic special: “Who knows what exploits they’ll have before the point the show becomes too costly?”

It’s impossible to explain briefly why today's episodes doesn’t work. It lacks humor, certainly. However, the characters are now oversimplified caricatures of themselves – a change so obvious in the devout character’s shift from a kindly and pious neighbor to a relentless Christian fundamentalist that it popularized the expression “character exaggeration”.

Additionally, the show is less interested in influencing society and increasingly drawn to following it. In basic examples this can be seen in the show’s awkward couch-based take on the Harlem Shake. When it fails completely, you only need to look at the fawning Elon Musk episode, or the Marvel and Star Wars crossover slop produced following the buyout of the former network.

Voice Talent Loss and Falling Excellence

Recently, the quality of The Simpsons has worsened by the absence of original actors. The late Marcia Wallace, the voice of Mrs Krabappel, left the show in 2013, subsequently the loss of Russi Taylor, voice of several side characters like the nerdy student Martin, in 2019. Moreover, Pamela Hayden, who voiced fan favorite Milhouse for decades, retired from the show late last year.

Ratings are significantly lower from the nineties too, with season 36 often not cracking more than one million viewers every show. There's also the declining voice quality of actor Julie Kavner, whose recognizable rough delivery for the mother now is as enjoyable as an unpleasant experience, and another veteran: when he voices characters like Mr Burns and Ned Flanders, he comes off like performing weakly. With recasts already a precedent, when will artificial intelligence is used to avoid the issues of human limitations? one actor, the voice behind Moe the bartender and the axed Apu, has already published an article predicting that very outcome.

What's Next and Conclusion

And yet, regardless of declining numbers and a struggle against existence itself, another film to 2007’s The Simpsons Movie is being developed. Moreover, Fox has commissioned additional episodes, meaning when it hits season 40 in 2028, The Simpsons will be the same age as the character Homer.

Certainly, The Simpsons Movie was somewhat better – likely because of the comeback of many of the sitcom’s best writers.

Yet what might the Simpsons family do now that they haven’t already? Which gag, what original angle on Springfield can we honestly foresee 36 years in? At the series' beginning, it was a satire of saccharine sitcom titans like a classic program; today, it’s become just as hackneyed.

The Simpsons has given us so much: innovative comedy techniques and creative storytelling methods. Countless classic scenes are still passed around in digital jokes. It brought laughter. It has made us cry. It also enlarged our vocabulary with perfectly cromulent new words. Yet as freshness diminishes, you shouldn't retain them for another 27 years – you chuck them out.