When they ask me about the best series in history, I don’t doubt it for a second: ‘The Simpsons’, seasons 3 to 9. It is a television miracle that has not been surpassed in which each dialogue, each gag and each character is always the best possible option and where the episodes are counted as masterpieces. It’s thanks to such TV wonders as ‘Last Exit to Springfield,’ ‘Who Shot Mr. Burns?’ or ‘New York City vs. Homer Simpson’ which the series has managed to stay on television for three decades exceeding 700 episodes.
The problem is that, as we all know, from season 10 the writers settled down, falling into the absurd promoted by Mike Scully, their new executive producer. The quality dropped to unsuspected limits. With the arrival of other animated sitcoms like ‘Family Guy’, ‘The Simpsons’ became arrogant, lowered the bar too quickly (that episode of Homer being raped by a panda bear…) and felt the need to fix what that it wasn’t broken by inadvertently blurring the characters: Homer was (even more) groggy, Lisa became an irritating know-it-all, Bart had more girlfriends at age ten than most people in their entire lives, and Marge became little less than a family troupe. It was clear that this series could only be solved in one way: with the cancellation. Or not?
The worst season in history
From season 12 to 30, ‘The Simpsons’ was not clear what it was or what its purpose was: Was it a repository of celebrities like Lady Gaga? A disjointed compilation of unlucky gags? A cluster of stories that never quite came into focus? This hot potato formed in what was once the most talented writers’ room in the world grew and grew, with a palpable lack of leadership that only made the episodes plummet further and that people asked Fox to close the shutters out of sheer clemency.
The solution for this debacle It did not happen to imitate the old series, nor to try to copy the competitors: ‘The Simpsons’ had lost its own voice, and had to find a new tone that would differentiate it from the other animated options while still being itself. Season 33 is far from perfect, but it is a giant step in the right direction: that of distancing itself in the humor of the first seasons, knowing that it is unattainable, but striving to maintain the legacy with a consistency non-existent in the previous fifteen years.
‘The Simpsons’, in its new season, show something that we had not seen for a long time beyond some flashes: love and understanding for the characters. The writers know that they are not the hilarious and perfect series that they were in the 90s, but that the inhabitants of Springfield are still loved and recognized throughout the world. They are not clowns or vehicles for bad jokes: they are complex characters who deserve to be treated with the respect they have been denied for 20 seasons.
The Little Coen Brothers
There are two episodes in particular that encapsulate this turn of ‘The Simpsons’ towards conversion into a different series: ‘A serious Flanders’ and ‘Pixelated and fearful’. The first is a 40-minute special heavily inspired by the Coen brothers’ films and in which the gags take a backseat, giving priority to a plot that works perfectly: it doesn’t look anything like the series we have in our heads but at the same time it has all its elements and is absolutely recognizable. It’s a full-fledged twist: more serious, less clownish, but more true to herself and her characters than the last few years of trying to copy in charcoal what worked in the past.
‘Pixelated and fearful’ seems almost an answer to everyone who was wondering why, after so many years and nonsense, the Simpsons were still going ahead without getting divorced. Homer and Marge, alone in nature, rediscover each other with one of the best endings, not just of the season, but of the history of the series. It is a sensitive, tender and complex episode that flees from the screams and the brawls to show love and understanding. It’s refreshing, after so many years, that Homer and Marge compete not with the chaos of Peter and Lois (‘Family Guy’) but with the inherent loveliness of Bob and Linda (‘Bob’s Burgers’).
Of course the season still has a lot to improve, and it continues to have episodes that continue with hints of the unbearable absurdity of previous seasons (Homer and Burns compete for a football player, Fat Tony becomes Maggie’s godfather), but even these chapters are more focused and better resolved, with some gags who no longer compete to be the noisiest rooster in the henhouse, but the one that takes the most care of what he has. ‘The Simpsons’ are not what they used to be but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
They’ll never stop The Simpsons
‘The Simpsons’ is not just a series: they are an institution sullied over the years for poorly resolved episodes such as ‘Lisa is Gaga’ or ‘Madre dragajadora’, which is having a hard time winning back the affection of its classic audience, who have already suffered too much. Reapproaching the series, even with selected episodes, is little less than an audiovisual risk sport After so many years of disappointments.
It is not easy to survive three decades and be television history keeping the level, but the debacle of ‘The Simpsons’ is worthy of being studied. After a few years in which the only important thing was to be a product (more than a series) that continues to sell merchandising, it’s nice to see someone worried about the future of the familyturning the franchise around 180 degrees instead of trying to patch it up.
There’s no way of knowing if ‘The Simpsons’ will continue with the open road in season 33 or they will continue to mutate: This change does not come suddenly, of course, there has been a constant evolution during the last years. Of course, if they manage to stay, even if they are not the best again, they may achieve something that until now seemed impossible: Be worthy of your own legacy.