This is a topic that I always knew would be a video someday. A Golden Age video is kinda mandatory for a Simpsons KZread review channel. But I put it off for a long time because I was intimidated by the topic. It's not really the kind of thing you can throw a bunch of research at or measure easily. And there has already been a lot of discourse about the topic, many popular KZread video essays about it. I wasn't interested in writing a manifesto declaring which seasons I think are "golden" and which aren't, so instead I framed this more about the question itself. It ended up being one of the more challenging videos to write, because there so few definitive answers. Hope you all enjoy my musings. (Also, on the video editing front, I hope you like VISUAL PUNS because there are a lot of those in here. Thank god for that Gold Homer joke in Dog of Death.) 🤣

@WalnutAnimations

11 ай бұрын

I’m surprised you haven’t made this video till now

@giovanniorellana2200

11 ай бұрын

I hope you do a video on those old archives of reviews from way back then. The three that you picked out were interesting.

@BB-te8tc

11 ай бұрын

One thing I never see defined is the show's "silver age" or "bronze age". Would the Scully years/early Jean years be the Silver Age? Would the Selman years be the Bronze Age?

@AlanChatham

11 ай бұрын

Scratchy sporting fresh eyes - perfect

@ben_8710

11 ай бұрын

@@BB-te8tc good point, I’d maybe lean towards the scully era? would make an interesting follow up!

They should just make Homer 12 feet tall and covered in 14 karat gold permanently. Then when people ask when the golden age is, we can say right now and it will be the truth

@rudeboyspodcast

11 ай бұрын

Be the change you want to see in the world, Max. Put 12 foot tall golden homer in your next cartoon

@devernepersonal3636

11 ай бұрын

The God has spoken. Make Homer Golden

@ArizonanSummer

11 ай бұрын

And also you should win stuff by watching!

@didgeridude8430

11 ай бұрын

And when Homer's not on screen, everyone asks, "Where's Homer?"

@sidmoreno5202

11 ай бұрын

max watches jim and that makes me unexplicably happy

Are the Simpson's writers so out of touch? No, it's the fans who are wrong.

@born2hula325

11 ай бұрын

Fans: “Lisa goes GaGa is a worse episode than Lisa’s Substitute.” Writers: “That’s just like, your opinion, man.”

@TimeToGetAlone

11 ай бұрын

Nailed it

@camerondavila5881

11 ай бұрын

Right 💛

@AmyDaisy69

11 ай бұрын

@@born2hula325 I really liked Lisa's Substitute. Anyone who disagrees is a baboon.

@darthkhan29x98

11 ай бұрын

@@AmyDaisy69 A what?!

The fact there is SO MANY seasons classed as a “golden era” is incredible especially considering most shows only have 1 single season listed as it’s golden era.

@spooderman26

Ай бұрын

Because the Simpsons are just that great

"The writers argue against there being a Golden Age" puts me in mind of "Metallica has fiercely defended St. Anger"

@Belgand

11 ай бұрын

I think there are several factors behind it. Part of the problem is that the writers change over time. So while they might think they're putting out their best work ever... that's because it's what they want to do now. It reflects different sensibilities and perspectives. I also think that they don't remember the old episodes very well. In the commentaries you frequently see them talking about how they haven't seen an episode since it first aired. It's not surprising then that they're far more disconnected from them than fans that have been rewatching.

@michaelpacinus242

11 ай бұрын

@@Belgandshut up

@toon10001two

11 ай бұрын

This is a comparison I never thought of but makes sense when you word it like that. Obviously, the people making the show would be a little more reluctant to call much of their work bad. Not to say all of modern Simpsons IS bad, but you can clearly tell there was a quality drop at some point and most people agree. End of the day, the creators don't really call the shots: The golden age is whatever the viewer determines, both for themself personally and as a general consensus.

@michaelpacinus242

11 ай бұрын

@@toon10001two and what, you’re the keeper of all comparisons? You ain’t shit

@Tacom4ster

11 ай бұрын

Metallica jumped the Shark when Dave Mustaine left the band to make the superior band Megadeth :p

If you ask anyone from Spain, they will tell you the Golden Age went from seasons 1 - 10. The original voice actors for Homer and Mr. Burns died right after Season 10, and the show was never the same for us. Those voices were too iconic.

@thrillhouse4151

11 ай бұрын

I really like all these insights from different countries, it truly was a global phenomenon.

@skakirask

11 ай бұрын

I feel similarly about Phil Hartman. Despite not being part of the main cast, he had a certain "glue" quality to the makeup of the show. His final appearance was S10 and the show really started to decline after his final appearance.

@JLMetak

11 ай бұрын

​@thrillhouse4151 While not as sad, the actress for Bart in the French dub left after Season 22, and while the new actress does a fine job, it's not quite the same (that voice was super iconic and the original actress even got to play Bart in that one South Park episode that had him). Similarly, Flanders' actor left after Season 10, and while his delivery is very different, it feels quite in tone with, well, his Flanderisation coming from Maude's death.

@NateTheGnat

11 ай бұрын

@@skakirask Gil was the replacement for Phil Hartman, and he was…Gil.

@justjohnny420

11 ай бұрын

@@skakirask Phil Hartman was great with his 2 main stay characters and those random 1 off characters he would play. I sometimes find myself wondering what kind of different episodes we would've had if Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure still existed. Nevermind whatever random side characters he could've had. The monorail guy and bart's big brother are probably among my favorite one off characters in the show

Next Mysteries question suggestion: What is the population of Springfield? How big is Springfield really? It has a lot of sport arenas, museum, and things like that but not the kind of bustling high-rises one might encounter in Capitol City. I'd love to hear your thoughts about! #TeamCletusSimpsonsHistories

@MrMister681

11 ай бұрын

It's like Jerry Seinfeld's fame level, it depends on the episode. If they want him to be a loser nobody, people don't know him, but if they want people to recognize him, he's a nation-wide famous and beloved comedian.

@heisensaul5538

11 ай бұрын

That's a cool idea. I'd love to see that

@Business_Skeleton

11 ай бұрын

Yeah that's a good one. It simultaneously seems to be a small town and a massive metropolis with multiple ethnic districts

@Xegethra

11 ай бұрын

@@Business_Skeleton Pretty much, it's a small town and big city at the same time.

@randomname285

11 ай бұрын

great idea - obviously this is very much the nature of the beast when writing about the population of a large town, but the size of Springfield always seems in pretty direct contrast to the amount you see known characters in crowd shots

It genuinely shocked me to learn that people dislike season 1. It's finding its bearings but so many of the episodes are so heartfelt with great humour.

@vjspectron

11 ай бұрын

It definitely has a different tone.

@mankytoes

11 ай бұрын

They are good stories and characters, but I just don't think they're very funny, so it's hard to consider them "Golden" comedy.

@ratmeat161

11 ай бұрын

It oozes charm, but you'd rather not stay there, like your grandparents house

@alexandru5369

11 ай бұрын

Not really surprising as the season, itself, is VERY different and feels "off" from all other seasons. I could see why it's not everyone's a cup of tea. Also it's not really funny compared too other seasons at all

@zs4580

11 ай бұрын

I tend to skip season one.. it's painful to get through

I know you were using it as an example of how nostalgia can cloud our memory, but can I just say that the ending to Homie the Clown is absolutely brilliant? We finally get to see the incredible climatic set-piece that the entire episode was gradually building towards (Homer and Krusty riding the tiny bicycle through the loop) and then we discover that Krusty's debts to the mafia amounted to a mere 48 dollars, revealing that the entire conflict could have been avoided had either Krusty simply paid up or if the mafia waivered the petty cash he owed. They're even honourable enough to offer change for his 50 bucks!

@ridensroom6957

11 ай бұрын

Exactly. And Krusty's debts and loans from the mob were established from the very beginning. Plus Homer failing to ride the small bike was something that we wanted him to succeed at. Great comment there. 😊

@zipgow

11 ай бұрын

I think he knows that. Homey the Clown is a great example of a satisfactory plant and payoff... Unlike the Armin Tamsarian episode where they just wheel the real Seymour Skinner out of town and decide never to talk about it again.

@troywright359

9 ай бұрын

@@ridensroom6957 i know thats the joke, but it's still nonsensical reasoning which any modern episode would get ripped apart for. There does feel like an untouchable aura to anything in those earlier seasons, but at the same time I get defensive myself over them lol

@MetalSandman999

9 ай бұрын

Shhh...your defending "Homie The Clown" goes against the narrative that there was never a Simpsons golden age, and therefore goes against the narrative that the show isn't on a decline...

@NyQuilDonut

4 ай бұрын

That's not a satisfying payoff. Someone mentioning a thing, and then doing said thing later is extremely common in stories. Krusty only owing $48 makes the whole conflict a waste of time. That entire episode is terrible.

For me, I've always considered the movie as my chosen ending of the series, at least until the actual finale in 2042.

@BB-te8tc

11 ай бұрын

"Beyond the Laughter" is a good capping off point, too.

@TreeckoDX64

11 ай бұрын

Hah, 2042, they will probablly try to milk the series at least until 2050

@BB-te8tc

11 ай бұрын

With AI they probably could.

@emeraldfinder5

11 ай бұрын

@@BB-te8tc with Disney owning it, I could see that as a possibility

@alanhumid6938

11 ай бұрын

The movie is pretty mid tho I watched it twice within the last month and I only watched it a second time because it was so forgettable I forgot I had even watched it lmao

For us in the Latin American fanbase of the Simpsons, it is generally considered that the Golden Age ended at season 14, since after that, Homer’s voice actor change. The og voice actor (Humberto Velez) made Homer sound hilarious and the way he said things. But the one from season 15 onward just made Homer sound whinny.

@KremBotop

11 ай бұрын

You mean S15 when the first run with the original cast ended, it was 16 that had all the recasts. I recall most latin fans being just as fond of S9-15 as 3-8 precisely because the cast still did a great job with these. Glad most of them eventually came back in S32.

@AlessandroAltosoleChannel

11 ай бұрын

Something similar happened in italy when we lost Tonino Accolla, the voice of homer. It just didnt feel the same anymore. Although accolla voiced homer until season 23, so its less the end of the golden age and more the end of an era.

@Ghost-iv9dd

11 ай бұрын

in the spanish spain dub happens the same thing, but the cutoff is at season 8

@joshlemmy8663

11 ай бұрын

Tbch I like the work of Victor Manuel Espinoza has Homer, but yeah I agree it was weird when he was trying to emulate Humerto's performance, it got better when he stopped doing that

@adamh9660

11 ай бұрын

It is really interesting to hear about how other language cast member changes can affect the show! Of course, as an English language only watcher I can see how it makes a difference, like how I do not consider the Golden Age of The Simpsons starting until Season 2 cuz in S1 Homer just sounded too...weird.

I'm also a 1-8 man and I like your point about "balance" when it comes to seasons 9 and 10. Also the term "Golden Age" can mean a mythical period in the past where everything was good, which really ties in with the idea of nostalgia. Season 1 gives me that feeling for how unique and unusual it is - watching it is like going back in time for me. Whereas later seasons I will rewatch solely for the jokes, I'll watch Season 1 for the vibes.

@jabrokneetoeknee6448

11 ай бұрын

I’m getting into the Simpsons late and over the past few weeks I’ve been watching the “golden era” episodes. Cant say I personally like seasons 1-3 all that much. For me anyway, the show really hits its stride around 4. So far I’m at 8 and enjoying it quite a lot. Four years of just incredible TV

@adrianmetzler2523

10 ай бұрын

I get the same feeling too having grown up from 85- now. Simpsons was my favorite

@adrianmetzler2523

10 ай бұрын

@@jabrokneetoeknee6448the peak of the show 😎

Counterpoint to the rose tinted glasses theory: The first seasons of the Simpsons that I watched were the late Scully-Early Al Jean seasons (11-15 or so). I watched them as syndication on the UK's 'Sky' network. I loved these episodes when I watched them and became a Simpsons fan (although by no means hardcore). Years later a friend of mine introduced me to the Golden Age seasons (1-8 as he presented them) and they blew me away. I had seen basically none of them before. Now I am a hardcore 1-8 Golden Age believer and I dislike the exact era of the show I should have nostalgia for. Nostalgia can be a powerful force, but it is not always the judgement poisoning thing people argue it always is.

@yuhwryu1234

11 ай бұрын

Time will gild memories but the gold flakes off as soon as you go back to whatever it is that you remember - at least it does for me. I seem to have more resentment towards things i used to love than i ever would if i hadn't. Then again if people are speaking of episodes they have not seen in years the effect could be different.

@jluchette

10 ай бұрын

The first seven/eight/maybe some of nine (IT DOESN’T matter exactly which seasons you put in that category) was perhaps the best television ever. I adored the Simpsons as a kid, and watching those early episodes as an adult is every bit as entertaining. When the Simpsons was new, those first “however” many seasons, stands up against any TV in history.

@GregCubed

10 ай бұрын

Yep same, I only just last year watched the first 8 seasons of the Simpsons for the first time; I have no “nostalgic” connection to them. Everything I’ve seen from the later years seems incredibly unfunny and forced in comparison. I think the writers just use the rose tinted glasses excuse as copium, like of course they aren’t going to say the show went downhill. It only still exists to keep the brand and merchandise alive, it would be bad business sense to admit the show is far beyond its prime. Hell, it would be bad business sense to say the show isn’t in its best seasons to date.

@Scary_sarah

10 ай бұрын

What I hear is: “I don’t need to strive to be better, I have stayed the same and your nostalgia has clouded your perception of how good I am” What a hack sentiment. The Steve Ditko example is wild, because those comics do hold up and are objectively better than any spiderman comic since, that is why it’s one of the only eras of spiderman that is continually reprinted. TLDR nostalgia is a weak defence against artistic failure. I would bet money you could find someone who has never seen the simpsons, make them watch all of it, and they would still roughly fall under the same golden age years consensus

@sambarker7930

5 ай бұрын

I’m exactly the same (although more sympathetic to seasons 9-19)

I was wondering who the 5% were who didn't consider season 6 part of the Golden Age, then I remembered there are a handful of old Simpsons fans who ONLY like season 1 and 2, and think everything after that was a betrayal of the show's original vision or whatever

@williameckerle4113

11 ай бұрын

That's an interesting perspective

@yellowfamilyfunny3065

11 ай бұрын

That’s their loss lol they miss out on so much classic stuff, they were mainly old nerd types who thought the show was built for them by being smart/grounded and less wacky than other cartoons

@icecreamhero2375

11 ай бұрын

@@yellowfamilyfunny3065 Seasons 1-2 aren't realistic that's a laugh. I remember when my 10-year-old tried to jump a gorge on a skateboard. I remember when my children solved a crime adults couldn't and had a clown want to kill one of them. Bob's Burgers and King of the Hill are the more realistic cartoons. The Simpsons was always very cartoony. Down to earth are the last words I would use to describe this show. Unlike Loud House which actually did have down-to-earth plots and jumped the shark. We went from Lincoln wanting to sit at the grownups table to plots about ghost hunting.

@yellowfamilyfunny3065

11 ай бұрын

@@icecreamhero2375 obviously I don’t mean actually realistic, The Simpsons was always an absurdist and silly show but that season 1 & 2 had a more grounded approach to their stories, having more traditional sitcom plots and sentimentality. Season 4 onwards ups the absurdity of The Simpsons world considerably, you could and would not have homer from the first two seasons go to space or cause a nuclear meltdown in a simulator

@GIJOEFAN-ys8gp

11 ай бұрын

Then those people should see King of The Hill.

The funny thing is, I actually started watching the show during Season 9, but I always considered the Scully era to be a Bronze era. Seasons 1 and 2 are the "Silver Age" and 3-8 were the "Golden Age". 13-18 were the Dark Age, then right after the movie things improved a fair amount, until we eventually reach the point where everything's just a mixed bag, with the occasional gem and stinker being about equally likely to show up.

@AdamRossD

11 ай бұрын

I've been watching since the beginning and I 100% agree with you. I dropped off the show around season 13, partly due to what I perceived as a drop in quality and partly because I was crazy busy with college at that point. I distinctly remember returning to the series in season 20 and waiting for the DVD releases of 13-18 so I could catch back up (and being pretty "meh" about them when I did watch them).

@FlyleafOwO

11 ай бұрын

Seasons 13-15 were GREAT to be honest. I found those seasons to be more consistent compared to the Scully years.

@flygonbreloom

11 ай бұрын

The irony is, I'd probably consider 13-16 a Bronze Age. And I guess Seasons 9-12 an Iron Age?... It gets kinda messy. At the time, it felt like approaching and going beyond Season 20 that things were improving. But with hindsight, 13-16 were a precipitous before things became a really big mess. This is, of course, EXTREMELY subjective. And purely my feelings. But it comes to mind.

@professorhaystacks6606

11 ай бұрын

I've heard 8 or 9 through 11 or 12 called 'purgatorio'. Worst Episode Ever podcast I think it was.

@ScudX

11 ай бұрын

As a lifelong viewer from S1 onward, I too believe S3-S8 to be the unimpeachable Golden era of The Simpsons. Your application of the ages to the surrounding seasons is very appropriate. I'm harder on the show than you in that I didn't really love the movie. I pretty much stopped watching entirely after S12, and have since caught many episodes I've missed in 20 years on TV syndication and streaming by chance. It's very rarely that I'm impressed by one, and episodes that monkey with classic character's canons in less than stellar ways (Looking at Sideshow Bob's Family arc, ugh) really grind my gears! I still love 'The Simpsons', but my memory of it is basically a time capsule of those six magical years in the 90s. I'm okay with this, and I really appreciate seeing a well-reasoned approach to the topic by a certified youtube scholar!

Your fantastic intro sequence to Simpsons Mysteries contains screenshots exclusively from Seasons 1-9, plus one outlier from Season 13. That creative choice definitely reinforces the idea that this is the only era “worthy” of montage assembly, partly because you can guarantee that every viewer will recognise every single image.

@Pacmanfan-po9rn

11 ай бұрын

Which is from s13

@alexneill8338

11 ай бұрын

@@Pacmanfan-po9rn The Blunder Years

@FraserSouris

9 ай бұрын

Not necessarily. The choice to use Season 1-9 screenshots in his intro sequence doesn't mean that is the only era worthy of montages. There can be any number of confounding explanations. Here's a few: -1- Timing/Experience. His first Simpsons Mystery video was made in 2014. Likely when he was far less experienced with the Simpsons and KZread. If you were starting out making videos, wouldn't you try learning on what you were more familiar with? In his case, if he was more experienced with earlier Simpsons episodes than new ones, he'd lean on them more in his intros. This isn't uncommon in the KZread sphere. Many gaming personalities do often incorporate designs that become more retro in the future. For example, Caddicarus started his KZread career reviewing PS3 and 4 games which is why his logo has the PS3/4 buttons on it. But now he reviews a variety of games across many different platforms and focusses on skits (and also the PS5 has different coloured buttons) so his logo is more of an artifact or retro throwback than a declaration of his current style. Anyway, I imagine if TheRealJims had to make the intro from scratch today, or if he started the Simpsons Mystery series today, he might have used different screenshots as he'd be more familiar with more episodes. -2-: The context of the mysteries themselves: Many of the mysteries he presents in his videos have been long running. With even modern Simpons episodes adding details to the pile. Such as Nelson's father, Martin and Kearney. Given that the Simpsons rarely deviates from its status quo, many of these mysteries have been present from the early Seasons. And his videos often introduce when the mystery first began. So if you were making a KZread Series documenting when a Simpsons Mystery started and needed a visual representation, you'd naturally lean on using the older Simpsons Seasons where that mystery was first introduced. Like, it doesn't really make sense to use a modern screenshot of modern Hermann to represent the mystery of Hermann as he was mostly present in those earlier seasons and the mystery is focussed more on his earlier appearances anyway. This leads to the next explanation: -3-: The focus of the seasons and the role of the internet. It is entirely possible that early Simpsons episodes focussed more on content that led to mysteries. While newer Simpsons either don't have that focus, or still do but the Mystery hasn't yet picked up steam or traction. Like, the "Ralph Wiggum Viking" Mystery didn't immediately kick in when that episode first aired. It kicked in years after the fact. Also, since many early Simpons episodes came out before the Internet and KZread and Reddit really allowed fan theories to run wild, it allowed the mysteries of older seasons to grow more as there weren't easy ways to get an answer. This pheonoma has actually happened before in other communities. Using video games as an example, the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas sparked a massive mystery that Bigfoot was in the game. Bigfoot was actually never in the game but it was so easy to create a cheap hoax using mods and screenshots and there was no way to disprove them. This made Bigfoot and GTA SA very popular. But even though current GTA and RDR games actually do have Bigfoot, aliens and even more secrets, they aren't as popular as all original bigfoot mystery because the internet has allowed any and all mysteries to be revealed day 1 by players and modders. Pokemon is also another example. There can't be another "Mew Under the Truck" because if there were, you'd know it on day 1. All of these explanations can perfectly explain why TheRealJims chose to primarily rely on older Simpsons Screenshots for his opening, yet it doesn't correlate that reveals that era to be a golden age.

@Dr.Livingdark

8 ай бұрын

@@FraserSouristhank you for the superb explanation!

@FlyleafOwO

6 ай бұрын

i'd also like to add: - mixing in 4:3 screenshots with 16:9 screenshots would probably not be very pleasing to the eye and would also be hard to edit - same logic applies to mixing cel animated screenshots with the digitally animated screenshots - there's not much content in s14-s20 to warrant much mysteries (not to say these seasons are bad, i quite like em)

Issue with the rose-tinted-argument for me, is that I was just as much a child in the post season 10 episodes as I was viewing the pre season 10 episodes, yet I could tell the difference in quality.

@josephg9489

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, usually creators and many sorts of people use the "it's just nostalgia" to dismiss the glowing fact that it's very much likely that almost any media 20 years ago were way more humanly relatable than any sort of content today, even for generations that weren't even alive back then. I don't know why. Maybe it's the cultural material of then and the general weariness of both the creators and of our current time. You must be very desensitized to not perceive it.

@CoryTheNorm

2 ай бұрын

I grew up in the 2000s during the "middle era" of the show, so I tend to be more forgiving of those episodes. Nowadays, I feel the '90s seasons are more consistently entertaining, but my nostalgia goggles prevent me from hating what followed.

@leaffinite3828

2 ай бұрын

I mean even among ppl like myself who did not watch any era growing up there tends to be a consensus on the first 6-8 seasons being the best ones.

I appreciate how you used all the Simpsons content creators as the voices of the episode reviews.

@dartacus.spartacus1988

11 ай бұрын

Czs world a legend in the comments

@abhrntcrtre

11 ай бұрын

cz why are you on like every video i watch we watch the same people i stg

@singleplayermoments

11 ай бұрын

There are more than three other Simpsons content creators.

@michaelpacinus242

11 ай бұрын

@@singleplayermomentsyeah, this guy is the r word

Honestly, that was one of the best Simpsons essays I've ever seen; fair, funny, bringing new ideas to the table. I love that you are neither a hater nor a fanboy, but a critical fan. We really ARE in the Golden Age of TheRealJims. ^^

@ChiefMedicPururu

11 ай бұрын

RealJims is THE Real Jim. Always trying to talk about more than the everchanging "Golden Era".

@loutoad123

11 ай бұрын

Realjims is low key the best channel in youtube

@josh8901

10 ай бұрын

It was a really good and interesting watch for sure!

@GlipGlig

10 ай бұрын

Amen@@loutoad123

I stand by that Homer Goes to College has the best culmination of a running gag. Homer’s one sided fight with the dean wraps up with my favorite joke: Sorry about that prank where I hit you with my car. Prank?

The fact that season 20 has a higher percentage than season 19 means either some people chosen only season 20 as the golden age or some people just selected seasons without keeping it as a single age.

@Chick0nPlayz

11 ай бұрын

Season 20 was the switch to HD animation.

I think my only issue with the Rose Tinted Argument is I SHOULD be nostalgic for seasons 9 and 10. I grew up with them, and I liked them at the time. But I rewatch the series now and the drop off is both quick and prominent. The jokes are less layered or "screw the audience"-y, instead going back to on the nose gags that miss more. You also see bad habits take off, like an overreliance on positive celebrity cameos. These are tangible things to point to.

@rayvenkman2087

11 ай бұрын

If the series could make fun of celebrity culture again, it would easily get rid of one iron weight on the series’ back. There’s more than enough people deserving of being riffed on including the influencers and their scummy practices. I mean that’s what South Park has been doing for years now.

@nousukas

11 ай бұрын

I was only watching the episodes we had on tape, with some of them from season 3, but missing the seasons 4-8 almost entirely. My favorites were Trash of the titans and City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, but also Last exit to Springfield. When the show got to the season 13, I noticed the episodes not being as good as they have been, but the older episodes I have seen since are almost all so much better.

@cruzcflores

11 ай бұрын

Season 20 was fifteen years ago. If it was going to get reevaluated and embraced, it would have happened by now.

@cmbeadle2228

11 ай бұрын

​@@rayvenkman2087i disagree? Not that I'm a huge fan of the fawning over celebrity guest episodes a la Elon, Lisa Goes Gaga etc. but the Simpsons has never been South Park, and whenever it has tried to be South Park it has flopped. SP does not mind being mean-spirited and adolescent - it's kind of the point of the show, and its quick production cycle means it can very easily do ripped from the headlines plots.

@fixedfunshow

11 ай бұрын

@@cmbeadle2228 The SImpsons, yes, never made fun of celebrities the same way SP or FG did, if at all, they always had them and obviously the jokes were consented. Unlike FG which doesn't care what they think.

I've lately seen the term "Classic Simpsons" more often when discussing the show's 90s output, including this channel, and I think it's a better one that "Golden Age" imo.

I absolutely love season one! I love the weird animation and minimalistic backgrounds. It just has such a nostalgic innocence feel to it. So I would include it in my “golden age” selection. I also find the tv rating argument a little tired now. People watch shows very differently then we did back in the 90’s it’s kind of impossible to actually create a real number to show how popular something is. I still love the show now and yes I do think some of the better episodes were in the old seasons but I’m aware that’s a lot of nostalgia bias. This most recent Halloween episode was so good! One of the best in years. Anyway love the channel as always ❤

11:15 Personally, I grew up with seasons 15 - 20, those are the seasons where I was watching new episodes on broadcast television and was aware of them as new episodes. But I can still quite clearly see when I rewatch them today that those seasons were a lot weaker, and that the older episodes are much stronger. The idea that the 2 - 8 golden age only exists within the minds of the people who grew up with those seasons just... seems to be blatantly false, to me

@chippedgoat

8 ай бұрын

Interesting perspective I must say!

For me its seasons 3-11. With behind-the-laughter being a perfect finale.

@luistoses

11 ай бұрын

Agree.

@Roboshi2007

11 ай бұрын

I've been rewatching and buying the DVD's and when I looked at the episode listings for 12 I was like "oh damn, I can't see many I'm looking forward to watching" and I took a long break

@heisensaul5538

11 ай бұрын

Love that episode. It's the perfect parody of Behind the Music. Probably one of my favorites.

@jvgreendarmok

11 ай бұрын

I quite like the idea of Bart changing the channel at the end of "Poochie" as a finale.

@chrisrj9871

11 ай бұрын

Lisa's "pills" joke just doesn't do it for me. Just another college frat boi redneck guffaw joke.

I find the idea of TV golden ages very interesting because, like you said, people commonly attribute large changes in production and writing to just one singular episode, acting like all the episodes were fully created in order one after the other. People use the Term “Jump the shark” as a indication of a shows decline, but actually the episode of Happy days with the shark jump was insanely popular and the series had many successful seasons after the shark jump, kinda defeating the entire point of identifying one episode as the end of a era

@lhfirex

11 ай бұрын

You fundamentally misunderstand what jumping the shark is about. The jump the shark term is because of how much Happy Days changed from "show about nostalgia for Americana" to "Fonzie does increasingly stupid shit for ratings" after that episode's success. It represents a decline for the show because it's a complete change in tone that both alienates the original, intended audience, and becomes more of a thing to gawk at for the new audience with each increasingly stupid gimmick to get ratings.

@BB-te8tc

11 ай бұрын

This is especially true when you consider how many seasons have carry over episodes that were put together by the previous showrunner(s). Or, for that matter, little things like John Swartzwelder being perhaps the show's most prolific and beloved writer who also happened to write some of the most divisive or even hated episodes of the Scully era (Kill the Alligator and Run, Simpsons Safari, etc)

@mightyfilm

11 ай бұрын

@@lhfirex I remember reading a at a discount book store the Official Jumped the Shark book that had to be published about 2000 or so. It was just full of the snarkiest, Gen-X-iest prose out there. I especially remember reading a passage about South Park how it "Jumped the Shark" because it made a movie and the show wasn't the exact same season 1 that even the creators want to disavow. Pretty short sighted, and why the term is thrown around willy nilly.

@callumrolston

3 ай бұрын

@@lhfirex but the show was still majorly successful so like does it matter

I think 1-10 is a great overall grouping to consider the Golden Age, both because 10 is such a nice, round number to end on, and seasons 1-10 basically encompass the entire 90s. The Simpsons and Seinfeld are both shows that embody the 90s to me and ran for basically the entire decade. And I don't expect Simpsons to ever "reach" those heights again; it's almost impossible to, Simpsons can't rule the world like they used to. I don't keep up with modern Simpsons, but so long as each season coming out is "pretty good", I think we're doing alright.

A golden age isnt so much about the episodes themselves, it's more about what was possible and permissible within the episodes, depending on how the characters were situated within it. In S 1-5, it was, as you say, very sentimental - very focussed on one family reacting to a world that they didn't undertsand and it didn't understand them and the small cadre of other oddballs who felt the same way, It was a show driven by the values of the protagonists. As it became less about story and consequnces and more about the set up and delivery of jokes, this was fine because the jokes were playing the long game with the audience. The "golden age" ended when the jokes became quicker, more obvious, sometimes funnier but were delivered at the expense of characters, not via the characters journey through a situation and we slid into jerkass Homer, a too broad cast of disposable characters who just walk in to say a catch phrase and the celebrities who started appearing as themselves for the sake of doing it. My 2c

I never had seasons on DVD. Just assortments of random episodes. Normally I'd just watch the simpsons every night on TV so I can't even make a call on when the Golden Age was because I watched the entire series for years out of order, just watching whatever happened to be on without the knowledge of what other episodes it was made alongside. Stuff in the teen seasons are some of the ones I loved most growing up

One thing that is very interesting in terms of nostalgia and rose-colored glasses. When I first discovered the Simpsons, our Norwegian channel had a weird schedule when airing the episodes. I think they mixed episodes from season 1 through 8 as well as season 13-15. I guess it was that they bought the rights for some of the newer seasons? As a 12-13 year old I noticed that there were slight differences in the animation, but didn't think much of it. Point is that I have a weird nostalgia for season 13-15 since it was intermixed with the classics.

Without a doubt, Seasons 1 and 2 are my favourite. It feels so unique and old school. I love it. Then it is season 9. Never laughed harder than during that season of the show. Then it's the certified classic 3-8. Those shows are so good that they stand out during that period....but they don't quite have the charm and quirkiness of 1 or 2, nor the balanced insanity of 9. They still make up what Simpsons is and should be. But.....1,2 and 9 really really get my goat and my heart.

6:25 I’m actually one of the 5% who didn’t vote 6. No real reason for not picking 6. I’m just a huge fan of the first 4 seasons for its more down to earth vibe. For example, Lisa’s substitute is my all-time favorite.

@TheRealJims

11 ай бұрын

5% crew represent!

@randomname285

11 ай бұрын

I figured that most of the people who didn't pick seasons 4-7 didn't not pick all of them, but rather they'd mostly be either season 1-4 or season 5-8, or something along those lines

I feel the definition of the Golden Age is getting narrower and narrower as time goes on. It feels like nowadays it's 3-8, but also that 8 was "mostly good" and 3 also had its weak moments so it's really just 4-7. Personally, for me it's 1-10 but I think every season has at least some merit. I didn't start feeling like the show was actively producing more bad episodes than good until Season 17 or so. I think losing Phil Hartman hurt quite a lot. Personally, I'm old enough to remember the negative reactions to the Scully era via the SNPP website and nohomers, and I've even read negative reviews from Usenet users for Season 5 episodes. Agree with your statement on Season 2 being schmaltzy but that's actually why I love it so much. I absolutely recommend watching the first two seasons though since the barbed social commentary is still totally there. It's just a bit better hidden.

@Roboshi2007

11 ай бұрын

it depends on who you talk to but really you can treat it similar to the bell curve of votes, 6 seems to be the peak with 7 and 8 being less good but still full of classics with 9 being the first signs of trouble. 9 and 10 still have classics, but they also have a few duds I'd rather skip and I can't say the same about 4 or 5

@justinc.5591

11 ай бұрын

To me 1-9 is the golden age, with 3-7 being the peak years but the seasons around it are still great.

1-8 is also where I fall on this. I was at peak nostalgia age starting at about season 9-10, yet it's those earlier seasons which I'll actually sit down and watch. There were shifts in the humor during this time, but as a whole the episodes flowed better and more consistently landed with their end goals (whether that was schmaltz or jokes.) Season 9 was still "good" on the whole but you could feel the fatigue, and after that the humor I loved from The Simpsons seemed to move to Futurama.

This is interesting, because I’ve always taken it for granted that most would say Seasons 1 - 9 was the Golden Age, with the episode “The Principal and the Pauper” being considered the “Jump the Shark” moment.

Fab video- for me personally the Golden Age officially stopped with the death of Phil Hartman. I feel that his energy was never truly (and in all fairness never could be) replaced.

@alexeidarling

11 ай бұрын

Yes!

@Hank_Says_It_Smells_Fine

11 ай бұрын

@@alexeidarling quite right.

I always saw season 10 as the end of the golden era. Not only because I personally feel like that's where the decline in quality starts, but also because that's the last season made in the 90s. The simpsons were a 90s phenomenon, but they also needed the 90s as a part of their identity. I always felt like the 2000s broke the Simpsons in some way. Not to mention that new shows were then starting to crawl up, trying to take its place. Including, ironically, futurama

@adamh9660

11 ай бұрын

I agree with you in regards to the 90s aspect of it all. Everyone was gunning to BE "The Simpsons" while The Simpsons were kind of just making episodes as they already WERE The Simpsons. Plus the way the entire world got way darker and serious (at least to a teenager in Canada) after 2001 did not help the nostalgia factor present around the early seasons of the show.

@rayvenkman2087

11 ай бұрын

Plus ten seasons isn’t a bad run for a series.

@pavelow235

11 ай бұрын

Matt Groening should have jumped from show to show, and not try to run all of them simultaneously, I have enjoyed the first few seasons of Disenchantment .

@Darkko88

11 ай бұрын

In the 90's, the Simpsons were part of the counter culture. In the 2000's they were an established worldwide phenomenom.

@azazelazel

11 ай бұрын

Totally agree, ten seasons is that solid block of 90s episodes before Phil Hartman died and Futurama took over...

Those quotes about nostalgia really hit home. Most new games I pick up (which aren't many) are sequels to franchises I fell in love with as a kid, or entries in franchises I overlooked as a kid, while most of the games I actually _play_ are from early to mid-00s.

one topic i think would be interesting is how well the simpsons fit into modern times. they were designed for the late 80's/early 90's, and even in the 90's John Waters was telling The Simpsons how old-fashioned they seem. I wonder if being stuck in tradition makes it feel archaic, or if they've integrated the modern world/technology into the show as well as they can.

I'd say season 2 is when the golden episodes start to really grow into an era, while 9 is when the cracks are starting to show. The principal and the pauper is not responcible for the downfall of the golden age, but it was symptomatic of the end incoming. When "screw the audience jokes" became "screw the audience" plots. Plus the teenage seasons have now had just as much time to gain the nostalgia of a new generation, and time to mull them over in general, that would afford them golden status if it was purely a nostalgia thing.

@Eidlones

11 ай бұрын

I feel like season 9's tree house of horror is a good indicator of the overall season. The first 2 segments are really good (Homega Man, Fly VS Fly), but Easy-Bake Coven is just... bland. There's one or two good jokes in it, but first time I watched it I remember thinking that that segment just... sucked.

I guess that's the main reason on why i and a lot of people keep loving the newer episodes that had a diferent take in the show (Lisa The Boyscout/Pixelated And Affraid/A Serious Flanders) instead of the overused plots that the show has made since it's beginning, this is an amazing video and demonstrate how a show can still be viewed as funny depending on who you're asking

@rayvenkman2087

11 ай бұрын

I feel like the latest season is doing what the series should have been done years ago and that’s experimenting. Think outside the box. Make up new scenarios for the characters to experience. Revisit old ones with a new angle and ideas for it. Heck, use an overdone plot and put a new spin on it. Marge and Homer having another marriage crisis again? Have it be the work of a petty asshole going out of their way to ruin it just to be an asshole. Or to lampoon it further; people think they’re having martial problems because one of their friends heard an out of context exchange between them and mistakenly thought they’re having a fight before going off to tell everyone else about it while the two are wondering what’s even going on. Make it play out like another one of those episodes but the viewers are the ones having the jokes played on.

@BobtheX

11 ай бұрын

@@rayvenkman2087 Forreal. The episode where Bart falls down a missle silo is one of the coolest episodes ever because it's just in a completley different part of town.

Thank you for the Season 9 love! Rewatching this season, I really feel it is about as good as Season 8 and even has a couple less dud episodes than the previous year. It’s really a great victory lap before the (in my opinion) drastic drop-off that happens at season 10.

The show started off being about Bart, and took a couple seasons to become mostly about Homer in accordance with fan response. Some embraced Homer's increasingly wild antics, while others mourned the man who pawned his TV to pay for mental healthcare for his family. I loved the wholesome charm of the first two seasons, yet strapped in and felt the G's of over the top Homer that followed. I'd say the average scores are about right.

I vehemently disagree on the "rose-tinted glasses" argument, and I think people like Al Jean just search for excuses why their stint with the show is rated horribly. I, for example, saw season 12-16 as a kid and have fond memories of some of these episodes... but when I watch them again, I can see the clear fall from grace The Simpsons has suffered. I agree that there is a certain nostalgia for things you see as a kid... but also, I think it's unfair to say that nobody can fairly re-evaluate these things as an adult. Also, about the newer episodes: in my opinion, A LOT more would be forgiven (like silly plot resolutions) if the episodes would be funnier. Cause that is what's missing. The insanely densely written humour. Oh, and the humanity.

@GamePlague

11 ай бұрын

I've definitely not seen any rose-tinted effect with the shows I used to watch. For example, I've gone back and rewatched both Pokemon and Digimon after becoming an adult. Pokemon holds up really well for hundreds of episodes, even ones I didn't see as a kid. Meanwhile it was hard to even get through the first handful of digimon episodes because that show starts off very kiddy. I think the only reason I will eventually trudge through it is because I know it gets better, especially in season 3.

@AlexG1020

11 ай бұрын

Evn as a kid I felt the same way. 1-2 was the rise, 12-16 was the decline.

@shifty_dragon3679

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, I grew up watching The Simpsons, both serialized and new releases. I'm only 19, but even I can see how much better seasons 3-8 are than the others. Never had any idea which season an episode was from, yet the only episodes i remember for being are the Golden Age ones.

This is one of the best videos on Simpsons I've ever seen, truly interesting prospective on simpsons fans. The Meta "Why would a man whose shirt says ‘Genius at work’ spend all of his time watching a children’s cartoon show?” joke applies here.

@chrisrj9871

11 ай бұрын

When was The Simpsons ever exclusively for kids? And why is it on late night?

@robmoore3176

11 ай бұрын

@@chrisrj9871 actually the simpsons schedule was changed often not just "late", but 8 pm New York time isn't really "late", that's considered prime time television.

In contradiction to a premise you lay out early in this video, I think the end of the Simpsons Golden Age *can* be linked to one episode: Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie. It's not a character change or a thematic change in the show, but rather a moment after which neither the viewers nor the writers can think of the show in the same terms. By laying out bare so much of "how the sausage gets made" in one episode (for better and for worse), we can no longer interact with this piece of media the same way we used to. To be clear, that's not a qualitative statement. I'm not saying all episodes after Poochie are bad, or that all episodes before are good. But that episode marks the shift: one era before, and another era after.

@TheRealJims

11 ай бұрын

That's so funny you say that because I was thinking the same thing! I was wondering, "what would be my pick if I had to make one?" And while the Poochie episode is awesome and amazing, there is an argument that the point of view of the show is permanently changed after doing such an episode. They had done plenty of industry insider episodes with I&S but the meta Simpsons angle makes it different

@stryke-jn3kv

11 ай бұрын

I used to love that ep I really did. What changed it for me was the incredibly defensive dvd commentary of Principal and the Pauper. There were echoes of where I had heard a similar message before. That made me go back and really evaluate what they were doing with Poochie, and I'd pin it down to a single scene even that signals the end of that era. The one where Bart gets to be the mouthpiece of the writers to deliver a 'take that' to the audience. It's so heavy handed in retrospect, so obviously out of character, and it only landed as well as it did despite that thanks to the sheer strengths of the jokes surrounding it.

@carolinemoorehead2211

11 ай бұрын

I'd agree, and add that Homer's Enemy and The Spin-Off Showcase are also, in their different ways, deconstructions of the show, and that the cumulative effect of the three episodes meant that things couldn't go on as before. After those three episodes, why not abandon the backstory of a significant secondary character and then announce that everyone is going to pretend the revelation never happened? You've already winked at the audience, so what's the fuss? I can understand the writers' surprise at how jarring the audience found that particular episode after having seen earlier deconstructive episodes find at least a measure of acclaim. To be clear, I really rate both Homer's Enemy and Poochie, but you can only do something like that once before you are in effect cannibalising your show. I think the writers perhaps knew this and decided to deconstruct the show because they assumed it would shortly be ending. Scully had to either try and reconstruct the show or try and carry on as before and I don't think an attempt to return to the status quo ante would have been any more successful than the change in emphasis he in fact decided on.

Speaking as someone who was born towards the end of Mike Scully’s run, my earliest Simpsons memories were still reruns of Seasons 3-8, before seeing the movie in theatres, catching some later season reruns, a few premieres of the burgeoning HD era, and I began collecting the season boxsets in order. Season 1 was nothing like how I saw the show beforehand, but I was captivated by how different and innocent it was. I’d never seen anything earlier than Bart the Murderer, so it was incredible to see this sort of proto-Simpsons. I got less of it when we got Season 2, as it was picking up the pace and getting funnier, but for a brief time, I felt like I had discovered The Simpsons all over again. I spent months collecting the next couple, watching every episode in order and seeing things get more familiar, but stopped towards the end of Season 9 because the individual episodes were getting way spottier. We picked up the rest of the Scully seasons out of habit, because 12 was the newest DVD at the time. After watching the show in order, it’s like I had this entirely new perspective on it. What changed over time, when it got good, when it got not-as-good-all-the-time. And I think that’s a shared experience with others who’ve watched it this way on DVD or streaming, or were lucky to be alive at the beginning. There’s a lot of factors I know about now that led to Season 9 being a relative misstep, but I didn’t know them at the time. That’s all my experience with Golden Age Simpsons and how I formed it in my head, but if some people are able to extend it through to the movie and beyond, I guess like any opinion, subjectivity is welcome. What I feel bad about is that whenever I watch a current episode now, I want to love it but I can’t. When I watched everything up to Season 30 in order a few years ago, by the time I was at 25, I was stuck in “bitch eating crackers” mode. Every plot beat and joke bothered me, even if it was something I would’ve like a couple hundred episodes earlier. Were these the very worst episodes? Of course not, but I was too full for that 20 course dessert. It’s why, with the Scully and teens years as a bridge, I try to keep the classic and modern episodes as far away from each other as I can in my mind. If someone tells me the newest season was the best since 8, I’d question it. Best since 20? I can believe it. I’m sure the past couple seasons really have been an improvement, they have been from what I’ve seen, but I can see they’re a different kind of good than the early seasons. A follow-up video discussing a Silver Age would have an interesting comment section. A lot of individuals torn over a super specific 4 season run later on being the spirital successor to Classic Simpsons, or if it’s all mediocre. (That opinion amuses me, because it would actually be impressive if they could make 500+ equally average episodes in a row.)

Im personally a seasons 2-8 guy, can always revisit these and never get tired of them

@adamh9660

11 ай бұрын

Agreed. I just restarted S3 on Disney+ on the weekend. Oh Homer, you could've avoided so much trouble if you had just gone to see Look Who's Oinking another night.

@ariagabariaga1632

11 ай бұрын

I get madder than a.. yak in heat, whenever the senseless dunderpates exclude Season 2, yet include Season 9 or even 10. Season 2 had all the necessary characterization, and the zaniness was toned down. The literary roots of Harvard eggheads are most evident in the quiet pathos often visible in Season 2. SEASON 2 WAS A BEAUTIFUL MAN! CAN'T YOU LITTLE VULTURE LEAVE IT ALONE!?

@crushbeast29

11 ай бұрын

@@ariagabariaga1632 I'll have whatever you're smoking

@ben_8710

11 ай бұрын

@@ariagabariaga1632 I agree, but I have to say it seems Homer hasnt been the only one “increasing their word power” recently - thank you readers digest!

@ItsHailee7

11 ай бұрын

Personally, I think seasons 2-9 are part of the golden age. Season 2 was more down to earth and emotional than the later years (will always cherish Lisa's Substitute) and season 9 always felt like part of season 8 in my opinion where episodes were still classic but one can tell that cracks were starting to show. I guess that was not surprising though since a bunch of episodes like The New York one and The Principal and the Pauper were holdovers from season 8. Those episodes could easily be part of the same season as Homer's Enemy. Season 10 however was when the episodes started to feel more different with all the screw-the-audience jokes and celebrating guests popping up every other episode.

An argument for season 9 could be that the end of a golden age is still a part of that age. So you can include season 9 because thats where it becomes divisive, where you have a fair split between "its bad" and "its good".

I first saw season 6 interspersed with re-runs of older episodes I had also never seen before, and season 5 as re-runs interspersed with older and newer episodes. It was only when getting the DVDs that I could really appreciate how buck-wild the Mirkin years were, and how much of a shock they would have been to people who had already seen all of seasons 1-4 and nothing else.

I see the golden age as 3-9 (and maybe 10), but I'd call the Mike Scully era the 'it's still good, it's still good' age. If you're going through the Simpsons and only wanted to watch when it was good, I think that the stopping point is 'whenever you get bored during the Scully era'; there's still plenty of good there, but it's also got some really key moments in the show's history that both show you what the show's going to become, or are such big moments that you'd be missing something by not watching (i.e. Maude's death, Barney going sober).

This was maybe the most thoughtful and balanced discussion I've heard on the topic of the Simpsons quality as a show, an maybe super-fandom in general. Seriously, great kudos, I could think of nothing more to add.

You never know a Golden Age until you're not living in one anymore.

@pavelow235

11 ай бұрын

The Simpsons were a family pass time and ridiculously funny in the mid 90s, although at the time I wasn't smart enough to form the words "Golden Age" I knew the Simpsons were at peak hilarity.

@ohnoitschris

11 ай бұрын

Isn't that the truth. Video games sure aren't in one anymore.

@jeltje50

11 ай бұрын

​@@ohnoitschrisa whole form of entertainment isn't in a golden age anymore? I guess lol.

@pcb1175

10 ай бұрын

So true

Despite me leaning toward 2-9 while encouraging folks to look back at 1, I'm perfectly happy watching just about any season up to the earliest solo Al Jean stuff. I watched weekly up to 2012, but Co-Dependents Day was absolutely my "We're well out of the golden age" moment.

Terrific job on this video. Thank you for being clear with your own opinions and respecting the different members of the fan base. I love seasons 8 & 9. I think that they are very underrated. They are part of my Golden age for sure!

I'll say it: I'm so used to you using that stock photo of Al jean that when you used a modern one at 12:57, it felt like a jump scare.

I can absolutely think of examples of things I like where I was 'late' to them, where long-time fans don't like them as much - whether seasons of TV shows or albums by bands. There's definitely an element of that in play.

In the commentary for seasons 4 and 5, Al Jean remarks that they would sometimes take heat for the silly, zany, random, and pop-culture-aware jokes they would include. Speaking in 2004-2005, he says that they do a lot less of that now because _Family Guy_ does nothing but. And I think that's part of what creates the perception of a « _Golden Age_ ». When _The Simpsons_ debuted, they were the first animated comedy targeted at a grown-up sense of humour in more than 25 years. Year 2 saw their success aped by a variety of animal contenders of fair-to-good quality: _Family Dog, Rocko's Modern Life, and Fish Police._ All perished quickly, but were commemorated on tombstones in _Treehouse of Horror II._ I'd argue that _Ren & Stimpy_ was especially niche, targeted at teens and young adults only. (That didn't prevent it from having moments of genius.) Then came _The Critic._ I'll admit I'm in the camp of those who - at the time - actually enjoyed its sensibility more than _The Simpsons._ It was Jean and Reiss at their most silly, zany, random, and pop-culture-aware. It had good ratings, but was axed - first by ABC and then by Fox - because it failed to overtake _The Simpsons_ as the greatest new thing ever. But how could it have? It was far from the first funny, not-for-children cartoon on prime-time TV. It had magnificent writing, but its world of New York glitterati was probably too far removed from everyday middle American experience to be universally relatable. Then came _Family Guy,_ which - lest we forget - was cancelled after 3 seasons for failing to distinguish itself from _The Simpsons_ in any way. Actually, I'd argue that it was distinct in its conscious lack of heart, sentiment, and sense of reality. It aimed only to shock, deride, and tear down. It's as if its creators were disappointed in _The Simpsons_ for not living up to the worst names alarmist critics had called it back in 1990. And they'd decided to put things right: Damnit, if a cartoon that would end Western civilization didn't exist, then we'd have to invent one! And smart-ass millennials took it to their bosom. _(Hi! Hi! Hi! Bosom!)_ Only no one yet understood that smart-ass millennials, weaned on the VCR, had no concept of appointment viewing. They'd watch when they damn well felt like it. And so you have the historic un-cancelling of the series after its DVD sales went through the roof. And now, at the same time, you've got _Futurama._ And _Family Guy_ spin-offs. And _Robot Chicken._ And they're all running in syndication. And now, suddenly, everything's animated. And surreal. And smart-ass. And nothing about this is really a surprise or a discovery anymore. And the so-called golden age just isn't going to happen again. Not unless we forget about all of this stuff for another 20-30 years. And then rediscover it. Right, Ann-Margrock and Stony Curtis?

That is actually a good take from Matt. The longer a show goes for, the more fans have to compare. This is the same reason TCGs get power creep.

@Oridan1

11 ай бұрын

apples to oranges. Power creep is more to the show having to change the status quo because they've already done everything else with the characters

@TheBfutgreg

11 ай бұрын

@@Oridan1 This sounds like Granny Smith vs. Golden Delicious Very similar ideas it sounds like....or else I don't get your argument, as a person not aware of the specifics of TCG games Edit: I think more accurately your comment was probably "explaining" why OP's argument was valid I guess

@uselessDM

10 ай бұрын

I think the argument made sense in 2007, but now the seasons from back then are older than the classic ones were at that point and very few people will argue that something like season 15 is part of the golden age.

11:40 I love the episode Homie the Clown and I agree with what you say but for some reason I’ve always loved and remembered that Chachi joke even when I was younger and had no idea who Chachi was, the awkwardness of Bart saying “whats a Chachi?” always cracked me up

a video on the simpsons archive would be super interesting

I'm always surprised when people suggest skipping season 1. Maybe because I grew up with those episodes on audio cassettes *waves his walking stick* and I know the German dub by heart, especially of Sideshow Bob's first episode. There's something so very nostalgic about season 1 and it has a lot of really funny moments.

Best video you’ve ever done. I’ve pondered this for longer than is healthy.

After watching so much Simpsons commentary over the past few years, I've seen that the creator and writers for the most part don't have a very mature grasp of criticism, constructive or otherwise. Whenever the topic of the shows quality dipping is brought up, Groaning uses the same argument he uses there (though he's a lot more passe' then the others and not so deeply wounded by opinions ) while everyone else gets really vitriolic, overly defensive and self justifying of bashing the fans because when their not talking about that, their very often completing their own genius.....im not even being facetious about that, go watch the DVD commentaries released around the time prior to the time around movies release and you'll see alot of fart sniffing going on with the occasional appearance of the animators giving more humble opinions about their work. The creators are entitled to their opinions and the fandom has made an overly big stink about somethings to merit Comic book guys existence, But the creators act like it's impossible for their creation to ever be bad and instead of accepting that, they often fight tooth and nail to pull a Mcbaine and throw a grenade at the heckling crowd even when there is something clearly lacking.

I would love a video on the review archive, though I guess it might be a hard structure for a whole video. As someone who has only seen maybe 20 episodes total (6 probably being modern) This always was an interesting thing to go through. I've seen a lot of shows have this sort of unclear idea of the golden era, and like implied it does really tie into when it was watched as part of your formative years. I think what ends up being more interesting to me is this need to justify not liking a show as much all the time, when the answer could just be time and tastes changing. But it is what it is anyhow, was a really cool video.

This video has finally convinced me to take the plunge and actually watch all of The Simpsons. I've seen a handul of episodes as a kid/teen, and I've always _heard_ that it got really bad in the later seasons, but I just always kind of believed that, but really basing it on anything. I guess it's probably silly to have been subscribed for so long without really watching the show this channel is built around, but these characters are so embedded into pop culture that it's still enjoyable to hear about them even without seeing most of the content they appear in. Though back to the original point; I will at some point, maybe very far into the future, return to this video and comment whether or not the perceived Golden Age is mostly a nostalgia thing. Thank you for truly pushing me into this series, I don't think I'll regret it.

@nathanpollard1223

11 ай бұрын

Feel free to reply to me when you finish your run.

This is one of my favorite videos from you so far, very informative for such a subjective topic, entertaining as always, and I think you achieved what you set out to make.

I feel Behind The Laughter works as a great finale for classic Simpsons even though it's a few seasons after where I'd cut off for the golden era

Nostalgia can play a huge role in how you see a show or game. My first pokemon game was diamond, so that will hold a special place and I'll look back on it fondly. I started watching taskmaster because I enjoy a certain comedian who was on the show, and so his season, season 6, is one I do enjoy even though I can see why others enjoy it less (and taskmaster is so good that even the 'bad' seasons are still great)

@lowman5893

11 ай бұрын

Pokemon is actually a really interesting case since I feel the perception of the games shifts against the older entries as time goes on. This may have to do with the remakes, but I remember a time that everyone claimed that G/S/C were among the best (I still love them for polishing the gameplay of the original and feeling like a true sequel). Recently it seems things have turned with the postgame in Kanto being criticized as too shallow.

@lisahenry20

11 ай бұрын

@@lowman5893 the shift could also be from a changing audience. People who say that gen 1 and 2 are their favourites have maybe stopped following pokemon stuff and so don't answer polls about their favourite gens. The community is more full of people who play the more recent games, and maybe don't have the consoles to play the later ones. I have the opposite problem and don't have the consoles for the newer ones so haven't been able to play them. It's interesting to compare that to TV shows, as there isn't the same kind of barrier of not having the right console.

@lowman5893

11 ай бұрын

@@lisahenry20 Oh absolutely. Another possibility is the advance in technical capabilities. While there has been improvements in the sharpness of the animation in the Simpsons, it is nowhere near as drastic as comparing the original R/G/B to the newest gen of pokemon. That and the plot of a pokemon game has never really been the selling point, making the advancements in mechanics and postgame all the more noticeable.

@leaffinite3828

2 ай бұрын

​@@lowman5893 its a very predictable cycle. For the last 3-ish years gen 4 and 5 has been the primary nostalgic era, now its about to be gen 5 and 6. When i was playing gen 5 at 10 yrs old, the internet forums were filled with ppl saying gen 1 and 2 were waaay better than this horrid new gen 5! And then a bit after that it was gen 3 being so much better than gen 6, etc etc. Older fans start realizing how repetitive and profit driven the entire franchise is, and young fans look at the older games and since they came out when these kids were 3 yrs old, they automatically kinda look down on them as old and shoddy. 5 years later the younf fans are starting to see the grift, the old fans are gone or dont care to be vocal anymore, and new kids think whatever gen they grew up with is peak... so on forever i assume

What a fantastic video. It's seasons 2-9 for me, although 9 is definitely hit and miss - but the hits are so good that I can't not include it. Season 1 is exactly as you described - still finding its feet, and it just feels a bit weird to watch - it doesn't have that classic Simpsons feel for me. But I totally understand anyone who would include it, and at the end of the day it is always going to be a subjective and personal choice. Keep up the great work Jims, your videos always make me laugh and make me think.

I'm glad you picked the same years as I did when I filled out the poll. I have a lot of feelings on this, as I practically watched the show from the age of 2 (I was born in 1988), so it was a very nostalgic part of my childhood. But I have a distinct memory from when I was about 10. I was a huge Simpsons fan, and it felt very personal to me. My mom took me to a talk from Mike Reiss at a college campus and in an auditorium, we watched Marge vs. the Monorail together and the audience loved it. That's when it truly hit me how the show appealed to all age levels. There was a richness, a fullness to the show, that started dwindling in the Mike Scully era. I don't blame him, specifically, but that is where I see the cracks in the formula, and the more self-aware "commenting on a joke" style of humor that the earlier seasons lacked. The show itself seemed to be unable to support its own momentum and it felt as if it stopped caring about itself. Obviously, it was still trying new things, but it couldn't get past it's own glory and lost it's spark. The Maude Flanders death is a particular pivot for me not because the show revolved around her, but it was such a cruel twist on an established character that seemed designed to be "shocking" rather than meaningful (a la Bleeding Gums Murphy). The humor felt very shallow more often than deep from then on. Consistency is key, and when the consistent humor is subpar and the consistent storylines are barebones, the golden age ends.

I think the nostalgia thing is true. I grew up with the show, but definitely toward the tail end of what most would consider the Golden Age, and I still quite like The Principal and The Pauper. I totally understand why people wouldn't like it, but for me it was a really fun subversion at the time. Probably because I hadn't watched the early seasons as they aired. It was just a bit of Simpsons history for me.

I don’t watch stuff from the HD era often; usually around Christmas or Halloween. But when I do, my takeaway is “That wasn’t bad.” Oftentimes I get at least a few laughs out of them, and I believe what people say about season 33 wholeheartedly. At the end of the day, if there’s still humour to be found even after all this time, does it matter if there’s a “golden age?”

@rayvenkman2087

11 ай бұрын

S33 might be the first season in years where there’s a real consistency in play since post-S10 seasons suffers from being pretty poor, mid or all over the place while knocking out the occasional classic like Barthood. Plus it’s the first Modern Era Season off the top of my head where it’s unanimously considered a really good season by a majority. Probably thanks to the new energy it has which makes the series feel like it’s refreshed rather than feeling stagnant which is what the show suffered from for years. I do agree with that idea of the series’ golden age being when it was able to deliver more hits than misses per episode and even when there were misses, the hits were enough to cancel it out. After S9-10, the misses became harder to ignore and the hits were less frequent. Probably didn’t help that the newer writers had to contend with the standards set by their predecessors and it showed in the final products.

Another great video. I had been waiting to watch this all day at work. Such a thoughtful examination of the golden age. I love Simpsons Mysteries. I would love a Histories video for Wiggum. Thank you for all of your Simpsons coverage!!

I'm one of those season 3 to 8 people but the first 10 seasons are still watchable. My problem is the massive shift in style of writing and characterizations that started around season 9 (I'm not gonna put all the blame on the principal and the pauper, but it's a prime example) It's funny how the show Arthur stayed more consistent with writing style and characterizations within the show's 25 seasons then The Simpsons did. With that show they had more stories lines focused on secondary characters, and didn't constantly have to have Arthur and his family be the center of every story. Where the Simpsons family always had to be part of every story, thus handicaping the writing creativity. And this is from a person who watched both shows growing up and still sporadically as a adult. And the Simpson's writting staff are out of touch. If a favourite food product of your's recipe gets drastically changed and doesn't taste anywhere close to what it originally did, why would you continue to buy a sub par, to repulsive product? The same thought process can be applied to media.

I didn’t watch any Simpsons (aside from a few random episodes here and there) until I was in my 20s, and I watched every episode from season 1 through 12. I can pretty confidently say nostalgia is not the only reason certain earlier seasons are looked upon more favourably

@Pyroniusburn

11 ай бұрын

Yeah the Groening and Al Jean counterarguments don't really hold water for me, especially with seasons much later than 8-12 still airing when I was quite young. I've gone back and seen episodes from 1-8 that I somehow missed and absolutely cracked up at them the same I would for any I consider "golden age", and also watched episodes I remember watching growing up from later seasons and gave them a "meh" at best response.

Maybe the real golden age was the friends we made along the way.

Ive missed your “Mysteries” series. Some of my favorite videos, Great work

I remember in middle school/high school complaining about the direction of the show, but still managed to watch every episode and still discuss it on Monday. In late high school (season 10ish) is when it felt like it was changing too much. I remember catching a few gems in season 12,hoping that simpsons can keep going, but by then i was in college. I think you find many ppl in this similar situation having moved on with their lives as the show has shifted from what you once remembered as great.

Great content. This is clearly still in the golden age of your series

I’m bious towards liking the early 2000’s Simpsons seasons because I grew up during that era

I think your claim at 17:52 sums up the entire thing. When The Simpsons first came out, it was the first American animated sitcom since Wait Till Your Father Gets Home fifteen years earlier and it was very unique since it had a strong production team and people thought it was amazing due to it carving out its niche as high-quality animation and tv respectively. So the secret to the Simpsons' success was timing. Nowadays although it definitely has nostalgia and internet memes going for it, I think if The Simpsons came out today it would be like an Adventure Time, Bob's Burgers or Regular Show. Beloved and nostalgic but not a cultural phenomenon. Good video!

One thing I find funny is they had some serious "screw the angry fans" commentary in season 34, with the episode about Krusty changing his show to an Ellen-style daytime talk show. Bart goes to whatever Netflix parody they've invented for the Simpsons universe and looks at the Krusty show on there, and says almost directly to the audience "after 700 classic episodes, I'm fine with them changing it up." But then season 34 didn't really change things up after a strong start. Aside from a couple episodes, a lot of it was the same "plot happens and things go back to the status quo after 22 minutes" the show's always been. At this point, they really should change things up. It was what made season 33's good episodes good. Do a season 35 full of bizarre episodes that don't involve a Springfield we can even recognize! Do a whole season of future episodes! That's what I found frustrating when I watched season 34. They wrote a line addressing exactly what they should be doing to keep the show fresh and interesting, and apparently never took it to heart with the rest of the season.

Honestly this is a topic I've been subconsciously thinking about since finding your channel some odd years ago, but I'm not sure if I ever thought you'd actually cover it. Was super interesting to hear your research and your personal thoughts on the subject! My personal take is, I don't really know what my golden age is. I have my favourite episodes obviously, but I can't even name a personal favourite season yet, let alone a favourite era. In my mind, as long as the show has something going for it that keeps me watching, it's in a good place.

I have often heard people say seasons 1 through 10 is the best.

I really respect the way you include the other Simpsons KZread creators in your videos. Great video as always!

Revisiting this video after Super Eyepatch Wolf mentioned it in his new video. Nice to see one of my favorite people on this website get more recognition

@TheRealJims

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the heads-up! I'll go check out the video! :)

I love your character history videos, but these mysteries videos are always so much fun

The Golden Age of the simpsons began whenever I started watching, and it ended whenever I stopped watching.

As someone who grew up in the 2000s, the nostalgia factor is an interesting point. I grew up with post-classic "middle" Simpsons, and didn't get around to the '90s seasons until later. Nowadays, I prefer Seasons 3-8 overall, but I'm a lot more apologetic to the middle seasons than most fans.

This was great, thanks for uploading! Seasons 3-11 is my personal golden era

The golden age definetely ends somewhere around season 8 for me.

I’ve personally always considered the golden age seasons 1-9

Love this channel. I've been watching since the very early seasion retrospectives and I remember thinking about how fascinating it will be when you get to season 10 and bwyond.

Ultimately, I think the idea of a 'Golden Age', and a 'Golden Age' ending, is when the audience can tell a show has run it's course, but the writers and producers haven't.

I would identify myself as a very casual Simpsons fan: I enjoy the general characters and environment, and didn't really grow up with it to feel nostalgic. In fact, I don't think I really started watching it until after the release of The Simpsons Movie. I was aware it existed, and my family of 5 went to see the movie in theaters when I was about 12 years old. And even when I did watch the show, I watched out of order, without noticing any big changes between writing styles. But I've always heard through the grapevine of the Golden Age being between Seasons 2 and 9. And the poll went as I expected. But much like how I got into The Simpsons when it was already an established part of pop culture, I think the general reception has a similar backing: maybe the Simpsons nowadays isn't inherently bad, but people are so accustomed to it, that they look to other forms of animation for fresher entertainment.

@spooky6703

11 ай бұрын

There's something to be said for shows going on for too long. An episodic show has to do *something* to be surprising and exciting each episode, and a story driven show has to start leaving constant loose ends they can latch onto if they continue the show. It's why I haven't watched South Park in such a long time, even before I drifted from that sort of humour in general, I was just tired of how much it had to constantly escalate how offensive and gross it was, to get the same reactions that Cartman getting probed by aliens, or Kenny dying every episode did in 1999. People get used to the show, putting the writers in a place where they have to find ways to mix it up. It's how we go from "The kids swear a lot, and that one got probed" to "Satanic forest animal blood orgy" and beyond.

As sonmebody who is old enough to have watched the Simpsons straight through from the first season, I remember distinctly the first time I felt like it had jumped the shark. It was the clip show in Season 4, (yes, the Homer coma show!) followed by the Gabbo episode. The Gabbo one was the first time I felt like it wasn't firing 100 percent on all cylinders as a perfectly timed and perfectly funny show. Now, in retrospect, it's obvious that there were many more great seasons and episodes to come, but that was my honest reaction at the time. It's funny how perspective works :) From this vantage point, I would go with the consensus that Golden Age lasted to seasons 7 or 8.

I'm so glad you did this. This is a topic that i've always considered kind of tiresome because it's been pretty clear to me season 1: the birth Season 2-7: actual golden age. Heart, originality... Season 8-9: as you said, they start exploring new possibilities. Kinda hit or miss by their standards even if the misses would be hits by anybody else. Season 10-13ish: Lost some of the hard but a lot of great wackiness. Evolved into more of a regular comedy. Onwards... each season it's its own thing, honestly It's just about being very especific to me but i'm so curious to hear your thoughts and your more "essayist" videos are my favourites of yours.

My time frame for the Simpsons "Gold Age" would go from seasons 2-9. Returning to show a few years ago and watching the many episodes I've never seen before I firmly believe that today's episodes are just as good as the early seasons. Im just as shocked seeing lady Gaga in a meat dress as I am watching Maggie shooting Mr Burns

@EntertainMeTV

11 ай бұрын

Gold Age? Without the “-en”, it only implies one specific point in time, while Golden Age refers to an era which may span multiple years