The Simpsons Suck These Days

Relationship with The Simpsons

Shades looks back on a long relationship with The Simpsons. He started watching around age 12 and still loves the early seasons, especially Season 6. But he draws the line at Season 14, saying the show became increasingly unfunny afterward, with only a handful of worthwhile episodes in the next couple of seasons.

His younger brother kept trying to get him to watch newer episodes, but Shades says he could barely manage a smile during a half-hour broadcast. These days, he sticks to his DVD collection of earlier seasons.

Criticism of the Later Seasons

Shades’ biggest complaint about newer Simpsons episodes is their reliance on celebrity and pop-culture references. Examples that finally made him give up on the show include Lady Gaga’s appearance, a “Homer Shake” tied to the Harlem Shake, and a couch gag featuring the characters singing Kesha’s “Tik Tok.”

He also criticizes an episode he calls “The 90s Show” for changing the series’ continuity and playing fast and loose with history, particularly with the idea that Homer invented grunge. More broadly, he’s tired of repetitive plots, including familiar storylines where Homer and Marge’s marriage seems about to fall apart but inevitably resets.

Shades believes The Simpsons should have ended years earlier, while acknowledging its record-breaking longevity.

Other Animated Comedies

• Shades only enjoyed the first seven seasons of Family Guy, though he says he’d still choose it over The Simpsons.
• He dismisses The Cleveland Show as an unfunny copy of an already-unfunny show.
• He hasn’t watched American Dad and has no interest in Bob’s Burgers.

Sign-Off

Shades says he’s about to return to New York, wishes Brett Michaels a happy birthday, and jokes that he’d be wearing his “Toxic” T-shirt if he hadn’t worn it the day before. He signs off with, “keep dancing, dude.”

Personality Mentioned

The narrator identifies himself as Shades. His younger brother is mentioned but does not speak in the subtitles.