Glad to hear we'll be getting two seasons this year as well. This set should end speculation that the episode "Homer Simpson Vs. NYC" has been retired - a silly rumor that made its way around the web in the wake of 9/11. (For those that don't know, the episode features the World Trade Center prominently.)
I believe there may have been an effort to not show that episode for the first year or so afterwards, but I have definitely seen it in syndication several times in the past 2 or 3 years (with no editing or censoring that I'm aware of).
There definitely was (and I don't think that that was wrong that close to the event) but when it started to play again, it was complete. Well, the complete syndicated version.
Yeah, I've definitely seen the New York episode since then maybe six times or more. It's definitely not retired. I wonder if the commentary will talk about it not being shown for about a year after 9/11? And on another topic, many people consider this season to be the downslide of the Simpsons. Some people think that the New York episode, 9/11 aside, is too tired, playing with the same formulas, and that this season reuses many of the same old plots. I completely disagree. I think that this season is complete gold, and that the Simpsons started to lose it's touch after Season 11. Any thoughts? -James
Well when I first started collecting The Simpsons sets, my plan was to go only through season ten or eleven, as that's when I first noticed that the show started to falter/repeat itself. Then later I thought if perhaps the show was going to wrap up after fifteen seasons (as was rumored at the time), I might break down and just finish it up.
Now that it seems to be heading for a full twenty years or so, I'm back on the track of only getting the first eleven seasons and skipping the remainder. Perhaps if the post-season eleven sets are available at a much lower price (initially, or eventually) AND the release of subsequent seasons comes at a much quicker rate than two per year, I may relent and continue to collect the further releases. But truthfully, I don't think I want to wait another six plus years to complete collecting the show, especially given that the later seasons are a bit mediocre.
I think it all started to go wrong when David Cohen left for Futurama after S10 (if I remember correctly). It may be a total coincidence but looking back, it seems like when he left it was the end of the classic era. Mike Scully gets most of the blame from alot of fans but that's not entirely fair since he was left with a show that had 200 episodes under its belt and whose best writers had left. It couldn't help but lose some lustre after that long.
It's a testament to the greatness of the show that they managed to make so many truly wonderful and funny years.
Good, I was starting to wonder if they would get another season out this year. I wonder while they wait all the way to August to get a season out and they relatively quickly get another season out in December. If they can do that, why not get the the first set out earlier in the year
Well, I'll always have sentimental value it. It aired when I was in college and I was watching it with some buddies and Barney mentioned the college we were at (Villanova) So we were all going crazy because of that. (It even made the weekly University paper).
I'm one of the people who considers season 9 the beginning of the "dark age" of The Simpsons. From season 9 all the way until the present there are some good episodes in every season, but season 9 is when I feel the show started to lose the amazing consistency of the first few seasons.
I've always hated those "The Simpsons travel to another country or state" episodes all the way back to "Bart Vs. Australia" in large part because I find that the humour in them focuses too much on lame stereotype jokes instead of the characters, and I think the New York episode is one of the worst offenders in that category.
However, I don't believe that the show truly "jumped the shark" until the season finale of season 9 in which Homer and Marge are running around naked. I remember thinking "what the hell has happened to The Simpsons?" after seeing that episode when it first airred. I completed my Simpsons DVD collection when I bought The Simpsons Season 8.
Yes, every season has at least a few solid episodes, but season 8 is the last one that I believe had enough good episodes to be worth purchasing. Of course the completists will buy all of the seasons no matter what I say, but for someone who is really frugal and only wants to buy the best of the best, I think season 8 should be the cut off point.