Blog:Top 5 ways I could improve The Simpsons

On December 17, 1989, an animated sitcom called The Simpsons debuted. It was a smash hit, and during the early 1990s, the show was at its golden years, and people thought it could do no wrong (aside from some bad episodes, but hey, nobody’s perfect).

It all changed on September 28, 1997, when the episode “The Principal and the Pauper”, a Season 8 holdover, aired as part of Season 9. It was panned by critics and fans, as well as Matt Groening and Harry Shearer. Its biggest criticism was the undoing of Skinner’s character development, as it was revealed that he was actually a punk named Armin Tamzarian, and the real Skinner was a POW vet in Vietnam. That episode was marked by fans as the point where the show started its downfall, as writing quality went down, and characters were flanderized. The show still remained watchable, but then Season 11 came along, and that was when the show became bad.

Now it’s been bad for longer than it was good, even having a page on this wiki, and since its decline started in 1999, this personally means it’s been bad for my entire life, and at this point I’m just waiting for that day when the show gets cancelled. However, there’s still some fans who don’t want to see it end, and I came up with a list of five things I could improve the show.

Number One: New Writing Staff
It’s pretty clear at this point that most of the new writers don’t have any clue on how the characters are supposed to be, which we’ll get to in a bit, and are trying too hard to be like Family Guy, which also got bad, as well as being too afraid to take anything seriously. My idea is to replace almost all of the writers with those who actually have an idea on how The Simpsons is supposed to be—a sitcom that subverts typical sitcom conventions, as well as make good episodes. Maybe even getting some of the old writers back can work. Sure some scripts may be recycled, but hey, it’s the best I can do.

Number Two: Reversal of Flanderization
During the show’s peak, the family had unforgettable and unique personalities:


 * Homer is a dumb, but well-meaning father.
 * Marge is Homer’s more responsible, but fun-loving wife.
 * Bart is a prankster who still cares about many of the people around him, basically the Dennis the Menace of the 90s.
 * Lisa is Bart’s level-headed and overachieving sister.
 * Maggie is the silent one.

However, with the series’ decline came the characters’ decline as well. Nowadays they have devolved into....


 * Homer is a mentally handicapped jerk-ass.
 * Marge is a space-filler when she isn’t the focus of an overly-sentimental episode.
 * Bart is a heartless anarchist.
 * Lisa is a liberal douchebag.
 * Maggie is somewhat a Mary Sue.

And sadly, they weren’t the only ones to fall victim. Ned Flanders, for example, went from a Christian family man who still cares about other things in life to a guy who only cares about Christianity. As we all know, he became the namesake for Flanderization.

My idea is to undo those flanderizations with the new writers, and give the characters back their old charm.

Number Three: Better Plots
Many of the plots in the newer episodes are either about Homer and Marge’s failing marriage, or Lisa trying to be popular. Building off #1, the new writing staff would bring in fresh plots, those that hadn’t been done before, like SpongeBob SquarePants did when it became good again. Also, downplaying the emphasis on guest stars that plagued the newer episodes, the nadir being Lisa Goes Gaga. Finally, NO SJW PROPAGANDA AT ALL.

Number Four: Better Animation
In the older episodes, the animation was lively, smooth and clean. While the animation did improve in the newer seasons, it seems like not even the animators care, as it just isn’t lively like it used to, even with animation switching from Film Roman to Fox Television Animation in 2016. The show deserves a better animation studio to do the animation, like Rough Draft Korea.

Number Five: New Showrunner
Since 2001, Al Jean has been the showrunner, previously sharing the position with Mike Reiss from Seasons 3 to 7, and has been the series’ longest-running. However, he continued the show’s ruination, and without Reiss, his Simpsons knowledge seems to have dried up. The show would benefit from a new showrunner, one with advanced Simpsons knowledge, and a good sense of humor.

These are my suggestions on how to fix the series. While the show would most likely never reach its golden-age levels again, these ideas at least would make the show decent, instead of something you’d watch while drunk.