The Simpsons becomes unfunny, fans not amused

Last Sunday was the final straw.

"It's the worst show on TV," says Denis O'Hanlon, Saint Joseph's University senior and television extraordinaire.

The Simpsons has gotten so bad that it doesn't even do what it's supposed to do. And essentially if a person, machine, entity, etc. gets rewarded for doing something-which the cast and crew of The Simpsons do-that something is what that thing is supposed to do. The Simpsons main purpose is to make us laugh. It is no longer accomplishing its purpose.

What happened to the days of "Monorail", "Max Power", and "The Homega Man"? I'll tell you: they were put on DVD and their jokes were recycled in Seasons 13, 14, 15, and of course, the "Epic" 16th Season.

How could this happen?

Well, the same writers that gave us the great classic episodes we loved are still writing. Jon Vitti, Joel H. Cohen, and Matt Groening continue working on the show after all these years. They wrote, directed, and produced some of the greatest Simpsons episodes over the years. They must know what's funny. It doesn't make sense that after having created such funny episodes that they began to create so many unfunny ones. If they know what's funny they must know what isn't funny. Hence, they must know that what they are putting on every Sunday night isn't funny.

Recently the voices of The Simpsons-Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer-renegotiated their contracts. They decided that their paychecks would be doubled and would receive a $1 million bonus in 2005. That means they were receiving $3 million per year, a great number considering each actor/actress works an average of six to seven hours per week. Before the epic 16th season however, the sextet demanded a raise to $360,000 per episode. That number averages out to $55,000 per hour.

I suppose the actors are not entirely to blame.

Each "Friend" received $1 million per episode, and their show was not as successful as the longest running comedy of all time. With success comes more money. And the voices of The Simpsons felt they weren't being compensated considering they were a major part of the show. However, what they do is the equivalent of a sitcom table read. After they put in their six or seven hours per week, they are free to pursue any other projects they choose to work on. Many of the voices of The Simpsons have worked in movies-Hank Azaria in Tuesdays With Morrie and The Birdcage, for example.

When a show has had so much success it can be hard to say goodbye. We keep hoping that maybe the next episode will be good. Maybe this Sunday they'll remember how to create a funny cartoon. But the episode which aired after the Superbowl instead took a page out of South Park by satirizing The Passion of the Christ. Not to mention having stolen many themes and jokes from Family Guy-including Homer becoming Death two years ago.

After The Simpsons was the series premier of American Dad, a cartoon pilot from the creators of Family Guy. And with the same quirky sense of humor and violent gags that came from Family Guy, the show has promise. This must be to the dismay of The Simpsons cast and crew who have publicly mentioned several times they dislike Family Guy, saying that it lacks original thought and makes obvious jokes.

With The Simpsons best days obviously behind it, and Family Guy making its return to Fox in May-the only time in history a show has been brought back by the same network it originally aired solely due to popular demand-it should be interesting to see if The Simpsons ratings continue to fluctuate, or drop for that matter.

Check out The Simpsons movie scheduled to hit the big screen in 2006!