User blog comment:Gran2/Introduction/@comment-307330-20100904141219

In a recent interview, Al Jean said that the show is as good as ever, because it gets great ratings and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. Never mind the fact that it's NOT getting great ratings, and new episodes are consistantly setting a new record for "lowest rated Simpsons episode ever".

I'd love to see the show return to form, but I don't think it could happen at this point, because of its diverse fanbase. Say the show suddenly did return to its classic era form by making a bunch of changes, half of the fanbase (most likely the ones that grew up watching the new episodes) would complain about the sudden shift. The old fanbase would complain about the number of changes to the show.

It really is a no-win situation, and that's why the show has pretty much stayed the course since season 13, rarely making any permanent changes. Of course, that's also why the show has become stagnant, with most of the characters having had no development in years.

As a fan of the classic era, it saddens me to see the show reduced to this. To me, it's what it would be like seeing a sports star play 10 years past his prime; you would become sad seeing him limp out to play every night, embarrassed at how far past his prime he is.

Still, like that aging sports star, even the newest episodes have their flashes of brilliance. But, in The Simpsons, those moments are often buried between 20 minutes of filler, lame one-liners, non-sensical plot twists and crappy guest stars.