Wednesday, March 29, 2006
What This Show Needs Is.... Better Writing!
I'm a huge fan of The Simpsons, to say the least. Some people (The Wife, to name one) would say that I'm obsessed with it. I wouldn't argue with that. It's quite simply the smartest, funniest, best written show that has ever been on TV. I've grown up with The Simpsons. When they started, I was still in high school. They're still going strong today. (I don't want to do the math. It's been a long time, all right?)
Lately, the writing has been subpar. I watch the new episodes of The Simpsons, but I rarely enjoy them. In fact, I've found that I don't watch the repeats as much lately because they only show episodes from the last few years. Frankly, they're not all that funny. Don't get me wrong. The Simpsons is still in first position on my TiVo. But it's just lost a little something after 300+ episodes. And then they aired an episode on Sunday that made me realize just how great the show could be.
Ricky Gervais wrote and starred in the BBC version of The Office. He's an admitted hardcore fan of The Simpsons. So he decided to write an episode that naturally featured himself in a starring role. I have to say that it's the funniest episode of The Simpsons I've seen in probably the last 5 years. And that's when I realized that what's ailing The Simpsons is the writing.
I don't know if the current writers have been writing for The Simpsons too long or if Matt Groening just isn't digging deep enough in the talent pool to find good writers. But either way, The Simpsons has struggled way too long. It's time to hire some fresh writers. Hell, hire Ricky Gervais himself. But something must be done if The Simpsons is going to last through their recent renewal, which will take them through 2008
Lately, the writing has been subpar. I watch the new episodes of The Simpsons, but I rarely enjoy them. In fact, I've found that I don't watch the repeats as much lately because they only show episodes from the last few years. Frankly, they're not all that funny. Don't get me wrong. The Simpsons is still in first position on my TiVo. But it's just lost a little something after 300+ episodes. And then they aired an episode on Sunday that made me realize just how great the show could be.
Ricky Gervais wrote and starred in the BBC version of The Office. He's an admitted hardcore fan of The Simpsons. So he decided to write an episode that naturally featured himself in a starring role. I have to say that it's the funniest episode of The Simpsons I've seen in probably the last 5 years. And that's when I realized that what's ailing The Simpsons is the writing.
I don't know if the current writers have been writing for The Simpsons too long or if Matt Groening just isn't digging deep enough in the talent pool to find good writers. But either way, The Simpsons has struggled way too long. It's time to hire some fresh writers. Hell, hire Ricky Gervais himself. But something must be done if The Simpsons is going to last through their recent renewal, which will take them through 2008
