Tag Archives: The Simpsons S06E16

There’s a cottage industry devoted to trying to explain how and why The Simpsons fell from greatness. Every year or so, there’s a new YouTube video, or multi-part essay, or investigative deep dive that claims to have the answer for what made the show plummet from its perch as a pure television achievement to a series that became nigh-unrecognizable, both to casual audiences and the show’s biggest fans.

But as I discussed on The Simpsons Show Podcast, the truth is that there isn’t one answer to that question, let alone an easy answer. Everything from an exodus of talent, to a shift in the approach used to make the show, to the inevitable cracks that emerge in long-running series, contribute to the “why” part of it. And elements as varied as differences in the storytelling, technological changes in the animation, shifts in the characters’ personalities, and changing trends and norms in T.V. humor contribute to the “how” of it.

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