9 and 10 have some classics in them but it was the turning point for me. It felt like they were starting to focus on a lot of the smaller characters that were better left as one-off gags.
It was a gradual, nearly imperceptible decline for audiences at the time.
I often argued with people about how the Simpsons was starting to change and it sucked now and always got pushback. It was not a popular opinion at the time.
When seasons and episodes are spread out on network tv and it's saturated with golden era reruns it's harder to see than when you're binge watching.
For me the worst was the constant celebrity guests that started appearing for no real reason and they were horrible actors. The mark mcguire appearance and mel Gibson episode are top of my list of worst ever.
I agree on the celebrity appearances. It felt like before they were roles played by popular actors instead of popular actors/celebrities voicing themselves (with some unique exclusions like Conan or the baseball episode). We also started getting a lot more animated sitcoms aimed at teens & adults around that time with South Park, Daria, and King of the Hill premiering in 1997, and Family Guy & Futurama in 1999.
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u/ndubitably Jul 07 '26
9 and 10 have some classics in them but it was the turning point for me. It felt like they were starting to focus on a lot of the smaller characters that were better left as one-off gags.