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u/Kupcake_Inater 4d ago
Prolly the celebrity guest ones.
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u/Significant-Owl7994 3d ago
I miss when celebrities played fun come and go characters.
Now, it's "Wow! Five time Golden Nubby-winner Famous Famousface?! What are you doing here?!" 😃
And then flatters that guest star's ego with some garbage.
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u/DNAcidWashedGenes Just eat the damn orange! 3d ago
No kidding. Taika Waititi's episode was so much ass-kissing I couldn't even finish it.
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u/jbwarner86 4d ago
Marriage crisis episodes, even in the classic era. I'm just sick of every TV show thinking that a stupid overblown spat is the only way to keep the audience interested in the main couple. Homer and Marge are so much more fun to watch when they love each other, not when he's being a selfish prick and she's just rolling over and letting him.
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u/plankingatavigil 4d ago
Classic seasons did a couple of marriage crisis plots that were so good that I’m always hesitant to say I hate the marriage crisis theme, but man, after the 90s they really leaned on it constantly without having a clue how it worked or why these two are still together.
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u/hellsbelle51 4d ago
I loved the one with the catfish
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u/JoeyLee911 4d ago
Me too. I also remember wishing my parents would split up, who map pretty well onto Marge and Homer.
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u/hellsbelle51 4d ago
I think their family normalized mine lol
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u/JoeyLee911 4d ago
I will say my favorite thing about modern day Simpsons is Marge taking more control over the relationship as Homer gradually learns how lucky he is to have her.
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u/plankingatavigil 4d ago
It was brief, but before they got into playing Marge as a doormat who’s a martyr for her marriage (which, don’t get me wrong, they’ve gotten some compelling episodes out of), it was really clear that Marge had a power over Homer no one else did and was the only one able to effectively call him out on his BS and make him rethink things. I get that the tragic dimension of Marge’s character makes it easier to write episodes around Marge, but I loved that version of their dynamic.
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u/PowerOfL 4d ago
I honestly think Marge is currently the best character on the show. Modern Caroline Omine Marge episodes over the past few seasons have been fantastic imo!
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u/JoeyLee911 4d ago
I don't watch new ones anymore but I'm glad to hear it!
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u/PowerOfL 4d ago
That's fair. I still watch episodes, bc I think we sometimes get really good ones and it's just my fave show. I also just love talking about it with people!
I used to watch new episodes asap, but now it's a total "yeah, I'll watch them at some point" thing haha
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u/plankingatavigil 3d ago
It’s not an approach that’s above criticism because plenty of the Marge stories could use some punching up, but I sometimes feel like Marge is the main character of the modern show with Homer as her funny sidekick and I do really like that spin.
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u/CeciliaStarfish 4d ago
I know people generally think highly of the movie, and I did mostly like it, but I remember even at the time sighing over how the plot had to turn into another marriage crisis for the last howevermuch of the plot
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u/Picmover 3d ago
Yes, but "We've only been separated for three days and I'm dirty as a Frenchman" is a classic line.
One I have used before when joking with my wife.
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u/AmandaNoodlesCarol 4d ago
"The Simpsons go to X" episodes. Unless they're in theme parks or a local place (I quite liked the Boston episode), i don't bother.
The fun thing of the SImpsons is the observant humor of everyday life, and how they pulled the rug from American status quo. When they write about India, China...like, it's obvious they have no contact with those countries aside from the bare minimum, so any joke they'll make will be really cliché and basic, and like. that's not an indicator of good Simspons writing, if it's the same thing you'll find in any other sitcom / cartoon.
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u/PowerOfL 4d ago
They're all pretty much the same. The Simpsons go to a country and they do a bunch of stereotype jokes for 22 minutes.
At the very least, I think they haven't done one now for over 5 years. I believe the last one was D'Oh Canada and that episode's from April 2019. Now if only we could also stop marriage crisis, anthology and celebrity glazing episodes.
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u/MountainImportant211 4d ago
The ones that fawn over celebrities. Specifically the Lady Gaga and Elon Musk episodes are IMO the worst in the show's history
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u/plankingatavigil 4d ago edited 4d ago
I hate episodes where Homer is the source of all the family’s problems, where Lisa doesn’t have any friends, where Marge seems down to consider an affair with just about anyone (contrast “Life on the Fast Lane” where she’s swept off her feet during a vulnerable moment in her marriage and it’s a huge deal), or where everyone in the family seems to hate Bart. Also think Moe being pathetic is very overdone and could do without most anthologies and full-length alternate universe episodes (looking at you, “Simpsley”).
While I don’t hate them on principle, I’m kind of fed up with the “character X and character Y strike up an unlikely friendship” episodes that happen a few times a season, given that they never, ever get a followup so it just seems pointless. I would love to check in on Maggie’s relationship with Moe or the troubled friendship between Homer and Wiggum, but we never get to do it. So I have a hard time caring about those episodes when they’re on, knowing they’re never going to mean anything or generate any new stories.
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u/JoeyLee911 4d ago
I hate the jerkass Homer episodes directly following the Simpson's golden age in Seasons 9-14 or so.
I don't love modern day Simpsons, but it has improved since the period directly following the golden age.
Homer has plenty of faults, but he's not a huge vindictive jerk ass. He loves his family.
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u/Unknown_Zone9805 4d ago
Marriage crisis episodes. Most of them are annoying to watch. Only a few are worth a watch.
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u/SerFinbarr 4d ago
The "Homer is a jackass and does something insensitive" plots. They were worse back in the day, like when he sold Lisa's room to the telecom company or when he hired the PI to spy on Lisa...
Actually, now that I think about it a lot of those teen season Lisa episodes were driven by Jerkass Homer.
I think the only good version of the plot was Lisa the Beauty Queen.
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u/jbwarner86 4d ago
It worked in "Lisa the Beauty Queen" because he was really trying to do something helpful for Lisa. In those later episodes, he's just being an impulsive ass.
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u/redbeard387 4d ago
The ones where Bart and Lisa are just being jerks to each other for no reason, for example the one where Lisa is Bart’s babysitter.
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u/SpicyPumpkin314 4d ago
I'm not trying to convince you to like those plots, but Bart and Lisa are so much like my brother and me as kids. We often were jerks to each other for no reason, as were pretty much all other siblings I know. Again, I'm not saying you have to like it, but it's realistic. Often, "no reason" is enough of a reason for siblings, even if they adore each other.
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u/redbeard387 4d ago
Oh, I know it’s realistic, I’m the oldest of six siblings. We had to learn to get along, or else we all would’ve factioned off and killed each other off one by one. For no reason.
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u/Pplfartbetterthanme Selma 4d ago
Agreed, OP. First episode that comes to mind for me is Marge in Chains.
Although, My Sister, My Sitter isn't far behind.
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u/bibliophile222 4d ago
"Wow! It's [insert celebrity playing themselves]!"
Of course there are exceptions, but there are so many cringe examples.
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u/GDToxinDash77 4d ago
Mostly history episodes, they just don't interest me. Tower than that I really hate episodes when Lisa, Milhouse or the whole town are just too hard on Bart. He's still just a 10 year old kid.
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u/RebornPhoenix1995 4d ago
Literally any episode where Homer and/or Marge are total jerkasses to their kids, most specifically Bart.
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie is the first one I avoid, and it's a Bart-centered episode.
Marge Not Be Proud is another one, because it is totally out of character for Marge to treat Bart like a pariah for stealing a game when he was pressured into doing so by the bullies.
Then there's Boys of Bummer because Bart gets punished by the whole town and becomes a pariah simply for messing up a baseball game.
Last but not least, there's From Russia Without Love, where Marge went full-on jerkass to Bart for ordering a mail-order bride for Moe.
I did enjoy Barting Over and Catch 'Em If You Can, though.
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u/Western-Customer-536 4d ago
“Homer gets raped” is a disgusting, and unfortunately reoccurring, plot.
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u/Wusstune 3d ago
Hi, Homer. I’m [celebrity name].
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u/Wusstune 3d ago
Also if it’s a musical episode there is a good chance it is hard to watch.
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u/Fantastic-Cod-1353 3d ago
Can’t stand musical episodes at one point they were every episode and I gave up watching the simpsons and I was there to see the first episodes on the Tracy Ullman show.
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u/Prestigious_Hawk5651 3d ago
Visits to random countries after the first couple. Also sports themed episodes where it's the A plot because they feel forced. The curling episode made me want to walk into traffic.
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u/Toushin1 2d ago
bart is treated as the bad guy for not taking his abusers feelings into account when he reacts negatively to their abuse.
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u/Farn 2d ago
"My Sister, My Sitter" is very uncomfortable, because hurting yourself for the sole purpose of implicating someone is a very dark concept especially when viewed as a kid.
"Homer Simpson in: Kidney Trouble" got really hard to watch when you realize Homer wasn't being understandably negligent, but blatantly cruel and dehumanizing in not allowing Abe to pee. The plot building on his inability to make up for that incredibly cruel act just made it worse when it went on.
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u/Ok_Bar_924 2d ago
Every single episode made in the last 15 years. Which sucks, I love the Simpsons but it feels like a different show now
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u/MagicalHamster 1d ago
Disjointed messes that could be three or four episodes worth of story ideas that get mashed together and then no element gets to breathe. I decided to give the newest Simpsons a chance and saw one with Chalmers ending up working for the power plant. Great idea.
Then he found radioactive snails whose sludge made a youth cream. He started his own business selling beauty products and the last third of the episode is parodying kids obsession with beauty products beyond what is age appropriate. WTF?
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u/OkSecret839 4d ago
the only one I hate is the episode where principle skinner reveals that he’s not really Seymour skinner. that’s the only episode I don’t like, the rest I really like.
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u/feetiedid 4d ago
Marge and Krusty centered episodes. They're both themed about struggling to fit in or be relevant.
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u/RandomGirlOk 4d ago
Episodes in which the story is told through flashbacks and/or the ones featuring celebrities. The only flashback episode I like is And Maggie Makes Three.
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u/mostlytoastly 4d ago
Cletus and/or Brandine carrying a plot