“The Simpsons” Just Hasn’t Been Funny Since I Watched Matt Groening Beat My Dad To Death
My theory on when “The Simpsons” jumped the shark.
Most fans will agree: “The Simpsons” has experienced a notable decline in quality over the past few decades.
While there is no consensus as to when the show jumped the shark, in my admittedly subjective opinion, I can’t help but feel that “The Simpsons” truly stopped being funny after I watched Matt Groening savagely bludgeon my dad to death.
Just as its initial success was the result of several fortuitous factors, there are a myriad of reasons for the show’s decline. There was the untimely loss of popular guest star and fellow murdered father, Phil Hartman. And by season 10, many of the show’s original writers like George Meyer and Wallace Wolodarsky had moved on to other projects.
It was also quite difficult to continue watching knowing the show’s mastermind made me an orphan when he caved in dad’s skull with a frozen turkey breast.
Cracks in the facade became clear in the highly controversial episode “The Principal and the Pauper.” While I admittedly don’t remember much of its plot as it aired just a few days after the doctors pulled the plug on my brain-dead dad, my understanding is it’s not very good.
