Season 35 Information Thread

Brad Lascelle said:
People panicking about a Simpsons season being shortened because of the strikes when EVERY season of EVERY television show was shortened this year because of the strikes just emphasizes a bubble assessment of the show that's divorced from reality. Everything got shortened. It's no big deal. Hell, it's especially not a big deal for The Simpsons given that it doesn't follow a linear narrative and they just insert episodes willy-nilly wherever with non-existent continuity and split showrunners who even market their episodes differently (Jean's approach being to hold a phone up to the screen of his timestamped production copy and tweet those snaps out).

As for less episodes getting produced for Season 36 based on hypothetical reasons? Well, FOX ordered a full slate of 44 episodes just as they always do and that's a production contract they're on the hook to fulfill in terms of ponying up the costs. Strikes don't change that. If there are any adjustments made because we're at 11 holdovers now instead of 7, those adjustments will come when the new contract order for Seasons 37 & 38 comes up early next year. Season 36 is still going to have its contracted 22 episodes made for it... even if half of them won't air until Season 37.
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People are panicking? Just to clarify, I'm just pointing out that season 35 is now the second shortest season as a final result of the strike. I'm not complaining, nor am I ignoring that many tv shows were affected. I just find the outcome interesting.
 
Of course he reads the comments. The showrunners have lampshaded criticisms for years now. They just don’t listen.

We’ll start cutting you some slack when you stop doing these stupid marriage crisis episodes!
 
On one hand, I sympathise with their incredulity and dismay. There has been a history of nasty comments and empty, useless criticism over the years. But it's a bit antiquated now. The rise of Selman has shown that the series can still be well-received (even lauded) on a regular basis by fans - or at least those on this forum. If anything, the competency and effortfulness of Selman's showrunning has only magnified Jean's deficiencies, yet he's continued to deteriorate in the most fundamental ways. Even simple scene-to-scene transitions (i.e. syntax) elude him now.
 
They keep milking the show when they could’ve just bowed out gracefully years ago, so they don’t have the right to complain.

I did stop watching this show for a while until the pandemic broke me. Then I let myself get charmed by the all the episodes were the writers started to actually try again. Just when I thought I was out…well, you know the rest.
 
Spartan Girl said:
They keep milking the show when they could’ve just bowed out gracefully years ago, so they don’t have the right to complain.
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I mean, I won't lie, I'm quite happy the show is still on the air given episodes like A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream and Clan of the Cave Mom. I can only speak for myself, but my life is certainly better for having seen them and it would be sad if they had never been made. I'm not sure they even have much sway over whether or not the show ends - that was up to FOX and now rests in Disney's hands. What they can control is the quality and Jean simply drops the ball over and over again in more ways than one.
 
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B-Boy said:
On one hand, I sympathise with their incredulity and dismay. There has been a history of nasty comments and empty, useless criticism over the years. But it's a bit antiquated now. The rise of Selman has shown that the series can still be well-received (even lauded) on a regular basis by fans - or at least those on this forum. If anything, the competency and effortfulness of Selman's showrunning has only magnified Jean's deficiencies, yet he's continued to deteriorate in the most fundamental ways. Even simple scene-to-scene transitions (i.e. syntax) elude him now.
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Reiss' book is if anything very revealing in how he and especially Jean view the series, most overtly in how he talks about the Apu situation. That infamous scene in No Good Read Goes Unpunished isn't something well-intentioned but poorly conveyed, it's instead genuinely 100% how the two see the situation, even parroting the "All Simpsons characters are stereotypes" claim unironically as a defense. It's deeply cynical when you look at it beneth the surface.
 
Honestly, I've always been an advocate that if you don't like something anymore (like a show), it's better to just leave it there rather than have it continue to make me feel like I'm wasting my time. That's my opinion, of course, so I can only speak for myself and say that's the reason I'm still here. But the series still makes me happy and at the end of the day it is what I value most, that it still generates something for me. Idk man, I don't usually have this kind of relationship with the shows I consume, but I guess I've accepted that this show is some kind of comfort for me (and I mean, there are many personal reasons I can't debate) . It's more complicated than that but I guess I also admit that I have an appreciation for the series and it would be fucking weird to me if from one moment to the next it is no longer producing new episodes (Stockholm syndrome much?).

I don't think my feelings decide the future of the show, but I guess in that sense I'm grateful to the show. Leaving aside the moments of joy it still brings me, because man just look at my damn report card; Should I use a 6/5 for an episode from the HD era? I guess I'm crazy. I mean, yes, the series isn't perfect and its last few years have been difficult (referring to the HD era in general), but that's not the reason I'm grateful, it's the fact that thanks to these yellow muppets that have made me meet a lot of great people. And maybe I wouldn't have met them if this show wasn't in its damn 35th season: that would be a "what if" if anything. These yellow puppets have helped me with many things that seem ridiculous (they have made me feel less ashamed for expressing my tastes, but they are ridiculous things that matter a lot to me (man, you don't know what a nervous mess I am that every time I post something my stomach cringes at what people will think of me). At the end of the day it helps me distract myself from reality for a minute and either watching or discussing an episode brings me some happiness and comfort (even in episodes that are bad, it still happens). They're fun to discuss because with the people on this forum.) I'm going to sum it up with a quote from this very series, as contradictory as it is, it sums up my strange and confusing feelings about this show:

Lisa: "Hate-watching, hate-voting and now a hate-cation? Why can't everyone just enjoy things they like?"
Homer: "Because things you like don't fill you with delicious, delicious rage."

Only it doesn't fill me with anger, on the contrary, it fills me with... Happiness. And that's what I think leads me to why I'm still with this series. The fact that I still love these characters, at the end of the day I still feel very connected to this world. They still make me feel something, not just disinterest. They still mean a lot to me and I still look forward to each new episode (no matter what my posts sometimes say). And in the end no one can take that away from me... But why is Sandboy so thoughtful? If it's just a cartoon? Oops my bad, I think I wrote another cheesy and redundant bible about the series. But yeah, just my silly two cents on this.

I'm sure I'm going to regret writing this but this was a pretty rough week for me.
 
Lovely post, @Sandboy, thanks for sharing. You're a valued member of the forum and I know many of us wholeheartedly welcome (if not eagerly anticipate) your thoughts. Sorry to hear you've had a rough week and I hope our tiny corner of the internet gives you some respite.

It's a hard thing to articulate...this enduring love of ours for The Simpsons. So many people have moved on and given up on the series, but I never will. I'll be here until one of us croaks. Why? I don't really know. Like you, these characters mean a lot to me. They are weaved into my very soul.
 
This fandom is a part of us all... A part of us all.

I admit to not always liking every episode, but Simpsons has been a part of my life for 30+ years. It's seen me through some dark times (the death of my father, estrangement from some family, Johnny's heart attack, our financial struggles, Jonesy passing away) and going to this little corner of the internet to talk about Simpsons has lifted my spirits when I truly needed it. I feel welcome and I feel brave talking to people I would otherwise never have met but they turned out to be charming.

I have a bit of insomnia tonight and coming here has been just the pick me up I needed. Thank you.
 
For me, I think the love's gone and really doubt it'll come back. If anything it's been going even further down the last few years. I mean there's some good but I often have to reach or basically convince myself. And it'll never outweigh the bad. Not in the sense that it could never, it just would never. And at this point it almost feels like I'm punished any time I still try to get into the show again. Every time I try to think maybe things might be okay, nope. Sometimes the timing is downright eerie.

I think I'm gonna skip really bearing my soul, though. I know I'm already gonna get made fun of or something anyway so there's no point in spending forever to make the inevitable sting worse. Guess the short answer is that I'm here because I might as well just get the bad news when it happens instead of being blindsided later, I really hate surprises.

I'd just quietly make stuff for myself but I'm no good at anything so all I do is fail
 
Sometimes positivity comes in handy in difficult times. Granted I really only wrote this in response to the exchange between B-Boy and Spartan Girl.

I wish I could express this love better in the weeks of good episodes, but eh. To add my two cents on the season: I actually started enjoying this one a little more once we got into the new production (with Clan of the Cave Mom being the highlight).

It's a shame that the result of the season is still largely dragged down by Jean's production, but oh well. Can we pretend that s35 only had 14 episodes and everything else is a collective hallucination, can we?
 
Sandboy said:
I actually started enjoying this one a little more once we got into the new production (with Clan of the Cave Mom being the highlight).
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I enjoyed Homer's Crossing a tad more when I re-watched it. Here's hoping a few other Selman episodes I rated low also improve the second time around!
 
Tbh even if it was a Selman episode night I'd be talking exactly the same. I've not even had the energy to actually watch the last few ones properly. if anything it's lately been the selman ones that've made me feel worse lately.

In a way these jean episodes make me feel less alone than usual. :P
 
Speaking from the perspective of someone with zero nostalgia for the franchise, while nothing can really "replicate" Classic Simpsons as an artistic work, I at least appreciate watching Selman's stories on the basis of them actually having clear passion and artistic ideas. Discussing them with you guys has been a blast, as has maintaining the Meta Thread.
 
MisogiKurakawa said:
Speaking from the perspective of someone with zero nostalgia for the franchise, while nothing can really "replicate" Classic Simpsons as an artistic work, I at least appreciate watching Selman's stories on the basis of them actually having clear passion and artistic ideas. Discussing them with you guys has been a blast, as has maintaining the Meta Thread.
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One can - or should - respect Selman for at least attempting to treat the series with some degree of artistic merit as opposed to a soulless product to be cynically manufactured en masse ad infinitum.
 
Yeah, I'm guessing there's not much to say on the new episode so let's talk about Jean himself, aha.

You know, I think that's why I don't enjoy talking about his latest episodes, not just because there are for the most part barebones and lifeless and uninteresting, but also because... I'm kinda sad they are. It doesn't look much like so but I do respect our man Al Jean quite a lot. And when I criticize his episodes, sometimes I fear that I may eventually cross the line. Cause you know, it's easy to criticize - fun too ! - but I wouldn't like to give to Jean the feeling he's a worthless writer and an incapable person and that I wish he gets his hands cut off so he doesn't do anything with the show ever again or something. He IS a competent person. If anything, part of the reason I got into this show are some of his own episodes (I have fond memories of 'Dude, Where's My Ranch' for that reason... well, ironically one of the first episodes I ever recorded was 'Bart-Mangled Banner' and this one can go lay an egg for all I care). And you know what ? Love him or hate him, but the fact is, he's still there, +30 years later, and that takes some serious dedication, says I. Maybe he just... loves working on this show, even if he's been here for half his lifetime ? I respect the hell out of that. Or maybe he still needs to make a living out of it. Nevertheless, even if he handed over the majority of the latest seasons to Matt Selman, he's a part of history that isn't going to leave soon for as long as the show is on the air and on streaming services.

Jean, I don't know if you're reading this, but I tip my hat to you even when it doesn't feel like it. But please note that we bear no ill will (well, not all of us I guess), we understand the circumstances at this point of the show and criticize your work because we want you to improve on your latest shticks, and know you can do better (I honestly really like 'Daddicus Finch' for one and believe 'The Many Saints of Springfield' was close to be good). Hell, if one day you decide to let Selman showrun one of your own episodes, I'd happily watch it !
 
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Spartan Girl said:
Moe is still lusting after Marge
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In recent years (after "The Wayz we Were") I don't rememer Moe did care about Marge the same. Really can't remind any these "show me all, Marge" jokes from him. (at the moment of posting I haven't seen "Tell-Tale Pants", so maybe I missed something :D)

Sandboy said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1787288044808081581
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Jackomon said:
I'd say that we'll get another My Big Fat Geek Wedding situation
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Actually, when last year that "Moe and Maya wedding" in process script was revealed, I imagined a duo quartet of Marge, However, Me and Maya (too working title, mr. Jean). There was the similar double date in "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" and it was nice comparison. However, if yes, we just get "Marge and Homer save other's marriage", or "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" types story, or whatever simple marriage crisis from nothing, please, better do extra work on thay script (started working on before strikes) and hold it for longer yet:lol:. Seriously, we, "the Simpsons fans of Maya (including Al Jean)", can wait, if only for better results.;)
 
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I believe that with last night's episode Steven Dean Moore has officially overtaken Mark Kirkland to have directed more episodes of the show than anyone else
 
Nameless said:
I believe that with last night's episode Steven Dean Moore has officially overtaken Mark Kirkland to have directed more episodes of the show than anyone else
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You're correct! Kirkland directed 84 and Moore has now directed 85.

The real question is...will anyone ever overtake John Swarztwelder for highest number of credited scripts? I think Joel H. Cohen and John Frink are the 'closest' but still some 20-odd credits behind.
 
Well this week we will know the more detailed synopsis of "Bart's Brain", as well as the promo images of the episode. That "Bart has a new friend" could be a surprise, maybe a fake synopsis like in season 34's "Lisa the Boy Scout", which synopsis was about Bart and Lisa in a jamboree when the episode actually is about 2 hackers revealing supposed secrets of The Simpsons.
 
Nameless said:
I believe that with last night's episode Steven Dean Moore has officially overtaken Mark Kirkland to have directed more episodes of the show than anyone else
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This stat also made me realise that Selman will overtake Scully as the second longest showrunner of the series in terms of episode count with Bart's Brain. Scully ran 90 in total and Bart's Brain will be Selman's 91st.
 
Sandboy said:
Honestly, I've always been an advocate that if you don't like something anymore (like a show), it's better to just leave it there rather than have it continue to make me feel like I'm wasting my time. That's my opinion, of course, so I can only speak for myself and say that's the reason I'm still here. But the series still makes me happy and at the end of the day it is what I value most, that it still generates something for me. Idk man, I don't usually have this kind of relationship with the shows I consume, but I guess I've accepted that this show is some kind of comfort for me (and I mean, there are many personal reasons I can't debate) . It's more complicated than that but I guess I also admit that I have an appreciation for the series and it would be fucking weird to me if from one moment to the next it is no longer producing new episodes (Stockholm syndrome much?).

I don't think my feelings decide the future of the show, but I guess in that sense I'm grateful to the show. Leaving aside the moments of joy it still brings me, because man just look at my damn report card; Should I use a 6/5 for an episode from the HD era? I guess I'm crazy. I mean, yes, the series isn't perfect and its last few years have been difficult (referring to the HD era in general), but that's not the reason I'm grateful, it's the fact that thanks to these yellow muppets that have made me meet a lot of great people. And maybe I wouldn't have met them if this show wasn't in its damn 35th season: that would be a "what if" if anything. These yellow puppets have helped me with many things that seem ridiculous (they have made me feel less ashamed for expressing my tastes, but they are ridiculous things that matter a lot to me (man, you don't know what a nervous mess I am that every time I post something my stomach cringes at what people will think of me). At the end of the day it helps me distract myself from reality for a minute and either watching or discussing an episode brings me some happiness and comfort (even in episodes that are bad, it still happens). They're fun to discuss because with the people on this forum.) I'm going to sum it up with a quote from this very series, as contradictory as it is, it sums up my strange and confusing feelings about this show:

Lisa: "Hate-watching, hate-voting and now a hate-cation? Why can't everyone just enjoy things they like?"
Homer: "Because things you like don't fill you with delicious, delicious rage."

Only it doesn't fill me with anger, on the contrary, it fills me with... Happiness. And that's what I think leads me to why I'm still with this series. The fact that I still love these characters, at the end of the day I still feel very connected to this world. They still make me feel something, not just disinterest. They still mean a lot to me and I still look forward to each new episode (no matter what my posts sometimes say). And in the end no one can take that away from me... But why is Sandboy so thoughtful? If it's just a cartoon? Oops my bad, I think I wrote another cheesy and redundant bible about the series. But yeah, just my silly two cents on this.

I'm sure I'm going to regret writing this but this was a pretty rough week for me.
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I just want to say what a lovely post this is! You sum up the appeal of the continuing show beautifully and I agree with so much of what you wrote. Like you this show just makes me happy and I will always love it for that. Even the worst episodes usually give me a smile (with very few exceptions) because I just enjoy watching The Simpsons so I love the fact that new episodes are still being made all these years later and I would genuinely be upset if that stopped. Even for all the years I wasn't active in the fandom I was still there watching the show like always and even if I wasn't closely following the new episodes I was still very content in the knowledge that they were being produced and legitmstely excited whenever I caught one I'd not seen before as a repeat. It's a source of comfort to know that The Simpsons is still there and it feels like it always will be whatever happens in life and I really, really appreciate the show for that.

I think I have something of a reputation on here for being a cheerful and upbeat sort of person, but that's because being here, watching and discussing a series that's so important to me and close to my heart makes me feel happy go lucky! I've mentioned before that the reason I came back here is because I got some nostalgia for the forum, but the reason that nostalgia hit me was because I've been through genuine trauma in the last few years and I eventually noticed the fact that The Simpsons was the thing that most reliably made me smile amongst so many tears and panic attacks so I thought rejoining this board and re-immersing myself in "Simpsons-ness" might make me happier in general and it really worked! I am much better in myself for being an active Simpsons fan again so I don't mind admitting how much this show means to me even if it does sound maybe a little silly or pathetic. I love The Simpsons (Lisa most of all of course!) and I love this place and the people on it, and the continued production of new episodes is a big part of that so yeah I want it to last as long as it possibly can.

Sandboy said:
(man, you don't know what a nervous mess I am that every time I post something my stomach cringes at what people will think of me)
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You aren't alone in this! I often worry that people are gonna think I'm some sort of idiot or crazy person when I post.
 
Brad Lascelle said:
You know it's a Jean-episode night when folks in the season OT are having existential crises on why they still watch The Simpsons and what it means to them.
When a good episode airs, we just talk about the episode and why it was cool.
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Such is the life of Simpsons superfans (as it was written).

Didn't expect to see such an extensive talk of Jean and people debating their bond with the show, but hey, I like that.

Also how that we show Jean respect and admiration when it is due, as he isn't a talentless hack at all and can suceed when he tries, but when the right inspiration and dedication isn't there, it shows and that is what we as fans tend to criticize, so it isn't all some blind hatred of the show week after week after week and so on (which seem to be a frustration of theirs, it seems).

We just want to see Jean do the best he can and has done before, not just churn out stilted soulless products like coming out of a factory line, but put out episodes with love and care & heart put onto them, hence why I for one think he should talk things over with Selman, get some pointers and maybe come out of it with a renewed sense of potential and care for the show. He has the talen in him but after 20+ years of showrunning, it isn't as easy to have the same creative and inspired drive so I hope he finds his way back.

The show is capable of both good and bad & great and awful, makes us laugh and even sob a few times and more, even this late in the game even with the quality being inconsistent, but it is still here for us all to enjoy and I do love how if can still bring comfort and joy to some degree to a lot of us & most of the haters around here tend to be more subdued. I for one will keep on watching until the show becomes unprofitable.... I mean when it becomes entirely unwatchably bad, which I don't think will happen any time soon... at least if you ask a majority of us active users around here, who still have an obvious fondness and loyality to the show, in spite of the issues.
 
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MisogiKurakawa said:
......I wouldn't so sure of that.

View attachment 8987
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This is a little sad to read from Mike. On one hand, I understand it because I've never been in charge of a long-running TV show, and it's very easy to look at what people say about the show online and not want to deal with it at all. Even Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein got tired of reading internet opinions after a while, and their appeal is mostly that they were huge Simpsons fans given the opportunity to write for it and be in charge of it.

But then I read the last page of this thread and think that Mike is being too harsh. If anything, there are way more people here that love the show than hate it, and that includes the new episodes. Not many people have the time or energy to invest into reviewing and analyzing a season 35 Simpsons episode, but you guys do. I guess it's just tiring to hear the same opinions from the staff about how the show is better than ever, people say it fell off back in season two, etc. There's nothing wrong in admitting that The Simpsons peaked in the 1990s. That doesn't invalidate the later episodes because there will always be good or great episodes. But you don't get to work on a show in its thirty fifth season without the love that comes from people who enjoyed the fifth or sixth season. It's impossible for the show to be what it was in its prime. The golden age is the golden age, and that goes for everything from TV to music. But that doesn't mean every episode has to be mediocre, and when you look at the number of episodes this show has had, can you really say the majority of them hold up?

I guess it's just sad to hear Mike parrot the opinions of Al and Matt (both of them, I guess) and everyone else on staff because it always seemed like he understood the issues fans had with the show, issues he probably had himself. I remember he said that he didn't like "Simpson Safari" for one.
 
In what one might deem a minor miracle of sorts, Season 35 of The Simpsons remains the top-rated sitcom on broadcast television with but two episodes remaining. That said, this is familiar territory for where it's been in prior seasons - clinging onto 1st place by the skin of its teeth until the final airings in May - but it's still far better shape than I had anticipated it would be just a few short months' back where I considered a Top 5 placement tenuous at best.

That said, there are a couple caveats to be mindful of. First off, Ghosts wrapped up its 3rd season last Thursday and locked in its 10-episode season with a respectable 0.51 finish that The Simpsons is unlikely to clear given its recent ratings tallies - 0.26, 0.25 and 0.20 the past three weeks. The baked-in hype for the Young Sheldon finale - which boasts double episodes the next two weeks - should guarantee it either holds its current rating or - more likely - builds upon it to close out its series run.

Which will likely land Season 35 in 3rd place on the year. Slightly down from its 2nd place tie of a year ago. Although one is left wondering how much higher the show could've placed had it not been victimized by the Krapopolis shuffle during the open field it enjoyed in the fall, had it not been dealt a staggered (one week new, next week rerun) broadcast slate for much of the winter and spring and had Jean tried just a little bit harder to make his quartet of episodes anything better than mediocre.

We'll never know... but the show had a clear shot at its first and only 1st place overall sitcom finish in series history and flubbed it. That's likely an opportunity it will not get again barring a well-marketed finale season whenever that should occur.
 
Well, if no promo images of "Bart's Brain", it's because the Simpsons staff are busy on the Disney+ short "May the 12th Be with You". Maybe the promo images of "Bart's Brain" could be released after the release of the short.
 
Bohdan said:
New promotional poster for "May the 12th be with you"
https://twitter.com/x/status/1788056462788374692

To said, I'd prefer to have a separate sticky thread for all the shorts' news instead of season threads. Who also thinks so?
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My bet is that it would wind up just as unused and sparsely updated as the stickied R&R poll pun suggestions thread... which just features you. We should probably forego having too many stickied threads cluttering up the top of forum categories that wind up relatively inactive and unutilized.
 
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