The Part of the Show Where I Rag on The Simpsons

I am always quietly amused when media gets opposite results than intended. (Like that time I saw an Outback Steakhouse commercial that really, really made me want to eat at Chili's.) One example is this article from The Onion AV Club called "15 Simpsons Moments That Perfectly Captured Their Eras." The article wants me to think about how cutting-edge and with-it The Simpsons is and, I think, to remind me how great a show it is.

But in several of the moments, the authors are forced to tell us that the episode aired a year or two after the "cultural" event it skewered. And some of the events are pretty weak to begin with: remember when that girl got into the Citadel? And then quit? Wow. Defining.

Also, the list shows how The Simpsons has really been tapering off in quality. The seasons from 1993 to 1996 provide nine of their fifteen moments; they can only come up with two from after 1999. Of course, I didn't need The Onion to help me deduce that The Simpsons has been barely watchable for most of this millenium. It's been painfully obvious.

This brings me to two conclusions: 1)why are they making a Simpsons movie now? Why not back when people cared? 2) South Park is better. Yes, ok, it's harder to watch, what with all the uber-offensiveness but it's a) funnier and b)waaaaaay more cutting-edge and with-it than The Simpsons has ever been. (To be fair, the fact that they can produce an episode in under a week gives them a distinct advantage on this--but also makes it more impressive that they're still funnier than The Simpsons.) I mean, can you imagine trying to do a similar list of cultural moments for South Park? You'd end up with twenty-five before you'd even tried that hard, much less have to stretch to get fifteen. And while The Simpsons merely uses current events as a backdrop for the same old "Guess what? Homer is stupid!" jokes, South Park bothers to make disturbingly intelligent commentary on the phenomena it mocks.

So, sorry, The AV Club. I'm not buying the product you're selling--not just because it's old and stale, but because I can get a better version elsewhere.