Why is The Simpsons so popular?

[ZandraJoi]

I remember watching it when it first came out. Yes, that long ago lol Going on 32 seasons. Why do you think The Simpsons is one of the longest running shows? I had searched for the answer & one of the reasons was you don’t need to be crude to be funny. Now I haven’t watched it in a long time but they have to be doing something right.  

[The Blackangel]

Not anymore they aren’t. The stories and stale, the plots are bombs, and the characters are nothing like they were originally.

Even Matt Groening quit the show more than a decade ago for the same reasons. And he created the dam characters.

Eventually shows need to get the hint and die off. The Simpsons hasn’t got the memo apparently.

[killamch89]

1. They have made so many skits about things that actually happen years after the episode
2. It was really funny back in the days but not so much now (it and family guy suffers from the long running syndrome)
3. It's a long running show so it has a huge following

[DarthVanity]

19 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

Not anymore they aren’t. The stories and stale, the plots are bombs, and the characters are nothing like they were originally.

Even Matt Groening quit the show more than a decade ago for the same reasons. And he created the dam characters.

Eventually shows need to get the hint and die off. The Simpsons hasn’t got the memo apparently.

Yeah there was a YouTube video I seen awhile back that referred to them now as "Zombie Simpsons". After a lot of original writers left the show did become incredibly stale and started to heavily rely on pop culture and the flavor of the month content. For some reason the show is still popular amongst a younger audience and I see them everywhere with merchandise and a lot of stuff on social media. It's too bad because when you watch those older clips they were comedy gold!

[AndreiMirfi]

They're always predicting something... they scare me.

[AndreiMirfi]

Some black magic there...

[Empire]

I believe the show is great because unlike the competitor show,”family guy", The Simpson's don't try too hard to be funny it just naturally happens throughout the show, the comedy isn't forced at all. The show is original and it continues to do its own thing, as more characters come about, more natural comedy comes with. Homer isn't as stupid as Peter is on Family guy, some people don't like stupidity as a hit comedy all the time. The Simpson's stays at a constant and even when they need to spice things up they automatically do it with the littlest features. The Simpson's could add as little as a new character, or change the intro either way the story will always be something that a family can relate to somehow some way.

[The Blackangel]

A drunk father, an uninvolved mother, a delinquent 10 year old son, an 8 year old feminist daughter with an IQ of 108, and a baby that wanders around falling and sucking its pacifier non stop.

Yeah, everyone can relate to that.

[killamch89]

On 5/4/2021 at 10:51 AM, The Blackangel said:

A drunk father, an uninvolved mother, a delinquent 10 year old son, an 8 year old feminist daughter with an IQ of 108, and a baby that wanders around falling and sucking its pacifier non stop.

Yeah, everyone can relate to that.

It's true of the modern family - the dysfunction in modern families is absolutely insane. Hell, I also grew up in a dysfunctional home with a narcissistic, self-indulged father (he used to smoke and drink a lot when I was a kid but stopped completely when I was about 6), a good mother (fortunately, she doesn't drink or smoke), my bro and I were kids with anger issues who constantly fought. I can definitely relate to this.

[The Blackangel]

Well if the father beat the shit out of his youngest literally every day until his death when the child was 18, but never touched a hair on the childs siblings, I could relate to it. If the mother looked the youngest in the eye and told them that she wished she had aborted them, I could relate to it. If uncle of the youngest one tried to kill them when they were two years old, I could relate to it. If they youngest child slept with a loaded rifle from the age of 12 one, then I could relate to it.

The real world isn't as pretty as you think it is.

[killamch89]

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

Well if the father beat the shit out of his youngest literally every day until his death when the child was 18, but never touched a hair on the childs siblings, I could relate to it. If the mother looked the youngest in the eye and told them that she wished she had aborted them, I could relate to it. If uncle of the youngest one tried to kill them when they were two years old, I could relate to it. If they youngest child slept with a loaded rifle from the age of 12 one, then I could relate to it.

The real world isn't as pretty as you think it is.

I grew up with friends and families being wiped out by gang warfare and violence - I'm more than aware that the world can be a very cruel place. That's why I try my best not to do the same.

[The Blackangel]

I grew up in a family that literally tried to kill me. My sperm donor beat the living shit out of me literally every day of my life until I was 18 when he finally died. I didn’t have to dodge boards anymore. I didn’t have to sleep with a loaded rifle anymore. I was finally free. I just hoped I didn’t have any permanent marks left over from this, but I unfortunately do.

[Reality vs Adventure]

That is something they don't teach in the Simpsons is the realities of having an alcoholic father and an uninvolved mother. It actually is normalizing that behavior to kids as they don't see the consequences, when actually in real life families are torn apart. Simpsons came out when I was a kid; I don't really remember thinking about all the drinking Homer did. It just wasn't ever promoted as bad. And years later I became an alcoholic. Nothing to do with the cartoon, but I should have learned somewhere that alcohol is bad. They had smoking commercials and drug commercials telling us it was bad. But never alcohol. 

[killamch89]

On 5/11/2021 at 10:03 PM, Reality vs Adventure said:

That is something they don't teach in the Simpsons is the realities of having an alcoholic father and an uninvolved mother. It actually is normalizing that behavior to kids as they don't see the consequences, when actually in real life families are torn apart. Simpsons came out when I was a kid; I don't really remember thinking about all the drinking Homer did. It just wasn't ever promoted as bad. And years later I became an alcoholic. Nothing to do with the cartoon, but I should have learned somewhere that alcohol is bad. They had smoking commercials and drug commercials telling us it was bad. But never alcohol. 

To be fair, alcohol is never promoted as bad by the media - it always tends to be swept under the rug. Anytime someone brings it up, they're quickly shot down and in my experience, I'd argue that alcohol is even more dangerous that drugs like Marijuana yet no one ever says anything. Marijuana will make you think on a higher level, alcohol dulls your thinking and reasoning yet one the more destructive one is always promoted.

[Reality vs Adventure]

1 hour ago, killamch89 said:

To be fair, alcohol is never promoted as bad by the media - it always tends to be swept under the rug. Anytime someone brings it up, they're quickly shot down and in my experience, I'd argue that alcohol is even more dangerous that drugs like Marijuana yet no one ever says anything. Marijuana will make you think on a higher level, alcohol dulls your thinking and reasoning yet one the more destructive one is always promoted.

I agree. Homer even has drinking buddies and they have a lot of bar scenes. That is one of the reasons why Simpson's is successful, because not only did it capture the young audience, but also entertained the adults. And for adults to watch a cartoon, you need adult things. To think outside the box for a little: imagine The Simpsons with a weed growing plant while Homer and his buddies toked up. Would it still have the appeal that is funny to adults and children alike? Do they think children will be influenced to smoke, but never in a million years be tempted to drink alcohol? I'm lost on the irony.