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Fox / 484 Minutes / 2001-2002 / Unrated / Street Date: August 24, 2010
Around the eighth season of The Simpsons I remember thinking that the show was losing its bite. Lisa's Date With Density (in which she gets her first kiss . . . from bully Nelson Muntz), Hurricane Neddy (when Ned Flanders’ house is destroyed and the townspeople rebuild it), and El Viaje de Nuestro Jomer (where Homer hallucinates after eating chili) were, you know, fine. But that's the thing: Until that point, the show was rarely fine - episodes were nearly always great.
Since then, The Simpsons has been running on fumes. Seasons that weren’t so funny at the time now seem classic compared to the truly hit and miss episodes we’ve been treated to since the show went on auto-pilot. There’s a reason for this. Originally, the show’s writing staff was comprised of those who grew up on Monty Python, National Lampoon, and other counterculture artifacts. With the exception of some old-timers, the current Simpsons writing staff consists of writers who grew up on The Simpsons. That’s an entirely different frame of reference and even though it seems beneficial to the show, it’s really not.
Those who love the show love the references to old TV shows and movies, Pulitzer Prize winning poets, old inventions, and other arcana that proved the show’s writers weren’t all born after 1990. Now, the plots seem more linear, and often lack the parallel A and B-stories that made the shows flow and dovetail so beautifully. Now, sometimes they’ll stick with one storyline and never divert from it, even for a 10 second Itchy & Scratchy clip. That randomness is where The Simpsons shined.
I will say this, though - compared to the travesty of the show's Twentieth Season Blu-ray release (complete debacle), this Thirteenth go-round is far preferable. There isn't a full-tilt classic here - though the Harry Potter-themed Treehouse of Horror installment is among the better ones released in the last few years - but I was pleasantly surprised as to how consistently enjoyable this season kept up its streak. The magic may be 95% gone - even Comic Book Guy would attest to this - but The Simpsons working on 5% capacity is still funny enough to keep nerds like myself tuning in.
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