LogFAQs > #884546704

Entity13 posted...

Whatever minor issues The Simpsons had before that point were just that: minor. The creators could have addressed them and moved on for a few more really strong years in the show's teens, instead of what we got.

But the minor issues before that were minor symptoms of the underlying causes, and the underlying causes weren't themselves minor. And there's absolutely no evidence that the creators had any ability to right ANY of them, with or without Hartman's death as a factor.

To modify your metaphor, it's as if the young bicycling athlete got hit by a car in the first place because his bike chain was starting to wear out, and was skipping out of gear more and more frequently as he rode. And even if he hadn't later lost a limb, that chain was still going to keep getting worse and worse and popping out of place until the whole bike locked up.

The odds of them being able to pull out of that particular nosedive and go back to producing episodes at the same level of quality (or a superior level of quality) are minuscule (it's worth noting here that almost NO long-running show that dips in quality EVER manages to recover from it), especially not long-term. While Hartman's death might have accelerated those problems, they were still problems regardless, they were never going to be solved, and they still would have resulted in the show getting weaker and weaker over time. At best, we might be talking about a parallel universe where Hartman lived and the point where most people agree the show went to shit was actually season 11 instead of season 9.

Also in that universe, Howard Dean is currently President of the North American Freestate. It's kind of a weird place.

Honestly, the only show I can think of that has ever really recovered from a major dip in quality in later seasons (ie, one caused more by burnout and changing creative teams rather than early growing pains or easily fixable network-related issues) is Doctor Who, but that's also an extremely unique case. The Simpsons really couldn't have Homer regenerate into someone else and take off for deep space to revitalize the show.

Granted, this may be a case where your rampant idealism thinks that they could have solved any problem if circumstances hadn't prevented them while my cynical eye thinks they were screwed regardless, but I don't see HOW they could have fixed (let alone reversed) most of the issues they were suffering from, and which ultimately led to the deterioration of the show, no matter what happened with Hartman.



Metalsonic66 posted...

If only Venture Bros wasn't plagued by such delays.

Even that's a show that feels like it's stayed past its welcome (and I say that as someone who loves the fuck out of that show).

A lot of people have theorized that's part of why it takes them so long to finish a season now - they don't have the passion for it that they used to, and they're not making a ton of money off it (a la The Simpsons), so they don't really have the motivation to push themselves to finish it, especially when Adult Swim's attitude seems to be to ignore them until they finish it, then show whatever episodes they eventually give them.

Adult Swim in general is a good example of how even animation can suffer from the "been on too long" curse. Aqua Teen Hunger Force definitely dropped off at a certain point, Sealab's last season was starting to suffer even before Harry Goz died, Harvey Birdman was brilliant but kind of lost focus after season 2, and so on. The best Adult Swim shows all burned out fairly quickly, while the worst were never worth watching in the first place.


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