This, but unironically

I wish we could just let entertainment brands die. How many other opportunities were denied to other creators so the Simpsons could keep its budget over the decades.

I don't care about Fox's profits, it doesn't help me in my personal life or make new better shows.

Let stories have endings again.

I haven't watched a new episode of the show in over ten years. It's one of my favorite shows of all time.

The recent seasons are . . . fine. They're not terrible. I'm not a big fan of changing the voices out but obviously Fox (or Disney, now) will never let it die so we'll have Simpsons for the rest of time.

HOWEVER. What it is now, is a pale shadow of it's groundbreaking, culture-changing self that broke into mass consciousness with such wit and charm that fans can, and do, engage in entire conversations based solely on the show's quotes and contexts.

Those first few years were stunning in the quality of humor they provided. The fact that it kept going - for years afterwards - was no less amazing. When it began to falter, people were not just annoyed or bored with it - they were alarmed.

Of course that in itself was a long time ago. All that's over now. It's just a glow in the rearview mirror for most of us, but I say unto thee - in all seriousness - it's the cultural equivalent of Shakespeare and will be taught for generations.

The first 8 or so seasons, anyway. It's not Batman.

Who Shot Mr Burns... played over 5000 times... over 29 years... repeatedly in your living room.

During the pandemic, I bored-watched the past few seasons. Like everything after 2018.

There's a lot of really good episodes. Every season, at least 2-3 episodes are really standout. The most recent one with Conan O'Brien was solid.

The writers know what they're writing. And there's less milking of relevance, and more just trying to tell a fun story.

New Simpsons is fine for what it is. I find if you accept that it's changed over the years, borrowed concepts and writers from other animated series, etc., and the four-quadrant audience it tries to appeal to is vastly different than it was in it's heyday, it's watchable (though admittedly with a much different clunker:classic ratio).

Still though:

Does the shirt say anything?

Seasons 33 and 34 and 35 are pretty good, no seriously, they're highly regarded as a minor renaissance in quality.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Simpsons+season+33+return+of+quality

I tried watching a newer one a while back, and was really troubled by how old the voice actors are. Lisa sounds like an old lady.

Fox killed dozens, possibly hundreds of shows, because they weren't as good as peak Simpsons. They were wrong to expect everything to be that good... but it was that good.

Nowadays it's just kinda there.

"I used to be a Simpsons fan"

Just turned 40, still watching. I've seen every episode so far, may as well keep up with it (... which I've been saying to myself for 20 years)

Does the new stuff entertain me as much as the old stuff? No. And honestly I cant say if that's me or the show. But I it's still entertaining. My only real gripe with the newer stuff is how many jokes depend on me speed reading or pausing to read a block of text.

simpsons wasn't better or worse now vs then, you're just nostalgic for your childhood

Ouch. Right in the feels, man.

Season 8 is my favorite

There is no correct way to be a fan of something.

Just because somebody likes more of a franchise by volume does not make them more of a true fan. Equally, just because people like new entries that you reject does not make you more of a true fan.

Critiquing and discussing the content of a franchise is something to be encouraged. Making personal judgements about other people and posing your view of a franchise as the true one is completely petty, stupid, and unproductive.

The Simpsons went from genius to garbage really quickly somewhere between Seasons 8 and 10. The only reason it survived as long as it did was that there were always new viewers who didn't remember how good it used to be.