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Dethroning Moment of Suck (Darth Wiki)/Western Animation/The Simpsons: Difference between revisions
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[[File:homer-simpson-5_4255.jpg|link=Heroic BSOD|frame|An [[Catch Phrase|annoyed grunt]] will not suffice.]]
Being a [[Long Runner]], it's only expected to have [[Dethroning Moment of Suck|a few slip-ups]] here and there. Let's hope its famed [[Negative Continuity]] can wipe these out of existence.
Keep in mind:
* Moments only, no "just everything he said," "The entire show," or "This entire season," entries.
* No contesting entries. This is subjective, the entry is their opinion.
* No natter. As above, anything contesting an entry will be cut, and anything that's just contributing more can be made its own entry.
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* "The Frying Game" was actually a pretty decent episode (although the "Screamapillar" thing at the beginning was pretty stupid) right up until the final show-wrecking scene. It featured a very powerful [[Tear Jerker]] moment with Homer strapped to the electric chair, about to be wrongfully publicly executed for the death of an elderly woman for whose murder he has been mistakenly blamed, bringing the viewers to the edge of their seats wondering how he'll get out of this one ... and then the writers pulled the worst [[Ass Pull]] in the history of television by declaring that it was all part of a reality/game show called "Frame-Up," in which a "murder" takes place that the selected "contestant" is blamed for (the murderer and victim are both actors), and the "contestant" is not told they are on a TV show until their faux-execution. Chief Wiggum even [[Lampshade Hanging|pointed out]] to the hosts that they caused serious trouble in the town by tying up the legal system for the sake of their show (none of the local authorities knew about the TV show either...). There was still a chance to save this train wreck by having the characters logically react with revulsion to the tastelessness of the whole thing ... but instead the writers went with an [["Everybody Laughs" Ending]], with everyone - even Homer himself, who thought he was going to die for a murder he didn't commit- finding the whole thing hilarious. "[[Catch Phrase|Worst episode ever]]" indeed.
* "The Great Money Caper": There's a perfectly logical explanation for this, and that explanation is - Hey, everybody! SURF'S UP!
* ''G.I. D'oh''. I can't even accurately describe just how bad this episode truly was, even by significantly lowered "Modern Era" standards. Between the heavy-handed political agenda to the appalling waste of guest-star Kiefer Sutherland's talents to the single-worst continuity error in the history of the series (in the third act, there's a scene with Lenny in his car talking to a soldier about the troops marching through Springfield when he's suddenly half-crushed by a tank. Then, in the very next scene with no indication that any time has passed, the same soldiers march into Moe's looking for Homer and find Lenny sitting at the bar with Carl and Moe without a scratch on him. Given the overall horridness of the episode, this was just the snot icing on the turd cake, but still. And the animation on this scene was sub-Season One level, which leads me to believe that something else was cut at the last minute and this unfunny sight-gag was spliced in), not to mention the fact that every "joke" fell completely flat and the third act with the [[Looney Tunes]] "homage" took the show completely off the cliff.
** ''G.I.D'oh''. It's hard to follow the directions to the letter and pick a specific moment because it's not one particular scene or joke that's over the top offensive, it's the whole concept. "Springfield is statistically the nation's stupidest city and even they're too smart to join the army". You know, even Family Guy managed to do the whole anti-war anti-Dubya thing without writing an episode that might as well have been: "Dear US Armed Forces. Fuck you. Sincerely, ''The Simpsons'' writers."
*** Doc Yoshi: I personally found the [[Looney Tunes]] "homage" rather funny and thought it the episode's saving grace. But as the "that's all folks" appeared on the screen (looking like something I'd see in a [[
*** ChrisDV: The most insulting aspect, to me? ''[[Family Guy]]'' had the exact same plot device (Stewie & Brian joining the army after trying to get Chris out of joining) in an episode that aired around that time, only they didn't even so much as insinuate that people serving on the frontline are complete idiots, whereas here, it was a goddamn plot point! When you're making ''[[Family Guy]]'' look respectful, you've got problems.
* ''Jazzy And The Pussycats''. That pointlessly long sequence where Bart just slavishly recreates the video to the White Stripes' "The Hardest Button To Button". Unfunny, tedious, and shamelessly shoved in to scream "Hey! We're still hip, you know!", it's the very essence of worthless padding.
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'''Comic Book Guy:''' Worst. Episode. Ever. }}
** The show wouldn't be the [[Cash Cow Franchise]] it is today without its fans, who are exposed to the ad-breaks that fund the show's initial run and who loyally purchase the DVDs, comics and other merchandise. The above dialogue is a disingenuous and ungrateful statement that downplays the fans' role in the show's success and its history, and as a stab at [[Unpleasable Fanbase|critics of]] [[Seasonal Rot|recent episodes']] perceived decline in quality, accuses them of [[Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For|not being in a position to criticize a "free" TV show]].
* The Scorpion's Tale... I'm not sure what Herzog and Richardson, the guest writers, where thinking in a story where [[Nightmare Fuel|eyeballs falling out of their sockets]] would [[Dude, Not Funny|be funny and fuel a storyline]]. I mean, I'm fine with the Halloween episodes, but holy crap that's a terrifying to even conceive, let alone make into a comedy.
* For a long time I felt that the quality of the show was in decline, but I recently saw "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing" and loathed it more than any episode I've seen for a long time. After tickling Bart so much that he causes him to wet himself in public (and leads other countries to laugh at America because of it), Homer is enrolled in a father enrichment class, and shocks the doctor teaching the class when he reveals how often he strangles his son. The doctor brings in Kareem Abdul-Jabaar to routinely strangle Homer and teach him what it feels like to be Bart in those situations. Homer swears never to strangle Bart again, which leads to Bart taking advantage of this and causing as much trouble as he can. Marge asks the doctor (who has now ended up homeless for reasons I can't quite remember...probably a political joke or something) to try and patch things up between them. Bart pushes the doctor to his limit, causing the doctor to strangle him personally. Homer and Bart then sue him for what little he has left (which is all kept in a hollowed-out tree), and pat themselves on the back for ruining his life. [[Sarcasm Mode|Enjoy your happy ending, people!]]
* This troper just saw the episode "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" again and hated it with the big waste of a character for Otto who predictably chose heavy metal over his fiancee which was the beginning of Flanderization for Otto, Marge feels pity and lets her stay, which began many horrible plots in later seasons. Then after that, Marge suddenly goes [[Out of Character]] and becomes [[Clingy Jealous Girl|a jealous wife]], which escalates into her trying to kill said fiancee, and she has to be arrested. Then at the end,it turned out Marge [[Cassandra Truth|was right]] and she goes crazy again, when suddenly, some doctors appear and blow tranquilizing darts into her neck, and Homer helps, thankinf the doctors. After being established as a loving, but bumbling husband, this is what Homer does now? And there wasn't a subplot.
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** While the previously mentioned plot about the Muslim family wasn't great, one of the reasons that I don't watch any of the new Simpsons episodes is because of the episode's other plot. It involves [[Creator's Pet|Lisa]] getting a new "MyPhone" from "Mapple", which is run by Steve Mobs ([[My Immortal|geddit?]]). It's just a bunch of stale, bland, unfunny pop-culture references. This episode is pretty much just the boring epitome of [[We're Still Relevant, Dammit!|"We're Still Relevant, Dammit!" ]]
* "Million Dollar Maybe," the one with a subplot where Lisa buys a Nintendo Wii for Grandpa and the other people at the Retirement Home. As a result of playing the Wii they start to get more energetic and demanding. So the [[Jerkass]] employees there [[Moral Event Horizon|"destroy it to make their own jobs easier"]]. When Lisa calls them out on this they coldly tell her off, and then... Nothing! That's it! The subplot is dropped leaving a message of "Hey old people, this is what you have to look forward to, fuck you." I have never been able to enjoy a recent Simpsons episode since.
* A lot of people hate ''That '90s Show'' because it fucks with canon, but I hate it because it made me unbearably angry with Marge. In the flashback we are shown that Homer worked a job he hated so that he could support Marge and pay for her to attend college. How does Marge repay him for this unbelievable kindness? She belittles him, pretty much cheats on him and then dumps him for her tool of a professor because "he embarrasses her". Now she does see the error of her ways but she only returns to him after he becomes a rich and successful musician so we get the [[Unfortunate Implications]] that that's the only reason she is returning. Now Homer Simpson is far from a perfect husband but he has made it clear over and over again that he loves Marge more than anything and this episode was the first I ever questioned what does he see in her? You know you've made someone unlikeable when Homer comes across as more mature and responsible than them.
* ''American History X-cellent''. You know the part where Homer, Lenny and Carl [[Jerkass|make insulting comments directed towards Smithers behind Smithers' back? The comments about how Smithers is way too soft and letting them take advantage of him by actually being flexible and accomodating towards them,]] unlike [[Complete Monster|Mr. Burns]]? Yeah. Ungrateful bastards.
* ''Lisa the Drama Queen''. I've hated the show for quite a while now, but this episode is the bottom of the barrel. Basically, Lisa [[Heavenly Creatures|befriends an English transfer student named Juliet and together, they create a make-believe world.]] It's been mentioned many times before, but Simpsons should not be attempting to copy [[Family Guy]], and yet, here we are, with an episode making fun of a real life incident where two girls killed someone. [["No. Just... No" Reaction|No. Just...no.]]
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* The anniversary of the Simpsons, and here's Lisa and the show snarking about [[Fox News]]. How original, guys. A left-leaning show making snark at the expense of a conservative news source? The same conservative news source that was ignored by such shows prior to its rise in the ratings? New and exciting! *facepalm*
* "No Loan Again, Naturally" is when this troper just flat out gave up on the Simpsons. Essentially, due to Homer's stupidity, the family loses the house and Flanders, out of the kindness of his heart, buys their house and lets them stay, agreeing that they only have to pay him what little they can come up with. Being the [[Jerkass|jerkasses]] that they are, the Simpsons' take advantage of his kindness—abusing their stay as tenants—to the point where they make him out to be the bad guy to the town. Once he kicks them out he feels sorry for them and lets them return. That's it; the Simpsons are never called out for their douchey attitude and to top it all off Flanders now has a lawsuit because he showed kindness.
* ''Saddlesore Galactica''. Really, the whole episode, as it seemed cruelly calculated by the writers to [[Take That|raise the ire of anyone who criticized the show]]. However, I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt; even though I didn’t laugh once during the first two acts. Then comes the third act, where it’s revealed that jockeys are really [[Wall Banger
* ''The Boys Of Bummer'' This episode can be boiled down to "Bart goes through a [[Humiliation Conga]] courtesy of everyone in Springfield because he didn't catch an easy pop fly". How the writers thought that Bart getting insulted and humiliated by the whole town for something so minor was the least bit funny or entertaining is beyond me, and then there's an [[Overly Long Gag]], unfunny gag with everything getting in the way of Bart hitting a home run after the town decides to give him another chance, when he finally does hit a home run, I would've been content if the episode just ended, but of course the writers had to throw in a really lame future flash-forward gag to end the episode, combine all that with the lousy idiotic subplot with Homer And Marge, and you have a real shit-sandwich of an episode that should have never made it past the storyboard stage.
** I have to add - it goes beyond simple humiliation. It was nothing short of pure, unadulterated hateful rage, that would have been horrendous towards a fully grown man, let alone a ten year old boy. It gets so horrific that when its obvious that Bart has gone properly, clinically insane, and he's climbed a water tower, Chief Wiggum tells him to jump. He does. And when he's lying in hospital, critically injured, an angry mob forms outside to yell at him more, despite the fact that he attempted to take his own life.
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* Dear FSM Almighty, "Lisa the Simpson". Basic plot: Lisa finds out that the family has a gene that basically makes you go through Alzheimer's around age eight. At the end of the episode, it turns out that it's only on the Y chromosome, and thus, only men can get it. Let's disregard the incredibly faulty ideas about genetics this episode has, the continuity that prior showed Bart and Homer being [[Book Dumb]] and having a crayon lodged in his brain, respectively, as well as successful automaker and inventor Herb Powell being a Simpson, and Abe Simpson demonstrating extreme battlefield competence, and simply note that it ends on the note that all men in the Simpsons family are doomed to basically become drooling idiots and there's nothing they can do about it. But not Lisa, so apparently this is a happy ending. Yep, Bart is never going to have a decent career and he's probably going to fail at every endeavor, and Homer was destined to that fate from the start, but Lisa can solve that brainteaser. Whoop-de-friggin'-doo. The worst part is that they could have had it end with Lisa accepting the gene, and Homer for giving it to her. But no-oo. Lisa must be Always Right.
** Pretty much agree on what you said. It seemed that everything's okay as long as Lisa's happy. If it's any consolation to you, the episode showing that Homer had a crayon in his brain was aired after this episode, and the Simpson Gene was never mentioned again. For once, thanks [[Negative Continuity]].
* While I quite enjoy even the most notorious episodes, the one episode that pissed me off in the show's 22 (soon to be 23) seasons is "HOMЯ" where Homer gets the crayon removed from his head, making him much smarter. The episode starts out good, but totally goes to hell at the end of the second act, where he tries to help the Power Plant by giving a safety report, but accidentally gets it shut down for maintenance, with Mr. Burns nonchalantly breaking them the news. What follows is the most contrived version of [[Flowers for Algernon Syndrome]] syndrome I've ever seen. All of his friends [[Took a Level in Jerkass|hate them over a sacking that]] [[Wall Banger
* ''Double, Double, Boy in Trouble'', the one where Bart has taken his obnoxiousness [[Up to Eleven]], then he switches places with a rich boy who looks just like him for a cheap [[Prince and Pauper|Prince And The Pauper]] plot. When he literally has gone too far, after 1.) Losing his parents $50,000. 2.) Ruining Marge's best dress by shooting cat urine onto it. 3.) Starting a fight with Lisa in the car. He finally, during the party Lenny was throwing for everyone, unleashes an army of vacuum robots on the party patrons. After all this, he gets punished. Later in the episode though, when his doppleganger is at his place? Marge completely forgets that Bart is being punished. That's the moment right there--Bart gets off as a [[Karma Houdini]] yet again.
* "MoneyBART" has an opening sequence directed by graffiti artist Banksy, who interpreted the usually-something-we-have-made-fun-of-thing, the Korean animating process, [[Deconstruction|as a fucking sweatshop]]. The result is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo this utter clusterfuck.] No matter what you may think of the Ke$ha opening, this one is the one to blame for being nothing but [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|pointlessly depressing]].
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* The B-Plot for the episode with Homer and the [[James Bond]] [[Expy]]. So, Bart is finally fed up with Nelson taking his lunch money, so he takes a hint from not-[[Super Size Me]] and tricks him into eating a month's worth of Krusty Burger, fattening him up and making him slower. Lisa catches wind of this and thinks Bart is [[Designated Villain|wrong for doing that]]. So, Lisa helps Nelson get into a muscular build and the episode ends with him continuing his bullying rampage. What the fuck? So, fattening someone up is bad, but letting someone continue bullying is A-OK? And no, Lampshading it does not make it better!
* A definite Dethroning Moment can be found in Lisa's subplot in the episode "Sleeping with the Enemy", where she develops anorexia. Yeah, you read that right. [[Fridge Horror|An eight-year-old girl, hating herself that much. A potentially fatal illness]]. Well, you could probably make it funny in a [[Gallows Humor]]-sort of way, but the thing is even though ''The Simpsons'' is indeed satire, it just isn't dark and edgy enough to support that kind of humor for very long. So it pretty much ended up going "Hey look, a deeply depressed child loathes her body and is binging on cake! Uh... wacky, huh?" What makes it worse is that Marge, normally the most involved with the kids, only takes notice of Lisa's disorder in one scene and doesn't seem to do much to help her get through it. Adding more insult to injury is that here, Lisa's disorder is portrayed [[Truth in Television|seriously]], while in the later episode "The Heartbroke Kid", Bart almost eating himself to death was more or less [[Played for Laughs]].
* I'm afraid I can't recall the exact point I stopped watching the show (I stuck with it for a little while even though it'd stopped making me laugh) but I think it must've been "On A Clear Day I Can't See My Sister". I was never that fond of Lisa but good God, she was terrible in that one. The plot has her serving Bart with a restraining order and using it to bully him. Repeatedly. She pokes him with a long pole (with a Phillip's Head on the end that hurts him) and uses it to make him eat his lunch outside in the rain, be taught by Groundskeeper Willie in a tool shed, and sleep on the edge of the property. What the writers seem to forget is that while Bart is a brat, he's not really a bad kid, and he gets a lot of [[Pet the Dog]] moments (remember the Hockey episode from season six with that montage of sweet moments between him and Lisa?). Lisa is never punished for doing all this to Bart and it's all treated as something he deserves, and Bart is only let back into the house after he builds a statue of Lisa and tricks her into thinking he's going to worship it. And no, Marge does nothing to stop this save lightly pleading with Lisa over it, even when her son can't come inside the house and is living with wild dogs. This just goes beyond the general unpleasantry the writers have been playing into something nasty.
** Justin_Brett: And here's the [[Blatant Lies|best part]]. At one point Lisa says if she can remember three moments where Bart was nice to her, she'll lift the restraining order. Well, no problem, right? Most fans could name three off the top of their head (including me: Lisa It's Your Birthday, the Hockey episode, and buying Bleeding Gums Murphy's record for her), then the character who experienced those things herself should have no problem, right? Nope. She thinks as hard as she can, and can only come up with two, both of which only came from that episode. [[Negative Continuity]] shouldn't count when it's only being used to let some poor kid be a punching bag for a little more.
* Like most of the current episodes, the quality of ''[[Treehouse of Horror]]'' is in decline, but most have their moments. In "XXI", the first segment about board games was alright, the second one with Marge and Homer rescuing the drowning man said to have murdered the people on a previous boat was pretty good, except when Homer goes [[Ax Crazy]], and it turns out to be Maggie's imagination but the [[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]] parody was the worst. In "Tweenlight", Lisa falls for a young vampire after he stops a bus from hitting her... and a bike...and a car...and another car...[[Overly Long Gag|and a segway]]. As Lisa and Edmund jump between trees, Milhouse sees this, becomes insanely jealous and turns into...a poodle. Edmund comes to the Simpsons' house with his father, Dracula (why not?). Lisa and Edmund fly of, and Homer and Dracula chase them to "Dracula-La land", and ask [[Sesame Street|the Count]] for help. Edmund wants to bite Lisa, but Homer saves the day by killing them when they drink his blood due to the cholesterol in his blood. Fat jokes are made, Otto is a stoner and the Simpsons are incredibly embarrassing. Who could have thought a Twilight parody could be so bad?
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*** He didn't even say the line to the actual Lisa who was standing right in front of him, making the moment all the more frustrating.
* ''The Good, the Sad, and the Drugly''. Bart and Milhouse pull a prank which involves screwing the nails out of the school and causing walls to fall off. Milhouse accepts the fall for it, and gets suspended while Bart doesn't come clean. Okay, so then Bart promises to visit Milhouse every day until his suspension is up. He then falls for a girl named Jenny, and they start spending a lot of time together, until Bart forgets to visit Milhouse on a rainy night. As punishment, he then invades Bart's life in a very harsh way, until eventually he forces Bart to confess to Jenny about how he isn't who she thought he was. And she dumps Bart, leaving him as a crying mess. Then Milhouse pretty much [[Karma Houdini|makes up with Bart with no reprimandation]]. I felt so bad for Bart there, he made a simple mistake and then it just gets jacked. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thanks, Milhouse, we all know that people like it when you cause your best friend to lose a relationship.]]
* ''The Greatest Story Ever Doh'd'' was the moment I realized the lighthearted and funny comedy I grew up with had died forever. I'm of the firm belief that Lisa is possibly the most vile individual in Simpsons history - she makes Mr Burns look like a kind, thoughtful and sensitive man (just read some of the other Lisa examples on this very page to further back up my claims). So Basically, Bart ends up getting chased by a girl who watched him vandalize a sacred wall and ends up getting rather violently kicked in the groin; now arguably he was being a dick and deserved it. Later on however, Lisa with full knowledge of this incident and the fact that Bart was probably still in pain despite not outwardly showing it, sadistically hits him in the groin again because she wanted his airplane seat. She shows absolutely no remorse and even laughs at the sight of her brother crumpled in pain on the floor beside her. Yes, she's eight years old and yes, that's what eight year old girls often do but we're talking about a character who used to be portrayed as a caring pacifist violently attacking a boy who, whilst frequently naughty, has been shown to genuinely love and care for her on a vast multitude of occasions.
* "Exit Through The Kwik-E-Mart" where Bart tagged degrading pictures of Homer as payback for locking him in a cage (and then kicking him out when he was getting comfortable). He did it because Marge missed an important call on her birthday and [[Disproportionate Retribution|took it out on Bart because he bought the rabbit that chewed the phone cord]]. In the end, Homer is humiliated, so what's the problem? We're apparently supposed to feel sorry for [[Designated Hero|Homer]]. Yes, we're supposed to feel sorry for somebody who committed child abuse by locking his son in a cage. Then it turns out {{spoiler|the art show at the end was a set up by the police}}. Marge convinces the cops not to arrest him, but he's punished by getting locked in the cage again. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Also, the subplot with Apu and the grocery store competing with him was completely pointless to the rest of the plot despite the misleading episode title]].
* Season two's "Bart vs. Thanksgiving". Sure, Bart did do something stupid like ruining Lisa's project, but what does Marge do? Yells at Bart that he ruined Thanksgiving! And after that, instead of just explaining what he did wrong and trying to make things easier, Marge yells at him more to apologize. No. Just...no. No way am I ever watching that episode.
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* The part of the Season 23 finale, ''Lisa Goes Gaga'', where Moe Syzlak gets hit by a train. Why? Because now everyone who just saw that will have something to worry about all 2012 summer until Season 24, and we'll never get to find out if Moe died or not.
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