The Simpsons used to be one of the very best shows around. But it's no longer funny. There is one important, increasingly common reason that needs to be added to the usual list of jump the shark reasons, and that is loss of continuity. With The Simpsons it means an increasingly constant rewriting of the backstory, as if no one thinks the fans will remember something that happened last week or earlier in the season, much less years ago.
I'm not the first to point out the rewritten backstory in the extremely lame episode "That 90's Show," first aired about a year ago today (KABF04) and already reran three or four times. So instead of the Be Sharps barbershop quartet (in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," first aired September 30, 1993, years ago today, 9F21), Homer suddenly now was the leader of a grunge rock band called Sadgasm. Practically every flashback episode of the show this millennium contradicts past episodes. "That 90's Show" doesn't mesh that well either with "The Way We Was" (7F12, aired eighteen years ago today).
Another common continuity sin is to rewrite the backstory to have all the characters meet in the past. "Dangerous Curves" (November 9, 2008, KABF18) will now have us believe that Homer and Marge met Ned and Maude Flanders prior to being neighbors. Family Guy is also guilty of this sin (just one example: when Peter met Lois, was Glen Quagmire a sailor aboard an aircraft carrier, or a civilian residing in Rhode Island? There are two episodes to consider in answering this question).
I haven't forgotten that I declared that Family Guy jumped the shark with "The Man With Two Brians." But I will continue to watch Family Guy, giving the show a chance to impress me again (i.e., make me laugh). But I'm done with The Simpsons. No more new episodes for me. Do you hear that, Nielsens?
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