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May 19, 2013

The Simpsons leads WGA Award nominees

by Mike Moody, posted Dec 9th 2008 3:28PM

the simpsons wga writers guild awards homerMaybe I should watch The Simpsons more often. The Writer's Guild of America has nominated FOX's long-running animated sitcom for best comedy series along with 30 Rock, The Office, Entourage and Weeds. This is the first time The Simpsons has nabbed a Best Comedy nom from the WGA. Considering that the show has been on for 19 years, I gotta ask -- Why now?

Did the success of The Simpson's Movie really re-energize the show's creative team that much? It's been years since I watched The Simpsons regularly, or even quoted the show in conversation with my friends. I figured its best days were behind it, but maybe I was wrong. The few eps I caught last season were pretty hit-and-miss. I wasn't too impressed with the Departed spoof, "The Debarted," but I really dug watching Homer invent grunge music in "That '90s Show." Were all the following eps as good as that one?

The WGA also nominated four episodes of The Simpsons in the category of best animation broadcast. Needless to say, I'll probably be tuning in when the series returns with fresh eps next year. Click through for a list of more WGA TV nominees.

The WGA awards will be held on Feb. 7. Here's a list of nominations for all the major categories.

DRAMATIC SERIES

Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Lost
Mad Men
The Wire

COMEDY SERIES

30 Rock
Entourage
The Office
The Simpsons
Weeds

NEW SERIES

Breaking Bad
Fringe
In Treatment
Life on Mars
True Blood

COMEDY / VARIETY – (INCLUDING TALK) SERIES

Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Show with David Letterman
Real Time with Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

DAYTIME SERIALS

As the World Turns
One Life to Live

Visit the WGA's official site for a full list of nominees.

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jordancda

I'll be honest, I've never understood the crowd of former Simpsons watchers who abandoned the show. I mean, even mediocre Simpsons is still pretty dang quality television, even if some of the episodes don't meed their usual high standard. I just don't get it, if you loved the show it never got so bad that it wasn't still enjoyable. It never jumped the shark, just went through a lesser era.

However, more to the point of your post: this season has been really good. Last week's episode was HILARIOUS and my favorite of the season so far. The ten minutes spent bashing Mac were priceless. As was Bart saying "Now I know what Dane Cook feels like."

December 09 2008 at 5:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jordancda's comment
Dan

Being one of those, I can speak of how I started to sense the beginning of the end in season 8, and found seasons 9, 10 and 11 to be pretty hit-or-miss and everything after that to be simply terrible, unwatchable and mind-numbing. The show went from a satire on the American family and suburban life to some outlandish Family Guy type show. It went from plot driven to completely random. It went from Homer being stupid to Homer being retarded. Bart went from class-clown/troublemaker to someone who doesn't seem to be in school at all. More and more guest stars started to come into the show but not as one-off characters, but as bad celebrity actors. The Treehouse of Horror episodes got worse and worse after season 8. The Simpsons movie was okay, but compared to "The PTA Disbands", "Last Exit to Springfield"(all of season 4, really), "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment", "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer", it was crap...just like every episode since the 10th season.

Family Guy is also getting worse and worse...the first season was amazing, but it's gotten worse since then.

But don't think I'm one of those who likes something at first and then cools off. I'm a die-hard fan from start to finish of Arrested Development, Futurama, Dexter, The Sopranos, Weeds, Seinfeld and News Radio to name a few.

December 09 2008 at 6:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian Winkeler

This season there have been one or two duds, but otherwise, it's really on track, and has had some super sharp episodes (last week's satire of both Apple culture and anti-Muslim xenophobia was brilliant).

December 09 2008 at 5:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Brian Winkeler's comment
Galley

I agree; the current season has been pretty good.

December 10 2008 at 8:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
upoh05

Mike, you're kinda on your own on "That 90's show". It's pretty much hated by most fans, myself included.

But here's the thing. The episodes since the movie have been markedly better than the ones from the dreaded "scully era" (which are now slowly coming out on DVD and are turning out to be merely hit or miss).

But even still, it's been WAY better than Family Guy, which I have actually stopped watching.

December 09 2008 at 4:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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