The Simpsons: Back in my day...

[Old fogey voice] Once upon a time, back when I was a young whippersnapper, The Simpsons was a fresh, funny show. I know you may not believe me after watching last night's snorefest of a season premiere, which kicked off the show's eighteenth season, but it's true, by gum. The show was full of inventive parodies, it skewered modern society to hilarious effect, and it featured a town populated with well-written, quirky, and above all, funny residents.

The Simpsons of my youth is regrettably dead, and has been replaced with some sort of pod-Simpsons, which looks the same, and even sort of acts the same, but is empty and unfunny behind its lifeless eyes. The most humane thing to do would be to put it out of its misery, especially since it seems to be infecting nearby shows. Because if you can't make Homer and Bart as mob bosses funny, there's no hope for you left. [/Old fogey voice]

Incidentally, Fox, "The Founding Fathers of Comedy?" Really? If our founding fathers were as bad at founding as The War at Home is at being funny, we'd all be speaking...British...right now.