Lazy writers

I watched the season finales of the Simpsons last night. The Simpsons is arguably the best show in the history of television; certainly in the top five. Some have argued the show has lost a little of its sharpness in recent years. I'm starting to agree. Last night was a bit disappointing.

The thing that's impressed me most about the Simpsons is the way it packs so much into so little time. The writing is tight, the segueways sharp. Last night's episodes failed in that regard.

In the last episode, Bart got sent to Catholic school and Homer was converted (or was on the road to conversion) too. This set off a battle between Homer and a Catholic priest one one hand and Marge, Ned Flanders and the Rev. Lovejoy together on behalf of Protestantism. The segueways were weak, the cliches lazy.

At one point, Bart gave a quick "Cant' we all just get along?" schpeel and everyone bought it instantenously, as though the previous 15 minutes of squabbling had never occurred. Then Flanders said something like, "We're all Christian. Let's concentrate on our real enemies: gays and stem cells."

The Simpsons has always worked well because of its subtlety and because of its willingness to poke fun at everybody, of all political stripes. Subtlety is the difference between good satire and obnoxiousness. That's why the Simpsons is (usually) funny while Howard Stern is a horse's rear end.

This was not subtlety. It was in your face.

It was unfortunate the way the writers betrayed Flanders. As a writer, you have to make sure to stay faithful to the character you've developed. The Ned Flanders character has been around for most, if not all, of the show's 15 years. He is very nice; some would say naive, others would say honorable. He is not spiteful or bitter or angry. He is probably the least judgemental character on the show (which is ironic, considering the anti-Christian reputation of Hollywood). He lives his life as he sees fit and generally lets others do the same. He's never, to my knowledge, uttered an anti-gay slur since he's been on the show.

I've certainly been very critical of gratituitous conservative gay bashing but it's too bad that the writers decided to betray his character to make a cheap political point. It wasn't fair to the character and insulting to the viewers.