The Simpsons
Ranked 3 of 10 animated series by recommenders
People praise its relatable, still-relevant writing and the crisp remastered episodes. Critics say quality dropped sharply after around season nine or ten.
People praise its relatable, still-relevant writing and the crisp remastered episodes. Critics say quality dropped sharply after around season nine or ten.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 15
- approval share
- 48%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Remastered episodes look crisp and clean
“They've just remastered enough to make them more crisp and less pixelated”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “probably the best presentation you can get out of it”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid” “They still look great on my newer TV.”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid” Still relevant and highly rated
“This is a decade old, and its still on point”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” “Still one of the top rated shows.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” Every frame treated as art
“every frame of The Simpsons is art”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Every Frame Perfect” “The Simpsons is art at its best”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Who Is America's Homer?” Relatable, well-written characters
“Frank Grimes is one of the best characters on TV”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” “because of how relatable it is”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes"”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Quality declined after early seasons
“the drop-off around season nine or ten was precipitious and it's only gotten worse since then”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” “it falls off very quickly after that, that it's still on the air today is elder abuse”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “SNL Weekend Update: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on A.I.'S Threat to Humanity [video]” “The Simpsons to me became terrible around the same time Family Guy came out”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” - Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead”
- Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead”
- Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Calvin and Hobbes and the Price of Integrity”
- Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “SNL Weekend Update: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on A.I.'S Threat to Humanity [video]”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead”
Original writers and creators left
“A lot of that authenticity fell to the wayside when the original Simpsons writers left the show”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” “the original charm of the show was lost with the original creative force”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “After 800 episodes, 'The Simpsons' creators look back – and ahead” Cropped and overly clean picture
“cropped into 16:9 for Disney and obscuring the joke that all the Duff brews come from one pipe”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “it looks too clean and waxy for my tastes”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid”
Other animated series people recommend
The four most recommended other animated series, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: Lower Decks | 24 | 4 | 86% | 7 | — | Approved |
| South Park | 22 | 10 | 69% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The SimpsonsThis page | 14 | 15 | 48% | 8 | — | — |
| Arcane | 13 | 1 | 93% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Neural Viz | 10 | 2 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
29 of the 32 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“has a hidden commentary track”
“it falls off very quickly after that, that it's still on the air today is elder abuse”
“the Simpsons stopped being funny a few years in”
“Did you miss what happened to the Simpsons over 30 years?”
“That was a good one from the simpsons”
“It feels similar to The Simpsons”
“The Simpsons is art at its best”
“the quality dropped dramatically after season ~13 or so”
“every frame of The Simpsons is art”
“it looks too clean and waxy for my tastes”
“They still look great on my newer TV.”
“probably the best presentation you can get out of it”
“Those are the shows I watched as a kid and I'll love them forever.”
“This is a decade old, and its still on point”
“it's been terrible for 15 years in comparison to what it used to be”
“A lot of that authenticity fell to the wayside when the original Simpsons writers left the show”
“Frank Grimes is one of the best characters on TV”
“has become a rotten husk of itself”
“the original charm of the show was lost with the original creative force”
“the drop-off around season nine or ten was precipitious and it's only gotten worse since then”
“Still one of the top rated shows.”
“It's been terrible for 15 years now.”
“The Simpsons to me became terrible around the same time Family Guy came out”
“absolute slop now and has been for decades at this point”
“The Simpsons just leant so far into 1-note characteristics that they became caricatures of themselves”
“because of how relatable it is”
“there are occasionally good things after”
“They've just remastered enough to make them more crisp and less pixelated”
“cropped into 16:9 for Disney and obscuring the joke that all the Duff brews come from one pipe”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.