Yeah, that's basically what I was getting at. It was likely a shitload of work to write and perform those songs, and I worry that if their effort isn't appreciated, we'll get less good episodes of the show.
Yeah I feel like this would have worked better as a second or third ep. From what I've seen of the Waterpark that looks like it might have been a better start. The last few seasons have started out amazing though, I thought Boggs was the best of the season and the Chardee Mcdennis sequel was wish fulfillment
Used to love this show but I feel like I have to drag myself through episodes these days. Just not the same.
Besides Dennis becoming Patrick Bateman I haven't noticed any noticeable changes in quality or the show over the years
I'm really hopeful that this week's episode is much better than the premiere, but I'm not optimistic.
It seems to me like they're going more in the direction of trying to do creative episode concepts and writing as opposed to being over the top funny like they used to. Not as entertaining as in their old days for me, personally, but there's still a lot to be enjoyed. Some of the episodes like "Dee Made a Smut Film" or whatever it was called...didn't get a single laugh from me. "Frank Falls Out the Window" was a little bland, too. The rest were gold from last season, though.
I also started later season 4 or so but not that I can remember, I also watch a lot of shows and the seasons blend together
I watched the most recent season a few days ago and did not like it even half as much as I did initially. that hasn't happened with any other season. still have high hopes for this one tho
glad to see i'm not the only one to feel meh about recent episodes. This episode would have been hilarious if it didn't have the singing. Charlie explaining everything to the social worker was the part that really stuck out to me as being damaged by singing.
Yeah, I mean, I still really enjoy it, but it just doesn't seem like being laugh-out-loud funny is even what they're attempting to do anymore. They're going for different concepts with each episode.
It definitely has a different vibe than it used to, but I'd argue that most, but not all, episodes are of similarly high quality. They've maintained a higher level than most shows by their twelfth seasons (even other cable shows like South Park).
I just finished the last season on Netflix. I liked in one of the last ones when Charlie is referencing No Exit.
I would never say downhill, just different. I would say if anything, the bad episodes appear more often nowadays but they are still very rare. Still easily my favorite show.
I think it's funny that the show is being criticized roundly for experimenting and trying different things (in its 12th season, no less) because I guarantee if they were still doing the same things they've been doing for 12 years everyone would be saying that the show has gotten stale, formulaic, predictable, etc. I'd rather have them swinging for the fences and maybe missing the mark (although I thought the premiere was very good) than settling into lazy repetition.
From the podcast "The Writer's Room" Charlie: We kind of screw with the timeline of when you’re seeing each episode, and a moment that you might see in an episode will happen in an episode, so you’re realizing this episode actually happened two days before this one…It’s just like a little kind of thing, we don’t really beat it over the head, it was just something we tried in the writers room this year… Glenn: You could actually sit and watch this season, and if you’re really paying attention you can track certain things. You’re like, oh that’s actually from that other episode, and that was happening concurrently with that one. And we kind of build to an ending that was something that we’ve never done before, and I won’t give anything away, but if you’re really paying attention, you can track how we got there This got me very excited for the rest of the season