Coincidentally, that happened to be around when the last year of Gen X graduated high school, 1997-98-ish. The internet actually started to become more of “a thing” (edit: as well as computer ownership and literacy, generally), and cell phones started to become smaller and cheaper and more ubiquitous.
Cable television had also become much more widespread and popular. Edit: so did video game consoles.
If that’s related, it’s because the writers decided to address the cultural shift by making their jokes increasingly hokey and forced. The shift is there in the content.This isn’t just a change in audience perception.
I was suggesting that it was not just a change in content, but of audience, too. The kids who grew up watching The Simpsons were now off to college, and our tastes had changed. We had better things to do than sit in front of the TV on Sunday nights to catch the latest episode.
Coincidentally, that happened to be around when the last year of Gen X graduated high school, 1997-98-ish. The internet actually started to become more of “a thing” (edit: as well as computer ownership and literacy, generally), and cell phones started to become smaller and cheaper and more ubiquitous.
Cable television had also become much more widespread and popular. Edit: so did video game consoles.
It might be connected to a cultural shift.
If that’s related, it’s because the writers decided to address the cultural shift by making their jokes increasingly hokey and forced. The shift is there in the content.This isn’t just a change in audience perception.
I was suggesting that it was not just a change in content, but of audience, too. The kids who grew up watching The Simpsons were now off to college, and our tastes had changed. We had better things to do than sit in front of the TV on Sunday nights to catch the latest episode.