Quoted By:
I haven't missed an episode of The Simpsons in over ten years. That said, fuck the new episodes. None from the last three years, at least, has matched any from even the first 13/14 seasons (and that's long after it started its decline. I still watch it in the hopes it will get better, and it has before (though I think it's gone down again over the past few seasons).
I still watch it largely out of devotion. I've watched the Simpsons nearly daily for over twenty years, and at this point, they're like family. They've just always been there, and I can't bring myself to abandon them after all this time. I've been with them when Bart got an F, and when Bart got an A. I was with them when Bart got beat up by Nelson, and I was with them when Homer got raped by Marge. I shed a tear when Homer's mom had to leave again just after reuniting with her son, and I felt mild empathy when she had to do the same thing again a few years later. I remember the Christmas when Bart accidentally burned all their presents, and I remember the Christmas when Homer got raped by a panda. I never quit on them yet, and at this point, I'm in too deep to stop. Maybe, just maybe, it will get better again later, like Saturday Night Live. I mean, the current writers have to die some day, right?
Also, I'd like to point out that Simpsons has always had a sliding timeline. That '90s Show did nothing out of the ordinary, and didn't invalidate any old canon. Flashbacks are X years before the episode was released. That's always been how they do it, and the years don't line up with each other even in old episodes. Just learn to wrap your brains around a sliding timeline and move on.