20-foot-tall Simpsons

The Simpsons Movie comes out July 27. The three teaser trailers were worthless, each containing one joke (one of the teasers even commented on the fact that 20th Century Fox didn't have anything to show us yet), but the full-length trailer is surprisingly good. I'm surprised because I didn't expect much from it, having been a loyal Simpsons fan for the past 16+ years but watching it die a slow death since 1996.

In hindsight, the Springfield Isotopes' "Free Torch Night" was a bad idea.

No, the last 11 years haven't been all bad; in fact, some of this season's episodes have been much better than I expected, including "Homerazzi," which aired back in March and was hilarious from start to finish. But part of me does wish the show had been canceled, or ended at the producers' request, back in '95 when every episode was still perfect. If that were the case, old fans would now talk about The Simpsons the way people talk about the Beatles. Instead The Simpsons is often talked about the way people talk about the Rolling Stones post-Exile on Main Street, i.e. "Oh, that show is still on? Huh." One exciting thing about the movie is that old Simpsons writers like Jon Vitti, John Swartzwelder, and David Mirkin have contributed to the screenplay, which bodes well for the final product.

But I look forward to seeing The Simpsons Movie in the theater with newer fans who aren't going to put up with my jaded, boring "things were better back in the '90s" talk. Good for you, newer fans! I hope we can all find something to love in the Simpsons' first big-screen outing.