Show has been "bad" longer than it has been good

It still had hilariously witty and creative episodes as late as like 2005, in my opinion. Pearls were still coming in as late as 2007/8. As soon as they went widescreen and HD the writing quality tanked massively. (That was in 2009)

I don't agree with your analysis. However, I can't believe it is still going and I find recent episodes so terrible...... it just horrifies me frankly, it's so poor. It's like a delusional relative that refuses to go into a retirement home no matter how many times she/he has fallen down the stairs or whatever.

I can count the number of enjoyable or memorable episodes since 2009 on one hand ("Moonshine River", also the one where Bart plays the prank on the cruise ship... thats about all of them really)

Like the Rolling Stones, they have to keep it going to show how unstoppable they are. It's another way to thumb their nose at all the people who can't believe there is an audience out there that takes the show seriously.

Seasons 3-9 are the golden era. Everything after 9 was bad.

The last episode I remember really enjoying was when Bart started making an Angry Dad comic about Homer and then at the end after people quit reading his comic, he had set a trap for Homer to write a new Angry Dad comic. Then Homer falls into said trap and gets green paint all over him from it. So he starts acting like the Hulk. Stan Lee makes an appearance too. I liked that one.

Depressing when you think of it this way