Episodes as recent as March 2016 are in syndication.
Also, the show has taken that same dreadful turn that Seinfeld, Will & Grace and even Roseanne took, where it becomes more farcical and everyone is suddenly a dumbed-down moron.
I still love and appreciate every minute of the show and would rather live with it than without it, but I'm seeing some downgrades.
It's not quite as bad as Roseanne yet. Roseanne just got down right stupid in the last few seasons. I never watched Will & Grace.
However, I would leave Seinfeld out of this discussion. Sure, it had some dogs, as every show does, but it was brilliant up to the end. I will agree that it did get more farcical, but it was still far better than a lot of stuff that was on at the time or has been on since.
Just think about some of the season 9 Seinfeld episodes. The Merv Griffin show was a deconstruction of the sitcom, talk show, and TV as a genre. The Betrayal, inspired by a Harold Pinter play by the same name. Where are you gonna find that in sitcoms...ever? The Cartoon, a deconstruction of humor, what is funny, and why we think it's funny.
OMG Roseanne went completely off the rails.
The entire premise of the show was relatable to average families and how we all dealt with the economy, tragedies, happiness and trouble. The season before they won the lottery was bad but after was a travesty.
The last two seasons haven't been nearly as good as the previous ones, and they're trying to hard to be political and relevant instead of sticking to what's worked.
For instance, last week, Gloria supposedly had English language barriers (still) that were so bad she needed assistance, but did you notice this week her English is almost perfect except for a slight accent?
There's. I thing wrong with schticky comedy, but find new vehicles.
Where was Dwight this episode? He's living with Cam and Mitch, and he wasn't even at either of the high school Halloween parties.
Okay, so it's a process. I'm hanging in there.
Seinfeld got dumb after the episode where George and Elaine kind of switched places in their lives and George got the gig with the Yankees. Roseanne changed over after the episode where Becky eloped with Mark. It was a slippery slope to Roseanne becoming a raging bitch and Jackie turning into Don Knotts.
I think it could be about time to finish it up. It's been one of my favorite shows of all time, but it has gotten a little stale. I would love to see it wrapped up with a Hailey/Andy reuniting and wedding.
shareAgreed, but I think this ship was leaking about 1-2 seasons ago.
Every character has become a creepy and unbearable caricature, and I can't go through with sitting for an entire episode anymore. The writers managed to take my favorite character, Phil and has made him into a cowardly buffoon who no longer stands up for himself to his wife.