One of the great creative innovations America has given the world in the past 30 years is TV animation.
That sounds like hyperbole, but it’s true. The Simpsons changed how we look at the American family (and current events). Rick and Morty changed how we looked at comedy and the tragedy behind it. (“Wubba lubba dub dub.” Also, current events.) South Park changed how we looked at each other (and current events).
The problem is that those shows all started doing that a very long time ago. Rick and Morty is nine seasons in. South Park is 28. The Simpsons is 37 damn seasons deep. There are children who weren’t born when the series debuted who now have children who themselves are old enough to think Bart has got this whole life thing figured out.
All three of those shows are nominated for outstanding animated program this year. So is Bob’s Burgers, which just completed its 20th season. Now, a charitable view would hold that such shortlisting reflects the durability of these shows — how they manage to maintain their creative spark through so many changing winds.
There is something to that — it’s not easy to do anything well for three decades, let alone maintain character freshness.
