[legion]

Slightly-related detour...

I stopped watching the Simpson's regularly around 1999 or so. Every once and a while I catch an episode, and I can predict the course of it with pretty good accuracy. It got old and formulaic awhile ago. (I still think the best episodes are the ones Conan O'brien wrote.)

Futurama, on the other hand, still seems to be fresh and original. I think a series can only go through two sets of writers (usually about a decade) before it gets repetitive. At least Futurama is on that second set now...

One notable exception is South Park, but there the creators of the show still drive it. I guess I kind of picture Matt Groening as collecting his big fat checks every month and only occasionally checking in on his two series....