I think there is a bit of a hard limit on how much you can do with a show like this. Every single character has been “flanderized” (a term literally FROM the simpsons) to a point where they are complete one-dimensional caricatures, they have run out of organic stories from within the universe so they have to increasingly pull stories from the real world, but because its a network family show they have to make their conclusions “balanced” and that doesn’t work in a world as polarized as ours actually is.
That is why South Park still works, because it has a smaller audience and doesn’t have to pull a “balanced” view, they can actually take a position that would never fly on network television and therefore retain the approval of, at least, their core audience. The Simpsons has to keep from making anyone in the audience ANGRY and so therefore they cannot really please anyone either.
I think there is a bit of a hard limit on how much you can do with a show like this. Every single character has been “flanderized” (a term literally FROM the simpsons) to a point where they are complete one-dimensional caricatures, they have run out of organic stories from within the universe so they have to increasingly pull stories from the real world, but because its a network family show they have to make their conclusions “balanced” and that doesn’t work in a world as polarized as ours actually is.
That is why South Park still works, because it has a smaller audience and doesn’t have to pull a “balanced” view, they can actually take a position that would never fly on network television and therefore retain the approval of, at least, their core audience. The Simpsons has to keep from making anyone in the audience ANGRY and so therefore they cannot really please anyone either.