People who think early Simpsons was brilliant comedy haven’t watched it since the 90s. It was certainly ground-breaking but it has aged poorly.
The real problem is that the show hasn’t really changed since the 90s. And since everyone and their grandma has been doing variations on their jokes for 30 years them telling those same jokes is going to make the show look lame.
If the Lady Gaga episode had aired in 1992 it’d be a fondly remembered “Hey! A celebrity!” episode like the X-files one.
