I haven't watched The Simpsons for a few years. After tuning in to last night's episode, I am reminded why.

Think Happy Days without Richie Cunningham or The Brady Bunch with Oliver. That's how bad Simpsons circa-2004 is. Guys, it's time to end it. Your show isn't funny anymore.

In last night's episode, the government sends the Simpsons to prison for being unpatriotic. There, they meet The Dixie Chicks, Bill Clinton, Michael Moore, and Al Franken, and are forced to enroll in the "Ronald Reagan Re-Education Center." In post 9/11 America, a cartoon Bill of Rights is shown drunk and vomiting.

Part of me resents the heavy-handed political message, part of me resents how unfunny the show was. Perhaps the two go hand in hand. Liberals imagine political persecutions after 9/11, but Michael Moore and Al Franken found themselves atop the bestseller lists--not in jail.

Did the Academy withhold Tim Robbins and Sean Penn's Oscars? Didn't The Dixie Chicks sell out practically everywhere they played? Were Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal's books pulled off the shelves at Barnes and Noble? The Left has a persecution complex.

All good things come to an end. Unfortunately, when The Simpsons sign off the good will have come to an end long before.

I think the biggest turn in the shows great run was when Paul Begala started writing the episodes.

Think of Hall & Oates without the Oates.... you have to the Oates.

Actually, I thought it had more to do with a work stoppage (weren't the cast protesting for more money per episode...don't they all??)or something of that nature. Very shoddy show Sunday last - didn't it look like it was bits & pieces spliced together without much thought?