When is the perfect spot to stop watching The Simpsons on Disney+? The Simpsons is the longest-running sitcom of all time, and that isn't out of blind luck. The Simpsons has remained a major influence on pop culture, from its popularity in the 1990s to today, and now it's accessible to whole new audiences thanks to streaming service Disney+.
Disney+ is now the home to all 30 seasons of The Simpsons, with over 600 episodes for veteran fans and newcomers alike to watch. However, since The Simpsons has been going since 1989, it's understandable that the show has had a dip in quality. Recent seasons of the show still have a good episode from time to time, but it becomes rarer as the years go by. That's made worse because The Simpsons' Golden Age was such a peak, so it's a harder fall.
The Simpsons starts going bad in season 9, which marks the end of the Golden Age. A key turning point of the show is the season 9 episode "The Principal and the Pauper," where Principal Skinner is revealed to be an imposter. However, leaving the show at this episode would genuinely be a disservice for some quality episodes to come. Instead, the best point to stop watching The Simpsons on Disney+, whether you've seen before or not, is season 11's "Behind The Laughter".
"Behind The Laughter" is the last episode of The Simpsons season 11, so it makes for a nice cut-off point in that regard since it is a finale in its own right. A parody of VH1's Behind The Music, the episode is a narrative telling of the fictional story behind The Simpsons' rise and fall, charting their own golden years and decline, trials and tribulations in a very meta, utterly hilarious sense. What makes it particularly well as an ending for The Simpsons is that it really does feel like a culmination of the show's entire journey up to that point. The story might be fictional, but there's nonetheless a genuine sense of finality behind it.
The Simpsons is a show that's in part defined by the fact its characters don't age, which makes finding an ending all the more difficult than a regular TV show. Stopping your The Simpsons watch on Disney+ with "Behind The Laughter" offers what feels like one, and a good episode to boot. It also means that you stick with the show through seasons 10 and 11, which are by no means bad, but then avoid the greater decline that is still to come in later years.