 Scully 's tenure as showrunner of The Simpsons has been the subject of praise from some of the show 's fans . John Ortved wrote " Scully 's episodes excel when compared to what The Simpsons airs nowadays , but he was the man at the helm when the ship turned towards the iceberg . " The BBC noted " the common consensus is that The Simpsons ' golden era ended after season nine " , while an op @-@ ed in Slate by Chris Suellentrop argued The Simpsons changed from a realistic show about family life into a typical cartoon during Scully 's years : " Under Scully 's tenure , The Simpsons became , well , a cartoon ... [ E ] <unk> that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset ( perhaps while Bart gagged in the background ) now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge 's neck . " The Simpsons under Scully has been negatively labelled as a " gag @-@ heavy , Homer @-@ centric incarnation " by Jon Bonné of MSNBC , while some fans have bemoaned the transformation in Homer 's character during the era , from sweet and sincere to " a boorish , self @-@ aggrandizing oaf " , dubbing him " Jerkass Homer " . 
