The Simpsons

[Talon87]

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast 554 episodes, and the 26th season began on September 28, 2014. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million.

The Simpsons is widely considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time. Time magazine's December 31, 1999, issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 31 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Annie Awards, and a Peabody Award. Homer's exclamatory catchphrase "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

Source: Wikipedia

[Talon87]

When I saw a channel with just about every single Simpsons episode on it, I felt a little nostalgic and said, "Sure! Why not?" I started with Google: searching for Top 10 lists of episodes, I found some that listed the best episodes of the most recent seasons. It seemed as good a place to start as any. Reading the synopses (while doing my best to dodge spoilers for material further in), I ended up skipping over most of the recommendations but watched three in total:

Season 20 Episode 13 - "Gone Maggie Gone": this one I watched when it aired on television (either originally or in re-runs) years ago. So I didn't re-watch it now. I'm only listing it with the other three because I saw it on some lists.

Season 22 Episode 21 - "500 Keys": this one was okay. I disliked how the episode opened though: a macguffin on top of a macguffin! The episode could've easily started with the Simpsons car pulling into the driveway (which is right around the start of the second macguffin).

Season 19 Episode 09 - "Eternal Moonshine Of The Simpson Mind": this was a pretty good one. Not as great as the classics, but certainly one of the best I've seen out of anything post-1997. It turned out to be the source of one of the most depressing and amazing things I have ever seen come out of The Simpsons though -- the 2-minute look at Homer's life that was modeled after the "one snapshot a day, every day, for the past n years" videos on YouTube that were popular at the time.

Season 25 Episode 20 - "Brick Like Me": this was really cute. Weak climax with Bart imo (which apparently many critics felt was the episode's best part ), but the majority of the episode was pretty solid.

After I watched these episodes, I felt acutely nostalgic for the old stuff. And I decided to look for either a) old episodes I specifically remembered and wanted to see again or else b) old episodes that people put on their Top 10 lists. So I watched ...

Season 4 Episode 17 - "Last Exit to Springfield": This was the #1 rated episode on Entertainment Weekly's list, a list that was hosted on the Simpsons Wikia. So I figured why not. It wasn't an episode I remembered from childhood at all, but it was pretty solid. More next post.

Season 4 Episode 01 - "Kamp Krusty": I saw that a number of my favorite all-time episodes appear to be in this season so I decided to start at the beginning. This was a childhood favorite and it honestly didn't disappoint as an adult either.

Season 4 Episode 05 - "Treehouse of Horror III": The other sketches for this one sound like they'll be dull but I wanted to watch this one because of the mention of the evil Krusty doll, something I also vaguely remembered from childhood. And it was an okay sketch.

[Talon87]

Two things have stood out to me on watching the older episodes. They bear no relation but I'll just get 'em both mentioned here in this post and then I'll be done with what I came here to write about!

Quality: The quality between Old Simpsons and New Simpsons is as apparent as night and day. Even when I enjoy the best of the new episodes, they feel like they're almost an entirely different program from the older fare. Old Simpsons was, much to my surprise, borderline educational. It felt philosophical without being heavy-handed or smug. It's a whole heck of a lot calmer. There's much less slapstick and much less chasing after punchlines. Jokes happen when they happen; most of the dialogue in older Simpsons episodes is just ordinary (i.e. non-joke) dialogue between characters intended to tell a story, not merely ferry us from one joke to the next. This approach to writing the show was lost somewhere along the way between Season 4 (where I am now) and Season 19 (the oldest of the new seasons I've seen anything of recently). I personally quit watching The Simpsons some time circa 1997, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was around Season 8 when the shift became noticeable. I notice that many people claim the show jumped the shark around Season 9 or 10. Regardless, New Simpsons seems to always be in pursuit of cheap laughs (a lot like Family Guy) whereas Old Simpsons felt a lot more like ... y'know, probably the best way to put it would be ... Old Simpsons felt a lot more like a bedtime story. As strange as that may sound, I feel like it nails on the head what the old episodes are like. They're like bedtime stories, and they just so happen to be ones with some particularly charming, witty, or humorous lines in them that make us want to quote them again and again and again. ("Call Mr. Plow! That's my name! That name again is Mr. Plow!")

This really stood out with the episode that was recommended as the No.1 episode of all time, "Last Exit to Springfield." The premise of the episode is that Homer finds himself elected president of the workers' union and inadvertently defeats Mr. Burns in a series of 1v1 contract negotiations. The ball is set into motion by Lisa's needing to get orthodontic braces: the Simpsons family can't afford to get Lisa proper braces without good dental insurance; and while Homer currently enjoys said dental insurance, he's in danger of losing it thanks to Mr. Burns, who feels that the worker's union has been greedy and needs to be set back a peg or two.

Even the premise of the episode sounds so family-friendly and bedtime story-ey compared with the new stuff. But it wasn't just the premise: the voice acting, the writing, the animation, all of it. It was all so calm and ... well, I can say that when Mr. Burns imitates the Grinch from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it worked so incredibly well because the episode itself reminded me of that holiday cartoon in ways that modern Simpsons simply does not.

Homosexuality: So yeah, I said that these two would have nothing to do with one another. ^^; The other thing I wanted to discuss was homosexuality in the world of The Simpsons. Everyone knows about Wayland Smithers and how he's so lol-obviously gay. But what I didn't realize was just how much homosexuality is joked about or alluded to in older Simpsons episodes! Like, where do I even begin ...

In S4E17, "Last Exit to Springfield," there is a scene where Mr. Burns calls Homer in to his office. It's the first time they're going to engage in contract negotiation. Mr. Burns says some things to Homer which Homer misinterprets as homosexual double entendre. He believes Mr. Burns is coming onto him, saying as much verbatim in his head for us to hear. When Homer hears one Burns gaynuendo too many, he resolutely tells Mr. Burns no and then explains that he will have none of Burns' "backdoor shenanigans." The pun is so obvious to me as an adult, but as a child I wouldn't have detected this at all.

In S4E05 (the third Treehouse of Horror episode), there is a parody of the film King Kong. In it, Smithers represents the expedition leader's second-in-command. When Burns (the leader) asks Smithers about letting Marge (the female protagonist) onto the boat, Smithers replies that he doesn't believe in mixing "women with sea men." The sea men / semen pun is again something I wouldn't have really picked up on as a child, but one layer beyond that we have the fact that Smithers is saying he doesn't believe in mixing women and semen, i.e. he believes in mixing men with semen, i.e. he's gay as a San Fran parade.

In the same episode, different sketch, there's a scene where Homer is running for his life from a killer doll. He is butt naked but for a shower curtain or a bath towel or some such, something to prevent him from being nude in front of us but still sufficiently naked so as to be "naked" to others. You get the idea. Anyway, he runs right past Marge, Selma, and Patty in the Simpsons' kitchen. And Patty comments, "There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality." Now I thought that Patty Bouvier's being a lesbian was something that didn't happen until years later, like, years after I quit watching the show back in '97. I was pretty surprised to see such an obvious reference to her homosexuality back in Season 4, in an episode that would have aired in 1993.

As a kid, I always thought that it wasn't until the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" two-parter that Smithers' homosexuality (and the topic of homosexuality in general) was broached by the Simpsons writers. I guess maybe because by that point it was beginning to become super obvious rather than subtle? But yeah, wow. As an adult looking back on older episodes now, I feel like the Simpsons a) was surprisingly bold for a show of its time period to keep bringing up the gay jokes, whether on the side of gays or whether at their expense, and b) did it a lot more than I remembered.

[Slash]

Well, while I'll say the high points of older Simpsons best most of the high points of the newer, I'd consider newer Simpsons more consistently good. Older simpsons had a huge amount of flops, which get lost among the more epic episodes.

[Emp]

Classic Simpsons trumps any cartoon in its category. Futurama is consistently great and I loved Family Guy up until season 8 or so but there’s nothing that comes close to the charm of the Simpsons. Episodes like “You only move twice”, “deep space homer” and “lisa vs malibu stacey” really fill me with a mix of amusement and nostalgia I just don’t get from any other TV show. One thing I love in particular about the Simpsons is how they’ve managed to develop so many of their background characters. Principle Skinner, Flanders, Moe, Apu and Ralph are among my favourite characters. In comparison Family Guy’s townspeople are reserved for worn-out gags and will never be remembered in the same light.

You mentioned the references to homosexuality back when it was a big deal on TV, “Homer’s Phobia” is such a perfect episode for that reason. This was back in a time when it was the standard for straight men to feel uncomfortable around gay men and I think this episode tackles that issue perfectly. It’s such a funny episode (especially the scenes where Homer tries to make Bart more masculine) and it has a really positive message – especially for the late nineties.

Another episode I love is “Homer’s Enemy”. The entire episode just delivers one punchline after another and Frank Grimes is a great foil for Homer. It’s also noted as one of the darker episodes in Simpsons history – I’d definitely recommend jumping ahead and watching it if you can’t remember the episode too well.

[Talon87]

Never seen "Homer's Phobia." But I have seen "Homer's Enemy" several times, and the climax is fresh enough in my memory to make it not worth re-watching right now.

I've watched several more episodes since last time. None have been worse than "Fair - 6/10" and all have displayed that feel-good, kind-hearted "bedtime story" character I spoke of before. It is really unfortunate that the show is no longer written this way. Alas.

Season 4 Episode 06 - "Itchy & Scratchy: the Movie": this was an okay episode. It surprised me in at least one way, but aside from that this was the most overt and boring "philosophizing on good parenting" episode I've seen yet.

Spoiler: show

I had not expected Bart to go without seeing the film until he was in his 40s. I would've expected him to get to see the film much sooner.

Season 04 Episode 08 - "New Kid on the Block": I didn't watch this one but it's an old favorite and deserves a mention. This is the one with Bart's first crush.

Season 04 Episode 09 - "Mr. Plow": an old favorite that I did rewatch. Was mellower than I remembered but also, frankly, solider family programming than I remembered too. They don't make 'em like they used to!

Season 04 Episode 10 - "Lisa's First Word": Hands down the best episode of the ones I've rewatched. Not the funniest. But the best. This episode explores the nine months of Marge's pregnancy with Lisa and the first year or two afterward. It's both an amazing episode in its own right as well as a goldmine of canon treasures for Simpsons aficionados. Probably the most amazing thing to me with regards to the latter is that since the episode features Homer watching various Olympic sporting events in the days before, during, and after Lisa's birth, fans not only know with certainty the year she was born (1984) but the month and likely day as well. But it isn't for Simpsons canon that you primarily watch this episode. That's the inch-thick icing on the cake, yes, but the cake itself is getting to see Bart from roughly age 2 to age 4 and the impact that Lisa's arrival has on his life.

Season 4 Episode 12 - "Marge vs. the Monorail": this episode is played up by the Internet as one of the greatest Simpsons episodes of all time. Me personally? Meh. ^^; It was okay, but it wasn't anywhere near as good, funny, or memorable as the Internet makes it out to be. Strangely, the Simpsons Wikia article for this episode contains many details in its plot summary that were either not in the 23-minute episode I watched or else were in direct contradiction to it. The Wikipedia article (not Simpsons Wikia) agrees with me, describing the episode I watched. Some of the odd Wikia claims include ...

Spoiler: show

* that Lisa was not fooled by Lyle Lanley. Wikipedia agrees with me that, at least in the episode I saw, Lyle puts the charms on Lisa to good effect and wins her over too.

* that Lisa voiced concerns when Homer gave them a tour of the conductor's room. Lisa has no lines whatsoever in this scene. O_o In fact, the only time you even see her body is at the very start of the scene when the family has just entered.

* that Marge, after discovering Lyle's notebook, drives home first, talks with Lisa, and then drives to North Haverbrook. That isn't what happened at all. Not in the episode I watched, anyway. And Wikipedia agrees with me. We both say that after Marge exited Lyle's office, she drove straight to North Haverbrook. No pitstop home first, no conversation with Lisa.

* that Lyle deliberately sabotaged the control panel. There's no evidence that he did this. What he did do is deliberately use cheap, unsafe parts to build the monorail. That much is true. But it's not like he wanted the monorail to break down: just that he had an expectation it would.

* that Lisa accompanies Marge in trying to help Homer stop the monorail. Again, no. Lisa's not in this scene at all. It's just Marge and Cobb.

* that in between the monorail coming to a full stop and the audience being shown Springfield's other disastrous construction projects there is a scene where the town apologizes to Marge for not listening to her, disassembles the monorail, and uses the salvaged parts to fix Main Street. That is not at all how the episode went. O_o It seamlessly transitions from the post-monorail-stopping scene to a slow zoom out where we're shown the other construction projects. No apologies made to Marge. No words about Main Street's fate. And the monorail can still clearly be seen alongside the other projects, no evidence of disassembly whatsoever.

The differences are so numerous and so specific that I don't know what is going on. Either:

1. whoever wrote the Wikia article did so from memory and is remembering a lot of things that never happened
2. there are two different versions of the episode (e.g. an original airing and a syndicated version)
3. Wiki vandalism and/or just wanting to test and see how long it takes for the Simpsons community to spot the errors

B would normally seem the most likely but it only best explains the differences of omission. Differences of alteration (dialogue, animation) are less likely to be explained away this way. Not to mention that my version was 23 minutes long, leaving only seven minutes for commercial breaks. That seems like it would be the original broadcast length. It's strange. Very strange. Anyway: the episode isn't that good.

One last thing I'll comment on: Conan O'Brien. He is credited as the writer of S4E12 (the monorail episode). He is also credited as the producer of S4E10 (the Lisa is born episode). So it's kind of neat to me that he is attached both to an episode I felt was meh but the Internet adores as well as to an episode I thought was fantastic. I wonder what his responsibilities would have been as producer.

[Mercutio]

> Itchy and and Scratchy movie was season 4

Oh man what happened I used to be young

[SoS]

Having those same feelings with Marge Vs. The Monorail Kush, which is still probably my favourite episode. The musical number. The Batman exchange. Every single thing out of Leonard Nimoy's mouth.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows

The musical number.

I see this brought up a lot in favor of the episode. But the musical number in "Marge vs. the Monorail" was:

1. simple
2. short
3. not that funny (personal opinion)

Pretty much the opposite of Troy McClure's Planet of the Apes: the Musical, which remains my personal favorite Simpsons musical number of all time. It's clever, it's long, and it's hilarious. Sadly, there are no good complete versions of it online. Everything's either got horrible video, horrible audio, incomplete audio and video, or even all three. So I'll just have to trust that you, being the music man you are, know exactly which skit I'm referring to.

Obligatory warning for those who may not have seen Planet of the Apes before: yes, the Simpsons musical number spoils various details of the movie. I'd suggest against hunting for it if you still haven't seen either.

[Mercutio]

Yeah see I'd go with SoS there. The Planet of the Apes thing is distinctly mediocre at best and has very little to recommend it musically. It's got half funny lyrics if you already know why it should be funny but that's about it.

Also Stonecutters for best song y/n/fy

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

Yeah see I'd go with SoS there. The Planet of the Apes thing is distinctly mediocre at best and has very little to recommend it musically. It's got half funny lyrics if you already know why it should be funny but that's about it.

Also Stonecutters for best song y/n/fy

I'd put it ahead of the Monorail song but behind PotA:tM.

And I'll grant you that PotA:tM isn't as funny if you don't get the references, but I still think it'd be plenty funny that way. With getting the references, it's just amazing. And I guess I mean "references" in a broad sense, too, because:

• narrative references to the film
• that breakdancing and hiphop/rap, Broadway, and science fiction are all brought together in one place ... it's a nice bit of satire about how people try to grab the youth's interest in something by coupling it with something else previously established to be "cool," or more generally about how you try to make a blockbuster by cramming in as many things that appeal to a wide spectrum of people as possible
• understanding the character of Troy McClure and now seeing him in "the part [he] was born to play, baby!"

It's easily one of the greatest Simpsons moments of all time.

[Mercutio]

Fair shout.