I've always loved The Simpson's. I'm one of those die hard, raving mad, relentless fans. Unfortunately, mine is a dying breed. It's no longer cool to be a Simpson's fan. Quoting the Simpson's is now not only considered passe but is frequently met with contempt. "Anyone can quote The Simpson's" was a response I recently overheard to a quote made from one such fan, spoken with as much sarcasm as could be expressed. It breaks my heart! As one who prides myself on my ability to quote a line from The Simpson's to meet any situation I just can't stand by and do nothing anymore. Even my very own family, those of you reading this right now, have stopped watching it. I can't believe things have come to this. It's time to have a serious conversation about the whole thing.Now I'm just going to attack the problem at it's root right away. There may be several reasons why people have stopped watching it but as ravenous a fan as I am, I'm able to look at it rationally. I know what the problem is. For the first few years the show was edgy. It pushed the limits of what the public was willing to take from an animated program, a medium that was supposed to be reserved for kids on Saturday morning. I remember my dad wouldn't let my sisters and I watch it because he felt that it belittled fathers in general. (The irony was not lost on me even at 12 when I learned he was secretly enjoying Married with Children at the same time.) But for all the controversy surrounding it that's not why it was successful. It was heartwarming at the same time. Controversy may get somebody to watch your show a time or two but it won't stand the test of time. A classic has to offer something deeper. You can watch any one of the first 100 episodes and take a meaningful, moral life lesson from it. Bart frequently got into trouble but always learned from it and was drawn closer to his dysfunctional family. I can think of so many examples that illustrate this that my head is swimming! Let's take the episode where Bart sneaks off to neighborhood bully Nelson Muntz' house lured by Nelson's recent acquisition of a BB gun against Marge's explicit forbidding him to go. He ends up accidentally killing a bird and finding that the bird has left a nest full of eggs, infuriating and alienating his mother in the process. He feels so bad that he nurses the eggs in his treehouse, while Marge feigns apathy at his continued disobedience. When carniverous Bolivian tree lizards hatch instead of chicks Bart protects them from would-be exterminators. No one understands how he could love a creature that so many consider a monster. But Marge sees herself in the situation, a mother who unconditionally loves Bart, no matter how bad he can sometimes be, and helps Bart free the lizards. Episodes like this are what made The Simpson's so popular.
The problem is that after the first few seasons someone decided that the show was growing stale, though many, including the show's own writers not to mention myself, felt that The Simpson's reached perfection by the fourth season. (My all time favorite episode, Lisa the Vegetarian, was from the fourth season.) So somebody decided to move away from the heartwarming format and towards a more in-your-face style. This happened slowly. So slowly that it is hard to notice unless you sit down to a good, old-fashioned Simpson's marathon. By the tenth season Bart was out and Homer was clearly the star of the show. He wasn't really the same Homer from the show's beginning, however. Now, instead of a bumbling but good-intentioned Joe Sixpack, he was a cruel drunk who could be downright mean sometimes. I think this is about the time the show started losing some of its viewers. At the very least I know that this is about when my family stopped watching regularly.
Thankfully, the show has come full circle in the last few seasons. If you haven't watched much in the last few years give it another try. You'll see a lot of the same heartwarming stuff that made the show so great in the beginning. There have also been quite a few episodes lately that really show off that Harvard wit that the made some of the first episodes so unforgettable. If you don't want to wait until Sunday you can see the most recent episodes for free online. Try this site: http://www.hulu.com/the-simpsons .
The Simpson's is so much a part of me that the day they stop making it I won't die a little, I'll die a lot... and I may never be the same! I just can't stand to see it dipping in popularity, especially now that it's back to what it used to be. I'm afraid that the people who lost interest and moved on to other things years ago won't come back to it. If you're one of them YOU'RE MISSING OUT! I once sent out emails to the companies that advertised during The Simpson's thanking them for sponsoring my favorite program and promising to purchase the goods they advertised. I've decided to start that up again and encourage everyone I know to do the same. Come on people! Homer needs us! Keep The Simpson's alive! If I end up having to cake a stick of Secret Clinical Strength onto my armpits and go to Menlove Dodge Toyota to pick up a 2009 Ram 1500 ensured by Geico and then cruise over to Applebee's for a Pick-a-Pair lunch combo for only $5.99 just to keep The Simpson's on the air for one more week then damnit, that's what I'll do!
