Hi all you blog fans out there, hope you are all well. If you’re in England, you’re probably enjoying the sunshine and the rain that is parading over us at the moment. If you are elsewhere, I have no idea what your weather is like but you do! That made little sense so I’ll just get on with my subject for today. I’m trying to write at least 3 articles a week as one a day was proving too much when thinking of the load I have for other projects I am involved in.
I want to talk to you today about a television show I love to pieces. So much so that for months, it was practically the only thing I watched on television. I loved the humour, the animation and the fact it parodies reality in its style and approach. I am talking about The Simpsons, America’s greatest animated family, next to the Flintstones. Although, compared to the Flintstones, the Simpsons have run for 15 more seasons.
I remember seeing The Simpsons in the mid 90s, when BBC2 used to show it daily at 6pm. Those were glorious days, when you would tune into the show at 6, then watch Fresh Prince afterwards. The bonus with it being on the BBC was that there were no adverts to disturb the enjoyment. Occasionally, they would play Star Trek – The Next Generation instead of FP, which to some would have been a great joy. I was never a big fan of Star Trek until recently when I realised I finally have the patience to appreciate and enjoy it.
It shocked me to learn, years later, that the Simpsons are not intended for Children. At first glance, it looks like a cuddly children’s programme, but the content is more universal and occasionally a lot more daring. Other shows such as Family Guy, have taken this and gone way ahead with the adult humour. In later seasons of the Simpsons, they started to address deeper issues, such as sexuality, in which Homer befriends a homosexual then tries to stop Bart from becoming one. This is not the subject matter of a programme aimed at little kiddies. In the early 90s, Bart was seen as a bad influence because of the things he got up to, but as Matt Groening has pointed out, the early shows that caused this offence play “so sweet now”.
I have to say I prefer the earlier seasons. Seasons One to Five are probably my favourite of them all. They are the makings of a show that would become an institution the world over. Sure the animation was a little crude early on, but the material was there from the off. Homer seems to have become more stupid as time has gone on and it’s put the show out of context. They’re now looking for stories, and they’re starting to get very hard to come by. The earlier seasons would feature a flashback episode, where they would go back to 1980 to when Bart was born, and things like that. They really started to mess with the continuity as they struggle to look for stories of originality. It was when Bart says in a more recent episode, “the 90s, never heard of it”. This is despite the fact that in 1991 he had a hit with “Do The Bartman”, a rap record written by Michael Jackson. They really mess with the continuity and history of the show.
This isn’t supposed to a complaining post, because I’m sure they get plenty of them on a daily basis, I actually still enjoy the show. Everything fits together well and they have a proven format they know works. It was when they tried to make it into a movie that it went a bit far. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t find myself enjoying that movie very much. This is maybe because they showed all the best bits in the promotion for it. They did a Culture Show special, which looked at the history and showed clips from the film. I hate it when they do this, as they give away the memorable jokes. The movie gets a thumbs down from me I’m afraid.
Anyway, I’m going to end this post for now. I could say loads about The Simpsons, I’ve seen seasons One through to 15, after that it got a little hazy after that but I’m sure if you showed me episodes from later seasons, I’ve seen them. If you have opinions about the show, then please get in contact and comment here, your opinions all add to the point of a blog!
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