The Simpsons chat-thread
 

It goes without saying that “[how] the mighty have fallen” is a good nomer (no, Homer) for the way the show’s gone over the years (especially from season 21 onwards) but it’s still a good show and in its true heyday was one of the best shows on the box (for adults, teenagers and children, alike). I just thought it would be a good idea to do-up a thread where any enthusiast from the past or present could dip in and share their personal musings about what Millhouse, Lisa, Dr Hibbert and Maggie-the-Burns-eliminator (nearly) were or are doing.

I’ll start with reiterating what Marge was saying in tonight’s episode (Sky channel) about Bart needing boundaries and structure. I think that goes for all of us at this point (especially post-Covid), not just borderline-A.D.H.D.-afflicted 10-year-old skate-boys.

I sometimes think I should go back and watch the Simpsons from the start onwards. Growing up it was already such a big thing so you'd just see random episodes all the time and never really get a sense of any continuity or when and how the show had developed

That’s a good shout, to be fair. A lot of things we know as characteristic of the Simpsons now (Homer being a doting-but-dim-witted doughnut-loving papa) weren’t firmly-established when the show first came out. The early episodes show Homer’s character in a much darker (and way less trippy/stupid) lens than the Homer we know today but for some reason that was dropped after the first season-and-a-half and it was decided that he’d just be a harmless goof instead. He still had those paroxysmal outbursts of “why, you little!” with Bart (strangling for black-comedy trimmings) but not in the borderline-abusive way that sort of typified their relationship in the beginning.

Taking the dark-but-slightly theatrical and ditzy-but-still-kinda-smart characters (Jean Slater, Chelsea Daniels, whoever the characteristically-dumb one was between Kenan and Kel, Eric from Boy Meets World, London Tipton) and turning them into total comedic buffoons is a character trope I’ve never really liked (at all) but in Homer’s case it did sort of evolve his character and make him someone to root for (much more naturally than with Peter Griffin, who’s always had far fewer redeeming features even when he was less stupid). I thought it was fair enough but Lisa turning into a perpetual/static vegetarian off the back of that one old episode with the lamb had gone unchecked for way too long and it just doesn’t represent who she needs to be as a character. I’ve never liked that.

I just love Marge, man.