Les Simpson

When I was 10, I adored the Simpsons, America's favourite dysfunctional family. Me and my brother and sisters watched it every day after school, and got a bagful of laughs. Two years ago though, I stopped watching it. Maybe I didn't find it as funny, creative or as original anymore. Well after seeing the Simpsons Movie, I decided to give the show another chance. And I am glad I did, because it is smart, creative, funny AND original. It is true that the show has been declining in written quality the past three years or so, but the more recent seasons are still watchable, thanks to the animation and the endearing characters.

The show's animation is fantastic. In animated shows, I like animation that is colourful and fluid, and the animation in this show is exactly that. The theme tune is irresistibly catchy and the story lines are outstandingly good. Other than the voice acting what made the show so good was its writing. Not obnoxious or childish, but smart and most importantly funny. And the visual jokes are also impressive.

And the voice acting is exceptional bringing the dysfunctional family to life. Homer is a type of father figure who repeatedly lets down his family, has a love for doughnuts and beer and pretty much hates his job. Dan Castallenetta, a talented voice actor whom I fondly remember as Megavolt from Darkwing Duck, does a great job not only as Homer but as Grandpa and Krusty, not loud and abrasive at all but just right. Julie Kavner is also great as Marge, a caring matriarch who genuinely cares for her family. Nancy Cartwright is perfect as Bart, who is quite naughty and hates school, same with Yeardley Smith as studious Lisa. Plus Maggie is absolutely adorable.

Then there are the supporting characters. My favourite is Grandpa, he is absolutely hilarious. Hank Azaria is amusing as Moe and Chief Wiggum, and Harry Shearer is suitably chirpy as Ned and impresses equally with his monotonic drawls for Principal Skinner and Reverend Lovejoy. There are many memorable guest performances from various celebrities, and frequent appearances from Phil Hartmann and Tress MacNeille. My favourite is Kelsey Grammar as Sideshow Bob, a reprising villain I enjoy watching, sinister yet funny. All in all, despite the fact it isn't as enjoyable as it was, The Simpsons is still a great show. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

The Simpsons is a show that has sustained ten years of constant humor. The stories have gradually become better and the second fiddle characters were getting more screen time which translates into a much more realized show. The pop culture references abound and delight those who can pick them out. My personal favorite is the Citizen Kane references in the episode called "Rosebud." Plus, anything with C. Montgomery Burns is hysterical. The guest stars aren't there as a "special appearance" touted by the networks. They actually work into the storyline, and that makes it all the more enjoyable. Where else can you see The Moody Blues acting like thugs in a Vegas casino?

No one, not even Matt Groening himself, could've imagined that The Simpsons would become as big as it did. Nor could anyone anticipate it could become so cultural. "D'oh" is in the dictionary, and it has spawned off several catch-phrases and one liners. Truly, The Simpsons is the biggest thing since Seinfeld! The first three seasons showed them as if they were an actual family. Like the kind of family you'd meet on the street (only a lot more dysfunctional). Homer trying to do the fatherly thing in each episode. Marge being the voice of reason all the time. Lisa and Bart with their sibling rivalry. These first three seasons are not usually sighted as being the best, but they are often brought up when one speaks of "The Best Episode Ever!" By Season four, the show took a turn for what may have been the best. It left it's more realistic roots and became more of a satire. With more zany antics and more clever, witty, and often times sophisticated humor, The Simpsons became the most popular family on television. Each episode still contained it's own merits, themes and messages. Seasons 4 to about 10 are often said to be the "Golden Age" of The Simpsons.

However, as the year 2000 came, fans began to see themselves divided. Those who stuck with the show since it came about in 1989 were quick to jump on how the show changed. The humor became more lurid and toilet like, with antics becoming heavily more unrealistic and zany (to the point where some even say it isn't funny... but stupid). Some characters becoming unrealistically stupid, and the show shifting gears from focusing on Bart to Homer... to everyone outside of the Simpson family. The show also began to see more cumbersome and meaningless plots. Plots that didn't focus on current issues, or that didn't seem to be as strong as older episodes. Despite this, new fans seem to have come about to replace then, and the show continues to remain at the top of its game, even today.

I'm sure you all know where I stand on that debate. Nine stars to nine fantastic seasons.

What more can I possibly say about a TV show that has already been praised to death? I was 15 when the Simpsons first aired and I'm 25 now. I've seen every single episode, and I'd have to say it's a rare combination of factors that come together to make The Simpsons the best show ever.

It's a very clever and intelligent show - they never dumb anything down - and as creator Matt Groening has remarked, "The Simpsons is a show that rewards paying attention." There are always enough obscure pop-culture references or subtle background gags to ensure that the second, third, or tenth viewing of an episode will find you noticing something you hadn't before.

In the early days of The Simpsons, they derived a large part of their popularity from the everyday, down-to-earth, unglamorous, average-blue-collar-slob aspect of the Simpson family. Homer is lazy and doesn't like his job, Bart doesn't excel at school, the plastic ketchup bottle they use at the dinner table makes that farting sound, and so on. This aspect of the program contrasts it with popular 80's family sitcoms such as The Cosby Show which always featured impossibly well-functioning families who got along a little too perfectly and usually learned a neat little lesson at the end of each episode. An early tag-line for The Simpsons said that they "put the Fun back in Dysfunctional."

Perhaps this blue-collar-slobness by itself is nothing shockingly original - think of previous TV shows such as Roseanne, Married with Children, All in the Family, The Honeymooners - but the Simpsons doesn't stop there. This show is extremely densely packed with jokes - everything from cerebral witticisms and sly satire to Homer falling down and going "D'oh!" Because it's a cartoon, the writers can get away with surreal gags such as the time Homer tells a joke which falls flat, after which a long silence happens which is punctuated by a single tumbleweed rolling through the Simpson's living room.

There are just too many things to mention about The Simpsons. It can be touching occasionally; more often the viewers are treated to an unequalled cavalcade of obscure references, surreal sight gags, wacky adventures, self-mocking irony... The list goes on and on. Just watch it, else you're missing out on one of the most important elements of 1990's popular culture.

I was hesitant to give this the rating I did, but from reading other audience reviews, my review actually will come across as far more... lenient. What can I say that hasn't been said already, the golden age of The Simpsons (seasons 3-8) is flawless television. Going through it again, it was awe inspiring to me how they manage to structure joke upon joke upon joke upon joke, something that must've been a complete breath of fresh air considering the boring, lifeless, milk-toast excuses for comedy shows that were coming around at that time. Yeah, those ones using canned laughter which relied completely on actors and people being loud as an excuse to be funny with a roaring laughter every 5 seconds spoon feeding the audience of when to laugh, with an exception of Seinfeld these were just boring shows for boring people, The Simpsons was intelligent, heart felt, structured and most of all... FUNNY.

However, all good things must come to an end. In an ideal scenario, The Simpsons ended on season 10 and season 9 didn't include the infamous 'The Principal and The Pauper', it lives its legacy as one of the greatest TV shows of all time and is passed down from generation to generation. Sure, the season 9 and 10 weren't golden age material, they were still solid entries in The Simpsons canon but then from season 11, things started to drastically change, we were getting episodes which would've been some of the weaker episodes in a golden age era season that were the best episodes of the season they were actually in. Sure, season 13 was pretty good but the show was tanking in quality almost directly after, pretty much season 14 onwards was terrible (not to mention the really bland movie). Now we're on the 31st season, the show is just completely unwatchable, the best episodes are mediocre and boring and the worst episodes are... 'Lisa Goes Gaga' (if you know what I mean). The show, at this point, is almost completely unrecognisable, a mere slight resemblance of what it once was (even the animation sucks nowadays), that's why it's so damn difficult to rate this show, at the same time it's one of my favourite and least favourite shows, the show should've ended 20 years ago, you can't keep lightning in a bottle for that long, it's not a show that is relevant to today's cultural landscape, it would be so much more respected if it had ended on its 10th season. That's why I can't in good conscience rate this show the 9 or 10/10 that I want to... but the only reason I'm giving it a 7 over a 5 is because even though there is more bad than good of The Simpsons (more signals for it to just end), the golden age is some of the best television to have ever been constructed and cannot be ignored.





Here's how I'd rate the seasons: Season 1 - 8/10 Season 2 - 8/10 Season 3 - 9/10 Season 4 - 9/10 Season 5 - 10/10 Season 6 - 10/10 (best season) Season 7 - 9/10 Season 8 - 8/10 Season 9 - 8/10 Season 10 - 7/10 Season 11 - 6/10 Season 12 - 6/10 Season 13 - 7/10 Season 14 - 5/10 Season 15 - 4/10 Season 16 - 5/10 Season 17 - 4/10 Season 18 - 4/10 Season 19 - 4/10 Season 20 - 6/10 Season 21 onward - 2/10