You don’t like “Marge vs. The Monorail”?
You must be out of your gourd. Marge vs. the Monorail is a classic episode.
My first exposure to The Simpson’s was via the song “Do The Bartman”, and as a result of that, I refused to have anything to do with the show for the first 5 series. Imagine how hard I kicked myself later.
I have no idea how I missed this.
Simpsons satire is very time-sensitive IMO, targeted at the viewing cohort who was born around 1970. The farther you get from that date, the fewer cultural references will be obvious to you. The fewer obvious references you see, the less you’ll look for the subtler references. People my age (born 1970-ish) see it as satire relevant to the late 80’s to mid-90’s. People slightly younger than me see it as a smart zany slapstick show. People in their 20’s just see it as a dumb adolescent cartoon (and it has gotten a lot dumber lately).
You forgot the best part of that joke.
Reader’s Digest was sponsoring the contest.
As mentioned, the early seasons were very, very funny.
Kwiki-Mart Guru Knows All.
(Except combination to safe.)
Ah, that explains it.
I am clearly too old for the show.
Thank you.
Well, you either like it or you don’t. Do you like stuff like Monty Python and Saturday Night Live? You have to like some zany stuff that doesn’t necessarily make sense.
To me it works on several different levels, low-brow humor, satire, and even philosophy.
Interesting family dynamic, “favorite son” Bart that gets away with everything, middle child and smart kid Lisa, wife Marge trying to hold everything together, Homer stumbling around doing whatever he feels like. Lots of good supporting characters like Apu, Moe, Lenny & Carl, and Mr. Burns.
The only bad things to me are the lack of storyline consistency and the poorer story quality that last several years. But still quite a few gems even in recent years.
I dunno about that. I was born in the early 80’s, and the humor often seems perfectly targeted at me (though obviously there are episodes where it’s one big whoosh parade). The show IS an adolescent, semi-vulgar cartoon, but it’s often also wicked satire and great physical comedy. Some episodes focus more on the adolescent stuff, some on the satire, and some on real character moments (rare though they might be, who can forget the fairly moving Homers Mom?). I like that the show has so many angles; it sometimes goes completely off-kilter and fails utterly (like some of those pointlessly random surreal bits), but at least it tries. Whether it’s comedy gold or a comedy trainwreck, I enjoy the show.
Also, the whole decline of the Simpsons mantra is overstated; I’ve watched every episode from seasons 1 to the middle of 16, and there are classics mixed in with clunkers throughout the entire run. Perhaps there was a higher proportion of classics during the “golden age”, but the show hasn’t changed so fundamentally to justify going from pure fellatin’ love to rabid dick-chomping fury.
Agree. I think most of the hate stems from the fact that people can only tolerate a specific comedic concept for so long.
Along these lines, I will note that maybe ten years ago, they had alternative rockers on the show (“Homerpalooza”?). Recently, they ran a nostalgia episode about the '90s, satirizing alternative rock. The show really has lived for generations.
My dad is in his 70s and it’s one of the few TV shows he watches.
See, he probably relates to Grandpa and the retirement home crowd. Jasper is one of my favorite characters.
Marge’s voice (or worse, her sisters’ voices) may be an aquired taste, and I can see how you could find it grating. (Though every once in a while, Julie Kavner can deliver a seemingly-mundane line in a way that makes it absolutely hilarious.) As for the rest of it, I can only concur with what other posters have already said in defense of the show. The writing (at least on the better episodes) is among the most intelligent on TV, the voice acting is brilliant, the humor ranges from lowbrow to very sophisticated and includes satire, parody, pop-culture references, surreal silliness, slapstick, and character-based humor. And, as with just about any TV show, you’ll enjoy it more once you develop a little familiarity with its characters, settings, and gimmicks.
I didn’t watch the show as a kid because it wasn’t around then, but I’ve been watching for as long as it has been around, and I’m still watching and enjoying the classic episodes on DVD and the new episodes on Sunday nights.
I agree. I especially like the new ones on rerun, because I usually find I’ve forgoten them entirely.
If you don’t like the Simpsons that’s just fine too.
I had a snobbish disdain for it through the first half of the '90s until a friend from grad school, whose taste I trusted, told me the key to enjoying the show: it rewards you for paying attention.
And he was right.
Let me guess, you hate the Beatles too?
If I’m not mistaken, that has singing in it. I do have a small problem with singing cartoons. Let’s just say that all too often, when the whole comic concept is built on Homer being pointlessly stupid and mean, I saw the name Conan in the credits. That’s all I’m saying.
[comic book guy] Worst. Thread. Ever. [comic book guy]
If this has been said already I am sorry!