If you were to count the episodes on your hand, you’d run through your fingers 60 times. Homer would need 75 rounds. Such is life with four fingers. Other than the digit difference, the Simpsons may as well live down the street. Few families in television have been so unabashedly imperfect. And judging from the show’s longevity, plenty of Americans can accept such a flawed family.
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The Real First Family
In the journey that we call life, it would be swell to be able to take two or three steps without tripping over a certain animated show that has embedded itself so deeply into popular culture that all of us are expected to get every conversational reference its fans throw at us. You know what I’m talking about: Homer and Marge and their kids and his evil boss and her hostile sisters and the pious next-door neighbor and the four dozen others. Don’t you get tired of the assumption that you should know these characters? Aren’t you sick of the way so many people use a moment from “The Simpsons” as a metaphor for real life? Isn’t it like living in a society that adopted Esperanto without letting you vote? Have we lost so many vestiges of mass culture that a TV show – a cartoon! – has to be the glue that holds postmodern society together? And whom should we blame? Read More >>>
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An All-American Family
“The 90’s produced two great TV comedies that acquired a near-cult following: ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘The Simpsons.’ One satirized life in New York; the other satirized life in Springfield, a mythical Anytown, U.S.A. ‘Seinfeld’ is no longer in production, but ‘The Simpsons,’ an animated cartoon unburdened by actors who grow out of their parts or decide to explore their career options, is going strong in its 14th season. Tonight Fox will show the 300th episode, and next season ‘The Simpsons’ will surpass ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ as the longest-running comedy in TV history.” Read More >>>
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The Simpsons Do MacBeth
“Rick Miller is still unsure exactly how he went from a geek as a school kid to a career rooted in Homeresque parody of Shakespearian proportions. Miller is the mastermind behind “MacHomer: The Simpsons Do MacBeth.” The one-man show entails 50 Simpsons characters acting out “MacBeth” with a script that is 85 percent Shakespeare and 15 percent Simpsons. “MacHomer” is a fast-paced adventure, fraught with sensory overload for the audience.
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It’s 300th Episode Eve
There have been a lot of Simpsons articles celebrating 300 episodes this week. Where we’ve seen fit, we posted most of these but they have become a bit repetitive. You wont miss out though. On the eve of the event, here’s some we’ve missed:
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OFF Remains Fresh & Funny
“Perhaps a loving, joke-filled romp down memory lane, complete with insider references and best-of bits, would be the finest way to immortalize The Simpsons as it approaches its landmark 300th episode on Sunday. After all, it’s only a cartoon, right? But no, a jokey tribute wouldn’t do justice to The Simpsons, which is — how to phrase this with the proper amount of gravitas? — the best television series ever made. Period.” Read More >>>
Episodes News
300th Not Up To Standards
“Sunday night marks a television milestone worth celebrating. The Simpsons airs its 300th episode, a powerful rebuttal to the plague of nightmarish reality shows which are collectively leading some to believe the future for scripted programming is dim. It’s too bad, then, that episode 300 is not a great one (opinionated spoilers follow).
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Homer Tops The Top Ten
Homer Simpson is set to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight, reading the top ten list. You heard right. An animated Homer will appear on stage and read the list, in what is obviously a pre-filmed situation. You can catch it on CBS tonight! Australians can catch it just after midnight (Saturday morning). The list “Top Ten Reasons I, Homer Simpson, Am Excited To Be On This Show” reads:
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The World’s Biggest Simpsons Fan?
“Walking into Robert Davidman’s office is like walking into a real, live Springfield. Davidman has figures of most of the town’s residents, including Itchy and Scratchy, Superintendent Chalmers, Homer’s twin Herb Powell and many, many versions of Homer Simpson. He has a Simpsons Rubik’s Cube, a Simpsons Pez dispenser, and a Simpsons chess set. Then there are the Simpsons Shrinky-Dinks, a talking family car, all three editions of the Simpsons issue of Rolling Stone, limited-edition animation cels, an ‘Eye on Springfield’ that plays Simpsons stories when you push a button … The man may have more Simpsons paraphernalia than Bart Simpson has Krusty the Klown merchandise.” Read More >>>
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Comedy Giant Celebrates
“Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons titled “Barting Over” is far from ordinary. It’s the 300th episode, a remarkable landmark for what’s become nothing short of a phenomenon. “After 300 episodes, we’re not overstating to mention it in the same sentence as (Charlie) Chaplin and (Buster) Keaton and Mark Twain,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. “It’s among the pantheon of the best American comic art in our nation’s history.”
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The Voices Behind OFF
“A busy family, those Simpsons. Who knew that Homer guest-starred on “NYPD Blue” and “Friends,” Lisa appeared in “City Slickers” and “As Good as It Gets,” and Bart won an award for a one-woman play called “In Search of Fellini”? Well, OK, they haven’t, but their alter egos – Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith and Nancy Cartwright, respectively – have done those all those things and more.
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Students Learn From Groening
“The opportunity to watch the creators of a simple cartoon family talk about their jobs brought more than 60 students to Morrill Hall on Wednesday night. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening joined head writer Al Jean and cast members Yeardley Smith, Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer to speak about the show at the Museum of Television and Radio in Los Angeles. The panel discussion was carried live through a satellite broadcast inside Mueller Planetarium, Planetarium Coordinator Jack Dunn said.