The Simpsons have reached another episode milestone, Fox network aired episode 600 (Tree house of Horror XXVll) on Sunday October 16, 2016.
This Fox prime-time, animated sitcom has been on the air for 27 years, but the family’s first appearance was two years earlier on April 19, 1987 as the cast of animated shorts on another Fox program, The Tracy Ullman Show. Originally, the animated shorts was supposed be an animated adaption of Matt Groening’s comic strip, Life in Hell.
Realizing that he may end up losing the publication rights to his comic strip, he sketched his version of a dysfunctional, crude, cartoon family and pitched them instead to James L. Brooks, a producer for The Tracy Ullman Show and later on,the executive producer for The Simpsons.
The cast for the shorts was made of Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (These two actors were already part of The Tracy Ullman Show.) who play Homer Simpson and Marge Simpson respectively along with Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith as Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson.
The Simpson family appeared on Fox as their own show on December 17 1989 in the episode, The Simpsons Roasting over an Open Fire. The first episode was going to be Some Enchanted Evening but animation needed to be redone before the episode aired. The movie adaption of the series was released worldwide on July 27, 2006.
The Simpsons was actually the first animated primetime sitcom since The Flintstones (They aired on September 30 1960.) and was the first adult, animated sitcoms on Fox. The Simpsons is also a commentary on pop culture, society, politics and historical events; a few episodes that show the commentary include: Lisa Goes Gaga (Guest stars Lady Gaga, and parodies her outfits, concerts and relationship with fans.); Two Bad Neighbors (After George Bush, a former president of the United States and one of the main characters in this episode said that America needed to be more like The Waltons than The Simpsons) and The Girl Code (Focusing on female coders and the importance of thinking before you post something on social media.)
Students and staff at Riverside Secondary School also have their own opinions on this long running, animated, primetime series. Vicki Atkison, a library assistant at the school library said that her favorite episode was the first Christmas episode. She likes that this is a Christmas episode and that Homer tries his best to make the best Christmas celebration for the rest of the Simpson family.
“I only watch the Halloween specials now,” Atkison said. “Just because I found that the comedy has really gone downhill.” She also said that The Simpsons is a long running series because how the main family can be relatable to today’s not-so perfect, diverse families. The parts she likes in a normal episode is the humor and the growing relationship between the two older Simpson siblings.
Atkison also talked about how she usually doesn’t find the jokes very funny anymore and thinks that the writers are starting to run out of ideas. Ms. Erica McArthur, a Math 9 teacher said that her favorite episode is Homer3 (from Tree house of Horror VI) because of the funny math jokes and the ending.
“It’s interesting that Bart and Lisa, never age. All the characters seem ageless in a way,” said McArthur. She also said that the jokes are funny and are based on current events. She also mentioned that the show also appeals to audiences of all ages.
Mr. Brian Chan, a Social Studies teacher said that his favorite episode is Trilogy of Error because he is impressed about how the episode was written with all the stories looking really different from each other at the beginning and how they all seem to come together at the end. His favorite part about a normal, everyday episode is Homer because he is an interesting character and most of the dumb things he does are thought by people as things they would actually do.
“Well one thing is, I think it has a large fan base. The team established this fan base early on.” Chan said .Then he went on to mention how the writing has changed over the years, especially how some episodes borrow elements from another popular Fox sitcom, Family Guy. “It doesn’t seem as clever anymore,” said Chan. “Is the only way I can kind of describe it.”
Never the less, it is amazing, the show has a part of our culture for 27 years.
Photo credit: holytaco.com/ Twentieth Century Fox Television
The Simpsons is owned by Twentieth Century Fox Television
