May be suffering a bit with time – but overall this is one of the finest show to come out of America

bob the moo

score /10

The series that follows the dysfunctional family of the Simpsons.  The oafish Homer who can barely go a day without slacking or getting mixed up in crazy adventures. His wife, Marge, who tries to hold it all together.  His duaghter Lisa who is smarter that her gene pool should allow, Bart – every inch the classroom rebel.  The family is rounded out by the youngest – baby Maggie.  The family interact with those around them and learn lessons or sometimes fail to change completely.

When this series started in 1987 as a string of rough shorts in Tracey Ulman's show it would be a brave man who would have predicted that over a decade later that this series would be as huge as it is.  However the series got launched with the Christmas special in the early 90's.  The first series saw the animation greatly improved and the characters developed fully to be more involving.  However the story lines were not as sharp or as full as they were to be.  The second series and onwards saw the Simpsons have better stories – often multi-layered stories filled with pop-culture references and background jokes that reward the careful viewer…to try and list them would take ages.

For an American sitcom (for that is what it is) this is amazing – the intelligence of the script is fantastic.  The depth of the stories are involving, witty and packed.  For a movie buff like me, this is a gold mine – from sly references in the background to full blow scenes almost spoofing movies this has them all. In some programmes that have background jokes the main stuff at the front often suffers or is ignored totally.  However here the main plot and dialogue is fresh and well thought out – it is amazing that for almost all of it's run The Simpsons rarely had a bad episode.

True – recent shows have begun to show a slide in quality but this is to be expected after more than 10 years at the top.  However it is generally brilliant and clever.  After the first series everything improved.  Not only was the series used for political comment, satire and ironic humour (in a country that generally can't do any well) but it is also heart warming and funny.

The characters live in a balance between reality and surreality.  They are sort of recognisable as real people in terms of habits and experiences – but in another way they are out there…..Homer has been in Space, stopped a nuclear explosion etc.  The mix of this makes for an unique programme.  What makes it better is that the makers never draw a line between the madness and the normality – one episode is made up of a bad-neighbour type war between Homer and George Bush Snr!  The mix is seamless and adds layers to each show.

The wealth of characters is another strength. The main family is strong – even Maggie has regular input and adventures!  However where most sitcoms really rely on their main subjects for the stories, The Simpsons has a supporting cast of dozens and dozens of really good characters – all of whom are able to carry an episode.  They range from the normal characters (an inept  Police Chief, an Asian shop keeper who is used to being robbed at gunpoint) to the referential or well imagined, (the well-educated Sideshow Mel, a bitter Krusty the Clown, an useless lawyer).  All the characters have become more fully used as time has gone on.

The voice actors are all excellent and all do a huge range of voices…of course they get very well paid for it!  Unfortunately the late Phil Hartman provided the voices of two of my favourite characters and I really miss his dry humour and strong all-American voice.  Lionel Hutz was a great character and my favourite, Troy McClure is a wonderful spoof of 60's B-movie actor Doug McClure.  This depth really helps the show and has allowed it to feel so very fresh years on.

I could go on for ever, but the series is a wonderful bit of proof that sitcoms don't have to be simple, full of canned laughter and focus on sassy teenagers!  The joys of the dialogue are backed up by movie references and crazy adventures.  The wonderful Simpson family are supported by a huge cast of imaginative characters who are always well used and a queue of celebrities just lining up to have a few minutes in the show. Quite simply this is consistently the best show to come out of American in my life time.

bob the moo 20 April 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0265329/

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