Television

Popular culture aficionados and entertainment critics alike have been saying for quite some time now that the last ten or twelve years of television has seen some of the worst shows in the medium’s history. The nineties were filled with more flashes in the pan than an Iron Chef marathon, and even the longer running shows seem to be forgettable tripe the further away they get in our collective rear view mirrors. It’s mindboggling to think a show like Mad About You ran the better part of the decade, isn...t it? What about Wings? Remember the sixty-eight Steven Bochco creations that weren’t NYPD Blue? In the last twenty years, there really are very few shows that will be remembered for decades to come, and even fewer sitcoms. You’ve got your B-listers like Frazier (snooze), Married With Children (good for about three years), Home Improvement and the fluffy Friends (which I still cannot see the redeeming quality in). There really are only three “immortals” in the last two decades of situation comedy on the small screen: The Cosby Show (pre-Rudy’s moustache), Seinfeld (pre-Susan’s death), and the top of the heap, The Simpsons. In fact, some (myself included) consider The Simpsons the best prime-time comedy of all time, besting even giants like All In the Family, Cheers or M*A*S*H. Blasphemy, you say?

Think about it this way: from the season we have here, the show’s third, from 1991, through the 2001 season, no show on television was as consistently funny as The Simpsons. Each episode was packed with two or three levels of jokes and allusions, maximizing rewatchability to a level that no show ever had, using everything from broad humor gags to obscure movie and literary references. Its animated nature meant that things could happen to characters that one couldn’t do to real-life actors, and that there was never any travel budget. Want to do The Simpsons in Tokyo, Australia, Africa, Los Angeles? Just draw a different background. That means The Simpsons had a bigger universe to work in. It also means that the characters never age, meaning there’s never any need to do a “cute infusion” like The Cosbys did. Bart will always be ten, Lisa will always be eight, and Maggie will never speak a line. All In The Family and The Cosby Show, even <i <married With Children had to throw new pie-faced smiling little scamps into their later episodes in an effort to punch up the cute factor. Instead, this tactic just ratchets up the annoying factor and pronounces the show’s death-knell even more clearly. That’s never going to be an issue for Springfield’s first family. Their cartoon world also allows The Simpsons to be far less politically correct in their humor. What other show could have the main character beating up a former President? How many jabs at both the right AND left wings have you seen Friends make over its run? Somehow, in spite of being yellow-skinned, four-fingered doodles, even periphery Simpsons characters find a way to be fully three dimensional personalities (it’s not really a mystery…the writing staff has to be a Murderer’s Row lineup of brains and comedians). Musical numbers and guest spots on live-action shows either seem overly-contrived or thrown-together, and are always a nightmare (remember Cop Rock?). The Simpsons, the most musical show on television, finds a happy medium, every time. One simple, mathematical fact has to be the strongest evidence to this show’s long term brilliance. If one took away the fifty worst episodes of The Simpsons, it would leave over 250 shows that are funnier than everything else on TV. That’s TEN YEARS of comedic gold. No other show can make that claim, and that’s why this is the landmark show of the last 25 years, even with its weaker last two years.