"The Simpsons" premiered 25 years ago today.

The early 90s will always be the era of The Simpsons for me. It seemed like the show got funnier and funnier every week. I remember finding out that Conan O'Brien had been a writer for the Simpsons, and enjoying his new Late Night show. The Simpsons show was the hippest thing on TV at the time.

 

Enjoyed that episode. Took a while before I saw many episodes. I was a bigger fan of Fox's Married With Children at the time.

 

A lot of people haven't watched the show in 10+ years, yet they know the show isn't as good as it used to be. It amazes me how universal this feeling is.

Personally, I am not as big a fan of the earlier episodes, especially season one. It is very impressive how the writing, voice acting, and animation have improved throughout the life of the show.

 

I remember watching the Tracy Ullman Show but don't remember The Simpsons. But I must've seen them because I recorded the first episode when it first was shown. I ended up recording every episode from season 1 through 25 on vhs except for one right at the end of season 25. Though I tried to record it, I made an error and it didn't record but I think it was an unconscious mistake so I would stop. I stopped this season, not because I dislike the show, but because it, and Family Guy, were the only shows I watched and paying about $70/month just to watch two shows was ridiculous. I figured I'd watch them on the internet but I haven't since I cancelled my cable in June this year. I haven't missed them but I will still buy the dvds.

I have a prediction on how long the show will last. Showrunner Al Jean is obsessed with beating every record Gunsmoke made. He beat the amount of years (20) but Gunsmoke's episode count was way higher at 636. The Simpsons will beat that in season 29 (2017-18). Season 30 will be the victory lap and push the count up higher to around 660. They might have a season 31 only so Treehouse can actually be episode #666. The first bit of confirmation I got on this is on a season 15 commentary, Nancy Cartwright says they are trying for 30 years (2018-19).

 

Seasons 3-12 were gold. Shaped my sense of humour growing up with them!

The Simpsons was the reason I got my own TV back in the day, my parents couldn't stand watching it!

 

My opinion: Season 1 was rough but heartfelt. 2-3 got much better. 4-8 we're the peak. 9-10 the slide started but 9 is still good. 11-12 they bottomed out. 13-16 they came back with a number of good episodes. 17-18 they bottomed out again. 19 felt better. 20 felt like s life back down. After that I don't have a solid opinion but they did start to have much more interesting episodes in seasons 21-25 along with clunkers. I saw refer to post 20 as Zombie Simpsons and I can't disagree with it. There are good ones but you have to look. I'd say after 16 it's Zombie but the movie was good (came out between season 18 & 19).

 

I've noticed it seems like, for some reason, most of these non-"classic era" episodes hold up better in syndication than they did on a first, or maybe even second viewing. I don't know if it's just because being familiar with the plot by then lets you focus on the gags a little more or what, but I've seen others with the same opinion, so it isn't just me. I can only think of two or three episodes that I would call just truly laugh-free, and I've seen 'em all.

 

What kills the show for me is that I can not accept Bart, Lisa and Maggie being the same age still, and every possible story has been done at least once. I had to stop watching around 2005, it had reached a point where I could not stand to see Bart's first crush for the fifth time. Or Marge finding an outlet for her frustrations for the tenth time.

 

I was 12 years old then. I am 37 years old now.

 

It does make one feel very, very old. I think what hurt the show was its refusal to expand the show after its first decade. They've added basically one or two new supporting characters in the past fifteen seasons, and have noticeably lowered the usage of older supporting characters like Apu. It's rumored that Apu is now viewed as politically incorrect by Fox and they asked producers to tone down his character.

 

I see this happening on a Simpsons board I visit. I agree. The first time I pick up on the fact that the episode isn't that good. Once I've digested that, I can watch it from an enjoyment level rather than a critical level.

 

That's got to be a challenge. Bart should be pushing 40 now and Homer would be retiring. It would at least open up some story opportunities if they aged.

 

Oy!
EVERY "Simpsons in the future" is a sad, sad affair.... Even the first one they did, when Lisa meets a fortune teller (though, I do love her poster for Rolling Stones 'Steel Wheelchairs' tour)!

 

^ What's funny is the poster said 2010 and they were still together.

 

And the reason for the show's longevity is that Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Millhouse, Nelson, etc. etc. etc. never grow up.

Most great shows in history take a downhill slide and are cancelled because the kids grow up. There is a very short shelf life on ALL family comedies for this reason.

Not so with the Simpsons... If "Leave it to Beaver" had been animated, we might still have new episodes.

 

I was 37 then!

 

I remember it pretty well on the Tracey Ullman show. If you think 25 years makes you feel old, try "It was 44 years ago today" or "50 years ago today" something happened. It happens all the time now. Things I/you remember will be ancient history to kids of today. "You were alive when President Kennedy was shot!" Wow!

 

An early fan here - every once in awhile, tune-in - just not what it was.

 

I remember the merchandizing bonanza in 1990- "Underachiever, And Proud Of It!".

Posters, t-shirts, bootleg t-shirts, action figures... Bart was everywhere!

 

A great series, that probably should have ended around season 8 or 9.

 

enjoyed it until lionel hutz and troy mcclure stopped appearing ! the suddenly the writing became rubbish and lots of celebs were brought it in ! the 8 or 9 year mark it should have finished ! kids today don't seem that thrilled with the show!

 

They made a joke about that in the season 12 episode Skinner's Sense of Snow. Bart finds his permanent record in Skinner's office, and he notices that his file contains the comment "underachiever and proud of it". He then remarks "How old *is* this thing?"
(I love it when shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy use self-referential humour)

 

The other problem faced with characters who don't age is creating episodes around Marge and Homer being young and having to reference their youth in different decades. When the show first came on they based Marge and Homer's youth around the '70s... then the '80s and eventually the episode where Homer and Marge were college students in the '90s and Homer has a grunge band.

 

HEY ! it's on FXX right now!

 

Agree 100%, and that kind of "cheating" ruins the fun for me.