Watching the Simpsons for the first time

[Kurtz]

I've been rewatching season 2 recently and it's incredible. The plotlines are heartfelt and meaningful and the humour is more adult and quick witted than the later seasons.

There are tons of brilliant throwaway lines that I never picked up on when watching as a kid...rewatching it as an adult is a treat.

 

[alko]

Were there used some dirty words in Simpsons? Im sure, the Czech version has some in the very early episodes. and i mean, very dirty.

 

[Shareefruck]

Edit: I think season two deserves to be included with prime Simpson's. It's not as funny as seasons 3-7, but the humour is there and the writing in terms of character and social satire is arguably the best the show ever was.

I've been rewatching season 2 recently and it's incredible. The plotlines are heartfelt and meaningful and the humour is more adult and quick witted than the later seasons.

There are tons of brilliant throwaway lines that I never picked up on when watching as a kid...rewatching it as an adult is a treat.

A-****ing-men.

 

[Deadpool8812]

Were there used some dirty words in Simpsons? Im sure, the Czech version has some in the very early episodes. and i mean, very dirty.

I wouldn't say "very dirty"

 

[Richard]

I am about half way through season 2. I have got to say really good season, much improved from season 1.

I can't wait to laugh at the show during its peak. I've watched a couple episodes twice to try and get everything!

 

[shello]

While I grew up on seasons 15-20 seasons 3-10 is where it's at. I mean I enjoy it all but if I actually want to laugh those are the ones to watch

 

[Shareefruck]

Edit: nvm

 

[Shareefruck]

I am about half way through season 2. I have got to say really good season, much improved from season 1.

I can't wait to laugh at the show during its peak. I've watched a couple episodes twice to try and get everything!

Favorites so far?

 

[Richard]

Favorites so far?

Hmm its really hard to tell. I loved Treehouse of Horror and Bart Gets an F. I will do a full write up once I get through the entire season.

Then it will be onto season 3.

 

[Richard]

I just can't get over how much better season 2 is versus season 1. Seems like every episode is good. Just watched "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" and Dancin' Homer"and both were excellent.

Not a bad episode so far this season.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Edit: I think season two deserves to be included with prime Simpson's. It's not as funny as seasons 3-7, but the humour is there and the writing in terms of character and social satire is arguably the best the show ever was.

I've been rewatching season 2 recently and it's incredible. The plotlines are heartfelt and meaningful and the humour is more adult and quick witted than the later seasons.

There are tons of brilliant throwaway lines that I never picked up on when watching as a kid...rewatching it as an adult is a treat.

A-****ing-men.

Yeah, I'm doing my own re-watch while quarantined (started at 2 and planning on stopping after 12. Right now I'm about halfway through 4), and just want to echo the love for 2 being fantastic.

SO many great moments and lines, this gem from Dancin' Homer in particular:

My wife and kids stood by me. On the way home I realized how little that helped

There's an old expression in the comedy community that's constantly espoused: "Truth in comedy." And I think that's no better exemplified than in seasons 2-3 of The Simpsons (I'm loving 4, but I think even now it's slightly starting to veer more towards hijinks, which I am all for, it's just an ever slightly different feel from 2-3 as far as I'm concerned).

 

[Shareefruck]

Yeah, I'm doing my own re-watch while quarantined (started at 2 and planning on stopping after 12. Right now I'm about halfway through 4), and just want to echo the love for 2 being fantastic.

SO many great moments and lines, this gem from Dancin' Homer in particular:


There's an old expression in the comedy community that's constantly espoused: "Truth in comedy." And I think that's no better exemplified than in seasons 2-3 of The Simpsons (I'm loving 4, but I think even now it's slightly starting to veer more towards hijinks, which I am all for, it's just an ever slightly different feel from 2-3 as far as I'm concerned).

Absolutely. It's legitimately an issue by season 5, IMO, even though a lot of people still love it because it admittedly is still very funny. Seasons 2-4 are the peak of the show as far as I'm concerned (and I would say the strongest individual moments are in season 2).

While I loved Conan O'Brien's contribution to the show, I can't help but think that his sensibilities (in episodes like Marge vs. The Monorail for example, which tons of people love) pushed the show down a regrettable path that ultimately led to the mess we see now.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Absolutely. It's legitimately an issue by season 5, IMO, even though a lot of people still love it because it admittedly is still very funny. Seasons 2-4 are the peak of the show as far as I'm concerned (and I would say the strongest individual moments are in season 2).

While I loved Conan O'Brien's contribution to the show, I can't help but think that his sensibilities (in episodes like Marge vs. The Monorail for example, which tons of people love) pushed the show down a regrettable path that ultimately led to the mess we see now.

It's certainly possible in terms of a large-scale contribution, but I'm not sure it's as simple as pinpointing his addition specifically. It's tough. Though he didn't get any solo writing credits until season 4, he joined in Season 3, which is the best marriage of comedy and heart the show has to offer. If he has as much as influence as you believe, then the show wouldn't have been able to reach those heights without his presence being added to the writers' room.

Plus his first solo credit, "New Kid on the Block" absolutely hits that sweet spot of balance, IMO. You've got the very well-handled and emotionally grounded A-line of Bart and the neighbor, and then the ridiculous B-line of Homer and all-you-can-eat (of which the courtroom scene is gold. "That could've been me!").

I was curious as to why there was such a shift in the series, so I did the lightest of digging (see: wikisimpsons). In crime, the saying is always "follow the money." My application of that as it pertains to tv shows is "follow the writers."

The fourth season was executively produced by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who also were showrunners of the previous season. Some of The Simpsons' original writers, dubbed as the "original team"[1] as they had been writing for the show since the first season, had left after the completion of "Cape Feare", which was the final episode made in Season 4 though aired in the following season as a hold-over episode.[1] Jay Kogen, Wallace Wolodarsky, Sam Simon, Jeff Martin, David M. Stern and Jon Vitti left The Simpsons following the season, though the latter two returned to write more episodes.
After their role as showrunners of The Simpsons ended in Season 4, Jean and Reiss left to produce their own animated series, The Critic. Director Rich Moore also left to work on Jean and Reiss' show.

That's a serious mass exodus of talent and influence leaving. Aside from the showrunners departure, of note is Sam Simon:

[Simon] was one of the original developers of The Simpsons, along with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks. Despite having been a developer, he served as a creative supervisor, executive producer, and writer. He left the show after season 4 over creative difficulties with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks.

Now, how much of those "creative difficulties" were related to the direction the show was flirting with in season 4? Who knows. Maybe someone who's more up-to-speed on their Simpsons lore (you, perhaps?) can answer that. But with such a large chunk of the original group leaving the show, it's tough for me to pinpoint Conan's tenure as the eventual beginning of the end. And if he did have that much influence on the show's sensibilities, then hey, no show lasts forever, and it's worth it for the peaks of Season 3 and 4. I'll still take that trade-off.

 

[Shareefruck]

It's certainly possible in terms of a large-scale contribution, but I'm not sure it's as simple as pinpointing his addition specifically. It's tough. Though he didn't get any solo writing credits until season 4, he joined in Season 3, which is the best marriage of comedy and heart the show has to offer. If he has as much as influence as you believe, then the show wouldn't have been able to reach those heights without his presence being added to the writers' room.

Plus his first solo credit, "New Kid on the Block" absolutely hits that sweet spot of balance, IMO. You've got the very well-handled and emotionally grounded A-line of Bart and the neighbor, and then the ridiculous B-line of Homer and all-you-can-eat (of which the courtroom scene is gold. "That could've been me!").

I was curious as to why there was such a shift in the series, so I did the lightest of digging (see: wikisimpsons). In crime, the saying is always "follow the money." My application of that as it pertains to tv shows is "follow the writers."



That's a serious mass exodus of talent and influence leaving. Aside from the showrunners departure, of note is Sam Simon:


Now, how much of those "creative difficulties" were related to the direction the show was flirting with in season 4? Who knows. Maybe someone who's more up-to-speed on their Simpsons lore (you, perhaps?) can answer that. But with such a large chunk of the original group leaving the show, it's tough for me to pinpoint Conan's tenure as the eventual beginning of the end. And if he did have that much influence on the show's sensibilities, then hey, no show lasts forever, and it's worth it for the peaks of Season 3 and 4. I'll still take that trade-off.

I don't know anything about the writer's history with the show. I'm not suggesting that Conan lacked what made the show good and was pure zany energy that went against everything the show stood for and dictated the direction of the show-- I'm just guessing that he probably stumbled onto something that became a hugely successful crowd-pleaser with Marge vs. the Monorail, which deviated from what the show was before that point, and everyone involved with the show (including Conan) pursued that creative spark more and more (because a lot of people obviously prefer it, and there is admittedly something infectious about it).

 

[alko]

It's certainly possible in terms of a large-scale contribution, but I'm not sure it's as simple as pinpointing his addition specifically. It's tough. Though he didn't get any solo writing credits until season 4, he joined in Season 3, which is the best marriage of comedy and heart the show has to offer. If he has as much as influence as you believe, then the show wouldn't have been able to reach those heights without his presence being added to the writers' room.

Plus his first solo credit, "New Kid on the Block" absolutely hits that sweet spot of balance, IMO. You've got the very well-handled and emotionally grounded A-line of Bart and the neighbor, and then the ridiculous B-line of Homer and all-you-can-eat (of which the courtroom scene is gold. "That could've been me!").

I was curious as to why there was such a shift in the series, so I did the lightest of digging (see: wikisimpsons). In crime, the saying is always "follow the money." My application of that as it pertains to tv shows is "follow the writers."



That's a serious mass exodus of talent and influence leaving. Aside from the showrunners departure, of note is Sam Simon:


Now, how much of those "creative difficulties" were related to the direction the show was flirting with in season 4? Who knows. Maybe someone who's more up-to-speed on their Simpsons lore (you, perhaps?) can answer that. But with such a large chunk of the original group leaving the show, it's tough for me to pinpoint Conan's tenure as the eventual beginning of the end. And if he did have that much influence on the show's sensibilities, then hey, no show lasts forever, and it's worth it for the peaks of Season 3 and 4. I'll still take that trade-off.

Is this original creative crew still alive? What if they will cal them all back?

 

[alko]

How is it going?

Btw. there was a nice article on Yahoo to see about the Episode Who Shot Mr Burns. Picture of clown Crusty. Except it isnt't exactly Krusty but Homer.

 

[Voight]

I've watched my fair share over the years but was asked recently if somebody could conceivably just skip the first 2 seasons?


Friend of mine got through a couple of episodes in S1 and wants to just skip over the first two

 

[Richard]

The 2nd season is still my favorite (I am onto the 4th season).

Every episode is so good.

 

[NyQuil]

I've watched my fair share over the years but was asked recently if somebody could conceivably just skip the first 2 seasons?

Friend of mine got through a couple of episodes in S1 and wants to just skip over the first two

As others have said, while I think the standard for humor has room to improve following the first two seasons (the emphasis on Bart transitioned to an emphasis on Homer), there are some timeless episodes in Season 2 that probably shouldn't be missed.

I'd conceivably skip Season 1 quite confidently. A lot of the episodes follow a pretty traditional family sitcom model and aren't necessarily indicative of the sharp satire that would characterize later seasons.

Bart the General might be the best episode of that season and a must-see episode, but I wouldn't necessarily put it up with the all-time best. Krusty Gets Busted might be worth seeing given that it's the first time Sideshow Bob appears as a villain.

Season 2 manages to balance the warmth that some individuals really prize about the Simpsons with the more innovative and unique comedic sensibilities that made the show stand out over time.

EDIT: I just went through the Season 2 episode list and there isn't really one that I would advise skipping. They're all classics. Definitely belongs as part of the show's Golden Age. I'll admit to being wrong on that one.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Well, I must be the only person born in the early 80's who has not watched the Simpsons. I confess I have NEVER watched a full episode of the Simpsons. My limited experience in the Simpsons world has been to play the video game for Nintendo and to watch half of a treehouse of horror in the mid 90's.

That being said, I decided to give the Simpsons a go. I bought Disney plus and have decided to start at the beginning and see what all of the hype was about.

I have recently finished Season 1 of the show. I liked it, was entertained by it, and enjoyed it. However, there wasn't as many laugh out loud moments as I would have expected. There were some witty one-liners that made smile, almost in every episode but I was surprised with how, well, rather unzany the first season is.

My favorite episodes are The Crepes of Wraith, Krusty gets busted, and the season finale.

My least favorite were The call of the Simpsons (probably the worst of the season) and Life on the Fast lane.

Good things are that the family dynamic is cool and believable, Homer calling Bart the boy, the play on family dramas, and the incredible cast of secondary characters.

Bad things are the lack of laugh of loud moments, the predictability of the endings, the lack of pace, and some complete dud moments.


Overall the season gets a 6.5 out of 10 for me and I definitely will move on to Season 2.

This isn't real, it can't be

 

[Shareefruck]

I've watched my fair share over the years but was asked recently if somebody could conceivably just skip the first 2 seasons?


Friend of mine got through a couple of episodes in S1 and wants to just skip over the first two

Simpsons episodes really don't need to be seen in order (unless you have interest in how their style evolves), so if they're hesitant or there's a barrier, they should just start from Season 3 and cycle back to Season 2 if they remain interested. As long as they don't write off Season 2 entirely in the back of their mind or assume that it's supposed to be bad (it's better than S5+, IMO), it's totally fine.

 

[Richard]

I feel that starting at the beginning has been really enjoyable. I really like the Simpsons more than, for example, family guy, and only South Park at its best is close.

Its a juggernaught. Unfortunately I will be seeing its fall as well.....

 

[Shareefruck]

Personally, I don't think any of the animated comedies that it spawned have come remotely close to hitting the type of high notes that The Simpsons did (or even resembling it in any way). It's far closer in content, delivery, tone, and quality to shows like Arrested Development, Community, Freak and Geeks, or Monty Python than it is to Family Guy or South Park (which are very childish and lame in comparison), in my opinion. Those shows are closer to being off-shoots to the bad version of The Simpsons that jumped the shark after season 10.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

OG Futurama and the Critic were just as funny and emotionally charged as classic Simpsons. In fact, I'd even say the Critic was funnier than the Simpsons by the thinnest of margins, and possibly funnier than any other TV show I've seen except maybe Chappelle's Show.

Family Guy went downhill so quickly that you forget how funny the first two seasons were before it got the axe. It was the first mainstream comedy to have really dark humor, and in the late 90s it had a lot of jokes you wouldn't see anywhere else on network TV. I remember on Mondays after an episode my friends and I would all quote our favorite jokes during class.

Regarding South Park, all of my favorite episodes are from its first ~5 seasons and I'd say that at its very best it's just as funny as the Simpsons, but I loved it for its zany humor and know some people don't care for that as much.

 

[Shareefruck]

To me, saying that Family Guy was good in its first two seasons and went downhill after that is the equivalent of saying that The Simpsons was good in Seasons 8-13 and went downhill after that. It's true that it did go downhill even MORE significantly into something borderline unwatchable (in both cases), but neither was actually all that good in the first place, IMO-- at best, it's cheap but effective guilty pleasure entertainment.

Classic Simpsons was genuinely artfully executed, tasteful, and inspired in a way that I don't think any of these silly animated comedies could ever dream to be, in my opinion. In fact, in some cases, its storytelling and pacing was more thoughtful and eloquent than even a lot of critically acclaimed dramas (especially in episodes like Bart Gets an F, Lisa's Substitute, Itchy & Scratchy vs. Marge, and Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington).

There's more to something being good than just how funny and emotionally charged it is anyways. I actually find a lot of the big emotionally-charged moments that people talk about in The Simpsons to be kind of overrated (like the Do it For Her and Mother Simpson episodes, which just feel like hollow sentimental manipulation to me).