'The Simpsons': Better than you think

It's one of the funniest TV shows ever. And it's good for kids.

By Robert Thompson

from the July 27, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 2

Syracuse, N.Y. - When "The Simpsons" debuted, many observers thought it would bring on the-end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it.

For elementary and middle-school teachers, especially, Dec. 17, 1989, was a dark day. Before long, class clowns recited rude remarks attributed to the show's fourth-grade star: "Don't have a cow, man," "Eat my shorts," "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?"

Worse still, T-shirts emblazoned with Bart's life philosophy – "Underachiever and proud of it!" – undermined the very mission of the schools in which they were worn. By 1992, the president of the United States himself was framing domestic policy in terms of this dangerous TV cartoon. In January, he promised to help American families become "a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons."

George H.W. Bush lost his bid for re-election later that year, and the threat to public health and morals ascribed to "The Simpsons" didn't pan out any more than it had with jazz or comic books.

Instead, something extraordinary happened. "The Simpsons" hit its stride, and the writers figured out that Homer, not Bart, was the narrative fulcrum of the show. Noble Homer would suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in every episode, but, with the promise of nothing more than a doughnut, would always rise to fight another day.

By the third or fourth season, thinking adults started to see a masterpiece in the making. In 1998, when America's poet laureate(!) paid tribute to "The Simpsons" in The New York Times Magazine(!), it was clear that whoever still thought the show was nothing but toxic tomfoolery simply wasn't watching it.

By century's end, scholars, journalists, philosophers, and professors were producing academic theses, doctoral dissertations, and books analyzing and celebrating "The Simpsons." The claim that it was one of the best shows in TV history had become undisputed orthodoxy.

As for the kids, I think "The Simpsons" is good for them. Like Mad magazine did for previous generations, "The Simpsons" encouraged the development of a healthy sense of social satire, something children were going to need in an era that would also bring them O.J. Simpson, Monica Lewinsky, and "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?"

Between the raunchy sophistication of "The Simpsons" and the family-friendly vapidity of "Full House," I think an eight-year-old would be better off with the former.

Page 1 | 2 | Next Page