The Simpsons Turn 20

It needs no defense from me.

The Simpsons (season premiere "Homer the Whopper" Sunday night, September 27, 8:00 p.m. eastern) has now been around for more of my life than not. I'm 39 years old, and I love a cartoon that's been around since I was a teenager. And I don't feel like I need therapy from Dr. Marvin Monroe.

Nor am I above admitting that in recent years, I've felt like more episodes fall flat. I rarely watch the live broadcast anymore (preferring earlier episodes in syndication), and at times I have wondered if the show is nearing the end of its run… and whether that might not be a good thing, a thought that once upon a time would have prompted Flanders-like flagellation in punishment.

Still, that The Simpsons have managed to last so long at such a high level of cultural relevance and esteem is a testament to the brilliance of the writing and constancy of the vocal talents. You don't get the ratings to remain on television since the 80s without having some level of popularity among several demographics. This show has been popular with people younger and older, religious and secular, married and single, male and female (though infrequent has been my conversation with a female aficionado. When I do meet them, I wonder - briefly - if in one of the parallel universes Homer links to with his time-travel toaster we might be married).

But about those detractors… Among them are: my wife, my mother, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, even my brother-in-law. Every December my Christmas wish list contains the latest DVD compilation of The Simpsons… and every season there is no such item under the tree. How can that be? Why would they rather buy me a sweater? Don't they want me to have what I want? I'm not seeking, like Mr. Burns, to block out the sun, or even searching, like Comic Book Guy, for a way to find faster nudity. I'm merely adding to my collection of a show…

• …where everyone who finds out you are a fan shares a story about someone who is a bigger fan, or a college campus where you can enroll in a Simpsons class
• …about which I was able to craft a legitimate grad school paper about the show through the lens of Marxist economic criticism
• …that manages to construct change even in the midst of a medium that forces it to stay the same
• …that has spawned informative and entertaining reads about issues important to Christians, such as Mark Pinsky's excellent The Gospel According to the Simpsons (a highly-recommended read)
• …that deals hilariously and fairly with the issues of our times

In 2005, when my boss was hired, I did what any self-respecting employee would do and Googled his name. I soon had all the information I needed in order to feel confident in my new leader, for he had recently published an article for another Christian site titled, "Why We Love the Simpsons." And indeed we do… several of us evangelical Christians. So why, after so many years, after so much success, does the show remain polarizing? Why does one of my friends from college still claim he has never seen a single episode, not even by accident?

How Far We've Come

To some extent, there remains a residue of the unfortunate introduction America got to these characters in the first few years. Homer was less a hilarious-but-loveable dolt and more a stern grump. Bart lived up to the anagram of his name as a complete Brat. Supporting characters had not yet been fleshed out to provide richness to the show's tapestry. It was in-your-face, and none other than First Lady Barbara Bush got involved in the cavalcade of citizen criticism, calling the show "dumb," prompting many right-thinking patriotic Christian folk I knew to set the show aside. Even I didn't really get hooked on it until 1993 or so.