The Simpsons

[bikingjahuty]

I was a huge Simpsons fan in the 90s. I started watching the Simpsons when I was pretty young, probably about 5 or so; this was during the early 90s when the Simpsons was considered to be at its peak in terms of quality and also popularity. The humor and references often flew over my head, but there was enough there that I could wrap my elementary school aged brain around and find entertaining. I remember growing up and The Simpsons coming on around 5pm in the evening on Fox. It was a tradition for a while for me to watch it every evening at this time, and some of my fondest TV memories were around watching it during the week.


Through the 90s and into the early 2000s I still enjoyed watching the Simpsons, although I felt like at some point in the late 90s and into the first part of the 2000s my interest began to wane. I guess that's how kids are, but from what I've read and seen online, this is often the period of time where the quality of The Simpsons is considered to have gone down substantially. Funny enough, I remember the exact episode where I realized I just didn't like new Simpsons anymore. It was the episode with Tony Hawk guest staring, and it was also some milestone episode like episode 300 or something. I just remember not finding it that entertaining and just boring.


I've recently began watching old Simpsons episodes again, mostly ones that I remember fondly, and what's funny is I feel like I have a newfound appreciation for the show; all those jokes and references that flew over my head as a kid I get now, and it just makes the show that much funnier. I've even watched a few episodes that came out after I'd originally stopped watching, and while they certainly are of a different vibe and writing style of the older episodes, they're still fairly entertaining for the most part.


So what was your experience with The Simpsons? Were you a fan back in the day, but just lost interest in the show, or have you been a lifelong fan to this day?

[weirdfeline]

I've put more hours into playing games based on the show than actually watching the show.

[bikingjahuty]

I've put more hours into playing games based on the show than actually watching the show.

The only Simpsons games I played a lot were Bart's Nightmare and Virtual Bart. Both games are frustrating as hell, but as a kid I rented both a million times.

[kamikazekeeg]

I never got into Simpsons much back when they were at their most popular.  It wasn't till like the past 10 years in various forms that I started watching them.  I don't really like the first few seasons, but once the animation got better and the voices settled into what they were going to be, I do enjoy it quite a lot.  I watched a few seasons on FX when they got the whole thing and did a big marathon and then I watched another season or 2 on Disney Plus till I let my subscription go, but I'll probably pick it back up soon to watch more episodes.

Game wise, I played a few of them, the early console ones weren't very good, but I really liked the Simpsons Arcade game and I know people enjoy like Simpsons Hit and Run.

[oldgamerz]

Yes I was a Simpsons fan, I too watched it on FOX local channel or UPN local channel, however Most of the episodes that kept appearing on tv were reruns of the same exact episodes, so after watching the Simpsons on every Sunday on FOX. As well as other channels. I just got tired of watching the show, but once and a while I can find an episode that is one I haven't seen already, but that don't happen too often. I believe I've seen most episodes of The Simpsons cartoon.

The Jokes are funny and a relative of mine likes to think of the episode where Homer Simpson, slacks off at his home job and has to save Springfield from blowing up and homers butt gets stuck in some kind of tube and


Bart Simpson says
"well that is the first time I've seen dads butt hold gas in"

However I never played a Simpsons video game,

[bikingjahuty]

I never got into Simpsons much back when they were at their most popular.  It wasn't till like the past 10 years in various forms that I started watching them.  I don't really like the first few seasons, but once the animation got better and the voices settled into what they were going to be, I do enjoy it quite a lot.  I watched a few seasons on FX when they got the whole thing and did a big marathon and then I watched another season or 2 on Disney Plus till I let my subscription go, but I'll probably pick it back up soon to watch more episodes.

Game wise, I played a few of them, the early console ones weren't very good, but I really liked the Simpsons Arcade game and I know people enjoy like Simpsons Hit and Run.

Yeah, I feel like the show really hit its stride starting in Season 3 and didn't start to show signs of fading until around season 8. Season 1 is hard to get through, and I do enjoy Season 2, but it wasn't quite streamlined yet at that point.


Sadly I only ever remember seeing the arcade game once; there was a lasertag place up the street from where I grew up for like a year in the mid 90s and they had one. Now every barcade has one like it's some law, but back in the 90s I just never came across it other than there.

[wolff242]

I remember watching "The Tracy Ullman show" just to see the Simpsons skits. When it got it's own show, I was there for the 1st episode....lol

[kamikazekeeg]

I never got into Simpsons much back when they were at their most popular.  It wasn't till like the past 10 years in various forms that I started watching them.  I don't really like the first few seasons, but once the animation got better and the voices settled into what they were going to be, I do enjoy it quite a lot.  I watched a few seasons on FX when they got the whole thing and did a big marathon and then I watched another season or 2 on Disney Plus till I let my subscription go, but I'll probably pick it back up soon to watch more episodes.

Game wise, I played a few of them, the early console ones weren't very good, but I really liked the Simpsons Arcade game and I know people enjoy like Simpsons Hit and Run.

Yeah, I feel like the show really hit its stride starting in Season 3 and didn't start to show signs of fading until around season 8. Season 1 is hard to get through, and I do enjoy Season 2, but it wasn't quite streamlined yet at that point.


Sadly I only ever remember seeing the arcade game once; there was a lasertag place up the street from where I grew up for like a year in the mid 90s and they had one. Now every barcade has one like it's some law, but back in the 90s I just never came across it other than there.

I've found the Simpsons arcade game a few times over the years.  My small town had an arcade for a short time and I remember playing it a bunch there as a kid.  An arcade in Miami had it, so I played it there a few years ago, and then an arcade that opened up in my town relatively recently has it, so I've played it a nice bit.  Aside from like the TMNT games, The Simpsons Arcade game is probably one of my most played beat'em'ups.

[hoshichiri]

I mostly just remember my parents deciding we were 'old enough' for the Simpsons. It was when the camping episode aired, which was a big enough deal to warrant a Burger King (?) toy line. The two of those coinciding made it seem like a Big Life Moment- I am truly grown up, becuase I can watch The Simpsons.

Never got that into it, though. Played the arcade game at the local mall a lot (I always picked Lisa) & used to un-plug/re-plug the Pinball machine at the bowling alley so it would do the song.

[bikingjahuty]

I mostly just remember my parents deciding we were 'old enough' for the Simpsons. It was when the camping episode aired, which was a big enough deal to warrant a Burger King (?) toy line. The two of those coinciding made it seem like a Big Life Moment- I am truly grown up, becuase I can watch The Simpsons.

Never got that into it, though. Played the arcade game at the local mall a lot (I always picked Lisa) & used to un-plug/re-plug the Pinball machine at the bowling alley so it would do the song.

I always perceived it as a show that "Big Kids" or "Tennagers" watched when I was pretty young which made it cooler to watch. One show that I was never able to watch growing up was Beavis and Butthead; I remember watching it in secret a few times when I was about 7 or 8 and it felt like I was watching porn given how worried I was that mu parents would catch me watching it lol

[Warmsignal]

I only had a passing interest in the show when I was younger, and I enjoyed playing some of the video games simply because I knew they were associated with the show. But I think I was too young to really "get" the Simpsons back then, so it didn't hold my interest like other cartoons.

About 2 or 3 years ago, I decided to sit down and really give the show a fair chance. I started collecting and binge watching the series with the DVD box sets. I really found myself hooked on the show, and eventually bought the first 10 or so seasons, watching them all in order. I would agree with most, in saying that the 90s really seemed to be the golden era of the show. Many of the seasons were very solid back to back. However, I noticed that around season 10 or so, the writing started to change a bit. I believe the show suffered from a lot of the same mistakes as other long-running shows. The creators want to take things in a different direction eventually, and it's a very delicate balance.

What always bothers me is when they start writing the characters in a way that totally conflicts with what you've come to "believe" about the universe they've created, the characters, the dialog. Once they start to tinker with that, it's a turn-off. I felt like what I was perceiving was more like the writers reaction to then up and coming shows, like Family Guy. By season 10, everything started to get way over-the-top for all of the standards that were established in the first 9 seasons. It kind of felt like they weren't taking the show as seriously as they had been. A lot of that subtle, witty humor was replaced with a lot of fast-paced absurdity and out of context gags, which is why I say that the show felt more like a Family Guy type deal. I remember being disappointed to find out in one episode that Skinner wasn't actually the person he said he was, or at least, was no longer the character they original wrote him as.

I've heard a lot of the later seasons were brought down by so many episodes based around a lot high profile celebrities. Rather than poking fun at American pop culture and celebrities, they were later embracing and incorporating a lot of that stuff into the show. I've not gotten that far at all into the 2000s era as of yet, but with the changes I've seen, and the things I've heard about the show's downturn, I'm not exactly that excited to continue watching. Although I am happy they've decided to continue releasing the box sets again, after a production hiatus they had taken for several years.

[weirdfeline]

I've put more hours into playing games based on the show than actually watching the show.

The only Simpsons games I played a lot were Bart's Nightmare and Virtual Bart. Both games are frustrating as hell, but as a kid I rented both a million times.

Road Rage (Crazy Taxi clone) and Hit & Run (GTA clone) hold up pretty well.

[Cartagia]

I was absolutely obsessed with The Simpsons as a kid.  My 7th or 8th birthday was Simpsons themed.  There are a still a few of the items I got floating around my and may parents' houses.  I fell off around the late 90s / early 2000s when High School started getting tough and I went to college.  I'd still catch the occasional episode here and there, but like so many others have said, it just didn't feel the same.  I did still catch The Simpsons Movie in theaters, which isn't bad.  There are some really good jokes and the emotional moments seem to land, even if they were scenarios (Marge leaving Homer) that had been done before.

I planned on doing a long-form binge when Disney+ launched, but I've been holding off until they fix the aspect ratio.

[marvelvscapcom2]

I will update this with my nostalgic feelings of the simpsons at a later date.  But I just wanted to say disney+ has 30 seasons of the simpy pimpies.   Great service

[oldgamerz]

I thought this would be fun so I googled it and found out the following     

(googled)

Which Springfield do the Simpsons live in?

Simpsons creator Matt Groening was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He commented that the fictional Springfield is based on Springfield, Oregon, located south of Portland. Like the Simpson family, the Groenings lived on Evergreen Terrace.

Before I googled about which Springfield the Simpsons was based on I originally thought it was based on Springfield Pennsylvania. Surprised that it was fictionally based on Springfield Oregon instead

I vaguely remember Marge one of the main characters of The Simpsons Cartoon, started to say which Springfield they were from and than bleeping or something what she said afterword