Series Link 08.24.10: The Simpsons Season 1

Posted by Arnold Furious on 08.24.2010

Flashing back 22 years to the very beginning...

Series Link: The Simpsons Season 1

Flashing back 22 years to the very beginning

When I started doing Series Link I was never quite sure how long it'd last and it occurs to me that while there are lots of movie franchises I can still tackle there aren't many ones I particularly want to. I'd like to do James Bond although probably over 3 columns. I also have my eye on Psycho and the Hannibal Lecter movies BUT I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to get going with those. So I thought about the possibility of talking about TV shows instead and I looked back at when 411 had a weekly episode of the Simpsons reviewed. When the guy stopped doing it and left the website Ashish asked someone to fill in for him. Hey, I could do that. But then I realised I'm no good at deadlines. I already have one a week and struggle with it. Let's not get carried away. So I thought I'd incorporate it into my existing column. For your reading pleasure I now proudly present;

TV Series Link #1

The Simpsons: Season 1

How many episodes?

13.



Matt Groening created the Simpsons. Everyone knows this. What they're less likely to know is that he originally wanted to convert his comic strip "Life is Hell" into a cartoon series but decided against giving up the rights at the last minute and threw together a family cartoon based on his own experiences growing up. The pitch (to producer James L. Brooks) went well and it was soon incorporated into the Tracey Ullman show. I don't really see the connection there but every great idea has humble beginnings. It survived on the show for 3 years and began to generate a fanbase despite having the worst animation, ever. In December 1989 the Simpsons was added to Fox's line-up and its been there ever since. Tracey Ullman did the typical Hollywood thing and sued Fox claiming that the Simpsons success was due to its appearance on her show. Naturally she lost that one. Here's the episode list for the first series…

1. Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (where they get Santa's Little Helper)

2. Bart the Genius (Bart switches test results with Martin Prince and is shipped off to a school for geniuses)

3. Homer's Odyssey (Homer is fired, for the first time, and we find out how he got his current job as safety inspector)

4. There's No Disgrace Like Home (Marvin Monroe's Electro-shock therapy episode)

5. Bart the General (Bart takes a stand against school bully Nelson)

6. Moaning Lisa (Lisa-centric episode where she becomes friends with "Bleeding Gums" Murphy)

7. Call of the Simpsons (Homer & Bart are lost in the woods and Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot)

8. The Telltale Head (Bart removes the head from Jebediah Springfield's statue)

9. Life on the Fast Lane (Marge takes exception to Homer's gift of a bowling ball and takes up bowling, whilst considering an affair)

10. Homer's Night Out (Marge is mad at Homer, a reoccurring theme, after he's pictured dancing with a belly-dancer)

11. The Crepes of Wrath (Bart is sent to France as an exchange student where he's forced to make wine)

12. Krusty Gets Busted (the introduction of Sideshow Bob)

13. Some Enchanted Evening (the one with the babysitter, which was supposed to be the lead off episode)

The makeup of the first series was a very deliberate attempt to make Bart Simpson the star. 6 of the opening 13 episodes centre around Bart or Bart's actions. Meanwhile only 2 centre around Homer although you could argue he dominates all of the 3 group episodes as well. He'd go on to be the main star of the series by the time it hit its zenith.

Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire



This opening episode is directed by David Silverman. His name is almost as synonymous with the Simpsons as Groening. He'd go on to direct many of the first series episodes and some later favourites including the awesome "Homie the Clown". The first full Simpsons episode features no couch gag. It'd become a staple of the introduction sequence but its missing from the opening show. In another strange first episode novelty the newspaper is called the Springfield Snooper. It got changed to the Springfield Shopper in subsequent episodes. Seeing as the first series was shown out of order (way to go, Fox) Homer's job here is safety inspector, which he doesn't get until episode 3. This was supposed to air as the 8th episode and as a Christmas Special.

During the opening scene, a Christmas pageant, there's a dearth of gags. If you're watching this and you didn't see any Simpsons before series 3 or 4 you'd wonder what the hell is going on. At one point Lisa does a dance wearing a grass skirt, which is so, so bad. It does get better as Bart gets a tattoo saying "Mother" as the ideal Christmas present for Marge and she has to spend the Christmas money on removing it. A reoccurring theme of early Simpsons shows, but none of the later ones, is that the family has serious financial problems stemming from having 3 kids, 2 cars and a mortgage. Homer meanwhile loses his Christmas bonus courtesy of the voice of Mr Burns. So he has to get a second job as a Mall Santa in order to cover the expenses. Homer ends up only being paid $13 so is dragged to the racetrack to gamble it. He loses, as he always does, but gains a dog after permanent loser Santa's Little Helper is thrown away by his owner. Odd how Barney wins more than a thousand dollars and doesn't get drunk on it. Normally that would write itself.

There are the start of long-running themes. Lisa wants a pony. Bart's behaviour ruins everything. Marge's sisters, Patty & Selma, hate Homer. Homer hates Ned Flanders and is generally jealous of everything he has. Homer likes donuts and hanging around Moe's. The writing makes for long-running character development and lays down some layers of character BUT there very few jokes. The best being when Bart has had laser surgery to remove his tattoo and everyone pokes his arm. "Oww, quit it. Ow, quit it". Repetition and pain are both leading Simpsons gags. Usually with Homer on the receiving end. Homer also thinks Nixon and Donna Dixon are among the names of Santa's reindeer. But we average a solid laugh once every 5 or 6 minutes, which isn't a good average for a comedy. My favourite line in the episode is when Grandpa refers to the "Happy Little Elves" as "unadulterated pap" serving to introduce him as a grumpy old bastard. His character would expand on that in time.

Rating: *1/2. Not the best of opening episodes. The show had promise but based on this I'm amazed it survived. It didn't help they showed this first and had characters thrown in that hadn't been introduced yet.

Sidenote; seeing as the first episode had no couch gags here's all of them, ever.



Bart the Genius



This is the first screened episode to have the traditional Simpsons introduction, which was absent from the Christmas episode. Its also the first attempt of the show to push Bart as the star. Lisa is clearly the smarter Simpsons child but Bart switches test results with Martin Prince thus creating the premise for this show. The school is introduced properly in this one with Principal Skinner, Ms Krabappel, Millhouse and Martin Prince introduced as major and somewhat defined characters. I'm still bothered by characters not behaving as they should because the writers didn't know their supporting characters yet. As Bart is pronounced a genius we're introduced to J. Loren Pryor who is also voiced by Skinner's vocal artist Harry Shearer. The amazing thing is; Pryor is straight-laced and boring. And perhaps not in a deliberate way. Normally when new characters are introduced there's something about them that screams at you; even if they're just voiced by celebrities.

There are some ok jokes in this one. Bart kicks it off after 2 minutes by claiming "Kwyjibo" is a word in Scrabble. However even more than during the first episode I'm aware of how shambolic the artwork is. Everything is off model. Badly. Which only works during a memorable sequence where Bart imagines his math problem in a surrealist fashion onboard a speeding train. The scene at the opera doesn't help matters with several of the characters looking really weird but in a real world. Also Millhouse's hair changes colours. My favourite gag is that Skinner's hated nemesis Bart becomes respected after he's pronounced a genius. So much so his graffiti of Skinner is framed and presented as art.

The conclusion of the episode is cute with Bart pretending to go "undercover" back to his school after blowing up the chemistry lab. I like how everyone's opinion of Bart changes while he's considered a genius but as soon as he's unveiled as a dumbass again everyone just goes back to treating him like dirt. The Simpsons did, in their early days, try to incorporate the odd message episode and this is one of them. Sure, it's a simplified version of a complex problem but they've only got 21 minutes to work with. There isn't quite so much groundwork laid in this episode as the series was shown out of order. So this was basically introducing the school environment and so on. It doesn't really work now we already know these characters and we're 22 years removed from first meeting them.

Rating: *. It has a better structure than the Christmas episode but really is short on gags. Every time one of the adults is speaking I'm aware of how dull they are. Perhaps this was deliberate. Push Bart as the star and leave everyone else relatively devoid of colour. Sadly it means most of the beloved school characters don't get lines they deserve. Skinner, Krabappel and even Martin Prince are all bland. Like we're in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and they've been replaced by pod people. While this episode helped introduce the world to the devious antics of Bart Simpson it did precious little else.

Homer's Odyssey



No, not that one!

This episode is hardly shown on TV…ever. Mainly because Waylon Smithers is black in it and that's just odd. But this is for Homer what Bart the Genius is to Bart. It introduces his world (albeit to begin with from Bart's perspective). The power plant and Moe's in particular are explored. We meet Mr Burns, Waylon Smithers and the sample the atmosphere of Moe's. The first "video" presentation is on here. In later seasons it surely would have been presented by Troy McClure but here it's the power plant's educational video presented by "Smilin' Joe Fission". Which shows you that the framework and basis for many later gags was already in place here. Later in the episode Bart prank calls Moe (I.P. Freely). Binky the Three-Eyed Fish also makes an appearance. Duff is prominent and their advertising involves roping the unemployed into drinking to pass the time. There's also El Barto graffiti on several buildings. This is also the first episode where Mr Burns doesn't recognise Homer and has Waylon Smithers explain who he is. Its also Burns' first appearance so we start as we mean to go on.

We're also introduced to Otto during this episode, which is strange because he should logically have been introduced during the last episode's school one. They try and push Wendell as one of Bart's other friends as well as Sherri & Terri. The animation remains shaky and the off-model shots are quite irritating. The backgrounds frequently look horrible. Barney still has blonde hair and Moe has black hair. It looks weird. Moe's has those old West saloon doors too! When they go to court the judge is a one-dimensional character not the judge of the future episodes.

During this episode something strange happens; Marge gets a job out of necessity rather than because the writers had an idea about Marge having a job (like the episode where she became a cop). Here she goes back to her job at Berger's Burgers as a roller waitress. It is nice to see that in early Simpsons episodes they had a concept and stuck to it. Eventually they forgot about the money aspects and Homer stopped going to work in order to do more entertaining and wacky things. In this episode it gets so bad for Homer that he contemplates suicide by jumping off a bridge with a rock tied around his waist. The next-door neighbours notice and the man comments that "maybe he's just taking his boulder for a walk". Funny how Homer would later fake his own suicide just to get a day off work.

Rating: **. The episode does somewhat fade away after Homer achieves his goal of making the town safer. At the end of the show he has his job back and we return to the status quo even if Homer has a different job title. This is the traditional Simpsons formula where the family go on a routine outing and something happens that needs rectifying in the second half of the episode. Usually the jokes are in the first half.

There's No Disgrace Like Home

This was the episode that really hammered home the Simpsons appeal. The family was hugely dysfunctional BUT they ultimately loved each other in a strange kinda way. Those were two aspects of the real family life that almost everyone could relate to. Not only that the Simpsons had started working in some classic references to films. In this episode there's the "one of us" line from Freaks. That would be the first of many movie homage's. Also we first see Mr Burns' mansion, which was loosely modelled on the house in Citizen Kane and those Kane references are a reoccurring theme during the shows run. They may have paid tribute to it more than any other movie. This episode also expands on the existing cast. Cops Eddie and Lou are first seen along with Dr Marvin Monroe.

Once again we get an episode based on how the family has no money. Homer pawns the TV to get treatment for his family after they disgrace him at the annual nuclear plant outing at Burns' mansion. Its strange for Homer to instigate this whole series of events as he's the one who behaved himself! Marge shows the start of an ongoing addiction problem while the kids are all badly behaved at this point (Lisa started out as whiny at times, on top of Bart's behaviour). This realism was removed as the series progressed with Lisa becoming better behaved and Marge's issues being secondary to Homer's heap of issues. And let's face it if someone was going to get drunk and embarrass themselves in a modern episode it'd most likely be Homer. Seeing as we're visiting Burns' house we see Smithers again but this time he has a lighter skin tone. The one we're used to seeing.

While Marge and Lisa aren't quite where they should be both Bart and Homer are really well developed by this point. Its clear their relationship is the cornerstone of the show. Marge's solution to the Simpsons being the worst family in town is funny though; "maybe we should move to a larger community". Marge stopped getting comedy lines after the first few years of the show. She became the "straight man". It still doesn't stop the animation being ropey but this episode is the best constructed and has the best jokes ratio of the series so far. The writing was good but the animation doesn't back it up. For example the Simpsons interact well with secondary characters like Moe, Barney and Dr Marvin Monroe. But none of them are particularly well drawn by this point. Monroe's character design was so bad they ended up killing the character off so they didn't have to draw him again.

Rating: **1/2. There are 5 episodes from the first series that just about hold up. This is the first of them. The animation holds back the ideas at play. Simple things like Mr Burns' office are just wrong. Its too cluttered and bright. But it would be a good episode without those shortcomings. Perhaps the first real good episode in the Simpsons back catalogue. Although better would soon follow.

Bart the General

Sidenote; there aren't many clips from early in the Simpsons on YouTube. Presumably because Fox pulled everything off YouTube for copyright infringement. And yet you can just go and watch episodes for free all over the ‘net. Which is why copyrighting clips is bullshit and YouTube should be allowed to show bits and pieces from shows. Let's face it; Fox isn't going to lose any money because someone watched a clip from their show on YouTube. I'm sure the DVD sales won't plummet or anything.

Back to the school and we meet Nelson Muntz officially. He's the school bully (the only one at this point but he has an unnamed pair of badly drawn sidekicks) and he's picking on Bart. Bart gets in trouble because he makes Nelson bleed. "You made me bleed my own blood". This leads to another surreal Bart fantasy where a giant indestructible Nelson eats him. These work perfectly with the messy animation and it pays off again here. Another one about Bart's funeral is even better where Lisa lovingly places a cupcake on Bart's head. The mix of fantasies and Bart getting soundly beaten on a frequent basis makes for a good setup. Homer helps Bart out by drying his tears…with a hairdryer before treating him how to fight dirty.

As well as Nelson this episode sees the debut of Herman and his Military Antiques Store. This is another first series character that was eventually pushed aside because it didn't work (after all, he can only really give advice on guns and military tactics and isn't it funnier if you get those from someone who isn't an expert? I picture Hans Moleman in the role nowadays or maybe Old Gill). Herman has a love of all things violent and lost his arm in a bus accident. His love of military tactics is so extreme he helps Bart in his war against the school bully. Grandpa Simpson also plays a bigger role in this episode writing an angry letter, to television in general as far as I can tell, and advising Bart on military tactics. Both Herman and Grandpa look like great characters because of the way they've been build up and the structure they've been placed in. Grandpa had space to grow because of his lack of roots. Herman; not so much. Bart's presence is almost entirely unimportant because of how good the grown up characters are. Homer is barely in this episode and escaping the standard family situation helps the episode.

This episode borrows heavily from Patton often quoting it verbatim as Bart creates an army to fight Nelson. They also have a training sequence that borrows from many war movies but some of the shots are directly from Full Metal Jacket. The animation continues to fail but the jokes are getting better and the show runners are starting to get their act together. Bart's epilogue sees him recommending books on war at your local library and listing all the good wars (including the Star Wars trilogy), which is a nice touch.

Rating: **1/2. I had completely forgotten about this episode as I only remembered it as a basic Bart Vs episode and its so much more than that. Like "There's No Disgrace Like Home" I wish the animation was better because the jokes deserve a better looking finished product. I also wish Nelson wasn't so one-dimensional. I know he's basically retained that one-dimension but its been far more consistently delivered. It would be fair to say that the series was finding its feet by this point and this episode is miles better than the last Bart-centric episode where they tried to rely on child-like setups. Here's its Grandpa who saves us from a kids story, which is a role he'd play again.

Moaning Lisa

Having spent so much 1st series time with the male Simpsons it was only logical that they'd eventually do a Lisa Episode. Most Lisa episodes tend to be the more emotional and serious ones, which is why most male Simpsons fans hate the Lisa episodes. Here she feels detached and unaware that there are others who feel like her. This would become a reoccurring theme as well. This is a necessary episode, unfortunately, as it really establishes Lisa's previously unexplored personality. Prior episodes had her really unpolished and she was almost written around the other characters changing as she needed to. Which is lazy writing. I know from attempting to write a sit-com that this is inevitable until you know what your lesser characters are going to do. Had "Moaning Lisa" been written first then her character probably wouldn't be such a mess in the opening episodes.

This episode marks something special; the reoccurrence of our first running gag (well, technically the first running gag is Homer saying "mmm" before a foodstuff but it wasn't that noticeable at this point). That first reoccurring gag is the prank phone call. Bart asked for I.P. Freeley in an earlier episode and it was suggested by Moe that this is a frequent occurrence. Here he's asked to look for "Jock Strap". There's also a fine "come to the one you love the most" battle between Bart & Lisa for Maggie's affection like she's some sort of dog. Maggie chooses the TV over both of them.



Lisa gains so much from being the focal point of this episode not just her saxophone and friendship with an outcast musician. We learn about her thoughts, her aspirations and her fears through this storyline. Which immediately puts her on a level with any of the other characters in terms of development. Sadly the animation hasn't improved much. Bart & Homer's game of "Super Slugfest" would have been much better in later series. Especially when Homer imagines himself getting beaten up. Moe has gained his trademark grey hair by this point but his bar is still too bright compared to the later episodes where the walls are darker. I also think its strange during the show that Lisa is allowed to roam away from home during the night to speak to a homeless jazz-man. Especially one no one had been introduced to before.

Rating: **. I think the episode suffers from being compared to the other big Lisa/Bleeding Gums episode "Round Springfield", which covers their relationship far better than this. The music is better and the emotions are stronger. This episode comes off as a bit mopey and depressing. Murphy appeared in 10 episodes altogether but "Round Springfield" the one that people remember. Compare the ending of "Round Springfield" to this one and there's a world of difference. I don't think I've seen this show since I bought the first series box set and that's the power of Lisa episodes, you just think badly of them.



Call of the Simpsons



This episode still makes the rotation on TV nowadays. I saw it on Sky One a few weeks back, which is where the inspiration for this column came from. It has several of the staples of a good Simpsons episode. Firstly Homer takes issue with something someone else has done. In this case Ned Flanders has bought a Behemoth RV. And despite Homer not caring about RV's before that moment immediately feels the need to buy an Ultimate Behemoth! Which is the greatest RV ever built. Secondly Homer makes stupid decisions, which he rushes into without thinking about. He goes to Bob's RV Roundup (Bob has HUGE ears) and Bob checks his credit. The red warning light & siren is a great touch. When Homer feels he needs an RV Bob sells him a real pile of crap. Albert Brooks guests as Bob and does a great job on the character. Shame it never returned but like Herman it was a character with limited possibilities. In later series they just shoehorned existing characters into jobs like this. Like Gill!

Finally Homer takes his pile of crap RV into the woods with his family in tow and drives it off a cliff stranding them in the middle of nowhere. Homer's stupidity has arrived and the series has landed! So Homer, claiming to be an experienced woodsman, heads out into the wilderness with Bart to try and find food. They fall off another cliff, losing their clothes in the process and leave Maggie to hang around with a pack of bears. Again, fantastic Homer-style parenting.

The episode somewhat loses its way after this but there's a great addendum with Homer being mistaken for Bigfoot. The best part being when Marge comes forward and claims "that's not Bigfoot , that's my husband" and the newspaper runs an "I Married Bigfoot" angle. Sadly some of the other supporting characters aren't great. There's a guy camping with his family who isn't even remotely funny and when we get to the news reporting the TV reporter is just a generic guy with neat looking hair. Where's Kent Brockman? So like a lot of first series episodes there are aspects that work and then its missing key elements.

Rating: ***. For my money the Bigfoot story and Bob's RV Roundup make this one of the premier episodes from the first series. It showed what the Simpsons were capable of. The jokes aren't quite as quick and fast as in later series BUT Homer is absolutely on point as a complete idiot who can't do anything right. This is his first truly dumb showing, which corresponds with the best episode of the series so far.

The Tell-Tale Head

This is the first episode that gives us some history of Springfield. Its become more and more elaborate over the years but this is the first we hear about Jebediah Springfield and how he "iced a bear with his bare hands". The episode has the first appearances of Reverend Lovejoy, Krusty, Jimbo Jones, Kearney, Dolph and Apu. Sideshow Bob is also in the crowd as this is before he's had his first brush with the law. His first line is "kill them". The animation has some improvements for this episode. Barney has brown hair instead of the blonde. Homer and Bart appear to be on model in almost every shot. It seems the animators were being given further instructions after starting out wayward.

What's more is they have great gags in this show. When Homer is listening to the football game on the radio it matches what Reverend Lovejoy is saying. So it looks as if he's commentating on the game. Brilliant setup. There's also a terrific line right at the start where Bart says he has a story to explain how they ended up with the head of the town founder. When asked how long it'll take he says "23 minutes and 5 seconds" riffing on the length of the normal episode. Grandpa's "23.05" reaction is perfect too. Its as if a light has been switched on here to set up this episode. Especially as Homer is spot on early and then Bart hangs out with Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney and that's spot on too as they sneak into Space Mutants IV.

Bart's new friendship with Jimbo leads to him chopping the head off the statue of Jebediah Springfield to impress Jimbo and his cronies. This in turn leads to some great gags. Like Homer's fascination with the bowling ball with the liquid centre and Chief Wiggum appealing for witnesses to call "O and ask for the police. That number again is O". There's also the first signs of Smithers actually wanting Mr Burns in an unnatural way. The Simpsons are really hitting the mark here and this is a great episode compared to some of the early series one shows. Homer's horrible advice being a highlight. I could have done without the statue's head talking to Bart but everything else is gold.

Rating: ***1/2. The strong storyline combined with improving animation and the writers using other characters to fill out the storylines instead of nameless extras makes this the best Simpsons episode to this point. Its also from this point on where the teething problems the show had been suffering from were pretty much a thing of the past.

Life on the Fast Lane aka Jacques To Be Wild.

Seeing as Marge has been almost completely overlooked and underdeveloped during the first series we finally get an episode dedicated to her. The opening setup of the kids making birthday breakfast for Marge is cute with Bart getting his tongue caught in the beater. Because Homer has forgotten Marge's birthday he has to go and get her a last minute present and settles on a bowling ball. Marge's sisters are great here too as they remind her of previous gifts Homer has settled on including a tackle box and a Connie Chung calendar.

Homer really crosses the line here and becomes incredibly insufferable. Buying himself a present and then giving it to Marge for her birthday is borderline unforgiveable. I know I'd get abuse from my wife if I pulled something like that. She decides to use the ball out of spite and goes bowling alone. When she's there she meets Jacques who she hires to teach her how to bowl. I can see what they're going for as they make Jacques a real charmer who is blatantly trying to seduce Marge even though he's aware she's married. Which for me makes him the bad guy of this episode despite Homer's failings as a husband. And Marge really uses Homer during the course of the episode until the eventual conclusion when we return to the status quo. But Marge goes back several times before doing the right thing. Like going back bowling and after Jacques has made his intentions clear she goes to brunch with him. Even when it seems fairly clear that Jacques just wants to fuck Marge.

I find it hard to watch this episode knowing where the series was going. Marge's actions never reached this level again. Even when she was pissed off with Homer she didn't turn to another man because it makes her less appealing as a mother character. In fact Marge may have gone further if it weren't for the gossiping of Helen Lovejoy and her interruption of their brunch. That just doesn't sit well with me. Marge's fantasy is a little weird compared to her later fantasies based on TV & book characters. The bits with Homer in are actually better despite him having very little to do. He suddenly becomes far more sympathetic when his confidence is gone and there's a great scene where Bart beans him in the head with a baseball. The improved animation allows him to not over-react to it. Homer's charm is limited to describing how good Marge is making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches but for me, and for Marge, that's better than Jacques' fake façade.

Rating: **. The animation is good but until Marge makes her choice at the end of the episode its disappointing she spends so long considering another man. Especially such a sleazeball. The resolution is perhaps worth the wait though. "Tell him that I'm going to the back seat of my car with the woman I love and I won't be back for ten minutes". Aww.

Homer's Night Out

You'd think that having almost lost his wife in the previous episode Homer wouldn't go out and get photographed dancing with belly-dancer Princess Kashmir. But he does and once again Marge is mad because Homer has turned a woman into a sex object and taught Bart a bad lesson about objectivity of women. Apart from the weird running order of having this marital issue follow last week's marital issue this is a pretty good setup. It starts out with Bart buying a spy camera for $1.99 (the type the CIA uses) and he snaps Homer dancing with Princess Kashmir at Eugene Fisk's stag party. Fisk was briefly Homer's assistant but 6 months later he's Homer's supervisor. Bart's "where's my spy camera?" line with the Femail Man is a great use of the classic Simpsons repetition gag.

The stag party has a few familiar faces. Lenny had appeared in a previous episode but here he's sat off to Homer's side along with Carl and Homer's friends circle is complete. Lenny's voice is wrong but not all the time. Like they got two voices mixed up in post. The other sounds like Moe. The stag takes place at the Rusty Barnacle where Marge happens to take the kids to dinner with Homer missing. Bart overhears the stag and photographs Homer dancing with Kashmir. He gets the picture developed at school and the copies start getting around town. This is probably the first example of Homer becoming famous for something he's ashamed of. Another reoccurring theme. Speaking of which Mr Burns doesn't recognise him, again, and has to be told he works in sector 7G. This is also the first episode where Homer's weight is revealed to be 239lbs, which he's retained throughout the show's history.

Marge kicking Homer out during this episode seems harsh too. I can understand her being pissed off for a while but this seems like an overreaction but then Homer, from this point on, tends to be really shy around other women. Especially attractive ones. So he's somewhat out of character too. When he's forced to take Bart to find Kashmir to apologise they tour around various adult joints featuring wet t-shirt contests, foxy boxing and mud wrestling. Burns gets a weird appreciation for Homer during the episode as Homer keeps doing well with women and he's no good with them. Which leads to him being on a double date with Smithers and Siamese twins. "He's a love machine, sir" – Smithers. Homer just about sneaks in an apology to recover his failings during the episode and that's enough for Marge to take him back.

Rating: *1/2. There's a strange lack of jokes in this episode and a rushed conclusion. A real disappointment all round. Except the animation seems decent and the world around Homer is getting clearer and better defined. Now with Lenny, Carl, Burns and Smithers all in place and very nearly in character. Otherwise this one is a wash.

The Crepes of Wrath

The Simpsons is known for taking shots at foreign countries, and frequently its own country, but they really didn't start into other countries until this episode. Here Bart is off to France as an exchange student. Cue the abuse! This episode starts out with something that had already appeared and would become a running theme; Principal Skinner's desire to get rid of Bart. He offloaded him to a school for geniuses when he must surely have known he wasn't and this time he unloads him onto the unsuspecting French. Mainly because at the start of this show he explodes a Cherry Bomb in the toilets thus causing poor Agnes Skinner the kind of agony that perhaps turns her into the twisted old woman she becomes during the show. Oh, and during this show she refers to Seymour as "Spanky", which is kinda weird as I'm used to hearing that "Seymour" delivery.

The setup for this episode is great! It advances Skinner and both Homer & Marge have reached the right places as parents. Homer is thrilled to get rid of the boy but Marge is supportive of his learning. Bart is replaced by Albanian exchange student Adil Hoxa. Homer takes a shine to him and Adil is strangely interested in the nuclear plant. Bart walks into a bizarre world where he's driven through a series of famous paintings before being forced into slave labour by Cesar and Ugolin. They're French stereotypes, peasant farmers with loose morals and come straight from the film Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources complete with the same names. "Crepes of Wrath" is the first Simpsons episode that really doesn't care who it offends taking unbridled shots at the French with one breath and the American family with the next. It would get far more severe as time went on and this perhaps seems a little tame by modern standards (where Seth MacFarlane barely even bothers masking his abuse of everyone who isn't him, same for South Park and the modern Simpsons episodes).

There are the occasional sections where there aren't any jokes, which simply wouldn't cut it from series three onwards but compared to the average during the show's first series this is fine. There are some cute moments where Bart suddenly realises how much French he's picked up without realising it and when Adil (codename: Sparrow) is captured by the FBI. I'm also amused by Springfield airport having direct flights to Paris & Albania.

Rating: ***. One of the best episodes in the first series. The animation is decent by this point and when they do something weird (like the trip through famous paintings) its effective. I still think the gag average is a little low compared to the later series but this is a good standard for series one and almost as good as The Tell-Tale Head.

Krusty Gets Busted

This is a landmark episode for the Simpsons. It marks the humble beginnings of one of their best storylines; Sideshow Bob's desire to kill Bart Simpson. Here he starts out as Krusty's sidekick. Which is also strange because Sideshow Mel has had the gig for so long its hard to remember what it was like before him. This show not only debuts Sideshow Bob as a character but also shows the hold that Krusty has over the Simpson kids. They love him and watch his TV show religiously. This also leads into an actual Itchy & Scratchy episode! Marge also shows her distaste for the violence in the show long before she campaigned against it. Following on from that opening is Patty & Selma showing their holiday snaps in slideshow form. Brilliant! Apu even makes fun of Homer's severe lack of bravery during the robbery. Krusty is naturally framed by Bob for robbing the convenience store.

There's more gags to follow as Homer is hauled in to identify Krusty from a line-up of clowns. "Send in the Clowns" – Wiggum. Homer claims they're all guilty if the charge was making him laugh. When the Krusty crime is announced on TV Scott Christian is filling in for Kent Brockman. Looks like they sort of fixed that TV personality problem. In fact the television shows seem far superior here to in previous episodes. Jokes within jokes. We're then introduced to Krusty's talking doll. "Buy my cereal". After that its back to TV with Kent Brockman installed front and centre describing one of the best bloopers in TV history; Krusty's near fatal heart attack in 1986. Funny that despite being Jewish he promotes "pork products". Kent talks about Krusty's illiteracy program. "Give a hoot! Read a book". The gags come thick and fast during this episode with supporting characters firing in lines and the courtroom even having structure with the established judge now coming in.

I like how Bart, with Lisa's help (because she's smarter), eventually gets around to solving the crime and pointing the finger of blame at Bob after he changes Krusty's show into a more intellectual property (Sideshow Bob's Cavalcade of Whimsy). For instance he reads from the Man in the Iron Mask and croons to end the show. Having Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob is perfect and he immediately makes the role his own. And he'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't you meddling kids!

Rating: ****. I thought I might be remembering this too fondly but it really is an excellent episode with fantastic pacing, great jokes and a wonderful vocal performance from Kelsey Grammer. Not only is it a great stand alone episode but without this we wouldn't have the future brilliance of Sideshow Bob and the great stories written specifically for him because this episode was so good. Best episode of the series.

Some Enchanted Evening

This was originally supposed to be the first episode in the series but the animation got botched and it was shunted to the back of the pack. Because this was one of the first episodes they put together the animation is really shaky. The flower shop is ugly. Marge's reaction to the kids demanding food is pretty horrid too as well as when she's fixing her hair. The backgrounds suck. The episode goes right after the crux of the series; Homer's failings as a husband and Marge's issues stemming from not getting the love and support she deserves but it's the THIRD troubled marriage episode in a series of 13 shows. It was getting old already. She calls Marvin Monroe for advice and he recommends she leave him. Homer overhears the radio confession and gets Marge a romantic night out to make amends. He brings in a babysitter, which apparently isn't easy because they've been blacklisted by the Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper Babysitting Service. They end up with badly drawn Lucille Botz who turns out to be on "America's Most Armed & Dangerous".

I dig the continuing use of the prank calls; Bart asks for Al Coholic at the Bar and later Oliver Clothesoff. This is the third time during the first series Bart gets the gag in. Although they both feel a bit tagged on. I guess it works as a time consuming throwaway gag. I don't care for Lisa's love of the Happy Little Elves. I could understand Maggie watching it but Lisa is way too smart to be watching kids cartoons. She does watch Itchy & Scratchy though and I never stopped to think about that. But Happy Little Elves does feel like a pre-school show.

The episode starts strong. Homer & Marge's failings as a couple are interesting but Lucille Botz isn't much of an adversary for Bart Simpson. Frankly the episode has less tension than the one where Bart was facing off against Nelson Muntz; a kid his own age. The episode is barely saved by Homer's bumbling interview on TV where he claims the Babysitter Bandit only escaped because he was a tough struggle and she knew kung-fu.

Rating: *. Sloppy and uneven first episode for the Simpsons, even if it aired last in the first series, and perhaps my least favourite episode until the show started to go downhill about a decade after this. There are a couple of half hearted gags that make sure the episode isn't a total bust but I'm glad I don't have to watch it again.

Best Episode of the Series =

"Krusty Gets Busted"

Best Character of the Series =

1. Bart



2. Homer



3. Sideshow Bob



Best Gag of the Series =

Reverend Lovejoy's sermon being perfectly in sync with the commentary from the football game Homer is listening to on his radio. (From The Tell-Tale Head).

The 411 –

While the first series is generally left for the hardcore fans of the show there are some solid episodes. I would say I liked 6 of the 13 episodes, which is near enough to 50%. What really impresses is how quickly the Simpsons writers fixed the problems on the show. They upped the number of jokes after early episodes were too plot driven and didn't have a high gag quota. They changed the pacing somewhat to break the episode up more but retain a flow of jokes. Krusty Gets Busted is the best episode of the series where they lay a load of groundwork for later episodes. There's plenty of that done here. The Simpsons introduce an ambitious number of characters during the first 13 episodes and have ready made running jokes and secondary characters ready for series two. While I wouldn't recommend people to go back and watch this again because the animation is so inconsistent the first series isn't the dog its sometimes made out to be. There's plenty here to love if you do care about the show and the characters. Yes, there are too many bad and unfunny episodes but they were just getting warmed up.