It's a show that I literally grew up with and still grow up with to this day. I have been and still am a huge fan of the Simpsons. I consider the show to be one of my strongest comedic influences alongside any stand-up comic that I can name. It's one of the longest running shows on network TV and was just renewed for a 19th season. However, this upcoming Friday another notch on the ever expanding belt of the Simpsons will be made when the Simpsons movie, cleverly titled The Simpsons Movie, premieres in theaters.
In honor of the movie, I've been giving myself an ongoing Simpsons Marathon featuring my DVDs of the series whenever I'm at home. In fact, disc three of season 8 is playing on my DVD player as I am writing this blog. I also wish to share with you my personal top ten favorite Simpsons episodes along with my top ten favorite Simpsons characters.
Top Ten Favorite Episodes
10. "Dead Putting Society"- Season 2, Episode 6- This episode features Bart playing in a mini-golf tournament against Todd Flanders with Homer making a bet with Ned Flanders. This episode had plenty of humor, especially Homer's hatred of Ned's good-natured good fortune. I also enjoyed the Karate Kid-esque training.
9. "Homer the Heretic"- Season 4, Episode 3- Homer stays home instead of going to church and proceeds to make his own religion around it. I really like this episode because while its entertaining and funny, it also explains the importance of the role of faith in society and life.
8. "The Principal and the Pauper"- Season 9, Episode 2- It is revealed that Principal Skinner isn't really Principal Skinner at all, but apparently a reformed street punk named Armin Tamzarian. This episode is over the top and greatly displays humanity's fears of change or alteration of the familiar. Never underestimate the power of mass denial.
7- "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)"- Season 11, Episode 5- While this episode isn't thought-provoking, it's fun. Homer is able to create a hybrid of tomatoes and tobacco known as tomacco. The highly addictive veggie leads to hilarious results.
6- "Maximum Homerdrive"- Season 10, Episode 17- After losing a steak-eating contest to a trucker that dies immediately after winning, Homer vows to take the trucker's rig and make his delivery along with Bart. Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa are tormented by a novelty doorbell that plays the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You." This show was funny especially when Homer confuses the trucker with steak eating actor Tony Randall.
5- "The Last Temptation of Homer"- Season 5, Episode 9- After some struggle in his marriage, Homer meets a female coworker that relates to Homer in almost every way. Homer constantly struggles with his fidelity when the two are chosen to represent the nuclear plant at a convention. I like this episode because it shows what most affairs are: a bad action done between two usually good people. It also shows Homer loves Marge purely and truly, despite of and because of the differences between them.
4- "Raging Abe Simpson and his Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'"- Season 7, Episode 22- In this episode, Grandpa Simpson and Bart go on a quest to search for buried artwork that Grandpa and his WWII unit, The Flying Hellfish, stole from the Nazis. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns, also a Hellfish, tries to thwart them and take the paintings for himself. This episode is funny and shows a side of Grandpa that had previously never been shown before.
3- "22 Short Films About Springfield"- Season 7, Episode 21- This episode is good because it features nearly every single character from the Simpsons in one way or another inserting them in a bunch of different comedic shorts.
2- "Marge vs. the Monorail"-Season 4, Episode 12- This is frequently featured on my many top ten lists and rightfully so. It was written by a guy that's going to replace Jay Leno in 2009 by the name of Conan O'Brien. O'Brien's dada-esque, idiot-humor show through in this episode, in which Springfield is conned into building a monorail with disasterous results. There is also a great deadpan performance by Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy.
1- "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment"- Season 8, Episode 18- My favorite episode is the one most people refer to as the "Beer Baron Episode." Springfield enforces a long disregarded prohibition law after Bart accidentally gets drunk during a St. Patrick's Day parade. Homer becomes a bootlegger to much joy of Springfield's inebriated, but is constantly on the run from newly appointed chief of police, Rex Banner. This episode is funny and makes several references to the show and film "The Untouchables" with Dave Thomas's brilliant performance of the Elliot Ness wannabe.
Top Ten Favorite Simpsons Characters
10- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon- This character turned from a stereotype into the most rounded character that isn't a Simpson family member. The character has been under fire in the past because of the jokes about his ethnicity and religion, however in later episodes Apu's culture and Hindu faith have been frequently featured in an educational and favorable light. To my knowledge, there is no other recurring Middle Eastern character in an American series that isn't a terrorist.
9- Hans Moleman- Moleman amuses me due to his elderly nature and always being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't know how many times his life was endangered and no one caring to help him.
8- Troy McClure- You might have recognized him from such events as "Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory," "Andre the Giant: We Hardly Knew Ye," and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House." Troy McClure seems to steal every scene he is featured in thanks to the great comedic performance of the late Phil Hartman.
7- Barney Gumble- Simpsons took what was originally the typical town drunk and made him more three dimensional with having a backstory behind his drinking and even having him become sober with various relapses.
6- Disco Stu- Yeah, he's one dimensional, but he has made me laugh every time I've seen him.
5- Groundskeeper Willie- The surly Scotsman makes me laugh with his angry voice and various nonsensical insults.
4- Seymour Skinner- I love the fact that the writers gave this character a vast history that explains a good chunk of his behaviors and his personality. Let's look at his traits: He's bitter and tortured about his tour during the Vietnam War, he's a mama's boy, he is straight-laced, he's awkward around women (just ask Mrs. Krabappel), and he's Bart's best nemesis. In any other show, they would have just made five separate characters based on those traits instead of fleshing out one great one.
3- Comic Book Guy- I'm a comic nerd and for the life of me this character is the true to life. Every comic store, EVERY COMIC STORE, has someone that looks and sounds just like Comic Book Guy right down to the elitist sarcasm. The best part about it is that the comic book guys of the real world are totally oblivious to the fact that they are just like Comic Book Guy.
2.- Ralph Wiggum- There is never a scene in which Ralph doesn't make me laugh. There doesn't need to be any other reason.
1- Charles Montgomery Burns- The evil billionaire is hilarious in his megolomaniac schemes and his old-timey, out-of-touch references. You hate him and yet there are many moments that you root for him. It's good to be Monty Burns.
That's all I got for tonight. I'll keep watching the show and I'll see you at the theater.
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One of my favorite moments (involving one of my favorite characters that you did not mention) was when someone was at the library trying to check out a Bible, and the librarian said that it was not available and had been checked out for the last 15 years. Then, in the next shot, Rev. Lovejoy showed up with the Bible and checked it out again.
My other favorite, "taking in class . . . that's a paddlin."
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