There's something very wrong with America's favorite family. The father suffers from obesity, alcoholism, sub-standard IQ and anger management issues. The mother is a doting homemaker barely able to control her children. The son routinely commits acts of juvenile delinquency stemming from his severe ADD and limited parental attention. The oft-overlooked, idealistic middle daughter has stunted her growth due to a vegetarian diet of her own design, setting herself up for disappointment at every stage of life. The youngest daughter is criminally endangered and quite possibly mentally disabled. The whole family displays symptoms of extreme jaundice.
The members of this unseemly gang are the stars of "The Simpsons."
In July, "The Guinness Book of World Records" announced that "The Simpsons" is now the longest-running sitcom in history, stripping "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," the former record holder with 435 episodes, of its title. "The Simpsons," which has been running on Fox since 1989, has aired 441 episodes as of the end of its 20th season this year.
Now into its 21st, "The Simpsons" is, surprisingly, still funny.
This is absolutely astonishing: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and the hundreds upon hundreds of ancillary characters that populate Springfield, AW (Anywhere: the location of Homer's Springfield has never been disclosed) have been entertaining millions in broadcast syndication for a few months longer than most Tufts juniors have been on God's green earth.
In the 1990s, "The Simpsons" was everywhere; Homer's signature "D'oh!" became so ubiquitous that it was added to the "Oxford English Dictionary" (sans apostrophe: "Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish").
Somewhere around season 10 or 11, though, most fans claimed that the show stopped being funny. This reviewer puts the marker at episode 231, the fifth episode of season 11, "E-I-E-I Annoyed Grunt."
In retrospect, the show didn't stop being funny, it just stopped being as groundbreaking and sidesplitting as fans had expected it to be. Around a decade ago, "The Simpsons" fell into a sort of formula. But to really think about that is stunning: According to this argument, it's been 10 years since "The Simpsons" supposedly lost its funny. Most shows would be cancelled a year at most after their original appeal faded.
The current season seems to be stepping up the humor, at least a little. "The Devil Wears Nada," one of the more recent episodes, is a take-off of "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006). Though three years too late, the episode has some truly laugh-out-loud moments.
The writers can't really be faulted for using such references; after 21 seasons, it's got to be nearly impossible to think of new scenarios. This sentiment has been kicked around for nearly a decade now, since the "South Park" episode from 2002, "Simpsons Already Did It," in which Butters tries to think of some original hi-jinx to commit with his alter ego, "Professor Chaos," only to be foiled by "The Simpsons" at every turn.
Now that Fox has renewed the show for another two seasons, it should be fun to see what new situations the Simpson family and all of their friends and neighbors find themselves in over the next two years.
So far, this season has been the strongest in years. Maybe Groening and company got tired of "Family Guy" (1999) creator Seth MacFarlane getting all the praise for animated TV sitcoms in recent years. Maybe the pressure of being a 20-year-old show finally got to the writers, making them realize that a decade is too long to phone their work in. Maybe it's just time for a revival. It's hard to say why Season 21 has been so good, but as long as it remains strong, fans will be happy.
On January 14, 2010, Fox will air "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special — In 3-D! On Ice!" directed and produced by Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me," 2004) — reminding us why we've tuned in to the antics of this dysfunctional family every Sunday night for 20 years.
Whether or not it's the funniest or best show on TV, "The Simpsons" is, and will continue to be, an extremely important sitcom with far-reaching cultural influence.
