Revisiting Springfield

Maybe it was the recent death of Marcia Wallace, but lately I've been thinking quite a bit about a show I used to be a big fan of, a fandom I haven't been part of in years. I refer, of course, to "The Simpsons". So, I bring you this post. It's just a stream of consciousnesses that happens to relate to a particular show; good thoughts, bad thoughts, nostalgic thoughts, whatever.

I actually still remember my first real episode (as opposed to a "Tracey Ullman Show" episode or two which had the shorts that eventually became the series (don't remember which, if any, of those I may have seen but I'm sure I saw a few) and the first Christmas special which they continued to replay every year until 1995). It was the one called "Life on the Fast Lane", which later became a spoof letter somebody wrote to "Dear Abby". Didn't become really active in the fandom until around the sixth/seventh season, when the Internet was just starting to become "a thing" thus being active in any fandom was now easier than ever. However, I wasn't impressed with season eight (there were a few decent episodes, but not enough to justify the purchase of a DVD boxed set for that season whether I were to buy it myself or someone else buys it for me), and decided from then on maybe I'd just watch the annual Halloween specials (a.k.a. "Treehouse of Horror" episodes). That lasted two years, and for whatever reasons I ended up watching the season ten Valentine's Day episode (the one with a now-married Apu over-celebrating the holiday and making all the married/in a relationship women in Springfield, Marge included, jealous of the wife that was foisted upon him), two non-Halloween season nine episodes, and the one episode in season eleven where Lisa took up tap dancing. Other than that, I pretty much quit the show and fandom cold turkey. I know many other fans of the show, including some "big name" ones, also jumped ship around that time or within a few years after. But FOX doesn't know what else to put in the Sunday at 8:00 (Eastern) timeslot, so for all the behind-the-scenes salary drama and whatever else, the show just keeps getting renewed (sad, scary thought: it has now overtaken both (original) "Law & Order" and "Gunsmoke", and by the look of things will even outlive "Last of the Summer Wine"). In any case, my only connections to Springfield, so to speak, were what made it beyond the fandom and onto mainstream media/social networks/etc. or what friends, family, whoever saw fit to share with me. Oh yeah, and watching recurring guest star Joe Mantegna in a certain other show and enjoying a certain other project of former directors Jim Reardon and Rich Moore.

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I guess what it all comes down to is that this show has just been on too long- eighteen seasons too long. There's a reason most "favorite episode" lists out there, even ones shared by staffers of the show and noteworthy publications/websites like IGN or TV Guide, pretty much only cite episodes from the early seasons. Maybe that's why I rant on a certain other show so much- I don't want the number of episodes not worth watching if I find reruns on somewhere to outweigh the ones that are. It happened before with one show I loved, it just might happen again. Though I wonder if, when Michael Jackson died and they reran the episode he guest-starred in and for obvious reasons they recently reran an episode where Mrs. Krabappel prominently featured and Marcia Wallace won an Emmy for (both episodes in question are from season three) if anyone noticed the differences between those and the new episodes that aired the same night(s). And yes, for the sake of ending this on a somewhat positive note I will concede that my love of a certain movie involving certain (now former) "Simpsons" directors from the show's earlier seasons is probably not a coincidence.

( Er, there ended up being two "ETA" footnotes here... )