The Simpsons - from the start

November 16, 2022 1:10 AM

Would anyone else be game for a club / regular series of rewatches of classic (single digit season) Simpsons?
posted by Paragon (13 comments total)

I would be! I actually did this on my own during COVID -- it's amazing how some of the early episode feel so familiar (I know almost every beat) but simultaneously completely fresh and every joke hits like it's the first time I've seen it.
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:24 AM on November 16, 2022

Yes!
posted by chinesefood at 6:20 AM on November 17, 2022

I'm in! I'm actually doing a sleep rewatch right now. Just made it to season 5.
posted by Servo5678 at 6:56 AM on November 18, 2022

My kid has been doing a first time watch from the beginning for like two years and is on season 29. I watched most of the single digit seasons with him. I might comment on a few.

I definitely think single episode posts are in order for a Simpsons rewatch, as the continuity doesn't mean anything and people are fond of particular single episodes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:31 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

I wouldn’t comment too frequently (at least until we got to season 3) but I would definitely subscribe to this newsletter!
posted by thecaddy at 9:40 AM on November 20, 2022

Thanks all for responding so positively. Good to know there are at least a few of us. Maybe I'll try it for a bit and see if there's enough general interest to continue. First post on the 33rd anniversary of the premiere, then a new episode every 3-4 days.
posted by Paragon at 12:43 PM on November 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

My recollection is that it only found its feet when they switched the focus from Bart to Homer. When would that have been? Season 2?

There was a step change in the quality of the art fairly early in the show's history too, apparently because the animators had previously thought Groening wanted them to faithfully reproduce the flaws in his own drawings.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:54 AM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm cautiously in too, although like others above my (very fuzzy, it's been a long time) memory is that the first season or two was a bit bumpy.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:11 AM on November 21, 2022

The first season is most definitely very bumpy - fortunately it's only 13 episodes.
posted by Paragon at 12:31 PM on November 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Agreed, but there are some pretty funny bits in S1. The tabloid headlines in "The Call of the Simpsons" about Marge being in love with her ape-man husband always make me laugh, and Homer has some good lines in "The Telltale Head." Definitely rough around the edges, but way better than, say, S1 of Family Guy (although not as good as S1s of King of the Hill or Futurama).
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:29 PM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

They started to hit a stride in Season 2 (though if you watch the DVD commentaries, about half of the comments are the producers cringing at the size of the characters eyeballs, so the artwork wasn't fully settled by then). Season 3 started the run, but seasons 4, 5 and 6 are the true golden era of the Simpsons.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:24 PM on November 29, 2022

I'm in if you want to post them! I stopped watching somewhere around S10 but am a huge fan of the early episodes. (I'm old enough that I watched the bits on "The Tracey Ullman Show" first.)
posted by mmoncur at 11:11 PM on December 2, 2022

Okie doke, first episode is up now.
posted by Paragon at 1:43 AM on December 17, 2022 [3 favorites]