Simpson Withdrawals
Life officially stinks. I really mean it. The day job I do is hardly an enriching experience and the only thing other than my passions for making movies that kept me getting up every working day was the fact that there used to be a sitcom line-up in the morning in Star World(English Channel in India and part of Murdoch’s empire). The thing I loved about this line-up was Simpsons coming on at 8:30 and I would always catch up some bits of it or all of it, depending on what shitty schedule I had. This used to make my day really good.
I do not know how many of you love the Simpsons but I have been a hard-core fan of the same for many many years now. Although I have watched almost all of the episodes that come in Star World now, it always used to give me a good start to see the same in the morning. Now Star World has gone and changed their program schedule and moved some Crappy talk shows & soaps into this slot. Do we not have enough soaps already coming out of our ears that they now need to be everywhere? Hence the bloody Withdrawals and the Morning Sickness are rampant in my body now. Do not be too surprised if the Stork visits me in a few months’ time :-)
Now let me dwell on why I love Simpsons. Middle America & its wonderful suburbia have never been caught as well as it has been caught in the Simpsons. Matt Groening (Creator of Simpsons) is according to me one real genius & the 10 Harvard educated writers also helps. Coming back to the series, I love each of the characters that come in the series. Beware; have won a quiz conducted many years back in my local pub in Leeds (when I used to stay there) on the Simpsons and so am quite a big fan of the same. The reason I love this show is pretty much the same reason why I have always like Seinfeld. The tongue in cheek humour, the disdainful look at society & the more urbane sense of humour are some of the reasons. The other major one is Simpsons, Seinfeld are most probably few of the shows that laugh at America and also the World. I have always found it extremely tiring in India that we as a nation do not have a sense of humour. I mean, look around us. We are living in a joke (Corruption, Pollution, Examination..) but we somehow ascribe humour to Bawdy, Slapstick, silly jokes (Reference: Heyy Babyy, Welcome et al) & have never appreciated good humour. This is a nation which has some really good humour writers (RK Narayan always at the top of the heap) & hence found this surprising. This is one area where you are not left bored in Simpsons.
Every episode is full of humour and you tend to carry it with you for a long time to come. This is only seen in very few things around us. Over & above the Simpsons is Asterix & Obelix (English Version) where the jokes are really good and you carry the lines in your head for a long time
To cite an example of the Simpsons witty dialogue, I refer to the episode where Moe, the bartender has stolen Homer’s drink idea (Flaming Homer Drink). Marge is consoling Homer and she tells him that he should be happy Moe, his friend, has gained popularity because of this drink.
Homer does a small dance in his Y-Fronts and Comments:
Homer: Oh Yes Marge, I will dance around gaily. I am so happy for Moe
Dances towards the door and then exits and shuts the door. He then enters back and informs Marge:
Homer: Oh..In case you did not understand, I was being Sarcastic.
Always breaks me up when I see this. Another really good one
Homer: ‘Operator, give me the number for 911!’
The other thing about this wonderful series is the sub characters of Springfield that you start to fall in love with. Be it Chief Inspector Wiggum, Apu of Kwik-e-Mart, or Lionel Hutz, the lawyer. They are all amazing and each character stands out in your mind. I love all of them be it Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Otto or Hutz himself. This is one interaction I really love. An interaction between Marge & Hutz
Hutz: ‘Now don’t you worry, Mrs. Simpson, I – uh-oh. We’ve drawn Judge Snyder.’ Marge: ‘Is that bad?’ Hutz: ‘Well, he’s kind of had it in for me, since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace “accidentally” with “repeatedly”, and replace “dog” with “son”.’
If you look at the Simpsons as a family, there are some wonderful similarities with all of ours also. Homer & Lisa have a really good relationship as Dad & Daughter, which we keep seeing in almost all families across the globe. A good one is in the episode where Homer decides to throw a barbecue to his friends and Lisa converts to vegetarianism. I love this dialogue
Homer: ‘Lisa, honey, are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?’ Lisa: ‘No.’ Homer: ‘Ham?’ Lisa: ‘No.’ Homer: ‘Pork chops?’ Lisa: ‘Dad! Those all come from the same animal!’ Homer: [chuckles] Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal
BTW, Paul McCartney was a guest on this show.
There is another one I love where X-Files Meet Simpsons. Homer has seen an apparition and is being questioned by Scully & Mulder. Homer is telling them about the evening he saw the apparition.
Agent Mulder: ‘We want you to recreate your every move the night you saw this alien.’ Homer: ‘Well, the evening began at the gentleman’s club, where we were discussing Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon.’ Mulder: ‘Mr Simpson, it’s a felony to lie to the FBI.’ Homer: ‘We were sitting in Barney’s car eating packets of mustard. Ya happy?
Well these are just a few and there are countless such gems in the Series. If you have really never ever watched it, then please start doing it from today. Life suddenly starts to look beautiful and you have a step in your walk. In India, it comes on Star World at 11:30 AM (Why God Why, did they have to move it from 8:30 AM) & again at 6:00 PM. I usually try to watch it at 1:00 AM on days that am awake. I of course have the DVD’s but getting a random selection on TV is so much more fun.
I hope & pray that those in charge of Programming at Star World get their sorry act together and put back this show at the time it needs to come on. Bloody, think of the average Joe (ME) who has to get out in really horrible traffic to go for a crappy job. The Simpsons have an answer for this also. Homer grows fat to get a disability act working for him to work out of home and miss all the traffic. Good episode.
To end this, I will quote Bart “Eat My Shorts”.
Cheers,
Deepak
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Nice write up on Simpsons my all time favourite..no matter wat state of mind iam in, a dose of simpsons always keeps me happy and smiling
Unlike the other long running shows..Simpsons seems to be as fresh as ever.
Btw i hate to be the one to break the news to you..but Simpsons has also been removed from the 1am slot
nice to see another simpson fan. alright deepak no googling, from top of your head, who is the first character to be killed off from simpsons ?
yo! love the simpsons. and without googling, was it snowball I??
i also think that there is a dearth of tv programming or films where there is a good critique of our society. i always makes up for great humour. all we see now is a parody of our films again and again. but to remind you, some of our best comedies have been such. jaane bhi do yaaron, office office and more recently khosla ka ghosla…
Lately have also starting watching and loving family guy….it is way too hilarious just like the simpsons..
in that same bbq episode.. bart reads homer’s invitation…
bart: “welcome to homer’s BBBQ. the extra B is for BYOBB”. what’s that extra B for?
homer: that’s a typo.
another priceless moment which had me in splits.. when homer tries to impersonate mr. burns at the post office so he can retrieve a hate mail written to him..
homer (enunciating in an effort to sound like mr. burns): hulloooo, my name is mr. burns. i beliiieve you have a letter for me.
post office clerk: okay mr. burns, what’s your first name?
homer: i… don’t knowww.
and yup, KJ is right.. snowball I it is.
loved family guy’s first few seasons, but they’ve lost their charm. everything is said and done in an effort to resort to a quick random aside.. the latest episodes barely evoke a chuckle anymore..
simpsons was named by time magazine as the greatest tv series of 20th century. i’ll agree to that. but i do find that there has been some decline of quality over the years. the thing i hate the most is how bart simpson’s role in the series is not as strong as it used to be earlier. at the start of the series, he was supposed to be the main protagonist of the show. miss his cool one liners now. but homer is great as usual.
although i liked simpsons movie too to a certain extent, but still felt it did not match up to the standards we have come to expect from it. has anyone played the latest simpsons game? it also is definitely the funniest simpsons episode in many years. it’s available on all platforms. at one point, god while playing dance dance revolution shouts out, “i’m like the michael jordan of gaming”.
Well Well..I had expected a damp response to this tirade of mine but looks like there are more than enough Simpsons fans out here.
Other than the feline, the people who have died in Simpsons are “Maude Flanders”, “Bleeding Gums Murphy”, “Dr. Marvin Monroe (who magically comes back in other episodes & tells all he had gone to Germany) & finally Homer’s nemesis (Frank Grimes). Franks also has a son although he died a bachelor who also tries to kill Homer when he is the guest for Springfield’s Mardi Gras. Very good episode
Another good one I keep remembering is when Lisa visits Homer in his office to know what parents do.
Homer : Do you want a doughnut, Lisa
Lisa: do you have any fruit?
Homer looks at the doughnut stuffed with jam
Homer: It has purple in it. Purple is a fruit
@ trimoneo
Family Guy is also quite funny & have watched quite a bit of it also
@ Striker
I remember the one with Homer in the post office. I always crack up on it..
Cheers, Deepak
nice different post man. have always wanted to get inside The Simpsons world, but all I have seen is a few episodes. :(
i think simposons is a great show…didnt get a chance to watch the movie yet(its sitting somewhere at home).Sometimes tv shows tend to lose my interest after certian season.. but i didnt see that happenin with simposons. I can always go back to watching it and find something new that i missed last time!
and regarding family guy… i used to like the show.. i thought it was great.. except now its just doesnt have that “charm” … i just find some of their jokes more stupid and sometimes out of no where!
I love Simpsons. I remb watching it on Star World, everyday evening. IT was so much fun, and my fav is Bart hehe.
And then I never have loved Friends but just adored “Whose line it anyway”
Btw Nicely summed up Deepak! A wel written piece.
simpsons is not only adored by fans like us, but even countless celebrites have done guest appearances on it, and that too in good spirits. Think what we may of michael jackson, but how cool was it of him to voice for a big fat white guy who thinks hes michael jackson, stuck with homer in mental asylum. In the same episdoe, the singing part was not done by michael, but an impersonator, as michael only agreed to do talking not singing. Great thing about simpsons is that everyone has their own unique identity which people can relate to, and it does not circle around just Homer. But still I love Homer, here is one of my fav homer moment.
Marge: Does Bart seem different to you?
Homer: New glasses?
Marge: No, I mean he seems sad.
Homer: Probably misses his old glasses.
Marge: I want to ask him whats wrong, but I’m afraid of smothering him.
Homer: Yeah, then we’d get the chair.
Marge: That’s not what I meant.
Homer: It was Marge, admit it.
Also the characters of Troy Mclure and Lionel Hutz were not brought back, after the death of the great Phil Hartman.
hey have u seen southpark its equally good… it doesnt come on indian telelvision tho.. but catch it on dvd o sumtin … if u like simpsons ul definately like southpark!
It’s nice to know so many guys here in this country, dig “The Simpsons”.If you know a little about American culture and the current events going on there,you can immensely enjoy this cartoon series.My main gripe is, am not able to watch new episodes,just a single season rerun numerous times on Star World.I found a site where they stream all the Simpsons Episodes from the first season onwards and upto the last episode currently aired on Fox.So now am able to watch the latest episodes by this way.But another one of my gripe is the quality of the series has gone down in recent times too much usage of the same plots.Also i love Seinfeld,Everybody Loves Raymond,Friends,Tonight Show With JayLeno.
From the Simpsons Movie,
Computer Screen:- To start press any key…
Homer:- Where’s the any key?