The Simpsons is my favorite show. Always has been, and always will. I’ve been infatuated with many different shows over the years, but no series has provided me with more entertainment and laughter than that of our favorite yellow-toned family. Back in middle school, I was a Simpsons maniac. I would quote the show constantly, I would write reviews of new episodes, I would draw characters all over my school notes, write fanfictions for school assignments. It was downright sick. It was beyond a liking, it was some bizarre addiction. I’ve mellowed out on my fandom at this point, but a large portion of my brain is still full of classic scenes, moments and useless Simpsons trivia.
I’d watched the show in syndication for a long while, but I believe the first season I started watching when it was new was season 11, right in the epicenter of the Mike Scully era, synonymous with most fans as the death of their beloved series. Since I was still young at the time, I recall enjoying most of those episodes, with those feelings soured once I rewatched some of them when I was older. However once Al Jean took the helm at season 13, there seemed to be a bit of a curve up in quality, at least enough for me to keep watching. The years went on and I still tuned in for season after season. The show had reached a sort of middle ground where most episodes were at least entertaining enough to warrant my continued viewership. Plus, Sundays at 8 had become wired into my head as “Simpsons time,” so I just kept watching. However, this all came to an end at the beginning of the show’s 21st season. I remember it was the third episode in, “The Great Wife Hope.” The Monday after it aired, I had completely forgotten there was a new episode the night before, so I opened it on Hulu and had it on in the background while I was doing some schoolwork. Later in the day, I found I could barely remember anything that had happened in the episode. That’s when it occurred to me, “Why am I still watching this show?” My departure from the series wasn’t brought by a particularly egregious episode, or of the show crossing the line; it was more apathetic than that. The new episodes were simply of no interest to me. The show had run its course. And with that, I left it be, and haven’t seen a new episode since.
An unfortunate result of this decision (maybe not a complete correlation, but true nonetheless) is that I haven’t watched many episodes of the show since then. Being busy with lots of work and watching other different shows and movies has occupied a lot of my time, but I always kept it in the back of my mind to revisit the classic episodes, to relive the greatness of the series. Well, seeing as now that I’m a college graduate and have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, this seems like as good a time as ever. I previously did a blog where I reviewed all 49 (now 50) films in the Disney animated canon (which you can find here). This new assignment will make that look like chump change. I’m going to watch every Simpsons episode in order, all the way up until I stopped watching. That’s 444 episodes. At roughly 21 minutes each, that’s 9,324 minutes, or 155.5 hours.
Now, I’m not a madman. …well, I am, but not that mad. I’m not marathoning through these, I’ll probably do one or two a day. Each episode will have a posting of my personal reactions to each episode, in relation to other episodes or the show as a whole, as well as the best quotes. Now this’ll take a long time, and I don’t even know if anyone is going to read this, but it’s no bother to me. All I want is to relive my favorite show of all time, one step at a time. Because at its highest and lowest, these 444 episodes (and 1 movie) are The Simpsons as I see it. So… here we go. Or here I go. Rather. …right.
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Keep the reviews coming!
I’ve been reading your blog all year, and this is the first time I’ve read this particular post. As Edna K would say, ha! This explains why your roster stops at episode 444. Very interesting post, now I understand more about why you write Me Blog Write Good. Thanks for your blog, I really enjoy it. I am also re-watching a lot of classic episodes at the moment, and (even though I’m caught up to your most recent posts) I check back to read your post on whatever episode I’m watching. I like to see it it matches up, and sometimes you have a tidbit or insight that makes me view it in a different way. My friends think it’s really weird that I love old Simpsons so much, but there ya go.
Simpsons freaks, unite!
There was a recent time where I considered doing something of this caliber, but declined due to lack of time and the daunting task put forth. Kudos to you sir for attempting this. I just discovered your site and am looking forward to reading your analysis and relieving past memories of my favorite show, too.
As much as I think you’re not really obliged to this anymore, seeing as you’ve taken to reviewing post-S20 episodes, I really miss the season reviews at the end of the season finale reviews. I love the bottom lines of each passing year of the series, even as it slides further and further down the crapper; in fact, that’s what I like the most about series reviews, after all it helps me decide whether to keep going with it or not. But it’s your call whether you want to do them or not.