400

yep, today's the day.
the 400th episode of the simpsons. yes i said 400 th. everyone has been saying for years that the simpsons is the longest running tv series ever. but that isn't exactly true. "gunsmoke" from the '50's and '60's ran 18 years, longer than the 17-year simpson run. and "meet the press" has been running almost as long as there were televisions, since 1948 or so. you could say that the simpsons is the longest running sit com or animated series.


i haven't watched tv or radio in a few months because of school, so i'm not sure if anyone covered this, but here it is anyway:
the simpsons first appeared on the "tracy ulman show" in the late '80's. they were 10-20 second shorts, originally drawn solely by tracey, but later she had help and she did all the voices herself. it was the funniest animation anyone had ever seen. soon afterwards tinytoons came out, which was also quite funny. matt groening, one of the animators, stole the idea, concept, characters, etc and went to tracey's boss', the fox executives and sold them on making longer shorts in front of movies and a pilot series. one of the 2 movies was "war of the roses." the series started in january of 1990. i was in college at the time and we all wanted everything to do with the simpsons. it was simpson's night at my apartment, every sunday, with beer of course. after a few weeks, i was walking with a friend to class, and he dropped one of his books and said "d'oh!" from that point on we would always quote the simpsons on compass and beyond. the phenomenon had started, and not just on my campus, but everywhere.
we all watched religiously for years, until the dark ages came to the simpsons. i'm referring to the middle period, where there were less jokes, sometimes only 2-3 per episode and strong family value themes. i'm glad they weren't cancelled during this period. i know they got many angry letters though. slowly, the feedback got back to the creators and they retro'd the series back to the early years, in theme and humor, not in animation thankfully. the early animation stuff was so crude, more akin to how it was on the "tracey ulman show." she did eventually sue, but matt and others had cleverly changed everything enough to make it legally ok, and she lost the case. the recent years of the simpsons have been an age of enlightenment for comedy. sure they copy off of "south park" once in a while and "the family guy" copies off of the simpsons, but each instance is still hilarious. i'm always amazed that they keep coming up with new themes and ideas for the same characters. one of the most shocking episodes was when flanders' wife died, or was killed by a nascar t-shirt canon. every one i talk to has there favorite episode or part of an episode that they love the most. the simpsons are also timeless. the college kids today watch the new and old episodes and get all the jokes. they're on every day, several times a day and probably will be for decades or for forever. can't wait for the movie to come out this year.


hi didely doakaley....