"Ho, ho, d'oh!" - Homer Simpson
The Simpsons. Undoubtedly one of the greatest animated shows ever introduced to television. I love the hell out of it and keep watching even today. Of course The Simpsons came before my time and in it's early years it was the funniest. With Christmas just a few steps away, I would like to take refer back to the first official episode of The Simpsons: "The Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" which premiered in 1989 originally. Now this is not the first time people witnessed The Simpsons, for The Simpsons, created by cartoonist Matt Groening, had an animated sketch on The Tracy Ullman show before they gained worldwide popularity of even a series. But a series did kick in and with it the popularity. So with that let's jump into why this episode is so great.
I always found it a bit ironic that the very first episode of the series was a Christmas episode, but really Christmas is the best time to show the colors of the family, at least how they were originally. In numerous ways, The Simpsons is an hyper realistic version of an actual American family. They are not wealthy by any means, the father works a low paying job, the mother is a sweet homemaker, the daughter is intelligent, the son is a troublemaker, and the baby is...well, a baby. They face the problems that come with parenthood, childhood, social issues, and the American economy but they do it all in very humorous ways. The first episode in oh so many ways symbolizes that premise to the show. It's satirical, hilarious, realistic, and heartwarming.
It all takes place around Christmas time and amidst all of the lists, organization, straing and tragedies that come with the holiday, everything that could possibly go wrong does. At first Homer doesn't really worry about the fact that his evil boss Mr. Burns takes away the Christmas bonuses to all of the employees because Marge has kept a savings. Things take a turn for the worse however when she has to spend the savings to remove a tattoe Bart got. This leaves Homer in a bind to work an extra job to afford money for Christmas. He struggles but it is never enough. In the end he does not have the money to buy the family what they had originally wanted, but an opportunity arises for him to bring home one present and that really makes all of the difference as it was the best present they would ever want but didn't think of. It is really touching.
Funny how a show can capture so many real life moments and put them all into a single episode, not to mention the first episode and an animated one at that. It's funny, charming, and honest. A perfect episode to start a twenty year long series. Love The Simpsons.
This has been a look back at a TV legend with Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.
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