With actors coming and going, everyone inevitably aging, storylines becoming stagnant, and a world that is changing every day, live-action TV shows generally have to evolve and change in order to stay interesting. For animated shows however, the issue of continual development and change is far less pronounced. Cartoon characters don't age, voices can be recast without too much hassle, and an animated TV universe is far more malleable than a live-action one that is grounded by reality. For a long-running show like The Simpsons - on our screens for over 25 years now - some form of change is inevitable. But what differentiated The Simpsons from other animated shows of its time was that the writers were more than willing to embrace change whilst developing the characters and universe as the world moved on in real-life. Social issues and ever-evolving technology are consistently incorporated into the show as comedic satire, efforts was made to ensure that continuity was maintained throughout the show's run, and character development was paramount with defining character traits being kept permanently such as Patty's sexuality. Needless to say, Season One of The Simpsons is almost an entirely different show when compared to Season Twenty Seven...
My life story is nothing special. I haven't cured ebola, I'm nowhere near stopping terrorism, and I'm still working on that climate change problem.
Instead, all I've done so far is put a few hundred words together in an attempt to make people laugh.
You can follow me at @Fry_ying_pan but don't be offended if I don't tweet back. It's usually because I've spent too long trying to think up a witty response that the reply window has closed.
