No list of important Simpsons episodes would be complete without the very first episode, and as first episodes go, this one is landmark. And yet who could have predicted that Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire would spawn a TV series now consisting of 575 episodes (and counting)? Interestingly, this wasn't even supposed to be the first episode, but was deemed to be the best of the season and was moved to serve as the very first. Nowadays, Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire - with its weird character voices and awkwardly animation - looks like a true relic (indeed: it's the only Simpsons episode to have aired in the '80s). It's not even particularly hilarious. One cannot deny the importance of it in retrospect, though, given that it served as the jumping off point for everything that came thereafter - all the bare bones of the show are here, just waiting to be developed further. Indeed, the positive reception received by Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire when it first aired proved that the world was ready for a show like The Simpsons. Over the course of the next decade, Matt Groening's little cartoon about a yellow family would go on to define itself as the smartest, funniest, densest and greatest television show of all-time. Like this list? Like The Simpsons? Do you agree that these episodes are some of the most important episodes ever made? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
