The Simpsons: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Season 1

6. “Family Jewels”

Bart The General Grandpa Family Jewels
Frinkiac

In the Season 1 episode "Bart The General", the eldest Simpson kid is having some trouble with a bully.

Behind the scenes, the show's writers also felt like they were getting picked on by a bigger kid, that kid being the TV Censors.

It wasn't the violence in this episode that got it in trouble with the regulators, but rather its language. One specific piece of language in fact; the phrase "Family Jewels".

Uttered by Homer when giving advice to his son on how to deal with a bully, "Family Jewels" was deemed inappropriate for a family audience.

But, because this is The Simpsons, the writers just used the phrase anyway.

Not only did they use it, they doubled down on it and had a little fun at the censors' expense.

At another point in the episode, Grandpa is seen writing a letter to advertisers. In that letter he includes three things he never wants to hear on television ever again. They are "bra", "horny", and... "Family Jewels".

Between this and the Fox thing, we're getting a pretty clear picture that the early Simpsons writers were not to be messed with.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.