The Simpsons: Every Season 1 Episode Ranked

With the world’s current situation, people are forcing themselves to embrace their inner couch potato and binge-watch movies and television. The latest outlet for this is Disney+ where people can rediscover their old childhood favourites as well as give their time to popular franchises like Marvel, Star Wars and somewhat randomly, The Simpsons.

Love it or hate it, you just cannot deny the influence and success of The Simpsons. Even if you’ve never watched an episode, you’ll somehow just know all the characters names, the memorable theme tune and the catchphrases. It has become a massive part of American pop culture, spanning out over 30 series’, a movie, several video games and more merchandise than you can imagine.

But does anyone really remember how The Simpsons truly started out?

Season 1 is largely forgotten and probably because it’s like watching an entirely different show - the voicework sounds like different actors, the animation is sluggishly undetailed, the characterizations seem like a product of experimental writing and most noticeably, the tone of the show is so far removed from how we know it today. But it’s important to keep in mind the creators were just finding the voice of the show which is why not all aspects of the early years seem in-keeping with the later seasons.

So let’s take a delve into what the first season was really like and how much of it has withstood the test of time.

When looking at the debut of any long-running popular television series, it’s important to take into account that every show starts off finding its voice in order to produce greater content in later years to come and therefore, the writing and stories are often experimental in order to see what works for the show in the future.

In the case of The Simpsons, they eventually came to develop an entertaining, heartfelt cartoon sitcom centred around a family who were relatable and actually felt like a real-life family because of the trials and tribulations they faced in life. Conclusively, it’s important to give some leeway when judging the first series from a current standpoint.

That being said, it’s hard to make an exception for Homer’s Night Out, which really goes against all the qualities that have made the sitcom so beloved over the years.

Aside from its sheer lack of comedy, it contains a weak story with lame melodrama. The basis is that Homer gets ‘merry’ with an exotic dancer at a bachelor party and Marge eventually finds out through a photo of the act gone viral. She claims it’s an image of filth and objectifying women which leads to her tearfully kicking him out the house. Marge’s character particularly grates because it’s a real overreaction on her behalf, especially when she’s let Homer off for greater wrong doings.

The ending is weak and rushed – Homer makes a heavy-handed speech in a strip club about not objectifying women and everyone gets tear eyed, including Marge who instantly reconciles with her husband and it finishes there with no afterthought.

The message itself is not bad, it’s just executed poorly. Jon Vitti presumably had good intentions when writing this but the final product just leaves you with frustration.