Season 01 in Review

General Thoughts: I really have to say that season one is actually a lot better than I remember it being. However, I'd still hesitate to call it "good", necessarily. I remembered it being pretty bad - thankfully, it's not that at all. It's just that this is a show that is clearly still trying to find some kind of voice and direction, and it's currently suffering because of that. I want to stress that I don't want to sound like I'm "damning with faint praise," here. Season one of "The Simpsons" is what it is - a show with a lot of roughness and a few bright moments that shine through here and there.

If "The Simpsons" had been canceled after one season, I don't think people would hold that one season up on some type of pedestal. It would surely have its fans, but I don't think it would be more popular than other "canceled before their times" shows. But thankfully, it wasn't.

For the most part, the episodes here are pretty funny. The only major downside is that a lot of the episodes, especially early on, are slow to the point of being momentum-killing. I'm not saying that these things have to be incredibly fast paced. What I am saying, though, is that the slow, meandering pace really kills the timing of certain bits that could be great. However, despite this, a lot of great lines and moments are still all over these episodes.

Both the animation and voice work are pretty rough, which is understandable considering it's so early in the series, but it all quickly begins to get better. You can tell which episodes were produced early and which ones were produced later. "Krusty Gets Busted" looks terrific. The very next episode was actually the first to be produced, and watching them back to back is pretty jarring. Still, it's very interesting to go back and take a good look at what this show used to look like.

One thing that really surprised me is how adult this show can be at times. Trying adult stories in animation would be daring now, so I can only imagine what it was like on prime time in 1989 and 1990. The season has three episodes that deal pretty heavily with Homer and Marge's marriage - two of which aired back to back. But even when the show delves into that type of subject matter, it never forgets that it is a comedy first and foremost. It isn't always successful, but I totally applaud the writers for trying.

Part of the downside of being willing to try, however, is that sometimes you fail. The best example of this is an episode in the middle of the season where Homer tries to commit suicide. It's the writers trying to tackle some more of that adult subject matter I was talking about, but here it really doesn't work. Off the top of my head, this is probably as dark as the series will ever get. That oddness is exacerbated by the fact that it happened so early in the run. I'm not saying the writers shouldn't have tried - I'm saying that I'm very thankful they learned from this episode, as they clearly did. The characters that inhabit this world and suicide stories don't mix.

Speaking of characters, another thing I was surprised to see was how early the writers were able to start building relationships that are still present to this day. Some of my favorite qualities, like Lisa's penchant for existential crises and Bart being secretly upset by how dumb he is, are in these early episodes. Additionally, the writers very quickly start populating Springfield with a lot of our favorite characters. Though Barney may be a little darker of a drunk that he would become, and Mr. Burns might not yet be "totally evil" and is just "a dick," it's good to see this type of world building this early.

Thanks to those characters, there's a great deal of heart on display here. It's always been one of the strong suits of "The Simpsons," and it's good to see that it started early.

As with any season, there are both "hits" and "misses", here. For the most part, though, the "misses" aren't awful. Aside from one episode, there isn't much of anything that I actively disliked. Certainly nothing bad enough to get "hypothetical 1989 me" to write the show off completely.

Another observation: other than the fact that the show is still in a rough form, nothing about the show stands out as "1989." Again, animation notwithstanding, these episodes don't really feel dated despite the fact that they're now 23 years old.

The show has already begun to show potential, but aside from a single example (that I'll get to in a minute), I don't know that anyone could have been able to predict from these thirteen episodes just how good this show was quickly about to become. Don't get me wrong - it's a good show. But season one suffers from a lot of missteps, coupled with that "early in the series" rough around the edges quality, which really prevents it from taking off.

Best Episode: Without question, the wonderful "Krusty Gets Busted." This episode is shockingly good when compared to everything else in the season, and still stands up as a really good episode overall. It's funny, it's quick, it's got a great mystery and is filled with a lot of great character moments. All in all, it's a really surprising glimmer of hope in a sort of ho-hum season.

Worst Episode: By far, "Life on the Fast Lane." I'm in a minority on this one, according to the Internet. I don't care. I don't really like this episode. I don't buy that Marge would ever entertain the idea of cheating on Homer for a second. I get that we're being presented with someone who is essentially Homer's opposite. Someone who can give Marge what she needs. I don't know that the Marge Simpson that has been established would necessarily recognize that or even care about that if she did. I also don't think Jacques is very funny, even though he's voiced by the great Albert Brooks.

I could be totally off base about this episode, but I'm not, so I think this is easily the worst episode of season one by far. It's one of my least favorite episodes ever, to be honest. It's the only one in this whole batch that I actively dislike for most of the time.

On the plus side, they burn though one of my least favorite episodes ever really early in the run. So that's good.

Season High Point: Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob. This isn't to take anything away from the rest of the episodes, or the writers, or the cast - he's that damn good, and he elevates everything around him. Sideshow Bob is a really strong character voiced impeccably by a really fine actor who received the best writing from a really talented staff. Everything about that episode - from "Sideshow Bob's Cavalcade of Whimsy" to even the smallest throwaway line - is absolute gold.

Season Low Point: Marge's fantasy about Jacques. Apart from the fact that I'm not into the story of this episode, I don't think Marge's fantasy is good at all. It's not funny, it's not interesting, it's not compelling and it's pretty aimless. It's boring.

Episode Scores (out of 10):

1. Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire: 8 
2. Bart the Genius: 7
3. Homer's Odyssey: 6
4. There's No Disgrace Like Home: 5
5. Bart the General: 7
6. Moaning Lisa: 7
7. The Call of the Simpsons: 5
8. The Telltale Head: 7
9. Life on the Fast Lane: 5
10. Homer's Night Out: 8
11. The Crepes of Wrath: 7
12. Krusty Gets Busted: 9
13. Some Enchanted Evening: 7

Season Score Total (out of 130): 88

Final Season Score (Average): 68/100

Letter Grade: D+