Random thoughts from Springfield

The Simpsons is a funny show. Sometimes it even makes you laugh  

I have not seen the show in years. I found that it turned into a “See what famous celebrity we have as a guest voice this week” parade. Not only is this boring -- interesting storylines tend to go by the wayside, but there is a technical issue when you are dealing with movie and TV stars. Voices record differently when someone is on a boom mic or lavaliere mic as opposed to working close to a studio mic as would be used to record a show such as The Simpsons. To illustrate that point, watch some of the following video. It is from an interview of Peter Thomas. You may not know the name, but you probably know the voice. I am sure you will recognize the voice in the sample from NOVA. After that sample, listen to his voice during the interview.

For narrating, Mr. Thomas works closely with a studio microphone. In the interview he is using a lavaliere microphone. He almost sounds like two different people with the two different types of microphones. If you have a movie or TV star voicing a cartoon, that star’s voice will be almost as unrecognizable compared to how you normally hear him. So how can having a famous star be a guest on The Simpsons be effective if no one knows who it is without it being pointed out? If they were there as an actor doing a role that would be one thing, but since the main point of their being on The Simpsons is that they are a famous star being featured then the fact that no one recognizes them is significant.

I have been thinking about The Simpsons after the recent news that people complained about the portrayal of Apu and how derogatory it is to Hindu people.  Imagine, the show that brought us Homer Simpson actually portraying someone in a derogatory fashion. Oh, the horror!

I had a memory from years ago when I travelled a lot on business. In this memory I checked into a motel one Sunday evening. I turned on the TV and The Simpsons was in the middle of that week’s episode.

I did not see how the episode began, but when I tuned in Homer was going out of his way to insult everyone of faith in the show. He was derogatory towards Hinduism with Apu. He made fun of Crusty the Clown for his Judaism. Reverend Lovejoy and his Christianity were not spared. Later, Homer took a nap on his sofa while smoking a cigar. He fell asleep, setting the sofa – and consequently the house – on fire.

The Springfield Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire. Members of the fire department included Apu, Crusty the Clown, and Reverend Lovejoy. When the fire jumped from Homer’s house to Ned Flanders’s house next door (Ned also being a devout Christian), Homer was thrilled – but a sudden rain cloud appeared above the Flanders’s house to extinguish the flame there. After the fire in the Simpson home was out, it was pointed out to Homer that people of different faiths came to his aid – even after the way he had treated them.

I thought that was a very good episode of The Simpsons . It was not their usual type of storyline. I wanted to see the entire episode. 

A few years later I saw an episode with Lisa as the central character. In this episode Lisa became a vegetarian. The special guests were Paul and Linda McCartney.

I read a magazine article about twenty-five years ago that made an interesting observation: any episode where Lisa is the central character usually is not very good. This episode was a prime illustration of that point. It was not very funny (except it did have my favorite line from any Simpson's – Apu was showing Lisa the way up to his private garden on the roof of the Qwik-E-Mart. The stairs were behind a secret door behind a fake display of non-alcoholic beer. Lisa asked, “What if someone wants a non-alcoholic beer?” Apu replied, “The subject has never come up.”)

In the late ‘90’s, a Seattle TV station showed The Simpsons twice every weekday evening, once at 6:30 and again at 7:30. I regularly watched those broadcasts. I noticed that Lisa’s vegetarian episode would show at 6:30 and a month later it would show at 7:30. A month after that it would be back on at 6:30, rinse and repeat.

Homer’s religious episode? It was nowhere to be seen. I honestly thought I might have dreamt that episode. It was an unusual episode for The Simpsons. I had seen the Lisa episode many times but not that particular Homer episode. Finally after a couple of years I finally saw it. It was real. I had not dreamt it. 

I guess the powers that be figured we could be lectured over and over about vegetarianism, but not about the beauties of faith, religion, and selflessness.