May 09, 2001 03:51 AM
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Homer Simpson has topped a poll of the greatest TV characters of all time, beating competition from the likes of Frank Spencer(Some Mothers Do Have Them), Arthur Daley,(The Minder) and Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers.
The loveable layabout from The Simpsons, who once sold his soul to the Devil for a doughnut, has been voted No.1 fictional small screen favourites. The animated antics of Homer, wife Marge and their children Bart, Lisa and Maggie attract 4.7 million to BBC2 and 1.6 million to Sky One in the UK. Hypochondriac Dr.Niles Crane from Frasier scraped in at No.10 whilst his on screen brother Kelsey Grammer did not feature in the top 100.
You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: Never try. Is this the sort of lesson we want Homer Simpson to be teaching our kids? That is the question people who do not understand The Simpsons have been asking, for a very long time. Indeed, The Simpsons is now the longest-running sitcom on television, and it recently became the longest- running cartoon in television history, surpassing The Flint stones
A celebrity is not a true celebrity until he or she guest stars on The Simpsons. Legendary rock band The Who, Drew Barrymore Dr Edward Norton, Michael Keaton, Joshua Jackson, Kelsey Grammer, Stephen King, and tennis pros Venus and Serena Williams, to name the few, all have appeared as guest stars on the show. Each episode is full of details: political commentary, social references and hilarious sight gags.
The Simpsons gets major points for originality. Not only is each episode different, but also each opening sequence is different. The massages that Bart writes on the chalkboards are the funniest my favourites? ''Garlic gum is not funny'' and ''A burp is not an answer.''
If you only tune in once in a while, the yearly Halloween special is the episode not to miss. Highlights include: the family move to a haunted house (''Bad Dream House'' from Part I); Homer sells his soul for a doughnut (''The Devil and Homer Simpson'' from Part IV); Bart and Lisa get beamed into the Itchy and Scratchy show (''The Terror of Tiny Toon'' from Part IX).
In an episode dealing with immigration, ''Much Apu About Nothing,'' Springfield is overcome by anti-immigrant hysteria. Protesters swarm around the Kwik-E- Mart bearing signs that read, ''The Only Good Foreigner is Rod Stewart'' and ''Get Eurass Back to Eurasia.'' At first Apu forges a new identity. When a reporter asks him ''Apu, is the rumour true that you're actually Indian?'' Apu replies, ''By the gods of Vishnu, that is a lie!'' But he thinks better of it. He explains, ''I cannot deny my roots and keep up this charade. I only did it because I love this land, where I have the freedom to say, and to think, and to charge whatever I want!''
The supporting cast is the best of any show around. The ones that make us laugh the most: the powerful and evil Mr. Burns, Bart’s idol Krusty the Clown, bar owner Moe Szyslak, Krusty’s ex-sidekick Sideshow Bob, Kwik-E-Mart manager Apu and Bart’s classmates Milhouse Van Houten and Ralph Wiggum (just to name a few).
Indeed, Homer is probably the greatest parody of them all. Because he is a fool, he offers a perfect way to mock the shortcomings of the increasingly soft American male. ''To alcohol,'' he toasts, ''the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.'' At the same time, because he is a fool, when he is right about something he is the perfect foil against elite received wisdom: ''The information superhighway showed the average American what some nerds think about Star Trek.''
This family has a way with words. To name just a few of the phrases that caught on to become a part of our popular culture: ''Doh!'' ''Eat my shorts,'' ''Cowabunga, dude'' and ''Aye, Carumba!''
Much like the chalkboard, the couch gags change in every episode. How do the Simpsons get to the couch for the final notes of the opening song? The folks behind the show seem to have an endless amount of ideas.
The bad boy Bart remains at the heart of the show. Matt Groening, the creator of the show describes him as devious, underachieving, school hating, irreverent and clever. But really, he’s the kid within us all.
Indeed a longest running animated show,going strength to strength:
