Tell us a Story
With "The Simpsons" running in syndication almost every hour of the day on one station or another, reruns are always easily accessible, provided you have the time. Today, I was lucky enough to catch two episodes, "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" and "Bart Gets an F", where I made a rather significant discovery. Perhaps not "significant" in the sense of "original" or "new", but I recognized something in those two episodes that partially explains why I've remained faithful to the cartoon for 18 years, and partially explains why watching today's "Simpsons" episodes can be one of the most frustrating, agonizing experiences.
For many of you who have watched "Bart Gets an F", you probably perceive the episode much like I do - good, but nothing special; certainly not a relative standout like "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" was in season 17. And yet, as I watched both episodes along with a much more casual Simpsons viewer, I began to conjure up another crazy theory. I will attempt to explain by first referring to the 'classic' example of a frog sitting in a cup of water. When the initially room temperature water is slowly heated towards boiling point, the frog barely flinches. The incremental increases in temperature are not noticeable. However, when the water is instantaneously changed from room temperature to boiling, the frog leaps out of the cup immediately. It may seem loosely related, but imagine that the week after "Lemon of Troy" first premiered you watched "Pranksta Rap". Would you be outraged how a masterfully crafted script like "Lemon of Troy" could be followed by such an illogical storyline involved in "Pranksta Rap"?
To tie both strings together, if I was ever forced into the insurmountable task of ranking every Simpsons episode, I would probably rank "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" above "Bart Gets an F", without thinking much about it. However, when I was watching "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" with that reasonably impartial viewer, and noticed that as Lisa entered her dream sequence of monsters he desperately wanted to change the channel, I saw that episode in a light I had failed to allow myself before. The "sweetness" and grounded storyline that was so refreshing during season 17 elevated that episode to a class of its own, but to someone whose opinions are not skewed by relativity, the episode was simply boring. "Bart Gets an F" however, was significantly more engaging. When the third act began there was no debate concerning changing the channel - how else would we find out if Bart passed the fourth grade? The point I am trying to emphasize, is that "The Simpsons" have become so concerned with characters contributing their stereotypical and predictable roles and lines, they have forgotten that a good show is ultimately about telling a good story. When the third act roles around today, not only is the story so underdeveloped that there is no interest in the ending's resolution, but often merely identifying the conflict can be troublesome. This sentiment is sounding increasingly redundant, but for "The Simpsons" to conclude the final few seasons of the series as respectably as possible, they must remember that storytelling is an art, not an afterthought. And Bart running away to marry someone carrying someone else's baby while Lisa pretends to be Indian just isn't going to cut it.
By Jason LevyLegal Notice and Disclaimer: "The Simpsons" TM and FOX and its related companies. All rights reserved. This site, its operators, and any content on this site relating to The Simpsons are not authorized by FOX.
