FOUR years ago, I was on a judging panel for a children's cartoon competition. On the way in to look at the entries, we judges agreed we would only consider original ideas, wouldn't look at anything that was a copy of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Judge Dredd, whoever.
There were about 40 entries. Three original drawings and 37 portraits of Bart Simpson. We all knew Bart Simpson from the T shirts and slogans such as "Underachiever and proud of it". None of us had actually seen The Simpsons. We knew who created The Simpsons (Mall Groening) and we knew he was a real cartoonist producing a strip called Life Is Hell which was a bit surreal and a bit Feifferish and was... interesting. We all assumed he had sold out to Hollywood. We gave the prizes to the non Bart artists.
Last year, during the O.J. Simpson trial the editor of Fortnight magazine rang to ask me to do a cartoon about the O.J. trial and possibly the other Simpson trial.
"What other Simpson trial?"
"You know," he said, "the one that might happen when they find out who shot Mr Burns?"
"Who is Mr Burns?"
"Mr Burns, you know, in The Simpsons."
"But," I said, "I don't watch The Simpsons."
"Everyone," he said, "watches The Simpsons."
So - out of professional courtesy, you understand - I watched The Simpsons. It was on Sky for an hour on Sundays. I never saw another 6 o'clock news followed by Farrell again. Within 10 minutes of watching I was at the "Hey, come and look at this" level. By the end of half an hour, I was mildly addicted. At the end of the hour I was all for going out to find an "Underachiever and proud of it" T shirt. Sky then put The Simpsons out every night at 6 p.m. We (yes, even the news junkie in the house was in on this) stopped everything to watch every night.
There is just so much going on in The Simpsons that it is difficult to take it all in. No in joke is left unused, no reference to old politics, new politics, old movies, new movies, left unabused. What I find most baffling is that children like The Simpsons. There isn't a more adult show on television.
It is dense. When the BBC starts showing the programme tonight it will be available on three channels and you need to watch them all and get as many reruns as possible under your belt, because there is so much going on in each episode.
The opening credits are slightly different every time. With a cast of 40 or 50 or 60 lovably evil, dumb and ghastly characters, you need to pay attention. The signs on the walls, the names of the shops, the logos on the "merchandising" all need intensive study. In a way, it's hard work.
It is very, very funny. It is also deeply subversive of the American way and probably the best political cartoon running in the US at the moment. Doonesbury, Oliphant, and the 150 other political cartoonists can't compete. They don't have the audience.
What I am stumblingly trying to say? here is that The Simpsons is pretty goshdarned good. So watch it.
