The Simpsons, at its best, is a mirror held up to our society, the height of satire. It takes the things most sacred and roasts them until they burn to a crisp. My two picks show the Simpsons satire at its best, albeit towards two different facets of our society.
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie show has it all when it comes to skewering the television industry and more importantly, television fandom. Its filled to the brim with gags, jokes, one time characters, and new recurring characters like Database and even Poochie himself. Poochie dying on the way back to his home planet after Homer’s heartfelt speech gets cut, followed immediately by Krusty yelling “Poochie’s dead!” at the top of his lungs while a group of children cheer is one of the biggest laughs I have ever had watching TV.
I love this episode because its the writers attempting to cope with what it means to evolve as a television show on the very day they passed The Flintstones as the longest running animated show. What does it mean to stay fresh, hip, and with it. Ultimately, seeing how things decline following this season, they were unable to avoid the very pitfalls they outline in this episode, but it doesn’t make them any less biting or true.
And its funny, and its timeless, and we still use Poochie as a verb when it comes to television and attempts to stay fresh. This episode is just as classic as Fonzie jumping the shark and for many similar reasons.
It also gave us one of the best Simpsons catch phrases.
Bart: Hey, I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain?
Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart: What? They’ve given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them !
Comic Book Guy: …Worst episode ever.
Also, Database is the best
“On the Itchy and Scratchy CD-ROM, is there a way out of the dungeon without using the wizard key?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
On the complete opposite end of the satire spectrum, I submit my consideration for best Sideshow Bob episode and my favorite political satire the show has done Sideshow Bob Roberts
The episode premiered in 1994, 26 years ago, and its depiction of the Republican party is still relevant today.
How is that even possible?
Birch Barlow is the epitome of every right wing talking head pundit radio dickhead we have had since the invention of Rush Limbaugh. He knows exactly what he is, and he leans HARD into the grift.
Little known fact, this episode introduced the word meh to the American lexicon.
So many fun moments in this episode. Bob’s political ads, Quimby and Bob’s debate paralleling the JFK/Nixon debate, the dead voter payoff, Bob being tricked into revealing his ENTIRE plan in court, complete with binders full of notes of his crimes that he just pulls out and lays on the desk, the republican committee introducing a water cooler as their next candidate, Millhouse’s fantastic mummy journey, the Flintstone phone as Bart is held back to kindergarten, Les Wynan should do more thinkin and less whinin, the Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttlllllloooooccckkkkkk expressway, “My question is about the budget, sir”
In fact, lets end it with that, the pinnacle of what I believe to be American political satire.
