I love Apu.

I love that he stayed at a difficult job to pay off the student loans for his PhD.

I love that he has a PhD.

I love his singing voice.

I love his optimism.

I love the way his optimism is challenged sometimes, because mine is too.

I really hope that the rumors that the show is going to stop writing him into storylines aren’t true.

In many ways, I don’t get to have an opinion about this–I’m white and have the privilege that goes with it, including the privilege of most TV shows showing people with my skin type and white characters not being asked to be representative of all the real people with the same skin tone.

But if he goes, I will miss him.

If the show were introduced today, I would object to the brown-face voice.

But I don’t know if making him disappear will fix the problems he represents. Hari  Kondabolu has said his voice shouldn’t be recast, although he appreciates Azaria’s offer to step down.

But fixing the brown-face won’t fix the actual problem. If Apu had been played by an Indian (American) actor, it wouldn’t have meant that Apu wasn’t stereotypical–The Simpsons is a satire that trades in, to use Jonathan Gray’s term, hyper-stereotypes.

How would Apu exist in a world along with Chief Wiggum, Groundskeeper Willie, and Homer without being, well, Apu?

Having a different actor play Apu all along also wouldn’t have affected the two other big complaints–a) that Indian and Indian-American children are teased by being called Apu and b) that Apu is one of the few Indian (American) characters on television.

Apu is a beloved well-rounded member of the town–many episodes focus on him, and not all are about him being an Indian (American)–instead, he is a husband, a father, a businessman, a vegan, a community member, a workaholic.

I love Apu for many reasons, but it’s his workaholism I identify with. I understand how frustrating it is when people keep telling you to relax and spend time with them, how it hurts to know you’re neglecting your family. But it’s because when we do try to stop working, the guilt is intense.

(Today, I’m having trouble breathing because of the fires. The muscles around my lungs are sharply in spasm–I keep involuntarily crying out. But I’m taking a “break” to write this–after grading all day. It’s a problem.)

I don’t really get a vote about what’s going to happen to Apu. And I don’t get to tell anyone else how they should feel about it.

But I love him. And I’d miss him if he were gone.

Context: This page has a great history of Apu and a list of his appearances. Apu became an American citizen in “Much Apu About Nothing” (1996). The last episode centered on Apu was “Much Apu About Something” (in 2016). There was an episode about racial stereotypes in literature that referenced Apu in 2018 (“No Good Read Goes Unpunished”).

“In a rather high risk strategy, The Simpsons employs what we could call hyper-stereotypes. From Scottish Groundskeeper Willie and Quik E Mart owner Apu, to the show’s depictions of Japan, Australia, East Africa, Canada, and Brazil in family trip episodes, the show rounds up multiple stereotypes and jams them into one character or episode. The result, although admittedly this is a strategy that passes many by, and hence risks backfiring on itself, is to make the process of stereotyping the target, rather than the people themselves. Certainly, while many Australians were offended by a Simpsons episode set in Australia, for instance, the episode’s key targets were American behavior overseas and smalltown American mindsets that view other countries in one-dimensional ways” (Gray 64).

Articles come out all the time arguing that The Simpsons predicts things. I’ve written about how silly it all is before.

I’m thinking about The Simpsons today, of course, since season 30 starts tonight.

(And remembering the absolute glee of setting up the VCR to record what I knew would be awesome, all those years ago.)

The Simpsons didn’t predict Ebola or 9/11.

And they didn’t predict Trump.

Not exactly in the way people think.

They capture trends–mean-spririted voters who will vote to punish and expel immigrants, a Republican party full of rich, evil people, and Democrats too weak to fight back hard enough.

It’s not their fault they show us a fun house mirror of ourselves–our worst selves taken to extremes–and that we then become the reflection.

For example, 16 years ago, they showed an idiot celebrity decide to go into politics. “Entertainers are always winning elections.”

He runs as a Republican.

He asks the party leaders, “Are you guys any good at covering up youthful and middle-aged “indiscretions?”

They ask, “Are these indiscretions romantic, financial, or treasonous?”

“Russian hooker. You tell me.”

“Oh no problem. We’ll say you were on a fact-finding mission.”

The candidate goes on to sexually harass women and to offend Latinx people and other nations.

Since he is rich, he doesn’t connect with people at first. But then he says he’s going to fight for the little guy. And “johnny six tooth” believes him.

Fox News gets behind him.

He wins.

And he helps one family–a loyal family. He screws over poor people to do it.

“Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington” was episode 14 in Season 14.

Krusty was an unqualified joke–a literal clown–with no care for actual people–with no sense of respect for other people–with a Russian hooker scandal.

The Simpsons warned us.

We didn’t listen.

Tonight, year 30 of the warnings commences. I’ll be watching.

I usually don’t like it when people say The Simpsons has “predicted” something. I’ve even written a blog about it.

However, I was just remembering a long ago Simpsons episode in which Bill Clinton and Bob Dole put aside their partisan differences to defeat a threat to America–a threat taking the undeserved form of presidential candidates.

And now, both of those men (and ALL living former Presidents, Republican and Democrat) are rejecting exactly the kind of man who would like to make us all build a ray gun to smite his enemies.

Don’t vote for Kang/Kodos.

Vote with Clinton & Dole!

Trump, I mean Kang & Kodos, posing as qualified politicians (and exchanging long protein strings).

Many years ago, I wrote a column for Mental Floss, Four Simpsons Controversies that Didn’t End in Lawsuits. Number 1 on the list was show’s relationship with Rio. In short, after the family visited Rio in “Blame it On Lisa,” the minister of tourism threatened to sue the show, arguing that the show would hurt the tourism industry, with its depiction of slums, roaming monkeys, and crime (while not the sum of Rio, all true). The Simpsons didn’t apologize and in fact continued to make references to Rio, including a line about Mr. Teeny’s uncle being the minister of tourism.

Now, as the Rio Olympics are almost upon us, all of the news about Rio is dire. As this CNN article details, Rio is broke, crime is rampant, the zika virus and super bacteria threaten health, and the infrastructure for the games just isn’t in place.

In “The Wife Aquatic,” Lisa exclaims that a certain place is “the most disgusting place we’ve ever gone.”

Bart: What about Brazil?

Lisa: After Brazil.

Sadly, the police in Rio seem to agree, as they have been welcoming visitors at the airport with this sign:

No.
It seems like every time I turn on the computer, someone is arguing that The Simpsons “predicted” something or other. Most recently, people are pointing to an episode (“Brother’s Little Helper”), in which the Cardinals spy on people. This is being sold as evidence that The Simpsons has some kind of predictive power.

The MLB satellite

Of course, in that episode, Major League Baseball is spying on all of us–a Cardinal player (Mark McGwire) is just the representative shown. In that case, The Simpsons predicted McGwire’s cheating and every other baseball related scandal too.

Sigh.

One of the more annoying articles about this came last year, when people “discovered” that The Simpsons made an Ebola joke in 1997. This was evidence, apparently, that The Simpsons knew there would be an Ebola outbreak in 2014, rather than being evidence that The Simpsons made a joke about an earlier outbreak (which is why we all got the joke in 1997).

I’m tired of it. The Simpsons writers are brilliant; they’re great at tapping into the zeitgeist. And, with 26 seasons of episodes, there’s bound to be a lot of overlap between the fictional and the real.
However, we need to stop jumping to conclusions that any of this is intentional, especially without doing some research first.

For example, some of my students watching “Duffless” thought an ad for Duff Beer was a parody of Red Bull ads. The Duff Beer ad was created way before the Red Bull ones, so it would be more logical to assume that Red Bull owes The Simpsons some money. However, both ads are playing off of old-fashioned ads for cigarettes.

Duffless Ad

It’s tempting to see things and to try to create a pattern. I did it years ago when I noticed that three Simpsons episodes about spiritual quests feature the song “Short Shorts” (“The Mysterious Voyage of Homer,” “She of Little Faith,” and “Homer the Heretic”).

Homer the Heretic

She of Little Faith

The Mysterious Voyage of Homer

Thus, I did what any Simpsons’ scholar would–I asked someone on the show. Chris Ledesma, music editor extraordinaire, took my question to the writer/producers. They were floored by the coincidence. They were also floored that nerds like me are paying that much attention.

I would still like to believe that the show has a subtle message: To achieve enlightenment, wear skimpier clothes.

All that said, I’m surprised I haven’t been bombarded by articles about something The Simpsons may actually have anticipated.

Remember back to a few years ago, when bacon with chocolate was new? When it seemed odd, but you decided to try it?

In 2003, Homer Simpson commands God (through prayer) to come up with a new taste sensation–a new snack. Homer’s prayer then inadvertently (or advertently–God works in mysterious ways) causes an accident between a bacon truck and a fudge truck.

Homer thinks it’s awesome.

So do I.

Coincidence?

That’s bacon covered fudge flying to him!

Today is a Simpsons anniversary. On December 17th, 1989, the first full length episode, a Christmas special, appeared.
Of course, the characters premiered in 1987 on The Tracey Ullman Show. What most people don’t know, however, is that “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” was not meant to be the first episode. The season was supposed to start at the beginning of Fall, with “Some Enchanted Evening.” However, the creators/producers were unhappy with the animation that came back from the finishers–it apparently looked too much like The Flintstones–walls shaking when doors were closed, etc. David Silverman helped clean things up and quality was favored over starting on time, thankfully.
A quick memory:
As a rabid Simpsons fan before the show even started, I was very much looking forward to the Christmas special. We set the family VCR. Mom watched the show with me and found the message of family love inspiring. I found that the show solidified my love for my yellow dysfunctional family.
My mom took the tape over to our extended family during the Christmas holiday. My grandmother denounced the show since Bart talked back and never watched it again. My mother turned to one of her sisters at the end of the episode, saying something along the lines of, “See, this just goes to show that you can have a great Christmas without having any money.”
It was patronizing and insulting, and I was mortified, but it wasn’t The Simpsons’s fault.

Tomorrow marks the start of something historic–a full Simpsons marathon on FXX. (It will take 12 days to do every episode.)
Afterwards, FXX will be putting The Simpsons into regular rotation. (I’ve always managed to live somewhere with a local affiliate showing it at least once a day–every other country I’ve visited (UK, Spain, Canada, Finland) has also had regular daily showings.
FXX is also hosting an APP–Simpsons World–that will give unparalleled access to the show (every episode, episode guides, etc). I mean, I have this access (as I’ve recorded every episode of the show and I have all the guides), but this APP will make things easier (no flipping through heavy books, etc). (Further thoughts on the APP are below.)

This marathon/APP launching has increased interest in the show, which will begin Season 26 in the Fall.
A few weeks ago, I was on the anniversary show of a podcast on 90s culture, discussing the best show of the 90s.
Denise and I have several original essays to edit for our new Simpsons collection (and are looking for publishers now).
Tomorrow, I’m going to be on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, a live, public-affairs talk show out of NPR’s Philadelphia affiliate, WHYY (at 8 a.m. Pacific Time).

And then there are all the articles, online and otherwise.
I have to say, I find it somewhat disheartening that so many articles about the show start with a cliche about how the show is beloved, but not good anymore or simply postulate the show needs to go off the air.
In truth, the show itself hasn’t changed all that much since its “heyday”; rather, it changed the world of television, bringing us animation for adults, sitcoms without laugh tracks (and thus a faster pacing in the comedy), imperfect lower class families, TV families that actually watched TV, postmodern pastiches that mix high and low comedy, and satire for the masses. It took a while, but then a lot of other shows started imitating the innovations. And then, over the years, new shows with new innovations (like cartoons not just for adults but sick adults like me and my friends) came along.
The Simpsons should certainly not attempt to mimic these shows, to keep pushing the television envelope. It ushered in a revolution; it should not attempt to one-up Archer. (Something will, though. Archer will become quaint. Whatever makes it so will shock us for a while, until something comes out to make it seem old.)
The Simpsons is basically the same. It’s we, the audience, who are different. We expect a lot now–because the show has taught us to. Because the show opened the door for so many other shows to experiment. And we watched those experiments–and we keep expecting more.
And then we get cranky & say The Simpsons is not funny or relevant anymore.
Hey, you don’t have to like it now–you’re a different audience than you were.

But so am I. And I still think it’s funny. True, there are not as many episodes that catch me the way my old favorites do (it should be noted, of course, that not all fans agreed that what we now consider the best episodes were good–“Deep Space Homer,” one of my all-time favorites, was often lambasted by viewers at the time).

Karma & Moe

However, there are still new episodes that do catch me. “Coming to Homerica” was an instant classic.
There are still jokes that make me laugh way too much (such as Maggie’s “first” word–in Norwegian–and her mother’s reaction to it, in the above episode).
And there are still episodes that move me. “Lisa Simpson, This Isn’t Your Life” features Lisa going to a private school, as she has often wanted. Lisa hurts Marge deeply in this episode, insulting her mother, her mother’s choices, her mother’s intellect, her mother’s choice to be a stay-at-home mom. However, Lisa then finds out that Marge has taken on some demeaning and grueling work to allow her to go to this school. It’s hard to watch that moment.

I care about the series & its characters. One of the things that makes The Simpsons special is that the characters are imperfect, but lovable. The shows’ imitators (with the exception of Bob’s Burgers, which is excellent) have often neglected this part of the equation. You can kill Kenny hundreds of times, and not just because he’s coming back. I’d actually cheer if they killed Peter Griffin; I can’t watch him verbally and mentally abuse his daughter anymore. And Stewie can insult and try to hurt Lois until the end of time. There may be moments of humor, but I won’t feel for Lois, who cannot apparently be emotionally hurt (and is thus unrelatable), nor do I have a reason to understand Stewie’s vendetta.

Lisa’s tension with her mother, and her mother’s ultimately loving response takes me back to what I loved about all those old episodes people apparently long for–the moment when Bart writes “Hero” on his father’s bald head, when Homer tries to win his daughter back after her crush on a teacher exposes a problem in the father-daughter relationship, when Marge takes Homer back, despite his tattered rags being caught on the coffee table. 
The other reason for my annoyance at the naysayers is a selfish one. I have friends who work on the show. I have no doubt that I could continue my teaching and scholarship on the show once it’s off the air (in the same way we still read that damn Shakespeare guy), but I want my friends, who are writing jokes, animating scenes, composing music, and putting everything together to keep doing what they love.
Especially since what they love is something I still love.
(And, c’mon, The Simpsons is still better, even in a not great episode, than 95% of the crap on TV; 40% of all people know that!)

*****

Further thoughts on the APP:

I have to admit that I’m not sure exactly how the APP will work. I still have a dumb phone, so I don’t use APPs. This APP, though, is digital, meant for cable subscribers. On the one hand, that means I can get it, but it might also means that it won’t be as useful for my students as I’d hoped. Right now, when I teach the show, I have to show many of the episodes in class, which takes away from our talking time, since they don’t have access to the episodes streaming anywhere. However, most of my students only watch TV on the computer, meaning they aren’t cable subscribers. We’ll see.

So this week, I packed my Zuul costume and too much eyeliner and headed down to Comic-Con. So did 149,999 other people (well, not the zuul part). I managed to make it out in time to get into preview night, where I saw my friends Scott Shaw and Lonnie Millsap. I was also able to talk to the artist for Kill Shakespeare (one of the writers, Anthony, is skyping in with my class this next Wednesday).

Karma & Scott

Then, on the way home, I was lured in to a downtown restaurant by a live rockabilly band.

So it was a good start. I won’t give you a day by day play by play, as it’s all a bit of a blur now, but here are the highlights.

1. Margaret Atwood was here for a Bradbury retrospective panel. Naturally, when she walked past me in the hall, I caught up to her to get a picture. I lovingly reminded her that I edit her journal and that I used to be her Society’s president. I hoped she didn’t think I was weird for being dressed as Death. I also completely ignored the two relatively famous authors with her, except for when I requested that they take our picture:

2. One of the times I wandered over to the Bongo booth (which I do once a day whenever they’re near), Matt Groening was there! Now, I’ve met several Simpsons/Futurama people (and I love my Bongo guys), but I’d never met the big man. So I got Nathan Kane’s (the new exec whom I’d just met the day before) attention and got him to take a picture of us. Nathan was very patient and Matt remembered something I’d left at the studio for him a year ago. I thanked him profusely for my entire academic career and successfully didn’t wet myself.

3. The Simpsons panel: Did I get to see the new Maggie short? Did I miss the Futurama panel due to the absurd line? Was Carrie Fisher briefly on stage? Yes. Yes. Yes.

4. Zach was there! When I flipped through the program the first time, I didn’t see Zach Weinersmith (of SMBC fame)’s name, but he was there! Zach has spoken to my class and to UCD at large. His work is hilarious, and it’s always nice to see him. Alexander is going to be totally jealous (the sign says “hi, Alex”)!

5. I got to see Joss Whedon! Okay–I’m not one for standing in lines, but I did get in line for The Simpsons and for Joss Whedon. I mean, I’ve given three different presentations this year on Joss’s work, so I had to go. Joss is hilarious. He riffed on how he’s his own favorite production company (he really gets what he’s trying to do), threatened to murder some guy’s family (after the guy said killing our favorites appeared to be Joss’s thing), talked about being a girl who can’t say no when it comes to projects (don’t think anyone else in the room got the Oklahoma reference), complained about the lack of strong women in the media and female action figures all looking like porn stars, and asserted that our country was no longer about blue and red–it’s about people who believe in the dignity of themselves and others and wackos who believe Jesus personally founded America.

6. I got to dress up. As Death: And as Zuul: That guy totally tried to drink my margarita:

7. I got to be in the same room as the following people at some point (besides those I already mentioned): Joe Magtegna, Yeardley Smith, Romo Lampkin, Joe Hill, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Sarah Wayne Callies, Anna Torv, Lucy Lawless.

8. There were protestors! Yes, apparently people who love Jesus don’t love Comic-Con. As someone dressed alternately as one of the Eternals and a Babylonian demi-god, I tried not to start a fight. I did, however, note to myself that there are people starving in San Diego right now who probably could have used some help if someone actually wanted to enact WWJD stuff.

9. Saw some awesome panels and things on the floor. The highlight, of course, was Scott Shaw’s presentation of wonderful sex, drugs, and rocknroll covers. One example:

Our panel on Superman (my particular talk was on Mark Millar’s Red Son) went well. One of the first people I met introduced himself as a Tea Party member and said we might not get along. I said that the text merely indicated that we needed to put aside ideology to find pragmatic solutions to our problems. He smiled and nodded, but left halfway through. The rest of the audience seemed to grok me, however.

10. People were in awesome costumes!

That’s right. It’s my anniversary with The Simpsons!

25 years ago today, The Simpsons premiered on The Tracey Ullman Show with a little short called “Goodnight, Simpsons.” (See it here: http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/61247/detail/)

I was immediately taken with the family, mostly because Maggie’s reaction to the “Rockabye, Baby” song is the same as mine–the lyrics are f**ked up!

Fox also gets to claim this week as its Silver Anniversary, which it’s doing with a tribute to its first 25 years this upcoming Sunday. My students may not remember a world without Fox, but I do. Remember having to get up to change the channel? Remember when programming for children was a couple of shows on PBS and a few hours on Saturday mornings? Remember when tv actually went off at a certain time of night? Remember tv before reality tv (which COPS to some degree initiated when it first aired in ’89)? Remember when every sitcom had a laugh track–even animated ones like The Flintstones?

On this day in 1987, no one knew that tv would change the way it has or that The Simpsons would be what it has become. I certainly didn’t know that I would be where I am now, teaching a class on The Simpsons, writing this in an office decorated with memorabilia from visiting the studio, having a Simpsons book with my name on it, passing out cards that declare I’m a Simpsonologist . . .

Aside from family members (whom I don’t get to choose), my relationship with The Simpsons is the longest of my life. It’s also certainly one of the most rewarding.

The Simpsons has seen me through puberty, every boyfriend and break-up, four degrees, fourteen years as a college teacher, the birthing and raising of a child who is now a college adult.

I knew The Simpsons before I knew how to drive, how to kiss, how to pick a wine, how to escape the South, how to be a professional geek, how to accept that I was not the ugly duckling I thought I was, how to stand up in front of other people without getting stage fright, how to reign in my temper. Before I knew my best friends (and my best-best soulmate, Denise), before I knew Atwood’s work, before I knew my high school poetry was really bad, before I discovered the strength I now know I have to get through the bad stuff.

With them, I finally saw a character on television that I really related to–a girl who sometimes comes across as too nerdy, too self-righteous. A bookworm and an activist. A young woman trapped between her own aspirations and the more humble future the circumstances of her birth seem to dictate. A girl who doesn’t fit in, sometimes not even in her own family. An imperfect girl in an imperfect family in an imperfect world.

Thank you, The Simpsons, for 25 amazing years.