I am what the kids call a Simpsons fan. It easily falls in to my All Time Top 5 Television Shows ever list. It has a rotating slot with Cheers for the Number 1 spot on that list.
When The Simpsons moved from its Sunday night slot to Thursday night, throwing the gauntlet at The Cosby Show in a no-holds barred grudge match, it split my family apart. Mom and Dad stayed in the living room in front of the main TV with the Huxtables, while my brother and I huddled together in the back bedroom watching Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie.
I’ve been taping The Simpsons for as long as they’ve been on. I’ve got a shelf dedicated to warn VHS recordings of the show. New episodes, syndicated reruns, with commercials, commercial-free, and several dubbed in French from the time my wife spent in Montreal. It was with great pleasure that I met the news that FOX was releasing each season on DVD.
When we spent 10 months in Strasbourg, France and were without television, we spent our lunches, suppers and free time watching DVDs on the laptop computer. Only the first four seasons were out at that time and we wore them out. Having already spent the last 10 years+ watching these episodes, we continued to watch the Simpson shenanigans on an almost daily basis.
I must admit that after about 6 months of those episodes, we did get a little tired of them. At about two dozen viewings of each episode though, that’s not a bad track record for a TV show.
For any fan of the show, the Complete Guides to Our Favorite Family series is indispensable. Each book has covered several seasons of The Simpsons in the minutest of details.
The Simpsons One Step Beyond Forever: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family... Continued Yet Again covers seasons 13 and 14. It is the best companion piece you’ll ever find to the series, and nearly as good as having every episode, uncut and restored on DVD.
Article comments
1 - Sterfish
Great review Mat, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The episode guides are great reads and I can't wait to pick up the new one (although I wish they had put more than just two seasons in it).
2 - Mat Brewster
Thanks Starfish. The books are marvelous. A perfect guide for a nearly perfect show. I use them all the time in determining a good episode to watch.