The Golden Age Of The Simpsons: A Compendium
I did a series of posts on the first nine years of The Simpsons on the show's fansite, NoHomers.net, under my username C.MontgomeryBurns. I reposted my deconstructions here in a series of posts below. They provide a general overview of each period of the show. All of the posts together are 8,000 plus words. What is the Golden Age of The Simpsons? To me the age lasted from the first to the ninth seasons during most of the 1990’s. There is not one but a variety of reasons why there was a Golden Age to begin with since I like to study the first nine years of the series in a structural and historical context. Nine is a special number because only the very best of shows have a streak of nine consecutive great years. The only other show of that same level that comes to my mind is Seinfeld. The number also means in some cultures completion, perfection, and a cycle’s end. The definition seems to sum up those first nine years perfectly at least in my view. The show ultimately came on when it needed to be as it played alongside the influential Animation Renaissance of the late 80’s and 90’s.
During that period of time animated television shows, films, and video games were going through a creative resurgence that drove new audiences to the art-form. All of the pieces were in place as the huge success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit reminded people that animation was not just for kids but including adults specifically as well. Disney (with their own Renaissance in feature films) and Warner Brothers were awakened to their creative resurgence as they began creating expensive and original television cartoons like Ducktales and Tiny Toon Adventures which effectively changed the game with their high quality animation and appeal to all audiences. The Simpsons was key to this ambition as it would not only save the fledgling FOX network but also make prime-time animation a huge piece in the mosaic of the Animation Renaissance.
So what you had was the right people present at the right place at the right time…from the halls of the Harvard Lampoon, to studios like Klasky Csupo and eventually Phil Roman, and the art schools like UCLA and the Walt Disney founded Cal Arts. The best minds in storytelling and animation were all involved in making The Simpsons not only the most successful animated series since The Flintstones a generation ago but also one of the greatest TV shows of all time. It really was a special spark that can only be captured in a specific moment of time. It just seemed like most if not all of the episodes made in that age was either freakin’ hilarious or masterpieces in their own right. Sure there were clunkers here and there, but they were pretty hard to come by even if fans of the day did not like acknowledge that truth and were really critical of them.
The show’s Golden Age can be divided up into several distinct eras that contain different styles of writing and humor. There was the first one with Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, & Sam Simon at the helm which revitalized the type of grounded realism, character driven stories, and pop culture jokes that were once used by The Flintstones. Following them were original writers Al Jean & Mike Reiss who built upon what the creators had already established while also effectively expanding on the show’s themes one with the heart and warmth one would expect from Disney.
When the original generation of writers departed came David Mirkin, an outsider who successfully brought in a new direction to the series with a zany and surreal perspective that was similar to the humor of the Looney Tunes shorts. Next were long time fans Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein who redefined the show with an acute self-awareness, deeper understanding, and emotion that harkened back to the profound music The Beach Boys were creating during the Pet Sounds days. Finally there was writer Mike Scully, whose first year as showrunner was a clear balance of mostly Mirkin’s zaniness along with some of O&W’s deeper themes in addition to his own style of cartoony satire and low brow humor.
Throughout that time the show was continually fresh as a result of a new creative team offering a unique interpretation to the characters every so often while having key veterans behind the scenes stay on the series. Even when the showrunners or writing team left the show they would return in some capacity as either consultants or producing alongside the current showrunners to lessen the load of episodes on them. This allowed the series to be able to retain a high quality of writing and animation in spite of the changes that had occurred. I think it was because of this structure and the context of the times happening around the series that allowed the series to become one of those very few shows to demonstrate extraordinary consistency in writing and animation within a season that ran uninterrupted for nearly a decade.
It really would be scapegoating to say the Golden Age ended the first day Scully became showrunner. The series actually experienced an exodus of people leaving that had a much bigger impact than the previous one when the original gang first left after the fourth season. Not only did the second generation members like Susie Dieter and David S. Cohen leave but so did influential veterans like Brad Bird and David Silverman who were there from the very beginning as far back as the Tracy Ullman days. Their absences were probably too big of a void to fill in by the third generation of writers and artists led by Scully following the ninth season. In addition the procedure of having past show runners to produce a few stories per year was retired, thus making season nine the last and only time all show runners were present in some capacity on one season. So the structure that was there for those years alone was allowed to expire.
Also I think Groening became less involved with the series as he and Cohen had devoted their time by this point to develop Futurama. Then you have Scully whose vision beyond the ninth season became lost in his storytelling flaws as the episodes lacked the tightness in humor and heart that the previous showrunners had used so well. And lastly the Animation Renaissance was at its twilight days by the late 1990’s. The economics seemed to have caught up with the all the studios as traditional animation was becoming more expensive to produce in both animated films and shows. It seemed like the animation quality of The Simpsons began to dip around this time along with other shows and films as the resurgence sadly came to a close. All these things consequently hurt the writing to the point it took a while for the series to find its footing again.
But the end of the Golden Age did not mean the series could no longer produce classic episodes. I don’t believe this is true as the series can still produce an episode that can be just as awesome and damn hilarious as any episode from those first nine seasons. There's a misconception that any great episode produced after that by-gone era will never be on the same level as those earlier stories. I honestly think that is nonsensical as it creates the excuse to say that the plots made since then are all awful. To me it is like arguing that Walt’s later classic films such as Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians should be written off because they were not made alongside the animated films made during his studio’s Golden Age back in the 1940’s when a different structure was in place. The writers and producers of the periods following those nine years have proven that point time and time again. The fact of the matter is that the quality of the seasons overall are now hit and miss (and in a few cases worse) than it was those many years and the structure of the series is different than it was many years ago. This is what ultimately separates the later periods from the Golden Age of the series which there is no shame in either.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Golden Age debate is that it was only acknowledged after it concluded . Fans on the internet back then were pretty critical of the show during those nine years. Despite the truly great stuff the show had produced some fans were just not open minded enough with the creative changes to the point they really believed that the series had lost its way. It is kind of like a huge feast where the best food on the table is there but the guests at the dinner don’t see the perfect meal in front of them because they take it for granted without realizing it. And ironically it was only during the latter years of the Scully period did those same fans realize that there was in fact a Golden Age after all which is why that era is seen for what it was today.
