Sometime before 1989 my family happened to catch the Tracey Ullman show and saw some short cartoons about a family called the Simpsons. We thought that they were awesome, and were very excited when we learned that they would be getting their own show. Before they debuted however, we couldn't remember the name of the cartoon family and simply referred to them as the "Sackheads" because Bart and Lisa's hair reminded us of the tops of paper bags with the ^^^^^^^ edge to it.

When the show finally came out, our family never missed an episode. My parents thought that it was an incredibly clever, funny show. They would point out to the rest of us as children when the show was making an allusion to a famous movie, book, or work of art. We loved it enough that quoting it became a staple of our conversations and to really follow some family conversations, it was best to have certain episodes memorized.

This reaction to the show was NOT the correct one as far as church went. It seemed that Matt Groening was a warlock and sat upon his throne in his dark tower and concocted evil spells that allowed for demons to be transmitted through television sets. The sound and fury of the church members against that evil, evil show was so overbearing that our family simply kept it secret that we watched the show. It was just easier to pretend that we didn't view it, then get into fights. And for us as children, we couldn't really defend ourselves against the grown adults public scorn. Friends of mine were forbidden to even watch any part of it lest they suffer Satanic possession.

This time period was roughly when the prophet came out and said not to watch R-rated movies. And when a prophet says something like, "don't watch R-rated movies," that sparks a massive fire about whether or not this statement is a "new commandment" or just "counsel." I guess I was too stupid to ever know the difference because the end result of going against them is the same. Public chastisement by everyone who loves to publicly chastise. And Mormonism might hold the record on the number of those members.

I remember before learning to keep things like this a secret, I was chastised as an eight year old by a middle aged woman for watching the Simpsons. When she heard that I watched it with my parents, her response was, "Well! They should KNOW better!"

But we never did.

Wasn't it president bush (the elder, not the dimwit) who said the simpsons represented 'the worst in american society'.

I used to think that before I watched the show. But after watching it several times I realized they actually are a very loving, loyal, moral and normal family.

not that I'm confirming it was B.Sr. who said that.

I know my grandmother thought it was awful and I doubt if she ever saw it.

and we're all nevermo's.

Family values means forcing girls into premature marriages and throwing you gay children out. The Simpsons promotes accepting your children as they are, and that clearly is against the Lard's plan.

Huh? Poppy Bush got that very wrong. In fact, HE represents the worst in American society.

I joined the church as a senior in high school. One morning in seminary I asked if any one had seen the hilarious episode of "Roseanne" the night before. The teacher looked wide eyed at me and said "Your parents let you watch THAT??!!" Then she said, "Oh yeah they are not members." She said it in such a snotty way. Funny thing is that I'd actually watched at my aunt's house who was a member and loved Roseanne because show was more realistic than other t.v. shows.

Homer is an idiot, and that's why we love to watch him, because we hope we're not THAT stupid. Occasionly a joke falls flat, but the amount of genius comedy in the show is still amazing after 20 years.

And the neighbor Flanders is such a stereotypical Morgbot!! Cracks me up.

My cousins watched the Simpsons and before I would go over there to play my mom would say, "Now if they turn on the Simpsons or another bad TV show, just ask them to come outside and play or else change the channel." She thought that show was evil. I never saw a single episode until I was 18 years old. I laughed so hard.

Oh and their whole family has since left the church...Must be the Simpsons fault

We call it "popcorn theology," because it involves watching a show together and eating popcorn and having some very excellent discussions.

As an added bonus, the artist for the Simpsons (Lance Wilder) graduated from our town's high school (Chelmsford MA). The Simpsons town hall is modeled on our library building. We have a comic book guy in town. Our pizza place has an entire wall of Simpson's murals of the Simpsons doing things locally.

Everyone in my family owns a limited edition print of Chelmsford sites sketched by Lance himself.

So if you want to know where Springfield REALLY is - it's Chelmsford. A kind of rageddy, not quite charming, but almost, New England town. Westford, the next town over, has a bit more panache and a lot more money. Oldest son was explaing Westford to an out of town guest. He said, "Well, it's our Shelbyville."

If you look at the history of tv comedies, there are only a handful of shows that were consistently well written--I mean every episode.
Soap
Fawlty Towers
Arrested Development
and the Simpsons did it for their entire first decade. Not a dud in 10 years.

talk in which the Simpsons were discouraged and Beavis and ButtHead were promoted as offical church doctrine.

I believe the talk was given by one Boyd K Packer.

YOU'RE KIDDING!

No Boundaries in promoting MoCulture... especially when u think something of lesser value might 'infringe'...


kinda like SSM being a threat to Hetero families!

WHAT A FING JOIKE!

Our family also always watched it. It was opposite The Cosby Show, which was practically required watching for Mormons. I think that was a problem. Anyway, we were religious about Simpsons, and caught hell a couple of times from people like uber-TBM DS. One guy--a retired teacher--told me that Simpsons were the reason for the collapse of the American school system.

(I love any of the Simpsons that featured Japan or the Japanese, like the Mr. Sparkle episode--the best ever!)

The funny thing is that "The Simpsons" is about as pro-family as you can get and just about always has a moral aspect to the plot. The complainers basically complain because it doesn't make its points in a dry, white-bread way like the Morg likes to do.

There is no better social satire on television.

Scary Father: HOMER.

the role of the male will ALWAYS be more important to Morbots...

Well, this type of ridiculous judgmentalism isn't restricted to just the Morgbots.

My family was basically "disfellowshipped" (even though that's not a real word in Baptist circles) back when we were attending a small New England Baptist town, because my brother and his totally-nerdy friends would stay up late at night playing Dungeons & Dragons in our basement.

Never mind the fact none of those dorks used any swear words, drank any alcohol, didn't even have their drivers' licenses (even after they were old enough) and NONE of them so much as kissed a girl until they were in college!!!

But he and my entire family were "Going to Hell" because of D&D. Can't even imagine the backlash if we had been Morgbots.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2011 02:27AM by raptorjesus.

Simpson's
Family Guy
American Dad
The Cleveland Show
South Park
I watch every one of those shows, the only one I don't watch with my children is South Park. Best shows ever.