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Extend Your <em>Simpsons</em> Marathon Buzz With These Videos

Ben Yakas

Published Sep 1, 2014

Modified Sep 1, 2014

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Ben Yakas

Published Sep 1, 2014

Modified Sep 1, 2014

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If you're anything like us, then you have had The Simpsons marathon on FXX as your constant background companion for the last 10 days or so. It's been a rollercoaster ride from the slightly awkward family comedy of the first seasons to the orgiastic transcendence of seasons 3-10, from the jerkification of Homer Simpson in seasons 11-14 to the endless parade of guest stars and rehashed plotlines in seasons 15-25.

Despite our reservations, we have truly enjoyed this chance to catch up a bit on the so-called "Zombie Simpsons" era, the not-so-affectionate term Simpsons aficionados use for the show post-season 12. In the many recent articles discussing The Simpsons because of the marathon (and there have been A LOT of them), they've mostly touted the absolute brilliance of seasons 1-9, and not the subsequent 15 years on air. The show is certainly not the same as it used it (which you can blame on changes in the writing room, or just a byproduct of the inexorable march of time and commerce upon an hit animated television show), and the later seasons don't touch the first decade (they don't exist in the same universe, truly), but we have still been pleasantly surprised by a few gems that we had never seen before ("The Regina Monologues," "The Mook, The Chef, The Wife and Her Homer," "24 Minutes," "The Girl Who Slept Too Little," "Homer The Whopper," "Bart Gets A Z," "Holidays Of Futures Passed").

Regardless of your feelings on Zombie Simpsons, the marathon has been a wonderful opportunity to revisit the greatest television program in history (and also the most re-watchable show in history!). But it all comes to an end tonight at midnight, leaving fans with nothing to look forward to but The Simpsons/Family Guy crossover—which is truly nothing to look forward to, unless you enjoy looking forward to terrible ideas executed terribly (seriously, who the fuck thought this was a good idea?).

Instead of wallowing in misery over that, we have a better suggestion: keep that Simpsons buzz going with the videos below!

First: former Simpsons writer Conan O'Brien brought together longtime show writers Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen and Jeff Martin for his web series, Serious Jibber-Jabber. It's an essential discussion of the show, and it's over an hour long!

Then you can watch clips of the cast and producers discussing everything from Michael Jackson's guest appearance to lines that didn't make the show.

Author Simon Singh gives a talk about the "mathematical" secrets of The Simpsons—how the show :drip-feeds morsels of number theory into the minds of its viewers."

Then there's this fantastic, in-depth interview with Homer Simpsons himself, Dan Castellaneta, who discusses the inspiration for his many Simpson voices, as well as how the show developed over the years.

You can revisit the first Simpsons short from The Tracey Ullman Show (albeit, with weird coloring):

There's the Oscar-winning short, "Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare.'"

And finally, here is 51 minutes and 40 seconds of Nelson Muntz laughing into the void at the idea of a Simpsons/Family Guy crossover.

Tagged

marathon

simpsons

television

the simpsons

original

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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