4 ms·

With the advent of every Simpsons ever, I've been watching it much more recently; and still find it funny, though maybe a little less so. I wonder if as the fa

With the advent of every Simpsons ever, I've been watching it much more recently; and still find it funny, though maybe a little less so. I wonder if as the family and Springfield drift more from the "average" family, it is harder for the show to be funny/relevant. The Simpson's family stays constant, but the average family has changed over the last years. When the Simpsons first aired having 3 kids, with a mom at home was pretty normal. Now, at least in the circles I'm associated with, most mothers work; especially when you are likely to have the persistent money problems that are the focus of so many episodes.

bjourne 12y ago
Has the Simpsons financial situation ever been reasonable? They survive on only Homers salary which can't be that great. Still, they own two cars and live in a two-story four bedroom detached house in an average size American city. On top of that, Homer has enough disposable income to get wasted at Moe's Tavern almost every night. In the show they are labelled as poor but it really doesn't seem so.
- twoodfin 12y ago
  There's great fun made of this very point in the season 8 episode, "Homer's Enemy". The punchline: "Don't ask me how the economy works!"
- waterlesscloud 12y ago
  Springfield strikes me as being on the smallish side for an American city. As a Nuclear Safety Inspector, it's been suggested he makes around $65,000 a year. That's enough for the kind of life he has in a small, middle-American suburb.
- Pxtl 12y ago
  There was a time when a man working in industry in a small city could support a family on his income. That was back when Matt Groening was a kid, so that's how the Simpson's family is structured - when Groening started the show, he was really just writing about his own childhood through Bart, transposed into the early '90s, ignoring the economic realities of the '90s.

bjourne 12y ago

Has the Simpsons financial situation ever been reasonable? They survive on only Homers salary which can't be that great. Still, they own two cars and live in a two-story four bedroom detached house in an average size American city. On top of that, Homer has enough disposable income to get wasted at Moe's Tavern almost every night. In the show they are labelled as poor but it really doesn't seem so.

twoodfin 12y ago
There's great fun made of this very point in the season 8 episode, "Homer's Enemy". The punchline: "Don't ask me how the economy works!"
waterlesscloud 12y ago
Springfield strikes me as being on the smallish side for an American city. As a Nuclear Safety Inspector, it's been suggested he makes around $65,000 a year. That's enough for the kind of life he has in a small, middle-American suburb.
Pxtl 12y ago
There was a time when a man working in industry in a small city could support a family on his income. That was back when Matt Groening was a kid, so that's how the Simpson's family is structured - when Groening started the show, he was really just writing about his own childhood through Bart, transposed into the early '90s, ignoring the economic realities of the '90s.