The Season One ‘Simpsons’ Episode That Almost Killed the Series
The Simpsons has been on the air for nearly four decades and, let’s be honest, will probably outlive us all. But the iconic cartoon came surprisingly close to being axed way back during the show’s first season. And it was all thanks to one particularly janky episode.
Legendary writer and producer Al Jean recently appeared on the Funny in Failure podcast, and discussed The Simpsons’ rocky beginnings. “Nobody was sure it was going to be a success,” Jean admitted. “There was an infamous episode that was poorly directed. And it was the first one that came back, it’s not a secret, from the (animation) studio. And people thought the whole thing was going to be a failure.”
Seemingly, Jean was referring to “Some Enchanted Evening,” which ended up being the Season One finale, but was supposed to be the series premiere. The episode finds Bart and Lisa battling the notorious “Babysitter Bandit” (voiced by guest star Penny Marshall) while Homer and Marge went out for a romantic date night.
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In his book Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons, Mike Reiss recalled that the initial screening of the pilot for Simpsons writers and Fox executives was a “total disaster.” In addition to the “clumsy” script, the animation “felt completely wrong: the Simpson house was bendy, Homer was wiggly, all of Springfield seemed to be made of rubber.”
“When the screening ended there was dead silence,” Reiss wrote. “The small audience in attendance gaped at the screen like it was the first act of Springtime for Hitler.”
“We were back at our other job, and we called and people were so depressed,” Jean explained. “I mean they were like, ‘It’s all come apart. It’s not going to work.’ And we called a week later and they were over the moon (about) ‘Bart the Genius.’”
The show’s second episode, in which Bart cons his way into the school gifted program, was directed by soon-to-be regular David Silverman. “And that saved the whole franchise,” Jean confessed. And the episode everyone hated was quietly shuffled to the tail end of the season.
“I believe it’s the most successful television show ever at this point, in terms of revenue. I think it’s $15 billion,” Jean added. “(But) it nearly was zero. There was a moment where it looked like it would all not happen.”
While this would have obviously left a major cultural void in our lives, in retrospect, the Earth probably would have been better off without all the unnecessary plastic Simpsons products.
