there will Never Ever be another Simpsons episode like Homer's Enemy

brought to you by keeps stay tuned till the end for more information hey meme sauce mp here why are the simpsons green the green simpsons effect is a running gag on this channel where i take footage of the simpsons and hue shifted upwards approximately 44 degrees transforming their familiar yellow into a somewhat alien green the joke began in a video from february 2016 in which i remixed a clip from the episode homer's enemy at the time the simpsons had just aired their 588th episode 588 nanometers is the approximate wavelength of yellow light as seen by the human eye mdb is the internet's most popular film and television database and the place where people from all around the world unite to rate everything a seven out of ten the simpsons as a series has managed to earn an 8.7 and a handful of its very best episodes have reached the fabled 9 category but out of nearly 700 total episodes and counting just one sits definitively above all the rest the name of this episode is homer's enemy the simpsons is the longest running prime time television series in the u.s and across three decades of programming no other episode is more provocative polarizing and profound it is the resounding conclusion to one of the greatest runs of any show ever after this episode the simpsons was never the same and come to think of it neither were we i've had to work hard every day of my life and what do i have to show for it and what do you have to show for your lifetime of sloth and ignorance stay the hell away from me because from now on we're enemies it's impossible to appreciate the significance of homer's enemy without first understanding the series that preceded it the simpsons is a show about many things family politics religion but most importantly the simpsons is a show about america there's a running gag in the series over the specific location of the simpsons home town springfield is one of the most common place names in the u.s you can find a town called springfield in more than 30 states so which of these springfields is home to tv's most iconic yellow family the truth is it doesn't really matter what part of the country the simpsons call home the series has intentionally kept clues about springfield's location inconsistent and contradictory springfield isn't in america as much as it is america the town represents an amalgamation of american culture attitudes and institutions it's a malleable template for the show to comment on society in the united states the true location of the simpsons home may forever remain an enigma but in a way all of us live in springfield [Music] two hours away from springfield oregon a young matt groening is developing a passion for cartoons in 1972 he leaves his parents homer in marge to attend the progressive capital of the pacific northwest evergreen state college there he would embark on the first steps in his journey towards creating one of the most influential cultural contributions of the 20th century but before he could do that matt greening had to enter hell [Music] like many aspiring artists of the modern age matt groening would spend much of his twenties languishing away in california while bouncing around between what he described as a series of lousy jobs grening would document his frustrations in a self-titled comic book called life in hell the comic carried much of greening's youthful cynicism and irreverence and what started as a set of photocopy drawings shared among friends quickly picked up steam throughout la's underground art scene one day life in hell would end up in the hands of television producer james l brooks matt graning may have started off california dreaming but his doodling was about to pay off big time [Music] 1987 would change the face of american television through the grand opening of the fox network for nearly three decades the big three networks had reigned supreme over the airwaves american television in the 80s was much like the culture that surrounded it conservative sanitized and family oriented primetime programming consisted mainly of sugary sitcoms with responsible and virtuous role models the big three networks at this time had one simple strategy mass appeal they strayed away from programming that would risk alienating general audiences typically this group included children parents and the elderly the fox network had a different strategy in mind their plan was to appeal to the other guys [Music] generation x represented a group of americans unlike any that came before them it was a generation who found themselves born into a very different america than the one afforded to their parents they grew up in a time when the president america's most prestigious role model was forced to resign in shame after getting exposed as a corrupt scoundrel they witnessed the mighty and unbeatable us military get humiliated through a fiasco in some part of the world most of them couldn't even find on a map by the time they reached adulthood they were met with the worst economy since the great depression unthinkable environmental crises and the continued existential dread of nuclear annihilation with all that said it's not hard to understand why many in gen x had no choice but to view the world with ambivalence and apathy television in the early 80s tried to maintain the illusion of america continuing to be the shining city on a hill but for those occupying lower ground the realities of the country's flaws were far too much to ignore fox became the first major network to specifically appeal to the gen x attitude of cynicism and irreverence the very same themes featured in the works of matt groening in 1986 groening got a call from james l brooks offering the opportunity of a lifetime the fox network was looking for a cartoon segment to air on the debuting tracy ullman show unwilling to give up the rights to life in hell granny conceived of a different premise a family based on himself his parents and his two younger sisters the simpsons entered the fray among a long lineage of american television families and soon people would come to realize that they were not at all like their predecessors the simpsons represented an honest portrayal of dysfunction in the american household viewers were immediately drawn to the yellow family's relatable drama and the segment quickly became one of the most popular on tracy ullman by 1989 the simpsons had become so popular that they were upgraded from segment to series and so began one of the most influential television programs in the history of american entertainment it's remarkable just how different the simpsons was than anything else on television at the time it was edgy subversive counterculture from an underground artist the show was experimental avant-garde and even post-modern at times it was the first mainstream show to repeatedly reference and parody other media relying on the audience's own knowledge of movies and tv for much of its humor the show was free to determine its own creative direction without network interference a liberty that was virtually unheard of in 1989 not to mention that the series was animated a genre that for the past two decades was exclusively associated with children toys and breakfast cereal the simpsons broke so many molds that it's almost preposterous to consider a show this brazen airing on network television in prime time the series essentially rebelled against all of mainstream television and ended up taking much of america with it season 1 debuted to an audience of 30 million people immediately cementing itself as fox's flagship series the mischievous bart simpson became a cultural icon one of the first characters to truly appeal to the slacker mentality of the 90s the character embodied the overall spirit of the show defiant unapologetic and anti-authority the series was simultaneously beloved and controversial it was unafraid to challenge america's most revered institutions to make american families a lot more like the waltons and a lot less like the simpsons huh hey we're just like the waltons we're praying for an edge of the depression too it's easy to imagine a tv show mocking the president now it's all about cliche at this point but in 1992 it was almost unthinkable much to the chagrin of president bush american tv families became much more like the simpsons by the end of the decade these talking dinosaurs are more real than most real families on tv eventually audiences ended up resonating more with the yellow cartoon family than many of the others portrayed by real life actors the simpsons didn't just challenge the status quo it redefined the status quo in its own image and while it began its run as the anti-sitcom the show would eventually transform into something entirely different hello i'm the real gems some guy who talks about the simpsons on youtube and this is the history of the simpsons showrunners seasons one through seven the first two seasons were run by a combination of matt greening james l brooks and sam simon obviously these early years were very developmental so all three of them brought a skill set that would build the foundation of the show season one is well known for its rather rough animation although things improved significantly halfway through the early years were considerably more down-to-earth and character-driven in terms of their plot and joke writing they loved doing fantasy sequences but weren't about those fast-paced cutaway jokes or anything yet they kept things small kept the focus on the family however bart was the breakout star and got a lot of the attention in these early years season 2 was more about the world building introducing tons of new characters and giving people like skinner mr burns and grandpa spotlights these stories became slightly more topical and satirical and the characters watched more tv you can see moments where things are getting a lot more wacky but by and large these first two seasons were about telling these classy focused character driven stories with few gimmicks for seasons 3 and 4 al gene and mike reese took over as showrunners this was where the show became significantly more referential and bouncy so to speak they weren't afraid to cut away to something else to do a quick joke or suddenly do these extremely elaborate homages maybe cut to the tv for some movie parodies we get more b-plots and converging storylines there was a stronger hollywood vibe to this era you get these big guest star extravaganzas like homer at the bat and krusty gets busted season three tried to keep one toe in the season two pond take a more balanced approach whereas season four pushed the show in a more surreal direction although that might be a symptom of more homer-focused episodes by season 4 the balance between homer and bart tilted much farther in captain wacky's direction that being said it never reached the point of just being a meta comedy these punchy pop culture references were balanced by actual character drama it's not just a silly romp through duff gardens it's also about selma wanting to have a baby or that lisa needs braces seasons 3 and 4 took these extremely down-to-earth character storylines and told them in the most cuckoo bananas way possible seasons five and six helmed by new showrunner david merkin took the show in a bigger and more high concept direction i think big is the best descriptor of this era you'd get homer going into space bart becoming famous springfield legalizing gambling lisa taking on the toy industry and that's just season five whereas season six concluded with who shot mr burns and filled the rest of the season with mysteries conspiracies and life or death situations these seasons love the big springfield stories loved finding excuses for the residents to devolve into an angry mob their homage and parody game was still strong sometimes evolving into full length episode parodies this was also the rise of screw the audience jokes in which they explicitly set up a fake punchline and then do the exact opposite the jokes became considerably more subversive and sarcastic constantly playing games with the audience there's a higher sense of self-awareness here the audience has seen a lot of their tricks already so they gotta keep us guessing veteran writers bill oakley and josh weinstein took over the show in season seven and eight season seven took the subversiveness and meta humor of the previous year and applied it to the types of stories from the early years there was more of an emphasis to bring things back to the family tell these emotional character stories like mother simpson and home sweet home diddly dumb doodly but it wasn't just the throwback they took a more experimental approach let's do an extremely mundane and observational simulation of george bush now let's do a bunch of short sketches and pulp fiction homages season seven loved experimenting with its characters putting them in these strange high concept situations and deconstructing who they actually are by now it should be clear that the show had evolved into something far beyond a simple riff on the 80s sitcom but this isn't even close to its final form in season 8 they pushed things even further [Music] season eight of the simpsons would mark the final run of the oakley and weinstein era many consider it the last hurrah of the simpsons golden age but before their departure the showrunners were about to take the series to strange new places season 8 features the most ambitious and experimental episodes that the simpsons has ever produced it pushed the concepts and characters within the show to their absolute limit the episodes were perhaps the most self-aware and meta in the history of the series they didn't stop at just breaking the fourth wall at times they deconstructed the television industry at large and on one occasion the simpsons went so far as to deconstruct itself it is the most ambitious and high concept episode of the simpsons most ambitious and high concept season at long last we have arrived at homer's enemy it's an episode that presents the simpsons in their natural habitat but with a single edition frank grimes was created not just as a foil for homer but as a foil to the series itself in many other settings he would be a hero but in springfield usa there is no greater antagonist grimes is a prime example of a sympathetic villain his work ethic is admirable and his struggle is relatable with frank grimes the simpsons succeeded in making an antagonist so compelling that he made the audience start to resent the protagonist grimes presents a scathing critique of homer simpson the flagship character of the series what are you saying i'm saying you're what's wrong with america simpson [Music] homer's enemy confronts the most confounding issue of our time inequity the character of frank grimes was conceived to resemble actor william h macy who often portrayed downtrodden working class roles grimes would end up being voiced by longtime simpsons cast member hank azaria who delivered what is in all likelihood his greatest performance of the series azaria described the performance as the most emotional and meticulous he had ever attempted his goal was to portray grimes with a seething passion underneath a totally calm exterior such as the temperament of many working-class people today everyone knows what it's like to be treated unfairly it's one of the most frustrating experiences imaginable when we contribute to society we do so under the expectation that our effort will be rewarded this doctrine is the essence of the american dream what does it mean to be american it's a question that will remain forever contested depending on who you ask but in my humble opinion the spirit of the united states is rooted in ambition and discontent ambition creates discontent the desire to change the status quo drives people to demand something greater it's what drives people to give up everything they ever knew and cross an ocean it's what drives people to overthrow the most powerful monarchy in the world it's what drives people to venture into parts unknown in search of gold oil and whatever else that might make tomorrow a better day the american frontier saw people risk everything for the opportunity of prosperity and individual liberty they operated under the simple ideal of a man controlling his destiny through only his own passion and self-reliance frank grimes represents the classical american hero the only problem being that he exists in modern america where the idyllic frontier has been all but replaced with catatonically tapping away at a computer for 40 hours a week in most aspects the us is no longer the land of opportunity as it was once regarded many americans now experience disillusionment with the american dream believing that we are now subject to the same kind of tyrannical oligarchy from which our forefathers originally fled the only difference now is that we have run out of oceans to cross frank grimes not only witnesses his own efforts fail to improve his standing he witnesses homer prosper from a lifetime of sloth and ignorance homer's outcome reflects the american dream but his actions reflect the antithesis the episode raises a serious question one that potentially threatens our entire perception of the series if we believe in the simple principle that hard work deserves to be rewarded then shouldn't we resent homer simpson well why do we like homer simpson there's no denying that homer is a very flawed character simpson's writer john schwarzwelder suggested that homer may embody all seven deadly sins many aspects of his character are quite unpleasant if not downright unflattering at times he is reckless ignorant impulsive and over-emotional he is the spitting image of how people from other countries stereotype americans an overweight lazy dim-witted consumer you can call homer many things but one thing you can't call him is pretentious homer simpson is the real deal he doesn't hide behind a sanctimonious persona the truth is that we like homer because he represents all of us whether we want to admit it or not in complete contrast to ambition and discontent homer embodies a totally opposite but equally american ideal laissez-faire the attitude of letting the world around you run its own course such is the essence of freedom and individual liberty only by relinquishing control over others can we ensure our own agency to do as we please laissez faire is most commonly mentioned in economics as the key principle of capitalism which depending on who you ask is the cause of and solution to all of life's problems laissez faire created homer and it also created mr burns is true freedom even attainable of its unaltered state inevitably resurrects tyranny pretty much every political belief system today exists to answer this question in one way or another realizing that perpetual endlessness of political debate can easily force us into a nihilistic outlook of society at large but homer simpson may offer us a way out something very zen about this episode you know it's homer's blind happiness is ignorant bliss that just gets him through you know despite his overwhelming flaws homer has managed to reach a state of modern day enlightenment his childlike ignorance has liberated him from the rat race and the cult of work he somehow exists in total harmony with the frustrations of 20th century life in a world where everything has become so nauseatingly complex homer represents a return to simplicity he goes to work clocks in and gets paid to do nothing he is essentially stealing from the most evil man in town and he doesn't even question it homer i don't use the word hero very often but you are the greatest hero in american history if grimes represents the classical american hero then homer may very well be the modern american hero sometimes the best way to fight the system is not to rebel against the system but to exploit the system hey seem like a great guy so i'll give you a little tip if you turn that security camera around you can sleep and no one will ever know with a character like homer there's beauty and imperfection unlike an ideal father figure he doesn't always have all the right answers but watching his misadventures provides us with solace that for as much as we screw up things can still wind up okay and it's a nice lesson you know if you grimes works so he's so a he works so hard he's so uptight and you can't enjoy life if you're like that where his homework is hapless but you know thrilled not everyone can be like homer not everyone should be like grimes society can only function with a good mix of both it's easy to feel sympathy for the plight of frank grimes but at the end of the day homer is not his enemy hating homer is kind of like hating your dog sure they may inconvenience us but that's just the price you pay for unconditional affection with all the cruelty in the modern world it's about all you can ask for at the end of the day homer has a heart of gold even if sometimes he has a hard time showing it where grimes goes wrong is blaming homer for his own misfortune you leech off decent hard-working people like me perhaps the best scene in the episode is frank grimes snapping at the side of the simpsons home realizing homer's material wealth utterly destroys grimes's outlook on life the sheer unfairness of the situation transforms his relationship with homer from mild annoyance to bitter hostility homer's enemy draws many parallels to arthur miller's death of a salesman one of the first high-profile works to truly question the ideals of the american dream death of a salesman's willy lowman is a misfortunate exhausted worker who measures his life's worth through popularity and material wealth he becomes so paralyzed by this idea of success that he loses his grip on reality likewise is the story and fate of frank grimes who comes to resent homer's popularity and material wealth however this perceived injustice is ultimately an illusion stemming from grimes's incongruent concept of success homer was never wealthy because of his success nor was he successful because of his wealth homer is where he is because of the intrinsic value he places in the people and world around him this theme is accented by the b plot of the episode where bart buys an abandoned factory that everyone else thinks is worthless if most of us bought a factory at auction we would immediately become consumed by thoughts of profit value maintenance and renovation when bart buys a factory the only thing he thinks about is how he can use it as an extended playground this premise is a microcosm of how homer is successful and grimes is miserable it is specifically referenced in the dinner scene to punctuate this distinction beautiful wife a son who owns a factory during his rant grimes doesn't care about who bart is as a person he only bemoans the unfairness of his material possession contrast this response with homer reacting to grimes's life story i i live in a single room above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley wow while grimes complains about living between two bowling alleys homer is impressed i believe that referencing a bowling alley with this line was a deliberate choice by the writers to remind the viewer of homer's lost dream of working in a bowling alley a dream he chose to sacrifice for the good of his family [Music] ultimately status and material possessions do not determine our character our value as individuals is dictated by how we act in our most challenging moments when push comes to shove homer chooses to be kind and forgiving while grimes chooses to be spiteful and vindictive i would die a happy man if i could prove to you that homer simpson has the intelligence of a six-year-old frank grimes's fatal flaw is spawned through his obsession with fairness unlike the principle of freedom fairness is not something that can be explicitly given or taken away it will always be fundamentally tied to randomness and chance the sad reality is that life is inherently unfair there will always be someone more fortunate than you but by that same token there will always be someone less fortunate than you tomorrow you could win the lottery and then die from a lightning strike would that be fair it's impossible to answer because both of those events are entirely out of our control they exist beyond the scope of our influence even in our most systematic attempts to practice fairness inequality always manages to slip through the cracks there is no such thing as an absolutely fair system someone will always be getting the short end of the stick by trying to sabotage and humiliate homer according to what he thinks his co-worker deserves frank grimes is entering himself into an unwinnable battle in the end his obsession with fairness ultimately drives him mad the idea of rewarding a man as incompetent as homer simpson is simply too much for him to bear [Music] homer's job as a safety inspector at the nuclear power plant is one of the most iconic gags in the entire show the premise of a buffoon being responsible for preventing a reactor meltdown is as hilarious as it is dark if you ask me however the whole setup is a perfect metaphor for homer's outlook towards the universe he exists in one of the most stressful environments possible yet his only concerns rest within his narrow slice of the world homer is destined to remain forever content even if the world melts down around him [Music] there will never be an elegant harmonious solution to all of america's problems a part of america will always be fighting and another part will just sit back and watch the fireworks the engine of america is powered by turmoil no matter how tough things get it just keeps on chugging ahead frank grimes or grimy as he liked to be called taught us that a man can triumph over adversity the end of homer's enemy is one of the darkest moments of the entire series the audience is intended to laugh at frank grimes's epic meltdown but at the time not everyone found it funny when this came out i really recall it made half the audience very mad the more recent generation loves this episode but when it first came out a lot of people got very angry about it upon release the episode stirred controversy among the simpsons faithful the grisly ending polarized viewers who had actually grown attached to homer's enemy frank grimes was so persuasive that he successfully turned a part of the audience against the face of the show in just a single episode the simpsons introduced the most compelling antagonist in the history of the series and then utterly dismantled him they took the classical american hero and lowered him in a casket among gregarious laughter looking back one has to wonder if the series was burying more than just grimes at the end of this episode the origin of this episode was what if a guy seemingly from the real world had to come deal with homer the original concept for the character of frank grimes was taking a normal hard-working man and placing him in the satirical and often nonsensical cartoon town of springfield he was designed to be categorically unlike any other character on the show it's for this reason why many have since labeled grimes as one of the most unique characters in simpson's history except there is one other character in the series lineage who does bear a striking resemblance to grimes a character who on many occasions showed great envy insecurity and vindictiveness towards one of his peers the name of this character is homer simpson you know if he gave ned flanders a change oh here we go again look i don't care if ned flanders is the nicest guy in the world he's a jerk in the beginning homer's enemy lived right next door to the simpsons ned flanders served the role of homer's original foil he represented the idealized role model of traditional family sitcoms this era of the show featured a much more desperate and frustrated homer one who would go through great lengths to try to measure up to the more wealthy and popular flanders early plots of the simpsons were frequently driven by homer's jealousy of flanders material possessions beyond matters of wealth flanders highlighted homer's inadequacies as a father you were right the first time he's perfect perfect in every way a major theme in the early seasons is homer learning to accept the imperfections of his family the simpsons may look dysfunctional versus the picturesque and well-behaved flanders but that's okay because the simpsons don't have to be the flanders this conflict effectively captured the original spirit of the show eventually culminating in the season 3 episode when flanders failed it's an episode that eerily mirrors homer's enemy but with the rules reversed despite flanders only showing homer hospitality and kindness homer still roots for his demise for once homer actually gets his wish and only then does he realize that the ultimate triumph over his adversary hasn't made him any more happy many fans of the show wonder what could have happened to the character of frank grimes if he wasn't killed off after a single appearance it turns out the answer may have been hiding in plain sight all along hey you okay grimey i'm better than okay i'm homer simpson only by viewing homer's enemy through the totality of the series can we truly grasp the brilliance of the episode homer's enemy is not just a critique about the regression of the american dream it is a testament to the progression of the simpsons when homer encounters frank grimes he is essentially meeting an earlier version of himself it could be said that the original vision of the simpsons was to confront the whimsical television landscape with a brutal dose of realism the sitcoms that i grew up with presented a sort of weird zombified ideal of the american family and it didn't relate to anyone i knew in reality the show began with a series of grounded and unromantic stories designed to challenge the establishment and place around them what they never envisioned however was becoming the establishment by the late 90s the simpsons were larger than life they had become an american institution and a worldwide phenomenon the show had accomplished more than its creators could have possibly imagined the simpsons always prided itself on being at the cutting edge of nuanced subversive comedy they pioneered an entirely new genre of programming pioneers will always get a lot of credit for whatever they discover they take unthinkable risks at a time when the odds are completely against their favor however every pioneer knows deep down that they will inevitably be overtaken by their successors after eight seasons and 175 episodes the simpsons were running out of stories to tell one problem with doing a show as long as we've done is we're fighting the fact that people are familiar with the show and it's harder and harder to surprise the audience there comes a time in all of our lives when we want to go out and change the world to break free from the system eventually though life always catches back up to us being like frank grimes is inherently unsustainable sometimes the only option left is to be like homer following the end of the eighth season showrunners bill oakley and josh weinstein departed to work on the ill-fated mission hill matt groening was all but checked out of the simpsons at this point focusing much of his attention on developing the concept for his new series futurama starting with season 9 the simpsons began what can only be described as a long slow march to mediocrity it's extraordinarily sad to still see the simpsons producing new episodes today it's like watching a dominant athlete have all their remarkable abilities stripped away through the march of time until they are no more special than the rest of us there's a reason why many all-time greats in pop culture also happen to die young we never get to witness them wither away into a shell of their former glory the brilliance of those first eight seasons now only amounts to a measly quarter of the show's entire lifespan the simpsons has been on the air so long that youtube videos complaining about the show's decline have themselves become stale and cliche what was once the epitome of media counterculture is now owned by the epitome of the media establishment following disney's acquisition of fox in 2019 the simpsons featured in a series of uncanny animated bumpers welcoming their new overlords considering the prior two decades of openly trashing the evil empire it's hard to believe that this was even the same show anymore in all honesty the simpsons was never designed to survive until the 21st century the big media conglomerates just keep it around as a ceremonial token to evoke nostalgia for better times at this point homer simpson has been relegated to a figurehead akin to the likes of mickey mouse and the queen of england like many other forms of counterculture the simpsons ended up becoming the very thing they sought to destroy if i had a tv show i'd run that supper into the ground don't cry for me i'm already dead the simpsons may have fallen hard but we only see it that way because its original run set the bar so high lots of people today have been amazed by the simpsons remarkable ability to prophesize modern day events in past episodes the truth is that for as wacky of a place springfield is it was entirely modeled off our reality as you know we've inherited quite a budget crunch from president trump america is still america and certain patterns in history tend to repeat themselves if anything the simpsons predicting the future serves more as a testament to how tuned in the series was to american culture at its peak the satire of the simpsons held up a mirror to our world it shouldn't be much of a surprise when some days we start mimicking the reflection it's unfortunate to consider how younger generations never had the opportunity to experience the simpsons at its creative and cultural peak while the actual show has never been less relevant the spirit of the show has witnessed a rebirth through the rise of remix culture on the internet one could say that the fast-paced irreverent attitude of the simpsons perfectly foreshadowed interactions on the internet today much like a certain young cartoonist from oregon a new generation of artists is now using the simpsons as a springboard to break into the cultural space the life cycle of the show has now come full circle going from parody to parodied so despite its descent into corporate mediocrity it's at least comforting to realize that the simpsons is still contributing to culture in a meaningful way one such contribution was made by british underground street artist banksy whose brutally unflattering satirization of the simpsons was aired as part of a 2010 episode banksy once famously reflected on the concept of the second death when somebody speaks your name for the last time it suggests that even if we cease to exist in a physical sense our legacy will continue to influence those who follow us frank grimes may have only lasted a single episode but what he accomplished in those few minutes of screen time was unforgettable there comes a time for every long-running tv series when they jump the shark a moment when the creators realize that they have exhausted all of their creative juices and have nowhere to go but down so they release an episode so unabashedly preposterous that it fundamentally undermines any immersion in the story characters and world moving forward with homer's enemy the simpsons jumped the shark but in typical simpson's fashion they did so in the most brilliant and subversive way they welcomed an age of mediocrity with the show's final masterpiece homer's enemy is a monument to a television empire at its absolute peak it pushes the original artistic vision of the series to its absolute conceptual limit in just 23 minutes of screen time the simpsons created something so intensely profound that we still think about it more than 23 years later after it aired the simpsons was never the same it didn't just change the show it changed the way we looked at the show homer's enemy was an episode so high concept that it elevated the series from a source of entertainment to a source of study it entices the audience to dig deeper and think harder about the show than they ever have before often times the greatest art doesn't give us all the right answers it makes us ask the right questions the discussion continues the great lengths we stray in search of our own interpretation of homer's enemy gives us a wider appreciation of the series as a whole a majority of simpsons episodes are not spectacular many of them are hard to even call entertaining but we don't remember the series for those episodes when people think of the simpsons they think of an incredible show they think of a show that redefined comedy and satire they think of a show that pushed the boundaries of what was possible on television they think of a show so influential that every other show would eventually copy it in some way the legacy of the simpsons has always been defined as a show that stood out from everything else around it so to answer the question why are the simpsons green we may instead want to ask why the simpsons are yellow so yellow skin why because it looks like there's something wrong with your tv set sometimes a small tweak and what we find familiar is all it takes to change our whole perspective the simpsons made everyone stop to adjust their tv sets but the picture within was never broken everything else around it was the simpsons opened our eyes to the yellowness of the whole world after a while we no longer questioned why the simpsons were yellow they simply were it was only then when for just one moment the creators had nothing else to do but to make them green homer's enemy is the simpsons magnum opus and there will never ever be another episode like it hi i'm z list youtuber rusty cage you may remember me from such videos as the knife game song and the knife game song part two but today i'm here to tell you about a revolutionary new product until now this was the only way to prevent baldness before it starts but that's all changed thanks to keeps hair loss prevention let's meet their spokesperson dr spiral hello rusty hi everybody rusty would you like a product that's up to 90 effective at reducing and stopping the symptoms of hair loss i sure would but wouldn't we have to pay those outrageous pharmacy prices for something the drug company probably spit in not anymore thanks to keeps hair loss prevention the most affordable fda approved hair loss product wow you saved all that hair from a single dose of keeps that's right and you can visit an online doctor right now and get your prescription shipped right to your door visit keeps.com lemon for fifty percent off your first order that's keps dot com slash employment [Laughter] [Music] you

Channel: EmpLemon

Views: 3,432,430

Keywords: EmpLemon, Never Ever

Id: Tq-qU_GCCLI

Length: 41min 7sec (2467 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 26 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/NerdismOfficial]

ralphie get off the stage sweetheart