Ah, 'The Simpsons'. Inarguably one of the most important, influential and hilarious series of the 90s but one which has unfortunately stumbled on into the 21st century and nosedived in quality to an alarming degree. During the 90s it was inconceivable that I would ever stop watching 'The Simpsons' but after watching in horror as a realistic, well-rounded and emotionally involving satirical series about American working class family life transformed into a madcap, punchline-hungry melee of empty cynicism, celebrity cameos and deus ex machina endings I took a step back from the show. It's a refreshing but bittersweet experience then to return to 'The Simpsons' pilot episode and recall just how superb the show was for so many years. Although it was often retrospectively criticised as not being up to the quality of later seasons, the show's historic first season now looks comparatively fantastic and certainly groundbreaking. In its quest to create an animated series for primetime audiences, 'The Simpsons' tackled subjects rarely found in the children's shows that represented TV's major animated output of the time. Season one features episodes about marital infidelity, sexism and depression, a far cry from a series that would later feature episodes in which Homer is chased down the street by 'Sesame Street' characters or attacked by jockeys who turn out to be murderous elf-like creatures who live in their own underground lair.
There are several facts about 'The Simpsons' pilot episode 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' that make it unusual. For one, it was not the first show to introduce its main characters to the world. The Simpson family had, in fact, appeared for the first time over two and a half years previously as the stars of short animated sequences incorporated into 'The Tracey Ullman Show'. Famously, these early shorts had an incredibly crude look to them but across the two years they ran, the characters evolved from grotesque doodles into something more akin to their later incarnations. While the shorts were reasonably popular, they weren't enough to make the Simpsons into household names so when the prospect of a full season of 22 minute stories presented itself, creator Matt Groening and his team knew that they would have to develop the characters into more engaging, realistic figures that could hold an audience's attention for a sitcom length episode. So 'The Simpsons' began with the advantage of having some semi-established characters in its pocket but with the challenge of making people love them and believe in them.
Another unusual thing about 'The Simpsons' pilot is that it is a Christmas special, a very rare occurrence for a series' first episode. This is down to the fact that 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' was not intended to be the pilot and was actually the eighth episode produced. The original intention had been for 'Some Enchanted Evening', which eventually ended up being the season finale, to be the introductory episode but due to major problems with the animation for the episode (on viewing it, producer James L. Brooks reportedly responded "This is shit") it was put back and the scheduled autumn debut for the show was postponed for a couple of months. By chance, this meant that 'The Simpsons' first episode was eventually scheduled to air in mid-December and as a result the Christmas episode 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' was brought forward to act as the season's opener. While 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' is not the obvious choice for an opening gambit, it is a far more suitable choice than 'Some Enchanted Evening'. One of the major challenges 'The Simpsons' had ahead of it was to make the world take it seriously as a series intended for the whole family rather than a children's show and it is a challenge to which the first season scripts were more than equal but a couple of episodes do have slightly outlandish concepts which make them more akin to the broader writing of a kid's show. 'The Call of the Simpsons', for instance, finds the family stranded in the forest where Homer is mistaken for the missing link. 'Some Enchanted Evening' isn't quite so surreal but its plot about a wanted criminal being hired as a babysitter for the Simpson children is harder to swallow than most of season one's more grounded plots and, as such, would have made for an awkward introduction. Those animation problems with the episode may have been a blessing then, allowing for the superior 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' to take the title of official Simpsons pilot.
Interestingly given its festive theme, 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' is one of season one's most downbeat episodes, focusing as it does on the family's financial troubles and Homer's desperate attempts to not let a lack of money ruin Christmas. Opening with a well-observed sketch depicting a school Christmas pageant, the episode quickly darkens as Marge is forced to spend the family's Christmas fund on removing a forbidden tattoo from Bart's arm while Homer learns from his boss Mr. Burns (voiced here by Christopher Collins in one of only three appearances as the character, who was subsequently taken on by Harry Shearer) that he will not be receiving a holiday bonus. Determined not to upset his family and spurred on by his competitiveness with neighbour Ned Flanders (at this stage depicted with only one of his children and no wife), Homer hides the news and attempts to stretch what little money he has by buying substandard presents. Having stolen a Christmas tree from a nearby forest, Homer is then forced to take a job as a department store Santa but after receiving less pay than expected and being rumbled by his son, he drags Bart to the Springfield Dog Track in the hope of turning his $13 into a three figure amount. Having blown everything on a greyhound named Santa's Little Helper because he sensed a symbolic significance in the name, Homer and Bart return home to face the music with the abandoned dog in tow, only to find that the family are delighted with their new pet.
It's a sweet twist but it's a hell of a gruelling emotional journey to get there and 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' pulls no punches, piling on the indignities as it moves in a downwards spiral towards the sleazy dog track of its final act. In Bart's speech about how a Christmas miracle will save the family in the same way it did for Tiny Tim, Charlie Brown and the Smurfs, 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' aligns itself with a series of classic animated Christmas specials, closest in spirit to 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' with its melancholia and hopeful climax that introduces a note of festive sentiment without necessarily claiming to solve all its characters problems. A couple of moments of cartoonish levity are introduced, with Marge producing a jar of money from its hiding place in her hair and Bart having his tattoo removed by a laser that looks like it was bought at auction from a Bond villain, but for the most part 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' draws its humour from the recognisable struggles of everyday life and the mounting desperation of Homer to find his way out of a hole which he wouldn't be in had he just been honest with his wife.
As the series progressed, Homer would become more selfish and strangely childlike but at this stage, he was a far more likable character, a little buffoonish but basically good hearted and devoted to his family. 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' is very much a Homer-focused episode, with Bart playing a prominent supporting role and the rest of the family largely used as a plot device to drive Homer's quest forward. Lisa has a speech in which she eloquently requests that her Aunt Patty not put-down her father which may be the highlight of the whole episode and Marge has a funny letter-writing scene but ultimately these characters wouldn't come into their own until later in the season (The Marge and Lisa centric episodes 'Life on the Fast Lane' and 'Moaning Lisa' are the clear highlights of season one, with the former beating the also-nominated 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' to win 'The Simpsons' its first Emmy Award). This imbalance in character focus has always led me to believe that episode four, 'There's No Disgrace Like Home', would have made a more appropriate pilot as it focuses on the family as a unit, even if their character traits are distinctly different from those displayed in later episodes.
Ultimately, 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' does work as an adequate introduction to 'The Simpsons' and has become a much-loved staple of festive schedules but there's a sense that it would have been a more powerful episode if viewers were more familiar with the characters before seeing them go through such turmoil. Nevertheless, its subtly-realised downbeat atmosphere makes for a compelling and unusual experience and one of the creators' stated intensions was to carve out a unique style all of the series' own, which 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' undoubtedly does. When 'The Simpsons' was pitched to the Fox network, executives were reportedly concerned over whether animated characters could hold a primetime audience's attention for 22 minutes. 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' went a step further, proving that it could not only hold their attention, it could influence their mood.
TOP 20 - Although it is a landmark episode of a legendary series, 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' is not quite successful enough in offering a representative glimpse of the show it introduces to merit inclusion on our top 20 list of the absolute cream of TV pilots. The quest continues...
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