The Simpsons, a series of bumper shorts^[1] featured on The Tracey Ullman Show, was at one time a dark and edgy parody of the sitcom family brought to us by the twisted mind of Matt Groening. Unfortunately (especially for those of us into dark and edgy,) the little dysfunctional clips became a big hit for FOX, which meant scaling down the violence (Homer would strangle Bart at the drop of a hat with gleeful abandon) and literally round off the rough edges (see the image.) But after twenty years of the same ol’ shtick, The Simpsons has gone from dark and edgy to Peanuts satire, something safe that you can watch with the grandkids.

However, every once in a while, they do manage to pull off a good one.

This week’s episode featured a big ol’ lampoon against one of California’s most cherished institutions, Apple Computers and it’s meglomaniacal founder and guru, Steve Jobs. While still nowhere near as edgy as the original Simpsons shorts, it’s a nice glimpse at what used to be a Simpsons staple: biting satire.

Cool.

But the minute Bart tries to kick a football and Lisa snatches it away at the last minute, I’m done with them.

1. i.e, 30-second spots before and after commercial breaks [↩]

Tags: Apple parody, Matt Groening, Simpsons, Steve Jobs, video

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