{"id":302034,"date":"2025-12-06T20:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/302034\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T20:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:03:11","slug":"35-years-ago-today-the-simpsons-aired-an-episode-so-good-that-matt-groening-called-it-his-favorite-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/302034\/","title":{"rendered":"35 Years Ago Today, The Simpsons Aired an Episode So Good That Matt Groening Called It His Favorite Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

35 years ago today, The Simpsons<\/a> aired an episode that ended up being so good that original creator Matt Groening himself called it his favorite ever and it\u2019s hard to argue. The Simpsons is currently in the midst of Season 37 of the animated series<\/a>, and it\u2019s not slowing down anytime soon as it prepares to make its way to Season 40 with FOX in the next few years. Over the decades we\u2019ve seen many classic episodes that fans hold in high regards as some of their favorites ever, but there are some that are held in as much regard from those who make it all happen. <\/p>\n

35 years ago today, on December 6, 1990, The Simpsons aired \u201cBart the Daredevil\u201d on FOX. The Season 2 episode is one of the most monumental in the entire series<\/a> for Homer failing to jump over the Springfield Gorge, but also has the distinct honor of being Matt Groening\u2019s favorite episode of the series. Detailing his favorites ten years after the series first began with Entertainment Weekly, Groening actually revealed this was his favorite of all time because of that iconic Homer moment. <\/p>\n

Why Bart the Devil is Matt Groening\u2019s Favorite<\/p>\n

\"HomerCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scene in which Homer accidentally attempts to skateboard across Springfield Gorge and doesn\u2019t make it is pretty funny,\u201d Groening once explained about why \u201cBart the Daredevil\u201d was his favorite of all time. \u201c[B]ut even funnier\u2014for me, the funniest moment in the series\u2014is when he\u2019s loaded into an ambulance, which then hits a tree, sending Homer back over the cliff while strapped to a gurney. Truly inspired mayhem.\u201d And it\u2019s hard to argue as Homer failing to jump the gorge has made its mark as one of the most iconic scenes in the series\u2019 history<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It was so early on in the series\u2019 run that The Simpsons really helped to make its mark on the world with this moment. The Simpsons was largely a more grounded series before this point. While it would have wackier elements and stories fitting for an animated series, this full-on Looney Tunes like moment is what helped usher in a whole new style for the show. It opened up Homer and the other characters to much more flexibility, and allowed for the kind of experimentation that we\u2019d come to see during later seasons of the Golden Age<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Why Bart the Daredevil Is So Special<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

\u201cBart the Daredevil\u201d was also a special episode for Bart and Homer. Their dynamic rests at the core of many of the series\u2019 episodes, and this episode saw Bart taking on dangerous stunts after being inspired to do so. But Homer had wanted to step in to stop in, and ultimately ends up trying to jump over the gorge. It\u2019s become such a notable image over the course of the franchise that it was revisited years later with all sorts of Easter Eggs and wild shout outs<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Simpsons has put Homer through the wringer in all sorts of ways in the decades since this Season 2 episode, but this is that one moment of physicality that really hasn\u2019t been topped in the decades since. It\u2019s why this is such a big scene even after being all the way back in Season 2, and why we still remember it 35 years later. And why it\u2019s Groening\u2019s favorite.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"35 years ago today, The Simpsons aired an episode that ended up being so good that original creator…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[97028,87152,96,11104,89908,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-302034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-animation-genre","9":"tag-answer-feature","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-the-simpsons","12":"tag-the-simpsons-franchise","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}