GEN X WILL MOURN PASSING OF FREE TO AIR FUNFEST TOP TEN END AN ERA
If you grew up in Australia in the ’ 90s, there’s a good chance that you tuned into Channel 10 every weeknight at 6pm to catch the latest antics from Springfield.
When The Simpsons was switched to Ten’s secondary station, Eleven, a couple of years ago, it marked the beginning of the end for Channel 10’ s ratings stronghold.
But this week the final nail was pounded into the coffin when Ten announced it had lost the rights to Fox’s iconic series thanks to the CBS takeover of the failing network.
The move means everyone’s favourite four- fingered family no longer has a home on Australian free- to- air TV ( thankfully Foxtel still broadcasts it though!).
While it’s true that the show has been tragically sub- par for at least five years and has long passed its expiration date, it’s still the end of an era for all the Gen X and Y kids who worshipped at the feet of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
So in a shameless attempt to cash in on the nostalgia factor, here’s my list of the top ten characters from The Simpsons ( other than the Simpsons themselves).
1. Milhouse
A constant source of LOLs, Milhouse is the poster child for every kid who ever felt “uncool”. He’s awkward, geeky and has the worst luck in the world, but “Everything’s coming up Milhouse!”
2. Ralph Wiggum
Who can forget when Ralph fell in love with Lisa Simpson, only to have his heart shattered on national TV? So many emotions! Just one example of why this loveable dimwit is the sweetest and most purehearted character residing in Springfield.
3. Mrs Krabappel
For a cartoon, The Simpsons manages to sneak in some pretty risqué jokes and many of them come from this sarcastic sad- sack of a teacher whose only goal is to score a date and drown her sorrows with a bottle of wine.
4. Mr Burns
He’s the closest thing The Simpsons has to a villain and boy does he nail the brief. He’s genuinely heartless and callous, showing zero regard for anyone or anything other than his infinite fortune. “… Excellent.”
5. Comic Book Guy
If you met him in real life you’d probably loathe this rude, pretentious git, but watching him argue with pre- teens about the finest details of popular culture has been endlessly entertaining.
6. Selma and Patty
Marge’s chain- smoking spinster sisters are a miserable pair. But they’re always on hand with a flurry of witty insults for hapless Homer, making them unbelievably funny.
7. Sideshow Bob
First he tried to frame his boss Krusty the Klown with robbery and since then he’s tried to kill Bart multiple times and even attempted to blow up the Springfield dam to flood the town. To put it gently, the guy’s a psychopath. But a well- read, dignified kind of psychopath.
8. Mayor Quimby
Mayor Quimby’s extramarital affairs are the gift that keeps on giving, popping up at the most unexpected moments. But his womanising isn’t the only thing that makes him a great source of laughs. There’s also his blatant corruption and overall shadiness.
9. Chief Wiggum
The epitome of incompetence, Chief Wiggum’s undeniable charm comes from the fact that he’s so very stupid. There isn’t an investigation that he hasn’t bungled in his long tenure as police chief ( and no doughnut he hasn’t eaten).
10. Mrs Skinner
She’s underrated but never fails to get a laugh with her overbearing and harsh motherly instincts for her son Principal Seymour Skinner. The old girl’s got bite!