Alt.tv.simpsons
Encyclopedia
alt.tv.simpsons is a usenet
newsgroup
dedicated to discussing the American
television
program, The Simpsons
. Created in 1990, the newsgroup became a popular community in the early 1990s, and continues to exist as of 2011.
The newsgroup is known for reviewing the episodes and nitpicking on minor details on the show. The writers of The Simpsons know about the forum and have on several occasions read the comments made on it; the character Comic Book Guy
is often used in the show to lampoon and respond to the newsgroups fans.
In interviews some writers have admitted that they do not like being scrutinized, but other writers have participated in the discussions on the forum. Nevertheless, independent commentators call the forum an example of an "active audience" and have claimed The Simpsons is tailor-made for such a forum.
" – a Christmas special that aired on December 17, 1989. The newsgroup was created before there was a world wide web
, which emerged in 1993, so those earliest discussions were held on text-only platforms. According to Chris Turner
, a Canadian
journalist and writer of the book Planet Simpson, the newsgroup was among the most trafficked newsgroups of the early 1990s. In that period it became a popular community on the Internet. According to Brian Reid, a computer scientist who has been tracking newsgroup traffic since 1985, alt.tv.simpsons was the most popular television newsgroup in May 1994, ahead of a discussion newsgroups about general television newsgroup (rec.arts.tv), Monty Python
(alt.fan.monty-python), the Late Show With David Letterman
(alt.fan.letterman) and soap opera
s (rec.arts.tv.soaps). Since there is no official method for measuring newsgroup traffic, the list is considered unofficial.
, which contains at least 330 episode guides as well as other guides. The newsgroup also provides The Simpsons Archive with information on the characters and the setting, as well as a compilation of articles about the show and interview with its cast and crew.
Among the most frequent topics of discussion are the real-life location of Springfield
, the sexuality of Waylon Smithers
and "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", a two-episode publicity stunt in which Mr. Burns was shot by an unknown character. The writers inserted many secret clues into the episode and implemented a contest in which whoever first discovered the shooter would be animated on an episode of the show. Although the alt.tv.simpsons community debated this mystery to an extreme degree, no one officially guessed the right answer, and therefore no one was ever animated on the show. Due to contest regulations, a winner had to be selected out of a random sample of entries. The sample did not contain any correct answers, so the winner who was chosen did not have the right answer and was paid a cash prize in lieu of being animated.
The first such instance occurred in the seventh season episode "Radioactive Man
," in which Comic Book Guy is logging on to his favorite newsgroup alt.nerd.obsessive. Comic Book Guy's oft-repeated catchphrase, "Worst episode ever," first appeared on alt.tv.simpsons in an episode review and David S. Cohen
decided to use this fan response to lampoon the passion and the fickleness of the fans.
The eighth season
episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
" is largely seen as a satire of the "hardcore fans" that make up the newsgroup, as well as a response to the viewer backlash and obsession with internal consistency those fans commonly express. When Comic Book Guy sees the Poochie episode, he immediately goes on the Internet and writes, “Worst episode ever” on a message board; a commentary on how the active audience nit picks the episode. The writers respond by using the voice of Bart Simpson
:
The catchphrase further appears in the eleventh season
episode "Saddlesore Galactica
," and as the title of the twelfth season
episode "Worst Episode Ever
." The catchphrase can also be used for describing other things by saying, "Worst. (Noun). Ever."
The writers also use the newsgroup to test how observant the fans are. In the seventh season episode "Treehouse of Horror VI
", the writer of segment Homer3, David S. Cohen, deliberately inserted a false equation into the background of one scene. The equation that appears is 178212 + 184112 = 192212. Although a false statement, it appears to be true when evaluated on a typical calculator with 10 digits of precision. If it were true, it would disprove Fermat's last theorem
, which had just been proven when this episode first aired. Cohen generated this "Fermat near-miss" with a computer program. After the episode aired, Cohen lurked on the newsgroup to see the response; at first there was astonishment when users tested it, but later there was despair when they found out it was only accurate to eight decimal places when expressed in scientific notation
.
made comments about the fans on the Internet in an interview with The Independent
, calling them "beetle-browed" and saying, "That's why they're on the Internet and we're writing the show." Writer Bill Oakley
used to respond to select Simpsons fans through e-mail in a friendly manner, but by 1996 claimed "[t]here are people who take it seriously to the point of absurdity". In a 1994 Life in Hell
cartoon Matt Groening
implied that he read the newsgroup.
In the chapter "Who Wants Candy" in the book Leaving Springfield
, Robert Sloane finds alt.tv.simpsons an example of an "active audience ... who struggle to make their own meaning out of the show". He mentions that in this context, the fans nitpick the show to an extreme and allow no room for error, where the writers believe that nitpicking leads to an under appreciation of the show's qualities. Chris Turner writes in the book Planet Simpson
that The Simpsons appeared tailor-made for a newsgroup in the early 1990s because it includes minor details that reward attentive viewing and can be easily scrutinized.
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
dedicated to discussing the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
program, The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. Created in 1990, the newsgroup became a popular community in the early 1990s, and continues to exist as of 2011.
The newsgroup is known for reviewing the episodes and nitpicking on minor details on the show. The writers of The Simpsons know about the forum and have on several occasions read the comments made on it; the character Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the second-season episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", which originally aired on May 9, 1991. He is the proprietor of a comic book store, The...
is often used in the show to lampoon and respond to the newsgroups fans.
In interviews some writers have admitted that they do not like being scrutinized, but other writers have participated in the discussions on the forum. Nevertheless, independent commentators call the forum an example of an "active audience" and have claimed The Simpsons is tailor-made for such a forum.
History
The newsgroup was created by Gary D. Duzan during the third week of March 1990, four months after the first airing of a regular episode of the program, which was the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open FireSimpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", also known as "The Simpsons Christmas Special", is the first full-length episode of The Simpsons to air despite originally being the eighth episode produced for season one. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 1989...
" – a Christmas special that aired on December 17, 1989. The newsgroup was created before there was a world wide web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, which emerged in 1993, so those earliest discussions were held on text-only platforms. According to Chris Turner
Chris Turner (author)
Chris Turner is a Canadian author. He is the author of Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, published in 2004...
, a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist and writer of the book Planet Simpson, the newsgroup was among the most trafficked newsgroups of the early 1990s. In that period it became a popular community on the Internet. According to Brian Reid, a computer scientist who has been tracking newsgroup traffic since 1985, alt.tv.simpsons was the most popular television newsgroup in May 1994, ahead of a discussion newsgroups about general television newsgroup (rec.arts.tv), Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
(alt.fan.monty-python), the Late Show With David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
(alt.fan.letterman) and soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s (rec.arts.tv.soaps). Since there is no official method for measuring newsgroup traffic, the list is considered unofficial.
Discussions
From its inception, users would use the newsgroup to discuss the quality of the episode, as well as to talk about continuity errors and trivia. They would also discuss cultural references, usually related to pop culture. Another common topic is freeze frame gags, which are jokes that can only be seen when the viewer tapes the episode and freezes the image. All of these many discussions were compiled and submitted to The Simpsons ArchiveThe Simpsons Archive
The Simpsons Archive, better known as snpp.com or simply SNPP , is a Simpsons fan site that has been online since 1994...
, which contains at least 330 episode guides as well as other guides. The newsgroup also provides The Simpsons Archive with information on the characters and the setting, as well as a compilation of articles about the show and interview with its cast and crew.
Among the most frequent topics of discussion are the real-life location of Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
, the sexuality of Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
and "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", a two-episode publicity stunt in which Mr. Burns was shot by an unknown character. The writers inserted many secret clues into the episode and implemented a contest in which whoever first discovered the shooter would be animated on an episode of the show. Although the alt.tv.simpsons community debated this mystery to an extreme degree, no one officially guessed the right answer, and therefore no one was ever animated on the show. Due to contest regulations, a winner had to be selected out of a random sample of entries. The sample did not contain any correct answers, so the winner who was chosen did not have the right answer and was paid a cash prize in lieu of being animated.
Relationship with the writers
The writers of the show are aware of the newsgroup and sometimes make jokes at its expense. Within the series, the character Comic Book Guy is often used to represent a stereotypical inhabitant of alt.tv.simpsons.The first such instance occurred in the seventh season episode "Radioactive Man
Radioactive Man (The Simpsons episode)
"Radioactive Man" is the second episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1995. The episode sees the film version of the comic book series Radioactive Man set up production in Springfield. Much to Bart's disappointment, the...
," in which Comic Book Guy is logging on to his favorite newsgroup alt.nerd.obsessive. Comic Book Guy's oft-repeated catchphrase, "Worst episode ever," first appeared on alt.tv.simpsons in an episode review and David S. Cohen
David X. Cohen
David Samuel Cohen , primarily known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and he is the head writer and executive producer of Futurama.-Early life:...
decided to use this fan response to lampoon the passion and the fickleness of the fans.
The eighth season
The Simpsons (season 8)
The Simpsons eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired February 9, 1997. In the episode, The Itchy & Scratchy Show attempts to regain viewers by introducing a hip new character named Poochie, who will be voiced by Homer...
" is largely seen as a satire of the "hardcore fans" that make up the newsgroup, as well as a response to the viewer backlash and obsession with internal consistency those fans commonly express. When Comic Book Guy sees the Poochie episode, he immediately goes on the Internet and writes, “Worst episode ever” on a message board; a commentary on how the active audience nit picks the episode. The writers respond by using the voice of Bart Simpson
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
:
The catchphrase further appears in the eleventh season
The Simpsons (season 11)
The Simpsons 11th season originally aired between September 1999 and May 2000, beginning on Sunday, September 26, 1999, with "Beyond Blunderdome". The show runner for the 11th production season was Mike Scully...
episode "Saddlesore Galactica
Saddlesore Galactica
"Saddlesore Galactica" is the thirteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 6, 2000...
," and as the title of the twelfth season
The Simpsons (season 12)
The Simpsons 12th season began on Wednesday, November 1, 2000 with "Treehouse of Horror XI".The season contains four hold over episodes from the season 11 production line. The show runner for the twelfth production was Mike Scully. The season features three episodes that were produced for the...
episode "Worst Episode Ever
Worst Episode Ever
"Worst Episode Ever" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons twelfth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 2001. In the episode, Bart and Milhouse are banned from The Android's Dungeon after stopping Comic Book Guy from buying a box of priceless...
." The catchphrase can also be used for describing other things by saying, "Worst. (Noun). Ever."
The writers also use the newsgroup to test how observant the fans are. In the seventh season episode "Treehouse of Horror VI
Treehouse of Horror VI
"Treehouse of Horror VI" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons seventh season and the sixth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1995, and contains three self-contained segments...
", the writer of segment Homer3, David S. Cohen, deliberately inserted a false equation into the background of one scene. The equation that appears is 178212 + 184112 = 192212. Although a false statement, it appears to be true when evaluated on a typical calculator with 10 digits of precision. If it were true, it would disprove Fermat's last theorem
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two....
, which had just been proven when this episode first aired. Cohen generated this "Fermat near-miss" with a computer program. After the episode aired, Cohen lurked on the newsgroup to see the response; at first there was astonishment when users tested it, but later there was despair when they found out it was only accurate to eight decimal places when expressed in scientific notation
Scientific notation
Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in standard decimal notation. Scientific notation has a number of useful properties and is commonly used in calculators and by scientists, mathematicians, doctors, and engineers.In scientific...
.
Reception
The comments of alt.tv.simpsons have been quoted or cited in the writings of mass media commentators. This has led to situations in which relations between writers and viewers have become strained. In 1994, Simpsons creator Matt Groening acknowledged he and the other show runners have been reading the newsgroup and in frustration said, "Sometimes I feel like knocking their electronic noggins together". In another case, writer Ian Maxtone-GrahamIan Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham is an American television writer and producer. He has written for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons , and has also served as a co-executive producer and consulting producer for The Simpsons...
made comments about the fans on the Internet in an interview with The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, calling them "beetle-browed" and saying, "That's why they're on the Internet and we're writing the show." Writer Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at high school; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon...
used to respond to select Simpsons fans through e-mail in a friendly manner, but by 1996 claimed "[t]here are people who take it seriously to the point of absurdity". In a 1994 Life in Hell
Life in Hell
Life in Hell is a weekly comic strip by Matt Groening. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers. Groening uses these characters to explore a wide range of topics about love, sex, work, and death...
cartoon Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
implied that he read the newsgroup.
In the chapter "Who Wants Candy" in the book Leaving Springfield
Leaving Springfield
Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture is a non-fiction compilation work analyzing the effect of the television program The Simpsons on society, edited by John Alberti. The book was published in 2004 by Wayne State University Press...
, Robert Sloane finds alt.tv.simpsons an example of an "active audience ... who struggle to make their own meaning out of the show". He mentions that in this context, the fans nitpick the show to an extreme and allow no room for error, where the writers believe that nitpicking leads to an under appreciation of the show's qualities. Chris Turner writes in the book Planet Simpson
Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation
Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation is a non-fiction book about The Simpsons, written by Chris Turner and originally published on 12 October 2004 by Random House...
that The Simpsons appeared tailor-made for a newsgroup in the early 1990s because it includes minor details that reward attentive viewing and can be easily scrutinized.
External links
- alt.tv.simpsons on GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Groups. - The Simpsons Archive