With 34 seasons and 750 episodes completed, “The Simpsons” have become an American television institution.
Renewed for at least two seasons more, the animated series shows no sign of ending any time soon.
It has come a long way from its start when the show, and one of its main characters, 10-year-old Bart Simpson, was thought to be corrupting American youth.
By the summer of 1990, after the first 13 episodes had aired on Fox, the Simpsons family from the fictional city of Springfield could be found just about everywhere.
Especially Bart.
The troublemaker and prankster son of Homer and Marge, whose antics included talking back to his parents, vandalism, and using a slingshot, had a starring role in a Butterfinger commercial and starred in a Nintendo game. Burger King was planning a new ad campaign involving the mischievous character that summer.
Local stores like Spencer’s Gifts and J.C. Penney, which had a dedicated “Simpsons” kiosk, sold some 200 different licensed products.
Frances Simpson of Baldwinsville holds up her Bart Simpson key chain in 1990. It was one of the hundreds of "Simpsons" products which were in stores following the show's first season.Syracuse Post-Standard
That included t-shirts featuring Bart, which became immensely popular at Central New York schools.
One of them, though, put the animated spikey-haired boy in hot water with educators and parents.
On it, Bart is holding a slingshot beneath the word “Underachiever.” A quote bubble has the character saying, “And proud of it, man.”
Children began wearing these shirts to school and their message caught the attention of educators. Schools in Ohio, Kentucky, and California banned the shirts.
On May 31, 1990, the Watertown School District in Jefferson County joined them.
Arguing that the “Underachiever” shirt encouraged students to give up trying in the classroom, Superintendent Warren Fargo banned the shirts. Students who wore them had to turn them inside out for the day.
“We don’t need someone interjecting those values into our buildings,” he said. “We try to hold students to high expectations of achievement here.”
The response from students was loud and clear.
“This is so stupid,” said one. “There’s even teachers at school who don’t agree.”
“There’s fights here every day, fights after school,” a junior told The Post-Standard. “And they are banning t-shirts.”
The ACLU called Watertown’s decision “outrageous.”
The district was the only local school to ban them. But others were paying attention.
“I really do believe kids need some kind of influence,” Westhill High School’s director of guidance said. “Children easily believe things they see on television.”
Eventually, J.C. Penney would pull the “Underachiever” shirt from shelves.
Outside of schools, CNY parents had to make their own calls on Bart, many of whom found him to be a negative influence.
A mother from Liverpool said her 11-year-old son repeated the infamous “Underachiever, and proud of it” line at home. Another admitted the show was “a riot,” but said her son did not want to do his homework after watching it.
Alice Martino of Manlius wrote a letter to The Post-Standard which said the Bart Simpson t-shirts worked “at cross purposes” of schools.
“Would you do business,” she asked at places where employees wore shirts with slogans like “Take this job and shove it” and “Poor workman and proud of it.”
Teens and kids pushed back and wrote letters to the editors and told reporters that there was nothing wrong with Bart Simpson.
“It’s all the adults. They have a problem with kids laughing at a cartoon,” complained 16-year-old Janelle Krakau of Onondaga.
Chris Gervaise, a senior at Paul V. Moore High School, thought the animated sitcom was a more accurate portrayal of American family life than “The Cosby Show.”
“(Cosby) is the most ridiculous show in the world I know. That’s not typical.”
Jeffrey Bower of Auburn, who described himself as a “90-average student” wrote to the Herald American, part of a “Sunday Soapbox” of letters devoted to the “Simpsons” issue on June 24, 1990:
“I just wish the schools would take the Simpsons for what they are: a funny cartoon sitcom. No actions are taken against any sitcoms that have adults in them that are overly rude. The schools are just banning Bart because he’s a kid and they think all kids that watch the Simpsons will become rude and barbaric like Bart.”
Student Rachel Kruth made this point:
“So, if someone starts insulting Bart Simpson, maybe they should flip through the channels on the television and see what else is going on. I think that if you take careful notice, you will see that Bart Simpson isn’t so bad after all. Who knows, maybe he will be the hero of the ‘90s.”
She might have been right.
The cartoon lads on “South Park,” starting in 1997, and the misbehavior of the characters on “Family Guy,” debuting two years later, would make Bart Simpson seem tame in comparison.
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This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle: Email | 315-416-3882.