Simpsons: For Kids or Adults?

HowdyNeighbor

HowdyNeighbor

Homer's True Enemy
Joined
Apr 23, 2021
Messages
141
Location
Ned Flander's House
I remember once when I saw the Simpsons, it felt more like a 'Kids Show' to me than an 'Adults Show'. Now I definitely know that's wrong given the sex, gore and mature themes to it, but it still is weird to see the show being viewed by kids and many adults having nostalgia for this show. Like I have seen it pop up in the Kids' Choice Awards for best kids' cartoons, and it is very strange to see an adult show nominated for a kids' show by children.
After thinking about it, I'm confused :confused:

Can anybody help?
 
It really depends on the era. I think it was uniquely adult in the cartoon world at the time in the classic era, and Scully aimed the show toward younger audiences when he took over. Around seasons 17-19ish, the show got edgier, and then it shaved off those edges a bit after that.
 
I have never thought of Simpsons as an adult show. Kids in elementary watched it, though Pokemon soon took over as most popular cartoon. Maybe there were some adult jokes but the same was true of rocko and other nick shows. I don't think of bobs burger and it's clones as adult either. South Park, family guy, Rick and Morty those seem more teen or later shows.
 
Well, some other kids out there could watch The Simpsons sometimes, and so can the other adults, like I'm currently 23 as of right now
 
That Don Guy said:
Neither - it's for families. IIRC, Avatar won Kids Choice Awards; does that mean it was for kids? How about Jack Black's nominations for his live-action roles, or Shaun White's numerous wins? Don't confuse "for kids" with "something kids can enjoy."
Click to expand...
It just feels extremely reward to see the Simpsons mixed together with something like Spongebob/The Loud House/Gumball
 
Family Guy is actually rated 14+, along with Duncanville, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, and sometimes Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons
 
I'd say it is more of an all-ages show (to an extent) rather than "just" an adult sitcom. I think that kids in the age group of 8-10 and up could watch it with no problem, but it does feel a little bit much for those younger (especially in the later classic seasons and on).
 
In our country it's 12+ and I agree; it does contain some words not suitable for early grade schoolers and pre-schoolers, but there are mostly episodes which are suitable for kids.
 
I believe it was meant primarily for adults when it started, because there are a lot of things in the show that would go over a kid's head and they wouldn't understand at all until they got older. Not to say that kids couldn't watch it, not at all. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein are on record as saying that after the first couple seasons, the show fell off in the ratings and most of its audience was kids. But adults were clearly the intended audience.

What happened was that kids just really liked the show alongside adults. Mike Scully said that when they were doing the "Every Simpsons Ever" marathon, there were people tweeting him about how they grew up with his episodes and now, they're watching them with their kids. So, I guess the show really is for all ages now.
 
That Don Guy said:
Neither - it's for families. IIRC, Avatar won Kids Choice Awards; does that mean it was for kids? How about Jack Black's nominations for his live-action roles, or Shaun White's numerous wins? Don't confuse "for kids" with "something kids can enjoy."
HowdyNeighbor said:
It just feels extremely reward to see the Simpsons mixed together with something like Spongebob/The Loud House/Gumball
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
What I'm talking about:
 
I think the Simpsons is undergoing something similar to what happened to the Looney Tunes a few decades ago, in starting out as aimed towards adults but then slowly getting retconned into being for kids. I'm not an open book on the Looney Tunes so correct me if I'm wrong, but the show's marketing on Disney+, with Bart and Lisa being at the forefront, signals this I think.
 
le grille said:
I think the Simpsons is undergoing something similar to what happened to the Looney Tunes a few decades ago, in starting out as aimed towards adults but then slowly getting retconned into being for kids. I'm not an open book on the Looney Tunes so correct me if I'm wrong, but the show's marketing on Disney+, with Bart and Lisa being at the forefront, signals this I think.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. At least you won't hear any edgy jokes like seeing Chief Wiggum beat Carl or COVID almost killing Grandpa.
 
Rarely does the show have episodes thematically unsuitable for kids, but in order to fully appreciate the jokes and writing you'd definitely need to be an adult. There were TONS of jokes that went over my head as a kid. In fact even on the dvd commentaries its frequently acknowledged that they knew kids were watching. So I guess the answer is kinda both (that or it was written for adults and they just didn't care that kids were watching : P ).
 
It wasn't supposed to be for kids, but it ended up being popular with that audience anyway because it was a cartoon with a distinctive colorful look, and because Bart in particular became such a breakout sensation who really resonated with kids around his age. All the merchandise and other products only added to the show's kid appeal. Then South Park and Family Guy came along, making The Simpsons look kid-friendly in comparison. Now it's owned by Disney and is openly being pushed as part of their brand.

So you could say it was intended as an adult show, but accidentally ended up accidentally becoming a family show.
 
What I find weird is that certain episodes are given TV-14 ratings, but the TV-14 episodes don't have anything more mature then the normal TV-PG episodes, so I don't get why some episodes get that rating. Only episode I can think of that is really worthy of that rating is the recent 2 parter for its overly graphic realistic violence, which unlike the THOH's, the violence is typically more comedic then raunchy. As for it being for adults or not, I honestly doubt that, it's more of a family show since the humor is for all ages and it isn't specific to adults either because there is a lot of stuff that kids like in the show as well. Not little kids, but like 10 and up. Ain't no adult show compared to other stuff. It's in the same league as like Bob's Burgers, The Great North, and King Of The Hill to name a few.

Although as like what Financial Panther said, the show for a while did get more edgier and was being more mature like Family Guy if that makes sense, which primarily started after the shows decline, and this is when they constantly would have for example Homer and Marge wanting to fuck, and rubbing sex jokes in your face up the ass all just for the sake of just doing it I guess, and constantly using terms such as "intercourse", "hoe", "skank", and a few other terms like that which is totally out of tone for the series if that makes sense, as well as constantly mentioning drugs and just move away totally from the original smooth charm of the show that had very little innuendos, little and rare references to drugs or even showing them, but never has the show actually have shown any character doing the drug if present physically even in the long edgy period starting from about Season 14 to Season 20.

Around the start of the HD era is when the show eased down and wasn't trying to be edgy and more mature just for the sake of it, but still has the stuff I mentioned above, but not used in almost every single episode, but definitely still not the same tone as the Classic era and its charm, but still not as bad as Season 14 to 20 edgy era. Although the "Edgy Era" per say was trying to be more mature and more adult like such as Family Guy, it still was getting TV-PG ratings. Also if it was for adults only, why are they especially now trying to be hip with tweens and teens for the past 3 Seasons per say?
 
Last edited:
Duderocks5539 said:
Also if it was for adults only, why are they especially now trying to be hip with tweens and teens for the past 3 Seasons per say?
Click to expand...
That is what got me thinking about whether it was for kids or adults. I mean imagine having the Simpsons sing 'Baby Shark' in their car, or have Bart doing the floss in an "adults" show. Examples below:


 
I've always loved The Simpsons for as long as I can remember, which is since childhood, and it would air during the day often on Channel 4 & Sky One (along with Futurama). It would only air once in the evening on RTÉ Two, but I think most of the time, everyone treated it as a kids show where I live in Ireland. I have noticed that Sky One & Channel 4 censors things that would not be suitable for children if the episodes were to air during the day.
 
A few episodes I would classify as mature however would be Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy, Natural Born Kissers, Weekend at Burnsie's, Large Marge & The Devil Wears Nada.
 
Sex and drugs aren't the only things that make a show "adult", it's also the kinds of references; during the classic era, especially, references to the 70s, which wouldn't have been understood by kids in the 90s. I think a lot of what made people view it as a kids' show was the fact it was animated, but there are obviously many animated shows not aimed at children. I started watching the show when I was 8 and I think it was the animation and the fact that there were two main characters who were kids that drew me to it (a family friend of ours was appalled that I was allowed to watch it at that age and was proud to announce his teenage sons weren't allowed to watch an "adult" show). I think there are many episodes that can be enjoyed by kids, but I wouldn't say it is overall a "kids' show". It's an adult-oriented cartoon that often can be enjoyed by kids. That's the best way I can summarize its audience.

As for ticking the boxes of modern fads like "Baby Shark", I think that's just a symptom of HD Simpsons trying to stay relevant. I don't think it's specifically aimed at children, but of course children could appreciate it.
 
In my point of view, the show's been for children at least since the HD-era began with "Take My Life, Please" in 2009, but was for adults during the 1990s and maybe even the early 2000s.

Certain qualities about the golden age (I consider this the first 9 seasons, despite season 1's blurred animation) is that the show was dark and realistic. The character seemed to represent real human beings with real problems, the timeline was set straight instead of the VARIOUS retcons in the modern seasons, and the show explored major themes like depression (Moaning Lisa), suicide (Homer's Odyssey, although briefly), and death (Round Springfield).

I think Season 10 began the decline in quality, and the show became more for kids. Instead of the one-time cartoonish gags, the show used its plots as a joke. Take for example "Moe Goes from Rags to Riches" and "Lisa Goes Gaga", both from Season 23. I think after the movie and Season 19, the show was so desperate to achieve great ratings and retain its fanbase that they targeted it for a younger audience, changed the character's ages to fit the 2010s and now 2020s, and took away so many accounts of logic instead of setting their stories straight.
 
HowdyNeighbor said:
That is what got me thinking about whether it was for kids or adults. I mean imagine having the Simpsons sing 'Baby Shark' in their car, or have Bart doing the floss in an "adults" show. Examples below:


Click to expand...
Oh god, don't remind us of that cringe lmfao, but that definitely. 🤮🤮🤮
 
FanofSimpsons said:
the show was so desperate to achieve great ratings and retain its fanbase that they targeted it for a younger audience
Click to expand...
You can also see it in the way they adopted way more kids cartoons codes, on top of trying to make "modern jokes". It goes from having way too many visual gags, much more colour (which is hilarious because the Simpsons were already meant to be eye-catching 30 years ago so nowadays it tends to feel epileptic) & A LOT of sound effects to emphasise the jokes. It feels like they're scared of losing their teenager/adult public so they bet it all on kids.
But since they also try to address much more serious topics sometimes, it ends up giving a very... intriguing result.
 
TheIrishJackomon said:
I've always loved The Simpsons for as long as I can remember, which is since childhood, and it would air during the day often on Channel 4 & Sky One (along with Futurama). It would only air once in the evening on RTÉ Two, but I think most of the time, everyone treated it as a kids show where I live in Ireland. I have noticed that Sky One & Channel 4 censors things that would not be suitable for children if the episodes were to air during the day.
Click to expand...
Agree with all of that, but what stands out for me really is that there are so many people over 30 in Ireland who have never had interest in the show and can barely remember a plotline, don't know if that's the case in other countries
 
I would say it's in the middle. Teens and tweens. I live in the UK, and the show is rated 12+ which in my opinion accurately sums it up. The only time the show's ever been rated higher than that is on the Season 17 DVD (15+) and that's only because of the commentary, not because of an actual episode. There are some episodes I'd consider more family-friendly episodes like 'Bart of Darkness', 'Lemon of Troy' 'Lard of the Dance', 'Lisa Gets an A' and 'Girly Edition' and some which have more adult themes like 'A Serious Flanders', 'Trash of the Titans', 'The Last Temptation of Homer', 'Homer Badman' and 'Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy' but still I would say only the first two of the latter I just mentioned are on par with Family Guy's adult humour.

​

 
Snorky said:
Agree with all of that, but what stands out for me really is that there are so many people over 30 in Ireland who have never had interest in the show and can barely remember a plotline, don't know if that's the case in other countries
Click to expand...
In Ireland's case, it could be due to it only airing once a day on a weekday on RTÉ, honestly, most people in Ireland don't really care for animated media, its usually sports with those over 30.
 
It was a GEN X show for a GEN X audience, mostly. I think they didn't care about making it a kids show in the earlier years, there was probably some pressure from FOX but FOX being FOX they had a lot of freedoms. I don't think anyone anticipated the Bart mania. It had to have influenced the writing process from the top down.

Around the late 90s and early 2000s, when Family Guy came along I think they made a conscious effort to write edgier material.
 
TheIrishJackomon said:
In Ireland's case, it could be due to it only airing once a day on a weekday on RTÉ, honestly, most people in Ireland don't really care for animated media, its usually sports with those over 30.
Click to expand...
Well most people would have access to Channel 4 and a lot would have access to Sky One. There may be a case of those over 30's (who like me at 29 grew up also on the classic Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons), thinking that all cartoons are for kids because all cartoons are somehow related to those classic cartoons I mentioned.

Plus South Park and Family Guy had brief stints late at night on TV3 and 3E so many people did not want to watch TV in those graveyard hours (plus people generally only viewed TV3 for the ITV stuff, Ireland AM, GAA when they had it and Champions League and virtually no one watched 3E)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top