Switch to Desktop Site  'The Simpsons': Better than you think
It's one of the funniest TV shows ever. And it's good for kids.
About these ads  When "The Simpsons" debuted, many observers
thought it would bring on the-end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it.
For elementary and middle-school teachers, especially, Dec. 17,
1989, was a dark day. Before long, class clowns recited rude
remarks attributed to the show's fourth-grade star: "Don't have
a cow, man," "Eat my shorts," "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell
are you?"  Worse still, T-shirts emblazoned with Bart's life
philosophy – "Underachiever and proud of it!" – undermined the
very mission of the schools in which they were worn. By 1992,
the president of the United States himself was framing domestic
policy in terms of this dangerous TV cartoon. In January, he
promised to help American families become "a lot more like the
Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons."  George H.W. Bush
lost his bid for re-election later that year, and the threat to
public health and m