And now onto "Treehouse of Horror III", which aired on 29th October 1992. By now, The Simpsons was into its fourth season, and had been around for long enough to have demonstrated that its popularity was no passing fad - as such, the show was feeling confident enough about its own longevity to be taking swipes at less fortunate programs that had already come and gone within its own lifetime. Speaking of which...
Drexell's Class: A short-lived Fox sitcom that aired on Thursdays after The Simpsons throughout the 1991-1992 season. It starred Dabney Coleman as Otis Drexell, a convicted tax dodger who was forced to take a job as an elementary school teacher in order to pay off his taxes, all while grappling with the challenges of being a single father. The show lasted for eighteen episodes and was not renewed for a second season, so here The Simpsons was paying loving tribute to its deceased neighbour...while exuding an obvious air of schadenfreude.
Drexell's Class may have been dead, but Coleman's career playing gruff educational authority figures was not - he went on to voice Principal Prickly in the Disney animated series Recess.
Drexell's Class wasn't the only failed contemporary series to be skewered in "Treehouse of Horror III" - elsewhere in the episode, they also danced on the graves of Fish Police, Capitol Critters and Family Dog, three gruesomely unsuccessful attempts at answering The Simpsons' own unprecedented success on the prime-time animation front. I covered this gag a long time ago in this post. Family Dog, as you know, I have an inexplicable affection for, but I'm generally indifferent toward Fish Police and I flat-out don't like Capitol Critters.
At the time of typing there are two and three-quarters episodes of Drexell's Class at large on YouTube, so you can check it out and judge for yourself if it was put into the grave prematurely, or put out of its misery in good time.
I'm With Stupid: A popular slogan found on novelty t-shirts, the general inanity of which was lampooned in greater detail in the Season 8 episode "Hurricane Neddy".
R. Buckminster Fuller: Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895 - 1983), an American architect, best known for popularising the geodesic dome (the actual invention of which is to be credited to German engineer Walther Bauersfield). A miniature replica of the dome can be seen at the top of Fuller's tombstone. Unfortunately for Fuller, his grave is standing adjacent to the I'm With Stupid one, rendering him the subject of perpetual mockery.
Slapstick: We don't get a particularly good look at this one, but the grave is wide open...indicating that slapstick has risen from the dead? Alternatively, the gravedigger fell in. Woob woob woob!
American Workmanship: The tombstone promptly disintegrates. A commentary on America's current economic position (America was still feeling the effects of the early 1990s recession, which ended in March 1991, although unemployment rates remained high throughout 1992) and the declining US manufacturing industry.
I remember watching Fish Police when it aired on Cartoon Network UK at around 7pm, I would have been 7 or 8 and saw it as much the same as any other cartoon, a little dull perhaps. Watching the first couple of episodes a few years ago I was surprised that around 60% of the gags were double-entendres
ReplyDeleteFish Police had some top-drawer voice talent, which was probably the best thing going for it. Otherwise, it had a very standard Saturday morning look and feel, and there wasn't a whole lot likely to distinguish it in adult eyes from any other cartoon their kids watched. I sometimes wonder if it would have found a more appreciative audience had it played as a regular kids' cartoon instead of being pushed as this trendy new wave of adult animation intended to rival The Simpsons. The double-entendres might have been an issue, but then Animaniacs was loaded with those too.
DeleteIt hit the same rut that Jackie Bison did. 5-10 years too late. Now seems old hat.
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