300 episodes of memories with America’s favorite family

I remember being 8 years old when “The Simpsons” debuted on Fox. I remember watching the first… I remember being 8 years old when “The Simpsons” debuted on Fox. I remember watching the first episode with my brothers, sister and mom sitting by my side, waiting in anticipation to see what crazy antics could take place in this new animated series. I remember going to school the next day and talking about the show with half of my friends. The other half was left out of the conversation because their parents wouldn’t let them watch it.

I also remember the animation being pretty bad – no, wait – really bad, but at the time, being only 8 years old, it looked good. The show was a success in its first season. Some of the most classic “Simpsons” episodes came from that debut season, including Bart scamming his way through an IQ test and then being placed into a school for smart kids, and then realizing that he should confess because he didn’t fit in because he had an attack of conscience. I remember the kids in the smart school making me feel good about my public school status because, frankly, I wouldn’t be able to compete.

Another classic episode from the first season was Lisa’s meeting with the now-deceased Bleedin’ Gums Murphy, the wise blues musician, who counseled Lisa through her period of feelin’ blue. The first season also introduced Montgomery Burns and Smithers, at the time Smithers’ skin was a different color and his hair was purple instead of blue.

The classic taglines from Bart, telling townspeople to eat his shorts and to not have a cow, were repeated over and over by adolescents all over the nation. I remember Homer choking Bart, the constant bickering between Bart and Lisa and the image of Maggie walking and falling, walking and falling made watching every week the thing to do.

And watching “The Simpsons” every Sunday night is still the thing to do.

The animation has improved greatly and the antics continue Sunday night, with the 300th episode of “The Simpsons,” airing on Fox at 8 p.m. The milestone episode is titled “Barting Over.” Bart finds out that he was in a commercial as a baby and that Homer spent all of the money on naming a star after the family. Bart emancipates himself and leaves the family. The episode will feature Tony Hawk and Blink-182.

It seems odd to think that the Simpsons have been on for 300 episodes and yet Bart is still in fourth grade, Lisa is still in third and Maggie still can’t talk or walk without falling on her face. Through the years Barney went from the town drunk to the town’s most sober person, and yet it still seems weird seeing a cleaned-up Barney Gumbel.

During the years I grew up watching “The Simpsons,” I have matured to the status of a sophomore in college. Yet every Sunday I sit down to watch and they are still the same group of rambunctious animated characters who have won the show the acclaim it rightfully deserves. “The Simpsons” has a contract with Fox for at least two more years, which would put them into their 16th season, an incredible feat for an animated series.

I have heard rumors that there are movies in the works for after the show is off the air. Maybe they will show the kids grown up and in college, Homer retiring from the power plant, Maggie finally able to talk and walk and Marge finally letting loose and not worrying so much.

Maybe.