Things You Forgot Happened In The Simpsons Season 1

There's likely nothing more iconic in the world of The Simpsons than Danny Elfman's theme song, alongside the opening sequence it accompanies, showing us the Simpsons family spread throughout the town of Springfield, gearing us up for the world of familial antics and comedy that will keep us entertained for the next 20 minutes or so. But season 1's title sequence went through a few stages before reaching perfection.

While much of the structure is still the same, you can tell that the animation is still in its rough, early days — a little looser, a little jerkier, even as Homer still drives away from the nuclear plant, Lisa still gets excused from music rehearsal, and Maggie still gets thrown into a grocery bag. But as Bart is skating down the street, instead of racing past a familiar cast of supporting characters, he steals a bus stop sign away from a group of unsuspecting random background characters, all having to chase down the bus that wouldn't slow down for them. It's a charming detail of Bart's antics that would soon fall to the animated wayside in future seasons.

It can often be surprising seeing some of the deeper, sadder plotlines that come out of season 1 of The Simpsons. Of course, in later seasons, there are still plenty of emotionally resonant stories that show the true beating heart that rests at the center of America's favorite animated family. But there's no denying that the antics of The Simpsons only get wackier as the show goes on, losing some heart in exchange for reality-breaking cartoon mania. That's especially true when compared to an episode like "Homer's Odyssey."

Here, after being fired from his job at the nuclear power plant for reckless endangerment, Homer falls into a major depressive slump and can't seem to find another job. And so, in one of Homer's darkest moments in the series' history, he ties himself to a rock, drags himself to a bridge in the middle of town, and like George Bailey before him, readies himself for the end of his life. Thank goodness the rest of his family is there to save him just in time, causing Homer to reevaluate his life. And through his shift to safety consciousness, he end up rehired at the power plant as their safety inspector.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

A frequent theme of later Simpsons episodes is Homer's buffoonish behavior causing great distress to the rest of the Simpson family, with Marge, Bart, and Lisa each finding moments where their apish father's antics would let them down. It's practically a given that in any contemporary Simpsons episode, Homer is the one who's going to make a fool out of the family.

So it's somewhat startling to remember back in the days of season 1, things were a bit different. In the episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home," after attending a family get-together at Mr. Burns' mansion, it's Homer who falls victim to the embarrassment and shame of his fellow Simpsons, with Marge getting drunk on wine and Bart and Lisa causing childhood shenanigans throughout the party. Homer becomes so ashamed that, in an effort to afford group therapy for the family, he's willing to pawn the family television set for the sake of this mission, something that even season 2 Homer wouldn't dare do.

In season 1 of The Simpsons, it's somewhat startling to get a first glimpse of Agnes Skinner, Principal Seymour Skinner's elderly mother. And why is that? Well, the loud, cantankerous character we all know seems to be nowhere in sight.

Agnes is, instead, fashioned as an archetypical kindly old lady character, embarrassing her son in front of the students by calling him "Spanky," and even making the, as usual, false assumption that Bart Simpson is a good little boy. It's a conclusion that she soon regrets when she falls victim to Bart's cherry bomb prank in the very next scene. Perhaps this was the very catalyst that would turn Agnes from a saint into one of the town's most loud and dissenting voices in future seasons. Nevertheless, it's incredibly weird to see such a cranky character acting this way.

Albert Brooks — famed actor, writer, director, all-around masterful portayor of the droll, sarcastic character wherever he roams — would become a go-to Simpsons mainstay for providing memorable one-off performances throughout the series' gargantuan run. While his most notable performances in later seasons of characters like motivational speaker Brad Goodman and head of the Globex Corporation/almighty supervillain Hank Scorpio won him the most audience acclaim, he got his start in two early season 1 appearances.

First off, in "The Call of the Simpsons," Brooks sneaks in near the top of the episode as Cowboy Bob, owner of Bob's RV Round-up, employing his usual shyster routine to pawn a crummy RV off on the Simpson family. Later in the season, in "Life on the Fast Lane," Brooks practically disappears into the role of Jacques, the French pro-bowler who tries (and thankfully, fails) to seduce Marge with his captivating charm and bowling prowess.

In season 1 of The Simpsons, the specifics of Homer's workplace are extremely flexible and up in the air, with not a lot truly set in stone, not even how dedicated he actually is to his job. (Homer would pretty much morph from an incompetent safety inspector to an actively lazy and sluggish one while no one was looking.) This certainly extends to his fellow personnel at the plant ... including the assistant he apparently had at his job?

In "Homer's Night Out," we learn that Homer has an assistant, Eugene Fisk, who he calls a "poor sucker" and who doesn't seem to be a real catch with the ladies. Skip forward six months within the episode, and not only has Eugene become Homer's supervisor within that span of time, but it's his bachelor party that sets the plot of this episode in motion. Still, the idea of Homer ever having an assistant is one we can't imagine playing out in the later seasons of the series.