alt.tv.simpsons (called "a.t.s." by regular readers) is a
usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
newsgroup
A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...
dedicated to discussing the American television program ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''. Created in 1990, the newsgroup became a popular community in the early 1990s, and continues to exist as of 2023. It is known for reviewing episodes and nitpicking minor details on the show.
The writers of ''The Simpsons'' know about the forum and have on several occasions read the comments made on it. The character
Comic Book Guy is often used in the show to lampoon and respond to the newsgroup's fans. In interviews some writers have admitted that they do not like being scrutinized, but other writers have participated in the discussions on the forum. Independent commentators call the forum an example of an "active audience" and have claimed ''The Simpsons'' is tailor-made for such a forum.
History
The newsgroup was created by Gary D. Duzan during the third week of March 1990, four months after the first airing of a regular episode of the program, which was the episode "
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" – a Christmas special that aired on December 17, 1989. At the time Duzan was in his third year, studying computer science, at the
University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...
.
The newsgroup was created before there was a
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
, which emerged in 1993, so those earliest discussions were held on text-only platforms.
According to
Chris Turner, a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
journalist and writer of the book ''
Planet Simpson
''Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation'', also abbreviated to ''Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation'', is a non-fiction book about ''The Simpsons'', written by Chris Turner ...
'', the newsgroup was among the most trafficked newsgroups of the early 1990s. In that period it became a popular community on the Internet. According to
Brian Reid, a computer scientist who has been tracking newsgroup traffic since 1985, alt.tv.simpsons was the most popular television newsgroup in May 1994, ahead of a discussion newsgroups about general television newsgroup (rec.arts.tv),
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
(alt.fan.monty-python), the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'' (alt.fan.letterman) and
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
s (rec.arts.tv.soaps). Since there is no official method for measuring newsgroup traffic, the list is considered unofficial.
Discussions
From its inception, users would use the newsgroup to discuss the quality of the episode, as well as to talk about continuity errors and trivia.
They would also discuss cultural references, usually related to pop culture. Another common topic is freeze frame gags, which are jokes that can only be seen when the viewer tapes the episode and freezes the image. All of these many discussions were compiled and submitted to
The Simpsons Archive
The Simpsons Archive, also known by its previous domain name snpp.com or simply SNPP (named for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant), is a Simpsons fan site that has been online since 1994. Maintained by dozens of volunteers from—amongst other ...
, which contains at least 330 episode guides as well as other guides.
The newsgroup also provides The Simpsons Archive with information on the characters and the setting, as well as a compilation of articles about the show and interview with its cast and crew.
Among the most frequent topics of discussion are the real-life location of
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
, the sexuality of
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Joseph Smithers Jr., usually referred to as Mr. Smithers or simply Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'', voiced by Harry Shearer. He first appeared in "Homer's Odyssey", although his voice co ...
and "
Who Shot Mr. Burns?", a two-episode
publicity stunt in which Mr. Burns was shot by an unknown character.
The writers inserted many secret clues into the episode and implemented a contest in which whoever first discovered the shooter would be animated on an episode of the show.
Although the alt.tv.simpsons community debated this mystery to an extreme degree, no one officially guessed the right answer, and therefore no one was ever animated on the show. Due to contest regulations, a winner had to be selected out of a random sample of entries. The sample did not contain any correct answers, so the winner who was chosen did not have the right answer and was paid a cash prize in lieu of being animated.
Relationship with the writers
The writers of the show are aware of the newsgroup and sometimes make jokes at its expense. Within the series, the character Comic Book Guy is often used to represent a stereotypical inhabitant of alt.tv.simpsons.
The first such instance occurred in the seventh-season episode "
Radioactive Man Radioactive Man may refer to:
*Radioactive Man (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe
*Radioactive Man (The Simpsons), a fictional comic book superhero in ''The Simpsons''
:*''List_of_The_Simpsons_comics#Radioactive_Man, Radio ...
," in which Comic Book Guy is logging on to his favorite newsgroup alt.nerd.obsessive. Comic Book Guy's oft-repeated catchphrase, "Worst episode ever," first appeared on alt.tv.simpsons in an episode review
and
David S. Cohen decided to use this fan response to lampoon the passion and the fickleness of the fans.
The
eighth season episode "
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 9, 1997. In the episode, ''T ...
" is largely seen as a satire of the "hardcore fans" that make up the newsgroup, as well as a response to the viewer backlash and obsession with internal consistency those fans commonly express.
When Comic Book Guy sees the Poochie episode, he immediately goes on the Internet and writes, “Worst episode ever” on a message board; a commentary on how the active audience nitpicks the episode. The writers respond by using the voice of
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' ...
:
[Alberti, pp. 147-148]
The catchphrase further appears in the
eleventh season episode "
Saddlesore Galactica
"Saddlesore Galactica" is the thirteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 6, 2000. In the episode, the Simpson fami ...
," and as the title of the
twelfth season episode "
Worst Episode Ever
"Worst Episode Ever" is the eleventh episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 2001. In the episode, Bart and Milhous ...
." The catchphrase can also be used for describing other things by saying, "Worst. (Noun). Ever."
The writers also use the newsgroup to test how observant the fans are. In the seventh-season episode "
Treehouse of Horror VI
"Treehouse of Horror VI" is the sixth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the sixth episode in the ''Treehouse of Horror'' series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on ...
", the writer of segment Homer
3, David S. Cohen, deliberately inserted a false equation into the background of one scene.
The equation that appears is ''1782
12 + 1841
12 = 1922
12''. Although a false statement, it appears to be true when evaluated on a typical calculator with 10 digits of precision. If it were true, it would disprove
Fermat's Last Theorem, which had just been proven when this episode first aired. Cohen generated this "Fermat near-miss" with a computer program.
After the episode aired, Cohen lurked on the newsgroup to see the response; at first there was astonishment when users tested it, but later there was despair when they found out it was only accurate to eight decimal places when expressed in
scientific notation
Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small (usually would result in a long string of digits) to be conveniently written in decimal form. It may be referred to as scientific form or standard index form, o ...
.
Reception
The comments of alt.tv.simpsons have been quoted or cited in the writings of mass media commentators. This has led to situations in which relations between writers and viewers have become strained. In 1994, ''Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening acknowledged he and the other show runners have been reading the newsgroup and in frustration said, "Sometimes I feel like knocking their electronic noggins together". In another case, writer
Ian Maxtone-Graham
Ian Howes Maxtone-Graham is an American television writer and producer. He has formerly written for ''Saturday Night Live'' (1992–1995) and ''The Simpsons'' (1995–2012), as well as serving as a co-executive producer and consulting producer ...
made comments about the fans on the Internet in an interview with ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', calling them "beetle-browed" and saying, "That's why they're on the Internet and we're writing the show."
Writer
Bill Oakley
William Lloyd Oakley (born February 27, 1966) is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series ''The Simpsons''. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans Sc ...
used to respond to select ''Simpsons'' fans through e-mail in a friendly manner,
but by 1996 claimed "
ere are people who take it seriously to the point of absurdity".
In a 1994 ''
Life in Hell
''Life in Hell'' is a comic strip by Matt Groening, creator of ''The Simpsons'', ''Futurama'', and ''Disenchantment'', which was published weekly from 1977 to 2012. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. The comic covers a w ...
'' cartoon
Matt Groening, implied that he read the newsgroup.
In the chapter "Who Wants Candy" in the 2004 book ''
Leaving Springfield
''Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture'' is a non-fiction compilation work analyzing the effect of the television program ''The Simpsons'' on society, edited by John Alberti. The book was published in 2004 b ...
'', Robert Sloane finds alt.tv.simpsons an example of an "active audience ... who struggle to make their own meaning out of the show". He mentions that in this context, the fans nitpick the show to an extreme and allow no room for error, where the writers believe that nitpicking leads to an under appreciation of the show's qualities.
Chris Turner writes in the 2004 book ''
Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation'' that ''The Simpsons'' appeared tailor-made for a newsgroup in the early 1990s because it includes minor details that reward attentive viewing and can be easily scrutinized.
References
;Bibliography
*
*
External links
alt.tv.simpsonson
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
Groups.
The Simpsons Archive*https://www.simpsonsarchive.com/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alt.Tv.Simpsons
The Simpsons
Usenet alt.* hierarchy
Internet properties established in 1990