Podcast Corner: Simpsons Declassified needs to find its voice

'Marge vs. the Monorail' is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 14, 1993

There was a brilliant book released by Alan Siegel earlier this year: Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of The Simpsons Changed Television — and America — Forever. As you might guess, it’s focused on The Simpsons in the early years of its existence — the late 1980s to early 90s.

The show is still going — indeed reviews in recent season seem to be more generous than for most of the 21st century Springfield output — and is currently in its 36th season. While many of us might have checked out on the series itself, the lore of the Simpsons is like catnip; we can never get enough about the Monorail, the Stonecutters, Mr Plow... I could go on.