Should I continue watching the Simpsons?

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So I just started to watch the Simpsons again after not watching it for a few years now. My question is if a catholic should watch a show like the Simpsons? Now that i’m older I notice know that the show pokes fun at religion but not to the extreme like the other animated shows on television. What are your opinions on this matter?
 
Why waste your time on garbage? “Whatever is true … Think on these things” St Paul in Philipians. The dad is an idiot, the kids are snots, the wife is smarter than the dummie she married. I am not sure what redeeming value you find in watching this cartoon? Will it make you a better Catholic? If so then I want to sell you the brooklyn bridge.
 
I have seen the Simpsons about five times. I think the show is vulgar and inappropriate for any Christian to watch. I have seen the show only because others have watched it when I was present, and a couple of times just to figure out what it was about. That was enough for me.
 
As long as you don’t repeat what the show says or does then it shouldn’t be bad, but I’d not waste my time watching it anyway.
 
Oddly enough, compared to the rest of the shows on TV today, IMO, the Simpsons is actually one of the more family-friendly shows. When the Simpsons first aired, it was considered raunchy - today, it’s considered pretty tame. That has nothing to do with the show itself (though it has changed the focus from Bart the brat son to Homer the bumbling, though loving, father). It has everything to do with how programming has changed in the 23-24 years that the show has been on the air. During the run of the Simpsons, the programming around it has changed from “The Cosby Show” to “Seinfeld” to “Two and a Half Men”.

The Simpsons does poke fun of religion, primarily Evangelical Christianity (though it seems to be in a light-hearted way - the way friends sometimes trade verbal jabs with each other), but it doesn’t promote homosexuality, fornication, drug use, or even profanity, like many other sitcoms do (including the other prime-time animated sitcoms). In addition, it’s not full of the violence seen on the multitude of police procedurals. Of course the program isn’t perfect - but it’s a lot better than the alternatives.
 
^ It’s not that the wife is smarter, it’s that the husband is a complete idiot. That is not a positive portrayal of manhood, and with a lot of boys growing up without fathers they need someone to show them how to be a man. And girls are likely to see Homer as the kind of man she should aspire to marry… subconsciously of course, because they know it’s a cartoon and Homer isn’t a real person. A lot of men on TV are portrayed this way and it’s sad. I think they don’t want to offend the feminists by making the father more intelligent than the mother, so they go to the other extreme. (The sister is also more intelligent than her older brother.)

I do think you need to be careful about what you watch. But at some point you either have to pick the least offensive shows or stop watching secular television altogether. The media’s values are not Catholic/Christian values. There are better shows out there, but it is also good to get an idea of the state the culture is in for the purposes of evangelization. And to make conversations; people make references to TV shows and it’s good to be able to have light conversations with non-Christians (not just the heavy world events stuff or evangelizing them).

There are many viewpoints on this that are all valid, just use good judgment. 👍
 
Sparkythedog said:
Despicable! A wife should never be smarter than her husband.
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what I was aiming at is that too many tv shows have the father/husband as the bumbling idiot. the “Father knows best” are long gone and today men are depicted as stupid. I’m writing this as a female. The message is clear, men are stupid and either the wife or even the kids know better, have more common sense that the dumb dad.
 
Costner said:
So I just started to watch the Simpsons again after not watching it for a few years now. My question is if a catholic should watch a show like the Simpsons? Now that i’m older I notice know that the show pokes fun at religion but not to the extreme like the other animated shows on television. What are your opinions on this matter?
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If you’re asking if it’s a sin or if you have an obligation not to watch it, the answer probably is no.

I stopped watching that show years ago. Frankly, I haven’t really gone out of my way to see it since because I find the animation inferior and it to be a show promoting American left-wing propaganda at times.
 
I have watched the Simpsons. I just don’t think it’s a good example.

You may be too young, many of you, but it used to be that we’d be taught values, and TV would help reinforce what parents were trying to teach. So, we had programs like “The Waltons”, “Little House on the Prairie”, “Leave it to Beaver”, “Andy Griffith”. Shows often had a moral, a lesson about life. You actually learned something

Now, we get examples such as Bart Simpson.

My father once said that he thought when we especially started going downhill, as a country, was when we began portraying villains as heroes.
 
SuperLuigi said:
If you’re asking if it’s a sin or if you have an obligation not to watch it, the answer probably is no.
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I second this.

I think if you’re morally conflicted over such things your best bet is to ask your priest.
 
There was a recent episode where they portrayed the Crucifixion in a crass and irreverent manner. The show isn’t as bad as Family Guy or American Dad (both on Fox), but it still doesn’t seem to be worth the time. Plus, I can definitely benefit from watching less TV in general…
 
For heavens sake! It is a cartoon, and yes, there are a few remarks about religion that may not be quite PC for a Catholic, but as long as you understand that they are not real people I think you can watch it. I do, sometimes and get a few laughs, so IMHO it is not a sin to watch it. I faintly remember that here is a member who have as his/her signature a quote from that show, so go ahead and have some fun, and if you feel bad, don’t look.
 
This show is complete dribble , yes it has at times a bit of humour , but it’s adult humour, not children’s humour , why it has always had a prime time slot I will never understand, because it makes dreadful behaviour seem acceptable behaviour ,
 
Watching shows like the Simpsons is the mental equivillent of drinking out of the toilet, what do you think?
 
If you think it’s harmful to you, then no you shouldn’t watch it.

I have to admit that one of my favorite episodes is when Homer decides he wants to become a Catholic (to Marge’s horror) because he discovers that the Catholic Church isn’t as uptight as some of the Protestant churches when it comes to drinking.
 
What a nice characterization of the Catholic faith, join the Church if you like to drink.
 
robwar said:
What a nice characterization of the Catholic faith, join the Church if you like to drink.
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It isn’t meant to be a characterization of the Catholic faith.

It is meant to show that Homer (who by no means is supposed to be a good example of anything) chose a faith that aligns to his belief system…(as Homer poorly understands it) as opposed to believing in a faith because it is true.

The Simpsons is a satire. It isn’t supposed to be a children’s show. I don’t think girls watch and think Homer is a good example of a man. The makers go out of there way to show that Homer is a poor example.

I haven’t watched in a while, but some episodes are very funny.

For the OP, if you want to watch the Simpsons, I don’t think it is sinful at all, as long as you realize that it is meant to be a satire, and that the characters are not meant to be positive roll models.
 
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