When The Simpsons debuted in 1989, its arrival coincided with another major development: the creation of the World Wide Web, which helped expand the internet into something that became a part of everyday life. Although the internet’s expansion wasn’t fully realized until 1993, newsgroups started becoming a popular way for people (initially college students) to discuss their shared interests.
One of these newsgroups was alt.tv.simpsons, which originated in March 1990, a mere four months after the show’s premiere. It quickly gained popularity as fans would watch the show together and share their favorite Simpsons jokes and quotes. They would also, of course, share their opinions on each episode. And around Season Four, these opinions began to turn more critical — something even the show’s writers took notice of. “We thought we’d find some praise there. We were wrong,” former writer Josh Weinstein recently tweeted about the newsgroup.
The thing about many of those *cue …