“I think you may be on the mend. Is there anything else I can get you?” – Marge Simpson
“Hmm, perhaps the TV?” – Bart Simpson
“Of course. Homer!” – Marge Simpson
“What?” – Homer Simpson
“Bring the television up! Bart’s got his vision back!” – Marge Simpson
“D’oh! Wish I had amoria phlebitis.” – Homer Simpson
 | Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Ah Hee Hee Hee on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
 | Ezra Estephan on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
| Anonymous on Homeronymus Bosch |
charliesweatpants.com
(The crotch really does wear out too fast.)
Surprised he could lug that big old thing up the stairs.
I guess this is before some of the other random ones started appearing. When they go for family therapy, it seems like this is the only one they’ve got and are impressed by the idea of having more (“Wow, two!”), but later we see a small portable TV that Bart has, another one that’s bigger than that but slightly smaller than the normal one in his room a few times, one Homer was watching in an upstairs rumpus(?) room (which I thought was also the same one I just mentioned Bart watching, but looks bigger when I checked a picture of it) that also might be the same one we see in “Homer Badman”, and then I think that’s it for the classic seasons unless I’m forgetting something.
I think this would count for a grand total of three or four, which is pretty impressive for their budget, but it’s still not as ridiculous as everyone having their own smart phones and computers and MP3 players like you see in Zombie Simpsons.
I know not everything has to be perfectly consistent from episode to episode, but I thought that was interesting, given how much of the Simpsons’ lives revolve around TV. If I can fit them all in here, I’ll post screenshots of all the extra TVs I could remember.
For that fourth image, it looks kind of like the one Homer was watching upstairs, although I think I remember seeing a different type of portable TV somewhere, though the exact scene escapes me now. I guess the one Bart is watching in bed could also be the regular TV, but it’s hard to tell. Seems there are still at least two or three total.
Ah, my impulsive, random post finally went through, thanks Charlie.
I also found that other pic of a portable TV, from “Lady Bouvier’s Lover”:
https://frinkiac.com/caption/S05E21/445928
When Zombie Simpsons went HD, they still showed the family’s old CRT for a while: I think in the first HD season the family only had a LCD in the couch gags, but the old CRT was in the rest of each episode, and then they relegated the CRT to the Simpsons parents’ room. Dunno if they still have it.
I always wondered why didn’t they keep the family with their old CRT while everyone else had a LCD (unless american TV has switched to digital broadcast now, I don’t know), rather than giving everone of them the latest not-Wii and not-iPhone. Even if they wanted to go to the “the family is rich when the plot need it” route, there was an oportunity for a joke here.
They did it because the Simpsons are no longer a struggling upper-lower middle class family, they’re a bunch of wealthy cartoon superstars and don’t even care to make jokes or excuses for it, like you said.
That, and with every series or movie that gets remade that was originally from before the early 2000s, they feel the need to modernize the hell out of it, so I suspect this is to make it easier for shameless merchandise plugs, and the fact that they think Millennials’ heads will explode if they see people not using the latest cell phones or social media sites.