Bubblegum Card of the Week: Homer Simpson

Last Sunday was the 20th season premiere of The Simpsons... Please, make 'em stop!

As much as I love the show, the airing of a new episode hasn't really felt like a must-see, go-out-of-my-way-to-watch "event" in a good ten years, if not more. These days, as more uninspired, half-assed episodes are produced, the percentage of kickass episodes in the overall series run diminishes. At least I used to be able to count on reruns of older episodes as being worthwhile, but now those lame latter-period episodes are creeping into syndication, too.

Topps produced an 88-card Simpsons set back in 1990, when the then-new show was a sensation. They were the first non-sports cards I collected since Return of the Jedi in 1983. Oddly enough, these Simpsons cards depict scenes from the Simpsons shorts that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show, prior to spinning off as its own series.

George Lucas still gets loads of shit for, among other things, tarnishing his original Star Wars trilogy with those three lame prequels. Likewise, if Matt Groening continues to beat his own dead horse, the same thing could happen to him.