First appearances of recurring characters in The Simpsons

Some corrections. -Ralph's original appearance was in Moaning Lisa. The kid with the buzzcut and the purple sweater at the end of the episode was confirmed to be an early design of him on the DVD commentary (and on the Wiki page). -Millhouse's first appearance was in a 1990 Butterfinger commercial (based off of the character from Matt Groening's failed 1988 pitch for a NBC Saturday morning cartoon) -You also forgot Bill and Marty who appeared in Bart vs. Thanksgiving, the two reporter guys at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade who appear in 3 more episodes as far as I know.

It's weird that Homer talks differently but laughs the exact same way.

I love how the Simpson's house was originally an endless liminal maze of pink hallways that seemed like it took place in purgatory.

If I remember correctly, Crusty was originally going be Homer in disguise. In that case, its sweet how the "random" audience kids he talks to are secretly his own kids

13:56 that door simply disappeared lmao

2:01 It's kind of odd hearing Bart call Homer dad, and Lisa calling him Homer.

1:54 That time when the Simpson's home had infinite rooms

Notable things 0:00 - It’s funny how Homer’s first appearance voice sounds kind of off except for the laugh which sounds exactly right 1:43 - The infinite doorway in this scene is trippy 17:24 - You can tell Carl is voiced by the same voice actor as Flanders in this clip

I forgot how Bart use to be the "cool kid" and had quite a few friends before just having one friend. Lisa while still being shown as smart was still just one of the girls before they decided that her being smart was a good reason for all the other girls to bully her and her to not have any friends.

4:10 I love that his first introduction is the most iconic meme of him too

Black Smithers and yellow Lou are just something mind bending

I like how it's almost just playing season 1 in whole. Every character is a recurring character.

I had no idea this iconic shot of Skinner was from his first appearance 4:10

"He's a loser! He's pathetic! He's... a Simpson." Surprisingly wholesome.

2:03 Kind of weird to hear Bart call Homer "Dad" and Lisa call him by his first name when both would go on to do the opposite

Homer’s voice was different back then, but somehow his laugh sounds EXACTLY the same.

I think it's neat how perfect Helen Lovejoy's first scene introduces her character. Unlike most of the cast, Helen is fully formed and all her famous traits are laid out front and center. The 30 year rivalry between her and Marge always amuses me.

Black Smithers, Yellow Lou, Patty and Selma first appearing in a random crowd shot, Dolph and Jimbo have their voices sorta switched, Ralph who is actually competent, the fluctuating ethnicity of Judge Snyder, Dr Hibert before he laughed after every sentence. I do love seeing them using the characters, even before they had them fleshed out. Seeing the characters grow and eventually fit into the moulds we all know them for.

Watching the season one episodes is always like a sort of dream. The characters get refined to how we see them in their glory days, before going into the steep decline to where we are today. Especially Homer has a serious alteration in personality; starting off as a borderline depressed "average man" to a loveable oaf a season later. Bart's descent into deliquency gets toned down and Marge develops more of a personality instead of being a background character.

The first episodes had a really uncanny feel to them. Like yeah we’re used to them as we’ve seen them for 30 years, but the homer tucking Bart in is unfathomably creepy having not seen it often.