Ned Flanders, of "The Simpsons" TV program

I always liked something a friend of mine said one time when we were talking about Canada. (Bear with me, it's relevant.) He said, "America makes fun of Canada for the same reason that Homer Simpson makes fun of Ned Flanders. Deep down we know they're better than us, and we want to take them down a peg."The fun of Flanders' character is that he's freakin' unbearably good. Homer'll act towards him in a way that any reasonable person would respond to by punching him in his big fat face, and Ned'll just say, "God-diddly bless you, Homerino!" At a certain point you just want to strangle him, and yell "DAMN IT, NOBODY'S THAT KIND AND PATIENT!" Crimney, even Reverend Lovejoy gets fed up with how dam-diddly-amned decent the character is.That being said, I also think that Flanders is used as a good venue for poking fun at Christianity. Ned's life is horribly boring and lame, his wife is the biggest priss in town, and his kids are stupid little weiners. Their idea of a fun night is eating cottage cheese on cucumbers, playing Bible trivia, and going to bed at 7:30. And the worst part is, they're frikkin' happy with that. That really is their idea of a good time.Of course, any widely-known social phenomena you can think of has gotten a ribbing or two from the Simpsons down the years, so there's no reason why Christianity should get a pass.

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

Heh heh...Lovejoy: And the lord said, "Whack ye the serpents which crawl on their bellies, and they town shall be a beacon unto others." So you see, Lisa... even God himself endorses whacking day.Lisa: Lemme see that book.Lovejoy: ...no. Sure. But in a comedy show, it's funnier to put up Christians as conservatives. Just as it's funnier to put Smithers on screen humming "It's raining men" to himself while arranging his doll collection.

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

I don't think it's so much a "balance agenda" as it is that the Simpsons is one of the few shows in history that really sees the ridiculousness of all sides in any given situation.One of the best examples I can think of is the medical marijuana episode. While the episode definitely came down on the side of legalization, it also had a hearty sense of how generally silly the subculture of drug legalization is. The two big moments that made me laugh my ass off were when Homer says, "Whether you've got glaucoma, or you just rented the Matrix..." and when Phish stopped playing at the legalization rally, sniffed the air, and the singer said, "Is that pot? Okay, we'd better see a doctor's note, or Phish is out of here!"All in all, it gave off a vibe of, "yeah, we're for drug legalization, but we know that part of the reason for it is because people want to get toasted, eat a whole bag of chips, slap on Dark Side of the Moon, and giggle their ass off at Scooby Doo. And you know what? We can laugh at that."Same deal with Flanders and Christianity. The Simpsons generally comes down on the side of Christianity being a sorta lurching beast of a religion, but at the same time, there's comedy to be found in scenes where Flanders is totally right about God. For instance, the bowling league episode... specifically the bit where Ned only knocks down nine pins, and Homer begins to laugh at him. He calmly whispers, "It's me! Ned!" and the tenth pin falls down of its own accord. No matter your position on Christianity as a whole, that scene's still damn funny. And in order for scenes like that to work logically, it has to be established, at least elsewhere in the show, that Ned really is honest about his religion.Anyway, that's the point I'm circuitously meandering towards here... the biggest "agenda" on the Simpsons is comedy. And any end of the political or social spectrum is fair game.

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

"How, may I ask, did you get past the hall monitor?"

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

I believe they're up to season 5. Which is perfect, because 4 and 5 are when the show was at its peak. (Far as I'm concerned.)

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov