after watching a whole episode of each of both the programmes it becomes more and more obvious to the viewer that the Simpsons is more realistic, this is because of the dysfunctional nature of the family compared to the complete conforming of the Waltons. This in turn can be argued in the opposite way, because of the modern issues dealt with in the Simpsons it may only seem realistic to me, as I am of a younger viewing generation than that of the Waltons. The Simpsons appears to be aimed at children, older children and adults, as it contains some material that children would not totally understand but still find funny, material that older children could begin to grasp the meaning of and yet more material that either adults would find funny or reminisce of finding funny. There is a big audience base for the Simpson of all ages. The Waltons although made in the 1970s still has many morals that are applicable to today's society, the saying in the particular episode that we saw was "Always read the fine print" this is possibly even more useful in the 21st Century as we have more and more fine print to read. These morals being useful would possibly mean that many parents would wish their children to watch and learn these morals; this in turn might require parents to watch as well. To surmise the Walton audience is narrow in range but highly concentrated.
             The Simpsons is a dysfunctional family taken to the extreme, a father (Homer) that has a alcohol addiction, a mother (Marge) that is intent on being the stereotypical housemother, Lisa a seven year old genius that has yet to be recognized for who she is, Maggie a baby with a dummy addiction and of course Bart the ten year old underachieving wild child. This nuclear family of five lives in a suburban city, Springfield, seemingly hidden away from the rest of the world. Springfield itself has a ridiculous police service, mayor and strangely believable characters.
             The Wal...