And the women were also weak, whiny, indifferent or overzealous--
Everyone is flawed on that show, even ol' Painty Can Ned.
Everyone is flawed on that show, even ol' Painty Can Ned.
Most of the male (and female) characters are ridiculous, because the show is fundamentally about ridiculous people. But that's not the only kind of character they have.
Smithers in the archetypical yes-man.
Dr. Hibbert isn't so much a stereotype as much as a parody of Dr Huxtable.
I'd say, totally superior, this was in 2000:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_to_the_Future
"Lisa has become the (first female) President of the United States and tries to get the country out of financial trouble."
And I don't consider that "morality" was the major aspect of Lisa's superiority.
When the plot is about Home and Bart, the other two play counterpoint. But the opposite is true. Homer just ends up getting the main role so often that we assume that to be the default state of the universe.