Last week, I decided it was time to introduce my 12 year old to one of life’s great pleasures: “The Simpsons.” I bought him Season Three from Amazon.com’s online streaming service, and turned him loose.

“Just imagine the joy of being able to see ‘The Simpsons’ for the first time,” an old friend remarked when I shared the news with him. It’s really true. This morning, Matthew said to me, “Troy McClure is awesome! And I love ‘Itchy & Scratchy’!” Et cetera. It’s so terrific.

“Just wait till Season 4,” I told him. “You’ll finally understand what Dad means when he says to y’all, ‘You people — you’re the stars!'”

Oh, the joys of finally having someone else in the house with whom I can make constant Simpsons in-jokes. Matthew said the other day, “Did you know that Matt Groening one time got searched by TSA, and some kid gave him a Nelson ‘ha-ha’? Isn’t that great?”

Boy, you don’t know the half of it. But you’re learning!