Everything about The Simpsons totally explained
The Simpsons is an
American animated sitcom created by
Matt Groening for the
Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a
satirical parody of the
middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its titular
family, which consists of
Homer,
Marge,
Bart,
Lisa, and
Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of
Springfield, and it lampoons many aspects of the
human condition, as well as
American culture,
society as a whole, and
television itself.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of
animated shorts with the producer
James L. Brooks. Groening created a
dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of
The Tracey Ullman Show on
April 19,
1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour
prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1992-1993).
Since its debut on
December 17,
1989, the show has broadcast
420 episodes and the
twentieth season will commence airing in
fall of 2008.
The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on
July 26 and
July 27,
2007, and has grossed approximately
US$526.2 million worldwide to date.
The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 23
Emmy Awards, 26
Annie Awards and a
Peabody Award.
Time magazine's
December 31,
1999 issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on
January 14,
2000 it was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Simpsons is the
longest-running American
sitcom and the longest-running American
animated program. Homer's annoyed grunt "
D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while
The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.
Origins
Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of
James L. Brooks's office. Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his
Life in Hell series. However, when Groening realized that animating
Life in Hell would require the rescinding of
publication rights for his life's work, he chose another approach and formulated his version of a
dysfunctional family. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching. The half-hour series premiered on
December 17,
1989 with "
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", a
Christmas special. "
Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it didn't broadcast until May 1990 because of animation problems.
The Simpsons was the Fox network's first TV series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows. Its success prompted Fox to reschedule the series to compete with
The Cosby Show, a move that hurt the ratings of
The Simpsons. In 1992, Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit against Fox, claiming that her show was the source of the series' success. The suit said she should receive a share of the profits of
The Simpsons—a claim rejected by the courts.
The show was controversial from its beginning. The rebellious lead character at the time, Bart, frequently received no punishment for his misbehavior, which led some parents and
conservatives to characterize him as a poor
role model for children. At the time, then-President
George H. W. Bush said, "We're going to strengthen the American family to make them more like
the Waltons and less like the Simpsons." Several U.S. public schools even banned
The Simpsons merchandise and
t-shirts, such as one featuring Bart and the caption "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')". A more involved position on the show is the
show runner, who acts as head writer and manages the show's production for an entire season.
Writing
The Simpsons's writing team consists of sixteen writers who propose episode ideas at the beginning of each December. The main writer of each episode writes the first draft. Group rewriting sessions develop final scripts by adding or removing jokes, inserting scenes, and calling for re-readings of lines by the show’s vocal performers. The leader of these sessions is
George Meyer, who has developed the show since Season One. According to long-time writer
Jon Vitti, Meyer usually invents the best lines in a given episode, even though other writers may receive script credits. However, episodes occasionally mention planned events, such as the
Olympics or the
Super Bowl.
Credited with sixty episodes,
John Swartzwelder is the most prolific writer on
The Simpsons' staff. One of the best-known former writers is
Conan O'Brien, who contributed to several episodes in the early 1990s before replacing
David Letterman as host of the
talk show Late Night. English comedian
Ricky Gervais wrote the episode "
Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", becoming the first celebrity to both write and guest star in an episode. In April 2008,
Empire magazine reported that
Seth Rogen and
Evan Goldberg, writers of the film
Superbad will write an episode.
At the end of 2007 the writers of
The Simpsons went on
strike together with the rest of the
Writers Guild of America. The show's writers had joined the guild in 1998. The strike will only affect one of the planned twenty-three episodes in the
19th season.
Voice actors
With one exception, episode credits list only the
voice actors, and not the characters they voice. Both Fox and the production crew wanted to keep their identities secret during the early seasons and, therefore, closed most of the recording sessions while refusing to publish photos of the recording artists. However, the network eventually revealed which roles each actor performed in the episode "
Old Money", because the producers said the voice actors should receive credit for their work. In 2003, the cast appeared in an episode of
Inside the Actors Studio, doing live performances of their characters' voices.
The Simpsons has six main cast members.
Dan Castellaneta performs
Homer Simpson,
Abraham Simpson,
Krusty the Clown, and other adult, male characters.
Julie Kavner speaks the voices of
Marge Simpson and
Patty and Selma, as well as several minor characters.
Up until 1998, the six main actors were paid
$30,000 per episode. In 1998 they were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they were paid $125,000 per episode. In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several table reads, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later and they now earn something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode. In 2008, production for the
twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who want a "healthy bump" in salary to an amount that could be close to $500,000 per episode. Repeat "special guest" cast members include
Albert Brooks,
Phil Hartman,
Jon Lovitz,
Joe Mantegna, and
Kelsey Grammer.
Episodes will quite often feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, bands, musicians and scientists. In the earlier seasons, most of the guest stars voiced characters, but eventually more started appearing as themselves.
Tony Bennett was the first guest star to appear as himself, appearing briefly in the season two episode "
Dancin' Homer".
The Simpsons holds the
world record for "Most Guest Stars Featured in a Television Series".
The main cast has been involved in much-publicized pay disputes with Fox on more than one occasion. In 1998, they threatened to strike, forcing
20th Century Fox to increase their salary from $30,000 per episode to $125,000. The series creator Groening supported the actors in their action. The show's revenue continued to rise through syndication and DVD sales, the main cast stopped appearing for script readings in April 2004. The work stoppage occurred after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations with Fox, in which the cast asked for an increase in their pay to $360,000 per episode, or $8 million over a 22-episode season. On
May 2,
2004, the actors reached an agreement with Fox.
The show has been dubbed into
several other languages, including
Japanese,
German,
Spanish, and
Portuguese. It is also one the few programs dubbed in both
French and
Quebec French.
The Simpsons has been broadcast in
Arabic, but due to
Islamic customs, numerous aspects of the show have been changed. For example, Homer drinks
soda instead of beer and eats Egyptian beef sausages instead of hot dogs. Because of such changes, the Arabized version of the series met with a negative reaction from the life-long
Simpsons fans in the area.
Animation
Several different U.S. and international studios animate
The Simpsons. Throughout the run of the animated shorts on
The Tracey Ullman Show, the animation was produced domestically at
Klasky Csupo. With the debut of the series, because of an increased workload, Fox subcontracted production to several international studios, located in
South Korea.
For the first three seasons,
Klasky Csupo animated
The Simpsons in the United States. In 1992, the show's production company,
Gracie Films, switched domestic production to
Film Roman, who continue to animate the show as of 2008.
In
Season 14, production switched from traditional
cel animation to
digital ink and paint. The first episode to experiment with digital coloring was "
Radioactive Man" in 1995. Animators used digital ink and paint during production of the
Season 12 episode "
Tennis the Menace", but Gracie Films delayed the regular use of digital ink and paint until two seasons later. The already completed "Tennis the Menace" was broadcast as made.
Characters
The Simpsons are a typical family who live in a fictional "
Middle American" town of Springfield. Homer, the father, works as a safety inspector at the
Springfield Nuclear Power Plant—a position at odds with his careless,
buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a
stereotypical American
housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart, a ten-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, a precocious eight-year-old
activist; and
Maggie, a baby who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a
pacifier. The family owns a dog,
Santa's Little Helper, and a cat,
Snowball II. Both pets have had starring roles in several episodes. Despite the passing of yearly milestones such as holidays or birthdays, the Simpsons
do not physically age and still appear just as they did at the end of the 1980s.
The show includes an array of quirky characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople and local celebrities. The creators originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokesters or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and subsequently starred in their own episodes. According to Matt Groening, the show adopted the concept of a large supporting cast from the comedy show
SCTV. The name "Springfield" is a common one in America and appears in over half of the states. Springfield's geography, and that of its surroundings, contain coastlines, deserts, vast farmland, tall mountains, or whatever the story or joke requires. Despite this, Groening has said that Springfield has much in common with
Portland,
Oregon, the city where he grew up.
Themes
The Simpsons uses the standard setup of a situational comedy or "
sitcom" as its premise. The series centers on a family and their life in a typical American town. Through Bart and Lisa's days at
Springfield Elementary School, the show's writers illustrate pressing or controversial issues in the field of education. The town features a vast array of media channels—from kids' television programming to local news, which enables the producers to make jokes about themselves and the entertainment industry.
Some commentators say the show is political in nature and susceptible to a left-wing bias.
Al Jean admitted in an interview that "We [theshow] are of liberal bent." The writers often evince an appreciation for progressive ideals, but the show makes jokes across the political spectrum. The show portrays government and large corporations as callous entities that take advantage of the common worker. Religion also figures as a recurring theme. In times of crisis, the family often turns to God, and the show has dealt with most of the major religions.
Hallmarks
Opening sequence
The Simpsons' opening sequence is one of the show's most memorable hallmarks. Most episodes open with the camera zooming through the show's title towards the town of
Springfield. The camera then follows the members of the family on their way home. Upon entering their house, the Simpsons settle down on their couch to watch television. The opening was created by
David Silverman, the first task he did when production began on the show. The series' distinctive theme song was
composed by
musician Danny Elfman in 1989, after Groening approached him requesting a retro style piece. This piece, which took two days to create, has been noted by Elfman as the most popular of his career.
One of the most distinctive aspects of the opening is that several segments are changed from episode to episode. Bart writes something different on the school chalkboard,
Halloween episodes
The special
Halloween episode has become an annual tradition. "
Treehouse of Horror" first broadcast in 1990 as part of
season two and established the pattern of three separate, self-contained stories in each Halloween episode. These pieces usually involve the family in some
horror,
science fiction, or supernatural setting and often parody or pay homage to a famous piece of work in those genres. They always take place outside the normal continuity of the show. Although the
Treehouse series is meant to be seen on Halloween, in recent years, new installments have premiered after Halloween due to Fox's current contract with
Major League Baseball's
World Series.
Humor
The show's humor turns on cultural references that cover a wide spectrum of society so that viewers from all generations can enjoy the show. Such references, for example, come from movies, television, music, literature, science, and history. The audience may often not notice the visual jokes in a single viewing. Some are so fleeting that they become apparent only by pausing a video recording of the show.
The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have at least one each. Notable expressions include Homer's annoyed grunt "
D'oh!", Mr. Burns' "Excellent..." and Nelson Muntz's "
Ha-ha!". Some of Bart's catchphrases, such as "
¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!" and "Eat my shorts!" appeared on t-shirts in the show's early days. However, Bart rarely used the latter two phrases until after they became popular through the merchandising. The use of many of these catchphrases has declined in recent seasons. The episode "
Bart Gets Famous" mocks catchphrase-based humor, as Bart achieves fame on the
Krusty the Clown Show solely for saying "I didn't do it."
Influences on culture
Influences on language
A number of
neologisms that originated on
The Simpsons have entered the popular vernacular.
Mark Liberman, director of the
Linguistic Data Consortium, remarked, "
The Simpsons has apparently taken over from Shakespeare and the Bible as our culture's greatest source of idioms, catchphrases and sundry other textual allusions." The most famous catchphrase is Homer's annoyed grunt: "
D'oh!" So ubiquitous is the expression that it's now listed in the
Oxford English Dictionary, but without the apostrophe. Dan Castellaneta says he borrowed the phrase from
James Finlayson, an actor in early
Laurel and Hardy comedies, who pronounced it in a more elongated and whining tone. The director of
The Simpsons told Castellaneta to shorten the noise, and it went on to become the well-known exclamation in the TV series.
Other
Simpsons expressions that have entered popular use include "excellent" (drawn out as a sinister "eeeexcelllent…" in the style of Charles Montgomery Burns), Homer's triumphant "Woohoo!" and Nelson Muntz's mocking "HA-ha!"
Groundskeeper Willie's description of the
French as "
cheese-eating surrender monkeys" was used by conservative
National Review columnist
Jonah Goldberg in 2003, after France's opposition to the proposed
invasion of Iraq. The phrase quickly spread to other journalists. "Cromulent", a word used in "
Lisa the Iconoclast" has since appeared in the
Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of
English. "Kwyjibo", a fake
Scrabble word invented by Bart in "
Bart the Genius", was used as one of the aliases of the creator of the
Melissa worm. "I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords", was used by
Kent Brockman in "
Deep Space Homer" and has seeped into popular culture to describe a number of events. Variants of Brockman's utterance are used to express mock submission, usually for the purpose of humor. It has been used in media, such as
New Scientist magazine. The dismissive term "Meh" has also been popularized by the show.
Influence on television
The Simpsons was the first successful animated program in prime time since
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home in the 1970s. During most of the 1980s, pundits considered animated shows as appropriate only for children, and animating a show was too expensive to achieve a quality suitable for prime-time television.
The Simpsons changed this perception.
The Simpsons has also influenced live-action shows like
Malcolm in the Middle, which debuted
January 9,
2000 in the time slot after
The Simpsons.
Malcolm in the Middle featured the use of
sight gags and didn't use a
laugh track like most
sitcoms.
Ricky Gervais has called
The Simpsons a major influence on his British comedy
The Office, which also dispenses with a laugh track.
Reception and achievements
The Simpsons has been praised by many critics, being described as "the most irreverent and unapologetic show on the air." In a 1990 review of the show, Ken Tucker of
Entertainment Weekly described it as "the American family at its most complicated, drawn as simple cartoons. It's this neat paradox that makes millions of people turn away from the three big networks on Sunday nights to concentrate on The Simpsons." Tucker would also describe the show as a "pop-cultural phenomenon, a prime-time cartoon show that appeals to the entire family."
Awards
The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 23
Emmy Awards, and a
Peabody Award. In a 1998 issue celebrating the 20th century's greatest achievements in arts and entertainment,
Time magazine named
The Simpsons the century's best television series. In that same issue,
Time included Bart Simpson in the
Time 100, the publication's list of the century's 100 most influential people. Bart was the only fictional character on the list. On
January 14,
2000, the Simpsons were awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Also in 2000,
Entertainment Weekly magazine TV critic Ken Tucker named
The Simpsons the greatest television show of the 1990s. Furthermore, viewers of the UK television channel
Channel 4 have voted "The Simpsons" at the top of two polls: 2001's
100 Greatest Kids' TV shows, and 2005's
100 Greatest Cartoons, with Homer Simpson voted into first place in 2001's 100 Greatest TV Characters. Homer would also place ninth on
Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Greatest TV icons". In 2002,
The Simpsons ranked #8 on
TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time; in 2007 it was included in
TIME's list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time"; and in 2008 the show placed first on
AOL's list of "TV's 50 best comedies - ever".
Run length achievements
On
February 9 1997,
The Simpsons surpassed
The Flintstones with the episode "
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" as the longest-running
prime-time animated series in the United States. In 2004,
The Simpsons replaced
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952 to 1966) as the longest-running sitcom (animated or
live action) in the United States. However, network executives in April 2005 again cancelled
Scooby-Doo, which finished with 371 episodes, and
The Simpsons reclaimed the title with 378 episodes at the end of their seventeenth season. For example, the Japanese
anime series
Sazae-san has close to 2,000 episodes to its credit. In the late-1990s, the tone and emphasis of the show began to change. Some critics started calling the show "tired". By 2000, some long-term fans had become disillusioned with the show and pointed to its shift from character-driven plots to what they perceived as an overemphasis on zany antics.
Mike Scully, who was showrunner during seasons
season nine through
season twelve, has been the subject of criticism. Chris Suellentrop of
Slate wrote "under Scully's tenure,
The Simpsons became, well, a cartoon. Episodes that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge's neck. The show's still funny, but it hasn't been touching in years." Author
Douglas Coupland described these claims as "hogwash", saying "
The Simpsons hasn't fumbled the ball in fourteen years, it's hardly likely to fumble it now."
In 2003, to celebrate the show's 300th episode "
Barting Over",
USA Today published a pair of Simpsons related articles: a top-ten episodes list chosen by the webmaster of The Simpsons Archive fansite, and a top-15 list by The Simpsons' own writers. The most recent episode listed on the fan list was 1997's "
Homer's Phobia"; the Simpsons' writers most recent choice was 2000's "
Behind the Laughter". In 2004,
Harry Shearer criticized what he perceived as the show's declining quality: "I rate the last three seasons as among the worst, so Season Four looks very good to me now."
The Simpsons managed to maintain a large viewership and attract new fans. While the first season enjoyed an average of 13.4 million viewers per episode in the U.S., the seventeenth season ended with an average of 9.2 million viewers. In an April 2006 interview, Matt Groening said, "I honestly don't see any end in sight. I think it's possible that the show will become too financially cumbersome... but right now, the show is creatively, I think, as good or better than it's ever been. The animation is incredibly detailed and imaginative, and the stories do things that we haven't done before. So creatively there's no reason to quit."
Merchandise
The popularity of
The Simpsons has made it a billion-dollar merchandizing industry.
The Simpsons has inspired special editions of well-known board games, including
Clue,
Scrabble,
Monopoly,
Operation, and
The Game of Life, as well as the trivia games What Would Homer Do? and
Simpsons Jeopardy!. Several card games such as
trump cards and
The Simpsons Trading Card Game have also been released.
Numerous Simpson-related publications have been released over the years. So far, nine
comic book series have been published by
Bongo Comics since 1993.
The Simpsons and
Bart Simpson comics are also reprinted in the United Kingdom, under the same titles, with various stories from the other Bongo series reprinted in the main Simpsons comic. The comics have also been collected in book form; many other
Simpsons books such as episode guides have also been published.
Collections of original music featured in the TV series have been released on the albums
Songs in the Key of Springfield and
Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons. Several songs have been recorded with the purpose of a single or album release and have not been featured on the show. The best known single is "
Do the Bartman", which was co-written by
Michael Jackson, and became an international success, topping the
UK Singles Chart for three weeks, and being certified gold by the
BPI. In the United Kingdom, "
Deep, Deep Trouble" was released as a follow up to "Do The Bartman". The albums
The Simpsons Sing the Blues and
The Yellow Album contained
cover versions of songs, as well as some originals.
As a promotion for the
The Simpsons Movie, twelve
7-Eleven stores were transformed into
Kwik-E-Marts and sold
The Simpsons related products. These included "Buzz Cola", "Krusty-O" cereal, Pink doughnuts with sprinkles, and "Squishees".
In 2007, it was announced that
The Simpsons Ride, a motion simulator ride, would open at
Universal Studios Florida and
Universal Studios Hollywood and would replace at both locations. The ride at Universal Studios Florida opened on
April 28,
2008, with the official ceremonies set to take place in May. The ride at
Universal Studios Hollywood is planned for a grand opening on
May 17,
2008. In the ride, patrons are introduced to a cartoon theme park called Krustyland built by
Krusty the Clown. However,
Sideshow Bob is loose from prison to get revenge on Krusty and the
Simpson family.
DVDs
Many episodes of the show have been released on DVD and VHS over the years. When the first season DVD was released in 2001, it quickly became the best-selling television DVD in history, although it was later overtaken by the first season of
Chappelle's Show. In particular, seasons one through ten have been released on DVD in the U.S. (
Region 1), Europe (
Region 2) and Australia/New Zealand/Latin America (
Region 4) with more seasons expected to be released in the future.
Video games
The
video game industry was quick to adapt the characters and world of Springfield into games. Some of the early games include
Konami's
arcade game The Simpsons (1991) and
Acclaim Entertainment's (1991). More modern games include
The Simpsons Road Rage (2001),
The Simpsons Hit & Run (2003) and
The Simpsons Game (2007). Two Simpsons
pinball machines have been produced; one that was available briefly after the first season, and another that's still available for purchase.
Film
20th Century Fox,
Gracie Films, and
Film Roman produced an animated
The Simpsons film that was released on
July 27 2007. The film was directed by long-time
Simpsons producer
David Silverman and written by a team of
Simpsons writers comprising Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Al Jean, George Meyer,
Mike Reiss,
John Swartzwelder,
Jon Vitti,
David Mirkin,
Mike Scully,
Matt Selman, and
Ian Maxtone-Graham. For a long time, difficulties such as lack of a suitable story and an already fully engaged crew of writers delayed the project.
The Simpsons Movie grossed a combined total of $74 million in its opening weekend in the United States, taking it to the top of the box office, and set the record for highest grossing opening weekend for a film based on a television series, surpassing
Mission Impossible II. It opened at the top of the international box office, taking $96 million from seventy-one overseas territories — including $27.8 million in the United Kingdom, making it Fox's second highest opening ever in that country. In Australia, it grossed
AU$13.2 million, the biggest opening for an animated film and third largest opening weekend in the country. As of
December 17,
2007 the film has a worldwide gross of $526,622,545.
Further Information
Get more info on 'The Simpsons'.
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