The Simpsons 

The satiric adventures of a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield.

Creators:

James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Sam Simon

Stars:

Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer

Top Rated TV #61 | Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 170 wins & 308 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Dan Castellaneta	...	Homer Simpson / ... 660 episodes, 1989-2019
Nancy Cartwright	...	Bart Simpson / ... 660 episodes, 1989-2019
Harry Shearer	...	Ned Flanders / ... 660 episodes, 1989-2019
Julie Kavner	...	Marge Simpson / ... 659 episodes, 1989-2019
Yeardley Smith	...	Lisa Simpson / ... 658 episodes, 1989-2019
Hank Azaria	...	Moe Szyslak / ... 649 episodes, 1989-2019
Pamela Hayden	...	Milhouse Van Houten / ... 572 episodes, 1989-2019
Tress MacNeille	...	Dolph / ... 525 episodes, 1990-2019

Storyline

This is an animated sitcom about the antics of a dysfunctional family. Homer is the oafish unhealthy beer loving father, Marge is the hardworking homemaker wife, Bart is the perpetual ten-year-old underachiever (and proud of it), Lisa is the unappreciated eight-year-old genius, and Maggie is the cute, pacifier loving silent infant.

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Plot Keywords:

cult tv | dysfunctional family | beer | sitcom | satire | 

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Taglines:

Just a product of society that's lost its good manners.

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

FOX Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Albanian French Japanese German Russian Hindi Swahili Italian Swedish Turkish Cantonese Mandarin Hebrew Arabic Klingon Bengali Czech

Release Date:

17 December 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Simpsons

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gracie Films, 20th Century Fox Television, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min (441 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo (season 1-2) Dolby Digital (season 20-)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the Anthony Horowitz novel Scorpia Rising, Alex Rider questions the sexuality of a character called Derek Smithers. This is no doubt a dig at this series' Smithers, who is a closet homosexual.

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Goofs

Springfield Elementary School is yellow in some episodes and white in others, sometimes changing color multiple times in the same episode (later episodes corrected this continuity problem by making the school's official color yellow, and including a picture of the "old, white" school in Principal Skinner's office.)

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Quotes

Dr. Nick Riviera: [flirting at a party] Sure I'm a Doctor, baby, and I can prescribe anything I want!

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Crazy Credits

In episode BABF10, "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly," 'Ian Maxtone-Graham's' writing credit is larger than normal after an on-screen joke is made.

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Alternate Versions

Beginning with the show's cable syndication run on FXX on August 21, 2014, new syndication masters have been created. Each episode has been restored to its full length, and is now presented in 16X9 high definition. In addition, credits for the Spanish SAP Translation have been added to the end credits of each episode.

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Connections

Referenced in Ninja on the Patio (2013)

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Soundtracks

'The Itchy & Scratchy Show' Theme
Written by Robert Israel and Sam Simon
Performed by Cast
(various episodes)

User Reviews

The greatest television show of all time

What more can I possibly say about a TV show that has already been praised to death? I was 15 when the Simpsons first aired and I'm 25 now. I've seen every single episode, and I'd have to say it's a rare combination of factors that come together to make The Simpsons the best show ever.

It's a very clever and intelligent show - they never dumb anything down - and as creator Matt Groening has remarked, "The Simpsons is a show that rewards paying attention." There are always enough obscure pop-culture references or subtle background gags to ensure that the second, third, or tenth viewing of an episode will find you noticing something you hadn't before.

In the early days of The Simpsons, they derived a large part of their popularity from the everyday, down-to-earth, unglamorous, average-blue-collar-slob aspect of the Simpson family. Homer is lazy and doesn't like his job, Bart doesn't excel at school, the plastic ketchup bottle they use at the dinner table makes that farting sound, and so on. This aspect of the program contrasts it with popular 80's family sitcoms such as The Cosby Show which always featured impossibly well-functioning families who got along a little too perfectly and usually learned a neat little lesson at the end of each episode. An early tag-line for The Simpsons said that they "put the Fun back in Dysfunctional."

Perhaps this blue-collar-slobness by itself is nothing shockingly original - think of previous TV shows such as Roseanne, Married with Children, All in the Family, The Honeymooners - but the Simpsons doesn't stop there. This show is extremely densely packed with jokes - everything from cerebral witticisms and sly satire to Homer falling down and going "D'oh!" Because it's a cartoon, the writers can get away with surreal gags such as the time Homer tells a joke which falls flat, after which a long silence happens which is punctuated by a single tumbleweed rolling through the Simpson's living room.

There are just too many things to mention about The Simpsons. It can be touching occasionally; more often the viewers are treated to an unequalled cavalcade of obscure references, surreal sight gags, wacky adventures, self-mocking irony... The list goes on and on. Just watch it, else you're missing out on one of the most important elements of 1990's popular culture.