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After popular voice actor Phil Hartman died, the various characters he played such as lawyer Lionel Hutz and actor Troy McClure were retired rather than recast. However, they continued to appear silently in crowd scenes.
According to a Simpson Family tree designed by Matt Groening, Mr. Burns is a distant relative of Homer.
This is the longest running prime-time comedy series as well as the longest-running prime-time animated series in US TV history.
In The Simpsons: Lisa the Greek (1992), Lisa, angry at Homer for tricking her into helping him gamble on football, makes a bet that if she loves him the winner of the Super Bowl will be The Washington Redskins and if she doesn't The Buffalo Bills would come out on top (Washington won). Actually when the show premiered just before the Super Bowl those two teams were actually squaring off in Superbowl XXVI and Washington came out on top 37-24. Over the next three years Fox made it a tradition to air the episode just before the Super Bowl and change the dialogue so that the teams would include whatever teams were playing that year. According to the DVD commentary Lisa accurately picked the winning team every single year.
Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Mark Hamill, Steve Buscemi and Joe Mantegna are the only guest actors to play both themselves and a fictional character on the series.
Homer (Dan Castellaneta) is the only character to have dialogue in every episode. Marge (Julie Kavner) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) have also appeared in every episode, but Marge did not deliver any dialogue in The Simpsons: Krusty Gets Kancelled (1993), while Lisa did not deliver any dialogue in The Simpsons: Chief of Hearts (2010). Bart (Nancy Cartwright) did not appear in The Simpsons: Four Great Women and a Manicure (2009).
A TV critic titled his article "Worst Episode Ever!" after watching a late '90s episode, and criticized the show's writing. In the later seasons, there are many episodes in which the Comic Book Guy criticizes a character by saying "Worst episode ever!" and "Worst [action] ever!" in reference to the TV critic's article.
The primary cast all have agreements in their contracts that hold them to doing three movies based on the show in the future.
Characters' full names: Lisa Marie Simpson, Bartholomew JoJo Simpson, Margaret Evelyn Simpson, Marjorie Jacqueline Bouvier Simpson, and Homer Jay Simpson.
"Comic Book Guy's" real name is "Jeff Albertson". After being anonymous for many seasons, the creators thought it would be funny to give him the most conventional name they could think of.
Although it was believed that Dr. Marvin Monroe was killed off in 1995 (as his tomb stone can be seen in the Springfield cemetery), he reappeared in The Simpsons: Diatribe of a Mad Housewife (2004), in which he tells Marge that he has been "very sick". The real reason for Monroe's relative absence in the series was because he became too much of a strain on Harry Shearer's voice.
In the "birth" back stories for the children, Bart's first words were "Ay Caramba!", Lisa's first word was "Bart" and Maggie's was "Daddy".
To celebrate the Simpsons' tenth anniversary, Entertainment Weekly asked creator Matt Groening to select his ten favorite episodes of the show. His choices were:
- 1. The Simpsons: Bart the Daredevil (1990)
- 2. The Simpsons: Life on the Fast Lane (1990)
- 3. The Simpsons: Much Apu About Nothing (1996)
- 4. The Simpsons: A Streetcar Named Marge (1992)
- 5. The Simpsons: In Marge We Trust (1997)
- 6. The Simpsons: Homer's Enemy (1997)
- 7. The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror VII (1996)
- 8. The Simpsons: Natural Born Kissers (1998)
- 9. The Simpsons: Krusty Gets Busted (1990)
- 10. The Simpsons: There's No Disgrace Like Home (1990)
The creators jokingly insist that they have parodied Citizen Kane (1941) so much that one could re-create the entire film solely from Simpsons clips. They also have made the same claim about The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).
Homer's annoyed grunt, "D'oh!," has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, considered to be the ultimate authority on the English language.
The blue/red discrepancy of Bart's shirt is referenced in one episode. Homer holds out Lisa (who wears a red dress) to tease a bull, then, thinking that he can placate the bull with something blue, he reaches for Bart, only to find him wearing his red shirt. He asks, "Where's your blue shirt?" to which Bart replies that he doesn't have one.
Springfield is 678 miles from Mexico City (which would put them in either Mexico, Belize, Honduras, or the the gulf coast of Texas) and 2,653 miles away from Orlando, Florida (the farthest point in the USA from Orlando is northwestern Washington which is about 2,500 miles from Orlando). Entertainingly, both cannot be true.
People banned for life in the comic book store are: Bart Simpson, Milhouse Van Houten, Sideshow Bob Terwilliger, Nelson Muntz, George Lucas, and Matt Groening.
Some of the store and place names around town:
Many of the characters are named after major streets in Portland, Oregon, where creator Matt Groening grew up. Examples: Flanders, Lovejoy, Terwilliger, Kearney.
- Air conditioner store: It Blows
- Airport Bookstore: Just Crichton and King Books (Michael Crichton, Stephen King)
- Boys' Clothing Store: Wee Monsieur
- Comic book store: Androids Dungeon
- Cookware store: Stoner's Pot Palace
- Discount Store: Try 'n' Save
- Dog Obedience Schools: Eastside Ruff-Form School, Professor Von Bowser's Sanitarium For Dogs
- Donut Shop: Lard Lad Donuts
- Family Restaurant: Texas Cheesecake Depository
- Girls' Clothing Store: Saks Fifth Grade and Dingo Junction
- Girls school: Saint Sebastian's School for Wicked Girls
- Gourmet Food store: Eatie Gourmet's
- Gun Shop: BloodBath and Beyond
- Hair Stylist: Turn Your Head and Coif
- Hair Stylist (where Julio works): Hairy Shears (a play on Harry Shearer)
- Healthcare Facility- HMO (Hibbert Moneymaking Organization)
- Indian restaurant: Taj Majal You Can Eat
- Investing service: IPO Friday's
- Jewelry store: The Family Jewels
- Joke/Novelty Shop: Yuckingham Palace
- Junkyard: Uriah's Heap (Uriah Heep, from the story of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)
- Law Office: I Can't Believe It's A Law Firm!
- Middle eastern restaurant: Two Guys from Kabul
- Museum: Louvre: American Style
- Music shop: Suicide Notes, Tommy Toots and King Toots
- New Age Shop: Karmaceuticals
- optometrist: Eye Carumba
- Optometrist: Eye Care, Do You?
- Outdoor Clothing Store: Malaria Zone
- Pastry Shop: The French Confection (The French Connection (1971))
- Repo man: Repo Depot
- Roach Motel: The Ritz Carlton Hotel for Vagrants
- Seafood Restaurant: The Fryin' Dutchman
- Soup Kitchen: Helter Shelter
- Toy Store: Valley of the Dolls (1967)
- Toy Store: J.R.R. Toykins (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- Toy store in Chinatown: Toys "L" Us
Many of the characters are named after major streets in Portland, Oregon, where creator Matt Groening grew up. Examples: Flanders, Lovejoy, Terwilliger, Kearney.
Bender, the robot from Futurama (1999), appears in The Simpsons: Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade (2002) and The Simpsons: Missionary: Impossible (2000) with other Fox Network characters. He makes a speaking appearance in The Simpsons: Future-Drama (2005).
Bart's anonymous prank calls to Moe were inspired by "The Tube Bar Recordings", tapes of actual prank calls to Louis 'Red' Deutsch, a New Jersey bartender famous for his violent temper (the pranksters, John Elmo and Jim Davidson, got the idea to prank him one day when, while passing his bar, they saw him beating up one of his customers for not drinking fast enough). Louis 'Red' Deutsch would unfailingly respond to the prank calls with a stream of cursing, abuse and threats. Bart's prank calls became less frequent after the first seasons, simply because the writers had a hard time coming up with new ones.
Lionel Hutz says he got his law degree from Princeton. Although most Ivy League schools offer a law degree, Princeton does not, which helps confirm that he is phony.
Sideshow Bob is voiced by Frasier (1993) star Kelsey Grammer. In The Simpsons: Brother from Another Series (1997), Cecil, Sideshow Bob's brother, is featured, and is voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who plays Frasier's brother Niles. Cecil also mentions Maris, Niles's never-seen wife, which is said ironically, since Bart is covering Cecil's eyes. They later completed the joke in The Simpsons: Funeral for a Fiend (2007), in which Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr., father to Bob and Cecil, is voiced by John Mahoney, who also played Frasier's father.
In 1997, The Simpsons broke The Flintstones (1960) record for longest-running prime time animated TV show. The show also holds the record for most guest stars in a television series.
As in most cartoons, the characters have only four digits on each hand - except God, who always has five. However, in what is probably a mistake, God has four digits during Homer's dream at the end of The Simpsons: Homer the Heretic (1992).
In the scripts, Homer's "D'oh" is written as "(ANNOYED GRUNT)", Marge's disapproving murmur is written as "(FRUSTRATED MURMUR)", and Professor Frink's mumblings are written as "(FRINK NOISE)".
Comic Book Guy is based on Matt Groening himself: "He's the way I think I look to other people."
Matt Groening has stated that since the fifth season in 1994, the episodes' running time have been shortened by two minutes, which he claims could be just enough time for an entire subplot.
Milhouse has been cursed with a nefarious name. "Milhous" was Richard Nixon's middle name (spelled differently in this show) and Miss Leslie Van Houten was a member of the Charles Manson family. She was one of those who were convicted in the LaBianca murders. His middle name, "Mussolini", references Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
Channel Ten, the Australian television network that airs The Simpsons in Australia, reportedly pays $25,000 per episode.
In one episode a letter to Mr. Burns from the Simpsons does not show the state the Simpsons live in, but reads Mr. Burns as living in Springfield, New Jersey
Matt Groening based the character Bart Simpson on the character of Dennis in Dennis the Menace (1959), which he watched as a child but was disappointed that Dennis was not as mischievous as he was in the comic strip.
Donald Sutherland, who guest starred in The Simpsons: Lisa the Iconoclast (1996), also appeared in The Day of the Locust (1975), where he played a character named Homer Simpson.
In the opening credits, the cash register shows $847.63 when Maggie is "scanned" (figure was taken from a survey (found by Matt Groening) done at the time that said that this was the average monthly cost of caring for a newborn baby - food, clothes, health, etc.). But during The Simpsons: The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase (1997) (hosted by Troy McClure) the credit sequence is paused and the machine is shown to read "NRA 4EVER".
Throughout the run of the series, a cawing crow is heard in nearly every establishing shot of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. (This tradition is parodied in The Simpsons: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore (2006), in which a cow is heard mooing during the establishing shot of an India-based nuclear power plant.)
Nancy Cartwright, voice of Bart, first tried out for Lisa's voice.
Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson) and Marcia Wallace (Edna Krabappel) are the only cast members who do only one voice on a regular basis.
Dr. Nick is named after George "Dr Nick" Nichopoulos, who was charged after Elvis Presley's death for prescribing thousands of doses of narcotics to cater to Elvis' massive appetite for prescription drugs.
The telephone number at Moe's Tavern is 764-8437, or SMITHERS. This was revealed in The Simpsons: Homer the Smithers (1996) when Mr. Burns tries to call Smithers but does not know his phone number. Naturally, SMITHERS was his only guess.
Mayor Quimby is based on John F. Kennedy.
According to the creators, their most frequently parodied film is Citizen Kane (1941) followed by the films of Stanley Kubrick, especially 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Shining (1980) and A Clockwork Orange (1971).
Series creator Matt Groening sketched out the original drawings for the Simpson Family in a matter of minutes while sitting outside producer James L. Brooks' office. The idea was that each family member had to be instantly recognizable by his or her silhouette.
For a short period of time the show was dubbed to Swedish in Sweden, but after receiving mountains of hate mail the network brought back the original show. The show started out dubbed in Dutch in the Netherlands, but when it was realized that adults did not like the dubbing, and children did not get the jokes mostly directed towards a mature audience, the original version was aired.
The original voice of Homer on The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) and the beginning of the first season was inspired by Walter Matthau, as the original sketch of Homer had a large overbite. However, Dan Castellaneta dumbed him down and said "my jaw would go out, my neck would go in, and then my I.Q. would drop about 70 points."
Cletus (The Slack Jawed Yokel) and Brandine's children are named Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumer, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Caitlin, Noah, Sasha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Q-Bert, Phil, Rubella, and Condoleezza/Cory McDowell Marie, and Crystal Meth. In The Simpsons: Apocalypse Cow (2008), two more were revealed as Mary and Stabbed In Jail, who were named for what Cletus and Brandine speculated as their eventual fates.
Before immigrating to America, Groundskeeper Willie's name was Dr. William McDougle. At Ellis Island he was told "From now on you'll be known as Groundskeeper Willie."
Many of the characters are named after Matt Groening's family and relatives, including Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie, which are the real names of his parents and younger sisters.
Places where the "El Barto" graffiti shows up: police station; elementary school; by the lake, where the Indians once lived
In the episode when Lisa is elected president of Springfield Elementary she gives her email address as smartgirl63_\@yahoo.com (she says it as: smart girl six three underscore backslash at Yahoo dot com)
The new HD opening sequence includes a gag at the format's expense. Their new HDTV is shown hooked up with white, yellow, and red "composite A/V" cables, which can't actually carry an HD signal.
The map of Springfield located in the Police Station shows the city is shaped almost exactly like medieval Constantinople, complete with a large road in almost the same position as the Mese, the main road of Constantinople.
Springfield's Zip code is 80085. In the episode The Simpsons: Moe Letter Blues (2010), Moe states that he moved to Springfield because the Zip Code spells the word "BOOBS". The US Postal Service website reports that there is no Zip Code 80085. However, the reverse (58008) which would spell "BOOBS" if turned upside down, happens to be the Zip Code of the tiny town of Barney, North Dakota. If the Zip code 80085 did exist, it would be located somewhere in the state of Colorado. All the actual Zip codes from 80001 through 80049 are in Colorado with Zips 80050-80099 are not in use.
The giant stone head in the Simpson basement (originally given as a thank-you gift for Bart donating blood to save Mr. Burns's life) is named Xtapolopacetl.
Homer's mother, Mona, is named after the novelist Mona Simpson (whose books include 'Anywhere but Here' and 'A Regular Guy'), who was married to "Simpsons" writer Richard Appel when he introduced the character in The Simpsons: Mother Simpson (1995).
Krusty the Klown's real name is revealed as Herschel Schmoikel Krustofski and Herschel Pinkus Yerucham Krustofski in different episodes.
Several characters in prison have the number 24601. That same prisoner number was Jean Valjean's in Victor Hugo's 19th-century novel Les Misérables.
Hank Azaria has told that he adopted his characters' voices from celebrities and people he has met. Among others, Chief Wiggum's voice is based on Edward G. Robinson, Lou's on Sylvester Stallone and Comic Book Guy's on Hank Azaria's roommate in college.
Moe's favorite movie is The Godfather (1972). Hank Azaria based Moe's voice on Al Pacino's performance as Michael Corleone in that movie and its sequels.
The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace. Early in the show's life the house number was given differently a few times (including 1094), but in later episodes the address settled down to 742 Evergreen Terrace.
The barber shop in Springfield is called "Hairy Shearers" - named for voice talent Harry Shearer.
The website that Homer created with false 'dirt' on many of the citizens was able to be accessed as www.mrxswebpage.com. While the website still exists, it appears to be identical to www.fox.com.
Chief Wiggum and Apu were created by Hank Azaria. According to Hank Azaria, Apu was created during his times when Hank Azaria did not have a car while in Los Angeles and the only place in walking distance was the 7-Eleven shop. Apu was also based on Peter Sellers in The Party (1968) and is named after the title character in Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy.
The squeaky voiced teenager's name was finally unveiled in a deleted scene from the 5th season of the Simpsons. Jeremy.
As part of the many running jokes in the series, the location of the fictitious town of Springfield is never revealed. Whenever they locate the town on a map, for instance, we never see the map. Whenever someone says it out loud, the sound is muffled or masked by noise. The capitol of the state Springfield is located in is simply called 'Capitol City'. In the "Behind The Music" episode the state is mentioned but there are several versions of the show, each with a different state name (including Kentucky and Missouri), to keep the not-revealing-the-location-of-Springfield joke going.
When appealing to Danny Elfman for the prefect theme song, Matt Groening gave him a cassette tape of songs similar to the one he wanted. The tape included The Jetsons (1962) theme, selections from Nino Rota's Juliet Of The Spirits, a Remington electric shaver jingle by Frank Zappa, easy-listening music by Juan García Esquivel, and a teach-your-parrot-to-talk record.
This is one of those series that doesn't have a specific first episode. The first episode created was The Simpsons: Some Enchanted Evening (1990) (pushed to the end of the first season because scenes were being re-animated). It was first aired on 13 May 1990. The first broadcast half hour was The Simpsons: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (1989) (aired 17 December 1989). The pilot was The Simpsons: Bart the Genius (1990) which aired 14 January 1990 as the second episode ever shown.
Dan Castellaneta designed the character Artie Ziff.
In the early episodes, Sherri and Terri were the biggest bullies in Bart's class. Currently they serve as background filler, their significance having decreased over time from tormentors to deliverers of small lines to faces in the crowd.
The distinctive voice of "Lunchlady Doris", as well as various other characters, belonged to the show's script supervisor Doris Grau. She provided the voice until her death in December 1995.
Ralph Wiggum was not explicitly stated to be the son of Police Chief Clancy Wiggum until The Simpsons: I Love Lisa (1993), but a clue had already been provided in The Simpsons: Kamp Krusty (1992) when Ralph answered to the name Wiggum during mail call.
The Simpson family is a tri-denominational religious family. Homer and Bart convert to Catholicism in The Simpsons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star (2005)), Lisa converts to Buddhism in The Simpsons: She of Little Faith (2001) and Marge and Maggie belong to Reverend Lovejoy's church, whose denomination would later be identified as "The Western Branch of American Reformed Presbo-Lutheranism" in the same one where Homer and Bart convert.
In the episode "Behind the Scenes", the narrator announces "this Kentuckian family...", so with this information, Springfield is generally thought to be in Kentucky. However, the narrator was indicating that the family originally came from Kentucky, but that is not where they live currently.
The family name Wiggum comes from Matt Groening's mother's maiden name.
Mr. Burns is inspired by the famous William Randolph Hearst and the lesser known Olav Thon, a Norwegian businessman who, when Matt Groening was young, reportedly took over a couple of industries in his town and shut them down, leaving many people without work. Burns is also the name of a central Oregon city.
Kang and Kodos (the aliens) are named for two Star Trek (1966) characters - in Star Trek: Day of the Dove (1968), Kang was a Klingon warrior, and in Star Trek: The Conscience of the King (1966), Kodos was an Adolf Hitler-like mass murderer.
Celebrities have been known to be so eager to make a guest appearance on The Simpsons (1989) that they'll even play themselves in an unflattering light. For instance, Jasper Johns played himself as a kleptomaniac, Gary Coleman played himself as a pathetic has-been, and Tom Arnold played himself as an obnoxious non-talent who gets fired into the sun for being such a bad actor.
The show grew from 30-second segments that aired between comedy sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show (1987). Julie Kavner and Dan Castellaneta were regulars on the show while Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith were drafted in specially for the animation. In 1992, Tracey Ullman sued unsuccessfully to earn a share of the show's merchandise-related profit.
The character "Krusty the Clown" was inspired by a real-life TV kiddie show host named 'Rusty Nails' and Dan Castellaneta's voice characterization was based on Chicago television legend Bob Bell who portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo from 1960-1984.
According to Matt Groening, Bart's middle name is Jo-Jo, and not Jebediah as stated previously in the Rainy Day Fun Book. One can only guess that some facts got lost when the RDFB was made. The name was given to him by Nancy Cartwright.
Snake once attended Princeton University. While taking a year off he began stealing for kicks, and became a career criminal.
By April 2005, the show beat Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (1969) and its spin-offs for the highest amount of cartoon episodes with 378, beating Scooby-Doo's 371 episodes.
A nude portrait of Marge Simpson was featured in Playboy in celebration of The Simpsons' 20th anniversary, issue released 16 October 2009.
Fat Tony's name was variously given as William "Fat Tony" Williams in "Bart the Murderer", as Anthony "Fat Tony" Balducci in the episode where Homer is a boxer, and as Anthony "Fat Tony" d'Amico in others. In the Episode where Krusty meets his estranged daughter, Fat Tony's middle name is revealed to be Merian
In France, Homer and Marge are dubbed by a married couple, Philippe Peythieu and Véronique Augereau.
The Simpsons is the longest-running spin-off series of all time, and the most successful spin-off compared to its "parent" series, beating out The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) by 17 years.
The Simpsons' home address has been mentioned several times and has not been the same: - In The Simpsons: Blood Feud (1991): 94 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, USA - In The Simpsons: Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington (1991): 59 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, TA - In The Simpsons: Beyond Blunderdome (1999): 743 Evergreen Terrace - In The Simpsons: Bart the Lover (1992): 94 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, USA - In "Kamp Krusty": 430 Spalding Way, Springfield, USA - In "New Kid on the Block": 1094 Evergreen Terrace - In "Marge in Chains": 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield - In "Homer the Vigilante": 723 Evergreen Terrace - In The Simpsons: Bart vs. Australia (1995): 742 Evergreen Terrace - In "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday": 742 Evergreen Terrace - In The Simpsons: Lisa's Date with Density (1996): 742 Evergreen Terrace.
The salesman character Gil who can't catch a break is based on the character 'Shelley Levene', played by 'Jack Lemmon' in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
As of the '03-'04 season premiere (Season 15), there are over 1,000 culture references in The Simpsons (1989). According to writer-producer Al Jean, the most referenced film is Citizen Kane (1941).
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. It was also rumored that Time Magazine called Bart "the Devil's cabana boy" too.
The Itchy & Scratchy cartoons are animated shorts which are part of the Krusty the Klown Show. In a way these cartoons are analogous to The Simpsons (1989) series itself, as The Simpsons originally started as 30-second animated shorts which were part of The Tracey Ullman Show (1987).
Several recurring characters are spoofs for former or current celebrities. Rainier Wolfcastle: Arnold Schwarzenegger; Drederick Tatum: Mike Tyson; Bumblebee Man: Roberto Gómez Bolaños (based on his Chapulin Colorado character); Judge Constance Harm: Judy Sheindlin (aka 'Judge Judy'); Arnie Pye: Ernie Pyle.
Homer's trademark expression is the frustrated "D'oh!". When Matt Groening asked Dan Castellaneta to create an "annoyed grunt" for Homer, the only thing Dan could think of was "D'ooohh...", from James Finlayson of the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy films; Finlayson may have created that as a euphemism for the then-forbidden "damn". But Groening thought Finlayson's term took too long to say for the episode time budget, so Castellaneta shortened it drastically. Homer's annoyed grunt (Do'h!) has grown popular since the catchphrase's appearance. After a few seasons "D'oh!" became firmly set in the American popular lexicon, and the term was accepted for the online version of The Oxford Dictionary.
The French version of the TV show translated "D'oh" into "T'oh."
The Spanish version of the TV show translated "D'oh" into "Ouch!".
In one episode, Maggie is seen playing with a modeling compound similar to Play-Doh. The label of the compound's container reads "Play- (Annoyed Grunt)". Homer's famous catchphrase "D'oh" is written as "annoyed grunt" in scripts, meaning Maggie's modeling compound is in fact Play-D'oh.
The French version of the TV show translated "D'oh" into "T'oh."
The Spanish version of the TV show translated "D'oh" into "Ouch!".
In one episode, Maggie is seen playing with a modeling compound similar to Play-Doh. The label of the compound's container reads "Play- (Annoyed Grunt)". Homer's famous catchphrase "D'oh" is written as "annoyed grunt" in scripts, meaning Maggie's modeling compound is in fact Play-D'oh.
With the exception of special episodes (such as holidays), the variant ending couch gag, and edited versions, the show kept the same opening sequence for 20 years. It wasn't until February 2009 did it receive a brand new introduction in conjunction with its switch to high-definition. Even then, the new sequence is modeled after the original.
In the DVD commentary for Season 4, it is said that Bumblebee Man is based on a character in a Mexican sitcom that played a lot in southern California involving otherwise normal-looking people and someone dressed as a "red cricket". The speakers in the commentary do not provide more information, but this is almost certainly a reference to El Chapulin Colorado, a character played by Roberto Gómez Bolaños "Chespirito", and that appeared in his own show and in sketches from other shows.
Before he opened The Leftorium in the third season, Ned Flanders described his occupation as "the pharmaceutical game".
The Simpsons: Barting Over (2003) was billed by FOX as the series' 300th episode because it was considered to be the 300th episode produced. However, FOX does not count the Christmas Special pilot towards that total. So technically, it was actually the 301st. FOX was very adamant about airing the "300th" episode on the same day as the Daytona 500 auto race, which is one of the biggest ratings draws of the year for the network, so they pushed the air date back to February 16th. So when the episode finally did air, it was actually the 302nd to do so (Christmas special included), even though FOX was hyping it up as #300. To further add to the confusion, all previous milestone episodes (100th, 138th, 200th, 250th) were based on airing order rather than production order, and with the Christmas special included.
The character of Otto the bus driver is believed to be based on Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. Both have long black curly hair and both are avid snake collectors.
Matt Groening is left-handed, and as a result many of the characters on the show are left-handed (though this is not always consistent).The only exception is in The Simpsons: Bart's Comet (1995) when Skinner and Bart find the comet. Bart uses his right hand in one scene when star watching.
The character of Hans Moleman appeared a few times in various background scenes before making his first speaking appearance in The Simpsons: Principal Charming (1991) in the second season. At this point, his name, as shown on a driver's license, was "Ralph Melish" (a variation of the Ralph Melhuish character from Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)). His appearance provoked quite a stir among the writers, because he was written as a generalized "old man" part, but he came back from the animators, in the words of creator Matt Groening, "looking like a shriveled potato". They then ended up jokingly referring to him as Moleman, and eventually giving him the permanent name of Hans Moleman.
Professer Frink is named after John Frink who writes for the show.
Most episodes have no on-screen title, with the exception of non-canon episodes like Halloween specials. Only five canon episodes have on-screen titles: The Simpsons: The Telltale Head (1990), The Simpsons: Bart Gets Hit by a Car (1991), The Simpsons: 22 Short Films About Springfield (1996), The Simpsons: The Book Job (2011) and The Simpsons: Homerland (2013). The series premiere The Simpsons: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (1989) is titled on-screen as "The Simpsons Christmas Special" rather than the official title.
Moe's Tavern is based on a real bar called Fireside Restaurant. It was located at 8522 Lincoln Boulevard in Los Angeles near Loyola Marymount University where David Mirkin went to college. Sadly, the bar is now closed.
The sign outside the Springfield retirement castle says "Thank you for not discussing the outside world".
Ricky Gervais became the first guest star to get a writing credit. Conan O'Brien has written some episodes and starred in others, but unlike Gervais, has not simultaneously starred in and written a Simpsons episode.
Most of the main cast of Cheers (1982) has appeared on this show. Most notably, Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob. In an episode where Homer was kicked out of Moe's Tavern, he seeks a new bar, and walks into Cheers. This is where the other Cheers (1982) cast members voice their old characters. However, Kelsey Grammer's character of Frasier does not speak.
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror (1990) is the only "Treehouse of Horror" to use the tree house motif and is so far one of two "Treehouse of Horrors" that don't use the spooky names. The second is The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XIII (2002).
The animation in the series became noticeably more sophisticated and fluid after the first season. Also changed after the early episodes was Homer's voice (which was made higher pitched and less intelligent-sounding than it initially was), Chief Wiggum's hair color, and Smithers' skin color (he is black in his first appearance, but becomes yellow/caucasian in all future appearances). Early episodes have a slightly different opening credit sequence. After Homer tosses the radioactive rod into the street, Bart is seen skateboarding but we do not see any recognizable characters in the streetscape as we do later. The skateboard sequence ends by showing a group of generic townspeople running after a bus. We then see Lisa riding home on her bike, overloaded with schoolbooks, parking it in the garage just before Homer's car pulls into the driveway (after which the credits continue as usual).
Websites mentioned on the show link to actual websites. These sites are more or less show-related sites that offer fans wallpaper downloads for their computer. The sites include, but are not limited to, www.whatbadgerseat.com , www.dorks-gone-wild.com and www.sexyslumberparty.com .
Many of the people and places in the Simpsons are named after cities, streets and landmarks in Oregon, specifically Portland. Springfield is a medium sized city in Lane County which is home to monuments and museum exhibits of the characters, and has a restaurant called Moe's Tavern (named after the animated one) near its downtown. Many character names (Flanders, Lovejoy, Terwilliger, etc) are streets in Portland. Matt Groening grew up in Portland. Eugene, the third largest city in Oregon (and one of the state's great centers of education and performing arts), was founded by a man named Eugene Skinner, and thus has several landmarks with Skinner in the name. Eugene and Springfield are adjacent to each other, and at one point the border between the two cities is so vague that visitors to the region are sometimes unaware as to whether they are in Eugene or Springfield. Burns is a city in central Oregon.
Despite the huge number of guest stars, as of 2012 only three actors, Jackie Mason, Kelsey Grammer and Anne Hathaway have won an Emmy for a special appearance (although Marcia Wallace only has one character she is listed as a regular).
Marge's birthday is inconsistent throughout the series, given in various episodes as "the same as Randy Quaid" (October 1), or some date in either February, March or May.
Since the start of the second season, Bart is seen riding his skateboard in the intro around several characters. They are (from left to right) Mrs. Lovejoy, Apu, Moe, Barney, Jacques the Bowling Instructor, "Bleeding Gums" Murphy, and Chief Wiggum.
Albert Brooks has appeared as 6 different characters in the Simpsons' universe, more characters than any non-cast member, and is always credited as "A. Brooks".
With the show being renewed until 2011, it will become the longest running primetime show in television history, beating Gunsmoke (1955) by two years.
For the new HD opening credits, there are now three specific items on the checkout line from various episodes: A box of Krusty O's (from The Simpsons: 'Round Springfield (1995)), a box of Mr. Sparkle Japanese dish detergent (from The Simpsons: In Marge We Trust (1997)), and a bottle of Tomacco juice (from The Simpsons: E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt) (1999)).
This is the only non-variety television show that contains special guest appearances by three former The Beatles: the late George Harrison, Paul McCartney (who appeared with the late Linda McCartney), and Ringo Starr.
Ralph Wiggum was named after Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners (1955) because the character was intended to be a loudmouthed smaller version of Homer. He wasn't established as Chief Wiggum's son until The Simpsons: I Love Lisa (1993).
According to the Season Four DVD commentary, the character of the Sea Captain was created by Conan O'Brien. When he first appears, his name is given as Captain McAllister.
Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer were not in the The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) and joined the cast when it became its own series.
The first, and so far the only, animated series to be nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy.
On 7 May 2009, the US Postal Service issued a set of five 44¢ commemorative postage stamps honoring the TV series, with each member of the Simpson family (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie) appearing on a different stamp. A set of five picture postal cards, one for each stamp design, was also released.
Milhouse is of Danish descent (on his mother's side) and of Dutch and Italian descent (on his father's side).
The "Yeeeeees!" character is based on a character played by Frank Nelson on The Jack Benny Program (1950) on radio and television who would make himself known by that distinctive "Yeeeeees!"
At the supermarket checkout, in the new HD intro, a box of "frosty Krusty O's" cost $6.66 bringing the total to $243.26. When Maggie gets scanned the price doubles to $486.52
Although Bart's middle initial of 'J' has since been confirmed to stand for "Jo-Jo", early in the show's life some sources incorrectly suggested that it stood for "Jebediah", after the town's founder, Jebediah Springfield. This same error was also sometimes attributed to Homer's middle initial of "J", which has since been confirmed to stand for "Jay".
Dan Castellaneta has stated that in The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) shorts and the first season, he based the then-undeveloped voice of Homer on Walter Matthau.
Bleeding Gums Murphy's alto saxophone solos are performed by Dan Higgins.
Dan Castellaneta based the voice of Barney Gumble off Daws Butler's portrayal of Mister Magoo (1960)'s nephew Waldo.
Norm Peterson from the long-running American sitcom Cheers (1982) is considered a strong influence behind Barney Gumble.
In Spain, two actresses did the voices of Marge, Patty, Selma and their mother from season 1 to 6. They were Amparo Soto and Begoña Hernando who eventually abandoned their role due to voice problems that came from struggling to imitate Julie Kavner. Margarita de Francia became the final voice for the Bouvier family.
Ranked at #1 in multiple Channel 4 TV polls in the UK - The Greatest: 100 Greatest TV Characters (2001), The 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows (2001) and 100 Greatest Cartoons (2005).
In 2004, The Simpsons replaced The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (1952) as the longest-running sitcom (animated or live action) in the United States. As of 2008, The Simpsons has the record for the number of episodes by an American animated show.
Although Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa appear in every episode (and each has a speaking part, except that Marge's was cut from The Simpsons: Krusty Gets Kancelled (1993) (she was part of the traffic jam caused by the billboard)), there are at least two episodes where Maggie does not appear: The Simpsons: The Last Temptation of Homer (1993) and The Simpsons: Lisa's Date with Density (1996).
Homer Simpson was ranked Entertainment Weekly's #1 character in its 2010 issue listing the best characters of the previous 20 years.
The character Professor John Frink is named after a producer of the show and based on Jerry Lewis's character in The Nutty Professor (1963).
The Simpsons: Bart Gets an F (1990) is the most watched episode ever (in its first run) in Simpsons history, by 33 million people.
The name of Bart's principal, Seymour Skinner, is said to be taken from behavior specialist B.F. Skinner. But it could also be from the founder of Eugene, Oregon, which is the city adjacent to the real Springfield and has numerous monuments and landmarks with Skinner in the name. Harry Shearer claims his idea for the voice of the principal was partially based on Charles Kuralt.
Comic Book Guy has a statuette which is a "Krusty the Clown" version of the "Han Solo in carbonite" image from the Star Wars movies.
The Simpsons: Some Enchanted Evening (1990) was originally going to be the season premiere, however at the Gracie Films studio screening, producer James L. Brooks said of the animation "this is sh*t", which cleared the room and created a heated argument with Klasky-Csupo animation studio head Gabor Csupo, who countered with "maybe this sh*t isn't funny". An estimated 70% of the episode had to be redone which had several knock-on effects: There was major concern the show would be canceled if the next episode, The Simpsons: Bart the Genius (1990), came back in a similar state (luckily it did not), the Christmas episode The Simpsons: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (1989) was now to be the season premiere which in turn meant the show could not debut on Fox until December, and what's more the reordering of the air dates meant that Santa's Little Helper who now debuted in the "first" episode was mysteriously absent throughout most of the remainder of the season including this episode. There is also a noticeable difference between the old and new animation - perhaps most notably the scene where Marge is getting ready in front of the bedroom mirror talking to Lisa about Homer's dancing; Marge is hugely off-model and would be unrecognizable under normal circumstances. The delay had at least one positive effect however; it allowed time for Hank Azaria to overdub the original voice track for Moe (performed by Chris Latta), and by season two Azaria had become a regular member of the cast. Years later when Brooks and Csupo were both on-stage accepting an Emmy for "The Simpsons", Brooks jokingly whispered in his ear "maybe this sh*t isn't funny". The joke was taken in good humor as Csupo had long since admitted he was wrong about the whole affair.
As of season 20, The Simpsons has utilized three aspect ratios: 4:3 for seasons 1 through 20, 16:9 for seasons 20 onward, and 2.35:1 for The Simpsons Movie (2007).
Animation company, Klasky Csupo was responsible for the animation production starting with the shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) and the series until 1992 when they were replaced with Film Roman. Company head Gabor Csupo didn't want Gracie Films to send in their own producer to oversee the animation and Gracie Films wasn't happy with Csupo's chosen producer.
Ralph originally was not Chief Wiggum's son. Chief Wiggum had a boy with blue curls. It wasn't until later Ralph and his mom became part of the Wiggums. The boy with blue curls never appears again.
Whenever a scene is called for Lisa to burp or whistle Nancy Cartwright fills in for Yeardley Smith.
Snake the criminal was named after Snake Plissken, the protagonist of Escape from New York (1981).
The area code 939 is one of two area codes for Puerto Rico. The area code was assigned to the island in August 2001 after the island's only area code, 787, was about to run out of numbers due to the boom of mobile phones, beepers, and modems there.
Homer and Marge's ages have changed as the years have gone on while Bart, Lisa, and Maggie's have remained 10, 8, and 1, respectively. Homer was 36 and Marge was 34 in earlier seasons. Homer was then 38 for a few seasons before settling on 39. Most recently, his age was said to be 42. Marge's age remained 34 for many years until an episode that revealed she was now 36. Grampa's age has never officially been confirmed. It is commonly referenced that he is in his 80's, after getting upset he and Maggie couldn't participate in a game for ages 8-80.
When looking at Homer from the side, one can see that the zig-zag of his hair forms an "M", while his ear forms the "G". The show's creator and animator Matt Groening has stated that his initials appear in any animation of Homer Simpson.
Every speaking member of the Simpson family except for Homer is fluent in French. Marge speaks and tutors French in The Simpsons: The Way We Was (1991), Bart becomes fluent after his time as an exchange student in France in The Simpsons: The Crepes of Wrath (1990), and Lisa is revealed to be fully fluent in The Simpsons: Paths of Glory (2015).
Mayor Quimby is named after Quimby Street in Portland, Oregon. Quimby Street is named after the character Ramona Quimby from the series of books written by Beverly Cleary. The books were later made into the Ramona (1988) TV Series and the Ramona and Beezus (2010) movie.
Joshua and Louis Moffat, sons of Scottish writer and producer Steven Moffat are influences behind Rod and Todd Flanders.
In The Simpsons: Beware My Cheating Bart (2012), a name tag reveals that Sqeaky-Voiced Teen's name is actually Steve.
JR Ewing, the antagonist from Dallas (1978) is a major influence behind The Rich Texan.
Ned Flanders is 60 years old. He looks so young because of the three C's: 1. Clean living 2. Chewing thoroughly 3. A daily dose of vitamin Church
It is revealed in The Simpsons: Barthood (2015) that the sailboat painting hanging above the Simpson's couch was done by Lisa.
Actor Frank Sivero attempted to sue 20th Century Fox for $250 million because he claimed Fat Tony sidekick, "Louie" was based on the character "Frankie Carbone" from 1990 Scorsese Mobster movie "GoodFellas". He claimed he had "created" Frankie Carbone especially for GoodFellas, however due to the lack of proof the lawsuit was dismissed.
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.
The French-Canadian version (different from the France-dubbed version) has many particularities: it is the longest TV series dubbed in Quebec, for continuity, which is quite rare, as the producers are very impressed by its quality. Most of the voice actors are still there (Marge's voice is done by veteran actress Beatrice Picard, who starred in Quebec-made sitcoms in the 60s-80s). At one point, some actors died (among them, Benoit Marleau and Jean-Louis Millette, who made voice-dubbing in most TV series and movies) and were appropriately replaced. Veteran actor Hubert Gagnon (Homer's French Canadian voice) did replace one actor who did Homer's father Abraham voice (as opposed to Dan Castellaneta, who did both for the entire series). Though many fans ask ed the producers to re-do a season one DVD with the French-Canadian version, only the France dubbed version exists up to this day, for the North American DVD.
The current voice actor of Professor Frink, tried out and then stuttered a "MoHOiVin" sound and has caught on to how his character acts.
Montgomery Scott, the Scottish chief engineer aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek (1966) is reported to be an influence behind Groundkeeper Willie.
Ronald McDonald, the mascot of the McDonald's restaurant chain is a major influence behind Krusty the Clown, especially the Krusty Burger fast-food restaurant chain.
Grandad Trotter from the long-running BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) is considered an influence behind Abe Simpson.
Emperor Palpatine, the antagonist of the "Star Wars" films is considered an influence behind Montgomery Burns.
The character of "Sideshow" Bob Terwilliger shares a name with the Dr. Terwilliger from the Dr. Seuss film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953).
The Simpsons contains multiple references to Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange (1971)". Two of them occur in season four and both are referenced by Bart. The most notable and obvious one however is in Season 26, The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXV (2014) in a segment entitled A Clockwork Yellow. During this segment there is also a reference to many other Kubrick films such as "Eyes Wide Shut (1999)", "2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)", "Full Metal Jacket (1987)" and "Barry Lyndon (1975)".
McBain, the movie action hero, Rainier Wolfcastle plays in the "McBain" movies is heavily influenced by the James Bond films, "Dirty Harry" and Arnold Schwarzenegger action flicks.
Vito Corleone, the head of the Corleone crime family in The Godfather (1972) is a strong influence behind Fat Tony.
Frank Spencer, the accident-prone protagonist of the 70s BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973) is considered an influence behind Homer Simpson.
Wayne Arnold, the antagonist of The Wonder Years (1988) is considered a strong influence behind Bart Simpson.
Wilson, Tim Taylor's next-door neighbor in Home Improvement (1991) was a influence behind Ned Flanders.
Hugh Parkfield from Season 6's Lisa's Wedding (#6.19) was named and modeled after British actor Hugh Grant.
Mike Reiss came up with Bart's phrase yoink whenever he swipes something from someone, from the sound effect from The Flintstones when Barney would swipe something from Fred.
The Clown Without Pity horror story from "The Simpsons" (1989) {Treehouse of Horror III (#4.5)} is a parody of "The Twilight Zone: Living Doll (1963)".
Patty's hair and head look vaguely like a letter "P" when viewed from and angle or her profile, and SelMa's hair looks like a letter M when viewing her face. This is how you can tell Patty and Selma apart.
Doug McClure is a strong influence behind Troy McClure.
Paul Pfeiffer, Kevin Arnold's best friend in The Wonder Years (1988) is a strong influence behind Milhouse Van Houten.
Before the episode The Simpsons: Simpsorama (2014) character a character from Futurama (1999) made a cameo. In the episode The Simpsons: HOMR (2001) the lead character Phillip Fry made cameo in the couch gag.
Spoilers
The Many Deaths of Hans Moleman:
- Forced off the road by Homer; flies off a cliff.
- Otto runs his AMC Gremlin off the road; his car stops narrowly missing a tree and then explodes anyway.
- His thick eyeglasses act as a magnifying glass and set him on fire.
- Is executed in Springfield after Homer eats his last meal.
- Burns, on an ether-induced hallucination, drills into Moleman's head thinking he's the Lucky Charms leprechaun.
- Engulfed by an anti-escape orb as Marge escapes from the Movementarians.
- Blown up by an explosive éclair meant to poison Homer.
- Knocked out by Homer in jail with a book. (possible death)
- The French neutron bomb Springfield, presumably killing Hans along with most everyone else.
- Hauled away by thugs at the retirement home when he makes a comment about the senior-edited Gone with the Wind (1939) they are watching. (he is possibly killed)
- Seen trapped in the phone booth in the bird sanctuary (which becomes a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963)). We don't see his death, but if you've seen The Birds (1963), you know his fate is sealed.
- Drowned in quicksand in "Simpsons Tall Tales".
- Accidentally run over by Homer at the end of "The Parent Rap".
- In Treehouse of Horror
- 15 when Ned predicts Molemans death, Ned saves Moleman but then drops him into a manhole where there are lots of crocodiles.
There have been several events involving regular Simpson characters that remained permanently part of the series after their respected episodes, such as Apu and Manjula's marriage and their having octuplets, and the death of Maude Flanders to name a few such events.