"The Simpsons" (1989)TV series 1989-????

Creator:

Matt Groening

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

Release Date:

17 December 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Tagline:

On Your Marks, Get Set, D'Oh!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Sisterhood | Cartoon | Husband Wife Relationship | Human Relationship | Parental Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 97 wins & 101 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. May 11	7:30 PM	Fox	Midnight Towboy	#19.7
Sun. May 11	8:00 PM	Fox	Mona Leaves-a	#19.19

Cast

Dan Castellaneta	...	Homer Simpson / ... (418 episodes, 1989-2008)
Julie Kavner	...	Marge Simpson / ... (418 episodes, 1989-2008)
Nancy Cartwright	...	Bart Simpson / ... (418 episodes, 1989-2008)
Yeardley Smith	...	Lisa Simpson / ... (418 episodes, 1989-2008)
Harry Shearer	...	Ned Flanders / ... (417 episodes, 1989-2008)
Hank Azaria	...	Chief Wiggum / ... (409 episodes, 1989-2008)
Pamela Hayden	...	Milhouse Van Houten / ... (342 episodes, 1989-2008)
Tress MacNeille	...	Agnes Skinner / ... (292 episodes, 1990-2008)
Karl Wiedergott	...	Additional Voices / ... (185 episodes, 1998-2008)

Runtime:

22 min (400 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

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

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (seasons 3- | Stereo (season 1-2)

Certification:

China:(Banned) (Banned from Prime Time TV) | Canada:G (Quebec) (DVD) | Denmark:11 (DVD releases) | Netherlands:AL | Ireland:12 (DVD rating) (seasons 2, 4, 5, and 6) | Singapore:NC-16 (season 6) (season 10) | USA:TV-14 (some episodes) | Italy:T | Australia:M (4 episodes) | South Korea:15 | Ireland:PG (DVD rating) (seasons 1, 3, and 7) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (DVD) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (DVD) | Ireland:G (Some episodes) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G (some episodes) | Australia:PG | Brazil:12 (some episodes) | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-12 (some episodes) | Finland:K-7 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-8 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Japan:U | Mexico:A | Portugal:M/12 (some episodes) | Portugal:M/6 | Spain:7 | UK:12 (some episodes) | UK:PG | UK:U (some episodes) | USA:TV-G (some episodes) | USA:TV-PG | Australia:PG (Season 2+ DVD) | Australia:G (Season 1 DVD)

Filming Locations:

Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

When Homer is accused of sexual harassment, a show called "Rock Bottom" does an exposé on him that falsely portrays him as guilty. They later quickly scroll a list of apologies down the screen. Here they are:

• 1. "Peoples' Choice Award" is America's greatest honor.
• 2. Styrofoam is not made from kittens.
• 3. The U.F.O. was a paper plate.
• 4. The nerds on the internet are not geeks.
• 5. The word "cheese" is not funny in and of itself.
• 6. The older Flanders boy is Todd, not Rod.
• 7. Lyndon Johnson did not provide the voice of Yosemite Sam.
• 8. If you are reading this you have no life.
• 9. Roy Rogers was not buried inside his horse.
• 10. The other U.F.O. was an upside-down salad spinner.
• 11. Our universities are not "hotbeds" of anything.
• 12. Mr. Dershowitz did not literally have four eyes.
• 13. Our viewers are not pathetic, sexless food tubes.
• 14. Audrey Hepburn never weighed 400 pounds.
• 15. The "Cheers" (1982) gang is not a real gang.
• 16. Salt water does not "chase the thirsties away".
• 17. Licking an electrical outlet will not turn you into a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger.
• 18. Cats do not eventually turn into dogs.
• 19. Bullets do not bounce off of fat guys.
• 20. Recycling does not deplete the ozone.
• 21. Everything is 10% fruit juice.
• 22. The flesh-eating virus does not hide in ice cream.
• 23. Janet Reno is evil.
• 24. V8 juice is not 1/8 gasoline.
• 25. Ted Koppel is a robot.
• 26. Women aren't from Venus, and men aren't from Mars.
• 27. Fleiss does floss.
• 28. Quayle is familiar with common bathroom procedure.
• 29. Bart is bad to the bone.
• 30. Godfry Jones' wife is cheating on him. (note: Jones was the host of "Rock Bottom")
• 31. The Beatles haven't reunited to enter kick boxing contests.
• 32. The "Bug" on your TV screen can see into your home.
• 33. Everyone on TV is better than you.
• 34. The people who are writing this have no life.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: ... almost everything. This is a comedy animation series, and while efforts are certainly made to create a vaguely consistent setting in which mostly consistent characters live and work, the emphasis is clearly on laughs. Individual episodes must be consistent within themselves, but rigid continuity between episodes is unnecessary. Indeed, additional humor has been wrung, during the life of the show, from the very fact that the episodes are inconsistent with each other. No further "In one episode they say... but then in another episode they say..." goofs can be accepted.

Quotes:

Homer: I want to set the record straight: I thought the cop was a prostitute.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Bride of the Monster (#5.23)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

'The Itchy & Scratchy Show' Theme

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.