These Secrets About The Simpsons Will Make You Say Ay Caramba!

As someone who has spent countless hours immersed in the vibrant and witty world of The Simpsons, I must say that this show has been an integral part of my life. From its humble beginnings as a short sketch on The Tracey Ullman Show to the global phenomenon it is today, it’s fascinating to see how it has predicted the future, influenced pop culture, and even led to real-life marriages among its voice actors!

“D’oh!”

“Don’t have a cow, man!”

“Eat my shorts.”

We can continue, but by now, I assume you’ve grasped our reference and know which TV series we’re alluding to. If you didn’t instantly recognize these well-known phrases from The Simpsons, it makes us question where you’ve been for the past 35 years.

As a lifestyle expert, I’m excited to share some trivia with you! Did you know that it’s been over three decades since Fox’s first family graced our screens? That’s right, December 17 marks the anniversary of their debut, making history as the very first series on Fox to complete a season among the top 30. Since then, Matt Groening’s groundbreaking creation has churned out approximately 780 episodes (and counting)! This makes it the longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, in terms of both seasons and number of episodes. Quite a feat, isn’t it?

Over time, it’s transformed into a cultural sensation, accumulating 37 Emmys and a Peabody Award, as well as inspiring a successful movie adaptation, numerous video games, a ride at Universal Studios, and an ongoing discussion about which season signaled the start of its quality decline in its third decade. Oh, and did I mention it’s hosted by quite a few famous faces, so many that Groening can no longer keep count?

And Groening admitted he never anticipated The Simpsons would have this kind of legacy.

He remarked, “Honestly, we never thought our show would endure for this length of time.” When we first began, it was uncertain if even the Fox network would persist, let alone our program. The Fox network was an experiment, and they gave us significant creative freedom.

To celebrate 35 years of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, along with all the beloved Springfield characters we’ve come to cherish, let’s toast at Moe’s Tavern (or your preferred donut shop) and delve into these intriguing facts about this iconic series!

The Simpson family made their debut as a series of cartoon shorts in “The Tracey Ullman Show” back in 1987. This was after the show’s creators initially turned down Matt Groening’s idea to adapt his comic strip, “Life in Hell,” into animated shorts. In his own words, Groening quickly drew the Simpson family while he waited for a pitch meeting, presumably seeing potential in this impromptu creation.

2. Groening gave names to all his characters based on his own relatives, using Bart in place of himself. But why use Bart? Because it’s an anagram of ‘brat’. In other words, he chose this name as a fun play on the term ‘brat’, which means mischievous child.

3. In no time, they (the Simpsons characters) became the standout feature of Ullman and producer James L. Brooks, who had brought Groening on board. Recognizing their potential, Brooks decided they deserved a series of their own. Eventually, he managed to secure a clause in his contract with Fox that guaranteed them creative freedom over the show’s content.

4. The family in “The Simpsons” was made yellow intentionally by Matt Groening to catch viewers’ attention as they quickly switched between channels using their remotes. He shared with the BBC that an animator suggested the yellow color, and upon seeing it, he exclaimed, “This is perfect!” When you swiftly scan through channels and spot a burst of yellow, you will recognize it as The Simpsons.

Initially, the complete premiere episode titled “Some Enchanted Evening” wasn’t aired until May 1990, serving as the final episode of the first season instead of its opening one due to animation issues that postponed the series debut from fall to December 17.

6. Groening designed each member of the Simpson family so they could be easily identified by their unique silhouettes, which are characterized by their distinct hairstyles and facial shapes.

7. Danny Elfman, lead singer and composer of Oingo Boingo, was asked by Groening to produce a “retro-style” theme for the opening credits. The well-known tune, considered one of Elfman’s most successful works in his career, was completed by him in just two days.

8. The extended intro of the show was created to minimize animation per episode, but three components alter from one episode to another: the chalkboard message scribbled by Bart, the tune played during Lisa’s saxophone solo, and the closing cartoon skit on the couch, which can fluctuate in length depending on the requirements of that specific episode.

9. Groening decided to set the series in a city named Springfield due to its frequent occurrence across America, appearing in at least 29 states. However, he admitted to Smithsonian Magazine in 2012 that it was actually named after Springfield, Oregon, close to his hometown of Portland. He deliberately kept the fictional town’s state unspecified, explaining to the magazine that “I thought, ‘This will be fun; everyone will think it’s their own Springfield.’ And they do.

10. The Bush family weren’t fond of the Simpsons TV show. In October 1990, former First Lady Barbara Bush famously labeled it as “the dumbest thing she had ever seen,” which prompted the show’s creators to write a response from Marge Simpson defending their efforts. Afterward, Mrs. Bush apologized. In early 1992, during his re-election campaign speech, President George H.W. Bush stated, “We will strive to strengthen American families, making them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.” The creators retaliated in the show’s subsequent episode, a rerun, with a scene depicting the family watching the speech while Bart quips, “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the Depression, too.

11. For a significant part of its broadcast, the program held a regular spot on Sunday evenings. Its early success on this day, managing to rank among the top 30 highest-rated shows in its debut season on Fox, led the network to shift it to Thursdays. This was where it aired against The Cosby Show, which was then TV’s most popular show. It stayed on Thursdays until season six, at which point it returned to Sundays again.

Yearly Smith, the voice behind Lisa, is the sole primary cast member who consistently voices a single character on a regular basis.

13. Prior to the 17th episode of Season 2, Fox and the production team concealed the identities of the voice actors, even closing recording sessions and refusing to disclose images of the artists. However, with “Old Money,” they chose to reveal each actor’s role as the producers believed the cast deserved recognition for their work.

Prior to 1998, the six primary actors earned just $30,000 per episode. A pay disagreement ensued, with the network contemplating swapping them for new actors until Matt Groening intervened to back his cast. As a result, their earnings rose to $125,000 per episode. Subsequently, in April 2004, following a month-long strike during which the cast boycotted readings in an attempt to secure a larger share of the show’s growing income, their salaries climbed to between $250,000 and $360,000.

2011 saw Fox considering the cancellation of the show unless they could reduce production costs. This led to the cast agreeing to a 30% salary reduction from their previous earnings of $400,000 per episode, as a result of contract negotiations in 2008. Now, their salary stands at over $300,000 per episode.

The original voice behind Maggie Simpson’s pacifier-sucking is Groening himself. When she said “Daddy!” for the first time on the show in 1992, it was Elizabeth Taylor who provided her voice.)

17. In 1990, the album “The Simpsons Sing the Blues” saw its release, with “Do the Bartman” being the lead single. This song was initially thought to have been penned by a fan of the show, Michael Jackson. However, it was later revealed that the piece was actually written by Bryan Loren, a friend of Jackson’s, according to Matt Groening. Despite this, in 1998, Matt Groening acknowledged that Jackson was not only a co-writer but also a co-producer of the song due to contractual restrictions. When Jackson eventually appeared as a guest star in an episode, he was credited under the alias “John Jay Smith,” and Kipp Lennon, a sound-alike, provided his singing voice for the character.

18. It wasn’t just Jackson who appeared under a false name as a guest star. During the second season, Dustin Hoffman disguised himself as Mr. Bergstrom, Lisa’s substitute teacher. Afraid of being associated with a cartoon character, he opted to use the pseudonym Sam Etic, which is a clever twist on the word semitic.

19. Krusty the Clown and Homer share a striking resemblance because the original idea behind “The Simpsons” was to depict a son who lacked respect for his father but admired a clown who bore an uncanny likeness to his dad, as Matt Groening explained. Initially, there were plans to unveil Homer as Krusty in disguise, but the concept was deemed too intricate for the series and abandoned.

20. Back in 2003, an episode exposed Homer’s email as ChunkyLover53@aol.com. Interestingly, the writer of that episode, Matt Selman, pre-registered this address. As soon as the show aired, the inbox was flooded with messages and reached its maximum capacity within just a minute.

As a connoisseur of lifestyle and pop culture, I find it fascinating to delve into the origins of commonly used expressions. For instance, the phrase “D’oh!”, which has now found its way into the esteemed Oxford English Dictionary, is often depicted in scripts as an “annoyed grunt.

22. Almost all characters in “The Simpsons” are sketched with just four fingers, but the exception is a single figure who has five: God.

23. The series often seems to have a gift for foretelling events. As early as the year 2000, an episode titled “Bart to the Future” foresaw Donald Trump serving as President of the United States at some point, leaving the country in financial ruins. In 1998’s “When You Dish Upon a Star,” it was predicted that 20th Century Fox would eventually become part of The Walt Disney Company, which actually occurred 19 years later.

1992 saw a lawsuit filed by Ullman against Fox, alleging that her show had contributed significantly to the popularity of “The Simpsons” and thus she was entitled to a portion of its earnings. However, this claim did not hold up in court.

Back in 1997, I had the chance to witness a remarkable feat – the construction of a life-sized replica of the Simpsons’ iconic house, right here in Henderson, Nevada. This project was a collaboration between Fox and Pepsi for a grand contest.

26. The series has been translated into Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), both French (standard and Quebecois), and Arabic. Due to Islamic traditions, Homer swaps beer for soda and hot dogs for Egyptian beef sausages in the Arabic adaptation, where he is known as Omar Shamshoom.

27. Philippe Peythieu and Veronique Augereau, the voices behind the French dubs of Homer and Marge, crossed paths during auditions and tied the knot a decade later.

28. Homer is the only character who has dialogue in every single episode.

In the year 1999, Bart was named among Time’s 100, a list featuring the 100 most impactful individuals of the century. Interestingly, he was the sole fictional personality featured on this prestigious list.

30. It would require more than two weeks if you were to view each episode from a series that has been airing for the past three decades.

2024-12-20 19:24

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