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Here you will find numerous trivia tidbits regarding The Simpsons.
The show grew from 30-second segments that aired between comedy sketches on "The Tracey Ullman Show". In 1992, Ullman sued unsuccessfully to earn a share of the show's merchandise related profit.
Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, first tried out for Lisa's voice.
This is one of those series that doesn't have a specific first episode. The first episode created was "Some Enchanted Evening" (pushed to the end of the first season because scenes were being re-animated). It was first aired on May 13, 1990. The pilot episode was "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (aired December 17, 1989). However, the series premiere was "Bart the Genius" which aired on January 14, 1990.
Many of the characters are named after series creator Matt Groening's family and relatives, including Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie, which are the real names of his parents and younger sisters.
The main characters were given a yellow coloring to attract the attention of channel surfers.
Characters' full names: Lisa Marie Simpson, Bartholomew Jojo Simpson, and Homer Jay Simpson.
Marge and Lisa have four eyelashes while Maggie has three eyelashes.
Homer (Dan Castellaneta), Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) are the only characters to have dialogue in every episode. Marge (Julie Kavner) also appeared in every episode, but she did not deliver any dialogue in the episode 'Krusty Gets Kancelled'.
Although Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa appear in every episode, there are at least two episodes where Maggie does not appear: "The Last Temptation of Homer" and "Lisa's Date with Density".
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" 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.
In the opening credits, the cash register shows $847.63 when Maggie is "scanned" (the figure was taken from a survey 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 138th Episode Spectacular", the credit sequence is paused and the machine is shown to read "NRA 4EVER".
Yeardley Smith (Lisa) and Marcia Wallace (Edna Krabappel) are the only cast members who do only one voice on a regular basis.
The original voice of Homer on "The Tracey Ullman Show" 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."
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).
Executive producer James L. Brooks wanted the 4th season episode "Kamp Krusty" to be "The Simpsons Movie" but when the show's crew had trouble getting the episode up to normal show length, the plan was dropped.
Matt Groening based the character Bart Simpson on the character of Dennis in "Dennis the Menace", which he watched as a child but was disappointed that Dennis was not as mischievous as he was in the comic strip.
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.
Krusty the Clown's real name is revealed as Herschel Schmoikel Krustofski and Herschel Pinkus Yerucham Krustofski in different episodes.
Hank Azaria has said that he conceived the voice of Moe as a bad imitation of Al Pacino. While Azaria has claimed in interviews that this is how Moe's voice was created, the character's voice was actually originated by voice actor Chris Latta (also sometimes credited as Christopher Collins).
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 Azaria's roommate in college.
Chief Wiggum and Apu were created by Hank Azaria. According to Azaria, Apu was created during times when Hank 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" and is named after the title character in Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy.
Moe's Tavern is based on a real bar called Fireside. It is located near Loyola Marymount University where David Mirkin went to college.
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".
Bart's birthday is April 1st. If Lisa is 2 years and 38 days younger, her birthday would be February 22nd.
Milhouse says that he is three months younger than Bart.
Ralph Wiggum was named after Ralph Kramden on "The Honeymooners" because the character was intended to be a loudmouthed, smaller version of Homer. He wasn't established as Chief Wiggum's son until "I Love Lisa", the fifteenth episode of the fourth season.
Kang and Kodos (the aliens) are named for two "Star Trek" characters - Kang was a Klingon warrior, and Kodos was an Adolf Hitler-like mass murderer.
Fat Tony's real name was given as William "Fat Tony" Williams in "Bart the Murderer", but in every episode after, his name is given as Anthony "Fat Tony" d'Amico.
In one episode, mobster Fat Tony mentions that he "hasn't cried this hard since I paid money to see Godfather III. Joe Mantegna, who plays Fat Tony, played Joey Zasa in "The Godfather: Part III".
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's massive appetite for prescription drugs.
The character Professor John Frink is named after a producer of the show and based on Jerry Lewis's character in "The Nutty Professor".
The salesman character Gil who can't catch a break is based on Jack Lemmon in "Glengarry Glen Ross".
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.
While the character of Hans Moleman appeared a few times in various background scenes, he made his first speaking appearance in the episode "Principal Charming" in the second season. At this point, his name, as shown on a driver's license, was "Ralph Melish" (a name previously used by "Monty Python's Flying Circus"). 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.
The Many Deaths of Hans Moleman:- Forced off the road by Homer; flies of a cliff
- Otto runs his AMC Gremlin off the road; it hits a tree and explodes
- 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" they are watching (he is possibly killed)
- Seen trapped in the phone booth in the bird sanctuary (which becomes a parody of Hitchcock's "The Birds")
- Drowned in quicksand in "Simpsons Tall Tales"
The Simpsons' home address has been mentioned several times and has not been the same:- In "Blood Feud" - 94 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, USA
- In "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" - 59 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, TA
- In "Bart the Lover" - 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 "Bart vs. Australia" - 742 Evergreen Terrace
- In "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" - 742 Evergreen Terrace
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.
In 1997, The Simpsons broke "The Flintstones" record for longest-running prime time animated TV show. The show also holds the record for most guest stars in a television series.
In one episode, Principal Skinner reveals that his prisoner number in Vietnam was 24601. That same prisoner number was Hank Jennings' in "Twin Peaks" and Jean Valjean's in "Les Misérables".
Sideshow Bob also has the same prison number, as seen when he is corresponding with Selma while still in prison. ["Dear inmate #24601..."]
The motto for The Springfield Penitentiary is "If you committed murder, you'd be home by now!"
In "The Lastest Gun in the West" the bank robbers at the end of the episode are apparently using M41A Pulse Rifles from the movie "Aliens,".
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).
Carl's last name is Carlson (BABF12) and Lenny's last name is Leonard (EABF14).
The squeaky voiced teenager's name was finally unveiled in a deleted scene from the 5th season of the Simpsons: Jeremy.
People banned for life in the Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop are: Bart, Milhouse, Sideshow Bob, Nelson, and Matt Groening.
The name of Bart's principal, Seymour Skinner, is taken from behavior specialist B.F. Skinner. Harry Shearer claims his idea for the voice of the principal was partially based on Charles Kuralt.
Sideshow Bob is voiced by "Frasier" star Kelsey Grammer. In "Brother from Another Series", Cecil, Sideshow Bob's brother, is featured, and is voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who plays Frasier's brother, Niles, in "Frasier". Cecil also mentions Maris, Niles's never-seen wife, which is said ironically, since Bart is covering Cecil's eyes.
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.
Some of the store and place names around town:- Gun Shop: BloodBath and Beyond
- Pastry Shop: The French Confection
- Investing service: IPO Friday's
- Museum: Louvre: American Style
- Family Restaurant: Texas Cheesecake Depository
- Soup Kitchen: Helter Shelter
- Seafood Restaurant: The Fryin' Dutchman
- Middle eastern restaurant: Two Guys from Kabul
- Discount Store: Try 'n' Save
- Dog Obedience Schools: Eastside Ruff-Form School, Professor Von Bowser's Sanitarium For Dogs
- Music shop: Suicide Notes and Tommy Toots
- New Age Shop: Karmaceuticals
- Girls school: Saint Sebastian's School for Wicked Girls
- Repo man: Repo Depot
- Outdoor Clothing Store: Malaria Zone
- Gourmet Food store: Eatie Gourmet's
- Toy Store: Valley of the Dolls
- Roach Motel: The Ritz Carlton Hotel for Vagrants
- Comic book store: Androids Dungeon
- Air conditioner store: It Blows
- Boys' Clothing Store: Wee Monsieur
- Law Office: I Can't Believe It's A Law Firm!
- Healthcare Facility- HMO (Hibbert Moneymaking Organization)
- Joke/Novelty Shop: Yuckingham Palace
- Jewelry store: The Family Jewels
- Shop selling casserole dishes: Stoner's Pot Palace
- The eye care center: Eye Carumba
- Donut Shop: Lard Lad Donuts
- Toy Store: J.R.R. Toykins
- Toy store in Chinatown: Toys "L" Us
- Junkyard: Uriah's Heap
- Girls' Clothing Store: Saks Fifth Grade
- Many of the characters are named after major streets in Portland, Oregon, where creator Matt Groening grew up. Examples: Flanders, Lovejoy, Terwilliger, and Kearney
Three of The Beatles have appeared on the show - George Harrison ("Homer's Barbershop Quartet"), Ringo Starr ("Brush with Greatness") and Paul McCartney ("Lisa the Vegetarian").
When The Who appeared on "The Simpsons", Pete Townshend was portrayed by his brother Paul Townshend.
In the episode "The Itchy and Scratchy Movie", Dustin Hoffman and Michael Jackson are said to have made pseudonymous appearances in a movie. This was a inside jab at the fact that both Jackson and Hoffman had provided voices during the first few seasons of The Simpsons, but neither was credited under his real name.
Matt Groening has confirmed that Michael Jackson did provide the voice (under the name John Jay Smith) for the character bearing his name in the episode "Stark Raving Dad". He did not do any singing which was done by an impersonator. Dustin Hoffman's appearance was as Mr. Burgstrum from the episode "Lisa's Substitute" where he was credited as Sam Etic.
Elizabeth Taylor, Mark Hamill, and Joe Mantegna are the only actors to play both themselves and a fictional character on the series.
The very first Itchy & Sratchy cartoon is called "Steamboat Itchy", a reference to the very first Mickey Mouse cartoon "Steamboat Willie".
Homer's trademark was the expressive "D'oh!". After a few seasons, that particular word was finally considered valid, accepted and finally appeared in the online version of The Oxford Dictionary. According to Dan Castellaneta, the word means "annoyed grunt" as it was written in the script. He came out with the word "Dooooh..." from Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and made it quicker for animation.
The satirical take on Rio de Janeiro in "Blame It on Lisa", in which the streets of the city are teeming with monkeys, rats, thieving orphans, kidnapping cabbies and oversexed children's show hosts dancing suggestively on Carnival floats, provoked a threatened lawsuit by the Rio board of tourism against the producers of the show. In response, executive producer James L. Brooks released a statement saying "we apologize to the lovely city and people of Rio de Janeiro," but added, "If that doesn't settle the issue, Homer Simpson offers to take on the President of Brazil on Fox Celebrity Boxing." Rio tourism board president Jose Eduardo Guinle proceeded with exploring legal action, but eventually got over it. The show's writers, however, did not. After board spokesman Sergio Cavalcanti told Reuters that Guinle was most offended by "the idea of the monkeys, the image that Rio de Janeiro was a jungle", the writers made a running gag of it. In addition to Homer's reference to "the monkey problem getting worse" in Rio in "The Regina Monologues", Krusty the Clown also reveals in "Mr Spritz Goes to Washington" that immigration officials are constantly hounding him because his monkey sidekick, Mr. Teeny, is from Brazil, adding, "His uncle was the Head Monkey on the Bureau of Tourism."
In a episode where Maggie is in her crib, Maggie is seen holding a bunny which is the main character in Matt Groening's comic strip, "Life in Hell".
Celebrities have been known to be so eager to make a guest appearance on The Simpsons 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.
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.
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). Deutsch would unfailingly respond to the prank calls with a stream of cursing, abuse and threats.
In one episode a letter to Mr. Burns from the Simpsons does not show the state the Simpsons live in, but shows Mr. Burns as living in Springfield, New Jersey.
In the episode "Lisa the Greek" 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.
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 barber shop in Springfield is called "Hairy Sheerers" - named for Simpsons voice actor Harry Shearer.
The name of the music store next to Moe's is King Toots.
Most of the main cast of "Cheers" has appeared on the 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" cast members voice their old characters. However, Grammer's character of Frasier does not speak.
In the episode "Lisa's Wedding", the full name of the man she is engaged to is Hugh St. John Alastair Parkfield.
In the episode "A Tale of Two Springfields", Springfield is split into two area codes, 636 and 939. This would put half of Springfield in Missouri and the other half in Puerto Rico.
Donald Sutherland guest starred in the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast". He also appeared in the 1975 movie "The Day of the Locust", where he played a character named Homer Simpson.
In the episode "Homer3" (Treehouse of Horror) where Homer enters the third dimension at the back of the bookcase, you can see the numbers and letters 46 72 69 6E 6B 20 72 75 6C 65 73 21 float by. This is actually hexidecimal code for "Frink rules!" (you can check by putting this code in your browser bar (only works in Internet Explorer): 'about:%46%72%69%6E%6B%20%72%75%6C%65%73%21').
In the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" episodes, Mr Burns collapses on a sundial pointing his arms at S and W - which to his eyes look like M and S, identifying the initials of the shooter. This resulted in several characters having their names permanently expanded just for the sake of red herrings: Seymour Skinner's name was revealed as M. Seymour Skinner (it's written on a diploma behind his head in one scene); Moe the Bartender became Moe Szyslak; and Sideshow Mel's name was revealed as Melvin Van Horn, presumably to eliminate him (although it could have still been interpreted as not MS but SM - Sideshow Mel).
Members of the Springfield Fire Departement are: Otto, Apu, Barney, Chief Wiggum, Krusty, and Mrs. Van Houten.
The poem that Homer attempts to read in episode "The Way We Was" is the weird poem that Steve Martin recites in both "The Man with Two Brains" and "L.A. Story".
Matt Groening has stated that his initials appear in any animation of Homer Simpson. 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 last episode to feature the voice of the late Phil Hartman was "Bart the Mother" which aired September 27, 1998. In it, he voices Troy McClure in a nature video about birds.
In the episode "Marge in Chains", Marge is accused of shop lifting and hires Lionel Hutz, played by Phil Hartman, as her attorney. In the middle of the trial, Lionel gets an urge for whisky, so he calls his AA sponsor, David Crosby of Crosby Stills Nash and Young. When Crosby answers the phone he is looking at the CSNY emblem on an album, which Phil Hartman designed himself in the late 1970's.
In one episode the Simpsons' phone number is given as (939)-555-0113
In the episode "Lisa's Wedding", during Kent Brockman's news coverage, the list of celebrities who have been arrested:- The Baldwin Brothers Gang
- Dr. Brad Pitt
- John John John Kennedy
- George Burns
- Infamous Amos Grandson of Sam
- The Artist Formerly Known as ('Prince' 's symbol shown)
- Tim Allen, Jr.
- Senator and Mrs. Dracula
- The Artist Formerly Known as Buddy Hackett
- Madonnabots: Series K
- Sideshow Ralph Wiggum
- Martha Hitler
- Johnny Neutrino
In episode "Duffless", Lisa says she is laughing at a joke from "Herman's Head". Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa, was one of the stars of "Herman's Head".
In the episode "Radio Bart" Bruce Springsteen was originally asked to appear instead of Sting.
In "Uncle Homer's Day Care", if you pause the transition from the school lunch scene to the "Mitten" scene at just the right second, you can see a rough sketch of the shot of Bart drawn in pencil on normal paper.
In the episode "Behind the Laughter" a scene depicted Homer and the cast looking at an episode they just completed in which the family talk about visiting Delaware. Homer mutters to the director, "This'll be the last season." A few episodes later, the conversation about Delaware was actually worked into the show.
Penn Jillette & Teller's appearance in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" (Episode 11.6) has a rare moment for the duo: Teller, the almost-always silent one, seems to have a speaking part of five lines. But Teller did not provide his own voice for the character based on him in the episode. The voice attributed to Teller was that of a Simpsons cast-member. This has been confirmed by Teller, and several people who have spoken with him, or have watched the film Penn & Teller Get Killed, in which Teller speaks a few lines at the end.
As in most cartoons, the characters have only four fingers 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 "Homer the Heretic".
The footage of Ren & Stimpy in the episode "Brother from the Same Planet" was not taken from "The Ren & Stimpy Show" - it was created for the episode.
In the episode "Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes?" retired boxer Joe Frazier and Barney get into a fight. Originally Barney was going to win the fight but Frazier objected so the script was changed so that Barney lost.
In the episode where Homer hires a private detective to find out more about Lisa, Homer tells the private detective that his email address is chunkylover53@aol.com.
In the episode, "Bart's Comet", Kent Brockman shows a list of people that are gay. The list goes by very fast and is almost impossible to read. The names on the list are:- Matt Groening
- Ken Tsumura
- George Meyer
- Joel Kuwahara
- Bill Dakley
- Elizabeth Jacobs
- Josh Weinstein
- Jane O'Brien
- Annette Anderson
- Jennifer Crittenden
- Mike Scully
- Dominique Braud-Stiger
- Greg Daniels
- Joseph A. Boucher
- Al Jean
- Ping Warner
- Mike Reiss
- Craig Feeney
- Richard Raynis
- Don Gilbert
- David Mirkin
- Jacqueline Atkins
- Chris Ledesma
- Mark McJimsey
- David Silverman
Although it was believed that Dr. Marvin Monroe was killed off in 1995, he reappeared in "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" (FABF05), in which he tells Marge that he has been "very sick".
Before he opened The Leftorium in the third season, Ned Flanders described his occupation as "the pharmaceutical game".
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.
According to the Simpsons creators, their most frequently parodied film is "Citizen Kane" followed by the films of Stanley Kubrick, especially "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Shining", and "A Clockwork Orange".
The "Yeeeeees!" character is based on a character played by Frank Nelson on "The Jack Benny Program" on radio and television who would make himself known by that distinctive "Yeeeeees!"
In one episode Bart cheats at a marathon by sneaking into the race at the end disguised as an Italian entrant; in his victory speech he cries out "I use up all of my English!". This is the opening line from Roberto Benigni's Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actor (it was a reference to the fact that he'd already won Best Foreign Language Film earlier in the evening).
Bender, the robot in "Futurama", made an appearance in the episodes "Future-Drama" (GABF12) "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" (DABF20) and "Missionary: Impossible" (BABF11) with other Fox Network characters.
In the episode "The Front", a cartoon writer for the Itchy & Scratchy Show expresses frustration at the show and says he wants to start a sitcom about a sassy robot. Six years later, Matt Groening & Co. made "Futurama"'s main character Bender, a sassy robot.
Series creator Matt Groening had his name removed in protest from the credits of the episode "A Star Is Burns", in which Jay Sherman from "The Critic" visits Springfield.
Homer's e-mail address chunkylover53@aol.com, as seen in the episode "The Dad Who Knew Too Little", was registered by writer-producer Matt Selman, who also replied to e-mails from fans testing it.
"Barting Over" 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.
On the show, Bart's shirt is almost always orange. Yet, on most Simpsons merchandise and memorabilia, Bart's shirt is light blue in color. There are also products featuring Bart in a red shirt, though these seem to be less common.
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)".
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.
Ranked #6 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!" (May 30, 2004 issue).
Homer Simpson was ranked #1 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 10 Biggest Brats" (March 27, 2005 issue).
Ranked at #1 in multiple Channel 4 TV polls in the United Kingdom - "The 100 Greatest TV Characters"(2001), "The 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows" (2001) and "The 100 Greatest Cartoons" (2005).
Springfield is 678 miles from Mexico City and 2,653 miles away from Orlando, Florida. Entertainingly, both cannot be true.
Homer's character was ranked #35 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (June 20, 2004 issue).
The official city motto for Springfield is "Corruptus in Extremis".
The Simpsons have usually had a Betamax VCR, and an 8-Track player in Homer's car.
Many people objected to the lyrics in the New Orleans song from the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge". In response to this, Bart's lines on the chalkboard the next week read "I will not defame New Orleans."
Van Halen made a brief appearance during the "Behind the Laughter" episode, in which Willie Nelson states that his plan to get the Simpsons back together also included getting Sammy Hagar to make amends with Van Halen. On March 26, 2004, Van Halen officially announced that Hagar was once again the lead singer for the band.
In the episode "Bart vs Australia", Lisa and Marge are buying souvenirs from an Australian shop, Lisa asks Marge if she can buy a Didgeridoo to play. In Australian Aboriginal tradition, women are not allowed to play a Didgeridoo.
End credits to "The Poke of Zorro", (in the episode "E-I-E-I-D'oh"):- Zorro - John Byner
- Robot Zorro - Shawn Wayans
- Mrs. Zorro - Rita Rudner
- Scarlet Pimpernel - Curtis "Booger" Armstrong
- King Arthur - Cheech Marin
- Man in the Iron Mask - Gina Gershon
- Wise Nun - Posh Spice
- Stupid Nun - Meryl Streep
- Time Traveler #1 - Stone Cold Steve Austin
- Orangutan at Dance - "Puddles"
- Gay-Seeming Prince - Spalding Gray
- Man Beating Mule - Eric Roberts
- Mule Beating Man - "Gus"
- Hiccupping Narrator - Pele
- President Van Buren - Robert Evans
- Corky - Anthony Hopkins
- Voice of Magic Taco - James Earl Jones
- The Producers would like to thank: Film Board of Canada, The Philadelphia Flyers, The Makers of Whip Balm, Mr. Robert Guccione, The Teamsters Pension Fund, AAA, Best Bail Bonds, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis "Booger" Armstrong)
In "Simpson and Delilah", Homer cures his baldness with an expensive product called Dimoxonil. This is a play on the word monoxodil, a standard ingredient in such real-life baldness cures as Rogaine.
In the German version, Uter is from Switzerland.
The telephone number at Moe's Tavern is 764-8437, or SMITHERS. This was revealed in the episode "Homer the Smithers" from season 7 when Mr. Burns tries to call Smithers but does not know his phone number. Naturally, SMITHERS was his only guess.
In "Treehouse of Horror III", one of the segments, "Dial Z for Zombies" has Bart accidentally read a spell that raises the dead. The magic words he reads are actually the names of various condom brands.
Homer Simpson was named #5 by Bravo TV's "100 Greatest TV Characters of All Time".
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.
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.
To celebrate the Simpsons' tenth anniversary in 1999, Entertainment Weekly asked Matt Groening to select his ten favorite episodes of the show. His choices were:- 1. "Bart the Daredevil"(1990)
- 2. "Life on the Fast Lane" (1990)
- 3. "Much Apu About Nothing" (1996)
- 4. "A Streetcar Named Marge" (1992)
- 5. "In Marge We Trust" (1997)
- 6. "Homer's Enemy" (1997)
- 7. "Treehouse of Horror VII" (1996)
- 8. "Natural Born Kissers" (1998)
- 9. "Krusty Gets Busted" (1990)
- 10. "There's No Disgrace Like Home" (1990)
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