The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom. It was created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show started on December 17, 1989 and after 2026 over 800 episodes have aired in 38 seasons. The show was in its 38th season in 2026. As a full-length movie, The Simpsons Movie, was released on July 27, 2007 as a celebration of the franchise. It is aimed at the whole family.[dubious–discuss]
The comedy takes place in the fictional town of Springfield, although it is speculated[by whom?] that its location may correspond to the real-life cities of Springfield, Oregon (a city near where Groening grew up) or Springfield, Wyoming, from the adventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Homer's name is an Homerous.[clarification needed] His full name is Homer Jay Simpson. Bart's name is an anagram of Brat. His full name is Bartholomew Jo-Jo Simpson. This TV show has a yellow skinned cartoon family. In 1998, Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife, resulting in his characters being removed from the show. In 2000, Ned Flanders' wife, Maude Flanders was killed off. Also in 2000, Barney Gumble became sober. In 2002, the production of The Simpsons had switched from cels to digital ink and paint. During that time, The Simpsons had suffering of franchise fatigue.
History
The television show The Simpsons was originally shown as short shows on The Tracey Ullman Show. Fox then decided to give them their own show in 1989. It has been tremendously successful since onwards.
Seasons of The Simpsons have an average length of 22 episodes.
Elements of the show
Chalkboard gag
Many episodes begin with a scene of Springfield Elementary School, where Bart Simpson is shown writing lines on a chalkboard as punishment for being bad. For example, in one episode, Bart writes, "I will not conduct my own fire drills." The line is supposed to be humourous. Not every episode has a new one and sometimes the chalkboard gag may be cut (removed) because there is not enough time.
Couch gag
In the opening, all the Simpsons come home after work or school. After Homer Simpson is almost or is hit by Marge's car, they all go into the living room, where something comical happens again. These are called "couch gags". On one couch gag Homer Simpson walked onto the screen like James Bond and shot the camera. Sometimes if an episode is a short one, then the couch gag will be very long. A couple of couch gags have been over one minute long. Couch gags in earlier seasons were simple but then became more interesting in later seasons.
Ending credits
At the end of the show, the credits are shown. Sometimes they might be changed. In one episode, the ending showed Homer reading from a document about Dateline. In another episode, where all of the characters sing in song, Snake keeps firing his gun in order to make the music that was playing stop.
↑Simon's work stopped in 1993 and his death was in 2015. His name is seen in all the show's end credits—a list of billed names of people who work on The Simpsons.
↑Known as 20th Century Fox Television until season 31.
