THE SIMPSONS: 30 Things You Didn’t Know About the TV Show

Then, in January 1990, the series by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and Sam Simon took off, firmly introducing the peculiar yellow family from Springfield into our lives via the square box with pictures, colloquially known as the television. On this occasion, we take a closer look at The Simpsons in 30 fun facts about them. Let’s go!
Bonus fact:
The Simpsons is satire, comedy, parody, spoof, a pop-cultural joke, and, above all, a fictional animated world where everything is deliberately exaggerated. I remind you of this because some seem to forget—among them a few ignorant Twitter users and Hank Azaria, who, after 30 years, suddenly decided he would no longer voice the character of Indian descent, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, deeming it unfair to those complaining about racism and stereotypes. Well, it’s certainly fair to the rest of the audience, who never had any issues with Apu. But let’s move on.
1. The origins of the series date back to The Tracey Ullman Show, where short animated sketches aired over three seasons. Thus, the actual birthdate of The Simpsons is April 1987, when the first short aired. However, the characters in it had a different, more realistic, and significantly less pleasant appearance and lacked many of their distinctive traits.
2. Today, the series consists of 781 episodes—about 22 episodes per season (though the first season only had 13, and seasons 6–9 had 25 each). Additionally, there are two special episodes. Since The Simpsons are guaranteed future seasons, they will undoubtedly surpass the 800-episode milestone soon. Nevertheless, they already hold the record for the highest number of episodes in an American animated series.
3. So far, the most-watched episode is the one opening the second season—Bart Gets an F. It was watched by 33 million people.
4. Starting with the fifth season, episodes were shortened by two minutes of screen time, allowing the creators to condense the storylines more effectively.
5. The Simpsons also hold another record—they are the longest-running series in prime time. Additionally, it is the last of the American serial giants that began in the 1980s. The series is also listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-running TV series and as the TV show with the most guest star appearances.
6. Speaking of which, over 600 celebrities from entertainment, sports, politics, and culture have appeared in The Simpsons since its inception. Furthermore, around 3,700 characters have been featured in the series, 120 of whom are main and supporting characters who consistently reappear in various episodes.
7. Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Mark Hamill, Steve Buscemi, James Caan, Ricky Gervais, and Joe Mantegna are the only actors who have both played themselves and provided voices for fictional characters in the series.
8. Over the years, The Simpsons have been nominated for an Emmy nearly every year (exceptions include 1993, 1994, and 2014), ultimately winning 37 awards in four different categories. In 2003, they were the only animated production ever nominated for a Golden Globe. Meanwhile, The Longest Daycare, a short film, was nominated for an Oscar in 2013.
9. The Simpsons Movie (2007), released between seasons 18 and 19, was also nominated for a Golden Globe. It grossed over half a billion dollars on a $75 million budget. The film, just as enjoyable as the TV series, had a troubled production lasting nearly nine years, with 160 versions of the script. Ironically, it wasn’t their first cinematic experience. In 1990, an episode of the series—The Simpsons: Family Portrait—accompanied the crime-comedy Crazy People. Ironically, the main character of Crazy People is named Burt Simpson.
10. The main voice cast has contracts guaranteeing their participation in three feature-length films. However, there are no plans for the next two at this time.
11. The characters are yellow to stand out from other TV shows of their time, automatically catching the attention of channel surfers. It seems to have worked quite well.
12. The characters all have four fingers, a result of an early animation shortcut. This was later addressed by drawing five fingers for incarnations of God and Jesus.
13. Many characters in the series are left-handed, a reflection of creator Matt Groening’s dominant hand. Groening even “signed” Homer by designing his ear and hair to form his initials.
14. Every member of the Simpson family—except Homer—can speak fluent French. D’oh!
15. Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa are the only characters who appear in every episode of the series.
16. The Simpsons were named after Groening’s own family members, except for Bart, whose name is an anagram of “brat.” The full names of the family are: Lisa Marie Simpson, Bartholomew JoJo Simpson, Margaret Evelyn Simpson, Marjorie Jacqueline Bouvier Simpson, and Homer Jay Simpson. Grandpa’s name is Abraham Simpson II. Meanwhile, Principal Skinner’s real name is Armin Tamzarian.
17. The Simpsons practice various religions. Homer and Bart are Catholics as of season 16, Lisa converted to Buddhism three seasons earlier, while Marge and Maggie remain members of Reverend Lovejoy’s church, affiliated with the Western Branch of American Reformed Presbylutheranism (!!!).
18. The Simpsons live at 742 Evergreen Terrace (though this number varied in early episodes). The street is, of course, in Springfield, but the exact location of Springfield is never explicitly revealed, serving as an ongoing joke. This is compounded by the fact that there is a Springfield in nearly every U.S. state, emphasizing the series’ universal appeal. For extra fun, most place names and secondary character names are taken from those in Portland, Oregon, where Groening grew up. The layout of Springfield is a near-copy of medieval Constantinople’s map. Moe’s Tavern was based on the real but now-defunct Fireside Restaurant in Los Angeles.
19. In the iconic series opening, small elements change in each episode. For instance, Bart writes something different on the chalkboard, Lisa plays a different saxophone solo, and the circumstances in which the family gathers in front of the TV vary. These details often reflect the plot or refer to earlier events. Over the years, the animation quality has improved significantly, with major updates made in 2009 when the series switched to HD.
20. The Simpsons is also the last animated series of its kind to be made using traditional methods. While computer animation experiments were conducted for individual episodes in 1995, 2001, and 2002, it wasn’t until the sixth episode of season 14 (Treehouse of Horror XIII) that the series fully transitioned to digital animation.
21. The series’ theme music was composed by Danny Elfman, who reportedly wrote it on his drive home. The melody, created in a Lydian scale, was sung by Elfman himself and a group of friends when recording the demo a few hours later. He later received an Emmy nomination for it. Over the course of the series, the theme has been rearranged numerous times by Alf Clausen, and in 2007, a cover was created by Green Day. To this day, it remains Elfman’s most popular piece of music, even though that same year, he also composed the iconic Batman theme.
22. Homer’s iconic catchphrase “D’oh!” was borrowed from the antics of Laurel and Hardy, where a slightly different version served as a substitute for the censored word “damn.” Thanks to The Simpsons, it became a staple of the English language, even earning a spot in the Oxford English Dictionary. Interestingly, it never appears in the series’ script, where Homer’s line is always described as “annoyed grunt.” Perhaps this is why the French translated it to “T’oh!”, while the Spanish changed it to a simple “Ouch!” (“Ojej!”).
23. The Simpsons have become so ingrained in modern culture that in 2000, they received their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bart also made it onto Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, where he was the only fictional character. The same publication included the series among the best TV productions of the last century. The Simpsons even caught the attention of Playboy, which published a nude photo spread of Marge Simpson in its October 2009 issue. A few months earlier, to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary, the U.S. Postal Service released a set of stamps and postcards featuring the cheerful family.
24. The Simpsons are by no means sacred—especially in the post-9/11 world. The attacks on the World Trade Center even impacted Springfield, whose residents became the subject of conspiracy theories. The first episode of the ninth season, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, was censored on television due to a scene in which Homer runs between the Twin Towers searching for a restroom, hoping the police won’t tow his car in the meantime. It wasn’t shown in full until five years later. More recently, an episode from the third season, Stark Raving Dad, which featured a guest appearance by Michael Jackson, was removed from circulation. The reason was the controversies surrounding the late singer following the release of the documentary Leaving Neverland.
25. Internationally, the series doesn’t have it any easier in terms of censorship. It is frequently banned in countries like China, with Iran also prohibiting not only the broadcast of The Simpsons but even the sale of toys and merchandise featuring the yellow-faced characters. Myanmar and Venezuela have also banned the show; Venezuela pulled it from morning TV to protect children’s well-being. Individual episodes have faced resistance in Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico, France, Brazil, the UK, Germany, and Italy.
26. True to its pop-cultural nature, The Simpsons often parody other productions. The show has most frequently referenced Citizen Kane, with the creators claiming that the film’s entire plot could be recreated using clips from the series. Stanley Kubrick’s works, particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, are also frequently quoted.
27. Since its debut in 1999, Futurama has been a sister production and quasi-competitor to The Simpsons, sharing their creator, Matt Groening. As a result, references and guest appearances between the two series are common. In the sixth episode of The Simpsons’ 26th season, the two shows finally crossed over in Simpsorama, created specifically for the yellow family’s 25th anniversary on television.
28. Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer are the three most important actors in The Simpsons. Together, they voice over 60% of the show’s characters, with Shearer alone voicing 36. Castellaneta (the voice of Homer) is the only actor to speak in every episode of the series. At the opposite end is the charming Yeardley Smith, who consistently voices only Lisa Simpson—and not entirely, as Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart) handles Lisa’s occasional physiological sounds, such as whistling or burping.
29. The Simpsons offers us a world where characters don’t age. Maggie is always one year old, Lisa seven or eight, and Bart ten. The parents, however, have aged slightly. Homer initially was 34 years old, but his age increased slightly over the seasons: 36 in season four, 38 in season eight, and finally 42 in season 18. Marge’s age followed a similar trajectory, placing her between 36 and 40, though her birthdate is inconsistently referenced in the series. Grandpa’s age remains a mystery, though it’s speculated he is over 80. If the Simpsons were real people, Homer would now be 68, Marge 67, Bart 42, Lisa 40, and Maggie 32. Meanwhile, the actors voicing these characters are now aged 62, 69, 62, and 55, respectively.
30. Finally, some Polish connections. The series features several. In one episode, Bart mocks representatives of other nations, including Poles, whom he dismisses with “not worth the words.” In another, a child at school wears a traditional Krakowiak outfit, and Copernicus’s achievements are discussed in class. Elsewhere, an attempt to decipher the initials “S.B.” on Sideshow Bob’s keychain ends with a reference to Poland’s Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa). And, of course, Krusty the Clown’s real name is Herschel Schmoikel Krustofski, evoking Polish associations. Additionally, other Polish surnames, most notably Kowalski, occasionally pop up.