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The Simpsons
Red logo
Genre	Adult animation Animated sitcom Satire Parody
Created by	Matt Groening
Based on	The Simpsons shorts by Matt Groening
Developed by	James L. Brooks Matt Groening Sam Simon
Voices of	Dan Castellaneta Julie Kavner Nancy Cartwright Yeardley Smith Hank Azaria Harry Shearer ( Complete list )
Theme music composer	Danny Elfman
Opening theme	" The Simpsons Theme "
Composers	Richard Gibbs (1989) Alf Clausen (1990?2017) Bleeding Fingers Music (2017?present)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	35
No. of episodes	768 ( list of episodes )
Production
Executive producers	List James L. Brooks (entire run) Matt Groening (entire run) Al Jean (1992?1993; 1995?present) Matt Selman (2005?present) John Frink (2009?present) Sam Simon (1989?1993) Mike Reiss (1992?1993; 1995?1998) David Mirkin (1993?1995) Bill Oakley (1995?1997) Josh Weinstein (1995?1997) Mike Scully (1997?2001) George Meyer (1999?2001) Carolyn Omine (2005?2006) Tim Long (2005?2008) Ian Maxtone-Graham (2005?2012)
Running time	21?24 minutes
Production companies	Klasky Csupo (1989-1992) IMX Communications (1996-present) Bardel Entertainment (2015) Film Roman (1992-2016) Rough Draft Studios (1992-present) Funbag Animation Studios (1994) Sunwoo Entertainment /Sunwoo Asia-Pacific (1991-1999) Gracie Films 20th Television [a] (1989?2021) 20th Television Animation (2021?present)
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	December 17, 1989  ( 1989-12-17 )  ? present

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 so far over 700 episodes have aired in 34 seasons. As of today, the show is in its 34th season. 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.

The comedy takes place in the fictional town of Springfield , although it is speculated that this town 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. His full name is Homer J. Simpson. Bart's name is an anagram of Brat. His full name is Bartholomew Jojo 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 Flander's 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. "Sneed's Feed and Seed" from the episode E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt) became an internet meme . ^{[1] [2]}

History [ change | change source ]

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.

Shorts [ change | change source ]

Episodes [ change | change source ]

Seasons of The Simpsons mostly have a total of 22 episodes.

Elements of the show [ change | change source ]

Chalkboard gag [ change | change source ]

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 [ change | change source ]

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 [ change | change source ]

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.

Movie [ change | change source ]

A film based on the show, The Simpsons Movie , was released in 2007, specifically on the day that it was released. It included the character Spider Pig as Homer's new pet after rescuing him from a chain restaurant, Krusty Burger.

References [ change | change source ]

Series 6-8 Were In CBeebies

Series 9-11 Were In 4Severn

Series 12-13 Were In Sky One

1. ↑ Known as 20th Century Fox Television until season 31.

Other websites [ change | change source ]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Simpsons .

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Simpsons

• TheSimpsons.com Official website
• The Simpsons on IMDb
• The Simpsons at TV.com
• The Simpsons Archive
• The Simpsons Archived 2008-01-12 at the Wayback Machine at the Encyclopedia of Television
• The Simpsons Wiki
• The Simpsons Wiki at Wikia