The Simpsons, as its own series, was first broadcast on December 17th of 1989, with the pilot episode Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, though the family was first introduced in a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, starting in 1987.
The show has since reached its 33rd season, as of 2021.
The Simpsons has earned its place in history as a monumental television show and brand.
This show is the longest-running scripted show in television history and has a devoted fan base that allows even more seasons to be released.
Why Are The Simpsons Yellow?
The Simpsons are yellow because original creator Matt Groening wanted them to be eye-catching, and yellow is the most eye-catching color.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Groening knew he needed an eye-catching design to pull in potential viewers as they flipped through the television channels.
While the entire show has always been colorful, the Simpsons family needed to stand out the most as the show’s principal characters.
The show was colorful enough to catch the attention of younger viewers, but the writing kept its older audience entertained as well.
When Groening first released his most popular series, he knew that yellow people would be strange enough to stop any bored viewer flipping through the channels.
The situations that the characters got themselves into and their notable personalities were enough to keep the viewer watching.
There have been rumors that the reason that the Simpsons’ skin is yellow is the radioactive dump that is located in its hometown of Springfield.
However, the yellow skin is just an artistic style choice.
Groening also thought that having yellow characters would make viewers believe that there was something wrong with their televisions.
He felt that this was appropriate for the daily lives of the Simpson family.
The production team behind The Simpsons came to the decision to make the characters yellow when one of the cartoonists decided to pen the characters in yellow to make it easier to see them when drawing backgrounds.
If it would make it easier for the cartoonists to see, then Groening knew that it would be even easier for the viewer to see.
The bold color palette has helped define the iconic art style of the show.
Most of the strange things about The Simpsons boil down to maintaining the unique art style.
Why Is Marge Simpson’s Hair Blue?
Marge Simpson has blue hair because she has been dying it blue ever since she was a teenager.
Marge even goes as far as to claim that she has been “gray as a mule since she was 17.”
Her parents were ashamed of their daughter’s already graying hair, so they decided to start dying it blue while she was in high school.
Marge has maintained the blue hair by re-dying it regularly, keeping the unnecessary shame at bay.
During season five’s episode, Secrets of a Successful Marriage, Homer goes as far as to talk about it in his class.
True to his nature, Homer reminds Marge that he doesn’t mind the gray hair and he would always love her.
In season 22, Marge claims she found her first gray hair in the episode The Blue and the Gray.
Later in the episode, she realizes that the fumes from her hair dye have made her forget all about her gray hairs.
Marge decides to sport her natural hair color around town and while out for lunch with her sisters.
However, Marge quickly begins to regret her more mature hairstyle after a slew of trouble across town and in her own home.
Bart starts getting bullied for his mother’s hair and Homer no longer finds her hair attractive.
While she’s out at the grocery store, she gets teased by Luann Van Houten, Edna Krabappel, and Bernice Hibbert.
When she goes to pay for her groceries, the cashier asks her if she has a discount from AARP.
She tries to get a cup of coffee after the dilemma and the barista tells her that people her age shouldn’t be drinking caffeine.
With the way her family and the entire town reacted to her having gray hair, you can’t blame her for dying it until she forgets.
Are Bart And Lisa Bald?
No, Bart and Lisa Simpson are not bald.
According to the former showrunner and writer on The Simpsons Mike Reiss, Bart and Lisa have no hairlines and there is no line that separates their hair from their skin.
The spikes on the Simpson kids’ heads are “kinda skin, kinda hair.”
The design choice works so well because of the kids’ yellow skin.
Bart, Lisa, and Maggie all look extremely unique from all the people they interact with.
When you look around Springfield, most of the citizens have normal hair.
The decision to give the Simpson family their distinct look was to help better distinguish them from the rest of the characters.
Groening wanted to make certain that the audience knew when they were looking at a Simpson family member.
Writer and producer Josh Weinstein has incredibly strict rules for how the Simpsons are to be drawn.
There is a list of small details that must be followed to maintain consistency with each character.
The characters should never be drawn cross-eyed and the top teeth never move.
When characters are speaking, only the bottom lip and jaw move.
The Simpsons were to never be drawn with complete circles for eyes and eyelids that fit inside the circle.
Instead, characters that were closing their eyelids were by concealing part of the eye outline and creating long horseshoe shapes for the visible eyeball.
Bart and Lisa were never to be drawn with sharp or square teeth, opting for drawing the whole row of teeth with a squiggly line that was attached to their lips.
Everything about their design, from their hair to teeth, was chosen to keep their design more streamlined.
The creators of The Simpsons thought about every detail of their characters’ designs.
Are The Simpsons Human?
Yes, the Simpson family are all human, despite their unnatural yellow skin and hairdos that are half hair and half flesh.
The family was actually based on Matt Groening’s own family and the experiences they shared.
While the Groening family’s adventures weren’t nearly as cartoonish as the ones that have been seen on The Simpsons, each of the Simpsons is named after a different family member of Groening’s, with the exception of Bart.
Bart’s name is an anagram for “brat” because he is based on Matt Groening.
Like Bart, Matt Groening’s father was named Homer, and they both have sisters named Lisa and Maggie.
Both Groening’s mother and grandmother went by Marge, with his mother’s full name being Marjorie and his grandmother’s full name being Margaret.
Marge Simpson’s full name is Marjorie to match Groening’s mother’s name.
Fans are always elated to meet the people for whom the members of the Simpson family are named.
Lisa Groening often gets fans coming up to her, but she often has to explain that she has nothing to do with the work being done on the show.
Although these characters may share the names of Matt Groening’s family members, they don’t share any personality traits with the characters.
For example, Homer Groening was a pilot in World War II who went on to make his money writing books and making films.
He also had a full head of hair until the day he died in 1996.
The only one in the family who acts like any of the characters is Matt Groening himself.
His sister, Lisa, once said that he had a trait from each of the Simpson family members.
He could be dopey like Homer, rebellious like Bart, a know-it-all like Lisa, quiet like Maggie, but could also be sweet like Marge.
Where Does Homer Get His Catchphrase From?
“D’oh” will forever be synonymous with Homer Simpson.
It’s an important part of any good Homer impression.
When the writers behind The Simpsons were writing the scripts, they never tried to give Homer a catchphrase.
The script writers had originally written “annoyed grunt,” and Dan Castellaneta, better known as the voice of Homer Simpson, decided to impersonate Jimmy Finlayson from the Laurel and Hardy movies.
When Castellaneta first read through the script, he did the annoyed grunt just like Finlayson would have done it and held it out for a short period of time.
While Matt Groening liked the idea, he decided to shorten it to help keep up the pace of the episode.
Dan Castellaneta has portrayed the voice of Homer for more than 34 years.
When listening to Homer in the first season of The Simpsons, you may notice that he doesn’t sound the same as he has since the second season.
Castellaneta originally wanted Homer to have a voice that was like a deeper, gruffer version of the actor Walter Matthau’s voice.
However, he quickly discovered that he couldn’t maintain the voice for as long as he needed to record without causing serious vocal damage.
Groening and Castellaneta both agreed that Homer’s voice needed a change, so Castellaneta began doing the squeaker version of Homer’s voice by season two.
The second iteration of Homer’s voice was based on Dan Castellaneta’s father’s voice.
Homer Simpson isn’t the only character from the show that Castellaneta voices.
He also does the voices for Itchy from The Itchy and Scratchy Show, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Mel, Barney Gumble, Groundskeeper Willie, Gil the hapless salesman, Hans Moleman, Mayor Quimby, and Grampa Simpson.
For his performance as Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta has earned himself four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.
Is Springfield A Real Place?
Springfield from the show isn’t a real place, but the name is based on a town near Portland, Oregon.
Groening chose the name Springfield because it’s one of the most common town names in the United States, and he wanted everyone to believe that it was the Springfield that was closest to them.
The Simpson family is meant to be the most typical American family that you can find.
With a name like Springfield, the viewers at home could more easily relate to the family wherever they were watching from.
When Matt Groening was growing up, he used to love to watch Father Knows Best.
The show also takes place in a fictional town called Springfield.
As a child, Groening just assumed that the show was taking place in the next town over, and that made him want to watch it more.
The street that the Simpson family lives on is named after the same street that Groening grew up on, Evergreen Terrace.
Evergreen Terrace was a long, winding road with a dead end and was surrounded by woods.
If Matt Groening wanted to visit any of his friends, he would have to walk at least a mile through the woods.
Groening had an idealistic childhood when it came to his home life, but he was frequently bullied at school.
You can best see the relationship between Matt Groening and Bart Simpson when you see how the pair handle being bullied.
There was a day at school when Groening was threatened by a group of students, so he decided to punch his bullies before they could beat him up.
Despite the mix of positive and negative memories that Groening had of his hometown, he still looks back on his time in Portland fondly.
Groening hopes that fans grow just as fond of the show’s Springfield.
What Kind Of Dog Is Santa’s Little Helper?
Santa’s Little Helper is a greyhound that was once used for racing but became the family pet of the Simpsons.
His stringy nature and exposed ribs may make him look like he’s malnourished, but it’s just a common trait in the breed.
Santa’s Little Helper appears in the first episode of The Simpsons when Homer is struggling to find the money to get his children gifts for Christmas.
After working as a shopping mall Santa Claus, Homer makes a little bit of money and decides to use it to bet on greyhound racing.
Thinking it must be a sign, Homer decides to bet on greyhound number 8, Santa’s Little Helper.
However, the dog has routinely lost races and comes in last in the race that Homer bets on.
Tired of the racing dog’s lacking performance, the dog is abandoned.
Luckily, Homer and Bart were nearby and decided to take the dog home.
Santa’s Little Helper ended up being the best Christmas present that Homer could have given his family and became a beloved character on the show.
Many fans have been inspired by the Simpsons and also rescued racing greyhounds.
In the episode The Springfield Files, viewers learned that Homer and Santa’s Little Helper share a birthday.
The Simpsons’ dog is able to think on the same level as them and has even been seen saying phrases like “chewy” and “We love… you.”
Santa’s Little Helper became the mascot for Duff Beer during the episode Old Yeller-Belly.
He went by the name Suds McDuff.
Although Santa’s Little Helper may be smart, he was almost permanently rehomed due to his disobedience and destructive nature.
Because of his troublesome nature, Santa’s Little Helper has a rough relationship with almost everyone in the house except for Bart.
Will The Simpsons Ever End?
Yes, The Simpsons will eventually end, but there are no plans to end it anytime soon.
The series has had more than 700 episodes, which has led the current showrunner Al Jean to consider how he would end the long-running television show.
If Jean were to end The Simpsons, he would want to bring the show back to the Christmas pageant from the first episode.
The pageant was held at Springfield Elementary School during the 1989 Christmas episode.
Jean would like to see the television show reach at least 1,000 episodes before they begin to consider ending the shows.
He believes that would be an additional dozen seasons, at least.
Fans of the show shouldn’t worry about the show ending anytime soon, though, because the studio bosses are still pleased with the popularity of the show, even after three decades of production.
With The Simpsons being added to the streaming service Disney+, they’ve seen a massive increase of views from the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other countries.
The Simpsons has had a massive effect on pop culture and television.
This legendary show helped make mature cartoons what they are today.
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