The Simpsons­: America'­s Longest-­Running Sitcom - A Detailed Overview

THE SIMPSONS

General facts

•         American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening produced for Fox Broadcasting Company

•         Each episode deals with the American middle class family named “Simpsons” who lives in the town of Springfield, a city that can be found in every state of the USA

•         As Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie interact with each other the American lifestyle, its culture, religion and politics are parodied.

•         The show was first broadcasted on December 17th, 1989 and in September 2008 there were 20 seasons all together

•         It was first shown on German TV in 1991 by ZDF and in 1994 ProSieben took over and has been broadcasting the sitcom ever since

•         The enormous success also led to the production of several computer games, comics and the famous “The Simpsons Movie”

•         It’s America’s longest-running sitcom

•         It’s shown during prime time

Settings

•         The Simpsons live in Springfield 742, Evergreen Terrace

•         Springfield is next to Shellby Ville

•         Springfield symbolizes the average American city and therefore contains geographical characteristics that cannot be found in any one city

•         Desert

•         Mountains

•         Vast farmland

•         Coastlines

•         The show does not reveal the state in which the city of Springfield can be found

•         It’s a fictional city that everybody can identify with

•         Springfield is not limited to a certain setting but rather acts as a complete universe

•         The creator once said that the city has a lot in common with his hometown Portland, Oregon

Themes

•         There is no logical thread that follows through the entire series but a different topic is addressed in each episode

•         The Simpsons” lampoons America’s public life by portraying corrupt politicians, indifferent ministers, and incompetent police officers

•         In times of need the family frequently turns to God and the show has dealt with all major religions throughout the various seasons

•         In Springfield there is a vast array of media channels which is frequently used to make jokes about the media in general as well as about the producers and the TV channel FOX

•         Homer’s job at a nuclear power plant offers material to talk about environmental issues and to criticize these in a humorous way

•         Bart and Lisa’s adventures at Springfield Elementary School provide ways to evaluate America’s educational system and the faults one can find there

Treehouse Of Horror

•         The Halloween episodes were produced and shown since the second season

•         The episodes parody horror-films like Stephan King‛s “The Shining” or other science-fiction and supernatural movies

•         The Halloween episodes are often very bloody like many modern horror-films

•         In most cases the Simpsons are involved in the episodes

•         The horror episodes do not have any consequence on the normal episodes

•         The first episodes was shown on October 25, 1990

•         In 1996, Treehouse Of Horror was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award

Simpsons Movie

•         2004 The Simpsons Movie was announced for the summer of 2008 by The Simpsons producers

•         In March of 2006 The Simpsons Movie was announced for the 27th of July 2007 in a teaser before Ice Age 2

•         The Simpsons team made the movie

•         The film has a worldwide gross of 526,8 million dollars

Honors

•         On the 14th of January, 2000 the Simpsons got a star on the Walk of Fame

•         26 × Annie Award (1992, 1993, 1994, 2 × 1995, 1996, 4 × 1997, 3 × 1998, 2 × 1999, 2 × 2000, 2001, 2003, 4 × 2004, 2007, 2 × 2008)

•         24 × Emmy (1990, 1991, 6 × 1992, 1993, 1995, 2 × 1997, 3 × 1998, 2000, 2 × 2001, 2 × 2003, 2004, 2 × 2006, 2008)

•         6 × ASCAP Award (1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

•         4 × Genesis Award (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)

•         3 × EMA Award (1991, 1994, 2001)

•         3 × BMI Film & TV Awards (1996, 1998, 2003)

•         2 × British Comedy Award (2000, 2004)

Extras

•         The bands “Fall Out Boy” and “Evergreen Terrace” derived their names from characters and locations in the sitcom

•         No cliff-hanger

•         God is always symbolized by a five finger hand (no face) in contrast to the Simpsons who only have four.

•         Homer’s famous expression “D’oh!” has been adopted into the English lexicon