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Top Questions
How long has The Simpsons been on air?
The Simpsons holds the record as the longest-running animated television series in U.S. history. The Simpsons began in 1987 as a cartoon short on the Tracy Ullman Show, a variety program on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Expanded to half an hour, it debuted as a Christmas special on December 17, 1989, and then began airing regularly in January 1990.
Where does The Simpsons take place?
The Simpsons is set in the fictional American city of Springfield. The true setting and supposed state in which the city might be located are never explicitly stated in the show; creator Matt Groening wanted Springfield to be generic enough to seem like it could exist anywhere in America.
Who are the voice actors behind The Simpsons characters?
Although there are dozens of recurring characters and many voice actors play more than one character, the six main cast members are Hank Azaria, Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Harry Shearer, and Yeardley Smith.
What is The Simpsons rated?
Episodes of The Simpsons tend to be rated TV-PG, meaning parental guidance is suggested. Some episodes have been rated TV-14, in which case parents are strongly cautioned against allowing children under the age of 14 to watch. Still, the show has been credited for its slyly inappropriate or complex jokes that are not easily understood by younger audiences.
How has The Simpsons predicted the future?
Fans have long kept score of the many times The Simpsons show writers seem to have predicted events well before they occurred in real life. Two of the most famous predictions were that Disney would acquire 21st Century Fox—and by extension, The Simpsons—as well as that Donald Trump would become president of the United States.
The Simpsons, longest-running animated television series and longest-running scripted prime-time TV show in U.S. history (1989– ), now broadcast in many languages to audiences around the world.
Created by cartoonist Matt Groening, The Simpsons began in 1987 as a cartoon short on the Tracey Ullman Show, a variety program on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Expanded to half an hour, it debuted as a Christmas special on December 17, 1989, and then began airing regularly in January 1990. With veteran television and film producer-director James Brooks (Mary Tyler Moore [1970–74], As Good As It Gets [1997]) as its executive producer, along with Groening and Sam Simon, the show was slow to gain an audience, but its popularity took off later in the year, and it helped establish the upstart Fox network as a major competitor on broadcast television.
Britannica QuizPop Culture QuizSet in the fictional American city of Springfield—according to Groening, it was named after Springfield, Oregon—The Simpsons centres on a family with all the dysfunctions of the modern era but the demographics of the 1950s: two married parents, two preadolescent children and an infant, living grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The children are exceptional: Lisa is a superb jazz saxophonist and is inclined to philosophy and mathematics; Bart is a prankster of the highest order, a connoisseur of mayhem. The adults are grown-up versions of the children: Homer Simpson, an operator in a nuclear power plant, is a devotee of beer, doughnuts, and bacon, while his long-suffering wife Marge is the sound-minded glue who holds the family together. (The family are, according to Groening, “creatures of consumption and envy, laziness and opportunity, stubbornness and redemption. Just like the rest of us. Only exaggerated.”) Added to this list are the town’s strange residents, some of them immigrants, and an endless series of walk-on guest stars voiced by their real-life counterparts, such as former Beatle George Harrison and astrophysicist Stephen Hawking.
The Simpsons has heavily influenced popular culture and other television series. The characters’ voices are widely recognized, and many of the characters’ neologisms and catchphrases (such as Homer’s “D’oh!”) have entered common currency. Moreover, the show branched out to include comic books, video games, and, in 2007, a feature film. The Emmy Award-winning Groening remains the show’s creative consultant and an executive producer.
Gregory Lewis McNamee
