Line #12 WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons


1	[[AC:This page is for the show; for ''The Simpsons'' franchise as a whole, see ''Franchise/TheSimpsons''.]]
2	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a3153c19_0a10_4e1b_96c7_da993c8fc2e1.png]]
3	[[caption-width-right:349:[[{{Tagline}} Finally... A television family you can believe in.\
4	Sunday nights will never be the same.]][[note]]Left to right: [[BumblingDad Homer]], [[CanineCompanion Santa's Little Helper]], [[WetBlanketWife Marge]], [[WiseBeyondTheirYears Lisa]], [[HairballHumor Snowball II]], [[CuteMute Maggie]], [[ThePrankster Bart]].[[/note]]]]
5
6	->''"D'oh!"''[[note]]Or "[annoyed grunt]" to the scriptwriters.[[/note]]
7	-->-- '''Homer Simpson'''
8
9	The brainchild of independent cartoonist Creator/MattGroening, author of ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'', ''The Simpsons'' is an AnimatedSitcom depicting the animated adventures of the upper-lower-middle class Simpson family. Initially started out as a parody of DomCom conventions, the show quickly went on to incorporate elements of social satire, pop culture references, and a mix of highbrow and lowbrow humor that has kept it popular year after year.
10
11	The show is centered - naturally - around the [[DysfunctionalFamily somewhat dysfunctional]] Simpson family. The father (and defacto protagonist) is Homer, a lazy, [[TheDitz dimwitted]], and [[CloudCuckooLander highly eccentric]] BumblingDad with a penchant for getting him and his family in and out of trouble. The mother is Marge, the [[StraightMan straight woman]] with an [[BeehiveHairdo absurd hairdo]] and [[TheBore incredibly bland tastes]]. Joining them are their kids - Bart, an underachieving (if still crafty) [[ThePrankster prankster]] who loves to torment the teachers at his school; Lisa, an [[WiseBeyondTheirYears intelligent and thoughtful]] girl who has trouble fitting in with everyone else; and Maggie, a 1-year old baby [[BrainyBaby with an unusual amount of problem solving skills and social awareness.]] Together, they live in the [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield ambiguously located]] town of Springfield, a QuirkyTown filled with eccentrics and idiots, all while dealing with scenarios that range from depressingly mundane to completely outlandish.
12
13	The show first aired from 1987 to 1989 as a series of animated shorts on ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow''. Unofficially known as "Season 0", the original 48 ad-bumpers led Groening and ''Tracey Ullman Show'' producers Sam Simon and Creator/JamesLBrooks to develop the show as a {{spinoff}} which premiered on the then-fledgling Creator/{{FOX}} network in December 1989… and hasn’t missed a year since. It reached the 30-season mark in 2018-19, making it the longest-running primetime sitcom in American TV history (worldwide, that honor belongs to ''Series/LastOfTheSummerWine'', although the latter has [[BritishBrevity fewer episodes]], with 297 while ''The Simpsons'' has made more than twice that), and surpassed ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' as the [[LongRunners longest-running scripted primetime television program by episode count ever]] in 2018.[[note]]Unless, as Bart notes in the episode before they broke ''Gunsmoke''[='=]s record, one factors in the 432-episode radio adaptation.[[/note]][[labelnote:Added note]]The "primetime" distinction is important; many daytime soap operas and game shows have episode counts that dwarf ''The Simpsons''[='=] total, as does ''Series/SesameStreet''.[[/labelnote]]
14
15	When it was first adapted into television, ''The Simpsons'' set a new trend in animation. Prior, much of the voice acting in the field had been rather industrial, with voice actors simply reciting a list of their character's lines,[[note]]As in: "Line 234: "Bart! Why you little...""[[/note]] in whatever emotion the script called for. ''The Simpsons'', however, recorded its lines like a live-action movie, [[VoicesInOneRoom the voice actors for a given scene recording together]], allowing for more organic interaction between the characters. The voice actors themselves became ingrained as the character, rather than a work-for-hire [[TheOtherDarrin that can be easily replaced]], leading to them having bargaining power with their contracts more comparable to physical performers.
16
17	Among the reasons for the show's longevity are the massive cast of over 100 recurring characters it has built up over time, allowing the writers to work with a rich variety of relationships and milieus (impressive considering the show has six core voice actors), and its [[NegativeContinuity absolute refusal to acknowledge the passing of time]] (Bart Simpson, for example, has famously [[NotAllowedToGrowUp remained 10 years old]]) to extents that are sometimes even [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged in the show]].
18
19	For roughly the first 10 seasons, ''The Simpsons'' was widely considered to be one of the most consistently funny TV shows ever produced. However, it is generally considered that at some point after (or near the end of) that, the series declined in quality. [[BrokenBase Exactly]] ''[[BrokenBase when]]'' [[BrokenBase it declined, and by how much, is difficult to find a consensus on]], but viewership has decreased over the years. Its numbers remain strong, though, and the merchandising juggernaut shows no signs of stopping. Fox at one point [[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/the-simpsons-network-49783.html considered setting up a separate Simpsons/spin-off network]]; though that didn't happen, Simpsons re-runs became a cornerstone of the comedy-oriented FXX cable network when that was spun off from the Creator/{{FX network\|s}}.
20
21	Despite claims that it's not as good as it once was, [[LongRunners there's something to be said about a show that debuted (as a series of shorts) when]] UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan [[TheEighties was U.S. President]], debuted in prime-time and was referenced by name when UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush was in office, had its best years when UsefulNotes/BillClinton [[TheNineties was in office]], was more-or-less still going strong during the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush [[TurnOfTheMillennium administration]], saw UsefulNotes/BarackObama [[TheNewTens get elected twice]], predicted UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump would run for and win the presidency 16 years before it happened, and is still around for Obama's VP UsefulNotes/JoeBiden becoming president.
22
23	[[TheMovie A feature film]] titled ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' was released in summer 2007. Perhaps not surprisingly, [[BrokenBase reactions from fans were mixed]], with some fans claiming it to be on the level of the Golden Age episodes, and some considering it just an extra long Tarnished Age episode. Nevertheless, the film was a huge financial success and received a positive response from critics, earning an 89% Fresh Rating on Website/RottenTomatoes and getting a 80 on Metacritic.
24
25	Creator/MattGroening has said he created the core family members in ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'''s production office waiting room after realizing he didn't want to sign the rights to his ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'' characters over to UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch. Groening went on to create ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' and, much later, ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}''. While both are {{Spiritual Successor}}s and feature a similar comedic style, they have a more refined tone and affirmed canon, featuring both story arcs and character arcs that ''The Simpsons'' generally lacks.
26
27	In 2009, the show began its 21st season, officially dethroning ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' as the longest running primetime American television series of all time, before surpassing ''Gunsmoke'''s episode total in 2018 (although ''Series/SesameStreet'', among other daytime programs, still retains an even longer run with 50 seasons, and even the anime ''Manga/{{Sazaesan}}'' currently holds the world record for longest running animated series since 1969, a good twenty years before ''The Simpsons'' premiered). In February 2019, ''The Simpsons'' (in its record ''30th'' season) was renewed by Fox for two more seasons, leading some to speculate the series will end after those seasons as Creator/{{Disney}} has now taken control of the series after the buyout of Fox. However, in 2021 it was confirmed that the show was renewed for an additional two seasons. Also in 2019, Matt Groening hinted that a second film [[https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-07-22/simpsons-creator-matt-groening-confirms-the-simpsons-movie-2 may be]] [[https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/the-simpsons-movie-sequel-confirmed-disney-1202159948 in the works,]] but nothing official has been confirmed.
28
29	''The Simpsons'' was and remains a television phenomenon like no other, and one of the most beloved, most quotable and most recognizable creations in the history of animation.
30
31	Check out [[Characters/TheSimpsons this character sheet]] for more info on Fox's "first family" of animation. Also has a work-in-progress recap page [[Recap/TheSimpsons here]].
32
33	See the [[Franchise/TheSimpsons Franchise]] page for all related works.
34	----
35	!!Mmm... tropes...
36	[[index]]
37	* TheSimpsons/TropesAToB
38	** [[AesopAmnesia/TheSimpsons Aesop Amnesia]]
39	** [[TheArtifact/TheSimpsons The Artifact]]
40	** [[BaitAndSwitch/TheSimpsons Bait-and-Switch]]
41	** [[BerserkButton/TheSimpsons Berserk Button]]
42	** [[BitingTheHandHumor/TheSimpsons Biting-the-Hand Humor]]
43	** [[Bowdlerise/TheSimpsons Bowdlerise]]
44	** [[BrokenAesop/TheSimpsons Broken Aesop]]
45	* TheSimpsons/TropesCToD
46	** [[CassandraTruth/TheSimpsons Cassandra Truth]]
47	** [[CatchPhrase/TheSimpsons Catch Phrase]]
48	** [[CerebusRetcon/TheSimpsons Cerebus Retcon]]
49	** [[CharacterizationMarchesOn/TheSimpsons Characterization Marches On]]
50	** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint/TheSimpsons Comically Missing the Point]]
51	** [[CouchGag/TheSimpsons Couch Gag]]
52	** [[CrapsackWorld/TheSimpsons Crapsack World]]
53	** [[CreditsGag/TheSimpsons Credits Gag]]
54	** [[DependingOnTheWriter/TheSimpsons Depending on the Writer]]
55	** [[DisproportionateRetribution/TheSimpsons Disproportionate Retribution]]
56	* TheSimpsons/TropesEToH
57	** [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness/TheSimpsons Early Installment Weirdness]]
58	** [[EpicFail/TheSimpsons Epic Fail]]
59	** [[EvenEvilHasStandards/TheSimpsons Even Evil Has Standards]]
60	** [[EyeScream/TheSimpsons Eye Scream]]
61	** [[Flanderization/TheSimpsons Flanderization]]
62	** [[Foil/TheSimpsons Foil]]
63	** [[GroinAttack/TheSimpsons Groin Attack]]
64	** [[HalfwayPlotSwitch/TheSimpsons Halfway Plot Switch]]
65	** [[Hypocrite/TheSimpsons Hypocrite]]
66	** [[HypocriticalHumor/TheSimpsons Hypocritical Humor]]
67	** [[ImageSource/TheSimpsons Image Source]]
68	* TheSimpsons/TropesIToM
69	** [[InsaneTrollLogic/TheSimpsons Insane Troll Logic]]
70	** [[Irony/TheSimpsons Irony]]
71	** [[Jerkass/TheSimpsons Jerkass]]
72	* TheSimpsons/TropesNToR
73	** [[NoodleIncident/TheSimpsons Noodle Incident]]
74	** [[NotAllowedToGrowUp/TheSimpsons Not Allowed To Grow Up]]
75	** [[PoliceAreUseless/TheSimpsons Police are Useless]]
76	** [[QuoteSource/TheSimpsons Quote Source]]
77	** [[RunningGag/TheSimpsons Running Gag]]
78	* TheSimpsons/TropesSToZ
79	** [[StatusQuoIsGod/TheSimpsons Status Quo Is God]]
80	** [[TakeThat/TheSimpsons Take That!]]
81	** [[UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode/TheSimpsons Unexpectedly Dark Episode]]
82	** [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield/TheSimpsons Where the Hell Is Springfield?]]
83	[[/index]]
84	----
85	-->[[VanityPlate Shhhhh!]][[note]][[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy "And now the show is over now."]][[/note]]

Context WesternAnimation / TheSimpsons