Troperville
Editing Help
Tools
Toys
|
alt title(s): Simpsons 
Currently (2009-2010) in its 21st season, The Simpsons first aired from 1987 to 1989 as a series of animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. Unofficially known as "Season 0," the original 48 ad-bumpers kicked off what is now well established as one of television's all-time classic series (which premiered December 1989). It has been recently signed for a twenty-first season- this will make it the longest-running prime-time sitcom in the US (worldwide that honour belongs to Last of the Summer Wine).
Depicting the animated adventures of the upper-lower-middle class Simpson family, the show started as a parody of Dom Com conventions, but quickly incorporated elements of social satire, pop-culture references, and a mix of highbrow and lowbrow humor that has kept it popular year after year. Several tropes were actually developed or at least named by this show. Originally the show focused most of its attention on 10 year old Bart Simpson, but his dad Homer gradually took on being the most consistent protagonist.
One reason for the show's longevity is 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. Another thing that has established The Simpsons as being unique is an absolute refusal to acknowledge the passing of time. Bart has remained 10 years old and in general the show employs an active Negative Continuity, sometimes even acknowledged in the show.
Roughly from about Seasons 4 - 10, The Simpsons was considered one of the most consistently, amazingly funny TV Shows ever produced. However, it is generally considered that at some point after that, the series declined in quality; unfortunately, exactly when the decline started and by how much the quality dropped is difficult to find a consensus on. At any rate, viewership has decreased significantly over the recent seasons.
A ''Simpsons'' feature film was released in summer 2007. Perhaps not surprisingly, reactions 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.
Check out this character sheet for more info on FOX's "first family" of animation.
Many of the same people are also responsible for Futurama and while it certainly takes some comedic cues from this show, it is a far cry from a Simpsons clone.
Matt Groening has said he created the core family members in The Tracey Ullman Show's production office waiting room after realizing he didn't want to sign the rights to his Life In Hell characters over to Rupert Murdoch.
In 2009 the show began its 21st season, officially dethroning Gunsmoke as the longest running prime-time American television series of all time (although Sesame Street, among others, still retains an even longer run with 40 seasons).
Tropes Named:
Tropes Used: (among many, many others )
- The Ahnold: Rainier Wolfcastle. The original makes an appearance as President Schwarzenegger in The Movie, although, fittingly, he isn't really an Ahnold in this appearance.
- Aliens Speaking English: Subverted the hell out of with Kang, Kodos, and their entire species: They are actually speaking Rigelian, which just happens to be identical to English.
- Alien Geometries: Homer's and Marge's bedroom's orientation changes often. Including in some impossible ways.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Including Lisa.
- The Alleged Car: Many examples, especially the car Crazy Vaclav tries to sell Homer in "Mr. Plow":
- "Put it in H! Put it in H!" (the display being in Cyrilic, making it difficult to know just what "H" really is.)
- "She'll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene."
- It also has three wheels, and comes from a country that "no longer exists".
- Ambiguously Gay: Lenny and Carl in later seasons.
- Amusing Injuries: Homer suffers many of them. So does Hans Moleman.
- "The FOOTBALL! His GROIN! It works on SO MANY LEVELS!!"
- Appeal To Audacity
- Applied Mathematics: When Homer is an inventor. During a montage, he's shown writing equations on a blackboard. After he's done, the camera moves to shot of the house — where there's a massive explosion. Cut back to Homer: who examines his equation and crosses out the offending section, a drawing of a stick of dynamite, which he then replaces with something else. This results in another, bigger explosion.
- Arson Murder And Jaywalking: The Trope formerly known as "Bus Full Of Nuns".
- Art Evolution: The oldest episodes seem remarkably crude, when compared to the standard of the more recent ones.
- Art Shift: If you notice, the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon "Spherical on 34th Street" is animated differently.
- Ascended Meme: "D'oh!" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
- Asian Store Owner: Apu.
- Auction
- Awesome McCoolname: Max Power! He's the man whose name you'd love to touch, but you musn't touch!
- Bart has stated that when he grows up he plans to change his name to Joe Kickass, a name that is so cool Homer doesn't mind that it will be the end of the Simpson family name.
- Badass: It's a bit of a Running Gag that Maggie Simpson is the most Badass member of the family.
- Strangely, Homer shows some elements of this, especially in The Movie. At least, I'd call knocking out a soldier in one punch and climbing up the side of a dome with just glue fairly badass. In the main series, he's often got involved in car chases that required him to kick someone's ass.
- Bawdy Song: Apparently, limericks about Nantucket qualify.
- Beach Bury: Ned is buried like this and Homer parks his car on where he should be.
- Beat Still, My Heart: In China, a monk pulls out Homer's heart and shows it to him. In another episode, Bart has a dream about his crush throwing away his heart after she told him she had a boyfriend.
- Beard Of Sorrow: Homer.
- Becoming The Costume: In a "Treehouse of Horror" short.
- Big Bad: Charles Montgomery Burns.
- Biggus Dickus: A woman faints upon seeing what's under Willie's kilt.
- Bland Name Product: Malibu Stacy, obviously based on Malibu Barbie).
- Bonnie Scotland: Groundskeeper Willie.
- Book Dumb: Bart.
- Boot Camp Episode: Bart is sent to Military School for doing mischief, Lisa joins.
- Braces Of Orthodontic Overkill: The Trope formerly known as "Lisa Needs Braces".
- Brainy Specs: Homer finds glasses in one episode and immediately starts acting smart, even though the math he starts reciting is nonsense.
- Brats With Slingshots: Bart Simpson: (although he uses his slingshot less of late.)
- Bribe Backfire
Wiggum: I hope you're not suggesting that I would take that necklace as a bribe. Think again, dirtbag, cause I can swipe it later from the evidence locker.
- Broken Record: "Can't sleep. Clown will eat me."
- "Dental plan." "Lisa needs braces."
- Brilliant But Lazy: Also Bart, unless he actually is dumb.
- Bully Hunter: Bart pulls the trope off in "Bart the General" when he and the entire class bombard Nelson and his gang with balloons until they surrender... literally, as in sign a treaty.
- Bumbling Dad: Homer.
- Butt Monkey: Quite a few, actually: Hans Moleman, Millhouse, and Gil.
- And there's Homer himself...
- Canon Immigrant: Word Of God says that Milhouse was actually created for the Simpsons Butterfinger advertisements.
- Captivity Harmonica: In an episode one of the kids play it while on the bus to a particularly dull school day. In another an actual prisoner lampshades this.
- Card Carrying Villain: While Mr. Burns only called himself 'completely evil' once, and that was in the context of him wanting to go overboard from saying he's a 'bad boy' after his girlfriend left him for Snake, he does seem pretty damn aware that the various plans he has aren't very nice.
- "You are the Devil himself."
- "*gasp* WHO TOLD YOU—I mean..."
- Catch Phrase: So many over the years.
- Lampooned in one episode, where Lisa tells Bart to be himself "instead of a one-dimensional character with a silly catch-phrase" (after Bart spent most of the episode repeatedly saying "I didn't do it" for the public), only to have everyone who had a catchprase appear to belt it out. Then the entire group looks to Lisa, who's never had a catchprase.
Lisa: I'll be in my room.
Homer: What kind of catchphrase is that?
- Mocked in another episode when Lisa uses Bart's early catchphrases "ay carumba" and "don't have a cow, man". When he complains to Marge, she points out that he hasn't used it in years.
- Character Derailment: Homer went from a bumbling and oblivious but ultimately loving and well meaning husband and father to a frequently unsympathetic jerk with few redeeming traits. Fans refer to the first as "Classic Homer" and the second as "Jerkass Homer". Homer is not the only altered character, but for the sake of peace let us leave this entry with the least controversial example.
- Chekhov's Ashes: Homer's mom wants him to spread her ashes at a certain place at a certain time; it turns out it was her last act of uncivil disobedience, as her ashes interfere with the launch of a missile sending nuclear waste from the power plant to the Amazon rain forest.
- Chekhov's Gun: Feet in "Krusty Gets Busted".
- Christian Rock: Flanders is seeing a Christian Rock singer.
- Christmas Episode: Several of them, including the series premiere.
- Closer To Earth: To the point where, in the episode "Lisa The Simpson", Lisa discovers that the Simpson bloodline has a hereditary gene that causes severe intelligence loss with age, ultimately dooming the family to unsuccessful, moronic lives... except it only affects the men. All the women are smart and successful. This is presented as a happy ending, despite Bart's rightful concern for his future.
- Concealing Canvas: In Mr. Burns' mansion.
- Consolation World Record: In the episode "Sweets and Sour Marge".
- Conspicuous Consumption
- Cosmopolitan Council: The Republican Party in Springfield.
- Courtroom Episode: "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: In The Movie, thinking everyone is going to be blown up, Martin takes his revenge on his bullies, and it is amazing.
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: The two maybe most memorable ones involve Maggie Simpson. First was her first word, after Homer had lamented a few times throughout the episode that Bart and Lisa both called him Homer more often than Dad, her first word? "Daddy". The other was the ending of the episode where Homer explains the circumstances of Maggie's birth, to clarify why there were no pictures of Maggie around the house. He'd been given a plaque when he went back to the plant, which stated "Don't forget: you're here forever", which he'd altered using pictures of Maggie to read "Do it for her."
- The Cruella: Mr. Burns of course.
- Crying Indian: At the end of "Trash of the Titans," Chief catches an empty potato chip bag and sheds a single tear. His friend advises him not to look behind him, as behind him is the ruins of Springfield covered in garbage.
- Culture Chop Suey: Lampshaded in an episode where Lisa is playing a video game based on the Theme Park version of Australia. She is killed by a group of koalas dressed as ninjas, leading her to remark "Ninjas? But those aren't even Australian!"
- Cut His Heart Out With A Spoon: Mostly Moe.
- Dada Ad: Parodied.
- Dance Sensation: "Do the Bartman"!
- Dead Baby Comedy: Progressively more so as the show loses the warm heart it once had.
- Dead Man Writing: "Homer's Odyssey", "I Married Marge"; parodied in "Half-Decent Proposal".
- Dead Person Impersonation: Principal Skinner, or rather Armin Tamzarian. The episode lead to one of the most explicit uses of Negative Continuity in the series, with a judge ordering everyone never to speak of the incident (the return of the real Skinner) under pain of torture.
- Lampshaded in the episode I (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot with the following conversation:
Lisa: I'm keeping you! You're Snowball V, but to save money on a new dish, we'll just call you Snowball II and pretend this whole thing never happened.
Principal Skinner: That's really a cheat, isn't it?
Lisa: I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian.
Principal Skinner: I'll just be moving along, Lisa. Snowball II.
- Depraved Kids Show Host: Krusty. The. Clown.
- Depth Deception: Leading to Kent Brockman welcoming his alien overlords.
- Desperately Looking For A Purpose In Life: Homer.
- Did Not Do The Research: Juan Peron was democratically elected despite what "E Pluribus Wiggum" states.
- Disaster Dominoes: Frequently.
- Dis Continuity: The episode "The Principal and the Pauper", as well as being Hand Waved out of canon at the end of the episode, is widely hated and disregarded by fans.
- Plus, Matt Groening has said himself that it's his least favorite episode (on the DVD, no less!)
- Another much-hated episode is "A Star is Burns," not so much for being poorly written, but for being made pretty much to advertise The Critic. Simpsons fans hated it for that reason, Groening had his creator's credit removed from the episode, and even fans of The Critic didn't like the episode, mostly due to the fact that Jay Sherman was shown acting completely out of character, becoming an uber-talented nice guy.
- Disney Creatures Of The Farce: The sex scene in the movie is an obvious send up of classic Snow White and Sleeping Beauty moments.
- Also, in "Homer the Heretic", after he finds religion, Homer welcomes the animals that flock to him whenever he goes outside. He then grows frustrated when they refuse to leave him alone, even when he's in the shower.
- Does Not Like Men: Patty & Selma, especially if said "men" are anything like Homer.
- The Don: Fat Tony oozes this trope. Never has mob menace been so second-language articulate.
- Dude Not Funny: The several onscreen deaths during the Big Damn Movie, a late in the movie stoner joke involving Otto and "Baby Blaster". It might be a comedy, but there's only so far you can get with Rule Of Funny.
- Eccentric Townsfolk: Pretty much all of Springfield.
- Everything's Better With Sparkles: Mr. Sparkle.
- Evil Old Folks: While most of the senior citizens are just cranky and incompetent, Mr. Burns is evil enough for all of them.
- Evil Twin: In a non-canon "Treehouse of Horror" episode, Bart has a twin named Hugo. Turns out Bart's the actual evil twin.
Bart: Oh, don't look so shocked.
- Eye Scream: Regularly in Itchy & Scratchy, but at least once Homer nearly gets his eye sucked out of its socket.
- Eye Shock: In one of the Halloween specials where Bart and Lisa are caught inside Itchy & Scratchy's show.
- Failed Attempt At Drama: Mr. Burns' attempted Smoke Out goes wrong and ends with him angrily throwing the money he was attempting to steal.
- Several times in "Homer to the Max".
- Faking The Dead: Done by Homer and Krusty in different episodes.
- Fail Polish: Marge, twice. She was quite dumpy in the Tracy Ullman show shorts. Early in the show's run she was more of an example of Hollywood Homely. Now of course she's treated as if she's supermodel-attractive.
- Fan Dumb: Been around so long that even professional reviewers get away with outstandingly negative reviews over the most trivial crap. Amusingly put into the series itself with the Comic Book Guy.
- Fan Nickname: Jerkass Homer is the nickname that fans of the classic episodes give to post-Flanderization Homer.
- Fell Off The Back Of A Truck-Truck-Truck: It really did!
- Fetish: Marge seems to have a thing for Homer's bomber jacket he wore as "Mr. Plow."
- She also seems to be turned on by reading about a celebrity's personal accomplishments and activities. *confused face*
- Don't forget the elbow thing.
- For a more extreme example: Troy McClure and his "love" of fish.
- Fiction 500: Mr. Burns.
- Forgot To Feed The Monster: Mr. Burns' League of Evil.
- For Inconvenience Press One: in "Bart of Darkness".
- Former Teen Rebel: Principal Skinner.
- Four Fingered Hands: Endlessly lampshaded.
- Free Range Children: Bart and Lisa are only ten and eight respectively, yet get in all sorts of adventures more suited for teenagers.
- Fully Automatic Clip Show: Several examples in the clip show episodes.
- Funny Foreigner: Apu, Uter, Groundskeeper Willie
- Fur Bikini: During the opening of a show called "Eye On Springfield".
- Gaias Lament: Played for laughs in the episodes "Lisa's Wedding" and "Bart to the Future." In the former, trees are extinct, and the the latter, Alaska is a tropical paradise.
- Genre Savvy: Various characters have been known to demonstrate this on the rare occasions they fumble the idiot ball.
- Gentleman Thief: Malloy in "Homer the Vigilante".
- Geographic Flexibility: Springfield has it in spades.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Lisa, who isn't particularly well liked in the USA, is the most popular character in the show in Japan.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man
- Go Look At The Distraction: Reverend Lovejoy getting Ned to leave by telling him about a saint-shaped oil stain.
- Good Angel Bad Angel: I am evil Homer~! I am evil Homer~!
- Good Ol Boy: The Rich Texan.
- Goshdang It To Heck: Flanders, until a Rant Inducing Slight "broke" him; the earlier season had a pseudo-version because most of that language was considered horrible for TV then.
- Gossipy Hens: Mainly Helen Lovejoy.
- Grammar Nazi: Linguo, Lisa's science project in "Trilogy of Error".
- G Rated Drug: Lots.
- Groupie Brigade: Of elderly female opera fans in "Homer of Seville".
- Hair Raising Hare: Homer draws bunny faces on electrical sockets to scare Maggie away from touching them. When Marge points out that Maggie's not scared of rabbits, Homer replies "She will be."
- Halfway Plot Switch: Constantly. Even lampshaded a few times.
- Halloween Episode: The annual "Treehouse of Horror" episodes.
- Hanging Judge: Judge Constance Harm, a Judge Judy parody.
- Happily Married: Homer and Marge sorta, Ned and Maude until she dies.
- Head Tiltingly Kinky: In the movie, with the sex scene.
- Kinky? Wasn't that just a joke on how people having sex would be Squick to animals?
- The Hedonist: One early episode has a self-help guru convince everyone in the town to be like this. It ends badly.
- Heroes Want Red Heads: In the movie, Lisa falls for an Irish boy.
- Heroic Team Revolt: In the movie, when Homer refuses to help Springfield, the rest of the family goes back without him.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Lenny and Carl, anyone?
- Mr. Burns and Smithers would also count, at least from Mr. Burns' point of view.
- Hey Is That Still On: Seasons 11-13 had several meta-jokes about the show ending soon, running out of ideas, etc. These fell by the wayside as the seasons just kept piling on with no end in sight.
- Honest Advisor: Mr. Burns once hires Lisa to advise him after listening to yes-men nearly ruins him.
- Housewife: Marge.
- Ho Yay: Lenny and Carl. Also lampshaded.
Lenny: I can't tell where Carl ends and I begin!
Carl: See, comments like those is why people think we're gay.
- The Hyena: Dr. Hibbert.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Sideshow Bob makes one of these in his televised rant against television.
- Hypocritical Humor: Far too many usages to count.
- Any "outsourcing" jokes, considering the animation of the show is done in South Korea.
- Idiot Hero: Homer.
- Ignored Epiphany: Burns has had a few of these about treating people better.
- I Have No Son: Parodied by Krusty's dad.
- I'll Kill You!: "The Shinning":
Homer: Hmm. Cable's out. Think I'll have a beer. Hmm. Not a drop in the house. What do you know.
Marge: Homer, I'm impressed! You're taking this quite well.
Homer: I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!
- Mayor Quimby's nephew is on trial for allegedly beating a waiter half to death (Makes Sense In Context):
Quimby's Lawyer: Are you a violent man?
Quimby's Nephew: [rehearsed lines] Of course not. I love each and every creature on God's green Earth.
Quimby's Lawyer: Then surely you would never lose your temper over something as trivial as the pronunciation of the word "chowder"?
Quimby's Nephew: THAT'S CHOW-DAH!! CHOW-DAH!! I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!! ESPECIALLY THOSE OF YOU IN THE JURY!!
- Imagine The Audience Naked: Used twice.
- Impaled With Extreme Prejudice: Mel Gibson's guest appearance.
- Incompatible Orientation: Smithers to Mr Burns.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" — Word Of God said so.
Willie: [to a Latin speaking Martin] You may have mastered a dead tongue, but can you handle a live one?! [strangles Martin with his tongue, Freddy Kruger-style]
- Indestructible Edible: "Silly customer! You cannot hurt a Twinkie!"
- Instant Web Hit: The Angry Dad video
- Instrument Of Murder: Julia's blowgun/baton in "Homer of Seville".
- Iron Buttmonkey: Homer falls headlong into this trope. Several jokes have been brief Hand Waves as to why he can survive such things from having accrued a thick beer-based cushioning fluid around his brain from years of drinking to painkillers, lots and lots of painkillers. Interestingly, Homer is actually hurt a great deal after suffering cartoon levels of violence, it's just that he survives that is amazing and this makes it funnier than a pure cartoon like response since you know Homer is really being hurt. As the writer of Planet Simpson said
He falls like a cartoon but he lands like a real person.
- Its All My Fault: "I called him a dumb dog".
- I Want My Jet Pack: The episode "Lisa's Wedding."
- I Would Say If I Could Say
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Homer and Bart are the most prominent, but characters ranging from Moe to Willie to Nelson have all demonstrated this trait at one point or another.
- Jump The Shark: Not only the current state of the show according to many fans, but as a sight gag parodying the concept within the show.
- Jury Of The Damned: Halloween episode "The Devil and Homer Simpson."
- Just Ignore It: Halloween episode "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores."
- Kangaroo Pouch Ride: During their trip to Australia. Bart and Homer try to ride a kangaroo but the pouch is full of slime.
- Kids Are Cruel: Gave the page its quote.
- Last Day To Live: When Homer was believed to have eaten a poisoned fish at a Japanese restaurant.
- Level Ate: Homer's Land of Chocolate.
- Life Imitates Art: The Albuquerque Isotopes AAA baseball team.
- Live Action Adaptation: A live version of the opening credits was created in 2006 as a promotional short in the UK.
- Loads And Loads Of Characters: Over one hundred and counting.
- Long Runners: It will pass Gunsmoke with its 21st season.
- Long Speech Tea Time: Marge just gets ready for bed while Homer rambles off all the jobs he had before his bodyguard gig, including "hippie," "Smithers," and "homophobe."
- Losing Your Head: Homer in "Treehouse of Horror XVI"
- Loud Of War: In one episode, Skinner, Krabappel and Bart have sealed themselves inside the school. Chief Wiggum tries playing romantic music to try and get them to snap and leave, but Skinner and Krabappel merely begin enjoying a romantic dance. This causes Bart to snap and scream "Turn it off!", which only convinces Wiggum to turn it up louder.
- Man Of A Thousand Voices: Dan Castellaneta, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria qualify for that trope from their work on this show alone.
- Make A Wish: The wishbone in the Leftorium episode.
- Make Out Point: Springfield being what it is, it overlooks the nuclear plant.
- Malignant Tumor: It's the standard plot format.
- McLeaned: Maggie Roswell/"Maude Flanders". Maggie eventually came back, but Maude Flanders is still dead.
- Medium Blending: The 3D CGI Homer and live action bits in "Treehouse of Horror VI."
- 3D CGI and claymation are also used when the characters watch parodies of Pixar, Davey and Goliath, the California Grapes, etc.
- Memetic Mutation: Oh so many, it now has its own section.
- Parodied in "Bart Gets Famous", where we see people laughing at uses of the phrase "I didn't do it" during inappropriate moments (during a hold up at the Kwik-E-Mart after Apu sounds an alarm, Diamond Joe Quimby getting caught in a scandelous situation, and during a fire when Patty and Selma are suspected to have caused it).
- Meta Guy: Comic Book Guy.
- The Movie: With the creative title of The Simpsons Movie)
- Murder By Cremation: "Funeral for a Fiend".
- Mushroom Samba: a few episodes, but "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" is the most well-known.
- My Card: Malloy again.
- Mysterious Informant: Smithers, in the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" two-part episode.
- Mystery Box: What Mr. Burns tries to bribe some safety inspectors with.
- Negative Continuity: For some details, such as whatever reason Homer is dumb.
- Natural Spotlight: Straight sometimes and parodied sometimes.
- New Age Retro Hippie: Homer's mom Mona, although she's much more sympathetic and less out-there than many NARTHs.
- New Job Episode: More than any other franchise, ever.
- Nightmare Fuel: Yes, not even Our Favorite Family is immune to this stuff. We're looking at you, Treehouse of Horror.
- No Accounting For Taste: Marge's marriage to Homer has been seriously questioned in the show several times, and compared to her taking care of a Manatee... unfavorably compared, since when she cared for them they gave her a sense of usefulness and accomplishment.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Rainier Wolfcastle and Mike Tyson Drederick Tatum, to name two.
- Nose Tapping
- No Time To Think: In "Homer Defined", Homer uses "Eeny, meeny, miney, moe" to guess which button to press to prevent the nuclear reactor from melting down. Successfully. Twice.
- Not Allowed To Grow Up: In a mock behind-the-scenes exposé, Lisa accuses the producers of slipping her "anti-growth hormones."
- Not What I Signed On For: The original settlers of Springfield and Shelbyville split into two feuding groups when some of them found out their pilgrimage wasn't about getting to marry their cousins.
- Object Ceiling Cling: Bart sticks a waffle onto the ceiling, which Homer mistakes for God. Marge pries the waffle off the ceiling and Homer eats it.
- Obnoxious In Laws: Patty & Selma.
- Obstacle Ski Course: Along with Stupid Sexy Flanders.
- Odd Couple: Homer and Marge, obviously.
- Also, Homer and Skinner while they are "sequestered" due to a jury "deadlock". Skinner points this out. Homer tells him to shut up.
- Oddly Small Organization: All over the place, but most often the Springfield Police and Mafia.
- Oh, The Humanity!: parodied a few times.
- Omniglot: Bart and Homer share the ability to rapidly become fluent in any language they encounter.
- One Mario Limit: Homer used to mean one of the greatest poets in western literature, thus denoting a certain amount of sophistication. Nowadays...
- Opium Den: In a Treehouse of Horror segment.
- Our Founder: Jebediah Springfield.
- Out Of Focus: Obviously, many over the course of the show. The first was Lewis, the black kid who was Bart's second-best friend in the early days of the show and got pushed into background character status as other classmates developed personalities.
- Lampshaded a couple times. For example, a gag in "Homer to the Max" where Lisa commented about characters that don't get used, and then Mr. Largo and the Capital City Goofball walked past the window.
- Oven Logic: Marge and her Raisin Sponge Cake.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Lisa calls Yertle The Turtle "possibly the best book written on the subject of turtle stacking".
- Overly Long Gag: Used very sparingly in the early seasons, and up to a couple of times per episode in more recent ones.
- With the exception of the Rake Scene. The animators even admitted that the episode was running low on time.
- Ping Pong Naivete: Bart.
- Playboy: The cover girl for the November 2009 issue? Marge Simpson herself.
- Poor Mans Porn: In one episode Moe is forced to admit under a lie detector test that he uses a Sears catalogue for this purpose.
- Porn Stash: Subverted; Homer offers Barney access to the hollow tree where he keeps his "adult" magazines... Namely, "The Economist".
- The Problem With Licensed Games: With few exceptions, most Simpsons games are terrible. The arcade game, however, is regarded as a classic.
- The more recent Simpsons Hit & Run is also viewed in much the same light as the arcade game.
- As is The Simpsons Game which was decent and had some genuinely hilarious moments.
- Push Pop Plot: The episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story."
- Rear Window Investigation, Rear Window Witness: "Bart of Darkness".
- Rebus Bubble: Homer + Beer = Car Crash President Homer.
- Remember When You Blocked Out The Sun: Mr. Burns in the episode with his love interest and her ex-boyfriend Snake. After she leaves Burns for Snake because Snake is such a "bad boy", Burns complains that he is truly evil and recites a number of his evil schemes, such as blocking out the sun in Springfield.
- Retroactive Wish: "I sure hope there isn't an ice-cream round!"
- Riddle For The Ages: How Mr. Burns beat Bart and Lisa to the bottom of a laundry chute.
- (And how Grandpa took off his underwear without taking off his pants)
- Schmuck Bait: In the fourth Treehouse of Horror, Bart come across a lever for a "Super Happy Fun Slide" while escaping some vampires. He even lampshade it before he pulls it and slides right into the clutches of the undead and his own vamping. Homer nearly does the same later in the episode.
Bart: I know I shouldn't, but when will I be here again?
- Screams Like A Little Girl: Homer does it the most, but Ned's is higher-pitched.
- See You In Hell: "...from Heaven"
- Selective Enforcement: The Trope formerly known as Flaming Cobra Sugar Cellar.
- Self Serving Memory: In $pringfield, when Homer accuses Marge of being against the casino, flashes back to a very bizarre scene. Also used by Burns and Bart in the trial in Bart Gets Run Over By a Car.
- Sesame Street Cred: Celebrity voices have been rumored to line up for years to get on the show. Even playing themselves.
- Shooting Gallery: "The Springfield Connection".
- Show Within A Show: The Itchy And Scratchy Show.
- Sickly Green Glow: Anything radioactive.
- Similar Squad: It's been used several times: a nice version of the family, a cooler version of Bart and Lisa, the inbred version of Springfield in Shelbyville.
- Simultaneous Arcs: "Trilogy of Error".
- Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Homer has Ned Flanders, and Bart has Sideshow Bob (and for some reason, Dr. Demento).
- Spin Off: Of The Tracey Ullman Show. And the whole concept is spoofed in the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase".
- Stab The Salad: Several times, memorably in Sideshow Bob's first escape, Homer kept scaring Bart by wielding large deadly implements for innocent things.
- Straw Fan: Comic Book Guy.
- Strawman Political: More and more common as the show drifts leftward. Often provided by The Rich Texan.
- This is by Word Of God the reason Flanders has become such a holier-than-thou Jerk Ass, with the writers admitting he was basically a Take That at their perception of the politicians in power having religious motivations.
- Probably most over-the-top in the episode where Springfield's local Republican party is shown to include literal monsters and that they meet in a brooding castle like a supervillain group. Sadly, this was still done in better humor and is less Anvilicious than many more recent examples.
- Actually, they do this for Democrats as well — remember that Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby is a Democrat and is a womanising, pot-growing, corrupt Kennedy. Who when announces a crackdown on the mafia, gets literally laughed out.
- Straight Gay: Waylon Smithers.
- Strangled By The Red String: Marge and Homer will always get back together, even though Marge is repeatedly shown to be much happier and better off without him.
- Stripper Cop Confusion: Chief Wiggum, but he goes along with the assumption for the money.)
- Subverted Trope: The show subverted most of these tropes at one point or another.
- Suck E Cheeses: Wall E. Weasel's.
- Sudden Anatomy: When a sub-plot hinges on Homer not remembering Marge's eye color, a Simpsons character is drawn with irises for the first time.
- Summer Campy: "Camp Krusty".
- Super Bowl Special: The recent Coca Cola commercial featuring Mr. Burns losing his money, followed by Apu giving him a Coke.
- Super Fun Happy Trope Of Doom
- Take That: Several different targets, frequently for unknown reasons. For example, Arby's must have pissed some of the writers off really good, being the recipient of at least 4 cheap shots.
- Talking To Himself: Half the cast is voiced by the same three or four people.
- Tar And Feathers
- That Cloud Looks Like
- That Liar Lies: "You're lying! You're lying! What makes you lie?"
- Theme Naming: Most of the last names of Simpsons side characters come from street names in Portland, Oregon (Matt Groening's hometown), such as Flanders, Quimby, and Terwilliger.
- Thirteen Is Unlucky: The Treehouse Of Horror story "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" starts "on the thirteenth hour of the thirteenth day of the thirteen month" with a meeting to discuss the misprinted calendars bought by the town.
Homer: Lousy Smarch weather!
- This Is For Emphasis, Bitch!
- Three Shorts: The annual Halloween episodes follow this format, as do assorted episodes on other themes: Christmas, revenge, the sea, etc.
- Lampshaded in the episode Four Great Women and a Manicure. And this troper particularly enjoyed seeing another Ayn Rand reference.
- Title: The Adaptation
- To Be Continued: Subverted in the movie.
- Tomato Surprise: Referenced in Homer's poem:
There once was a rapping tomato That's right, I said "rapping tomato" He rapped all day, from April to May And also, guess what, it was me.
- Totally Radical: Parodied with Poochie, who is instantly reviled by Itchy & Scratchy fans.
- Train Station Goodbye: Lampshaded.
- Tree Buchet: Homer launched a rabbit into the horizon with one of these.
- Troperiffic: You'd be hard pressed to find a series more troperrific (Troperifficker?) than this.
- Undead Author: Groundskeeper Willie's story about the miner's strike.
- Unfortunate Implications: Homer's treatment of Marge can be at best mean and at worst abusive. It also doesn't help that the creators seem to want to hammer the message that a husband can be awful to his wife and she will always forgive him in the end.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Homer, who gets less sympathetic as the show ages.
- Verbal Tic: Ned Flanders adds "diddly" to his words.
- Violent Glaswegian: Groundskeeper Willie.
- The Voiceless: Maggie.
- Welcome To The Real World: Homer goes through a mysterious portal behind the bookcase and ends up doing this at the end of the seventh-season "Treehouse of Horror VI."
- Well Intentioned Extremist: Sideshow Bob. For example, the whole reason he framed Krusty was to provide 'Quality Children's Entertainment'. Yes, and because he got shot out of a cannon.
- Whole Episode Flashback: "The Way We Was", "The Way We Weren't", the episodes about the birth of the kids.
- Whole Plot Reference: Hamlet, The Departed, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Mary Poppins, 2010ASpaceOdyessey, Dracula, Lord of the Flies, Sid and Nancy, The Lady and the Tramp...
- The Woobie: Many characters could qualify, but Frank Grimes takes this trope to its logical extreme.
- Writers Suck: In "The Front". Also, someone is fired for saying viewers aren't morons.
- Writing Around Trademarks: Lampshaded by the Mary Poppins parody, who says she's an original creation like 'Ricky Rouse' and 'Monald Muck'.
- Xanatos Funeral: Homer spreads his mother's ashes, sabotaging Mr. Burns's missile launch.
- Also, there's Sideshow Bob's fake funeral, a ploy to kill Bart when he's saying goodbye to his old nemesis.
- X Days Since
- In the new opening: Lenny & Carl are changing the "days without an accident" one higher, then the Quitting Time Horn goes off and Homer runs out, knocking them over in the process.
- A prison holds a sign counting the number of days since the last break.
- A redneck bar has a sign counting the number of days without a tornado. And it's reset between scenes.
- When Apu takes his citizenship test, the sign outside says something like "130 years without a civil war".
- 14 days without a tornado. Sadly.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Krusty's Komedy Klassic.
- Yakuza: After Marge hires the Mafia to help her pretzel business, the Investorettes hire the Yakuza to fight back.
- Yawn And Reach: Homer tries to teach it to Abe. Skinner does this to Patty, but she doesn't like it.
- Yes Man: Smithers.
- Yoko Oh No: Barney's girlfriend when he was part of the B-Sharps.
- You Are A Tree Charlie Brown: Bart and Milhouse play sheep.
- You Are In Command Now: Homer ends up in command of a nuclear sub.
- You Cant Handle The Parody. They've used it at least twice:
Homer: You want the trth? You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! 'Cause when you reach over and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.
Sideshow Bob: You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! No, truth-handler, you! I deride your truth-handling abilities!
- You Get Me Coffee: Lisa wanted to be in a jazz band but was told she could sit in a chair instead.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Marge and Milhouse have blue hair, Patty and Selma have periwinkle, the three Simpsons kids have yellow hair the same colour as their skin.
- Your Head A Splode: Once in a reference to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, as well as an Explosive Decompression.
- You Just Ruined The Shot: Becky appears to be torturing the family in "It's a Mad, Mad Marge".
- You Monster: Lisa shouts it at Homer in The Simpsons Movie, after learning that it was he who caused the ecological disaster that got Springfield placed under a dome.
- Your Worst Nightmare: In a "Treehouse of Horror", Bart and Lisa, in a parody of A Nightmare On Elm Street, are being terrorized by Groundskeeper Willie in their dreams.
- You Suck: Homer and to a much greater extent, Frank Grimes.
- Zillion Dollar Bill: Mr. Burns was said to own a trillion-dollar bill - and did! Now Fidel Castro has it.
- Zombie Apocalypse: In a "Treehouse of Horror" segment, Bart reanimates the dead.
|
|
