Creator Backlash: Matt Groening was so against "A Star is Burns" (The CriticCrossover) that he took his name off the episode. A disagreement with James L. Brooks over the episode also erupted, spilling out into public.
"The Principal and the Pauper" has been controversial among the staff. Showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, as well as writer Ken Keeler, continue to defend this episode, but they appear to be in the minority. Groening has denounced it as one of his least favorite episodes, while Harry Shearer condemned it for what it does to Skinner's character. Shearer also alleged that even years after the fact, the writing staff acts like the episode never happened. And of course, "Behind the Laughter" referred to this episode as "gimmicky and nonsensical."
In the intro, Maggie Simpson "scans" as $847.63 at the grocery store.
When Bart destroys Former President George Bush's memoirs in "Two Bad Neighbors", one small shred of paper briefly passes over the screen on which the words "V.P. Quale" and "embarrassment" clearly legible.
The foreign-dubbed versions are as interesting as the original English version are and we can give very interesting examples:
The Japanese-dubbed version have many alumni from the Mecha genre and, by some weird coincidence, from the Mazinger Z saga and related series. Even the actors who voiced one-shot characters aren't safe of this:
Moe & Ned Flanders areShin Mazinger's Count Brocken (That's right, both Classical and New versions of Brocken were in the same show!) In the movie, Flanders isGen
The Other Darrin: From seasons 11-13, all parts originally played by Maggie Roswell were played by Marcia Mitzman Gaven, due to a pay dispute. This includes characters such as Miss Hoover, Mrs. Lovejoy, and most prominently, Maude Flanders. Additionally, Lunchlady Doris, originally played by Doris Grau, was retired for a while to pay respects to Grau, who had passed away. She finally made a speaking appearance in season 18's "The Mook, the Chef, the Hife, and Her Homer", this time played by Tress MacNeille.
Lisa: There's a AAA battery in my macaroni and cheese!
Doris: It counts as a vegetable.
This was also lampshaded in "Homer to the Max", when Flanders appeared with a difference voice: "Plus they can replace 'em [actors] and nobody will know the diddily-ifference!"
The cops Eddie and Lou had switched voices in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", which technically means both characters were initially voiced by somebody else.
Similarly, Lenny and Carl had swapped voices in "Brush With Greatness".
Maggie Simpson has been "voiced" by Nancy Cartwright most of the time, but Elizabeth Taylor provided her first word of "daddy" in "Lisa's First Word".
Roger Meyers Jr. was voiced by Alex Rocco in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", "The Day the Violence Died", and "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", while Hank Azaria voiced him in "The Front", "Lady Bouvier's Lover", and "Itchy & Scratchy Land".
Artie Ziff was voiced by Jon Lovitz in "The Way We Was", "Half-Decent Proposal", and "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", while Dan Castellaneta voiced him in "The Front".
Mary Bailey was originally voiced by Maggie Roswell in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", while she was voiced by Tress MacNeille in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade".
Bill Clinton has been voiced by both Harry Shearer and Karl Wiedergott.
Lurleen Lumpkin was originally voiced by Beverly D'Angelo in "Colonel Homer" (and later reprised her role in "Papa Don't Leech"), but was voiced by Doris Grau for a brief gag in "Marge vs. The Monorail".
Bleeding Gums Murphy was voiced by Ron Taylor in two of his appearances, but in "Dancin' Homer", his singing voice was by Daryl Coley.
Mona Simpson was voiced by three women: Glenn Close (the three episodes which prominently feature her), Tress MacNeille ("D'oh-in' in the Wind") and Maggie Roswell ("Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?").
Sylvia Winfield, a next-door neighbor to the Simpsons, is initially voiced by Tracey Ullman and later by Maggie Roswell.
An odd example: Troy McClure, usually voiced by Phil Hartman, was briefly voiced by Dan Castellaneta in "Bart's Dog Gets an F" while Santa's Little Helper is "channel-surfing".
An example early in the series: Christopher Collins voiced Mr. Burns in "Homer's Odyssey". He was quickly replaced by Harry Shearer.
Russi Taylor usually voices Martin Prince, but in some early appearances, he was voiced by Jo Ann Harris.
In "The Tell-Tale Head", Jimbo Jones was voiced by Tress MacNeille, but in all other appearances, he was voiced by Pamela Hayden.
The Other Marty: Christopher Collins originally voiced Moe in "Some Enchanted Evening", but his track was never actually used in the final episode; he was replaced by Hank Azaria.
Show Accuracy/Toy Accuracy: For years merchandise almost always had Bart with a blue shirt despite the fact he wears an orange one.
Also, in the Simpsons episode Mayored to the Mob, Üter wears a Futurama shirt (this was long before anyone had heard anything about Futurama in the real world.) In an episode of Futurama, Bender eats the shorts off of a Bart Simpsons doll.
Shown Their Work: In "The Spy Who Learned Me", Homer sustains a concussion on the job. Smithers states that Homer must be given time off, in compliance with contemporary research. In recent years, sports leagues have legislated whole sets of precautionary and disciplinary rules involving hits to the head.
What Could Have Been: If you ever listen in on the DVD commentaries, you'll find out that this show is the patron saint of missed opportunities at being better than it is. Some examples:
The "Robot Richard Simmons" scene from "Burns' Heir" was cut because the writers and test audience thought it wasn't all that great, but apparently, it was a rave at animation conventions and guest lectures at colleges.
"Kamp Krusty" and "Bonfire of the Manatees" were originally supposed to be plots for The Simpsons Movie, but the writers didn't know how to make them compelling enough for 90 minutes.
The episode where Homer meets a big, bald mental patient who looks, acts, and is voiced by Michael Jackson (under a pseudonym due to contractual stipulations) was supposed to have a sequel where that same big, bald mental patient now thinks he's Prince and encourages everyone in town to be free and open with their sexualities. Because Prince refused to do it, that script is now the only Simpsons episode that has been written, but never produced.
Before his death, Phil Hartman had pitched the idea of doing a live-action movie about Troy Mc Clure (one of the recurring characters he voiced).
Marge was initially planned to become The Alcoholic out of boredom during "You Only Move Twice", having nothing better to do in a house she didn't have to upkeep. This was deemed too depressing, so in the final episode, in a Development Gag she just takes occasional sips of wine while the viewer is assaulted by Scare Chords and dramatic closeups.
The writers originally considered having Skinner wear a toupee, but they dropped it because apparently Matt Groening didn't like those types of jokes. Despite this, one image from "The Simpson's Guide to Springfield" (specifically one relating to King Toots) did have Skinner's top hair fly off in a similar manner to a toupee when covering his ears from Willie's bagpipe playing (implied to be awful).
Flanderization: Ned Flanders used to be only mildly religious, in that he was a typical "good American" who enjoyed going to to church on Sundays in earlier seasons; now he's a Bible-thumping Overprotective Dad. Other characters have been hit with it over the years.
The Poochie: The character that named it was actually a parody of this type of character. Now renamed to Shoo Out The New Guy.
Retirony: On the season 12 episode, "Homer vs. Dignity" (a.k.a, the one where Homer gets raped by a panda), Chief Wiggum tells his financial advisor that he's not going to save his money for the future because, like all cops on TV shows and movies, he'll be killed in the line of duty days before he retires.
Stupid Sexy Flanders: It feels like Ned Flanders is wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! Nothing at all!
Suspect Is Hatless: Chief Wiggum described Snake as this on an in-show episode of COPS.
Think of The Children: Helen Lovejoy's primary concern should be everyone else's as well.
Think Unsexy Thoughts: Homer used this mantra whenever he was alone with Mindy (a new coworker he was infatuated with because she's basically his Distaff Counterpart, only with red hair, a slim figure, and the voice of Michelle Pfeiffer).
She used this as a mantra when in an elevator with Homer.
Trash of the Titans: Title of the 200th episode and a frequent trope in the early days.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Marge asks this of Lindsay Naegle, who is one of four such recurring characters in the series. Naegle's answer: She's a sexual predator
You Might Remember Me From: Such trope pages as this one. Troy McClure (a washed-up B-list celebrity with an alleged sexual fetish for fish) would always introduce films, documentaries, and even two behind-the-scenes Simpsons episodes (the 138th episode spectacular and the episode featuring three pilots for spin-off shows) with this trope phrase and two fictional titles of movies/TV shows/specials, etc he's been in (such as "The Erotic Adventures of Hercules," "Zombie in the Endzone," "Mommy, What's Wrong With That Man's Face?" "2 Minus 3 Equals Negative Fun," "Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly," "Here Comes the Metric System," "Five Fabulous Weeks of The Chevy Chase Show," "Alien Autopsy," "Smoke Yourself Thin," and "Get Confident, Stupid!")
