This Sunday will mark the beginning of the 25th season of The Simpson’s. Some say that’s 15 years to long, and that some is most Simpson’s fans. But still, it’s quite an accomplishment, to celebrate here are 25 facts about America’s favorite yellow people (sorry Lego people).
1) It could of been a show about bunnies..
There are a couple of different stories about the exact reason The Simpson’s were created in a hurry. One is that Matt Groening thought the Tracy Ullman show wanted to do a cartoon about Life In Hell (his dark humor comic about rabbits living in L.A.) , but while be waiting for the pitch meeting he found out they wanted something orginal. The other story is he panicked while waiting that the cartoon would fail and didn’t want to soil the name of his rabbit characters.
In either case, he quickly drew the Simpson family and pitched that instead.
2) They are named after his family
When you create characters that fast, you don’t have time to get fancy with the names. Mr. Groening named them after his parents Homer and Marge, and sisters Lisa and Margret. This is no Bart in his family, but it’s an anagram for brat.
When it came time to give Grandpa Simpson a name, Mr. Groening left the room to let the writers come up with a name on their own. They came up with Abraham, which by coincidence is also Groaning’s grandfather’s name.
3) The first episode was not supposed to be the Christmas special.
Simpson’s Roasting Over an Open Fire was the first episode aired, but it wasn’t meant to. Originally the first episode was going to be the babysitter bandit episode, but the animation came back so horrible they had to redo almost all of it. It instead became the season finale.
4) There was almost a live action Krusty The Clown spin-off.
A script was written for a live action Krusty The Clown Show. The plot involved beavers trying to chew down a cabin he was in. Can’t imagine why it was never picked up.
5) Matt Groening’s name is on every episode but one.
Mr. Groening refused to put his name on the episode “A Star is Burns” because FOX forced them to do it as a crossover with “The Critic”. Despite Groening’s objection, the episode is considered a classic by most fans.
6) There’s a Futurama crossover coming up.
Even though Mr. Groening hated the idea of doing a crossover with The Critic, he seems to have no objection to an upcoming crossover with Futurama, another show he created.
An hour long Family Guy crossover is also slated to run in 2014.
7) Lisa could of sounded like Bart
Nancy Cartwright originally auditioned to do Lisa’s voice. However, the powers that be decided she should voice Bart instead.
8) Conan O’ Brien still owes a couple of scripts
Mr. O’Brien was a writer on The Simpson’s when Late Night came a calling. He was still under contract with FOX though, and they did not want to let him go. He agreed to write a couple of more scripts in the future to fulfill his contract. Twenty years later it still hasn’t happened.
9) Sideshow Bob has outlasted Frasier
Kelsey Grammer played Frasier Crane for 20 years, tying a record. But he also has supplied the voice of Sideshow Bob in 15 episodes over the course of 22 years. Who knows how much longer The Simpson’s will air, but could it be possible that one day Mr. Grammer will be better known as Sideshow Bob than Frasier?
10) The Simpson’s channel… maybe
When The Simpson’s first came on in 1989, cable syndication wasn’t really a thing. The contract that was signed said the show could not air on cable TV until after it went off the air. Here we are 24 years later, and cable TV syndication has become a huge industry in itself, with shows like Family Guy and Big Bang Theory doing very well there.
It seems the powers that be may have finally come up with a solution though as the rumor is FOX is currently shopping around The Simpson’s to cable networks. While TBS, FXX (FOX’s new Comedy Network), Comedy Central or Cartoon Network could all be great fits for the show, another idea is a Simpson’s Channel. Considering there is 550 episodes, meaning almost 10 days worth of nonstop content, it doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a stretch.
