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The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, it caricatures society, Western culture, television and the human condition, and is still in current release.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with producer Brooks. He created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after his own family members, substituting Bart for his own name; he thought Simpson was a funny name in that it sounded similar to "simpleton". The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After three seasons, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and became Fox's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, 781 episodes of the show have been broadcast. It is the longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in seasons and individual episodes. A feature-length film, The Simpsons Movie, was released in theaters worldwide on July 27, 2007, to critical and commercial success, with a sequel in development as of 2024. The series has also spawned numerous comic book series, video games, books and other related media, as well as a billion-dollar merchandising industry. The Simpsons was initially a joint production by Gracie Films and 20th Television; 20th Television's involvement was later moved to 20th Television Animation, a separate unit of Disney Television Studios. (Full article...)

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Matt Groening (born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist and television producer and writer from Portland, Oregon. Groening is best known as the creator of The Simpsons . He is also the creator of the comic Life in Hell and co-creator of Futurama. Life in Hell caught the attention of James L. Brooks. In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation for the FOX variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening decided to create something new and came up with a cartoon family, the Simpsons and named the members after his own family, except Bart, which was an anagram of the word brat. The shorts would be spun off into their own series: The Simpsons, which has since aired over 400 episodes in 19 seasons. In 1997, Groening got together with David X. Cohen and developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000. After four years on the air, the show was cancelled by Fox, but Comedy Central commissioned 16 new episodes to be aired in 2008. Groening has won 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, nine for The Simpsons and one for Futurama as well as a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell.

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A 7-Eleven transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart

Credit: SchmuckyTheCat

A 7-Eleven store in Seattle, July 1, 2007. The store was transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart as part of a promotion for The Simpsons Movie.

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Character quote

“

You need to focus on the neglected food groups, such as the Whipped group, the congealed group and the Chocotastic!

”

— Dr. Nick Riviera ("King-Size Homer")

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"Cape Feare" is the second episode of The Simpsons' fifth season, which premiered on the Fox network on October 7, 1993 after being held over from season four. The episode features Sideshow Bob trying to kill Bart Simpson after getting out of jail. It is a spoof of the 1962 film Cape Fear as well as its 1991 remake, but alludes to other horror films. The production crew found it difficult to stretch "Cape Feare" in order to fulfil the standard length of a half-hour episode, leading to the padding of several scenes for which some became memorable. "Cape Feare" was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Rich Moore and was the last episode that the original writing staff helped produce. Kelsey Grammer guest stars as Sideshow Bob. The episode is generally rated as one of the best of the entire series and the score received an Emmy Award nomination.

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Did you know...

...that in 1993, the producers submitted "A Streetcar Named Marge" and "Mr. Plow" in the "Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series" category but did not receive a nomination?

...that for "Homer's Enemy", Hank Azaria provided the voice of Frank Grimes although he felt that the role should go to William H. Macy and ended up modeling many of Grimes' mannerisms after him?

... that MacHomer, a one-person play blending William Shakespeare's Macbeth with The Simpsons, was conceived by Rick Miller in 1994 while he was playing the minor role of Murderer No. 2 in a production of MacBeth?

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The following are images from various The Simpsons-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Simpsons Movie premiered in Springfield, Vermont. (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 2The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop, as seen in the Springfield section of Universal Studios Hollywood (from Springfield (The Simpsons))
Image 3
David Mirkin
Image 4Voice actress Maggie Roswell left The Simpsons over a pay dispute, but returned three years later. (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 5In 2004, Matt Groening won a Lifetime achievement British Comedy Award.
Image 6The Simpsons' visit to Rio de Janeiro almost led to a lawsuit and a diplomatic incident. (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 7Matt Selman won a WGA Award in 2004. (from List of awards and nominations received by The Simpsons)
Image 8Voice actor Phil Hartman was murdered in 1998. (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 9
Mike Scully
(from History of The Simpsons)
Image 10Hank Azaria has won four Emmy awards for Outstanding Voice-over Performance (from List of awards and nominations received by The Simpsons)
Image 11A Seattle 7-Eleven store transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart (from Springfield (The Simpsons))
Image 12The show was criticized by several conservatives. Among those were President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush. (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 13David Silverman, director of The Simpsons Movie.
Image 14In 1991, Nancy Cartwright accepted a Kids' Choice Awards while wearing a Bart Simpson costume. (from List of awards and nominations received by The Simpsons)
Image 15Michael Jackson co-wrote the single "Do the Bartman" (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 16"Lisa the Vegetarian", an episode produced by David Mirkin, won a Genesis Award in 1996
Image 17Part of the writing staff of The Simpsons in 1992 (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 18In 2001, Yeardley Smith's character Lisa Simpson won an EMA Award. (from List of awards and nominations received by The Simpsons)
Image 19Morgan Spurlock produced a documentary on The Simpsons in order to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. (from History of The Simpsons)
Image 20Moe's Bar in Concepción, Chile, based on images from The Simpsons (from Springfield (The Simpsons))

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We're really writing a show that has some of the most esoteric references on television. I mean really, really, really strange, odd, short little moments that very few people get and understand. We do that for ourselves. We're writing it for adults and intelligent adults at that.

— David Mirkin

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