The Simpsons

***The Simpsons*** is an American animated sitcom. It was created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show started on December 17, 1989 and so far over 700 episodes have aired in 36 seasons. As of today, the show is in its 36th season. As a full-length movie, _The Simpsons Movie_, was released on July 27, 2007 as a celebration of the franchise. It is aimed at the whole family.

The comedy takes place in the fictional town of Springfield, although it is speculated that  its location may correspond to the real-life cities of Springfield, Oregon (a city near where Groening grew up) or Springfield, Wyoming, from the adventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Homer's name is an Homerous. His full name is Homer Jay Simpson. Bart's name is an anagram of Brat. His full name is Bartholomew Jo-Jo Simpson. This TV show has a yellow skinned cartoon family. In 1998, Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife, resulting in his characters being removed from the show. In 2000, Ned Flanders' wife, Maude Flanders was killed off. Also in 2000, Barney Gumble became sober. In 2002, the production of The Simpsons had switched from cels to digital ink and paint. During that time, The Simpsons had suffering of franchise fatigue.

## History

The television show _The Simpsons_ was originally shown as short shows on _The Tracey Ullman Show_. Fox then decided to give them their own show in 1989. It has been tremendously successful since onwards.

## Episodes

|rowspan="3" colspan="2"|Season|rowspan="3"|No. of episodes|colspan="3"|Originally aired|colspan="3"|Viewership|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|1989–90|13|December 17, 1989|May 13, 1990|Sunday 8:30 pm|27.8|33.5|"Life on the Fast Lane"||
|2|1990–91|22|October 11, 1990|July 11, 1991|rowspan="4"|Thursday 8:00 pm|24.4|33.6|"Bart Gets an 'F'|
|3|1991–92|24|September 19, 1991||21.8|25.5|"Colonel Homer"|||
|4|1992–93|22|September 24, 1992|May 13, 1993|22.4|28.6|"Lisa's First Word"|||
|5|1993–94|22||May 19, 1994|18.9|24.0|"Treehouse of Horror IV"|||
|6|1994–95|25|September 4, 1994|May 21, 1995|Sunday 8:00 pm|15.6|22.2|"Treehouse of Horror V"||
|7|1995–96|25|September 17, 1995|May 19, 1996|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–24)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episode 25)</small>|15.1|22.6|"Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"||
|8|1996–97|25|October 27, 1996|May 18, 1997|Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episodes 1–3)</small> Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 4–12, 14–25)</small> Friday 8:00 pm <small>(Episode 13)</small>|14.5|20.41|"The Springfield Files"||
|9|1997–98|25|September 21, 1997|May 17, 1998|rowspan="4"|Sunday 8:00 pm|15.3|19.80|"The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"|
|10|1998–99|23|August 23, 1998|May 16, 1999|13.5|19.11|"Sunday, Cruddy Sunday"|||
|11|1999–2000|22|September 26, 1999|May 21, 2000|8.8|19.16|"Faith Off"|||
|12|2000–01|21|November 1, 2000|May 20, 2001|15.5|18.52|"HOMR"|||
|13|2001–02|22|November 6, 2001|May 22, 2002|Tuesday 8:30 pm <small>(Episode 1)</small> Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 2–20)</small> Sunday 7:30 pm <small>(Episode 21)</small> Wednesday 8:00 pm <small>(Episode 22)</small>|12.5|14.91|"The Parent Rap"||
|14|2002–03|22|November 3, 2002|May 18, 2003|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–11, 13–21)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episodes 12, 22)</small>|14.4|22.04|"I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can"||
|15|2003–04|22|November 2, 2003|May 23, 2004|Sunday 8:00 pm|11.0|16.30|"I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot"||
|16|2004–05|21|November 7, 2004|May 15, 2005|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–7, 9–16, 18, 20)</small> Sunday 10:30 pm <small>(Episode 8)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episodes 17, 19, 21)</small>|10.2|23.07|"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass"||
|17|2005–06|22|September 11, 2005|May 21, 2006|rowspan="3"|Sunday 8:00 pm|9.55|11.66|"Treehouse of Horror XVI"|
|18|2006–07|22|September 10, 2006|May 20, 2007|9.15|11.63|"The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"|||
|19|2007–08|20|September 23, 2007|May 18, 2008|8.37|11.74|"Treehouse of Horror XVIII"|||
|20|2008–09|21||May 17, 2009|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–7, 9–21)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episode 8)</small>|7.1|12.40|"Treehouse of Horror XIX"||
|21|2009–10|23|September 27, 2009|May 23, 2010|rowspan="3"|Sunday 8:00 pm|7.1|14.62|"Once Upon a Time in Springfield"|
|22|2010–11|22|September 26, 2010|May 22, 2011|7.09|12.55|"Moms I'd Like to Forget"|||
|23|2011–12|22|September 25, 2011|May 20, 2012|6.15|11.48|"The D'oh-cial Network"|||
|24|2012–13|22|September 30, 2012|May 19, 2013|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–21)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episode 22)</small>|5.41|8.97|"Homer Goes to Prep School"||
|25|2013–14|22|September 29, 2013|May 18, 2014|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–11, 13–22)</small> Sunday 7:30 pm <small>(Episode 12)</small>|5.02|12.04|"Steal This Episode"||
|26|2014–15|22||May 17, 2015|rowspan="6"|Sunday 8:00 pm|5.61|10.62|"The Man Who Came to Be Dinner"|
|27|2015–16|22|September 27, 2015||4.0|8.33|"Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles"|||
|28|2016–17|22|September 25, 2016||4.80|8.19|"Pork and Burns"|||
|29|2017–18|21|October 1, 2017|May 20, 2018|4.07|8.04|"Frink Gets Testy"|||
|30|2018–19|23|September 30, 2018|May 12, 2019|3.10|8.20|"The Girl on the Bus"|||
|31|2019–20|22|September 29, 2019|May 17, 2020|2.58|5.63|"Go Big or Go Homer"|||
|32|2020–21|22|September 27, 2020|May 23, 2021|rowspan="2"|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–10, 12–22)</small> Sunday 9:00 pm <small> (Episode 11)</small>|2.32|4.93|"Treehouse of Horror XXXI"|
|33|2021–22|22|September 26, 2021|May 22, 2022|2.25|3.97|"Portrait of a Lackey on Fire"|||
|34|2022–23|22|September 25, 2022|May 21, 2023|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–8, 10–22)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episode 9)</small>|1.83|4.77|"From Beer to Paternity"||
|35|2023–24|18|October 1, 2023|May 19, 2024|Sunday 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–5, 7, 10–18)</small> Sunday 8:30 pm <small>(Episodes 6, 8, 9)</small>|1.99|5.41|"Do the Wrong Thing"||
|36|2024–25|18|September 29, 2024|May 18, 2025|Sunday 8:00PM|TBA|TBA|TBA||

Seasons of The Simpsons mostly have a total of 22 episodes.

### Chalkboard gag

Many episodes begin with a scene of Springfield Elementary School, where Bart Simpson is shown writing lines on a chalkboard as punishment for being bad. For example, in one episode, Bart writes, "I will not conduct my own fire drills." The line is supposed to be humourous. Not every episode has a new one and sometimes the chalkboard gag may be cut (removed) because there is not enough time.

### Couch gag

In the opening, all the Simpsons come home after work or school. After Homer Simpson is almost or is hit by Marge's car, they all go into the living room, where something comical happens again. These are called "couch gags". On one couch gag Homer Simpson walked onto the screen like James Bond and shot the camera. Sometimes if an episode is a short one, then the couch gag will be very long. A couple of couch gags have been over one minute long. Couch gags in earlier seasons were simple but then became more interesting in later seasons.

### Ending credits

At the end of the show, the credits are shown. Sometimes they might be changed. In one episode, the ending showed Homer reading from a document about Dateline. In another episode, where all of the characters sing in song, Snake keeps firing his gun in order to make the music that was playing stop.

## Movie

A film based on the show, _The Simpsons Movie_, was released in 2007, specifically on the day that it was released. It included the character Spider-Pig as Homer's new pet after rescuing him from a chain restaurant, Krusty Burger.

## Other websites

- TheSimpsons.com Official website
- The Simpsons Archive
- _The Simpsons_  at the Encyclopedia of Television
- The _Simpsons_ Wiki
- The _Simpsons_ Wiki at Wikia

## Infobox (television)

- **image**: File:The Simpsons Logo.svg
- **caption**: Red logo
- **creator**: Matt Groening
- **theme music composer**: Danny Elfman
- **opentheme**: "The Simpsons Theme, _The Simpsons_ Theme"
- **composer**: Richard Gibbs

Ray Colcord
Alf Clausen
Bleeding Fingers Music
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **num seasons**: 37
- **num episodes**: 805
- **list episodes**: List of The Simpsons episodes
- **runtime**: 21–24 minutes
- **network**: Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox
- **last aired**: present
- **related**: _Futurama_