Ned Flanders

Nedward "Ned" Flanders Jr. is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons.

 History 
 Creation 
Ned Flanders and his son Todd first appeared in the season one episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which was the series first episode. The first episode in which Flanders and his family were seen is season two's "Dead Putting Society", which also showed the first appearance of Maude and Rod Flanders. He is a fan of The Beatles and the television drama series Bergerac.

 Name 
Flanders was named after Flanders St. in Portland, Oregon, the hometown of Simpsons creator Matt Groening.  Groening wanted Flanders as "just a guy who was truly nice, that Homer had no justifiable reason to loathe, but then did." It was not until after the first few episodes that it was decided Flanders would be a faithful Christian.  Mike Scully said that Flanders is "everything Homer would love to be, although he'll never admit it."  Flanders had originally been meant to just be a neighbor that Homer was jealous of, but Harry Shearer used "such a sweet voice" and Flanders was planned to become a Christian and a sweet guy that someone would choose to live next to over Homer.

 How he was received 
Ned's "unbearable niceness" has been described as "The Simpsons' worst comment about religion". Although Flanders was meant to be only a character making fun of the Christian right, he has since become a favorite of many Christian viewers.  He has been described as "[The United States]' most well-known evangelical." Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, declared himself as a Simpsons fan, and said he likes Flanders.

References

Other websites
 Ned Flanders at TheSimpsons.com


Category:The Simpsons characters
Category:Animated human characters
Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1989

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