By Annie Dudley
Marge sighs as Bart comes home late due to detention and Homer comes home later because he was at Moe’s with his friends. Meanwhile,, while Maggie’s growing pacifier addiction becomes increasingly troubling. Lisa, on the other hand, had just received the Student of the Year award...again.
The Simpsons by Matt Groening is a long-lasting television series, featuring five main characters: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson. These characters reside in Springfield, in an anonymous state.
To provide some background, Homer is employed at the Springfield Nuclear Plant, and he works for Mr. Montgomery Burns (an evil, ancient man with four unknown digits as his age). Homer loves doughnuts, bacon, beer, and various unhealthy foods.
Marge Simpson is a struggling mother who tries her best but never feels that she is good enough. With the competition of the other snarky mothers in the neighborhood, including Helen Lovejoy and Maud Flanders, the worries of Homer’s rapidly declining health, and Bart and Lisa's violent sibling rivalry, Marge feels exhausted all of the time.
Bart Simpson is a troublemaker who loves to pull pranks alongside his childish best friend, Milhouse Van Houten. His enemies are Principal Skinner, his teacher Ms. Hoover, Lisa Simpson, and in far too many occasions, the law.
Speaking of Lisa, Lisa is a vegetarian who cares deeply about righting wrongs and seeing justice. For example, a rich man wants to tear down a redwood tree but she chains herself to it all night. Lisa will go to great lengths to keep her A streak going and to impress her feminist heroes.
Maggie is a baby with a concerning pacifier addiction. She may seem very innocent, sweet, and honestly boring, but occasional episodes reveal Maggie saving the day, using a gun, singing beautifully, speaking with animals, and manymuch more concerning things that tend to go unnoticed by Springfield citizens.
The director of this series is David Silverman. What’s interesting about the actors and actresses is that one of them may play as many as nine different voices! For example, Dan Castellaneta plays Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble (one of Homer’s friends at Moe’s), Waylon Smithers (Mr. Burn’s nervous assistant), Krusty the Klown (Springfield children’s favorite source of entertainment), Grampa Simpson (Homer’s Dad), Groundskeeper Willie (the crazy school groundskeeper that lives in a shack), Santa’s Little Helper (the Simpsons’ dog), Sideshow Mel (Krusty’s sidekick), and Mayor Quimby (Springfield’s mayor). Other actors/actresses are Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Julie Kavner, and Yeardly Smith. This acting is really impressive, as all of the voice actors/actresses do incredible jobs and can somehow manage nearly ten characters!
This series is a cartoon intended for older audiences (TV-14) as it includes swears, violence, and inappropriate references and scenes. It first aired in 1989, on December 17.
So, what’s so great about The Simpsons? Well, it is downright hilarious. People with any sense of humor will enjoy this, from Ralph Wiggum (Nancy Cartwright)’s “My cat’s breath smells like cat food!” and “Hee hee, I’m in danger!” to desperate man Gil Gunderson (Dan Castellaneta)’s “C’mon, what’s old Gil gotta do to see you this car? Aw geez, it’s on fire again!”
Something that’s very important about this series is its openness. No show before hashad ever been so honest, covering deep topics that are generally sore spots in some people. This show’s honesty is important because it inspires the public to be more open about topics that people typically need to be careful about.
The Simpsons has earned so many awards, and I will not list them all here. The top few that stand out are:
1997: Peabody Award
2013: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
2014, 2015: Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
2020: Peabody - Institutional Award
So that’s The Simpsons. The iconic family is far from perfect and exaggerates the average American family’s flaws, which is very humorous. I completely recommend this show, as it is relatable and hilarious, with lovable and memorable characters.
If you like or liked The Simpsons, I recommend family sitcom The Middle. It is available for free (with advertisements) on the IMDb TV platform.
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