The Simpsons (20th Century Fox)
It’s the one show I can recall that is instantly recognisable right from the second the opening theme starts. The tale of the wacky, dysfunctional, (yellow) American family has caught the hearts of people worldwide, making household names out of its stars.
The Simpsons first started out on The Tracey Ullman show, as Matt Groening’s tentative toe in the water of the world of animation in 1987. The trial run must have done something right, as Fox commisioned a stand alone series of The Simpsons, which aired its first episode in December 1989. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The characters in the actual Simpson family, were based on members of Groening’s own family. Marge and Homer (both based on, and named after, Matt’s parents), Lisa and Maggie (both Matt’s sisters, both younger than him) and then Bart.
Bart is the oddball in the character scheme. He is based on a mixture of both Groening’s older brother (who never makes an appearance in the series at all), and Groening himself, who felt that to name the character ‘Matt’ would make things only too obvious. Instead, Bart’s named is an anagram of “Brat”…not that it’s hard to spot the connection between the two.
The show has spawned some pretty nifty catchphrases, such as “D’oh!”, “Eat my shorts”, “Eeexcellent…” and “WHY YOU LITTLE…!” to name but a few. Also drawing in quite a diverse range of characters too. After all, how many shows can boast they have Jewish clowns, fat comic book guys in ‘dungeons’, religious fanatics and violent cartoon characters as part of the norm?
Slapstick, song, dance, surrealism, comedy and family feuds are just some of the things you can expect to take place in an episode. But it’s animation, it’s a sitcom, but most of all, it’s yellow! Anything can happen, it’s just a case of sitting back and watching.
And, well, The Simpsons are into roughly their sixteenth series now. They’ve had spinoffs including the much loved “Treehouse of Horror 1 through who knows how many?!” and classics such as a spoof of a documentary detailing the behind the scenes. Simpsons comics and merchandise can’t be avoided, not matter which direction you turn. And they’ve amassed a huge army of followers online, with thousands of websites available holding even the tiniest things such as the blackboard gags, or the couch gags.
If that isn’t success of a global scale, I dare you to show me what is!
