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2017-11-05 05:09:08 UTC
From the New Zealand TV Guide ...
29 and still going strong
-------------------------
'The Simpsons' returns to TVNZ 2 this week for its 29th season.
To mark its return, we've come up with 29 fun facts about the
show.
1. 'The Simpsons' first appeared as a short item on the
'Tracey Ullman Show' in 1987.
2. It debuted as a stand-alone sit-com on 17 December, 1989.
It is now licensed to more than 180 countries.
3. Fox has secured the rights to the show until 2082.
4. The main voice actors reputedly earn around US$300,000 per
episode. They were said to earn US$400,000 per episode
between 2008 and 2011, until Fox cut their pay.
5. Fox gets its pound of flesh, though. Most actors voice
more than one regular character, with the exception of
Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa.
6. Dan Castellaneta is perhaps the busiest, voicing Homer,
Barney Grumble, Granpa Simpson, and Krusty the Clown.
7. An Arabic version dubbed 'Al-Shamshoon' first aired in 2005.
In it, Homer drinks soda rather than beer, and eats beef
sausages. Homer was Omar, Marge was Mona, and Bart was Badr.
It bombed.
8. Creator Matt Groening's parents are called Homer and Marge,
and he has sisters named Maggie and Lisa. But he balked at
calling Bart Matt, and chose to use an anagram of Brat
instead.
9. Mr Burns' grovelling assistant Smithers was originally cast
as black, but producers were wary of having a subservient,
gay, black character, so he became white.
10. The show was condemned by Australian politicians in 1995 for
depicting the country as a backward nation ruled by the
descendants of convicts.
11. Bart's middle name is JoJo. His friend Milhouse's middle
name is Mussolini.
12. US President George Bush said he wanted American families to
be more like 'The Waltons' than 'The Simpsons'.
13. First Lady Barbara Bush was no fan either. She said the show
was the "dumbest thing" she'd ever seen.
14. Creator Matt Groening made the characters yellow to give the
show a distinctive visual identity.
15. An episode where Bart wins an elephant is based on an actual
quiz show back in 1956 when a winner was offered $4000 or an
elephant, and chose the latter.
16. All characters bar one have only four digits on each of their
hands. The exception is God, who has five.
17. Everyone says "Meh" today, but the term was first popularised
by 'The Simpsons'.
18. Homer's trademark "D'oh!" was inspired by a character in the
Laurel and Hardy film who said "Dooooh!".
19. Sideshow Bob is voiced by TV's Faiser - Kelsey Grammer. And
Sideshow Bob's brother is voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who
plays Fraiser's brother in that show.
20. Physicist Stephen Hawking has appeared in six episodes,
playing himself.
21. Many parents were irate when Bart skateboarded nude in the
2007 'The Simpsons Movie' and briefly flashed you-know-what.
22. And many Christian Conservative groups were upset in 2005 when
Springfield legalised same-sex marriage, and Marge's sister
Patty announces that she's going to marry a woman called
Veronica.
23. A clause in the creators' contracts states that Fox cannot cut
or exert control over content.
24. The show ran foul of Chinese authorities in 2006, reportedly
for it coverage of controversial topics. However, it is now
streamed online in that country and Fox has opened merchandise
stores there.
25. Up until 2009, Maggie used to ring up $847.63 on her toy cash
register. That was the estimated monthly cost of raising a
baby in 1989, when the show first aired.
26. Nancy Cartwright voices Bart. But she first tried out for Lisa.
27. Michael Jackson helped write and produce Bart Simpson's pop-rap
single 'Do the Bartman', which topped UK charts in 1991.
28. Springfield was chosen as the name for 'The Simpsons'' home
town because it was so ordinary - 30 US states have
Springfields.
29. Al Jean, longtime writer and producer for 'The Simpsons', wants
the show to end, if it ever does, at a Christmas pageant, which
was how the first episode began.
29 and still going strong
-------------------------
'The Simpsons' returns to TVNZ 2 this week for its 29th season.
To mark its return, we've come up with 29 fun facts about the
show.
1. 'The Simpsons' first appeared as a short item on the
'Tracey Ullman Show' in 1987.
2. It debuted as a stand-alone sit-com on 17 December, 1989.
It is now licensed to more than 180 countries.
3. Fox has secured the rights to the show until 2082.
4. The main voice actors reputedly earn around US$300,000 per
episode. They were said to earn US$400,000 per episode
between 2008 and 2011, until Fox cut their pay.
5. Fox gets its pound of flesh, though. Most actors voice
more than one regular character, with the exception of
Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa.
6. Dan Castellaneta is perhaps the busiest, voicing Homer,
Barney Grumble, Granpa Simpson, and Krusty the Clown.
7. An Arabic version dubbed 'Al-Shamshoon' first aired in 2005.
In it, Homer drinks soda rather than beer, and eats beef
sausages. Homer was Omar, Marge was Mona, and Bart was Badr.
It bombed.
8. Creator Matt Groening's parents are called Homer and Marge,
and he has sisters named Maggie and Lisa. But he balked at
calling Bart Matt, and chose to use an anagram of Brat
instead.
9. Mr Burns' grovelling assistant Smithers was originally cast
as black, but producers were wary of having a subservient,
gay, black character, so he became white.
10. The show was condemned by Australian politicians in 1995 for
depicting the country as a backward nation ruled by the
descendants of convicts.
11. Bart's middle name is JoJo. His friend Milhouse's middle
name is Mussolini.
12. US President George Bush said he wanted American families to
be more like 'The Waltons' than 'The Simpsons'.
13. First Lady Barbara Bush was no fan either. She said the show
was the "dumbest thing" she'd ever seen.
14. Creator Matt Groening made the characters yellow to give the
show a distinctive visual identity.
15. An episode where Bart wins an elephant is based on an actual
quiz show back in 1956 when a winner was offered $4000 or an
elephant, and chose the latter.
16. All characters bar one have only four digits on each of their
hands. The exception is God, who has five.
17. Everyone says "Meh" today, but the term was first popularised
by 'The Simpsons'.
18. Homer's trademark "D'oh!" was inspired by a character in the
Laurel and Hardy film who said "Dooooh!".
19. Sideshow Bob is voiced by TV's Faiser - Kelsey Grammer. And
Sideshow Bob's brother is voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who
plays Fraiser's brother in that show.
20. Physicist Stephen Hawking has appeared in six episodes,
playing himself.
21. Many parents were irate when Bart skateboarded nude in the
2007 'The Simpsons Movie' and briefly flashed you-know-what.
22. And many Christian Conservative groups were upset in 2005 when
Springfield legalised same-sex marriage, and Marge's sister
Patty announces that she's going to marry a woman called
Veronica.
23. A clause in the creators' contracts states that Fox cannot cut
or exert control over content.
24. The show ran foul of Chinese authorities in 2006, reportedly
for it coverage of controversial topics. However, it is now
streamed online in that country and Fox has opened merchandise
stores there.
25. Up until 2009, Maggie used to ring up $847.63 on her toy cash
register. That was the estimated monthly cost of raising a
baby in 1989, when the show first aired.
26. Nancy Cartwright voices Bart. But she first tried out for Lisa.
27. Michael Jackson helped write and produce Bart Simpson's pop-rap
single 'Do the Bartman', which topped UK charts in 1991.
28. Springfield was chosen as the name for 'The Simpsons'' home
town because it was so ordinary - 30 US states have
Springfields.
29. Al Jean, longtime writer and producer for 'The Simpsons', wants
the show to end, if it ever does, at a Christmas pageant, which
was how the first episode began.