All posts by Phinbart
Let’s all go out for some celebratory frosty chocolate milkshakes…
…because today, it’s 28 years since the Simpsons first appeared on U.S. television, as split-up ad-break bumpers during The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. The short they first featured in was “Good Night”, which is one of the few shorts to have been released on home media, and is the only short to have been featured fully in an episode, “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular”, which in the countries which show this episode, is the only showing to have occurred, as only countries such as Germany and the UK have aired the short standalone, but do not air it regularly now.
The shorts came about, if you don’t already know, when show creator Matt Groening was invited by James L. Brooks to animate bumpers of his now-defunct comic strip, Life in Hell, between the advertisement breaks of The Tracey Ullman Show. With only a few minutes left until the meeting, Groening thought about if this all went wrong and then Fox would own his characters. To avoid using the characters from the comic, he drew up what is now known as the Simpson family, using names from his family to name the characters, substituting Bart for his name, an anagram for “brat”. This short was written and storyboarded by Groening, and the family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up, but instead they just traced over his drawings. In further shorts, the Simpson family became much more smoother and cleaner in appearance and resembled how they are today.
Well, that’s another anniversary. Will the Simpson family be around to see their 30-year-anniversary of being on U.S. television? We’ll have to see…
From the lack of a school life to foraging in a one-time never-ending garden, this Throwback Thursday
Did you not hear?, the PTA disbanded!
Well, it did, for a brief minute in 1995. As tensions between Skinner and Krabappel rose to a tipping point, Bart exacerbated the situation and exploited the want for better pay by forcing the school’s teachers to strike – leading to delight for Bart, dismay for Lisa (who tried to disect her raincoat), and boredom for the tutor-striken Milhouse.
Continue reading From the lack of a school life to foraging in a one-time never-ending garden, this Throwback Thursday
Two Dozen and 681,999,976 Stamps, Anyone?, this Throwback Thursday
The poor USPS lost $1.2m from the sale of The Simpsons Stamps after only 318 million of the 1 billion that were produced began selling on this day in 2009.
Continue reading Two Dozen and 681,999,976 Stamps, Anyone?, this Throwback Thursday
Enjoy Hamburger Heaven, this Throwback Thursday
Throwback Thursday is here again and today it’s 9 years since we saw Abe Simpson become a bullfighter in a contentious bull-fighting ring after Springfield is awarded an NFL franchise – which Grampa ends up blowing their chances of actually getting it – which leads to Abe going to an assisted-suicide center. The scheme never goes through, and when Abe finally realizes that he isn’t dead, gets a new lease of life and decides to live it up, ergo bull-fighting.
Continue reading Enjoy Hamburger Heaven, this Throwback Thursday
It’s been two years…and almost a month, this Throwback Thursday
It may be a time for celebration for quite a few of the show’s guest stars, but today is also about remembering those who have starred and worked on the show.
It’s been nearly a month since Leonard Nimoy died, on February 27, aged 83, and today, it would’ve been his 84th birthday, as he was born on this date in 1931. And it’s been two years since the acclaimed show-writer and producer Don Payne died, aged 48, whose final two episodes, “Labor Pains” and “White Christmas Blues“, aired posthumously in 2013.
Continue reading It’s been two years…and almost a month, this Throwback Thursday
Mothers’ and monkeys’ prerogatives and crystal balling, this Throwback Thursday
Oh, welcome to Throwback Thursday!
Another 5 years prior, we endeavored into another Lisa story, and more future-telling as we saw Lisa’s Wedding And we go even further back in time (unlike the episodes featured in this post) to the Tracey Ullman era of most of 1989 as Bart’s Bathtime turned into a house insurance disaster.
And now, we’ll go back in time even further, but then forwards again. It was on this date the late Patrick McGoohan, who voiced the mysterious Number 6 in “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes“, was born. And later in 1947, Glenn Close, famous for voicing (partly) the late Mona Simpson, was born. Additionally, in 2002, the comic compilation Simpsons Comics Unchained was published on this date.
And that’s it for a Throwback Thursday, which I’m pretty sure beats last week in length, but, looking at next week, won’t beat that. See you next time for a birthday and sadness-fuelled Throwback Thursday.
Donuts and clovers are rainin’, but Cletus’ not happy for the leprechaunin’
St. Patrick’s Day has arrived in Springfield, with Cletus angry at his moonshine tasting off! Several old items have returned, including O’Flanagan’s Pub with Tom O’Flanagan for 1900 Cash, the Wishing Well and Leprechaun for 150 Donuts and the Sham Rock Cafe with the Yupprechaun for 120. There’s also the new Green Bear Fountain for 5000 Cash, and the Stack of Beer for 35 donuts (there’s also one free in the questline)
After setting O’Flanagan’s to build, Gil is back again with the Blarney Castle for 115 Donuts.
Check it out over on Wikisimpsons to get the full deets.
That’s it for now! Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for a special circley-with-sprinkles gift!
Simpsons down 6% in 18-49s to third most-watched
In the UK, the new “Bart’s New Friend” garnered 359,000 viewers when it aired on Sky1 on March 8, down from the previous week’s new ep’s 530,000 official viewers, the lowest-rated episode of this season and is the lowest-rated new episode to air since last June. The episode was the most watched episode of the week on the channel, and placed eighth in the channel’s most-watched programmes of that week. (BARB)
It’s the Seemingly Never-Ending Story, and the Seemingly Never-Ending Throwback Thursday!
“The Seemingly Never-Ending Story, the thirteenth episode in Season 17 and interestingly the ninth episode of the show to be rated TV-14DL in the US, focuses on the family visiting Carl’s Dad Caverns (although, didn’t we find out his adoptive father, who Carl is named after, was Icelandic? Hmm…) and Homer tries to take a piece of a stalactite as a souvenir, but ends up falling through the cave floor and the family being trapped. To pass the time, Lisa tells Homer a long-winded story about Mr. Burns, a sheep, the Rich Texan, a scavenger hunt, and some treasure. Oh, and Moe.
Second on the episodic birthdays, it was this day in 1992 that a cat got sick and somebody shot a duck, as Santa’s Little Helper’s life was on the cliff-edge. And even further back in 1989, Bart’s reverberations causes the Simpsons’ car to nearly plummet into Echo Canyon.
And now, for the other birthdays!
Frank Welker, the recurring guest star well-known for his animal-portraying, was born on this day in 1946. As was James Taylor on this date in 1948, singer and guest starring as himself in “Deep Space Homer”. Kipp Lennon was then born on this date in 1960, known for the singing voice of Leon Kompowsky, who was voiced by Michael Jackson (and Hank Azaria) in “Stark Raving Dad”, but due to contractual reasons (and the fact Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers), didn’t sing, so Lennon was used instead. And last, but not least, Darryl Strawberry, the baseball player who guest starred as himself in “Homer at the Bat” was born on this date in 1962.
And that’s it for a lengthy Throwback Thursday (well, in editing it was). See you next week! Unless I make more posts in-between.