Intro

Hello and welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans, your Mnemonic Man, and today's episode is our 200th episode. I big heartfelt thanks to all the listeners out there, who share my curiosity and love of learning, and tune in each week to learn more about the things that make this planet and life so interesting.

So, for our 200th episode today, we will be going to TV, to the longest-running American animated series, and probably one of the greatest shows of all time, The Simpsons.

The Simpsons was created by Matt Groening who was a cartoonist and the creator of the syndicated comic strip “Life in Hell.” He was asked by James L. Brookes to create animated shorts for the Tracey Ullman Show. He did, and these aired in 1987 and after three seasons, they evolved into a half-hour prime time show on Fox.

Set in the fictional town of Springfield, the show centres on the Simpson family which includes: Homer, the bumbling and often clueless father who works at a nuclear power plant; Marge, the loving and moralistic mother with the towering blue beehive hair; Bart the mischievous 10-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, the intelligent and socially conscious 8-year-old; and Maggie, the pacifier-sucking baby.

These characters were named after Matt Groening’s family members, only substituting his name for Bart, who was originally meant to be the main focus of the show. This soon evolved with the popularity of Homer and his comedic potential, to then include the entire family and the vast ensemble that includes classic characters like Apu, Moe, Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Chief Wiggum, and Milhouse Van Houten, which is just to name a few.

The show has also boasted the most guest stars of any show, with stars such as Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Michelle Pfeiffer making guest appearances and adding to the show's widespread appeal and cultural significance.

The show has won countless awards, inspired books, video games, merchandise, and has a feature film that was released in 2007.

Today’s mnemonic will be on the top 7 facts about The Simpsons.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wax_Museum_Plus_(6345577800).jpg

Wikipedia Summary

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company.[1][2][3] It is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomised by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, in an unspecified location in the United States, it caricatures society, Western culture, television and the human condition.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with producer Brooks. He created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after his own family members, substituting Bart for his own name; he thought Simpson was a funny name in that it sounded similar to "simpleton".[4]

The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After three seasons, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and became Fox's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, 790 episodes of the show have been broadcast. It is the longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in seasons and individual episodes. A feature-length film, The Simpsons Movie, was released in theatres worldwide on July 27, 2007, to critical and commercial success, with a sequel in development as of 2024.

The series has also spawned numerous comic book series, video games, books and other related media, as well as a billion-dollar merchandising industry.

The Simpsons received widespread acclaim throughout its early seasons in the 1990s, which are generally considered its "golden age". Time named it the 20th century's best television series,[9] and Erik Adams of The A.V. Club named it "television's crowning achievement regardless of format".[10]

On January 14, 2000, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 37 Primetime Emmy Awards, 34 Annie Awards, and 2 Peabody Awards.

Homer's exclamatory catchphrase of "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many other later adult-oriented animated sitcom television series.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Simpsons_HWOF_star.jpg

Mnemonic

The Simpsons – Top 7 Facts Mnemonic – CLOTHES

(Picture the clothes that the main characters wear, such as Homer and his blue pants, Bart and his blue shorts, Marge and her sleeveless green dress, and Lisa’s red dress)

1. Created by Matt Groening

2. Longest-running prime-time animated series & most guest stars

3. Opening theme song composed by Danny Elfman

4. Time magazine named it the best TV show of the 20th century

5. Hank Azaria supplies the voice for 16 recurring characters

6. 37 Emmy Awards

7. Simpsons (series) debuted December 17, 1989

Five Fun Facts

1. The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted TV show in history. It debuted on December 17,1989 in a Christmas special, with the regular series debuting on January 14, 1990. However, it was all started back in 1987 as animated shorts on “The Tracey Ullman Show” before becoming a half-hour series.

2. The Simpson Show characters are all yellow, but for good reason. The shows creator Matt Groening chose yellow for the characters as it was eye catching and would stop viewers in their tracks while channel surfing. He believed that it was a distinctive look, it worked well with blue backgrounds, and was a seamless look for certain characters.

3. Guest stars have always been popular on The Simpsons and have included many big names in the entertainment industry. Some notable examples have included Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Michael Jackson, Kelsey Grammer, Mark Hamill, James Woods, Stephen Hawking, Glenn Close, Johnny Cash, and many, many more. Some of my favourites out of this long list would be Michael Jackson, who voiced Leon Kompowsky, who befriends Homer in a mental institution, believing he was Michael Jackson. Rodney Dangerfield, who played Larry Burns, who was Mr Burns’ illegitimate son, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Mindy Simmons, who was a new employee at the Power Plant that Homer finds himself irresistibly attracted to because of the plethora of things they have in common.

4. The Simpsons have also added words to the English dictionary. The first word added was Homer’s trademark exclamation of “D’oh!” which was included in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001. While “embiggen” was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2018. It was first mentioned in a 1996 episode of "The Simpsons" titled “Lisa the iconoclast.”

5. The Simpsons have famously predicted many real-world events. Some of the most notable predictions have included the Donald Trump presidency in the season 11 episode “Bart to the Future”, the FIFA corruption scandal in the season 25 episode featuring Germany winning the World Cup, the Disney -Fox merger in the season 10 episode “When You Dish Upon a Star”, Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Bengt Holmstrom in episode 1 of season 22, and the Lady Gaga Super Bowl Show in the episode “Lisa Goes Gaga.”

Now, instead of a joke today, I have decided to include something that’s actually funny and include a few of my favourite quotes from the show from the great Homer.

To Alcohol ........ the cause of, and solution to all of life’s problems,

English....... who needs that; I’m never going to go to England

Lisa, honey, are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again?

What about bacon, ham, pork chops?

Dad, that all comes from the same animal!

Yeah, right Lisa.......... a wonderful, magical animal!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Simpsons_Ride_May_9,_2008.jpg

Three-Question Quiz

Q.1. What is Homer’s favourite beer?

Q.2. What instrument does Lisa play?

Q.3. What is Marge Simpson’s maiden name?

Bonus Q. What are the names of Ned Flanders two sons?

Bonus Q. Who shot Mr. Burns?

Mnemonic Recap