the simpsons
EntertainmentYahoo Movies UKFifteen times 'The Simpsons' accurately predicted the future with eerie precision
The writers of 'The Simpsons' have proved to be rather prescient, predicting the future many times during the show's 20+ year lifespan.
EntertainmentYahoo Celebrity UKThe Simpsons 'could continue forever' says writer
Mike Reiss has spoken about the show's continued success and how they don't plan to slow down after more than 30 years.
EntertainmentYahoo TVHow 'The Simpsons' replaced Hank Azaria with a gay actor for a popular gay character
Openly gay Cuban-American actor Tony Rodriguez recently landed the job of voicing one of the animated show's popular LGBTQ characters, Julio, with the help of the podcast "Gayest Episode Ever."
EntertainmentYahoo Celebrity UKMorrissey hits out at 'The Simpsons' over 'harshly hateful' parody
A statement from the Smiths singer criticised the show for satirising him as Quilloughby, lead singer of The Snuffs.
EntertainmentYahoo Celebrity UKJohn Cleese pokes fun at Hank Azaria's apology for Apu on 'The Simpsons'
Cleese said he was sorry for 'any distress' caused.
EntertainmentYahoo TV'Simpsons' star Hank Azaria apologizes for voicing Apu, calls for animated shows to stop casting white actors as characters of color
"Part of me feels like I need to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize," says the Emmy-winning actor, whose iconic show has grappled with the issue of "spoken blackface."
EntertainmentYahoo Celebrity UK'The Simpsons' creator says casting white actors in non-white roles was not meant 'to exclude'
Matt Groening said it was 'good' to have more equality and representation.
NewsYahoo TVHow 'The Simpsons' predicted Ted Cruz flying to Mexico as Texas battles winter storms
The long-running animated hit was also credited with having foreseen the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris.
EntertainmentYahoo Celebrity UKDanny Elfman discusses composing the iconic 'Simpsons' theme: 'Homer Simpson will be on my gravestone'
Elfman recalls first meeting with Simpsons creator Matt Groening to view an uncoloured, 2D sketch of the series’ now-iconic opening sequence.
EntertainmentHuffPost UKThe Simpsons Boss Clears Up Speculation About Whether The Series Is 'Coming To An End'
Composer Danny Elfman recently claimed the show was in its final series.
EntertainmentMashableA 'Simpsons' producer just noticed a blatant, laughable mistake on the show
It's not like the producers of <em>The Simpsons</em> are obsessed with continuity – in fact they play it rather fast and loose with the timeline on the show. But, when executive producer Matt Selman spotted a pretty big continuity blunder on Wednesday, he thought it worth sharing on Twitter. SEE ALSO: Richard Curtis highlights the importance of movies about people falling in love "Maggie is in photo on wall behind Marge telling Homer she’s pregnant with Maggie," Selman wrote alongside a screen shot from episode 13 of the sixth season of <em>The Simpsons. </em> Maggie is in photo on wall behind Marge telling Homer she’s pregnant with Maggie pic.twitter.com/uckWDl8qWp — Matt Selman (@mattselman) September 5, 2018 Fellow <em>Simpsons</em> writer Al Jean was quick to respond to Selman's observation. @TheSimpsons Canon is is ruins! — Al Jean (@AlJean) September 5, 2018 <em>Simpsons</em> fans chimed in and discussed who they felt was to blame. pic.twitter.com/GI8rhDXMSa — Googie (@CliffFrancisII) September 5, 2018 Jean joked that the continuity blunder had led to mass firings on the show. I hope you’re happy because we just fired SEVENTEEN people for that blunder. Fired. Through. Done. — Al Jean (@AlJean) September 5, 2018 Other fans came up with theories as to what might be the reason for the mysterious Maggie photo. No don’t! It’s obviously Lisa! Maggie just wears hand-me-downs! — Tyler Brown (@tylerobrown) September 5, 2018 That's a secret baby they hid like they did with Hugo (Barts evil twin)! He needs to come back; That's my fav episode. pic.twitter.com/jcdqWZ1nXk — Rawburt the Disney diva 🌹 (@Rawburtmartinez) September 6, 2018 Other observant fans pointed out that the exact same thing had actually happened before on the show. I also noticed that. Plus you can see a photo of Lisa on the staircase when Homer is running upstairs after Marge says she's pregnant with her lol — Strain40Q New Cinema Labyrinth (@Strain42) September 5, 2018 Well I'll be damned pic.twitter.com/TgW1BOzHM6 — ZB Simpson (@ZBSimpson) September 6, 2018 And of course, a fan had the perfect <em>Simpsons </em>reference for the moment. pic.twitter.com/fexXX8XISn — Andy Pan (@Rewster7) September 5, 2018 But honestly, over the course of 30 seasons, there's bound to be a few slip ups. WATCH: 'The Office' got a cartoon makeover thanks to this artist
EntertainmentYahoo Celebrity UKMichael Jackson definitely appeared on 'The Simpsons', confirms Matt Groening
It's long been debated whether or not Michael Jackson actually did appear on the 1991 Simpsons episode Stark Raving Dad.
LifestyleMashableNo one asked for this 3D re-imagining of Homer Simpson but here it is
Kiss your nightmare-less nights goodbye. Artist Miguel Vasquez has created an image which will haunt you forever. It's a 3D rendering of what he believes Homer Simpson would look like if he were a real human being. I need you to look at each of these images so that I won't be the only witness to this horror. My 3D re-imagining of what Homer Simpson would look like in real life. pic.twitter.com/NVkyO65ItC — Miguel Vasquez (@Itsmiketheboxer) August 17, 2018 I don't know if it's the bulging eyes, the forehead veins, or the cartoonish proportions of his head that upsets me the most, or if it's just the whole thing altogether? SEE ALSO: Why 'The Simpsons' creator refused to watch 'Game of Thrones' while making his new show This isn't the first re-imagining of an iconic cartoon character that Vasquez has done. He has also created real life versions of <em> </em> <em>Spongebob Squarepants</em>, Courage the Cowardly Dog, the boys from <em>Ed, Edd n Eddy</em>, among many others. Now, if you'll excuse me I will be watching videos of Emperor Tamarin monkeys to cleanse my brain.
NewsMashableSomeone actually handed the police a fake ID featuring Homer Simpson
The Thames Valley Police tweeted a picture of a fake drive's licence that was given to one of their officers by a motorist.
NewsMashableHow steamed hams from 'The Simpsons' became the world's greatest meme
The lifespan of an internet meme is a precarious thing. Some go viral within a tiny community and become an in-joke. Others flare up, burn brightly, then quickly fade away again. Some get revived months later. And some, like the very excellent steamed hams meme from <em>The Simpsons</em>, simply go from strength to strength. SEE ALSO: The most memorable memes for Best Picture Oscar nominees If for some awful reason you've never seen the steamed hams scene which is the meme's ultimate origin, here's an important reminder before we progress any further: That scene is from Season 7, Episode 21 of <em>The Simpsons</em>, titled "22 Short Films About Springfield". It first aired in 1996. The scene involves Superintendent Chalmers visiting Principal Skinner for a "luncheon" at his home, only for Skinner to burn the food by accident and resort to an increasingly ridiculous web of lies to try and cover his tracks. It's a classic <em>Simpsons</em> scene in a lot of ways, but it's also got something a lot of other classic scenes don't: massive viral fame. Here's what happens if you type "steamed hams" into YouTube, for instance: So much steamed ham.Image: youtubeThat's just a small snapshot of the many, many edits, parodies and variations of the scene that have been published over the past year or so. If you filter the "steamed hams" videos by views, the top hit isn't even the original clip — it's a Guitar Hero-inspired parody with over 1.2 million views and 38,000 likes. The top comment on that video sums the whole trend up pretty well: "Oh good, another thing I never would have imagined, yet needed so badly." The birth of the "steamed hams" meme. As with many widespread and super popular memes, the exact origin can sometimes be tricky to pinpoint. In terms of YouTube videos, Know Your Meme cites this short animation — which was uploaded in 2010 and made using a now-defunct text-to-movie maker called Xtranormal — as one of the earliest examples: In terms of the meme's massive popularity, though, it seems to have started an in-joke among the <em>Simpsons</em> fanbase that simply snowballed over time. "It's been in the consciousness of <em>Simpsons</em> fans since the joke aired," 22-year-old graduate Chris Kanski, one of the original admins of the very popular Simpsons Shitposting Facebook group, told <em>Mashable</em>. "It's an almost perfect <em>Simpsons</em> sketch, I'd say it's one of the best sketches <em>The Simpsons</em> have made." Simpsons Shitposting started back in early 2015. At the time of writing, it has well over 200,000 members and hundreds of new posts every day. In the early days, Kanski says the group was mainly flooded with out-of-context quotes and frames from the show. Simple posts with minimal thought put into them, the more absurd the better. Needless to say, steamed hams was a big feature. Here's an image Kanski shared in the group back in July 2015, which sparked over a thousand comments and resulted in an annual group event being made to honour the thread. The steamed hams meme seems to have thrived in the group's culture of "shitposting". "Shitposting now is not at all what it used to be," Kanski explained. "And that is not in a bad sense, because now shitposting involves a lot of talent and creativity, and actually making good jokes. But back in the day, and this was in like early 2015, whenever the group was first created, all that shitposting meant was just posting whatever the fuck you wanted from <em>The Simpsons</em>. There wasn't any desire to make a joke or to be funny, and that was kind of the whole point: just kind of like, not trying. If you imagine humour as requiring a thought process, the whole point of shitposting was not having a thought process behind it. And that really was taken to its extreme." Over time, though, as the group got more and more members, the type of humour changed. Spontaneous, out-of-context posts were no longer the norm. "What replaced it was genuinely good, thought out humour," said Kanski. "And genuinely good, thought-out humour in this day and age of the internet means absurdism, right? And just taking something way too far. Not in the sense of edginess, but just in the sense of pushing a joke to its limits — and that's what steamed hams is." In a sense, the steamed hams meme has evolved with the internet. It's still a part of the "shitposting" culture, but now — with video editing software getting more and more sophisticated and widely available — that culture has changed. The meme has moved from simple, out-of-context jokes to impressively-edited video parodies. "That's why it's so good," said Kanski. "It's so versatile. If you're going to take a joke to its limits, you take the fucking steamed hams conversation — it's just so hilarious. "That's the first step, right, you've got steamed hams as an iconic phrase — it's memorable, everyone knows exactly what it's a reference to. The whole sketch, it's just chockfull of opportunities to just completely stretch it out to breaking point. And even go further than breaking point. "Honestly, I just go on YouTube sometimes and look through steamed hams videos, and it's just amazing what people have done with it." The rise of "steamed hams" edits on YouTube. Steamed hams is arguably bigger now than it's ever been. A quick search on YouTube is enough to show just how popular, and impressively imaginative, the meme has become. Here's just a small selection of the many, many hundreds of variations of the scene (most of which have several hundred thousand views)... <strong>"Steamed hams but it's a piano dub."</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams but Skinner is honest about everything".</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams but it's from Chalmers' perspective."</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams but every time Skinner lies he descends 7% more into the netherworld".</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams translated into Chinese and then back in to English on Google Translate".</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams but every word is replaced with its first occurrence".</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams 10 times, sync point when Chalmers says 'Aurora Borealis'".</strong> <strong>"Steamed hams but it's All Star".</strong> Now, in 2018, the meme shows absolutely no sign of slowing down. On Jan. 5, Joe Blevins shared a draft version of the scene's script on Twitter. We were nearly denied "an unforgettable luncheon." pic.twitter.com/yBo5FErlF9 — Joe Blevins (@Joe_A_Blevins) January 4, 2018 Most recently, on 7 March a mashup between the steamed hams scene and the Gorillaz track "Feel Good Inc." made it to the top of Reddit's r/videos subreddit. It has almost 30,000 upvotes, and the video hit the top 10 on YouTube's Trending feed. You've got to hand it to the YouTubers behind these clips — that's an impressive amount of effort to spend on something so beautifully, beautifully ridiculous. Hopefully this meme will continue for many years to come. WATCH: 9 things you don't know about America’s unofficial first family, ‘The Simpsons’
NewsMashableTed Cruz has made a very serious enemy out of 'Simpsons' fans
Senator Ted Cruz didn't know what he stepped in when he decided to invoke the name of Lisa Simpson. During the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference, Ted Cruz once again trotted out his supposed knowledge of pop culture. We know that the Texas senator loves <em>The Princess Bride, </em>but he also wants you to know he knows the names of each member of the <em>The Simpsons</em>. And he also wants to use them to make a very dubious political observation. In his speech Thursday, Cruz said, "The Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson and Republicans are happily the party of Homer, Bart, Maggie, and Marge." Here's your line from @tedcruz at @CPAC: "The Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson and Republicans are happily the party of Homer, Bart, Maggie and Marge." — Ben Kamisar (@bkamisar) February 22, 2018 If you're a <em>Simpsons </em>fan, we'll pause for you to gasp. SEE ALSO: These old 'Simpsons' sketches are everything you need and more We can safely guess that Lisa's activist ways, vegetarianism, creativity, and the fact that she's a smart, independent female, would all make Cruz wear a big frowny face. But naming the rest of the family ( <em>including the</em> <em>baby</em>) as members of the Republican party seemed like a bridge too far for many online. If there's one nerdy fandom that will defend its characters with vitriol, episodic knowledge, and Harvard Lampoon-level jokes, it's the <em>Simpsons</em> fandom. For when you come for one of the yellow, Springfield-based brood, you come for them all. Didn't Lisa Simpson become president to replace President Trump in an old Simpsons episode? https://t.co/GgckYXu4B1 — Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) February 22, 2018 isn't she the only good person in Springfield? — Andy Schwarz (@andyhre) February 22, 2018 maggie DID once shoot a man https://t.co/BDAa76s1K5 — Michæl Lu†z (@WarrenIsDead) February 22, 2018 can't wait for the Republican party to run Maggie Simpson and Mr. Burns's Gun in 2024 pic.twitter.com/PyTeAf8b2a — Jesse David Fox (@JesseDavidFox) February 22, 2018 2016 Simpson family votes:Marge: ClintonHomer: Told Marge he voted Clinton. Instead voted Trump.Bart: Wrote in Gary Johnson in elementary mock election; malevolently chuckledLisa: Clinton (in elementary mock election)Maggie: A literal baby.Grampa: TRUUUUUUUUUMMMMP!!!! — Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti) February 22, 2018 .@TheDemocrats pic.twitter.com/uycNT1BL9E — Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) February 22, 2018 my new conspiracy theory, which I believe with all my heart, is that Ted Cruz has never seen the Simpsons and a staffer just read the Wikipedia page to him — Sarah Jones (@onesarahjones) February 22, 2018 “I think the Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson.” – Sen. Ted Cruz pic.twitter.com/rylfRZgnzA — Scott Bixby (@scottbix) February 22, 2018 Lisa Simpson is the moral conscience of The Simpsons according to the writers and creators. She is also the smartest person in the family. @tedcruz, you gotta up your pop culture analogy game, dude. https://t.co/2BWMjeHdux — Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 22, 2018 Homer was a union president https://t.co/UuTmoMx4yA — crisis actor who thinks he can 'win one for soros' (@thetomzone) February 22, 2018 Lisa's the smartest one in the family, the kind, responsible nerd who thinks about other people's feelings and cares about the environment and social causes. This is quite the compliment. Thanks, @TedCruz! https://t.co/jBgyPDMTug — Tasha Robinson (@TashaRobinson) February 22, 2018 And of course, it wasn't too terribly long ago that the Republican party saw <em>The Simpsons</em> as a real source of evil, poisoning the minds of America's youths. Never forget that the first President George Bush said that, "we need a nation closer to <em>The Waltons</em> than <em>The Simpsons.</em>" What a short memory Ted Cruz has. Talking about The Simpsons always works out really well for Republicans. https://t.co/aObhfkeFDJ pic.twitter.com/qMsttn4IGs — Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) February 22, 2018 WATCH: A designer's vision of the future involves robots that care for us in our final moments
NewsYahoo Celebrity UKZara Larsson revealed the show she prefers over The Simpsons and fans had some questions
Trust Zara Larsson to cause a stir when someone asked her whether she liked The Simpsons.
NewsYahoo Celebrity UKThe Simpsons turned down Donald Trump's request for a cameo
It’s no big secret that Donald Trump is the most unpopular president that the United States has had. A producer for the beloved animated series – which is famous for its celebrity cameos – revealed he turned down a request from the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces to voice his own character in the cartoon. The simpsons predicted Donald Trump’s presidency but never believed it could happen.
NewsYahoo News UKThe Simpsons' best Christmas specials
For a show with the volume and quality of output as The Simpsons, it never really excelled when it comes to Christmas specials. It has Halloween nailed down with its Treehouse of Horror outings, but it has struggled to produce as regularly when it comes to the festive season. While some are instantly forgettable and are a long way of the show’s best, there are a selection of outings which are well worth a Christmas re-watch.
NewsYahoo News UKGreatest US comedy Christmas episodes on TV
Just like their UK counterparts, American comedy shows can’t resist the lure of doing a Christmas special. It was hard to decide on which of The Simpsons’ Christmas offerings warranted a place on this list. For me though the best Christmas outing was actually the oft overlooked Marge Be Not Proud where Bart’s desire to own Bonestorm leads to him getting caught shoplifting and thus get banned from the mall.
NewsGregory Wakeman, TV BloggerA professor has worked out why The Simpsons predicts the future so often
It was hard to work out what was spookier, the fact that Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States of America, or that ‘The Simpsons’ actually predicted it would happen 16 years ago back in 2001.
NewsGregory Wakeman, TV BloggerAl Jean has a genius idea for how to end The Simpsons
When all is said and done, ‘The Simpsons’ might well be America’s greatest ever artistic creation. While there’s still some time before ‘The Simpsons’ has to consider how it will conclude, as it’s currently in its 28th season and has already been renewed for a 29th and 30th, too, its executive producer Al Jean has the perfect way for the show to finish when the time finally comes. Jean, who has been with ‘The Simpsons’ since it began, revealed to Esquire that he wants the final episode to loop back to the opening of ‘Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire’, which was the very first episode that aired all the way back at Christmas, 1989.
NewsRob Keeling, TV BloggerThe Simpsons’ Greatest Ever Season
Plenty of attention has been given to establishing the finest episodes of The Simpsons over the years. Between seasons 4 through to 10, The Simpsons was on an unprecedented streak of producing consistently hilarious episodes. Season 7 arguably marked the point where the show’s episodes began to become more concept-driven rather than character based.
NewsRob Keeling, TV BloggerThe Greatest “Treehouse of Horror” Segments
The Simpsons’ Halloween special has become something of an annual tradition in its own right. In only its second season, The Simpsons demonstrated that it was afraid to try new things and break the mould as it decided to use Edgar Allen Poe’s chilling 19th Century poem as the source of one of its finest Treehouse moments. The narration by James Earl Jones lends it a suitably dramatic feel as the segment blends the chilling nature of the original poem with traditional Simpsons humour.
NewsMike P Williams, TV Blogger6 reasons why Bob’s Burgers is the BEST comedy on TV
So while some of you will already be watching the amazing Bob’s Burgers, there is a lot - yes, it’s upsetting to hear - that aren’t familiar with the show.
