“America’s most dysfunctional family celebrate their 300th episode in the UK this weekend. After more than 10 years on the air, The Simpsons take a bow on Easter Sunday for a milestone show. The episode was screened in America in February but Sky One will host its first airing in Britain. Sunday’s show, Barting Over, will see Bart leave home after discovering he starred in a TV advert as a baby – and Homer squandered all the cash.” Read More >>>
News
Scots, Start Your Whacking!
Simpsons’ devotees drew parallels to the infamous Whacking Day as news broke on Scotland’s day of war against 5,000 hedgehogs on one of the Western Isles. According to Reuters, the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), a conservation group, “sent a six-strong team into the wilderness Monday to kill the spiky mammals…” Apparently, Sonic’s brethren have been voraciously eating the eggs of the island’s rare birds. Unfortunately, the slaughter a.k.a. “cull” of the hedgehogs has sent animal welfare groups (and Nick Laws) into a big hissy fit, who called for a less bloody mass relocation of the creatures to the mainland. However, the SNH quipped back, reporting that such an act would result in a slower, more painful death for the cute yet cuddly mammals. Reuters did not report on the latest casualty estimates from the front.
News
Shearer Chats About Burns
Just because Homer Simpson’s evil boss, Mr. Burns, is a cartoon character, you can’t assume he hasn’t changed over the years, says Harry Shearer. Shearer does the voice of Burns and says Burns has changed ever so slightly in the show’s 300-plus episodes. “I watch the show, but I can’t say it compares to the religiosity with which some of the fans watch it,” Shearer says. “So when we returned for seasons two and three, I didn’t have what I had done” previously as a habit yet. “So I went to doing Burns as I remembered him, and that caused (the voice) to evolve a bit. Read More >>>
News
Season 3 DVD: August 26th
It’s the news you’ve been waiting for. The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season on DVD has been given a release date. Comingsoon.net reports today that “Fox Home Entertainment has set an August 26 street date for the release of the third season of The Simpsons on DVD. The studio had originally indicated season three would be out by June, then pushed the date back to July.”
Ratings
How The Three Gays Rated
Overnight ratings for last night’s episode Three Gays Of The Condo have just been released by Zap2It. “FOX won the night in the demographic of adults 18-49. CBS was able to hold on at 8 p.m. with the “60 Minutes” carry-over and the season finale of “My Big Fat Greek Life,” which continued its ratings slide with a 6.7/11. FOX was second with a new episode of “The Simpsons” (6.1/10) and a new “Oliver Beene” (5.0/8). “American Dreams” averaged a 5.3/9 for NBC, staying well ahead of the end of “Dr. Doolittle.”
Update: Calendar Live’s weekly Nielsen report shows that “The Simpsons” finished #19 for the week with 12.02 million viewers. In comparison, “My Big Fat Greek Life” came in at #32 with 10.46 million.
News
Groening Praises South Park
Recently Simpsons creator Matt Groening spoke out about the hilarious South Park, which last week celebrated its 100th episode. “Matt (Stone) and Trey (Parker) are demented geniuses — that’s the highest compliment I can give them,” Groening says. “Their show makes me laugh out loud. I love comedy with a strong point of view, and the satirical shocks that ‘South Park’ goes for are consistently hilarious. They make their cheapness a virtue, and they continue to surprise me.”
Episodes
Three Gays Of The Condo
Don’t forget to catch new episode Three Gays Of The Condo tonight at 8pm on Fox. I have compiled a description based on several sources which contains slight spoilers, so do not proceed if you don’t want to know what happens. In the episode, “Homer finds a letter that Marge wrote in the 70s that states she and Homer could never work as a couple. When Homer asks Marge if he ruined her life, she admits that he does drive her crazy at times. Upset at her revelation of marital doubt, Homer moves out of the house and into a condo with a fabulous gay couple. After the initial shock, Homer begins feeling right at home — he’s hanging out with the couple’s friends, eating delicious gourmet meals and living in the tidiest dwelling he’s ever seen. “Weird Al” Yankovic guest-stars as part of Marge’s plan to woo Homer back home.” Make sure you rate and review the episode here at its conclusion.
News
Everyone’s A Simpson
“Forgotten the name? Can’t place the face? Don’t worry, Bart Simpson and his family may be able to help you. Scots scientists have found that the best way to recall names and faces is to try and match the personality and appearance of strangers to characters in The Simpsons. Team leader Professor Mike Burton said: “Learning a face is a visual process but it helps to have a story to go with it. By convincing themselves a stranger’s face fitted the part of Homer, Bart or Marge, people were able to recognise them as well as if they had been an old friend.” In the Simpsons experiment, participants shown 10-second clips of complete strangers struggled to remember all the names. But another group was told they were actors being cast in a Simpsons movie, going for the parts of Marge, Homer, Lisa, Bart, Grampa Simpson, Patty, Ned Flanders, Rev Lovejoy and Principal Skinner. The pass rate shot up to between 76 per cent and 100 per cent, with those said to be playing Bart and Homer drawing the highest recognition.” Read More >>>
News
It’s Toony Blair!
“Tony Blair took a gamble yesterday by recording an episode of The Simpsons while Britain is still at war. But he reckons it will pay off. Downing Street sources insisted last night that Simpsons fan Mr Blair, who watches the anarchic animation with his children, agreed to appear in the show months ago. And he felt it would be ridiculous to cancel, especially as it would throw the programme’s schedule into disarray. The sources said: “He’s a big fan of The Simpsons. He knows he might get some criticism because of the timing but this was in the diary long before the war with Iraq began. We believe it will greatly benefit tourism and help bring Americans back to London.” In the episode which will air in Season 15, a cartoon Blair, complete with sticking-out ears and trademark cheesy grin, will give tips on tourism to the family during their visit to London. At a press conference on Thursday, Jean claimed he had no plans to include Mr Blair in an episode. “We’d love to get him but we haven’t,” he said. But it appeared yesterday this was merely a ploy to prevent any danger of the hush-hush recording being called off.” Read More >>>
News
Homer’s Odyssey
UK: “Imagine a world without The Simpsons, which next week celebrates its 300th edition, its birthday presents including a movie deal announced yesterday. But the most profitable and probably the greatest TV series ever was originally kicked into being only by the greediness of television copyright lawyers. Cartoonist Matt Groening was meeting network executives to discuss some scribbles for a Tracy Ullman TV series. He planned to recycle characters he had established in a newspaper strip but discovered just before he went in that such a move would involve mortgaging his drawings to the studio. Forced to invent some unknowns to sell them, he scratched on a pad a family which, in haste, he gave the names of his own parents and siblings: Homer, Marge, Bart and so on.” Read More >>>
News
Season 14: When To Watch
Season 14 draws to a close in a little over a month, and Comics Continuum has posted the final descriptions/airdates. With Three Gays Of The Condo airing on Sunday and Pray Anything in the following week, the schedule from then on includes double features with a rerun at 7pm and a new episode at 8pm. The final airdate for Season 14 is May 18th, which is comprised of a double feature — the second one this season:
News
Al Jean Speaks In The UK
ThisIsLondon.com have nabbed a sneak interview with The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean to find out what’s in the pipeline for America’s favourite family. Al spills the beans on numerous issues which fans may be interested in, including the Simpsons movie, Iraq-themed episodes, the past, present, and future of the show, and guest stars currently lined up to perform next season. This comes as the 300th episode “Barting Over” airs in the United Kingdom next Sunday. Read The Interview >>>