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News

Homer 5th Greatest Character

Homer Simpson has been named the fifth greatest television show character of all time in a list which will be explored in a Bravo TV special titled ‘The 100 Greatest TV Characters’. This comprehensive five-part series will focus its critical eye on famous television characters that have become a part of the fabric of American pop culture. Blending classic moments, rare photos and interview with both stars and show creators, the series will spotlight how our favorite TV characters broke out of the pack to emerge as pop icons. The show will air on December 30th in a five-part marathon on Bravo, and Homer will be showcased in the fifth part. Characters ranked higher than Homer were The Fonz (Happy Days), Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy), Ralph Kramden (The Honeymooners), and Archie Bunker (All In The Family). Read the full list here.

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News

Simpsons Named Best TV Import

The Simpsons has been named the best tv show ever imported from America in a British survey released today. Broadcast magazine’s poll of about 20 program buyers from British terrestrial, cable and satellite channels named the ten best and worst US television show imports, and The Simpsons topped the best list. The show will become Britain’s longest continuously shown US series by next year – beating the 15 years of M*A*S*H. Dallas, M*A*S*H, 24, and The Larry Sanders Show rounded out the top 5, followed by Hill Street Blues, The X Files, I Love Lucy, Twin Peaks, and Star Trek/The Next Generation. As for the worst American television imports, Baywatch topped the list followed by shows including The Anna Nicole Show, Jerry Springer, Bold And The Beautiful, and Extreme Makeover.

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News

Simpsons Toy Sets Nabbed

Bandits snatched thousands of novelty Simpsons sets from the back of a lorry in an audacious daylight raid. The toys, which feature the popular cartoon family riding skateboards, were en route to Margate, where parent company Hornby is based. But raiders intercepted the toys, worth £30 each, at an M2 service station at around noon on Monday. Today investigators were drawing blanks on how the criminals entered the vehicle as clues leading to the culprits were sketchy. Nick Cole, operations director for Hornby, said: “I don’t know what Homer would say. Probably ‘Doh!’ “We’ve got a lot of stock in the market place, so hopefully there’s not going to be too many disappointed kids.” The 2,500 stolen Simpsons Micro Scalextrics are worth around £75,000. Kent police are appealing for information to track the raiders

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News

Simpsons Comics #100 Out Now!

Woo-hoo! Finally the time has come to crack open a Duff and let the celebrations begin, as The Simpsons Comics reach their 100th issue, in stores today! This special 100-page issue features a full-length story (and no ads) in which Bart discovers that he and all of Springfield have been the subjects of 100 comic books. When he tries to find as many issues as he can, he uncovers the greatest mystery in comic book collecting. And the fun doesn’t stop there – the story’s so big, one issue couldn’t contain it! Catch the second half of this Simpsons adventure in Issue #101, out 23rd December!

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Ratings

Ratings: Sleeping With The Enemy

This week’s figures for the episode Sleeping With The Enemy are quite disapponting as the show has taken its lowest ratings of the three episodes that have aired this season. The episode came fourth in its timeslot with 9.9 million viewers. The first four episodes of the previous season all fared 12 million or above so viewers seem to be dropping off quicker this year. These figures didn’t help Fox’s performance for the night, also in fourth place. In the key adult demographic Fox managed to come third behind ABC and NBC, which is equal to their performance in the last two weeks. Next week The Simpsons takes a break to make way for the premiere of the animated movie Ice Age. It’ll be interesting to see how this compares to ratings for The Simpsons. The next new episode is ‘She Used To Be My Girl’ on December 5.

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Sleeping With The Enemy Tonight

We’re down to the third episode of Season 16 already. Tonight’s episode is titled Sleeping With The Enemy, another holdover from the Season 15 production run and one we’ve known the details of for over a year now. Here’s the description pieced together by various sources. “Feeling unappreciated by her own children, Marge takes in neglected son and Springfield Elementary School bully Nelson Muntz. Horrified his tormentor is now living under the same roof, Bart goes on a mission to find Nelson’s parents and reunite the Muntzes. Meanwhile, Lisa lets schoolyard teasing get to her physically when she starts to think the Simpsons weight problem is making its mark on her.” As usual you can discuss the episode at its conclusion at No Homers Club and we’ll bring you the ratings tomorrow.

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News

First Five Seasons DVD Box Set

Sharp-eyed reader Burak Haliloglu has given us this news. Are you ready for this? To coincide with the release of ‘The Simpsons Complete 5th Season’ DVD Box Set, ‘The Simpsons – The Complete First Five Seasons’ will also be released in a 19-disc set. It will retails for $239.90 although Amazon.com is selling it for the low price of $139.14. It features all of the goodies from the first five DVD sets, and there are no additional features to speak of at the moment. Amazon has the set listed for release on the same day as the Fifth Season on December 21st.

If you’ve been holding off with the DVDs this will make the perfect present. I’ve composed an awful mock cover above, I’m sure the official one will be sharper.

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News

American Idol To Guest Star?

Winner of the third series of the successful FOX hit American Idol Fantasia Barrino may be set to appear in an upcoming episode of The Simpsons. If recent rumors are true, the 20 year old winner of the popular talent quest is to appear in an episode in which Lisa enters into an American Idol style television show. Fantasia told Entertainment Weekly recently that she plays a character called Clarissa who has entered into the competition but loses to Lisa Simpson. If true is sounds as if the appearance has already been recorded and so it should be expected to screen during the current season. If any more news regarding this appearance comes to light we’ll let you know.

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Ratings

Ratings: All’s Fair In Oven War

They mightn’t be the best figures The Simpsons have pulled in their history but at least they’re steady. Last night’s official season premiere “All’s Fair In Oven War” rated 11.5 million viewers, slightly up on last week’s “Treehouse Of Horror XV” special, while 1 million down on last season’s “My Mother The Carjacker” season opener. Fox came in at fourth for the night again, while CBS came first followed by the ABC. Among the adult demographic The Simpsons helped Fox to hit third position behind ABC and CBS. At 8:00pm, CBS’s Cold Case was the winner, followed by ABC’s American Music Awards, while FOX and NBC tied for third place with the new Simpsons and American Dreams. We’ll see how “Sleeping With The Enemy” fares next week.

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Last Exit To Springfield X

Website Last Exit To Springfield has been given a new design to coincide with tonight’s official season premiere. Things have been kept fairly similar to the previous design with an outdoors feel but it’s a lot brighter and easier to navigate this time around. There’s also a few new sections and some new content for its existing sections. Check it out!

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All’s Fair In Oven War Tonight!

Despite last week’s airing of Treehouse Of Horror XV, Fox is labelling tonight’s episode “All’s Fair In Oven War” the official Season 16 premiere. The episode airs across North America tonight. Here’s a brief description thanks to snpp.com: “Thomas Pynchon and James Caan guest voice as themselves as Marge won’t let a little thing like “not cheating” prevent her from winning a baking contest; Bart takes up a “swinging bachelor” lifestyle after finding Homer’s discarded “Playdude” magazines”. The episode can be discussed at the No Homers Club immediately following the episode, and we’ll have the ratings for you in the next couple of days. Don’t miss it!

News

How Do We Love The Simpsons

As “The Simpsons” opens its 16th season on Sunday, pundits and Internet chat groups are bouncing around a pesky question: Is the show still TV’s most brilliant comedy, or has it long-since passed its prime, degenerating (as a Slate commentary suggested last year) into a cartoon? List-makers suggest that the glory days are long gone. The first three episodes (and four of the Top 10) in Entertainment Weekly’s list of the best “Simpsons” ever – issued to mark the 300th-episode landmark in 2002 – are from 1993. Three more are from 1994; the newest episode on the list (No. 4) is from 1997. Complaints on the Web site jumptheshark.com, which attempts to catalogue the moment at which a show went into decline, pinpoint the 1999 season (or perhaps 1997) as the time “The Simpsons” jumped. “The very funny episodes are few and far between” since 1997, one posting laments. Read More >>>

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