1.
The Simpsons
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The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a depiction of working-class life epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa. The show is set in the town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with producer James L. Brooks, Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19,1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a prime time show and became an early hit for Fox. Since its debut on December 17,1989,615 episodes of The Simpsons have been broadcast and its 28th season began on September 25,2016. It is the longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American animated program, the Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 27,2007, and grossed over $527 million. On May 4,2015, the series was renewed for seasons 27 and 28, on November 4,2016, the series was renewed for seasons 29 and 30, consisting of 22 episodes each. The Simpsons received widespread critical acclaim throughout its first nine or ten seasons, Time named it the 20th centurys best television series, and Erik Adams of The A. V. Club named it televisions crowning achievement regardless of format, 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 31 Primetime Emmy Awards,30 Annie Awards, Homers exclamatory catchphrase Doh. has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms. Despite this, the show has also criticized for what many perceive as a decline in quality over the years. The Simpsons are a family who live in a fictional Middle American town of Springfield, Homer, the father, works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a position at odds with his careless, buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a stereotypical American housewife, although the family is dysfunctional, many episodes examine their relationships and bonds with each other and they are often shown to care about one another. The family owns a dog, Santas Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball V, renamed Snowball II in I, both pets have had starring roles in several episodes. The show includes an array of supporting characters, co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople. The creators originally intended many of these characters as jokes or for fulfilling needed functions in the town
2.
Yeardley Smith
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Martha Maria Yeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer, author, comedian, and painter. She is best known for her role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons. She was born in Paris and moved with her family to Washington, DC, as a child, Smith was often teased because of her voice. She became an actress in 1982 after graduating from drama school and moved to New York City in 1984. She made her debut in 1985s Heaven Help Us, followed by roles in The Legend of Billie Jean. She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and received a role in the television series Brothers. In 1987, she auditioned for a role in a series of animated shorts about the Simpson family on The Tracey Ullman Show. Smith intended to audition for the role of Bart Simpson, but the director felt her voice was too high, so she was assigned the role of Lisa. She voiced Lisa for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, and in 1989, the shorts were spun off into their own half-hour show, for her work as the character, Smith received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992. Alongside The Simpsons, Smith appeared in the sitcom Hermans Head as Louise and she has appeared in several films, including City Slickers, Just Write, Toys and As Good as It Gets. In 2004, Smith performed her own off-Broadway one-woman show entitled More at the Union Square Theatre in New York City, aside from The Simpsons, Smith has recorded few voice-over parts, only commercials and the film Were Back. Smith starred in and served as producer for the independent romantic comedy Waiting For Ophelia. Smith was married to actor Christopher Grove from 1990 to 1992, during the first season of Hermans Head, Smith taught herself to paint by copying other artists. She released a book titled I, Lorelei in 2009 and her story The Race was included in the book Just Humor Me. Smith was born Martha Maria Yeardley Smith on July 3,1964. Her father, Joseph Smith, worked for United Press International in Paris and moved to Washington, DC, in 1966 and her mother, Martha Mayor, was a paper conservator for the Freer and Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian Institution. Smith labeled her family upper crust and reserved, as a child, Smith was often teased because of her unusual voice. Smith has stated, Ive sounded pretty much the way since I was six. She made her debut in a sixth-grade play
3.
Homer Simpson
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Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated television series The Simpsons as the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, Homer was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip Life in Hell and he named the character after his father, Homer Groening. After appearing for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, the Simpson family got their own series on Fox that debuted December 17,1989, Homer and his wife Marge have three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. As the familys provider, he works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant as a plant operator. Despite the suburban blue-collar routine of his life, he has had a number of remarkable experiences. He has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons – including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials and comic books – and inspired an entire line of merchandise. His signature catchphrase, the annoyed grunt Doh. has been included in The New Oxford Dictionary of English since 1998, Homer is one of the most influential characters in the history of television. The British newspaper The Sunday Times described him as the greatest comic creation of time, for voicing Homer, Castellaneta has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and a special-achievement Annie Award. In 2000, Homer and his family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Homer is the bumbling husband of Marge and father of Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson. He is the son of Mona and Abraham Grampa Simpson, Homer held over 188 different jobs in the first 400 episodes of The Simpsons. In most episodes, he works as the Nuclear Safety Inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a position he has held since Homers Odyssey, the third episode of the series. At the plant, Homer is often ignored and completely forgotten by his boss Mr. Burns, Matt Groening has stated that he decided to have Homer work at the power plant because of the potential for Homer to wreak havoc. Each of his other jobs has lasted only one episode, in the first half of the series, the writers developed an explanation about how he got fired from the plant and was then rehired in every episode. In later episodes, he began a new job on impulse. The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters never age, and, as such. Nevertheless, in episodes, events in Homers life have been linked to specific time periods. However, the episode That 90s Show contradicted much of this backstory, portraying Homer and Marge as a childless couple in the early 1990s
4.
Marge Simpson
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Marjorie Jacqueline Marge Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short Good Night on April 19,1987, Marge was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on Life in Hell and he named the character after his mother Margaret Groening. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons, the Simpson family received their own series on Fox, which debuted December 17,1989, Marge is the matriarch of the Simpson family. With her husband Homer, she has three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, Marge is the moralistic force in her family and often provides a grounding voice in the midst of her familys antics by trying to maintain order in the Simpson household. She is often portrayed as a stereotypical television mother and is included on lists of top TV moms. She has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons—including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, Marges distinctive blue beehive hairstyle was inspired by a combination of the Brides in Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore in the 1960s. Julie Kavner, who was a member of the original cast of The Tracey Ullman Show, was asked to voice Marge so that voice actors would not be needed. Kavner has won awards for voicing Marge, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992. She was also nominated for an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for her performance in The Simpsons Movie, in 2000, Marge, along with the rest of her family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age, in several episodes, events have been linked to specific time periods, although this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Marge Simpson is the wife of Homer and mother of Bart, Lisa and she was raised by her parents, Jacqueline and Clancy Bouvier. She has a pair of sisters, the joyless Patty and Selma, in The Way We Was, it is revealed via flashback that Marge attended Springfield High School, and in her final year met Homer Simpson. She was at first wary of Homer, but agreed to go to the prom with him, however, she regretted going with Artie and ended up with Homer. After the two had been dating for years, Marge discovered she was pregnant with Bart, and she. Bart was born soon after, and the couple bought their first house, as with many Simpsons characters, Marges age and birthday changes to serve the story. In season one episodes Life on the Fast Lane and Some Enchanted Evening, in Homers Paternity Coot, Marge states that Emerald would have been her birthstone if she had been born three months later, placing her birthday sometime in February. In Regarding Margie, Homer mentioned that Marge was his age, in the season eighteen episode Marge Gamer she states that she and actor Randy Quaid share the same birthdate
5.
Bart Simpson
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Bartholomew JoJo Bart Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short Good Night on April 19,1987, cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his strip, Life in Hell. While the rest of the characters were named after Groenings family members, after appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family received its own series on Fox, which debuted December 17,1989. At ten years old, Bart is the eldest child and only son of Homer and Marge, Barts most prominent and popular character traits are his mischievousness, rebelliousness and disrespect for authority. He has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons – including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, in casting, Nancy Cartwright originally planned to audition for the role of Lisa, while Yeardley Smith tried out for Bart. Smiths voice was too high for a boy, so she was given the role of Lisa, Cartwright found that Lisa was not interesting at the time, so instead auditioned for Bart, which she thought was a better role. Hallmarks of the character include his chalkboard gags in the sequence, his prank calls to Moe. Around the third season, the series started to more on the family as a whole. Time named Bart one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, Nancy Cartwright has won several awards for voicing Bart, including a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 and an Annie Award in 1995. In 2000, Bart, along with the rest of his family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not age at all, and as such, in several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Barts year of birth was stated in I Married Marge as being in the early 1980s, in Simpsorama Bart states his birthday as February 23. He lived with his parents in the Lower East Side of Springfield until the Simpsons bought their first house, when Lisa was born, Bart was at first jealous of the attention she received, but he soon warmed to her when he discovered that Bart was her first word. Barts first day of school was in the early 1990s and his initial enthusiasm was crushed by an uncaring teacher and Marge became worried that something was truly wrong with Bart. One day during recess, Bart met Milhouse and started entertaining him and other students with various gestures, Principal Skinner told him youve just started school, and the path you choose now may be the one you follow for the rest of your life. In his moment of truth, Bart responded, eat my shorts, the episode That 90s Show contradicted much of the backstorys time frame, for example, it was revealed that Homer and Marge were childless in the early 1990s. Barts hobbies include skateboarding, watching television, reading books, playing video games
6.
Maggie Simpson
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Margaret Maggie Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short Good Night on April 19,1987, Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks office. She received her first name from Groenings youngest sister, after appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company which debuted December 17,1989. Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart and she is often seen sucking on her red pacifier and, when she walks, she trips over her clothing and falls on her face. Being an infant, she cannot talk and she is a counterpart to Lisa Simpson. However, she did appear to talk in the first Tracy Ullman short, therefore, she is the least seen and heard member of the Simpson family. Though she rarely talks, she makes a characteristic sucking noise with her pacifier. Her pacifier sucking noises are provided by the creator, Matt Groening. The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age, in several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart, when Marge became pregnant with Bart, she and Homer got married at a chapel in Las Vegas. To support his family, Homer all but demanded a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, impressing its owner, Mr Burns. When Marge became pregnant with Lisa, two later, she and Homer bought their first house. Another six years later, Homer felt financially secure enough to quit his job at the Power Plant. However, Marge became pregnant with Maggie, so Homer, once again unable to support his family, was forced to reapply for his old job. By the time Maggie was born, Homer had shown signs of distress. She has penchant for her pacifier, on which she is always seen sucking, Maggie has performed a number of feats that suggest she is a baby genius. However, the rest of the Simpsons family are unaware of Maggies maturity, Maggie is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. She shows a degree of dexterity, and she once hit Homer on the head with a mallet
7.
Grampa Simpson
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Voiced by Dan Castellaneta, he is the father of Homer Simpson, and the grandfather of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson. In the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Grampa was selected as the Grandpa for The Perfect TV Family, Grampa Simpson is a World War I and World War II veteran and retired farmer who was later sent to the Springfield Retirement Castle by Homer. He is known for his long, rambling, often incoherent stories, Grampa Simpson is the father to Homer Simpson, father-in-law to Marge Simpson and grandfather to siblings Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Grampa has a brother named Cyrus, who lives in Tahiti and has multiple native wives. He also has a brother named Chet, who owns an unsuccessful shrimp company. Grampa was briefly married to Amber, the same woman Homer married on a binge in Las Vegas. Grampa has also briefly married to Marges sister, Selma Bouvier, though Homer was against it. Grampa Simpson is currently married to Rita LaFleur, almost all of Grampas biographical information is supplied by himself. Many of his stories seem to be inaccurate, often physically or historically impossible. It is unknown where Grampa was born and he claims that he came to America as a boy from the old country, but he cannot remember which country it was, although most likely it was the United Kingdom or Ireland. Grampa was raised in New York City with his parents, Orville J. Simpson, Grampa is a veteran of World War II, where he served as Master Sergeant of the Flying Hellfish unit. At the very end of war in Europe, Grampas unit liberated a stash of art from surrendering German forces. The Flying Hellfish formed a tontine, and buried the art in a trunk at sea, decades later, Montgomery Burns, the second surviving member of the unit, tried to murder Grampa in order to get the art, prompting Grampa to violate the tontine. When Grampa and Bart retrieved the art from Mr. Burns, Homers mother, Mona Simpson, was married to Grampa for several years. According to Lets Go Fly a Coot, they met in the 1950s and she became entranced with the hippie lifestyle after seeing Joe Namaths hair on television. She became a fugitive from justice after she abetted in the sabotage of a weapons research lab owned by Mr. Burns to deliberately poison everyone in Springfield. To explain this to his son, Grampa said that Mona died while Homer was at the movies. Grampa has a relationship with his son, who placed him in a nursing home as soon as he could
8.
Mona Simpson (The Simpsons)
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Mona J. Simpson is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She has been voiced by several actresses, including Maggie Roswell, Tress MacNeille, Pamela Hayden, Glenn Closes performances as Mona have been well received by critics and she was named one of the top 25 guest stars on the show by IGN. Mona was the wife of Abe Simpson and the mother of Homer Simpson. Mona first appeared in the season in a flashback in Oh Brother. She returned in the season for her first main appearance in Mother Simpson. The character appeared again in Season 19s Mona Leaves-a, but died during the episode, an Inception-inspired dream version of her appears in Season 23s How I Wet Your Mother. In the episode Lets Go Fly a Coot, she is revealed to have met Abe when she was a waitress in a cantina bar, the character is named after writer Richard Appels ex-wife, the American author Mona Simpson. The inspiration for the character is Bernardine Dohrn of the Weather Underground, many of the details of Monas life are unknown, but various pieces of her story have been revealed. Mona was first mentioned in one and made two brief flashback appearances, but her first major appearance was in Mother Simpson. In the episode, it is revealed that in the 1960s, Mona was a homemaker who lived with her husband Abraham Simpson and Homer and she became caught up in the hippie movement after her beliefs were ignited by seeing Joe Namaths long hair during Super Bowl III. As the gang escaped, she stayed behind to help a fallen Burns, since that night, Mona was forced to leave her family. Abe lied and said Mona had died while Homer was at the movies, for 27 years, Homer presumed that his mother was dead. He was accidentally reunited with Mona in Mother Simpson after he faked his own death to get a day off from work, overjoyed at their reunion, he brings Mona home to meet his family. At first, Mona does not reveal her whereabouts and spends time catching up with her family and she later travels to the post office with Homer, where Mr. Burns recognizes her face and tracks her down with FBI assistance. However, a tip-off to Homer from Chief Wiggum allows Mona to escape, Wiggum is grateful to Mona because his asthma was cured by the antibiotic bomb her group detonated during their lab infiltration, thereby allowing him to join the police force. Forced to go on the run again, Mona tells Homer she loves him, in Doh-in in the Wind, it is revealed that at some point, Mona spent time at a commune with two hippies, Seth and Munchie, after life with Abraham became unbearable. It is also implied that she was unfaithful to Abraham. In the episode Homers Paternity Coot, a long lost letter reveals that Mona had an affair with life guard Mason Fairbanks, in My Mother the Carjacker, Homer discovers a secret message left for him in a newspaper that tells him to go to a location
9.
Simpson family
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The Simpson family are cartoon characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge. The family debuted April 19,1987 in The Tracey Ullman Show short Good Night and were spun off into their own series which debuted on December 17,1989. Alongside the five family members, there are a number of other major and minor characters in their family. The most commonly recurring characters are Homers father Abraham Grampa Simpson, Marges sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier, other family members include Homers mother Mona Simpson, Homers half-brother Herbert Powell, Marges mother Jacqueline Bouvier, and other minor relatives. Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brookss office, Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his Life in Hell series. He named the characters after his own family members — his father Homer, his mother Margaret and he substituted Bart, an anagram of brat, for his own name, and modeled the character after his older brother, Mark. The five family members were given simple designs so that their facial emotions could easily be changed with almost no effort, Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned-up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes. The Simpson family made their debut on April 19,1987 in The Tracey Ullman Show short Good Night, in 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series airing on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The Simpson family remained the main characters on this new show, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, and Yeardley Smith all began voicing their characters on The Tracey Ullman Show. Nancy Cartwright was the one of the group who had been trained to be a voice actor while Castellaneta had done some voice over work in Chicago. The producers decided to hold casting for the roles of Bart, Yeardley Smith had initially been asked to audition for the role of Bart, but casting director Bonita Pietila believed her voice was too high. Smith later recalled, I always sounded too much like a girl, I read two lines as Bart and they said, Thanks for coming. Smith was given the role of Lisa instead, on March 13,1987, Nancy Cartwright went in to audition for the role of Lisa. After arriving at the audition, she found that Lisa was simply described as the middle child, Cartwright became more interested in the role of Bart who she found more fascinating because he was described as devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, clever. Matt Groening let her try out for the part instead, and upon hearing her read, although the episode doesnt specify if the Simpson family descendants of Eliza or Abraham. Mabel Simpson, an ancestor of the Simpson family who was part of the underground railroad and she was married to Hiram before divorcing him and fleeing to Canada to marry Virgil
10.
Patty and Selma
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Patty and Selma Bouvier are fictional characters in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. They are identical twins and are voiced by Julie Kavner. They are Marge Simpsons older twin sisters, who work at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles, and possess a strong dislike for their brother-in-law. Selma is the elder by two minutes, and longs for male companionship while her sister, Patty, is a lesbian, Kavner voices them as characters who suck the life out of everything. Patty and Selma first appeared on the first ever aired Simpsons episode Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire, although the two have a similar look, there are several easy ways to distinguish them. Earrings, Patty wears orange or blue triangular earrings while Selma wears purple or orange circular earrings, necklace, Patty wears orange or blue spherical necklace pearls while Selma wears purple or orange spheroid-shaped necklace pearls. In the episode The Blue and the Gray, it is revealed that Selma is actually a blonde and their blue-grey tinged hair is due to cigarette smoke and ash. Rarely seen apart, Patty and Selma are known for their distinctive gravelly voices, their outlook on life, their bitter and unpleasant personalities. They share an apartment at the Spinster City apartment complex and both work at the DMV, the two are avid, sometimes maniacal fans of the TV series, MacGyver. The two seem to be aroused by the character and smoke a cigarette after every viewing of the show, when Jay Sherman, on advice from Homer, told Patty and Selma that MacGyver is gay, they stripped him to his boxers and hung him from the gutters. On the eve of Selmas marriage to Sideshow Bob, he insulted MacGyver, Selma and Patty once met the actor who portrayed MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, and kidnapped him. Patty and Selma have taken many vacations together to places including Czechoslovakia and the Dead Sea. They drove away Richard Dean Anderson by showing him slides of their trip to the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, Patty and Selma have a strong, mutually reciprocated dislike for their brother-in-law Homer. They regret that Marge chose Homer over her former boyfriend Artie Ziff, however, Marge made it clear to her sisters that she loves Homer and theres nothing they can do to change her mind. Homer usually tries to be polite to them out of respect for Marge and they showed little concern when Homer suffered a heart attack. While he was undergoing surgery, they tried to set Marge up with a sleazy man named Andre. They own a tombstone inscribed with the epitaph Homer J. Simpson and we are richer for having lost him and use it as a coffee table, stick pins in a voodoo doll which looks like Homer and even commissioned a billboard urging voters to evict Homer from Springfield. Patty and Selma once kidnapped Homer and imprisoned him in a cellar in the hope that Marge would find someone else, moved to tears by his obvious devotion to Marge, they let him go
11.
The Simpsons shorts
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It features Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The series was created by Matt Groening, who designed the Simpson family, the shorts first aired on April 19,1987 starting with Good Night. The final short to air was TV Simpsons, originally airing on May 14,1989, the Simpsons later debuted on December 17,1989, as an independent series with the Christmas special Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. Only a few of these shorts have been released on DVD, Good Night was included on The Simpsons Season 1 DVD. Five of these shorts were used in the clip show episode The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular on the half-hour show. These five shorts were Good Night, which was featured in its entirety, and portions of The Perfect Crime, Space Patrol, World War III, and Bathtime. In You Kent Always Say What You Want, the short Family Portrait replaces the opening sequence in celebration of the 400th episode. In June 2013, it was reported that FXX is trying to acquire the shorts for an October Simpsons app, the version of The Simpson family from the shorts was depicted as ghosts haunting The Simpsons house in the season twenty six episode Treehouse of Horror XXV. When producer James L. Brooks was working on the variety show The Tracey Ullman Show, he decided that he wanted to include small animated sketches before. Groening later realized that animating Life in Hell would require the rescinding of publication rights for his lifes work and he therefore chose another approach while waiting in the lobby of Brookss office for the pitch meeting, hurriedly formulating his version of a dysfunctional family that became the Simpsons. He named the characters after his own members, substituting Bart for his own name. Bart was modeled after Groenings older brother, Mark, but given a different name which was chosen as an anagram of brat, the stories were written and storyboarded by Matt Groening. The family was drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up. The animation was produced domestically at Klasky Csupo, with Wesley Archer, David Silverman, after season one, it would be animated by Archer and Silverman thereafter. Gyorgyi Peluce was the colorist and the person who decided to make the characters yellow, the actors who voiced the characters later reprised their roles in The Simpsons. Dan Castellaneta performed the voices of Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Homers voice sounds different in the shorts compared to most episodes of the half-hour show, as Castellaneta originally tried to impersonate Walter Matthau. Although he would retain this characteristic through the episodes of the regular series. The producers of the show were in need of someone to do voiceovers, so rather than actors, they asked Castellaneta and Julie Kavner
12.
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
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Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, also known as The Simpsons Christmas Special, is the series premiere episode of The Simpsons. It was the first episode to air despite originally being the eighth episode produced for season one and it is the only full-length episode to air during the 1980s, having originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17,1989. He decides to keep their financial troubles a secret and gets a job as a shopping mall Santa Claus, but later discovers that the job does not pay enough. Desperate for a miracle, Homer and Bart go to the track on Christmas Eve in hopes of earning some money but end up adopting an abandoned greyhound. The episode was the one to be written by Mimi Pond. Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 1990, and has received reviews from television critics. It was viewed by approximately 13.4 million viewers in its original airing, after attending the Springfield Elementary School Christmas pageant, the Simpsons prepare for the holiday season. Bart and Lisa prepare their letters to Santa, however, Barts letter enrages Homer and Marge, the next day, Marge takes the kids to the mall to go Christmas shopping. Bart slips away to the parlor and attempts to get a tattoo that reads Mother. Meanwhile, at the plant, Homers very mean-spirited boss, Mr. Burns. While discovering there is no money for Christmas presents and not wanting to worry the family, on Christmas Eve, Bart goes to the mall and harasses Santa, exposing Homers secret. Bart is apologetic for the prank and actually supportive of Homers moonlighting, remarking, after Homer is paid less than expected for his department store work, he and Bart receive a greyhound racing tip from Barney. At Springfield Downs, Homer, inspired by an announcement about a last-minute entry named Santas Little Helper, as Homer and Bart leave the track, they watch the dogs owner angrily disowning him for losing the race. Bart pleads with Homer to keep the dog as a pet, the Simpsons family then celebrate by singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brookss office, Brooks, the producer of the sketch comedy program The Tracey Ullman Show, wanted to use a series of animated shorts as bumpers between sketches. He had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, the Simpson family first appeared as shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19,1987. Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned up in production, however, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes. In 1989, a team of companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company
13.
The Tracey Ullman Show
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The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5,1987, as the Fox networks second prime-time series after Married, with Children, and ran until May 26,1990. The show is produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television, the show blended sketch comedy shorts with many musical numbers, featuring choreography by Paula Abdul. By the 1980s, acclaimed television producer James L. Brooks, had left the industry for the big screen. At the time that he won the Oscar for his film, Terms of Endearment, Brooks began receiving videotapes from Ullmans Los Angeles agent, hoping to get his attention. Ullman, who was famous in her homeland, England, was already landing a variety of television deals and proposals in America. These projects did not suit Ullmans interests, shows with morals, where everyone learns something at the end of the show, related Ullman to a television critic for TV Guide in 1989, describing the television show ideas that were offered to her. Brooks was so taken by what he saw in Ullman that he decided to take the young actress under his wing, Brooks was determined to develop the right vehicle to showcase Ullmans talents — acting, dancing, and singing — and decided to create a sketch comedy show. A typical episode would begin with Ullman giving an introduction, ostensibly from her dressing room. Then two or three comedy sketches would be presented in episode, most designed to showcase Ullmans ability to skillfully mimic various accents. One popular recurring character was timid, slow-talking Kay Typically, the sketch of the night would include a musical and/or dance number featuring Ullman solo or other members of the cast. The final segment saw Ullman, clad in a robe, deliver a monologue to the studio audience before ending the show with her catchphrase Go Home. Go Home. and dancing as the credits rolled, Ullman often talked about her husband, Allan McKeown, and her daughter, Mabel. Ullman chose the phrase, Go home, during the pilot episode because she could not think of anything clever to end with. Ullman performed an array of characters, most only appeared once, as the sketches concentrated on plot, with characters created to best tell that particular storyline. A handful of characters did return for subsequent sketches. Among the recurring characters portrayed by other cast members, besides those mentioned, were Gulliver Dark, singer and rival to Marty Tish, and Dr. Alexander Gibson. In the course of its four season run, Ullman performed a total of 108 characters, the Tracey Ullman Show regularly featured short animated cartoons as interstitials in the first three seasons
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Matt Groening
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Matthew Abram Matt Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, animator, and voice actor. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell, the Simpsons has gone on to become the longest-running U. S. primetime-television series in history, as well as the longest-running animated series and sitcom. Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978, at its peak, the cartoon was carried in 250 weekly newspapers. Life in Hell caught the attention of James L. Brooks, in 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show, the shorts would be spun off into their own series The Simpsons, which has since aired 615 episodes. Groening has won 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, ten for The Simpsons, in 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14,2012, Groening was born on February 15,1954 in Portland, Oregon, the middle of five children. His Norwegian American mother, Margaret Ruth, was once a teacher, Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Mennonite, Plautdietsch-speaking family. Matts grandfather, Abram Groening, was a professor at Tabor College, Groening grew up in Portland, and attended Ainsworth Elementary School and Lincoln High School. He served as the editor of the newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which he also wrote articles. He befriended fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry after discovering that she had written a fan letter to Joseph Heller, one of Groenings favorite authors, Groening has credited Barry with being probably biggest inspiration. He first became interested in cartoons after watching the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians, in 1977, at the age of 23, Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer. Groening distributed the book in the book corner of Licorice Pizza. He made his first professional sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The strip, titled Forbidden Words, appeared in the September/October issue of that year, Groening had gained employment at the Los Angeles Reader, a newly formed alternative newspaper, delivering papers, typesetting, editing and answering phones. He showed his cartoons to the editor, James Vowell, who was impressed, Life in Hell made its official debut as a comic strip in the Reader on April 25,1980. Vowell also gave Groening his own weekly column, Sound Mix. However, the column would rarely actually be about music, as he would write about his various enthusiasms, obsessions, pet peeves
15.
James L. Brooks
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James Lawrence Jim Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life, after dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the CBS News broadcasts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to work on David L. Wolpers documentaries, after being laid off he met producer Allan Burns who secured him a job as a writer on the series My Mother the Car. Brooks wrote for several shows before being hired as an editor on My Friend Tony. Grant Tinker hired Brooks and Burns at MTM Productions to create The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970, the show, one of the first to feature an independent working woman as its lead character, was critically acclaimed and won Brooks several Primetime Emmy Awards. Brooks and Burns then created two successful spin-offs from Mary Tyler Moore in the shape of Rhoda and Lou Grant, Brooks left MTM Productions in 1978 to co-create the sitcom Taxi which, despite winning multiple Emmys, suffered from low ratings and was canceled twice. Brooks moved into film work when he wrote and co-produced the 1979 film Starting Over. His next project was the acclaimed film Terms of Endearment. Basing his next film, Broadcast News, on his journalistic experiences, although his 1994 work Ill Do Anything was hampered by negative press attention due to the cutting of all of its recorded musical numbers, As Good as It Gets earned further praise. It was seven years until his film, 2004s Spanglish. His sixth film, How Do You Know, was released in 2010, Brooks also produced and mentored Cameron Crowe on Say Anything. And Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket, in 1984, Brooks founded the television and film company, Gracie Films. Although he did not intend to do so, Brooks returned to television in 1987 as the producer of The Tracey Ullman Show and he hired cartoonist Matt Groening to create a series of shorts for the show, which eventually led to The Simpsons in 1989. The Simpsons won numerous awards and is still running, Brooks also co-produced and co-wrote the 2007 film adaptation of the show, The Simpsons Movie. In total, Brooks has received 47 Emmy nominations, winning 20 of them, Brooks was born James Lawrence Brooks on May 9,1940 in Brooklyn, New York, United States, and raised in North Bergen, New Jersey. His parents, Dorothy Helen and Edward M. Brooks, were both salespeople, the Brooks family was Jewish, Edward Brooks changed his surname from Bernstein and claimed to be Irish. Brooks father abandoned his mother when he found out she was pregnant with him, during the pregnancy, Brooks father sent his wife a postcard stating that If its a boy, name him Jim. His mother died when he was 22 and he has an older sister, Diane, who helped look after him as a child and to whom he dedicated As Good As It Gets
16.
Life in Hell
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Life in Hell is a comic strip by Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, which was published weekly from 1977 to 2012. The strip featured anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple, Groening used these characters to explore a wide range of topics about love, sex, work, and death. His drawings were full of expressions of angst, social alienation, self-loathing, Life in Hell started in 1977 as a self-published comic book Groening used to describe life in Los Angeles to his friends. And then I had a series of lousy jobs, in the comic book, Groening attacked what many young adults found repellent, school, work, and love. He described it as every ex-campus protesters, every Boomer idealists, Groening photocopied and distributed the comic book to friends. He also sold it for two dollars a copy at the corner of the record store in which he worked. Life in Hell debuted as a strip in the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The first strip, entitled Forbidden Words, appeared in the September/October issue, popular in the underground, Life in Hell was picked up by the Los Angeles Reader in 1980, where it began appearing weekly. Then-publisher of the Reader Jane Levine said Groening arrived at editor-in-chief James Vowells office one day, after Groening left, Vowell came out of his office saying, This guy is gonna be famous someday. The strip was frequently a serial, discussing topics such as Love is Hell. In November of that year, Groenings then-girlfriend Deborah Caplan offered to publish Love is Hell in book form, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. Soon afterward, Caplan and Groening left the Reader and put together the Life in Hell Co. which handled syndication and merchandising for Groening’s projects. Life in Hell reached the attention of Hollywood producer James L. Brooks, in 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of developing a series of short animated skits, called bumpers, for The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks had wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show, fearing the loss of ownership rights to his characters, Groening instead created an entirely new batch of characters, the Simpsons. As television began to more demands on his time, however, Groening came to almost exclusively feature single-panel strips or 16-panel grids in which Akbar. This later period saw the increase of autobiographical strips, perhaps because Groening was influenced by this burgeoning trend in alternative comics. Ready to wade in on a regular basis, as of May 3,2013, the domain has expired. Groening decided in 2007, in the wake of the 2006 U. S. election results, three years later, Groening announced the strips conclusion and the final new strip ran on June 16,2012
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Fox Broadcasting Company
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The Fox Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. It is the third largest major network in the world based on total revenues, assets. Launched on October 9,1986 as a competitor to the Big Three television networks, Fox and its affiliated companies operate many entertainment channels in international markets, although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U. S. network. Most viewers in Canada have access to at least one U. S, the network is named after sister company 20th Century Fox, and indirectly for producer William Fox, who founded one of the movie studios predecessors, Fox Film. Fox is a member of the North American Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, 20th Century Fox had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing several syndicated programs. Following the demise of the DuMont Television Network in August of that year after it became mired in financial problems. 20th Century Fox would also produce original content for the NTA network, KTTV in Los Angeles, KRIV in Houston, WFLD-TV in Chicago, and KRLD-TV in Dallas. In October 1985, 20th Century Fox announced its intentions to form a television network that would compete with ABC, CBS. The plans were to use the combination of the Fox studios, organizational plans for the network were held off until the Metromedia acquisitions cleared regulatory hurdles. Then, in December 1985, Rupert Murdoch agreed to pay $325 million to acquire the remaining equity in TCF Holdings from his original partner, Marvin Davis. These first six stations, then broadcasting to a reach of 22% of the nations households. Except for KDAF, all of the original owned-and-operated stations are part of the Fox network today. Like the core O&O group, Foxs affiliate body consisted of independent stations. The Fox Broadcasting Company launched at 11,00 p. m. Eastern and its inaugural program was a late-night talk show, The Late Show, which was hosted by comedian Joan Rivers. By early 1987, Rivers quit The Late Show after disagreements with the network over the creative direction. The network expanded its programming into prime time on April 5,1987, with Children and the sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show. Fox added one new show per week over the several weeks, with the drama 21 Jump Street. On July 11, the network rolled out its Saturday night schedule with the premiere of the drama series Werewolf
18.
Liberalism
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Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberalism first became a political movement during the Age of Enlightenment. Liberalism rejected the social and political norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy. The 17th-century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a philosophical tradition. Locke argued that man has a natural right to life, liberty and property. Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and sought to replace absolutism in government with representative democracy, prominent revolutionaries in the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of what they saw as tyrannical rule. Liberalism started to spread rapidly especially after the French Revolution, the 19th century saw liberal governments established in nations across Europe, South America, and North America. During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further as liberal democracies found themselves on the side in both world wars. In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state, today, liberal parties continue to wield power and influence throughout the world. Words such as liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine all trace their history to the Latin liber, which means free. One of the first recorded instances of the word occurs in 1375. The words early connection with the education of a medieval university soon gave way to a proliferation of different denotations and connotations. In 16th century England, liberal could have positive or negative attributes in referring to someones generosity or indiscretion, in Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare wrote of a liberal villaine who hath. confest his vile encounters. With the rise of the Enlightenment, the word acquired decisively more positive undertones, being defined as free from narrow prejudice in 1781, in 1815, the first use of the word liberalism appeared in English. In Spain, the Liberales, the first group to use the label in a political context. From 1820 to 1823, during the Trienio Liberal, King Ferdinand VII was compelled by the liberales to swear to uphold the Constitution, by the middle of the 19th century, liberal was used as a politicised term for parties and movements worldwide. Over time, the meaning of the word began to diverge in different parts of the world. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, In the United States, liberalism is associated with the policies of the New Deal programme of the Democratic administration of Pres
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Vegetarianism
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Vegetarianism /vɛdʒɪˈtɛəriənɪzəm/ is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat, and may also include abstention from by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may be adopted for various reasons, many people object to eating meat out of respect for sentient life. Such ethical motivations have been codified under various religious beliefs, as well as animal rights advocacy, other motivations for vegetarianism are health-related, political, environmental, cultural, aesthetic, economic, or personal preference. A vegan diet excludes all animal products, including eggs and dairy, some vegans also avoid other animal products such as beeswax, leather or silk clothing, and goose-fat shoe polish. Often, prior to purchase or consumption, vegetarians will scrutinize products for animal-derived ingredients, vegetarians feelings vary with regard to these ingredients. Semi-vegetarian diets consist largely of vegetarian foods but may include fish or poultry, or sometimes other meats and those with diets containing fish or poultry may define meat only as mammalian flesh and may identify with vegetarianism. A pescetarian diet has been described as fish but no other meat, the term vegetarian has been in use since 1839 to refer to what was previously described as a vegetable diet. The word is believed to be a compound of vegetable. The term was popularized with the foundation of the Vegetarian Society in Manchester, the earliest occurrences of the term seem to be related to Alcott House, a school on the north side of Ham Common, London, opened in July 1838 by James Pierrepont Greaves. The earliest record of vegetarianism comes from Indus Valley Civilization as early as the 7th century BCE, in the Indian culture, the diet was closely connected with the attitude of nonviolence towards animals and was promoted by religious groups and philosophers. The ancient Indian work of Tirukkural explicitly and unambiguously emphasizes vegetarianism, chapter 26 of the Tirukkural, through couplets 251 to 260, deals exclusively on vegetarianism or veganism. Among the Hellenes, Egyptians and others, it had medical or ritual purification purposes and those nanny goats, ewes and sows which are with young or giving milk to their young are protected, and so are young ones less than six months old. Cocks are not to be caponized, husks hiding living beings are not to be burnt, one animal is not to be fed to another. —Edicts of Ashoka, Fifth Pillar Following the Christianization of the Roman Empire in late antiquity, vegetarianism practically disappeared from Europe, as it did on other continents, except India. Several orders of monks in medieval Europe restricted or banned the consumption of meat for ascetic reasons and it re-emerged during the Renaissance, becoming more widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1847, the first Vegetarian Society was founded in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, in 1886, the vegetarian colony Nueva Germania was founded in Paraguay, though its vegetarian aspect would prove short-lived. The International Vegetarian Union, an association of the societies, was founded in 1908. In the Western world, the popularity of vegetarianism grew during the century as a result of nutritional, ethical
20.
Environmentalist
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While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologism combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. ‘Ecologism’ is more used in continental European languages while ‘environmentalism’ is more commonly used in English. For this reason, concepts such as an ethic, environmental ethics, biodiversity, ecology. The exact measures and outcomes of this balance is controversial and there are different ways for environmental concerns to be expressed in practice. Environmentalism and environmental concerns are represented by the color green. Environmentalism denotes a movement that seeks to influence the political process by lobbying, activism. The word was first coined in 1922, an environmentalist is a person who may speak out about our natural environment and the sustainable management of its resources through changes in public policy or individual behavior. In various ways, environmentalists and environmental organizations seek to give the world a stronger voice in human affairs. In general terms, environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources, in its recognition of humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement is centered around ecology, health, and human rights. A concern for environmental protection has recurred in diverse forms, in different parts of the world, for example, in Europe, King Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke had become a problem. The fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow. Earlier in the Middle East, the Caliph Abu Bakr in the 630s commanded his army to Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, at the advent of steam and electricity the muse of history holds her nose and shuts her eyes. The origins of the movement lay in the response to increasing levels of smoke pollution in the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution. An Alkali inspector and four sub-inspectors were appointed to curb this pollution, typically the highest priority went to water and air pollution. The Coal Smoke Abatement Society was formed in 1898 making it one of the oldest environmental NGOs and it was founded by artist Sir William Blake Richmond, frustrated with the pall cast by coal smoke. Although there were pieces of legislation, the Public Health Act 1875 required all furnaces and fireplaces to consume their own smoke. It also provided for sanctions against factories that emitted large amounts of black smoke, financial incentives were offered to householders to replace open coal fires with alternatives, or for those who preferred, to burn coke instead which produces minimal smoke. Smoke control areas were introduced in some towns and cities in which only smokeless fuels could be burnt, the act formed an important impetus to modern environmentalism, and caused a rethinking of the dangers of environmental degradation to peoples quality of life
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Feminism
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Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal, to define and advance political, economic, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish opportunities for women in education. Feminists have also worked to promote autonomy and integrity, and to protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment. Numerous feminist movements and ideologies have developed over the years and represent different viewpoints, some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle class, and educated perspectives. This criticism led to the creation of specific or multicultural forms of feminism, including black feminism. Charles Fourier, a Utopian Socialist and French philosopher, is credited with having coined the word féminisme in 1837, depending on the historical moment, culture and country, feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. Most western feminist historians assert that all working to obtain womens rights should be considered feminist movements. Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist movement and those historians use the label protofeminist to describe earlier movements. The history of the modern western feminist movements is divided into three waves, each wave dealt with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave comprised womens suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second wave was associated with the ideas and actions of the womens liberation movement beginning in the 1960s. The second wave campaigned for legal and social equality for women, the third wave is a continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism, beginning in the 1990s. First-wave feminism was a period of activity during the 19th century, in the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. This was followed by Australia granting female suffrage in 1902, in 1928 this was extended to all women over 21. In the U. S. notable leaders of this movement included Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing womens right to vote. These women were influenced by the Quaker theology of spiritual equality, in the United States, first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote in all states. During the late Qing period and reform movements such as the Hundred Days Reform, Chinese feminists called for womens liberation from traditional roles, later, the Chinese Communist Party created projects aimed at integrating women into the workforce, and claimed that the revolution had successfully achieved womens liberation. According to Nawar al-Hassan Golley, Arab feminism was closely connected with Arab nationalism, in 1899, Qasim Amin, considered the father of Arab feminism, wrote The Liberation of Women, which argued for legal and social reforms for women. He drew links between womens position in Egyptian society and nationalism, leading to the development of Cairo University, in 1923 Hoda Shaarawi founded the Egyptian Feminist Union, became its president and a symbol of the Arab womens rights movement
22.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
23.
The Simpsons (season 7)
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The Simpsons seventh season originally aired on the Fox network between September 17,1995 and May 19,1996. The show runners for the production season were Bill Oakley. David Mirkin executive produced the four, including two hold overs that were produced for the previous season. The season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program and won an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Program. The DVD box set was released in Region 1 December 13,2005, Region 2 January 30,2006, the set was released in two different forms, a Marge-shaped box and also a standard rectangular-shaped box in which the theme is a movie premiere. The season was the first season produced by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. They were chosen partly because they had been with the show since the third season and they also wanted to produce a Treehouse of Horror episode, episodes about Sideshow Bob, Itchy & Scratchy and several format-bending episodes such as 22 Short Films About Springfield. David Mirkin, who had been producer for the previous two seasons, was credited as a consulting producer for the seventh season but also executive produced the episodes Who Shot Mr. Burns. Radioactive Man, Lisa the Vegetarian and Team Homer, steve Tompkins, Dan Greaney, Richard Appel and Rachel Pulido received their first writing credits while Spike Feresten and Jack Barth received their only writing credits this season. Although the majority of the staff stayed on for the next season. Jon Vitti, who had left following the season, returned to write Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily as well as The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular. Wes Archer, a director for The Simpsons who helped define the look of the show. Anderson, who had worked on the show as part of the animation staff. Doris Grau, script supervisor for the show and voice of Lunchlady Doris died on December 30,1995, the episode Team Homer, which aired eight days later, was one of the last episodes to feature her voice and featured a dedication to her. After that, Lunchlady Doris had speaking parts in Lisas Sax, from season nine until season eighteen, she appeared only as a background character but had a speaking role in The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer where she was voiced by Tress MacNeille. The season started off with the heavily publicized Who Shot Mr. Burns, which was the resolution to the first part, which had been a cliffhanger. Burns, by laying out the clues and identifying the possible suspects. The special was criticized for taking the publicity of the episode too far, several critics said the special tainted Walshs credibility and was described as gimmicky, tacky and blatant groveling for viewers
24.
The Simpsons (season 13)
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The Simpsons thirteenth season originally aired on the Fox network between November 6,2001 and May 22,2002 and consists of 22 episodes. The show runner for the production season was Al Jean who executive-produced 17 episodes. Mike Scully executive-produced the remaining five, which were all hold-overs that were produced for the previous season, the Simpsons is an animated series about a working-class family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television. The Simpsons ranked 30th in the ratings with an average viewership of 12.4 million viewers. It was the second highest rated show on Fox after Malcolm in the Middle, the DVD boxset was released in the United States and Canada on August 24,2010, eight years after it had completed broadcast on television. Mike Scully served as producer for the show for seasons nine to twelve. Five of the episodes produced for season 12 were held over and he left the show following season 12 and was replaced by Al Jean. Jean was one of the writers for The Simpsons, and served as executive producer of the third. Jean returned full-time to The Simpsons during the season, this time without Reiss. Jean called it a job with a lot of responsibility. Writers credited with episodes in the season included Joel H. Freelance writers included Bill Freiberger. Animation directors included Bob Anderson, Mike B, Anderson, Mark Kirkland, Jen Kamerman, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Pete Michels, Steven Dean Moore, Matthew Nastuk, Michael Polcino, Jim Reardon and Chuck Sheetz. The main cast consisted of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, other cast members included Marcia Wallace, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor and Karl Wiedergott. DVDDizzy rhetorically asked how the stand up for someone just looking to jump into a full, semi-recent year of episodes. It explained Nearly everything that makes The Simpsons what it is can be found here, the site explained Not every moment here is brilliant. After a rocky start, the season hits its groove a few episodes in. Even though jokes dont always land, there are guaranteed to be at least a few amusing moments per episode, the stylings havent changed all that much
25.
Tibetan independence movement
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The Tibetan independence movement is a movement for the independence of Tibet and the political separation of Tibet from China. It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United States, among other reasons for independence, campaigners assert that Tibet has been historically independent. However, some dispute this claim by using different definitions of Tibet, historical, the campaigners also argue that Tibetans are currently mistreated and denied certain human rights, although the Chinese government disputes this and claims progress in human rights. After the Mongol Prince Köden took control of the Kokonor region in 1239, during this expedition the Kadampa monasteries of Rwa-sgreng and Rgyal-lha-khang were burned, and 500 people killed. The death of the Mongol qaghan Ögödei in 1241 brought Mongol military activity around the world temporarily to a halt. Mongol interests in Tibet resumed in 1244, when Prince Köden sent an invitation to the leader of the Sakya sect, to come to his capital, the Sakya leader arrived in Kokonor with his two nephews Drogön Chögyal Phagpa and Chana Dorje in 1246. This event marked the incorporation of Tibet into the Mongol Empire, Tibet was under administrative rule of the Yuan dynasty until the 1350s. In 1720, the Qing dynasty army entered Tibet in aid of the locals and defeated the forces of the Dzungar Khanate. Later, the Chinese emperor assigned the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama to be in charge of religious, the Dalai Lama was leader of the area around Lhasa, the Panchen Lama was leader of the area of Shigatse Prefecture. By the early 18th century, the Qing dynasty had started to send resident commissioners to Lhasa, Tibetan factions rebelled in 1750 and killed the resident commissioners after the central government decided to reduce the number of soldiers to about 100. The Qing army entered and defeated the rebels and reinstalled the resident commissioner, the number of soldiers in Tibet was kept at about 2,000. The defensive duties were assisted by a force which was reorganized by the resident commissioner. At multiple places such as Lhasa, Batang, Dartsendo, Lhari, Chamdo, Green Standard Army troops and Manchu Bannermen were both part of the Qing force which fought in Tibet in the war against the Dzungars. It was said that the Sichuan commander Yue Zhongqi entered Lhasa first when the 2,000 Green Standard soldiers and 1,000 Manchu soldiers of the Sichuan route seized Lhasa. Elliott, after 1728 the Qing used Green Standard Army troops to man the garrison in Lhasa rather than Bannermen, according to Evelyn S. Rawski, both Green Standard Army and Bannermen made up the Qing garrison in Tibet. According to Sabine Dabringhaus, Green Standard Chinese soldiers numbering more than 1,300 were stationed by the Qing in Tibet to support the 3, 000-strong Tibetan army. Hebalin was the location of where Chinese Muslim troops and their offspring lived, while Lubu was the place where Han Chinese troops, in 1904, a British mission, accompanied by a large military escort, invaded Tibet, forcing its way through to Lhasa. Britain forced The Great Three Tibetan Temple signing of the Treaty of Lhasa, the head of the mission was Colonel Francis Younghusband
26.
Baritone saxophone
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The baritone saxophone or bari sax is one of the largest members of the saxophone family, only being smaller than the bass, contrabass and subcontrabass saxophones. The baritone saxophone is used in classical music, military bands, marching bands. The baritone saxophone was created in 1846 by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax as one of a family of 14 instruments, the saxophone was created to be a tonal link between the woodwinds and brasses, which Sax believed to be lacking. The family was divided two groups of seven saxophones each from the soprano to the contrabass. The family consisting of saxophones ranged in the keys of B♭, the bari sax, pitched in E♭, is the fifth member of this family. The baritone saxophone, like saxophones, is a conical tube of thin brass. It has an end, flared to form a bell. The baritone saxophone uses a single reed mouthpiece like that of a clarinet, there is a loop in the neck to reduce it to a practical height, colloquially referred to as a “Q”. Baritone saxophones come in two sizes with one ranging to low A and the other to low B♭, originally, all baritone saxophones were low B♭ instruments, but over time players began modifying their horns to reach the low A below. In the 1980s, it common for saxophone manufacturers to produce low A instruments. In modern times, the low A is considered standard and is written in sheet music for the instrument. Despite the ubiquity of the low A horn, some still prefer to use B♭ horns because of the added weight. As is true for other saxophones, the F♯ key was also an addition to the horn now considered standard. The baritone saxophone’s relatively large mass has led to the development of harness-style neckstrap that distributes the weight across the users shoulders. Several different kinds exist, produced by brands as well known as Neotech and Vandoren, and each distributes weight differently across the neck, clavicle. Many marching saxophonists prefer this style for its ability to decrease fatigue and those who mainly perform seated, on the other hand, may dislike the decreased ability to move one’s upper body. It is an instrument in the key of E♭, pitched an octave plus a major sixth lower than written. It is one octave lower than the alto saxophone, modern baritones with a low A key and high F♯ key have a range from C2 to A4
27.
The Simpsons Movie
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The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the Fox television series The Simpsons. As the townspeople exile him and eventually his family abandons him, Homer works to redeem his folly by stopping Russ Cargill, the head of the EPA. Previous attempts to create a The Simpsons film failed due to the lack of a script of appropriate length, eventually, producers James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Richard Sakai, and Mike Scully began development of the film in 2001. A writing team consisting of Brooks, Groening, Jean, Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder and they conceived numerous plot ideas, with Groenings being the one developed into a film. The script was re-written over a hundred times, and this creativity continued after the animation had begun in 2006 and this meant hours of finished material was cut, which included cameo roles from Erin Brockovich, Minnie Driver, Isla Fisher, Kelsey Grammer, and Edward Norton. Hanks and Green Day appeared in the cut as themselves. Tie-in promotions were made with several companies, including Burger King and 7-Eleven, the film premiered in Springfield, Vermont, which had won the right to hold it through a competition organized by Fox. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $527 million worldwide, at their memorial, Grampa Simpson foresees the destruction of the town, but only Marge takes this seriously. Later that day, Homer dares his son Bart to skateboard naked to Krusty Burger, Bart considers their neighbor Ned Flanders a better father figure after Homer refuses to take responsibility for the incident. Lisa and a new Irish friend named Colin convince the town to clean their lake. Meanwhile, Homer adopts a pig from Krusty Burger and names it Spider Pig, moments later, a squirrel jumps into the lake and becomes severely mutated, Flanders and Bart discover the creature before the EPA captures it. Russ Cargill, head of the EPA, presents five unthinkable options to U. S. President Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep the towns pollution contained, the slow-witted president picks option 3 without reading it, and Springfield is enclosed in a large glass dome. With the EPA on their trail, the Simpsons flee to Alaska, on the way, Homer tries to make some money at a carnival by riding a motorcycle around the inside of a metal cage. After three months of escape attempts, Springfields residents finally make a crack in the dome, pointing out the damage. After failing to talk Homer into it, his family eventually leave him for good, alone, Homer is stranded on an iceberg and floats away. Meanwhile, Marge and the children are captured by the EPA after a conversation of theirs is overheard by the NSA, after a mysterious Inuit shaman saves him from a polar bear, Homer has an epiphany and decides to return to Springfield to save the town from danger. As Homer arrives, a helicopter lowers a small but powerful bomb down a rope through a hole in the dome, the townspeople attempt to climb the rope to escape through the still-opened hole, but Homer slides down the rope and knocks them off along with the bomb. After reconciling with Bart, Homer drives a motorcycle along the dome, as a passenger of the motorcycle, Bart throws the bomb through the hole, seconds later it detonates, shattering the dome and freeing the town
28.
The Simpsons Ride
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The Simpsons Ride is a simulator ride featured at the Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood theme parks. The ride is based on the television series The Simpsons. It was first announced in 2007 and replaced the Back to the Future, the ride at Universal Studios Florida soft opened on April 23,2008, and the official ceremonies took place on May 15. The ride at Universal Studios Hollywood opened on May 19,2008, the Simpsons Ride was collaborated on by the producers of The Simpsons, and uses CGI animation, which was provided by Blur Studio and Reel FX. 2D animation was provided by Film Roman, the ride uses state of the art technology, including a new projection system and new hydraulics. The ride itself is four and a half minutes long but original footage for the ride can be seen in the queue, in the ride, patrons are introduced to a cartoon theme park called Krustyland built by Krusty the Clown. Sideshow Bob, however, is loose from prison to get revenge on Krusty, at least 24 regular characters from the series make an appearance, all voiced by their original actors. Along with the attraction is a gift shop modeled after the Kwik-E-Mart, on June 1,2013, Universal Studios began selling a real version of Duff Beer at the expanded Duff Beer Garden in the new Springfield section of the park. To enter the queue area, visitors must walk through a 32-foot Krusty the Clown head which leads them into a pavilion under various circus tents themed to carnival stalls. The queue area ends with a sign instructing guests to wait for a time before entering Krustys Carnival Midway. In the midway, riders line-up into rows to wait for a confirmation from Krusty, TV screens posted inside the walls on the left and right sides of the room display the residents of Springfield running the midway booths at the park. While Krusty is not looking, Sideshow Bob appears in a Scratchy costume and steps on Homer Simpsons foot causing him to yell Doh. Krusty asks them to pick another group to go with them, and Bart chooses the riders. While Krusty leads them into a room, Sideshow Bob bursts out into evil laughter. Riders are then ushered into the pre-flight Funhouse room by a team member, here, Krusty leads the Simpsons into a backstage area where Grampa and Maggie Simpson are told not to ride due to certain safety restrictions. Grampa falls asleep while Maggie crawls into a nuclear reactor room, meanwhile, Krusty leads the Simpsons into a ride room where he tells them to enjoy the ride, before Sideshow Bob appears, knocks Krusty out, and tells the Simpsons Family to enter the ride vehicle. Homer enters, followed by the rest of the family, Sideshow Bob then tells the Simpsons and the riders that they must watch a safety video from Itchy and Scratchy. The screen then displays a recap of the safety reminders while riders are ushered into the main ride room, the ride portion is four and a half minutes long. Riders with heart conditions, motion sickness, claustrophobia or similar conditions are not recommended to ride, after riders enter a Krusty themed ride car vehicle, Jeremy Freedman appears on a TV screen in the ride cabin and tells the guests that they are with him
29.
Nancy Cartwright
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Nancy Jean Cartwright is an American voice actress, film and television actress, and comedian. She is known for her role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons. Cartwright also voices other characters for the show, including Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, Kearney, Cartwright was born in Dayton, Ohio. Cartwright moved to Hollywood in 1978 and trained alongside voice actor Daws Butler, after continuing to search for acting work, in 1987, Cartwright auditioned for a role in a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family that was to appear on The Tracey Ullman Show. Cartwright intended to audition for the role of Lisa Simpson, the middle child, Matt Groening, the series creator, allowed her to audition for Bart and offered her the role on the spot. She voiced Bart for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, and in 1989, the shorts were spun off into a show called The Simpsons. In 2000, she published her autobiography, My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy and she also co-produced the one-woman play In Search of Fellini. Cartwright was born in Dayton, Ohio, on October 25,1957 and she grew up in Kettering, Ohio, and discovered her talent for voices at an early age. While in the grade, she won a school-wide speech competition with her performance of Rudyard Kiplings How the Camel Got His Hump. Cartwright attended Fairmont West High School, and participated in the schools theater and she regularly entered public speaking competitions, placing first in the Humorous Interpretation category at the National District Tournament two years running. The judges often suggested to her that she should perform cartoon voices, Cartwright graduated from high school in 1976 and accepted a scholarship from Ohio University. She continued to compete in public speaking competitions, during her sophomore year, in 1976, Cartwright landed a part-time job doing voice-overs for commercials on WING radio in Dayton. A representative from Warner Bros. Records visited WING and later sent Cartwright a list of contacts in the animation industry, one of these was Daws Butler, known for voicing characters such as Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Elroy Jetson and Yogi Bear. Cartwright called him, and left a message in a Cockney accent on his answering machine, Butler immediately called her back and agreed to be her mentor. He mailed her a script and instructed her to him a tape recording of herself reading it. Once he received the tape, Butler critiqued it and sent her notes, for the next year they continued in this way, completing a new script every few weeks. Cartwright described Butler as absolutely amazing, always encouraging, always polite, Cartwright returned to Ohio University for her sophomore year, but transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles so she could be closer to Hollywood and Butler. Her mother, Miriam, died late in the summer of 1978, Cartwright nearly changed her relocation plans but, on September 17,1978, joylessly left for Westwood, Los Angeles
30.
TV Guide
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In 1948, he printed New York City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the variety series The Gloria Swanson Hour. Wagner later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for New England, five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his publishing and broadcasting company Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant for the magazine until 1963. The national TV Guides first issue was released on April 3,1953. The inaugural cover featured a photograph of Lucille Balls newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr. with a photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the issues headline. The magazine was published in digest size, which remained its printed format for 52 years. The launch as a magazine with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success, with TV Guide becoming the most read. The initial cost of issue was 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold at the counters of grocery stores nationwide. Until the 1980s, the pieces included in each issue were promoted in a television commercial. Over the decades, the shape of the TV Guide logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen, at first, the logo had various colored backgrounds until the familiar red background became the standard in the 1960s with occasional changes used for special editions. The magazine was first based in an office in downtown Philadelphia, before moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor. The color section was sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. It was under Triangles ownership of WFIL-TV that Dick Clark and American Bandstand came to popularity, most listing entries in the log included program genres after the programs title, while its running time was listed in the synopses. Originally, the majority of programs listed in the log each issue featured brief synopses, except for local and national newscasts, in addition, black-and-white ads for programs scheduled to air on broadcast stations – and later, cable channels – during prime time were included within the listings. A regular feature of the section was Close-Up, which provided expanded reviews of select programs airing each day. The advent of television would become hard on TV Guide. Channels that were listed also differed, depending on the edition, as the years went on, more cable channels were added into the listings of each edition
31.
Genesis Awards
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Presented by the HSUS Hollywood Outreach program, the awards show takes place every March in California. The awards have honored such well-known personalities as Aaron Sorkin, Anderson Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Goodall, Michael Jackson, David E. The Genesis Awards were founded as an event in 1986 by the Broadway actress. Wyler believed that members of the media encouraged them to spotlight more animal issues, thus increasing public awareness. The first event, a luncheon, drew 140 attendees, in 1991, Wyler founded the Ark Trust, Inc. to present the Genesis Awards. Dr. Michael A. Giannelli served as the Founding Executive Director from 1991 through 1997, in 1990, it became a television special airing first on the Discovery Channel and then on Animal Planet. In August 2002, the Ark Trust joined with the Humane Society of the United States, Wyler, as Vice President of HSUS Hollywood, continued her role as Chair of the event and Executive Producer of the Genesis Awards television special until her retirement in 2006. Beginning with the first ceremony in 1986, Genesis Awards entries have been submitted by members of the public as well as by media professionals, categories span television, film, print, radio, music, and the arts. The Genesis Awards Committee - via a process of submission, nomination, candidate selection, debate, the 13 committee members are selected based on their personal histories in working for animal causes. The members include people from various organizations and diverse walks of life. The Genesis Awards is the event of its kind honoring the entertainment industry. Celebrating the power of the news and entertainment media to shape and change societal attitudes for the good, Genesis Awards acknowledge outstanding works in TV, film, print, the Genesis Awards is taped for broadcast. The awards ceremony has held at both the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City. Through the years it has aired on the Discovery Channel, American Life Network, sponsors for the Genesis Awards have included Warner Bros. Gardein, One Car One Difference, Honda, Bank of America, HBO, Market Development Group Incorporated, - Best Feature Film - Family The Corporation - Best Documentary Feature 8 Simple Rules, Finale, Part Deux - Sid Caesar Comedy Award Huff, Is She Dead
32.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A nonprofit corporation with 300 employees, it claims that it has 3 million members and supporters and is the largest animal group in the world. Its slogan is animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, today it focuses on four core issues—opposition to factory farming, fur farming, animal testing, and animals in entertainment. It also campaigns against eating meat, fishing, the killing of animals regarded as pests, the keeping of chained backyard dogs, cock fighting, dog fighting, the group has been the focus of controversy, both inside and outside the animal rights movement. Newkirk told Salon in 2001 that PETA works toward the ideal, no one, she says, is being exploited. Sexual attraction is a fact of life, and if it can advance the animals cause, Newkirks view is that PETA has a duty to be press sluts. She argues, It is our obligation and we would be worthless if we were just polite and didnt make any waves. Newkirk was born in England in 1949, and raised in Hertfordshire and later New Delhi, India, Newkirk, now an atheist, was educated in a convent, the only British girl there. She became an officer for Montgomery County and then the District of Columbias first woman poundmaster. By 1976, she was head of the division of D. C. s Commission on Public Health. Or I would say, They are stepping on the animals, crushing them like grapes, in the end, I would go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself. Because I couldnt stand to let go through that. I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes every day. Some of those people would take pleasure in making them suffer, driving home every night, I would cry just thinking about it. And I just felt, to my bones, this cannot be right, in 1980, she divorced Steve Newkirk, whom she had married when she was 19, and the same year met Alex Pacheco, a political major at George Washington University. Pacheco had studied for the priesthood, then worked as a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Societys first ship. It just didnt sound great to me, he told The Los Angeles Times in 1992, I had been active in Europe. And I thought there were just too many formalities, I thought we should just do things ourselves
33.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
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The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003, as of 2017, the Walk of Fame comprises over 2,600 stars, spaced at 6-foot intervals. The monuments are coral-pink terrazzo five-point stars rimmed with brass inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background, in the upper portion of each star field the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the half of the star field. Approximately 20 new stars are added to the Walk each year, special category stars recognize various contributions by corporate entities, service organizations, and special honorees, and display emblems unique to those honorees. The moons are silver and grey terrazzo circles rimmed in brass on a square pink terrazzo background, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E. M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953, with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame. Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a means to maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamor, Harry Sugarman, another Chamber member and president of the Hollywood Improvement Association, receives credit in an independent account. A committee was formed to flesh out the idea, and a firm was retained to develop specific proposals. By 1955 the basic concept and general design had been agreed upon, multiple accounts exist for the origin of the star concept. By another account, the stars were inspired, by Sugarmans drinks menu, which featured celebrity photos framed in gold stars. In February 1956 a prototype was unveiled featuring a caricature of an example honoree inside a star on a brown background. The committees met at the Brown Derby restaurant, and included such prominent names as Cecil B, deMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse L. Lasky, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, Mack Sennett, and Walter Lantz. A requirement stipulated by the audio recording committee specified minimum sales of one million records or 250,000 albums for all music category nominees. The committee soon realized that many important recording artists would be excluded from the Walk by that requirement, as a result, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was formed for the purpose of creating a separate award system for the music business. The first Grammy Awards were presented in Beverly Hills in 1959, construction of the Walk began in 1958 but two lawsuits delayed completion. The first was filed by local property owners challenging the legality of the $1.25 million tax assessment levied upon them to pay for the Walk, along with new street lighting, in October 1959 the assessment was ruled legal. The second lawsuit, filed by Charles Chaplin, Jr. sought damages for the exclusion of his father, chaplins suit was dismissed in 1960, paving the way for completion of the project. Woodwards name was one of eight drawn at random from the original 1,558, the other seven names were Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, and Ernest Torrence
34.
Lisa's First Word
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Lisas First Word is the tenth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on December 3,1992, in the episode, as the Simpson family gathers around Maggie and tries to encourage her to say her first word, Marge reminisces and tells the story of Lisas first word. Elizabeth Taylor appeared for the voicing of Maggies first word, the episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by Jeff Martin. After its initial airing on Fox, the episode was released as part of a 1999 video collection, The Simpsons, Greatest Hits. The episode features references to two chains of fast food restaurants, Wendys and McDonalds, as well as a reference to the 1981 arcade video game Ms. Pac-Man. Lisas First Word received positive reception from critics, and acquired a Nielsen rating of 16.6. The Simpson family are trying unsuccessfully to get Maggie to speak, the story flashes back to March 1983 where Homer, Marge and Bart originally lived in an apartment on the lower east side of Springfield. Homer and Marge had to cope with Bart, who was two years old at the time, Marge reveals to her husband and their son that shes pregnant again, and points out to Homer that they will probably need a bigger place. After viewing several unsuitable properties, they buy a house on Evergreen Terrace with a $15,000 down payment from the sale of Grampa Simpsons house, in 1984, the Simpsons move into their new home and meet their new neighbors, Ned Flanders and his family. However, Krusty is told that the cards are rigged so they only contain events in which Communists never lose. Shortly thereafter, Krusty is told of a boycott of the Games by the Soviets and their allies, Bart is forced to give up his crib so it can be used for the baby. Homer builds him a new bed shaped like a maniacal clown, when Lisa is born and gets all the attention, Bart takes an immediate dislike to her. Eventually, he is about to run away until Lisa says her first word, thrilled that his name is his sisters first word, Marge explains to Bart that Lisa adores him. He accepts her as his sister and they both find it funny that they each call Homer by his name, rather than daddy as he wishes. Back in the present day, Homer takes Maggie to bed, commenting on how the kids learn to talk, the sooner they learn to talk back. But as soon as he turns off the light and closes the door, Maggie takes her out of her mouth and utters the word daddy. Lisas First Word was written by Jeff Martin, and directed by Mark Kirkland, Jeff Martin was assigned to write the episode because he had done another flashback episode in the past, I Married Marge. Martin was excited to do another flashback episode because he thought it was fun to check out old newspapers and go back, Martin felt it was a good way of finding a new set of things to make jokes about
35.
The Simpsons (season 4)
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The Simpsons fourth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 24,1992 and May 13,1993, beginning with Kamp Krusty. The showrunners for the production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The aired season contained two episodes which were episodes from season three, which Jean and Reiss also ran. Following the end of the production of the season, Jean, Reiss, the season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and Dan Castellaneta would win one for his performance as Homer in Mr. Plow. The fourth season was released on DVD in Region 1 on June 15,2004, Region 2 on August 2,2004, the season was executive produced by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had also run the previous season. Several of the original writers who had been with the show since the first season left following the completion of the seasons production run. Cape Feare, which was the episode to be produced by the original team. Jay Kogen, Wallace Wolodarsky and Jeff Martin wrote their final episodes for the four production run. David M. Stern and Jon Vitti also left but returned to write episodes for later seasons. Reiss and Jean left to produce their own series, The Critic, but later returned to several more The Simpsons episodes. Rich Moore, one of the original directors, also left to work on The Critic. George Meyer and John Swartzwelder stayed on, while Conan OBrien, Frank Mula and future show runners Bill Oakley, one-time writers for the season include Adam I. Lapidus and the team of Gary Apple and Michael Carrington, although Carrington later returned to voice characters in Simpson Tide, simon was involved in a series of creative disputes with the shows creator Matt Groening, producer James L. Brooks and production company Gracie Films. Simon commented that he wasnt enjoying it anymore, and that any show Ive ever worked on, it turns me into a monster. Before leaving, he negotiated a deal that saw him receive a share of the shows every year. This seasons production run was the first to be animated by Film Roman, Klasky Csupo co-founder Gábor Csupó had been asked if they could bring in their own producer, but declined, stating they wanted to tell me how to run my business. Simon commented that, There wont be any change in the quality or look of the show, were not going to compromise the quality of the show, and key creative personnel will continue on the show. A Streetcar Named Marge and Kamp Krusty were holdovers from the previous season, Brooks suggested that the script for Kamp Krusty be expanded and produced as a feature-length theatrically released film
36.
1984 Summer Olympics
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The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984. When Tehran, the other interested city on the international level, declined to bid due to the concurrent Iranian political and social changes. This was the second occasion Los Angeles hosted the games, the first being in 1932, for differing reasons, Iran and Libya also boycotted. The USSR announced its intention not to participate on May 8,1984, citing security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments, boycotting countries organized another large event in June–September 1984, called the Friendship Games, however, not even a single competition was held between July 28 and August 12. Representatives of the countries, the Soviets in particular, underlined it was not held to replace the Olympics. Elite athletes from the U. S. and USSR would only compete against each other at the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow, organized in response to the boycotts. The Olympic Committee led by Peter Ueberroth used some of the profits to endow the LA84 Foundation to promote sports in Southern California, educate coaches. The 1984 Summer Olympics are often considered the most financially successful modern Olympics, the host state of California was the home state of U. S. President Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. He had served as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, the official mascot of the Los Angeles Games was Sam the Olympic Eagle. The logo of the games featured five blue, white and red stars arranged horizontally and struck through with alternating streaks and these were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch. On July 18,2009, a 25th anniversary celebration was held in the main stadium and this celebration included a speech by the former president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, Ueberroth, and a re-creation of the lighting of the cauldron. After the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists in Munich and significant financial debts of Montreal, only two cities made serious bids for the 1984 Summer Games. But before a city could be anointed in 1978, Tehran, too. Hence, the process for the 1984 Summer Olympics consisted of a single finalized bid. The bid from Tehran was withdrawn before the selection as a result of Irans policy changes following the Iranian Revolution, Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympics, for 1976 and 1980. The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay began in New York City and ended in Los Angeles, traversing 33 states, unlike later torch relays, the torch was continuously carried by runners on foot. The route covered more than 9,320 mi and involved 3,636 runners, noted athlete O. J. Simpson was among the runners, carrying the torch up the California Incline in Santa Monica. With the torch, he touched off the flame passed through a specially designed flammable Olympic logo
37.
That '90s Show
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That 90s Show is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons nineteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 27,2008, Kurt Loder and Weird Al Yankovic both guest star as themselves, this being the second time for Yankovic. The episode was written by Matt Selman, and directed by Mark Kirkland, after Bart and Lisa discover Marges degree from Springfield University, Homer and Marge recount one of the darkest points of their relationship. The Simpson family are freezing inside their house since Homer had not paid the heating bill, Bart and Lisa, searching for items to feed the fire, discover a box containing a degree belonging to Marge from Springfield University. Homer and Marge look shocked to find it, and claim it was from their dating years, Marge and Homer proceed to describe one of the darker points of their relationship, the 1990s. In the flashback, Homer and Marge are happily dating, living together in an apartment, Marge is an avid reader, and Homer is part of an R&B group alongside Lenny, Carl, and Lou the cop. One morning, Marge wakes up to find out she had been accepted into Springfield University, at Springfield University, Marge is impressed with her surroundings and with the radically feminist revisionist history professor Stefane August, despite Homers disapproval. In the present, a repairman arrives and fixes the heater, Marge soon begins to admire August, and while caressing Homer after his long day at work, realizes she has feelings for her professor. Marge starts talking to Professor August who has fallen for her. August begins manipulating Marge by telling her Homer is a townie who would not appreciate her intellect. A shocked Homer arrives and catches the two together, in his anger, he reforms his R&B group with a new sound called grunge, which Homer explains is an acronym for Guitar Rock Utilizing Nihilist Grunge Energy. His band is renamed to Sadgasm and they sing a song Homer calls Politically Incorrect, an angry Marge and Homer soon call their relationship quits, and Marge leaves to go with Professor August. Homer goes to Moe, who at this point owns a cigar bar, finding no help from Moe, Homer goes on to perform a new song, called Shave Me, which causes him to become so famous that Weird Al Yankovic parodies his song calling it Brain Freeze. Marge and August share their first kiss, when running onto the beach, August reveals he and Marge have very different views on marriage. After the two argue, Marge breaks up with him, breaking his heart, a miserable Marge watches television and is surprised to see Homer made a song dedicated to her, called Margerine, about what she did to Homer. A special news report with Kurt Loder interrupts, revealing Sadgasm had broken up and Homer is holed up in his mansion, arriving there, Marge thinks Homer had been doing drugs and soon begins caring for him. It turns out the needles were insulin for his diabetes after drinking too many frappuccinos, Marge reveals to Bart and Lisa that she learned Homie is where my heart is, while another professor who insulted Homer earlier walks by, looking at the audience, saying Townie. An estimated 7.6 million viewers tuned into the episode, richard Keller of TV Squad enjoyed the many cultural references to the 1990s, but felt disappointed that the episode changed the continuity of The Simpsons
38.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
39.
Bleeding Gums Murphy
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The writers originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokes or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and have starred in their own episodes. According to the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, the show adopted the concept of a supporting cast from the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television. Agnes Skinner is the mother of Principal Skinner and first appeared in the first season episode The Crepes of Wrath as an old woman who calls her son Spanky. However, as episodes progressed, the character turned bitter and she is very controlling of her son and often treats him as if he is a child. She hates Edna Krabappel due to her sons feelings for the other woman, several Springfield residents are afraid of her. Agnes first name was revealed in the season episode Bart the Fink. Before that, the character was known as Mrs. Skinner, in the beginning of the series, the writers made several references to Agnes and Seymours unhealthily close relationship as similar to that of Norman Bates and his mother. When Seymour makes his first kick, he hits the bar, thus, making Agnes lose, however, this would contradict the earlier episode when it is revealed that Seymour is not her birth son. In Grade School Confidential, it is revealed that Agnes enjoys collecting pictures of cakes that she out of magazines. She does not like to eat them, however, in the twenty sixth season episode Sky Police she mentions that she has a brother Stevie. Akira works as a waiter at The Happy Sumo, a Japanese restaurant in Springfield and he first appeared in the second season in One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish. Actor George Takei originally voiced Akira in One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, since Akiras speaking role in When Flanders Failed, Hank Azaria has voiced the character, doing an impression of Takei for the voice. Allison Taylor is in Lisas class but skipped a grade and has a lot in common with Lisa and she first appeared in Lisas Rival, in which Lisa feels threatened by Allisons talents and abilities. During a school competition Lisa has Bart sabotage Allisons Tell-Tale Heart diorama with a heart in a box. Wracked with guilt, Lisa returns Allisons real diorama, Lisa and Allison both lose to Ralph Wiggum and his Star Wars figurines. Afterwards, Lisa apologizes and the two make amends, Allison has had a few speaking roles after that and has been friends with Lisa, Janey, Sherri and Terri at the school and on the bus. Anastasia is a tiger that performs in casinos with Gunter
40.
Moaning Lisa
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Moaning Lisa is the sixth episode of The Simpsons first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 11,1990, the episode was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, and was directed by Wes Archer. Ron Taylor guest stars in the episode as Bleeding Gums Murphy, the episode deals with Lisas depression and her attempts to sublimate it by playing her saxophone. It received positive reviews from television critics, Lisa wakes up one morning saddened. At school, she gets in trouble with her teacher for improvising. At home, Homer and Bart pummel each other at video boxing, Homer and Marge try to cheer Lisa up, but she is consumed with worry over all the suffering in the world. In her room, Lisa hears music coming from outside her window and she follows the music through town and meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, a soulful saxophonist playing the blues. Lisa learns about expressing herself through her music from him, only to be discovered and whisked away by Marge, Homer goes to the arcade and enlists the help of a local video gamer, while Marge takes Lisa to band practice. She tells Lisa to smile no matter how she feels inside, to suppress her emotions in order to be popular, and that happiness will follow. But when she sees Lisa hiding her feelings and being taken advantage of by her classmates, Marge changes her tune and tells Lisa to be herself. When Homer returns home, he is about to defeat Bart in a rematch but Marge unplugs the game console to announce Lisas recovery, later, the Simpsons visit a jazz club to hear Bleeding Gums Murphy sing a blues number written by Lisa. Moaning Lisa was the first episode of the series to focus on Lisa, the idea for it was suggested by The Simpsons producer James L. Brooks, who wanted to do an episode where Lisa was sad but she did not know why. The writers also felt that they had done several jokey episodes on the show and wanted to try something new that was really emotional, the song Lisa sings in this episode later reappeared in expanded form on The Simpsons Sing the Blues CD. Mr. Largo, Lisas music teacher, was inspired by a music teacher Matt Groening had as a kid. Bleeding Gums Murphy was loosely based on the blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson. Ralph Wiggum, Bleeding Gums Murphy, and Jacqueline Bouvier all make their first appearances on The Simpsons in this episode. In its original American broadcast, Moaning Lisa finished 34th place in the ratings for the week of February 5–February 11,1990 with a Nielsen rating of 13.8. It was the highest rated show on the Fox Network that week, yes, the final moments may give you goosepimples, and are a world away from the anti-schmaltz normally associated with the series, but there is still much to recommend here
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The Simpsons (season 1)
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The Simpsons first season originally aired on the Fox network between December 17,1989 and May 13,1990, beginning with the Christmas special Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. The executive producers for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, the producers considered aborting the series if the next episode turned out as bad, but it only suffered from easily fixable problems. The producers convinced Fox to move the debut to December 17, the first season won one Emmy Award, and received four additional nominations. The DVD boxset was released on September 25,2001 in Region 1, Season one was also released for the iTunes Store on December 22,2010, dubbed a digital edition. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening conceived the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brookss office, Brooks, the producer of the sketch comedy program The Tracey Ullman Show, wanted to use a series of animated shorts as bumpers between sketches. He had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, the Simpson family first appeared as shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19,1987. Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned up in production, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes. In 1989, a team of companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house, during the years of producing the shorts, everything was created in-house. Due to the workload of the full-length episodes, production was subcontracted to South Korean animation studio AKOM. While character and background layout is done by the studio, tweening, coloring. The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon, Groening and Simon, however, did not get along and were often in conflict over the show, Groening once described their relationship as very contentious. Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called the mainstream trash that they were watching, Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the shows content. Fox was nervous about the show because they were unsure if it could sustain the attention for the duration of the episode. They proposed doing three seven-minute shorts per episode and four specials until the audience adjusted, but in the end, the producers gambled by asking Fox for 13 full-length episodes. Simon assembled and led the team of writers, consisting of John Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti, George Meyer, Jeff Martin, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen. Simon has been credited as developing sensibility, ken Levine says he brought a level of honesty to the characters and made them three-dimensional, adding that Simons comedy is all about character, not just a string of gags. In The Simpsons, the characters are motivated by their emotions, what are they thinking. —that is Sams contribution
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'Round Springfield
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Round Springfield is the 22nd episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 30,1995, in the episode, Bart is rushed to the hospital after eating a jagged metal Krusty-O and decides to sue Krusty the Clown. Whilst visiting Bart, Lisa meets her old mentor, jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy and she is saddened when she later learns that Murphy has died, and resolves to honor his memory. Steve Allen and Ron Taylor guest star, each in their appearance on the show. Dan Higgins also returns as the writer and performer of all of Lisa and it was written by Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, based on a story idea by Al Jean and Mike Reiss and was the first episode directed by Steven Dean Moore. Jean and Reiss, who were previously the series showrunners, returned to produce this episode in order to lessen the workload of the regular staff. They worked on it alongside the staff of The Critic, the series they had left The Simpsons to create, the episode marks the first time in which a recurring character was killed off in the show, something the staff had considered for a while. The episode features cultural references, including Carole Kings song Jazzman, the actor James Earl Jones. The episode also features the phrase cheese-eating surrender monkeys, used by Groundskeeper Willie to describe the French, the phrase has since entered the public lexicon. It has been used and referenced by journalists and academics, it appears in two Oxford quotation dictionaries, on the day of a history test at school, Bart gets a stomachache after accidentally eating a jagged metal Krusty-O with his breakfast cereal. Lisa is the one who believes him, however, and Homer. Bart struggles through the test, and after finally convincing Mrs. Krabappel that he is ill, she lets him go. Bart collapses on the medical room floor, and is taken to Springfield General Hospital where he undergoes surgery from Dr. Hibbert and Dr. Nick, while visiting Bart in the hospital, Lisa meets her hero, jazzman Bleeding Gums Murphy, in a bed in another ward. Later, Bleeding Gums lends Lisa his saxophone for her school recital, returning to the hospital the next day, Lisa is saddened to learn that Bleeding Gums has died. Lisa is the person who attends Bleeding Gums funeral. Bart, meanwhile, sues Krusty the Clown and is given a $100,000 settlement, however, after Barts attorney Lionel Hutz takes his legal fees, Bart is left with only $500. Still stricken with grief, Lisa decides that the best way to honor Bleeding Gums memory is by having his album played at the jazz station. Lisa spots it in the Android Dungeon store for $250, but after hearing that Bleeding Gums is dead, Bart then walks in with his $500 to buy the ultimate pog with Steve Allens face
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The Simpsons (season 6)
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The Simpsons sixth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 4,1994, and May 21,1995, and consists of 25 episodes. The Simpsons is a series about a working class family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa. The show is set in the city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television. The showrunner for the production season was David Mirkin who executive-produced 23 episodes. Former showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss produced the two, they produced the two episodes with the staff of The Critic, the show they left The Simpsons to create. This was done in order to some of the stress The Simpsons writing staff endured. Fox moved The Simpsons back to its original Sunday night time and it has remained in this slot ever since. The sixth season won one Primetime Emmy Award, and received three additional nominations and it also won the Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production. The Complete Sixth Season DVD was released in the United States on August 16,2005, September 28,2005, in Australia, the set featured a plastic clam-shell Homer-head design and received many complaints. David Mirkin served as showrunner and executive producer for season six, steven Dean Moore and Swinton O. Scott III received their first directing credit. Other credited writers included Greg Daniels, Dan McGrath, Bill Oakley, John Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti, other directors included Bob Anderson, Wes Archer, Susie Dietter, Mark Kirkland, Jeffrey Lynch, Jim Reardon and David Silverman. The main cast consisted of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, other cast members included Doris Grau, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Maggie Roswell, Russi Taylor and Marcia Wallace. Guest stars included Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks, Kelsey Grammer, Phil Hartman, Larry King, Susan Sarandon, Patrick Stewart, Meryl Streep and Winona Ryder. The seasons first two episodes, Bart of Darkness and Lisas Rival, were held over from the previous season, the season finale Who Shot Mr. Burns. Came from Groening, who had wanted to do an episode in which Mr. Burns was shot, the writers decided to write the episode in two parts with a mystery that could be used in a contest. It was important for them to design a mystery that had clues, took advantage of freeze frame technology, during the production of the season, Groening and Brooks pitched a live-action spin-off series centered in Krusty the Clown entitled Krusty. Groening and Michael Weithorn wrote an episode where Krusty moved to Los Angeles. A recurring joke throughout the script was that Krusty lived in a house on stilts which were continuously being gnawed by beavers
