Ken Keeler
Kenneth Keeler is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably Futurama. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem which appears in the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda". Keeler studied applied mathematics at Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude in 1983, he gained a master's degree from Stanford in electrical engineering before returning to Harvard. He earned a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard in 1990, his doctoral thesis was "Map Representations and Optimal Encoding for Image Segmentation". After earning his doctorate, Keeler joined the Performance Analysis Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories, he soon left Bell Labs to write for David Letterman and subsequently for various sitcoms, including several episodes of Wings, The Simpsons and The Critic, as well as the short-lived Fox claymation show The PJs. For The Simpsons, Keeler has written such episodes as "A Star Is Burns" and "The Principal and the Pauper".
Keeler was instrumental in the creation of Futurama, served as a co-executive producer in its first three years, as an executive producer in its fourth year. He was one of the show's most prolific writers, with nine episodes to his name. Keeler wrote many of the original songs on both The Simpsons and Futurama during his time with the shows, he wrote the direct-to-DVD Futurama movies Bender's Big Score and Into the Wild Green Yonder. "A Star Is Burns" "Two Bad Neighbors" "Treehouse of Horror VII" "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" "Brother from Another Series" "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" "The Principal and the Pauper" "The Series Has Landed" "When Aliens Attack" "Put Your Head on My Shoulders" "Anthology of Interest I" "The Honking" "Time Keeps on Slippin'" "Godfellas" "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" Futurama: Bender's Big Score Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder "The Prisoner of Benda" "The Tip of the Zoidberg" "Overclockwise" "The Six Million Dollar Mon" "Forty Percent Leadbelly" "Meanwhile" "A Day at the Races and a Night at the Opera" "Dukerella" "Fay There, Georgy Girl" Keeler is a fan of Harry Stephen Keeler and won the fifth and twelfth annual Imitate Keeler Competitions.
His Futurama episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'" was inspired by the Harry Stephen Keeler story "Strange Romance" from the novel Y. Cheung, Business Detective. Bibliography Ken Keeler on IMDb
Homer's Enemy
"Homer's Enemy" is the twenty-third episode in the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 1997; the episode's plot centers on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's hiring a new employee named Frank Grimes. Despite Homer's attempts to befriend him, Grimes is angered and irritated by Homer's laziness and incompetence despite leading a comfortable life, he declares himself Homer's enemy and tries to publicly humiliate him to expose his flaws. Meanwhile, Bart buys a run-down factory for a dollar. "Homer's Enemy" was directed by Jim Reardon and the script was written by John Swartzwelder, based on an idea pitched by executive producer Bill Oakley. The episode explores the comic possibilities of a realistic character with a strong work ethic hired for a job where he has to work alongside a man like Homer, he was modeled after Michael Douglas as he appeared in the film Falling Down. Hank Azaria provided the voice of Frank Grimes, based some of the character's mannerisms on actor William H. Macy.
Frank Welker guest stars as the voice of the Executive Vice President dog. In its original broadcast on the Fox network, "Homer's Enemy" acquired a 7.7 Nielsen rating. It was viewed in 7.5 million homes, finishing the week ranked 56th. "Homer's Enemy" is considered to be one of the darkest episodes of The Simpsons, it split critical opinion. It is a favorite of several members of the production staff, including Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein and Matt Groening, but it is one of the least favorites of Mike Reiss. Although Grimes is never shown alive after this episode, he was named one of the "Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral characters" by IGN, he has since been referenced many times in the show, most notably in the season fourteen episode "The Great Louse Detective", in which his vengeful son plots to kill Homer. A new employee, Frank Grimes, who spent most of his life alone and working hard to make ends meet, is hired at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and put into Sector 7G, where he must work alongside Homer and Carl.
Grimes is aghast at Homer's general irresponsibility. When Grimes prevents Homer from drinking a beaker of sulfuric acid by slapping it out of his hands and into a wall, a passing Mr. Burns admonishes Grimes for the damage caused and gives him a pay cut. Grimes angrily declares to Homer. At Moe Syzlak's suggestion, Homer invites Grimes to his home for a lobster dinner, hoping to make them friends. However, Grimes is only further incensed by Homer's ability to live such a comfortable life and earn so many accomplishments, despite his slothful and ignorant ways, while Grimes has little to show for his lifetime of hard work other than a briefcase, a haircut and a small apartment between two bowling alleys. Declaring Homer a fraud, Grimes leaves in anger; the next day, after getting advice from Marge, tries to earn Grimes' respect by acting as a model employee, but his efforts fail. Grimes rants about Homer to Lenny and Carl, who both insist that despite his faults, Homer is a decent person. To prove Homer's lack of intelligence, he tricks Homer into entering a nuclear power plant design contest intended for children by taking out references to Kids on the flier.
However, Grimes' plan backfires as Homer's model, the same as the current plant with just two minor modifications, wins the contest. Moreover, instead of laughing at Homer, his co-workers loudly cheer for him, causing Grimes to snap and run around the plant mimicking and mocking Homer's habits. Grimes sees a high voltage machine, declares that he doesn't need safety gloves, grabs the wires and is electrocuted. At Grimes' funeral, Homer falls asleep and talks in his dream, making all the attendees laugh as Grimes' coffin is lowered into the earth. Meanwhile, Bart buys an abandoned factory for a dollar at a foreclosure auction at the Springfield Town Hall, he and Milhouse spend their days wrecking the building until it collapses one night during Milhouse's watch, at which point the rats inside swarm into Moe's Tavern. "Homer's Enemy" was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Jim Reardon and executive produced by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. One of the goals of Oakley and Weinstein was to create several episodes in each season which would "push the envelope conceptually."
The idea for the episode was first conceived by Bill Oakley who thought that Homer should have an enemy. The thought evolved into the concept of a "real world" co-worker who would either love or hate Homer; the writers chose the latter. The result was the character of Grimes, a man who had to work hard all his life with nothing to show for it and is dismayed and embittered by Homer's success and comfort in spite of his inherent laziness and ignorance."Homer's Enemy" explores the comic possibilities of a realistic character with a strong work ethic placed alongside Homer in a work environment. In an essay for the book Leaving Springfield, Robert Sloane describes the episode as "an incisive consideration of The Simpsons's world. Although The Simpsons is known for its self-reflectivity, the show had never looked at itself as directly as it does in." In the episode, Homer is portrayed as the embodiment of the American spirit. By the close of the episode, Grimes, a hard-working and persevering "real American hero," is relegated to the role of antagonist.
In an interview with Simpsons fan site NoHomers.net, Josh Weinstein said: The animators and character designers had a lot of discussion abou
Nachos
Nachos is a Mexican dish from northern Mexico that consists of heated tortilla chips or totopos covered with melted cheese served as a snack or appetizer. More elaborate versions of the dish add other ingredients, may be substantial enough to serve as a main dish. Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya is credited with creating the dish around 1943. Nachos originated in the city of Piedras Negras, Mexico, just over the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. In 1943, the wives of U. S. soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan in nearby Eagle Pass were in Piedras Negras on a shopping trip, arrived at the restaurant after it had closed for the day. The maître d'hôtel, Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya, created a new snack for them with what little he had available in the kitchen: tortillas and cheese. Anaya cut the tortillas into triangles, fried them, added shredded cheddar cheese heated them, added sliced pickled jalapeño peppers, served them; when asked what the dish was called, he answered, "Nacho's especiales". As word of the dish traveled, the apostrophe was lost, Nacho's "specials" became "special nachos".
Anaya went on to work at the Moderno Restaurant in Piedras Negras, which still uses the original recipe. He opened his own restaurant, "Nacho's Restaurant", in Piedras Negras. Anaya's original recipe was printed in the 1954 St. Anne's Cookbook; the popularity of the dish swiftly spread throughout the Southwest. The first known appearance of the word "nachos" in English dates to 1950, from the book A Taste of Texas. According to El Cholo Spanish Cafe history, waitress Carmen Rocha is credited with making nachos in San Antonio, before introducing the dish to Los Angeles at the cafe in 1959. A modified version of the dish, with cheese sauce and prepared tortilla chips, was marketed in 1976 by Frank Liberto, owner of Ricos Products, during Texas Rangers baseball games at Arlington Stadium in Arlington, Texas; this version became known as "ballpark nachos". During the September 4, 1978 Monday Night Football game between the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys, sportscaster Howard Cosell enjoyed the name "nachos", made a point of mentioning the dish in his broadcasts over the following weeks, further popularizing it and introducing it to a whole new audience.
Ignacio Anaya died in 1975. In his honor, a bronze plaque was erected in Piedras Negras, October 21 was declared the International Day of the Nacho. Anaya's son, Ignacio Anaya, Jr. served as a judge at the annual nacho competition until his death in 2010. The nutritional breakdown and total calorie count for a serving of nachos depends on the type of nacho, type of cheese, additional toppings that are included in the serving. Most typical corn tortilla chips contain about 15 calories per chip. Baked corn tortilla chips have about 6 calories per chip, making them a healthier alternative option to the usual fried chip. Mexican-style cheddar cheese contains about 110 calories per ounce. Adding an additional source of protein, such as chicken or beef, increases the calorie count by about 100 calories or so. All in all, a single serving of nachos can contain as much as 300–600 total calories. A single serving of nachos contains significant amounts of fat and calcium. There are around 16 grams of fat, 816 mg of sodium, 272 mg of calcium per serving of nachos.
In other words, one serving contains 39% of the daily value for fat, 34% of the daily value for sodium, 27% of the daily value for calcium. A variation consists of a quartered and fried tostada topped with a layer of refried beans and/or various meats and a layer of shredded cheese or nacho cheese, topped with habanero hot sauce. Other variations include barbecue nachos and poutine nachos. Although those variations use nontraditional ingredients, these versions are still classified as nachos. Traditional nachos consist of the tortilla chips topped with cheese and jalapenos, as done by Anaya who created "nachos"; the modern form of nachos has several possible ingredients with the most common toppings being, guacamole, sour cream and sometimes lettuce. Lettuce is a less common topping; the topping of the greatest quantity is the cheese. Nachos vary from the modern style served in restaurants to the quick and easy nachos sold at concession stands in stadiums; the nachos sold at concession stands consists of tortilla chips topped with pump-able cheese sauce.
The cheese sauce comes in condensed form to which pepper juice are added. What is contained in the condensed form itself is a trade secret. Another variation of nachos is "dessert nachos"; these vary from cinnamon and sugar on pita chips to "s'more nachos" with marshmallow and chocolate on graham crackers, refer to a dessert consisting of scattered toppings on some form of crispy base. Common toppings include: Black beans, pinto beans, or refried beans Chile con queso or chili con carne Cilantro Chives or scallions Meat ground beef, sliced steak, chorizo, or carne asada.
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. 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 but instead decided to create a new set of characters, he named the character after 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; as the patriarch of the eponymous family and his wife Marge have three children: Bart and Maggie. As the family's provider, he works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant as safety inspector. Homer embodies many American working class stereotypes: he is crude, incompetent, clumsy, dim-witted, hot-tempered and addicted to beer, junk food and watching television.
However, he tries his hardest to be a decent man and is fiercely devoted to his family when his wife and children need him the most. Despite the suburban blue-collar routine of his life, he has had a number of remarkable experiences, including going to space, climbing the tallest mountain in Springfield by himself, fighting former President George H. W. Bush and winning a Grammy Award as a member of a barbershop quartet, named the b sharps. In the shorts and earlier episodes, Castellaneta voiced Homer with a loose impression of Walter Matthau, he has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons—including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride and comic books—and inspired an entire line of merchandise. His signature catchphrase, the annoyed grunt "D'oh!", has been included in The New Oxford Dictionary of English since 1998 and the Oxford English Dictionary since 2001. Homer is one of the most influential characters in the history of television, is considered to be an American cultural icon.
The British newspaper The Sunday Times described him as "The greatest comic creation of time". He was named the greatest character "of the last 20 years" in 2010 by Entertainment Weekly, was ranked the second-greatest cartoon character by TV Guide, behind Bugs Bunny, was voted the greatest television character of all time by Channel 4 viewers. 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 Jay Simpson is the bumbling husband of Marge and father of Bart and Maggie Simpson, he is the son of 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 "Homer's Odyssey", the third episode of the series. At the plant, Homer is ignored and forgotten by his boss Mr. Burns, falls asleep and neglects his duties.
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 rehired in every episode. In episodes, he began a new job on impulse, without any mention of his regular employment; the Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters never physically age, and, as such, the show is assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events in Homer's life have been linked to specific time periods. "Mother Simpson" depicts Homer's mother, Mona, as a radical who went into hiding in 1969 following a run-in with the law. However, the episode "That'90s Show" contradicted much of this backstory, portraying Homer and Marge as a twentysomething childless couple in the early 1990s. Homer's age has changed as the series developed. During Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein's period as showrunners, they found that as they aged, Homer seemed to become older too, so they increased his age to 38.
His height is 5'9". Naming the characters after members of his own family, Groening named Homer after his father Homer Groening, who himself had been named after ancient Greek poet Homer. Little else of Homer's character was based on him, to prove that the meaning behind Homer's name was not significant, Groening named his own son Homer. According to Groening, "Homer originated with my goal to both amuse my real father, just annoy him a little bit. My father was an athletic, intelligent filmmaker and writer, the only thing he had in common with Homer was a love of donuts." Although Groening has stated in several interviews that Homer was named after his father, he claimed in several 1990 interviews that a character in the 1939 Nathanael West novel The Day of the Locust was the inspiration for naming Homer. Homer
Stark Raving Dad
"Stark Raving Dad" is the first episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 19, 1991. In the episode, Homer Simpson is mistaken for an anarchist and sent to a mental institution, where he shares a room with a man who claims to be pop star Michael Jackson. Meanwhile, Bart promises his sister Lisa; the episode was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, directed by Rich Moore. Michael Jackson went uncredited for contractual reasons. Jackson was a fan of the show and called creator Matt Groening one night offering to do a guest spot. Jackson pitched several story ideas for the episode and wrote the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" for the episode; the character's singing voice would be performed by a soundalike, Kipp Lennon, due to contractual obligations Jackson had with his record company at the time. The episode contains references to Jackson's career, with Kompowsky singing portions of the songs "Billie Jean" and "Ben".
"Stark Raving Dad" received positive reviews for its writing and Jackson's performance. A sequel in which Kompowsky would be voiced by Prince was canceled. A 1992 rerun featured an alternate opening in response to a speech by President George H. W. Bush, in which he said Americans needed to be "a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons". Following the release of the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, which follows allegations of child sexual assault against Jackson, the episode was pulled from circulation. Lisa reminds Bart that he forgets her birthday every year, so Bart promises to get her a present this year. Meanwhile, Homer discovers that all of his white shirts have dyed pink because Bart put his red hat in with the laundry. Homer has no choice but to wear a pink shirt to work and as a result, his co-workers poke fun at him. Mr. Burns suspects him of being a "free-thinking anarchist". Homer is sent home with a 20-question psychiatric quiz that he has to fill in so that Dr. Marvin Monroe can assess his sanity.
Homer lets Bart fill it in. When Dr. Monroe sees the results, he determines. Homer is sent to a mental institution, is put in a cell with a large white man who seems to believe he is Michael Jackson, who introduces himself as such. Being unfamiliar with the real Michael Jackson, Homer believes and befriends him. Marge, upon hearing what has happened, comes to the institution and is able to convince Homer's doctors that he is not insane. Homer bids farewell to Michael. Homer decides to let him stay in the family home, he tells Bart that he is bringing Michael to stay for a few days. Against Homer and Michael's wishes, Bart tells his friend Milhouse and soon all of Springfield turns up outside of the Simpson family's home to see Michael; the level of excitement is deflated when Homer introduces Michael and they realise he is an impostor. The townspeople leave. At the same time, Lisa comes out of the house and is upset with Bart because he has yet again failed to acknowledge her birthday, because of his excitement over Michael Jackson's arrival.
After overhearing Lisa write in a letter that she is disowning Bart as a brother, the faux Michael convinces Bart to let him help. Together they write and perform a song for Lisa's birthday called "Happy Birthday Lisa". Lisa is hugs her brother, saying that he has given her the best present ever. Afterwards, Michael reveals that his real name is Leon Kompowsky, a bricklayer from Paterson, New Jersey, he explains that he had been angry for most of his life, but found some peace in talking in Jackson's voice because it made everyone around him happy. Leon bids farewell to the Simpsons and walks off down the road, singing Lisa's birthday song to himself in his normal voice. "Stark Raving Dad" was written for Michael Jackson, a fan of the show, who had called Groening one night and offered to do a guest spot. The offer was accepted and a script was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, based on an idea pitched by James L. Brooks. Creator Matt Groening and co-executive producer Sam Simon contributed to the writing.
In an early version of the script, Homer decided to take his alcoholic friend Barney Gumble in for rehab, but while there Homer began acting crazily so the doctors assumed he was the one to be committed. It was changed to Homer being hospitalized for wearing a pink shirt, an idea pitched by Brooks. Jackson pitched several story ideas, such as Bart telling everyone in town that Jackson was coming to his house, he requested a scene in which he and Bart write a song together and asked that a joke about Prince be changed to one about Elvis Presley. According to Jean, Jackson would not commit to the episode until after a read-through of the script; the read was held at Jackson's manager Sandy Gallin's house, Dan Castellaneta was 30 minutes late. Jean recalls that "no one said a word, we just sat there waiting". Following the read, Jackson stipulated his conditions: he would go uncredited, his singing voice would be performed by a soundalike. Leon Kompowsky's singing parts were performed by Kipp Lennon, because Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers and fool them into thinking the impersonator was him.
Lennon recorded his lines at the same time as Jackson. Jackson did not use the special trailer set up for him. According to Jean, Jackson did record version
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, film producer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, appearing on the television series Welcome Back and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease, his acting career declined through the 1980s, but enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in Pulp Fiction, he has since starred in films such as Get Shorty, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, Swordfish, Be Cool, Wild Hogs and The Taking of Pelham 123. Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for performances in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, he won his first and only Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty and has received a total of six nominations, the most recent being in 2011. In 2010, he received the IIFA Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema. In 2016, Travolta received his first Primetime Emmy Award, as a producer of the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, subtitled The People v. O. J. Simpson.
He received an additional Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of lawyer Robert Shapiro in the series. Travolta, the youngest of six children, was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of Bergen County, New Jersey, his father, Salvatore Travolta, was a semi-professional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company. His mother, Helen Cecilia, was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher, his siblings, Ellen, Ann and Sam Travolta, inspired by their mother's love of theatre and drama, have all acted. His father was a second-generation Italian American and his mother was Irish American, he was raised Roman Catholic, but converted to Scientology in 1975. Travolta attended Dwight Morrow High School, but dropped out as a junior at age 17 in 1971. After attending Dwight Morrow High School, Travolta moved across the Hudson River to New York City and landed a role in the touring company of the musical Grease and on Broadway in Over Here!, singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'".
He moved to Los Angeles for professional reasons. Travolta's first screen role in California was as a fall victim in Emergency!, in September 1972, but his first significant movie role was as Billy Nolan, a bully, goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek's character in the horror film Carrie. Around the same time, he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, in which his sister, Ellen occasionally appeared; the show aired on ABC. Travolta had a hit single titled "Let Her In", peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1976. In the next few years, he starred in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and two of his most noted screen roles: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Danny Zuko in Grease; the films were among the most commercially successful pictures of the decade and catapulted Travolta to international stardom. Saturday Night Fever earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, making him, at age 24, one of the youngest performers nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.
His mother and his sister Ann appeared briefly in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen played a waitress in Grease. Travolta performed several of the songs on the Grease soundtrack album. In 1980, Travolta inspired a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger. After Urban Cowboy, Travolta starred in a series of commercial and critical failures that sidelined his acting career; these included Two of a Kind, a romantic comedy reteaming him with Olivia Newton-John, Perfect, co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis. He starred in Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, for which he trained rigorously and lost 20 pounds. During that time Travolta was offered, but declined, lead roles in what would become box-office hits, including American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman, both of which went to Richard Gere. In 1989, Travolta starred with Kirstie Alley in Look Who's Talking, which grossed $297 million making it his most successful film since Grease.
Next came Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now but it was not until he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction, for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career revived. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list, he was inundated with offers. Notable roles following Pulp Fiction include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty, a corrupt US air force pilot in Broken Arrow, an FBI agent and terrorist in Face/Off, a desperate attorney in A Civil Action, a Bill Clinton-esque presidential candidate in Primary Colors, a military investigator in The General's Daughter. In 2000, Travolta starred in and co-produced the science fiction film Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth; the film had been a dream project for Travolta since the book's release in 1982, when Hubbard had written him to try to
Marge Simpson
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 but instead decided to create a new set of characters, 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 and Maggie. Marge is the moralistic force in her family and provides a grounding voice in the midst of her family's antics by trying to maintain order in the Simpson household, she is 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 and comic books—and inspired an entire line of merchandise. Marge's distinctive blue beehive hairstyle was inspired by a combination of the Bride's in Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore in the 1960s. Julie Kavner, a member of the original cast of The Tracey Ullman Show, was asked to voice Marge so that more voice actors would not be needed. Kavner has won several awards for voicing Marge, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992, she was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for her performance in The Simpsons Movie. In 2000, along with the rest of her family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; the Simpsons uses a floating timeline, as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year. 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 and Maggie Simpson. She was raised by her parents and Clancy Bouvier, she has a pair of the joyless Patty and Selma, both of whom vocally disapprove of Homer. In "The Way We Was", it is revealed via flashback that Marge attended Springfield High School, in her final year met Homer Simpson, after they both were sent to detention—Homer for smoking in the bathroom with Barney, Marge for burning her bra in a feminist protest, she was at first wary of Homer, but agreed to go to the prom with him, although she ended up going with Artie Ziff after Homer received tutoring lessons were a means to get to know her better, while knowing that she needed to sleep for a school meet. However, she regretted going with Artie. At the end of the evening, while Artie drove her home after receiving a slap, she spied Homer walking along the side of the road with the corsage meant for her. After hearing her parents voicing their negative opinions about Homer, she took her own car and went back to give him a ride.
She told Homer she should've gone to the prom with him and he fixes her snapped shoulder strap with the corsage. During the ride, he tells her he will kiss her and never be able to let her go. After the two had been dating for several years, Marge discovered she was pregnant with Bart, she and Homer were married in a small wedding chapel across the state line. Bart was born soon after, the couple bought their first house; the episode "That'90s Show" contradicted much of the established back-story. As with many Simpsons characters, Marge's age and birthday changes to serve the story. In season one episodes "Life on the Fast Lane" and "Some Enchanted Evening", Marge was said to be 34. In "Homer's Paternity Coot", Marge states that Emerald would have been her birthstone if she had been born three months placing her birthday sometime in February. In "Regarding Margie", Homer mentioned that Marge was his age, meaning she could have been anywhere between 36 and 40. During this episode, Lisa questions Homer's memory of Marge's birthday.
When he can not remember, Marge yells. In the season eighteen episode "Marge Gamer" she states that she and actor Randy Quaid share the same birthdate. Marge has been nonworking for most of the series, choosing to be a homemaker and take care of her family. However, she has held several one-episode jobs in the course of the series; these include working as a nuclear technician alongside Homer at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in "Marge Gets a Job". While Marge has never expressed discontent with her role as a homemaker, she has become bored with it. In "The Springfield Connection", Marge decided that she needed more excitement in her life and became a police officer. However, by the end of the episode, she quit. Matt Groening first conceived Marge and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks' office. Groe
