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Matt Groening changed television forever when he brought animation back to primetime with this immortal nuclear family.

What more can I possibly say about a TV show that has already been praised to death? I've seen every single episode, and I'd have to say it's a rare combination of factors that come together to make The Simpsons the best show ever.

It's a very clever and intelligent show - they never dumb anything down - and as creator Matt Groening has remarked, "The Simpsons is a show that rewards paying attention." There are always enough obscure pop-culture references or subtle background gags to ensure that the second, third, or tenth viewing of an episode will find you noticing something you hadn't before.

In the early days of The Simpsons, they derived a large part of their popularity from the everyday, down-to-earth, unglamorous, average-blue-collar-slob aspect of the Simpson family. Homer is lazy and doesn't like his job, Bart doesn't excel at school, the plastic ketchup bottle they use at the dinner table makes that farting sound, and so on. This aspect of the program contrasts it with popular 80's family sitcoms such as The Cosby Show which always featured impossibly well-functioning families who got along a little too perfectly and usually learned a neat little lesson at the end of each episode. An early tag-line for The Simpsons said that they "put the Fun back in Dysfunctional. "

There are just too many things to mention about The Simpsons. It can be touching occasionally; more often the viewers are treated to an unequalled cavalcade of obscure references, surreal sight gags, wacky adventures, self-mocking irony... The list goes on and on.

Origin of the names

Lisa – Lisa Groening (Matt Groening's sister)
Marge – Margaret Groening (his mother)
Homer – Homer Groening (his father and one of his sons)
Maggie – Maggie Groening (one of his sisters)
Bart – an anagram for "brat", a reference to Groening himself
Abraham – picked at random by writers for The Simpsons, but coincidentally was the name of Matt Groening's grandfather
742 Evergreen Terrace is the address of the place where Matt Groening grew up.
Chief Wiggum – Groening's college love's last name was "Wiggum"
Miss Hoover (Lisa's teacher) – one of his primary school teachers
Moe – Matt Groening's former drug rehab counselor
Apu (Kwik-E-Mart owner) – reference to one of his favorite movies
Ned Flanders – In NW Portland, Groening's hometown, there is a Flanders St. (from which one could deduce – Ned Flanders, Saint)
Reverend Lovejoy - another NW Portland street name
Mayor Quimby - another NW Portland street name

Other name origins

Seymour Skinner – behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner
Maude, Rod and Todd Flanders – they all rhyme with "God" (Maude being pronounced 'Mod' in certain North American accents).
Kang and Kodos (aliens) – In the original Star Trek, Kang is a Klingon, and Kodos ("The Executioner") is a human villain
Barney Gumble (Homer's drinking buddy) – Barney Rubble from The Flintstones
Troy McClure (actor) – B-movie actors Troy Donohue and Doug McClure
Dr. Nick Riviera (enterprising physician) – Elvis Presley's physician, George C. Nichopoulos, was called Dr. Nick
Milhouse Van Houten – notorious 1960's figures Richard Milhous Nixon and Manson Family member and convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten (or, possibly Van Houten Avenue in Portland, Oregon).

Opening sequence

The Simpsons opening sequence is one of the show's most memorable trademarks. Almost every episode opens with a title shot coming through the cumulus clouds and into the school where Bart is writing sentences on the class chalkboard, presumably set as a punishment by one of his teachers for some mischievous deed or wayward comment; Marge and Maggie are shown checking out at the supermarket with Maggie travelling across the scanner, ringing up at $847.63 (although the episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" jokes that the registers says "NRA4EVER"). The sequence then introduces Lisa and Homer, where the family is on their way to their house at 742 Evergreen Terrace (the address varied in the beginning, but the writers now use 742 Evergreen Terrace exclusively). The members of the family weave dangerously through traffic and in between fellow (and, from the second season onward, familiar) Springfield denizens, miraculously reaching home at the exact same time. Upon entering, they all speed towards the family room couch where, in comedic parallel with the audience, they settle to watch their "must-see" TV show.

For each episode, the sequence includes four variations: Bart writes something different on the chalkboard, Lisa plays a different solo on her saxophone, Homer screams in a differing way (only done in the first couple of seasons), and the family attempts to sit on the couch as something goes awry in an often surreal manner.

In the syndicated version, all or part of the opening sequence is usually not broadcast in order to include more commercials in the show's allotted timeslot.

The "couch gag" sequence is frequently used to help show staff make the show longer or shorter, depending on the length of the episode itself. Most couch gags last only about five seconds, but the longest one on record lasted 46 seconds.

The first season opening sequence featured a number of differences from the later seasons, including a shot of Lisa riding her bike on the way home and Bart's way home consisting of snatching a bus stop sign, forcing several dazed Springfieldians to chase the bus, rather than just riding past a number of well-known characters.