YMMV tropes for the The Simpsons series
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- Accidental Aesop
- Alternative Character Interpretation
- Alternative Joke Interpretation
- Aluminum Christmas Trees
- Base Breaking Character
- Broken Aesop
- Broken Base
- Common Knowledge
- Ensemble Darkhorse
- Fanon Discontinuity
- Franchise Original Sin
- Harsher in Hindsight
- Hilarious in Hindsight
- Ho Yay
- Magnificent Bastard
- Memetic Mutation
- Nausea Fuel
- Parody Displacement
- Seasonal Rot
- Shallow Parody
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic
- Values Dissonance
- Values Resonance
- The Woobie
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- Accidental Innuendo: One fan theorized that part of the show's popularity comes from how the spherical design of the characters' eyes look like breasts.
- Adorkable:
- Lisa Simpson, as smart as she is, is still a little girl, so she does have her moments of adorable dorkiness. She really loves her Malibu Stacy doll and on her Christmas list, she listed "pony" over and over again.
- Milhouse has Nerd Glasses and is a naive, socially awkward boy who suffers some of the worst luck out of all characters. Not to mention his crush on Lisa Simpson.
- Homer Simpson at times, at least when not being a complete jerk. He's awkward, not that smart, but his goofiness and love for Marge make him lovable. Also, just look at him when he was a child.
- Ralph is an oblivious and innocent kid with a huge imagination who tends to make weird and inappropriate comments all the time. Despite his frequently stupid and odd behaviour, his father adores him.
- Waylon Smithers is an older guy, but he counts due to his adorable vibe, his Nerd Glasses, and his traits of a perfect way of completing Mr. Burns.
- Dr. Nick Riviera; he has a very happy-go-lucky personality and being so enthusiastic about his profession, despite the fact he is a quack.
- Principal Skinner counts too, due to his neurotic and subservient personality, sheltered nature, and how much of a Momma's Boy he is.
- Allegedly Optimistic Ending: Many Lisa-focused plots have this as they often require ignoring or even an outright sacrifice of someone else's happiness (that person usually being Bart). There are even episodes where people are heavily injured and even killed, but ignored because Lisa got what she wanted. (It works the other way, too, with plenty of episodes that have had happy endings for everyone except Lisa, sometimes directly at her expense.)
- And You Thought It Would Fail:
- Current showrunner Al Jean, when asked about the show's decline in quality, recalled someone saying the show declined in Season 2:Al Jean: Well, it's possible that we've declined. But honestly, I've been here the whole time and I do remember in Season 2 people saying, "It's gone downhill." If we'd listened to that then we would have stopped after episode 13 [of Season 1]. I'm glad we didn't.
- The show itself at the time seem like it would be destined to fail, as it was an cartoon aimed at adults back when animated series were still mostly aimed at children, was a mid-season replacement, and moved to the same time-slot as The Cosby Show, which was considered suicide for any show at the time to compete against. Instead, it became a rating success overnight, got widespread acclaim, and has become the longest running sitcom and animated series in American television.
- Current showrunner Al Jean, when asked about the show's decline in quality, recalled someone saying the show declined in Season 2:
- Angst? What Angst?: The offscreen death of Edna Krabappel in Season 25 was caused by her actress Marcia Wallace dying in real life due to complications from breast cancer and pneumonia. As a result, no cause of death for the character is given and the fact is only revealed fleetingly in The Tag for "The Man Who Grew Too Much," in which Edna's husband Ned Flanders and student Nelson Muntz talk briefly about how much they miss her. From there, the event was largely acknowledged indirectly or offhandedly, usually the context of Ned missing her, and despite the bond the show depicted between her and Bart (and the fact that his class subsequently went through several replacement teachers), it wasn't until some seasons later than an episode would explore Bart's reaction to the loss beyond an In Memoriam chalkboard gag in the first episode to air following Wallace's death.
- Anvilicious:
- Most of the later plots/subplots involving Lisa (though the only episode that had Lisa as a Soapbox Sadie that most fans don't object to is "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", as the family calls her out on her activist behavior and she doesn't win in the end). Some have noted this was also a time when Groening used her as a mouthpiece for his views.
- One of the worst Soapbox Sadie Lisa episodes is "Lisa the Skeptic", in which Lisa is extremely emphatic that religion and science cannot coexist, despite her consistently showing religious beliefs from the past (earlier) episodes.
- "Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy" basically has the lesson that reboots are unpopular mostly because its detractors are regressive towards socially-conscious changes and that it's okay for feminists to resort to vandalism and crime to further their cause.
- Archive Panic:
- If you watched all 600+ episodes back to back, it would take you almost two weeks. That's not including the movie or the comic along with its spin-offs which have been running since 1993.
- When the show began airing in syndication on FXX in 2014, they aired all of the then-552 episodes in a non-stop, 12-day marathon called "Every Simpsons Ever."
- Audience-Alienating Era: The earlier seasons ruthlessly mocked sitcom conventions, but the more recent ones generally play them straight, and the remaining satire tends to be in the form of blunt exposition, rather than being worked into the script. As a consequence of the show's age, reusing plots has also become a problem: Homer's terrible health, his and Marge's teetering marriage, and Lisa's Wangst have all been beaten to death over the years, but keep coming back regardless.
- The episodes from Mike Scully's time as showrunner (Seasons 9-12) are accused of this due to Flanderization, crazy off-the-wall plots (and for some, too much focus on Homer, Lisa or Moe), and in Season 11, the show trying to be just like more "in-your-face" satirical cartoons like Family Guy and South Park just to keep up (though the writers saw it more as taking the piss out of those types of shows.) There were also issues with tone: Some of the episodes, including the infamous "The Principal and the Pauper" and "Saddlesore Galactica", tried to mock their own absurdity, but the parody was so subtle that it came across as Flanderization to some.
- Al Jean's time as showrunner, Seasons 13-present: His first few seasons were attempts to imitate Seasons 3 through 7, but to some the show became a milder clone of Family Guy and South Park around Season 17 (coincidentally around the time that the former show was Un-Canceled). The heavy reliance on recycled plots, dated pop-culture references, and celebrity cameos throughout hasn't helped. Depending on the Writer characterization has also become a problem, especially with Homer and Bart: characters' personalities have been reduced to whatever the plot of the week requires. Some fans feel that this era has started to end with Season 33, where Matt Selman took co-showrunner duties alongside Al Jean; Season 33 introduced more creative, experimental, and introspective episode plots, while toning down the reliance on guest stars playing themselves and focusing more on its characterization of the main cast.
- Badass Decay:
- Originally, Mr. Burns was a powerful Corrupt Corporate Executive who compensated for his lackluster physical strength with a strong mind, capable of terrorizing all of Springfield while facing very little in terms of consequences. In the later seasons, Burns is little more than a doddering old man who can't do anything without Smithers' help and often fails victim to humiliating defeats, to the point that in one episode, he tries to stomp on an ant, and the ant pushes him over.
- Bart has lost the distinct edge and attitude he was popularized for and is often helpless when faced with Homer's strangling. Best shown in The Simpsons Movie, where he spends most of it desperately wanting Ned Flanders to be his father instead.
- Best Known for the Fanservice: The Season 20 episode, "How The Test Was Won", is better known as "the episode in which Marge makes out with Lindsey Naegle".
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- Homer's "The Land of Chocolate" Imagine Spot in "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk".
- In "The Cartridge Family", the episode where Homer buys a gun, he brings it into the Kwik-E-Mart, which causes Apu to believe that he is going to rob him. He denies this, but then fantasizes what life would be like if he did rob the store, which somehow leads him to become a State senator (sitting in a rocking chair and sporting a monocle, no less) and for Marge to be a go-go dancer as a 60s-inspired jaunty tune nonsensically plays. When the Imagine Spot ends, it turns out Homer already paid for his stuff and is driving home. He decides he'll rob the Kwik-E-Mart next time, but then that never happens.
- Homer's imagine spots in general often end up like this. "Homer Loves Flanders" has Homer being conned out of some money by Bart who deceived him into believing he had tickets to a football game. He was instead given a wig coupon, which then leads to an Imagine Spot featuring him wearing a "Marge" wig, imitating her voice and muttering to himself, "I don't need her at all anymore." note
- "Any Given Sundance" has Homer fantasize about what he thinks is a film festival after Lisa gets a letter saying her documentary has been accepted to be shown at one; he imagines anthropomorphic pieces of film having a Mexican-style celebration, only for anthropomorphic DVDs to show up and start shooting them. When it ends, it turns out that Homer had been imagining this for hours.
- The above episode also has a moment where Skinner and Chalmers are forced to ride a sled, and end up going through a church with several brides who are taken along with them. When they question if this is really happening, one of the brides tells them they actually crashed and were knocked out, followed by a shot of them lying in the snow. This never gets brought up again.
- Homer eating the Joe Millionaire promo in "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington".
- In "Simpson Tide", in the middle of UN negotiations, the Russian ambassador reveals that the Soviet Union never broke up, and was only pretending to have dissolved. Cut to Red Square, where the floats in a parade all abruptly stop, and open up to reveal they were concealing tanks, Germany is no longer united, and Lenin rises from the dead, moaning "must... crush... capitalism".
- In "The Front", the episode ends with a 30-second short called "The Adventures of Ned Flanders", a throwaway non-sequitur about the Flanders. This came about as the episode was short on runtime as written and needed something, anything to get it to the length needed.
- Homer's encounter with the giant spider while trying to sneak out of the power plant in "Duffless". There's also the fact that Homer was following instructions in order to escape from work, which mentioned the spider and how it required a bible verse to get past, but there's no explanation for where the instructions or the spider even came from, and never gets brought up again.
- In "Fear of Flying", Homer is banned from Moe's. A man in a nice suit and top hat, who otherwise looks exactly like Homer, enters and introduces himself as "Guy Incognito." The patrons, thinking that it's Homer in a Paper-Thin Disguise, beat him up and toss him out of the bar. As it turns out, it actually was a different person as Homer happens to walk by and see the unconscious doppelgänger. He comments on it before getting distracted by a dog with a puffy tail and the issue is never brought up again.
- "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say D'oh" featured a live-action performance by the Ned Flanders-inspired band Okilly Dokilly
through the credits. There is absolutely zero context in the episode for this appearance and it disappears just as abruptly as it appears. - Bart imagining Homer melting in “Brother From The Same Planet”. Some have questioned why this scene wasn’t in a Treehouse of Horror episode, considering how disturbing it is. While we get that Bart was pissed, Homer melting just came right out of nowhere, and still manages to scare many a viewer.
- Bizarro Episode:
- Apart from having a title in Spanish, "El Viaje Misterioso De Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)" is mostly centered around Homer tripping from eating extremely hot peppers.
- "Missionary: Impossible" is mostly set on a remote island, and ends with the reveal that it was all a PBS pledge drive within a show on FOX.
- "Das Bus": The whole episode is a Lord of the Flies parody set on a tropical island, and ends with James Earl Jones saying there isn't really an ending, so let's just say Moe saved them.
- "Behind the Laughter", the 11th season finale: It turns out the Simpsons were all actors playing themselves on the show, and that they had nearly broken up and stopped work on the show.
- "Simpsons Bible Stories": The episode ends with the Apocalypse descending upon Springfield. As the Flanders ascend to Heaven, the Simpsons literally go to Hell.
- "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner", where the Simpsons go to a crappy Disney-like theme park and ride a space attraction that takes them into outer space and Homer becomes the main course for Kang and Kodos.
- "Saddlesore Galactica" became quite notorious for this, featuring the family yet again taking home a large animal (a horse, for the second time), magical jockeys (who are elves, no less) and Lisa complaining to President Clinton about the school getting second place in a band contest.
- The same for "A Tale of Two Springfields", which had the town divided in two because one half of it got its telephone prefix changed (and not even in a logical way).
- The "Treehouse of Horror" episodes are this by design since they are non-canon Halloween episodes.
- "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" starts with Homer starting an internet blog to expose mysteries. It soon devolves into nonsense including Homer being taken to a faraway island and replaced with a German double.
- "Moe Goes from Rags to Riches" is a story told by Moe's bar rag, which is sentient and can speak.
- Can't Un-Hear It: Go ahead. Read the comics (or some Simpsons fanfiction) without hearing the voices of each of the characters or even try to stop yourself from doing impressions of them. Best of luck.
- Catharsis Factor:
- Mr. Burns has done quite a lot of reprehensible things over the course of the series and he usually doesn't even get punished for them. However, when he does, it's largely satisfying. Particular examples include him being dropped into one of his own trap doors by Bart, whom he tried to make into his heir in "Burns' Heir", being shot by Maggie after he had been at his absolute worst in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part 1", and getting knocked out with one punch by Homer in "Homer the Smithers", who he had been treating like garbage the entire episode up until that point.
- In the widely disliked "Boys of Bummer", Marge yelling at the whole town of Springfield for their horrible treatment of Bart for simply losing a baseball game has been said to be one of the, if not the only, few good things about the episode.
- After several seasons of watching Principal Skinner be belittled and yelled at by Superintendent Chalmers for not being able to contain Bart Simpson's rampages, it can be extremely gratifying to see Principal Skinner finally stand up to him for a change in "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts", telling Chalmers that he should just teach Bart himself if he thinks it's such an easy job. Chalmers' shocked reaction and the teachers outright cheering for Skinner make it even better.
- In an odd way, if you've ever been upset about Springfield being completely incompetent at stopping the Simpsons' long line of destruction and chaos, seeing the whole family get banished by the entire town for everything they've done in "At Long Last Leave" isn't exactly awful, even if they (sorta) get reaccepted into society again by the end.
- For those who see Lisa as a Spoiled Brat who always gets what she wants at the expense of others, watching her own plan completely backfire on her in "A Father's Watch" can be satisfying.
- Character Perception Evolution:
- Throughout the '90s and much of the 2000s, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon was generally praised as a positive and nuanced portrayal of a South Asian character, especially among first-generation immigrants from the region, thanks to him being a benevolent character who supports himself through a successful business. However, his reputation would grow increasingly divisive in the 2010s due to some among those same immigrants' descendants pointing out how his portrayal both created new stereotypes for South Asians while reinforcing old ones, which was seen as especially unfortunate due to the fact that he was voiced by a white man. It didn't help that Apu's Flanderization and increasingly stereotyped depiction have soured his perception amongst fans. Consequently, Apu is now a Base-Breaking Character, with viewers split on whether his portrayal is no different than the show's caricatured white cast or if his stereotypical traits, placed in the context of a minority group with comparatively low representation in American media, make him an Ethnic Scrappy (though he does have his defenders among actual Indians, especially first-generation immigrants to America who admire and can relate to his work ethic; Apu not being characterized with the more overtly negative stereotypes of Indians that have risen since the mid-2010s has been cited as a contributing factor).
- Early on, Principal Skinner was not discussed much, and while his episodes were generally praised, he didn't have a fervent fanbase. Then "The Principal and the Pauper" came out and revealed that he was an imposter named Armin Tamzarian who took the place of the real Seymour Skinner, which turned his entire pre-established characterization on its head and created all sorts of disturbing implications in the process. This episode is widely considered the point at which the "Simpsons Golden Age" ended and the "Simpsons Dark Age" began. The shadow of the Tamzarian twist loomed large over Skinner for many years, and it was very hard to discuss him in Simpsons fandom without getting into debates over whether said twist added more depth to his character, or completely ruined it. The fact that the Dark Age would go on to use Skinner as a punching bag (breaking up his relationship with Edna Krabappel, making Bart’s pranks on him even nastier, and having him undergo severe Badass Decay) only made things worse. However, during the 2010s, Skinner would become a Fountain of Memes (most notably "Pathetic", "No, it's the children who are wrong", and "Steamed Hams"), which caused a Newbie Boom of young fans to discover The Simpsons and adore it. And to a modern audience, Skinner ended up coming off as more sympathetic than he was intended to be in the pastnote . Not to mention, these new fans had the advantage of coming in after Matt Groening had declared "The Principal and the Pauper" to be non-canonical. Because of this, Skinner became a massive Ensemble Dark Horse, and is so widely beloved that Universal Studios began producing and selling plush toys of him, which is a big deal for an adult human character who isn’t Homer, Marge, or even Krusty.
- Maude Flanders wasn't thought of much in the show's early days, being seen as a rather Flat Character who only served to be Ned's wife. Even the show's writers seemed to think so as well, given her infamous death in the episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", which was made to avert the series' usual Status Quo Is God stance and give Ned reason to undergo Character Development. It's telling that, at the time, most fans felt neutral about this development. However, with Ned growing into more and more of a mean-spirited stereotype of a religious conservative over the years, even being the Trope Namer for Flanderization, quite a few fans demanded Maude be brought back to the show, with many now seeing her death as the starting point of Ned's widely-disliked Character Exaggeration. Her death is now widely considered one of the worst episodes of the show, in large part due to the surrounding circumstances (Maggie Roswell had asked for a raise to accommodate travel costs, which Fox denied her, despite the fact that she voiced four recurring characters) becoming more widely-known — consequently, the killing of Maude, combined with the fact that the episode openly denigrated her as an unimportant character, became viewed as a mean-spirited jab.
- Herb Powell from "O Brother Where Art Thou" was once viewed in a relatively positive light, even if he was never that popular. This was largely thanks to his unique status as the long-lost half-brother of Homer who was unfortunately screwed over by the latter's well intentions but lack of skill in car making. This was helped by a Sequel Episode in which the two made up. However, by The New '10s, many fans began to turn on him, viewing him as Unintentionally Unsympathetic, in particular, how he gave Homer no oversight despite having never made a car before, and then blaming it all on him when it ends up costing him his fortune.
- Crack Pairing: A few crack Epileptic Trees about Maude and both Marge and Helen have appeared over the years.
- Crazy Is Cool: Groundskeeper Willie, an insanely angry Scottish janitor who fistfights with animals, fought actual space invaders with a shotgun, and apparently thinks movies are real.
- Creator Worship:
- Matt Groening gets little of the blame for the series' decline (having only a "Creative Consultant" credit for most seasons) while James L. Brooks gets none (likewise having no real involvement in the series for most of its run, having an "Executive Creative Consultant" credit for the entire series).
- Carolyn Omine developed this reputation during the run of Seasons 33 and 34, with many fans noting the episodes she handled were consistently among the strongest the series had seen in decades. Her departure from the position of co-showrunner only six episodes into Season 35 (the result of a pay dispute) was met with quite a bit of backlash as a result.
- Crosses the Line Twice:
- In one episode, Homer wants to lose weight so he'll fit into his superhero costume, so he decides he'll do it by throwing up. Ordinarily, this would be too similar to bulimia to be funny, but it becomes hilarious when he then goes into the Kwik-E-Mart and asks Apu for something to make him throw up, Apu gives him milk that's Way Past the Expiration Date and has a This Is Gonna Suck reaction, and then it cuts outside to Homer puking all over the windows.
- Homer wanting to hurt himself would ordinarily be disturbing, but it becomes funny when his reason for wanting to do so is just because he's too lazy to work and wants to be put on worker's compensation, and his attempts backfire in ludicrous ways, up to and including sliding along surprisingly gracefully on spilled oil right into Mr. Burns's office. Burns is too confused to do anything more than push him back, to which Homer says, "Thank you" and slides back the way he came.
- Delusion Conclusion:
- One fan theory is that Homer is unconscious and dreaming the whole thing. This one is parodied in "Lisa the Boy Scout", where one of the "terrible unaired episodes" shown is Homer waking up after the events of "Bart the Daredevil" to learn that all of the following episodes were a dream.
- Another popular theory states that the first seasons of the show actually happened — but eventually, Homer dies, and the remainder of the adventures are a Dying Dream of him slowly slipping away. The evidence given includes Homer's conversation with God at the end of Season 4's "Homer the Heretic"; when he asks for the meaning of life, God replies that he'll have to wait until he dies, and when Homer whines that he wants to know now, the Almighty replies "You can't wait six months?" Sure enough, six months later, the episode "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" aired, which features Homer falling into a coma after Bart plays a prank on him. The "Homer is Dead" theory explains that the Simpson patriarch actually dies during this episode. It's commonly used as a justification for the show becoming Denser and Wackier over the years — the early seasons were more grounded in somewhat realistic plots, but as Homer's mind falls away further and further, increasingly bizarre events begin to occur.
- Yet another theory suggests that the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes are all the result of nightmares being experienced by the eponymous family, as evidenced by the lack of continuity and the supernatural elements not featured in the main series. Especially since the segments on “Treehouse of Horror II” were their (candy-induced) nightmares.
- Designated Hero:
- Homer used to be a well-intentioned moron (though strangling Bart was a Running Gag since Season 1), but from Seasons 9-12, when Mike Scully ran the show, he becomes an outright Jerkass towards his family and friends, a trait that is still sometimes present, depending on the episode.
- The use of Recycled Script also makes Lisa this, as she will often be presented as in the right or get a happy ending, yet when someone else does the exact same thing they are treated as a Jerkass and shunned for it.
- Marge’s status as the show's Designated Victim means that no matter the situation, she's treated as the wronged party. There are many situations where Marge goes along with Homer’s plans, does the same thing as him or something worse, yet she will always be treated as the victim or at least sympathetic, if it’s not outright ignored or Played for Laughs. What makes this worse is that there are episodes where Marge is clearly shown in the wrong only for the plot to go through a Halfway Plot Switch, so not only are her actions forgotten, but she usually ends up getting exactly what she wanted.
- In general, many characters have been treated as in the right solely by virtue of being pit against Homer, even when they've acted just as standoffish, careless or hypocritical or play as much part in the episode's dilemma (this was more prone to occur in the earliest seasons, in later ones at least, Homer was allowed to pull a Jerkass Has a Point sometimes). Herb Powell for example blames and disowns Homer for bankrupting his company with a bad car design, despite it being as much his own fault for his bad management and putting him in charge unsupervised in the first place. When Herb later guilt trips the family into funding him, they agree and side with the idea it was completely Homer's fault. Even after Herb becomes a millionare again, he refuses to accept partial blame for his past endeavour and only reluctantly even forgave Homer despite helping him.
- Designated Monkey: In the later seasons Bart is often depicted as a Butt-Monkey in a similar vein as Hans Moleman. This is lampshaded by Lisa in "The Man Who Grew Too Much" when she decided to work with Sideshow Bob because he only tried to kill Bart. However, unlike Moleman, Bart reacts to the abuse he suffers with more than Dull Surprise causing him to be Made Out to Be a Jerkass because it forces the Sympathetic P.O.V. character to suffer the consequences of their action. Basically, anytime Bart reacts negatively to, tries to subvert, or even is unable to function as a human stress ball the show invokes The Complainer Is Always Wrong and Honor Thy Abuser. Making things worse, the things happening to Bart will be called out when it’s done to another character, even by his abusers themselves.
- Designated Villain:
- The other girls, especially Sherri and Terri, in a lot of the "Lisa has no friends" episodes. They're often treated as shallow or straight up evil for kissing up to Lisa whenever she has something they want despite not actually liking her... but Lisa does exactly the same, trying to suck up to other girls that she only ever has contempt for simply because they're in a group, sometimes expressing this in the exact same scene. Lisa is never once called out or addressed for this and isn't subject to the disproportionate treatment the other girls get in a lot of other episodes for the apparent crime of not liking Lisa. Not to mention the twins and Janey in particular have occasionally done something nice or supported her such as in "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can", yet Lisa's never done anything for them. As a result, it can make the other kids (even the usual Nice Girl, Allison) come off entirely justified whenever they rebuff Lisa. By this metric, the Treehouse of Horror XXVII segment “BFF RIP” actually seems logical by comparison.
- Bart is Made Out to Be a Jerkass any time he is shown to be superior to Lisa at anything, to the point where giving up his talent for her is a recurring plotline. He's been given a What the Hell, Hero? with Marge blaming him for the consequence of Lisa's jealous antics, which ultimately convinces him to stay crippled by the end of the episode. Even when Bart is superior only because of prior knowledge, Lisa is still presented as justified in her resentment and he as wrong for retaliating, and he's also presented as wrong when the reverse is true and he resents Lisa when she proves to be superior in something he's good at.
- Diagnosed by the Audience:
- Many neurodivergent viewers view Bart Simpson as having hyperactive-impulsive type ADHD. This reading primarily focuses on his impulsive nature and his struggles in academia, which are shown to be independent of traditional laziness and actively impede his attempts to do better even when he tries his hardest (as shown in "Bart Gets an F"). Later episodes would outright state that he has ADHD, causing these fans to say “I Knew It!”.
- Similarly, Homer having ADHD is very possible for similar reasons to Bart: he gets easily distracted, is disorganized, has low impulse control, shows Mood-Swinger tendencies, and has recurring indulgent daydreams. Notably, both episodes dealing with Bart's ADHD also directly compare it to Homer: he is shown to have difficulty focusing on the school psychologist's speech just like Bart, and when Skinner is describing the symptoms of ADHD, Homer is similarly distracted and playing with a nearby object. In "Bad Boys... for Life?", when Homer eats a Ritalin-laced Popsicle, he suddenly experiences clear-headedness and remembers all sorts of things.
- A sizable portion of audiences interpret Lisa Simpson as being autistic. Much of this reading stems from her prodigious levels of knowledge (which among other things includes surprisingly eloquent language) and constant desire to both learn new information and repeat what she knows to others, often to the chagrin of her peers, her strong sense of justice that manifests in constant social activism, her heavy interest in playing the saxophone (which many interpret as both an outlet for stimming and a sign that music is a special interest of hers), and her struggle to fit in with her peers.
- Principal Skinner is commonly interpreted as autistic by fans, due to his fixation on education and all of its mediocrities (right down to the school's hearing tests), his love of routine, his difficulty understanding innuendos, his stilted and formal way of speaking, and the fact that his mother Agnes smothers him and treats him like he's still a little kid, which is implied in some gags to have caused lasting issues for him (which is sadly Truth in Television for many autistic people).
- Scenes in "Desperately Seeking Lisa" and "P.S. I Hate You", where Superintendent Chalmers is shown getting with multiple faculty members on a vacation, and him desperately resisting coming onto Marge when she visits (and promptly texting Luann van Houten back for a hook up despite promising he wouldn't) have led to some headcanoning him as hypersexual.
- Discredited Meme: The "Simpsons predict the future" meme that popped up after the show seemingly predicted the election of Donald Trump while fun at the time has since fallen out of favour within The Simpsons fandom due to multiple factors. The first was that people were faking Simpson's clips, taking them out of context or re-editing them which took the fun out of finding an actual clip that did line up with current events. Shortly after it became wider knowledge that the clip that seemingly predicted Trump's presidential campaign was made after his announcement and that an earlier clip from Bart To The Future was in fact referencing Trump's declaration of running in 2000. Finally the meme was co-opted by "AI-Slop" channels who create fake AI clips and screenshots "predicting" worldwide events for engagement bait. Safe to say that by now the trend has died out within The Simpsons fandom itself and any mention of The Simpsons predicting events now tends to be met more with mockery.
- Draco in Leather Pants:
- Homer and Bart. Sometimes fans will excuse their actions when they were in the wrong, often when Homer or Bart hurt Lisa in some way, simply because they dislike Lisa or prefer Homer and Bart to other characters. It also applies to later seasons independently of Lisa — Bart often causes problems for himself or exudes an aura of Brilliant, but Lazy, but fans sometimes think the universe of the show or the writers just aren't cutting him a break.
- Sideshow Bob gets this from some of the fandom. While he is canonically a bit of an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, many fanworks gloss over his deliberate attempts to murder or otherwise harm people and turn him into a straight-up good guy with a heap of Dark and Troubled Past.
- Mr. Burns is supposed to be the Big Bad of the show; a heartless Corrupt Corporate Executive who treats everyone else like mere pawns. However, Burns/Smithers shippers tend to sand off his edges and give him a Hidden Heart of Gold (or at least portray Smithers as his Morality Pet).
- Patty and Selma are often portrayed as caring sisters who just want Marge to be happy with Homer at his worst level of Jerkass and Marge no feelings left for him. Even disregarding Homer’s Never Live It Down era of being an irredeemable abuser being Briefer Than They Think, Patty and Selma treat Marge terribly and want her to be their doormat, even when they love her.
- Estrogen Brigade:
- Sideshow Bob surprisingly has quite a big one. Due to his Wicked Cultured nature and Kelsey Grammer’s lovely voice, there are a lot of women who find him sexy.
- Lesser (but still noteworthy) targets for Estrogen Brigades include Ned Flanders (he is the Trope Namer for Stupid Sexy Flanders, after all), Snake Jailbird (due to his bad-boy nature), and Seymour Skinner (due to his deep booming voice and Adorkable tendencies).
- Ethnic Scrappy:
- Indian-Americans have a complicated relationship with Apu. Many have had to endure bullying in the form of people doing his stereotypical voice in front of them, while numerous actors have complained about having to endure thousands of auditions where they'd be asked to do some variation on the voice. Comedian Hari Kondabolu, who described the character as "a white guy doing an impression of a white guy making fun of my dad," famously released a documentary on the subject, The Problem With Apu, in 2018, where he and other performers of Hindi descent discuss their feelings about the show and the character, as well as the general lack of representation of Indians in American media that allows characters like Apu to be the only representation they get. Hank Azaria, who was aware of the controversy but declined an interview for the documentary (stating that he didn't want to speak on behalf of everyone working on the show), eventually said that he was willing to retire the character. Meanwhile, episodes which attempted to address this, such as "Much Apu About Something"note and "No Good Read Goes Unpunished,"note were both dismissed by these critics as petty and dismissive (Azaria himself also hated how dismissive the show was about those criticisms), while Matt Groening outright stated that he doesn't find Apu offensive at all.
- As this July 2020 article stated, the show stopped the practice of non-white characters being voiced by white voice actors.
- The Brazilians in “Blame It On Lisa”. The episode has so many stereotypes about Brazilians that the Brazilian government complained, culminating in an apology being issued.
- Speaking of Norwegians, the residents of Ogdenville are of Norwegian descent. When they arrive in Springfield, many people, including Homer, are hateful towards them. Marge even becomes shocked at Maggie saying “ja”.
- The Canadians get this too. When Lisa meets Justin Trudeau, she temporarily gains this exaggerated Canadian accent. A Canadian version of Ralph Wiggum is wearing a dead seal. There is some self-deprecating humor as well, with the Newfoundlanders and the Québécois claiming that they always get made fun of.
- Cookie Kwan is unpopular among Asian viewers due to her Asian Rudeness and heavy accent.
- While she only features in one episode, Helen's trans cousin Stanlerina is unpopular with trans viewers due to her looking masculine, being described as "he/she", and her name being a Lazily Gender-Flipped Name of Stanley.
- The Rich Texan is unpopular among Texans and other American Southerners for his stereotypical Texan traits, including his loud mouth, wealth-flaunting, Reckless Gun Usage and cowboy affiliation.
- Indian-Americans have a complicated relationship with Apu. Many have had to endure bullying in the form of people doing his stereotypical voice in front of them, while numerous actors have complained about having to endure thousands of auditions where they'd be asked to do some variation on the voice. Comedian Hari Kondabolu, who described the character as "a white guy doing an impression of a white guy making fun of my dad," famously released a documentary on the subject, The Problem With Apu, in 2018, where he and other performers of Hindi descent discuss their feelings about the show and the character, as well as the general lack of representation of Indians in American media that allows characters like Apu to be the only representation they get. Hank Azaria, who was aware of the controversy but declined an interview for the documentary (stating that he didn't want to speak on behalf of everyone working on the show), eventually said that he was willing to retire the character
- Evil Is Cool:
- Mr. Burns is one of the most evil characters in the show, but being Born in the Wrong Century and taking joy in his wickedness has provided some really interesting and utterly hilarious quirks that make him stand out compared to other antagonists, especially in the early seasons. He makes a pretty cool Treehouse of Horror villain as well, particularly in II, IV, and XII.
- Sideshow Bob. He's voiced by Kelsey Grammer and his plans tend to be well thought out and the only reason he loses is someone outgambits him in some way, but he comes pretty close to succeeding. His younger brother Cecil makes the cut too for being just as devious and cultured and being voiced by David Hyde Pierce.
- The all-powerful Kang and Kodos, who've managed to conquer the Earth a decent number of times.
- Hank Scorpio is a fan favorite villain for being a criminal mastermind who was also a Benevolent Boss to Homer.
- The Springfield Mafia. While they’re not exactly the smartest cookies in the jar, they are pretty badass. The death of the original Fat Tony is an iconic scene as well.
- Jessica Lovejoy has a massive fanbase for someone who only had a speaking role in one episode, thanks to her Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon demeanour and attractive design. She is the most outright evil of Bart's love interests, and one of the most popular among fans.
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- Fair for Its Day:
- The 1990 episode "Simpson And Delilah" featured a character named Karl who kisses Homer and pats him on the butt, but whose sexuality is not officially confirmed. Nowadays, Karl would be derided as an example of queerbaiting, since Matt Groening never made any official statement on the issue. However, Karl is depicted as an incredibly loyal, helpful, and self-sacrificing assistant to Homer, and his kiss isn't done for a cheap joke, but is taken as a sign of how much Karl cares for Homer. (Homer notably reacts to the kiss with surprise, but not disgust.) This is pretty remarkable considering the episode aired in 1990, when Ambiguously Gay characters had yet to gain recognition in any American media, animation or otherwise.
- When it first aired in 1997, the episode "Homer's Phobia" delivered what was considered a largely positive view of gay people, with the message that gays should be accepted as human beings. However, viewed today, that same episode can come across as offensive for its stereotypical depiction of gays, as well as a joke where Smithers gets mad at John for standing him up, basically being a joke that gay people are friends because they're gay. Though the Aesop of "Gay folks are no better or worse than straight folks and don't always follow the camp or overly macho stereotype" is a good message that needs to be taken to heart.John: Well, Homer, I gained your respect — and all I had to do was save your life! As soon as every other gay person does that, you'll be all set.
- The 1992 episode "Homer the Heretic" was once praised for its sympathetic treatment of non-traditional spirituality, but it's now occasionally criticized for copping out on its message by having Homer go back to church at the end. For its time, though, it was remarkably open-minded in its frank discussion of organized religion, pointing out that adhering to religious rituals isn't necessarily for everyone, and that people can practice their spiritual beliefs in all sorts of ways. And like many Simpsons episodes, it was quite adamant about showing Springfield as a multi-cultural town of many different faiths, favorably depicting Krusty's Jewish faith and Apu's Hindu faith alongside the Protestant Christian Simpsons.
- The character of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon got a lot of flak in the late 2000s and throughout the 2010s due to being viewed as a blatant stereotype of Indians and Southern Asians in general, along with the fact that he's voiced by white actor Hank Azaria. However, during the show's run in the 90s, he was also the first if not the only depiction of a Southern Asian to appear on mainstream television in the U.S. Add to that is the fact that Apu wasn't overly defined by religion like most Hindu characters today, is shown to be capable of running a successful business, and is generally portrayed as a flawed but nice guy who gets along well with the other characters — impressive considering the complete Dysfunction Junction that is Springfield. The "problem with Apu" is that, as the show continued, his stereotypical traits were not toned down or removed — if anything, they got worse — which is what cemented his position as a racial caricature in today's society. Interestingly, while he has been criticized by Indian-Americans and South Asian Americans, Apu is well-liked in India itself — and in Britain, it's almost taken for granted that an Asian character will run the corner shop.
- "There's Something About Marrying" drew a lot of praise and controversy in the lead-up to its 2005 debut and was the only episode in the show's history to have a disclaimer about content before its original broadcast, since same-sex marriage was still a touchy and divisive topic at the time. With the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage and the prioritization of other LGBTQIA+ issues, the episode at best doesn't come off as particularly groundbreaking. And at worst, unintentionally transphobic, given the reveal of Patty's partner being a man in disguise.
- Fan Alternate Title: In the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", the skit "Skinner and the Superintendent" is commonly known as "Steamed Hams" or "the Steamed Hams Skit", since that's the name Skinner gave to the hamburgers in it.
- Fan Nickname:
- Due to Ralph Wiggum's famous comment in "Lisa Gets An 'A'", Superintendent Chalmers is often referred to as "Super Nintendo Chalmers", or occasionally "SNES".
- The eponymous family gets sometimes called "our favourite family", or "OFF" for short.
- The scene from "Homer vs. Dignity" where Homer is sexually assaulted by a panda is referred to as the "panda rape scene".
- Homer is sometimes called "D'ohmer" (which is what baby Bart called him in "Lisa's First Word"), or "Captain Wacky" (which is what he called himself in "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular").
- "Jerkass Homer" is a derogatory nickname for episodes where Homer is mean to others.
- "Zombie Simpsons" is used to refer to episodes past the point where the person using the nickname believes the show jumped the shark.
- Milhouse is sometimes referred to as "Thrillhouse" (his username in "Marge Be Not Proud"), "Thrillho" (what the username appears as due to the character limit), or "Milpool" (which is what he signed his name as in "Bart of Darkness" due to being distracted by a pool).
- Fandom Heresy:
- Not unlike the whole "prequels vs. the original series" debates, defense of any later episode will come across as this. Especially don't defend "The Principal and the Pauper", "Lisa Goes Gaga", "The Boys of Bummer", "The Musk Who Fell to Earth", or "Treehouse of Horror XXII". You might get along with finding "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" So Okay, It's Average, but don't consider it one of the better episodes.
- On the flip side, don't say anything negative about the episodes "Lisa's First Word", "Marge Vs. the Monorail", "Last Exit to Springfield", "Cape Feare", "Treehouse of Horror V", "And Maggie Makes Three", "You Only Move Twice", "Homer's Enemy", or the individual "Treehouse of Horror"s "The Raven", "Bart Simpson's Dracula", "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace", "The Thing & I", or "Citizen Kang".
- Don't ship Patty with any male characters, or Smithers with any female characters.
- Don't deny that Seasons 4-8 were anything short of good.
- Fandom Rivalry:
- The Simpsons is one of the media franchises most well-known for having multiple foreign dubs in the same language, most notably two different Frenchnote and Spanishnote versions. However, due to the drastically different voice casts and approaches to Woolseyism between regional versions, the American and European fans are often at each other's throats about whose dub is superior.
- The rivalry that pretty much all regions of fans have with fans of Family Guy and (to a lesser extent) South Park.
- One sprang up with the BoJack Horseman fandom when "Mad About The Toy" beat out "Free Churro" for the 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.
- Fandom VIP: TheRealJims is the go-to guy when it comes to analyzing the show, thanks to his Simpsons Histories of the characters, Simpsons Mysteries of the show's puzzling elements, retrospectives of the seasons, among other things.
- Fan-Preferred Cut Content:
- "Cape Feare" has a Deleted Scene where Bart thinks Grampa was behind the threatening letters toward the former, because earlier he had stolen Grampa's spittoon. Grampa tells him to show respect to his elders, only for Bart to tell him this only applies to Japanese elders, which Grampa disappointedly accepts. This was replaced with a scene where Grampa thinks they should call Matlock. While the scene that ended up in the final episode is funny, it features some noticeably Limited Animation in order to retrofit the scene to the new lines. Some fans think the original scene should have been included because of this, along with simply finding the original version funnier.
- A Deleted Scene from "Burns' Heir" has Mr. Burns drive Homer away with a "Robotic Richard Simmons" that plays KC and the Sunshine Band's "Shake Your Booty", only for it to explode after Smithers shoots it in the eye. (During the scene where it was meant to happen, there's even a door in the wall, which disappears at the end of the scene.) The scene was cut because the writers didn't find the scene all that funny, and it wasn't popular with test audiences. However, it caused audiences at conventions and college lectures to erupt in laughter, hence its inclusion in the Clip Show episode "The Simpsons' 138th Episode Spectacular" and the Season 5 DVD.
- "The Shinning" from "Treehouse of Horror V" has a Deleted Scene where Bart encounters Sherri and Terri as the Grady sisters, who sing, "Your daddy's gonna kill you!" Bart then sees Patty and Selma, who tell him, "They're right, y'know." Given that the Creepy Twins scene is one of the most iconic moments from the source material, and Sherri and Terri were conceived as parodies of the Grady sisters, some fans find it odd that the scene was left out.
- "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiali(Annoyed Grunt)cious" originally had a scene where Patty and Selma sing a Song Parody of "I Love to Laugh" from ''Mary Poppins" titled "We Love to Smoke". Test audiences didn't find it very funny, so it was cut, but others have found it very funny and thought it would have worked in the episode.
- Fans Prefer the New Her: In "Large Marge", Marge is not happy when a plastic surgeon gives her breast implants meant for one of Mayor Quimby's female interns and she spends the whole episode fretting about them (while all the men drool and ogle at them), which of course means they're gone by the end of the episode. This one probably doesn't need any further explanation.
- Fanon:
- Mr. Burns being in love with Waylon Smithers Sr in the way Smithers Jr is in love with him.
- Eddie being Ralph Wiggum's biological father, due to the two looking similar and Eddie likely knowing Sarah Wiggum due to having worked under Chief Wiggum for years. The show has poked fun at this theory a few times.
- Allison Taylor being the long-lost or estranged daughter of Ruth Powers, again due to their resemblance.
- Allison having a secret mean streak and being a Stepford Smiler due to pressure from her father.
- The other Milhouse, seen in "Lemon of Troy", being related to "our" Milhouse on Luann's side of the family, and both boys being named after an ancestor. This is due to their similarity in appearances, "Milhouse" being an unusual name, and Luann mentioning having grown up in Shelbyville, where the other Milhouse lives.
- First Installment Wins: Some fans treat "Mother Simpson" as the only time Mona Simpson appears, as they feel her later appearances cancel out its very powerful Tear Jerker ending.
- Fountain of Memes: Almost every character is very quotable, with these characters being especially memetic:
- Principal Skinner. He spawned the “Pathetic” meme, the ever-applicable “Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.”, and, of course, Steamed Hams.
- Abe Simpson has quite a lot of memes to his name, such as "Old Man Yells at Cloud", Abe walking in and out of the burlesque house, Abe sitting on a log surrounded by children as he tells a tale, "I tied an onion to my belt", and many more.
- Principal Skinner. He spawned the “Pathetic” meme
- Genre Turning Point: It's impossible to overstate how revolutionary this show was. Not only was it one of the first mainstream western cartoons to be specifically written for adults, it was the Trope Codifier for animated sitcoms. In addition to that, the show's Laugh Track-free, subversive, and often meta humor had massive influence on sitcoms in general, animated or not.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- Lisa. She's a Base-Breaking Character in the United States, but Lisa is very popular with Japanese audiences, due to her studiousness and Buddhism. Promotional material for The Simpsons in Japan even portrays her as the main character.
- Viewers from Spain tend to adore Lisa Simpson more than the other characters. And unlike the United States, they aren't bothered by her Soapbox Sadie antics.
- The show is extremely popular abroad, due to the extensive Woolseyisms involved in each foreign dub.
- French Canadians love the series; it's one of the only foreign shows airing in French Canada to not only be dubbed into Canadian French, but to extensively use colloquial Québécois French accents and slang as opposed to the Standard French typically used in French-Canadian dubs.
- In South America, this is pretty much the only non-Latin show to air nowadays in over-the-air channels (aside from the occasional Brazilian or Turkish soaps). The Simpsons Movie confirmed the show's popularity, being the highest-grossing movie of 2007 in Argentina, as well in the rest of the region, bringing back audiences to theaters after decades.
- The show is extremely popular in Spain, to near-religious levels (like how The Simpsons was back in the 1990s in America). It is so loved that when it was removed from Antena 3 (the network on which it was broadcast for 20 years) and moved to one of its secondary channels (Neox), social media protested against it.
- In Argentina, the WHOLE Sunday program block of a TV broadcast network from noon to 5 is Simpsons re-runs, and with fairly good ratings too. Also there, The Simpsons Movie was the highest-grossing film of 2007 in the country.
- A time slot change was enough to drive Bolivian fans to the streets in protest.
- Matt Groening has said that Australia might be the country most obsessed with the show. It was enormous there during the "classic" era, where it used to be Network Ten's highest rated show alongside Neighbours. Most episodes where the eponymous family visit another country fall under Americans Hate Tingle, but the episode where they go to Australia is often cited as a favorite episode by Australian fans. There have even been official petitions to legally change the country's currency to "Dollarydoos" (although sadly, none of the petitions came to pass) and virtually every Simpsons meme group is run by Australians.
- Note that the "classic" Latin American dub (until Season 15) was notable among imports for replacing most North American-centric references to more localized ones (as well as translated names). This largely ended after the (infamous) voice actor "switcheroo", with more recent episodes keeping the original references.
- Growing the Beard: Handled in a variety of aspects.
- While not considered bad, the first season seems jarringly different than other seasons to more recent viewers, due to the show's slower pace, Homer's voice, the quirks of the animation style, etc. The show starts solidifying their character designs in the second season and ramping up the visual humor, which hit its stride by the third season. The reason was largely financial: the initial Tracey Ullman shorts were done on the cheap (starting with a two-man animation team, one of whom was Matt Groening), and improved as more funding was added. The first season was a half-length trial - with the second season, they got a full whack of funding and were able to set down a regular writing and production cycle and firm up the designs.
- The series' unique storytelling style (with the first third of the episode dwelling on a long series of possible plotlines before finally revealing the main story) was already developing during the third season, which many consider the beginning of The Simpsons' "golden era" ("Bart the Murderer" is a prime example, as Bart has a progressively worse and worse day until he runs into The Mafia, which then becomes the main story; another example is "Flaming Moe's", where Lisa is having a slumber party which Homer finds annoying, leading him to go to Moe's which is out of beer, which leads Homer to introduce his recipe to Moe, thus kick-starting the plot).
- The fourth season saw an increase of Rapid-Fire Comedy while pathos was phased out. At the same time, the characters gradually adopted their "classic" characterizations.
- Depending on who you ask many fans will consider Season 20 onwards to be the show Regrowing the Beard after a bad case of Seasonal Rot, or the show succumbing to Seasonal Rot after it re-Grew the Beard between Season 15 to 20, or the show just maintaining its long Seasonal Rot.
- A lot of people really like the Matt Selman years along with 25-30: future episodes becoming more like "Lisa's Wedding" (bittersweet, more realism and Earn Your Happy Ending), Homer and Marge more in sync than just countless marriage in trouble, more heart along with funny, creative Treehouse of Horrors with a canon Halloween episode to boot, Homer taking a level in kindness, deconstructing Status Quo Is God by having characters despair that nothing good in their life stays, and replacing the loathed "Simpson male curse" birth defect with genuinely sad The Chain of Harm.
- Heartwarming in Hindsight:
- In "Worst Episode Ever", jokes are made about Comic Book Guy's single status, when Dr. Hibbert comments after he has a heart attack that the job of running a comic store is something he'd call "The Professional Widowmaker" except the owners are never married. Flashforward to Season 25's "Married to the Blob" and Comic Book Guy does end up Happily Married.
- Marge's occasional despair that Homer won't change, even if lampshaded that it's sometimes her own frustration and she really does love him, becomes such when the plausible lower-key future episodes have him Older and Wiser (if still his Homer-y self): stopping drinking, consistently making up for mistakes instead of grand romantic gestures, and being a good grandparent to Bart's kids.
- From “Gone Abie Gone”, while Rita suffers both Remember the New Guy? and Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, Homer really is grateful to Abe for being the only person in his childhood who stayed. It gets brought up several times in later seasons as a rare point Grampa has over Mona.
- Hollywood Homely:
- Selma and Patty are presented as being extremely unattractive in the show, but they don't look substantially different from their sister Marge, who's considered to be beautiful.
- Smithers; this becomes a plot point in the episode "Flaming Moe." While Smithers is usually shown to be a merely average-looking, (if not mildly◊ pudgy◊ ) middle-aged man, in this episode, he's denied entry from a popular gay club for not being attractive enough.
- Hollywood Pudgy: It's been mentioned on more than one occasion that Lisa's butt is apparently much bigger than most kids her age. This is despite the fact that the viewers can see that she pretty much has the same body type as most of the other kids.
- I Knew It!:
- Many fans on the Internet correctly predicted that the character who would die in "Clown in the Dumps" would be Krusty's dad Rabbi Krustofski, since this show doesn't have the guts to kill off a major character (unless the voice actor quit or died and a replacement can't be found).
- Similarly, a lot of fans figured out that Patty would be the character who'd come out as gay in "There's Something About Marrying", as she’d had several jokes regarding her lack of attraction to men before, and Smithers coming out as gay would have been far too much of a Captain Obvious Reveal.
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The recurring Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario between Homer and Marge from the early seasons was revived after Homer Took a Level in Jerkass during the Al Jean years. While it was supposed to make the audience wonder why someone would put up with him, Marge increasingly became portrayed as extremely vindictive, to the point where she began looking like the abusive one at times.
- Jerkass Woobie:
- Bart (who's a Bratty Half-Pint but often unlucky), Homer (who's not the best dad but is also often unlucky), Lisa (who can be an Insufferable Genius but struggles with insecurity and not being taken seriously) and Grandpa Simpson (who's a Grumpy Old Man but seeks love from his family). Depending on the Writer, Nelson Muntz (a bully but who has a rough home life), Moe (a sleazy, but lonely, man), and Milhouse (who, like Bart, sometimes combines brattiness and bad luck) sometimes qualify.
- Mr. Burns, whenever he tries to atone for what he's done (he usually gets rejected). There are also subtle hints throughout the show (such as in 'Homer's Night Out' and 'Burns' Heir') that despite his profound corporate greed and love of money, he's secretly a bitterly lonely old man who's despondent that he never got married or started a family of his own. He's also shown to not have many friends aside from Smithers; in 'Lady Bouvier's Lover,' only one person shows up to his wedding- and whenever the citizens of Springfield assume Mr. Burns has died, his death is always publicly celebrated.
- Frank Grimes is another example. He's had a god-awful life after being abandoned by his parents, was such a No-Respect Guy that everyone laughed at his funeral, and had to work with Homer's stupid antics.
- Selma. She's pretty aggressive, but she is a lonely woman, who does show herself to have a heart several times, and even Homer does sometimes experience her Hidden Heart of Gold.
- Apu in "Homer and Apu" - he sold Homer expired food, but he was still very sad when he lost his job.
- Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Mr. Burns and Sideshow Bob, the two central antagonists, are considered to be very entertaining to watch — the former for being Laughably Evil and the latter for being Evil Is Cool. Russ Cargill is also quite enjoyable in the movie. Ms. Hoover, Helen Lovejoy, and Agnes Skinner, on the other hand, are considered to be the most dislikable characters in the series for having no such stand-out qualities.
- Just Here for Godzilla: Some episodes are mainly watched for the crossovers with other shows:
- "Mathlete's Feat" features a crossover Couch Gag with Rick and Morty, which was praised for staying true to the latter show's edgier tone.
- Similarly, "My Way or the Highway to Heaven"'s Couch Gag is a crossover with Bob's Burgers and is considered one of the most iconic parts of the episode thanks to the latter characters' hilarious dialogue.
- Karmic Overkill:
- In "On a Clear Day, I Can't See My Sister", Bart gives Lisa hell during a class trip, prompting the latter to get a restraining order against him. While it doesn't sound too harsh, Lisa also has the nerve to abuse the privilege by forcing Bart to live in the wilderness, rendering him a Wild Child as a result. There is no denying that Bart deserves punishment for his behavior towards Lisa, but this was still seen as way overboard. It doesn't help that Lisa herself ends up getting away with it all.
- The "BFF RIP" segment of "Treehouse of Horror XXVII" has Sherri and Terri get horribly killed by a falling tombstone because they wanted to be Lisa's friend since having a best friend die in a tragedy makes her "interesting" to them. It's meant to be seen as a Karmic Death (as opposed to Janey's death, which is portrayed as tragic), but they only wanted to befriend her, even if only for a selfish reason, so it comes off as overly cruel.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
- Bart. He's shipped with Mary Spuckler, Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Sherri, and Terri.
- Marge too, must run in the family. She's shipped with Maude, Ned, and Manjula.
- LGBT+ Periphery Demographic: The Simpsons has gained a substantial queer fanbase, because not only is there a lot of Ho Yay (especially between Burns and Smithers, Carl and Lenny, and Skinner and Chalmers), The Simpsons has been advocating for gay rights and featuring gay characters ever since Season 2, and the Season 8 episode "Homer’s Phobia" had a very clear-cut Gay Aesop during a time where that was very rare on television. In addition, the two most prominent gay characters on the show, Smithers and Patty, are regular people with traits outside of their sexuality and not over-the-top stereotypes, especially when you compare them to gay characters from later adult cartoons (such as Bruce and Jasper from Family Guy, Mr. Slave and Big Gay Al from South Park, and Xandir Wifflebottom from Drawn Together). In fact, some of the gay jokes on the show are so subdued that they are often mistaken for bona-fide Ship Tease by younger viewers.
- Love to Hate: Mr. Burns and Sideshow Bob are incredibly sinister, yet they're so darn funny that they end up extremely entertaining because of it.
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- Mandela Effect:
- The scene in "Homer Loves Flanders" of Homer eating a waffle that Bart tossed on the ceiling (that Homer thinks is God for some reason) and calling it "sacrilicious" is often misremembered as being of Homer eating a donut, probably because donuts are Homer's Trademark Favorite Food.
- Some fans remember the parody of the THX Deep Note Vanity Plate from "Burns' Heir" ending with the slogan, "The audience is now deaf," when that's actually from a different THX parody in Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation.
- According to the DVD commentary for the episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", the talking The Flintstones phone that Bart plays with in kindergarten apparently came about because one of the writers swears that he's seen one in real life, only for one of the other commentators to insist that no such toy exists. It's possible the writer was talking about this, which is actually a cookie jar.
- Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales:
- A strange thing about Apu is that while he has been criticized by Indian-Americans or rather South Asian Americans (since even Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who aren't Indians are confused for the stereotype and accent), Apu is well-liked in India itself for the fact that Apu was one of the few Indian-origin characters in American TV, and that he was in the context of his time, non-stereotypical i.e. not defined entirely by religion, not overtly submissive, and generally shown with the same flaws and quirks as any Springfielder, compared to most Indian characters in Western media.
- Apu has also been positively received by first-generation Indian immigrants in the United States, due to him showing that a first-generation immigrant is capable of running a successful business and supporting a loving family in spite of his ethnicity and dialect, which is seen as quite significant form of representation by a group of people forced to keep track of multiple languages at once and redefine how they're viewed by the people around them.
- Many people in the LGBT community have a soft spot for Smithers, despite some of his more questionable misdeeds. It helps that he was an explicitly gay television character during a time when it was almost entirely unheard of, he's more of a Straight Gay rather than an outlandish stereotype, and in spite of his quirks, he's rather Adorkable and a relatively sympathetic character. In fact, a lot of people who unironically ship Burns/Smithers are LGBT in some way, with a lot of them being gay men who relate to Smithers and want him to succeed.
- Lionel Hutz is also extremely popular among real-life lawyers due to his complete lack of ethics and legal skill and some of his quotes are commonly repeated as jokes among practicing attorneys. It helps that he's so bad at being a lawyer, you can't write a character as bad at law as Lionel without knowing the process.
- Ned Flanders is popular among conservative Christians despite being a caricature of them. Pre-Flanderization, he was easily the nicest guy on the show and always portrayed as being very reasonable compared to his stubborn, selfish, and idiotic neighbor Homer. Sadly, after Flanderization, Christians turned away from the character recognizing he had become more of a hateful stereotype of them by the writers, though they have tried to tone this down over time and have him go back to his earlier cheery self.
- Groundskeeper Willie is very popular in — yep, you guessed it — Scotland. Representatives of Aberdeen and Glasgow fought to have their respective cities recognised as his hometown and Glasgow City Council grudgingly removed him from their list of "Famous Glaswegians" when it was made official in-universe that he hailed from Kirkwall, Orkney. This is also thought to have given Orkney a tourism boost in the following years. He's also beloved in Sardinia in Italy, thanks to how great he is in its 'language' (the Sarfinian dialect).
- Additionally, despite some episodes being Banned in China ("Goo Goo Gai Pan" in China, "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" in Japan and "Blame It on Lisa" in Brazil), "The Italian Bob" averted No Export for You in Italy: not only did it not get banned at all, but it has aired often due to it being funny and even has the Italian-born Maria Grazia Cucinotta reprising her role as Sideshow Bob's Italian wife Francesca (she's the VA for the character in both versions).
- "Bart vs. Australia" is considered an excellent documentary in Australia, particularly for showcasing the game of Knifey-Spoony, and the Prime Minister drinking from a can of beer while lying naked on a lake in an old tire. One Australian is petitioning for the currency's name to be changed to dollarydoos. It's got over 60,000 signatures. Worth noting, however, that the episode was controversial when it first aired but became a cult classic over time. Prime Minister Andy in particular became a go-to reference during the reign of Tony Abbott, who — like many Australian PMs — had a great love of swimming and surfing, and was often coaxed by the press into giving statements on the beach while wearing only a Speedo. It's also common for Simpsons fan groups based in the country to use Tobias and Bruno (or at least their faces) in photoshopped memes involving Australian cultural references.
- "Blame It on Lisa" is a very loved episode in Brazil. While it had controversy (many people grew to hate the show thanks to it, and eventually the episode was banned in Brazil for a few years), there are many Simpsons fans in Brazil who love the episode despite its inaccuracies, and even more thanks to the stuff they got right. It helps that Brazilians have low self-esteem and love making jokes about their own country. Special mention goes to the "Our money sure is gay" joke, where Homer's kidnappers get a briefcase full of pink and purple money bills. Brazilians said how they needed the Simpsons to realize that, in Brazil, bills of 5 Reais and 10 Reais are indeed purple and pink.
- The episode "Blood Feud" has, at the end of the episode, Mr. Burns giving Bart an Olmec head. Though the writers made up most of the details regarding the giant stone head, a lot of archaeologists who specialize in studying the Olmec civilization wrote in to thank the show's staff for choosing Olmec rather than the usual Mayans and Aztec that had previously consumed nearly all mention of Mesoamerican pre-western history prior.
- Kelsey Grammer, an avowed Republican, has played Sideshow Bob, an avowed homicidal Republican who wants to "lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king", for close to thirty years. Presumably Bob's sophistication nullifies the 'Republicans operate out of a Dracula castle' schtick. (It doesn't hurt his closest friends, writers, and castmates are gay.)
- The character of Julio is very popular among both Cubans and Costa Ricans (his exact nationality is unclear) despite being gay and both countries been relatively conservative. The Bumblebee man is also very popular among Mexicans and Hispanics in general, probably in part because he is also an Affectionate Parody of beloved comedian Chespirito who is an icon of both Mexico and Latin America at large.
- "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" is beloved by New Yorkers, because it shows the best parts of New York and the worst parts. New Yorkers were also pissed when the episode was pulled for years from rotation post-9/11 due to the jokes about the World Trade Center.
- The episode "Livin La Pura Vida" basically broke the Internet in Costa Rica, and it was even covered by many of the local newspapers and media as an important event. The Simpsons' popularity is a cultural phenomenon as in the rest of Latin America so to some, it was less this trope and more of a dream come true. The episode, to be fair, is pretty respectful and the country is more of a scenario than the subject of humor as in the Brazil and Australia episodes, however, should be remembered that there was already an antecedent with South Park's episode in which this trope was not fulfilled as even the government filed a complaint for the depiction of the country (and yes, the South Park episode does have some fans and defenders among the Costa Ricans but not so much as other examples of the trope, though most fans of the show just overlook the episode in question and enjoy the rest of the series).
- In "D'Oh Canada," the Simpsons visit Niagara Falls, and during the drive through Upstate New York, Homer sings an unflattering musical number portraying the region as a Rust Belt wasteland. As the comments on the linked video suggest, the vast majority of Upstaters found the scene hilarious and were happy to see the show poke fun at their portion of the state and not just NYC. It also doesn't hurt that the scene included some surprisingly beautiful Scenery Porn despite its mocking tone.
- Real-life teachers have found Mrs. Krabappel, Ms. Hoover, Mr. Largo and other Springfield Elementary faculty relatable, as the show depicts the soul-crushing life of a teacher in an empathetic fashion.
- Mis-blamed:
- Since he became showrunner in Season 9, Mike Scully gets blamed for "The Principal and the Pauper" during that season. Except Scully was never involved in it. It was a left-over episode from Season 8, with Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein as showrunners, Steven Dean Moore was the director, and Ken Keeler was the writer.
- Mike Scully also gets heavily blamed for the decline in quality of the show in general. It was not all his fault, however, as most of the Simpsons writing and production talent had been leaving, with a massive exodus after Seasons 7 and 8, with many more leaving after 9. Many left to start production on Futurama, others left for other Fox shows, and others left for other animation studios and creative ventures altogether. Scully also had to deal with the deaths of prominent script supervisor, and Lunchlady Doris voice actress, Doris Grau, and prominent recurring star Phil Hartman, who many considered to be part of the show's lifeblood. There was also the simple fact that Scully was handed a show with 8 seasons under its belt and this is a recipe for decline for any showrunner.
- Lisa sometimes gets this from the fans, being blamed for Marge and Homer's bad parenting when fans feel they favor her over Bart. In "Lisa's Sax", many felt that Bart's unhappiness at school was shoved aside in favour of nurturing Lisa's gift. While the episode supports this to an extent, it's not really Lisa's fault as she was a toddler at the time and not consciously trying to steal their parents' attention.
- Subverted with the claims from fans of classic animation that the show led the industry to move away from Deranged Animation in favor of the more conservative style of TV animation that became the norm from the 1990s onwards, with said fans even pointing to the rejection of the original, more cartoonish version of "Some Enchanted Evening" as proof that the show was trying to kill off that kind of animation. In actual fact, TV animation had for the previous quarter-century been the Limited Animation of studios like Hanna-Barbera and Filmation, with classic-style animation actually having a comeback in the early 1990snote . However, the popularity of The Simpsons did ensure that shows like Family Guy and King of the Hill would become de jure once the "classic animation" resurgence crashed at the end of that decade, but said crash was more to do with studio politics amid lack of audience interest and the emergence of CGI animation than anything to do with The Simpsons.
- Moe:
- Maggie, the adorable Cute Mute baby who is always sucking on her pacifier (though she has a dark side).
- Ralph, one of Lisa's classmates, qualifies due to his innocence and being a Cloudcuckoolander.
- Homer Simpson when his childhood self is seen via Flashback, for similar reasons to Ralph, plus getting a lot of Break the Cutie.
- More Popular Spin-Off:
- This show started off as animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. Although Ullman was a solid hit for the then-budding Fox network, it is today almost entirely forgotten outside the context of being The Simpsons' parent show (and even then, you'd be lucky to find many people aware of the show's origins outside it being mentioned in the show itself).
- Likewise, the comics initially started out as a recurring feature in Simpsons Illustrated,note and the popularity of its final issue (which was a one-shot consisting entirely of comics) lead to the establishment of Bongo Comics shortly after, with the comics themselves lasting a good 25 years.
- Most Wonderful Sound: The heavenly choir at the beginning of the opening sequence.
- My Real Daddy: While Matt Groening and James L. Brooks get the bulk of credit for creating the series, John Ortved in his book The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History argues that co-developer, producer and writer Sam Simon deserves at least an equal share of the credit for making the series as good as it was. Simon worked on the series for only the first four seasons but for contractual reasons he kept receiving credit and royalties from the show until his death from cancer in March 2015. Fans also credit director and animator David Silverman, who has been involved with The Simpsons since the early The Tracey Ullman Show shorts, for establishing and refining the show's visual identity. Silverman has been responsible for handling some of the show's most unique and challenging scenes, such as Homer's chili-induced hallucinations.
- Narm Charm: The plentiful amount of Recycled Animation seen in the earlier seasons. Realizing the limited budget the show had back then and being able to pick out when a certain scene was reused (and badly dubbed over or otherwise ill-fitting) from a previous episode is something of an unofficial game for fans. One example includes both "Saturdays of Thunder" and "Radio Bart" from Season 3 featuring a top-down view of Homer bragging about Bart to Marge while they're laying in bed together with the latter episode's Looping Lines being pretty obvious.
- Never Live It Down:
- Lisa's profile quote in the arcade game: "Embrace nothingness!" She only said it once in the actual show but many fans know her best for saying just that.
- Similarly Bart said, "Cowabunga" in only a couple of instances in the original Tracey Ullman shorts and the second season, despite it being slapped on endless merchandise of the character. DVD commentary reveals the creative team were surprised he even said it in the actual series at all.
- The townspeople are untrusted by fans ever since "Boys Of Bummer" premiered, despite them apologizing for treating Bart badly to the point Bart was nearly Driven to Suicide, especially since Bart took 78 tries just to see him get his confidence back. One particular case is Chief Wiggum for driving Bart back to the crowd for losing the game and was the one who taunted Bart into jumping off.
- In "Homer Simpson in: Kidney Trouble", some fans can't forgive Homer for causing Abe's kidneys to burst just so he could watch a TV show. Especially since Homer repeatedly runs away from the kidney transplant that would save Abe's life.
- Because her first prominent appearance depicted her as having a crush on Bart, Shauna is hated by many fans and accused of being a pedophile. This is in spite of the fact that later episodes have phased out this aspect of her character in favor of her being Superintendent Chalmers' Bratty Teenage Daughter who's constantly causing trouble. Furthermore, while she has been shown flirting with several people, her main squeeze seems to be not Bart, but Jimbo, who is her own age and whom she has an on-again-off-again relationship with.
- As TheRealJims discussed in "Jerkass Homer Is Dead", "Jerkass Homer" for the most part died in the movie. After that, Homer would only grab the Jerkass Ball a few times a season and would be treated as a neglectful but sympathetic and trying his best dad and husband, despite the fandom perception that he stayed a jerkass non-stop.
- Nightmare Retardant: The first act break of Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes has Homer being shot at, with the bullet coming towards his head and him screaming. Since it's a foregone conclusion that Homer will not be hit (being that he's one of the main characters), it's more funny than frightening.
- No Problem with Licensed Games:
- The arcade game and The Simpsons Hit & Run are regarded as classics, Bart's Nightmare is fairly decent, and the 2007 multi-platform game, despite camera issues, has some genuinely hilarious moments.
- The Simpsons Virtual Springfield is a simplistic point-and-click game that lets you walk around Springfield. However, despite its simplicity, it is fondly remembered by a lot of fans for allowing fans to explore Springfield, featuring all the voice actors from the show, having deep cut Easter Eggs, and funny writing.
- The pinball machine The Simpsons Pinball Party, which pinball fans commonly regard as one of the 21st century's best.
- Older Than They Think:
- Many of the commonly cited examples of how "The Simpsons predicted" various things are actually cases of the show simply doing then-topical jokes about things that still happen to be relevant today. Autocorrect had been a common word processing feature for a while when the "Eat Up Martha" gag was written, and it was specifically a swipe at the infamously lousy handwriting recognition function on the Apple Newton.note The gag about Donald Trump becoming President in "Bart to the Future" was a reference to his short-lived campaign for the Reform Party nomination in 2000.
- Years before the controversial Armin Tamzarian storyline, Barry Sonnenfeld faced similar outrage over his Uncle Fester/Gordon Craven storyline in the 1991 film The Addams Family. Originally, Sonnenfeld wanted to reveal that Uncle Fester was, in fact, a stranger named Gordon Craven all long, and the family would still accept him as their Uncle Fester, even after finding out that he's an imposter. However, the cast despised this revelation and forced Sonnenfeld to change the ending so that Gordon turned out to be the real Uncle Fester, after all.
- Many of the commonly cited examples of how "The Simpsons predicted" various things are actually cases of the show simply doing then-topical jokes about things that still happen to be relevant today. Autocorrect had been a common word processing feature for a while when the "Eat Up Martha" gag was written, and it was specifically a swipe at the infamously lousy handwriting recognition function on the Apple Newton
- One-Scene Wonder:
- Hank Scorpio. Many fans love him even if they don't like Season 8, and he was so popular that the writers even considered making him the Big Bad of The Simpsons Movie. Even when they didn't do so, the villain they did make was almost completely like him (except minus his personable manner).
- When Marge joins the police in "The Springfield Connection", one of her fellow cadets is a twitchy Gun Nut who screams "Forget about the badge! When do we get the FREAKIN' GUNS?!"
- When Burns sends an assassin after Abe Simpson over a treasure in "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish", a random nurse at the rest home chased the assassin off with a shotgun.Nurse: OUR RESIDENTS *BANG* ARE TRYING *BANG* TO NAP! *BANG*
- Sideshow Raheem from "I Love Lisa" is surprisingly popular for a character who has only said two words in the run of the show.
- Opinion Myopia: Even so much as suggesting latter-day episodes have a bit of spark in them is an incredibly easy way to provoke the steadfast feelings of fans of the older episodes. (But, of course, it actually works both ways: for those who tend play up the "Zombie Simpsons" ideology, there are also those who may deny any kind of flaws in the newer episodes whatsoever.)
- Padding: The show's creative team readily admit that they do this, because episodes often don't end up timing out properly once all the elements get put together. This is why things like the Overly Long Gag and the Halfway Plot Switch became show staples. Bart's Prank Calls to Moe were specifically designed as standalone bits that could be dropped into an episode's storyline if they needed to fill time.
- Periphery Demographic:
- The Simpsons is very popular amongst vaporwave fans and artists. In fact, they spawned a YouTube phenomenon known as Simpsonwave.
- In addition to the aforementioned LGBT+ Periphery Demographic, Yaoi Fangirls have become prominent in the Simpsons fandom due to the amount of Ho Yay between its male characters. Burns/Smithers and Carl/Lenny are the most popular pairings with this subset (as they have the most Ho Yay between them, to the point where it sometimes genuinely feels like they are a romantic couple, and are not married to anyone else) and have spawned the most fanart, fanfics, and doujinshi. Chalmers/Skinner, Smithers/Moe, Bart/Milhouse, Flanders/Lovejoy, and Barney/Moe are also quite popular.
- Platonic Shipping:
- Lisa being lonely is a recurring theme, so many fans want her to make a permanent friend, with people often suggesting that she could make friends with Allison, since both are child prodigies, and some thinking it was a shame Samantha Stankey moved away in her debut episode rather than befriending Lisa.
- Fans who want to see more of Selma's adopted daughter Ling often want her to bond with her cousin Maggie, since both are about a year old.
- Play-Along Meme: Mr. Burns once put on a fake mustache and introduced himself as Mr. Snurb to promote the power plant. Notably, the usually-stupid citizens of Springfield recognized him at once, but fans still like to wonder about the enigmatic Mr. Snrub.
- Polished Port: The XBLA and PSN port of the arcade game is basically arcade perfect.
- The Problem with Licensed Games: With few exceptions, most Simpsons games are terrible, or at the very least, very difficult. A large part of this is due to Acclaim owning the exclusive rights to make Simpsons games for consoles in the 90s, which led to them cranking out over a dozen games in only a few years.
- Questionable Casting: Fans weren't happy with Rod Flanders' new voice from the episode "The Man Who Flew Too Much", the first episode to air following the retirement of longtime cast member Pamela Hayden. While it was expected that Hayden's characters would be recast after she retired from voice acting, some people felt that Chris Edgerly was an ill-fitting choice for Rod.
- Recurring Fanon Character: Gumbly is an Original Character that many people photoshopped into images and scenes from the show, claiming that he was always there.
- Replacement Scrappy:
- Gil Gunderson, for Lionel Hutz. With Phil Hartman dead, Gil became the franchise's go-to "lawyer who is bad at his job", and many fans, who were unimpressed with Gil Gunderson's constant appearances, disliked this and felt that no one could replace the iconic Hutz.
- Shauna Chalmers, for Laura Powers. While both are troublemaking older girls who Bart develops a crush on but who end up dating Jimbo instead, Laura Powers was a one-shot character from the classic era, who was more down-to-earth, wore modest and casual clothing, and mostly just liked to cause childish mischief. Shauna, however, was introduced in Season 20 and was more... exaggerated in regards to her bad behavior (she smokes cigarettes, shoplifts, shows her boobs to people, wears a midriff-baring outfit, regularly cheats on her boyfriends, sells weed, and has a tattoo), making it hard for people to sympathize with her or see her as someone young enough to be "compatible" with Bart. Thus, fans of Laura began to view Shauna as an inferior replacement and a bad influence on Bart.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Helen Lovejoy was initially hated by fans for being a whiny Moral Guardian who gossips about everyone. However, two factors caused her character to be re-examined: first, with Maude Flanders Killed Off for Real, Helen Lovejoy became Maggie Roswell's most prominent voice role once she returned to the show, allowing the writers to do a lot more with her and showcase a few Hidden Depths (such as her surprisingly-sweet relationship with her husband Timothy and her secret love of Goth fashion); and second, the Obnoxious Entitled Housewife archetype (which Helen is an example of) became a lot more prominent and true-to-life in the latter half of The New '10s, with many people having encountered at least one of them in their life, so Helen began to seem more realistic, if not eerily prescient of the "Karen" stereotype. Nowadays, she's more of a Love to Hate character, and even has several genuine fans who love her catty and sassy personality.
- Ron the Death Eater: Looking at this page alone, you get the sense that Lisa, Marge (and to some extent, Mona) aren't allowed to be flawed characters lest they get cries of The Unfair Sex and Unintentionally Sympathetic. Even when they realize at the end they were wrong or went too far (and in Mona’s case, displays Parents as People in her terrible marriage), they'll still be labeled as the "villain".
- Rooting for the Empire:
- Over the years, Bart and Lisa’s Sibling Rivalry has slowly evolved into a Comically Lopsided Rivalry. They started out relatively even in that whenever one of them went too far, they would receive some form of Laser-Guided Karma as well as have a My God, What Have I Done? moment. However, Lisa gradually stopped receiving comeuppance so not only would she give as good as she got but would enact Disproportionate Retribution in retaliation. Then, there is the Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male, where Lisa began to be able to effortlessly Curb-Stomp Bart with one punch. Finally, there is Lisa’s Parental Favoritism which has led to many instances of Selective Enforcement. While no one can argue that Bart averts being a Bratty Half-Pint, given the overwhelming advantage Lisa has over him (which has reached the point where even succeeding makes him a Designated Villain), it’s hard to see Lisa as the innocent victim to her Big Brother Bully that the show tries to present them as.
- With Flanderization making Bart nastier and nastier and a lot of children who watched the show growing up and realizing that school was far more important than they thought it was as a kid, a reasonable portion of adult watchers can't help but take the side of Seymour Skinner, even though many episodes have portrayed him as a Dean Bitterman who actively works to quash independent thought at his school. It helps that he's a Shell-Shocked Veteran who lives under the thumb of his "beloved smother", which both cause him to come off as Unintentionally Sympathetic.
- Sacred Cow:
- The episodes of The Renaissance Age of Animation. Suggested to be infallible, genius, a never-ending cultural icon, and television stewed to perfection. Suggesting even the slightest bit of flaws or Nostalgia Filter in any fan favorite, or even so much as pointing the finger to them for poor reception of the newer episodes is tantamount to Fandom Heresy, regardless of the validity of each passing season. You'll probably be able to get away with criticizing Season 1 and possibly Season 8, but Season 2 to 7 are untouchable.
- You never hear anyone saying anything negative about Hank Scorpio, despite him being a villain, possibly that he only appeared in one episode.
- Seinfeld Is Unfunny: Hoo boy, the impact this show had on pushing television content and what can be done with animated shows makes it the equal to, if not surpassing, Seinfeld. With the significant rise of more mature television The Simpsons can seem almost quaint and hard to understand the immense backlash. These days, it barely (but occasionally) raises a blip on the Moral Guardian's radar, thanks to Matt & Trey's South Park and Seth MacFarlane's cartoons being far more obscene across the board.
- In the early years, this cartoon was criticized for being a cartoon with some language, shocking violence and smutty content (Groening never intended it to be targeted towards kids, the bright colors was intended to be attention grabbing). But such moments are actually few and far between, many episodes played out similar to the typical live action sitcom. It was more the animated styled violence (like Homer choking Bart) that confused many people, as that would be hugely inappropriate if it wasn't animated.
- The animated family Sitcom formula is Older than You Think (several references are made to The Flintstones as a predecessor), but the show banked on the family being the center of a surreal town with a colorful population and loads of characters that can drop in, drop out or even take the focus of an episode itself. The Rapid-Fire Comedy that they refined can be seen emulated in shows ranging from Scrubs to Malcolm in the Middle to Arrested Development to The Office (US) (Michael Scott is basically Homer Simpson, which made sense since creator Greg Daniels use to be a writer for the show).
- The characters, specifically Bart and Homer, were seen as bad role models and horrible people in general. In reality, a lot of effort is made so that they seem relatable but have their own failings. Bart loves playing pranks and picks up some bad language from Homer but is subject to being bullied and can be sensitive in his own way, an early episode "Bart Gets an F" has him try studying for a test, STILL failing and slowly have an emotional breakdown. Homer can be aloof, lazy and inattentive to his family but also deals with a stressful, soul sucking job; he also adores his family more than he lets on and is often more excited for family outings than the kids.
- The depiction of them as a Dysfunctional Family in an animated sitcom was seen as an assault on traditional family values, with George H. W. Bush famously even commented how the American family needs to be more like The Waltons rather than The Simpsons. But the show itself was intended to be a Deconstruction of the typical sitcom family, specifically The Cosby Show in showing attentive parents with only minorly inconvenient kids. Homer was designed to be a hard working dad who got burned out at work during the day and just wanted to have a beer and watch TV at home, only to get interrupted by troublemaking kids. Bart was a troublemaking, prank pulling kid with a potty mouth who nonetheless had issues with being bullied at school. The Itchy and Scratchy cartoons were a parody of the outlandish violence seen in classic Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, with even a reference to The Flintstones trying to remind audiences that the show is not as revolutionary as was claimed. The show itself started exaggerating various facets of its own style, but with many other animated shows taking the real life situations, violence and language to more extreme levels, it's hard to catch on to why this was controversial.
- Signature Scene:
- Homer's failed attempt to skateboard across Springfield Gorge in "Bart the Daredevil" is considered to be one of the most iconic scenes in television history. The scene itself is symbolic of the show Growing the Beard and embracing the more wacky tone it became known for. It's also frequently referenced in later espisodes and several future Simpsons mediums, including the climax of The Simpsons Movie.
- Homer getting stuck in Mt. Splashmore's H2Whoa! water slide in Brush with Greatness. As a Continuity Nod, season six's "Homer the Great" has the slide on his enemy list. It is also featured as an obstacle in the water slide level of the video game Virtual Bart. Some further discussion of the scene occurred in 2025 when it was pointed out one of the kids who slide headfirst into Homer somehow has a Race Lift between shots.
- Homer shooting zombie Flanders and saying "he was a zombie?" in response in Treehouse of Horror III. It's one of Matt Groening's favourite lines and the writing staff consider it one of the all-time classic Simpsons moments.
- The bit where Milhouse yells "Say the line, Bart!" and he reluctantly does so in Bart Gets Famous has become the episode's go-to scene for mocking out-of-date memes. Prior to the memes, it was probably Bart appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
- Homer sitting alone on the roof of his car, looking up to the night sky after saying goodbye to his mother before she forced back into hiding for her communist ties (don't ask) in "Mother Simpson". Showing that the series can pull on the heartstrings just as well as it can tickle the funny bone, with the closing image also being etched into pop culture. It's the image used for the series' Tearjerker page for a reason!
- Edna Krabapple questioning the usage of the word "embiggen" and Ms. Hoover replying by using the even weirder "cromulent" in Lisa the Iconoclast is such an iconic scene that's embedded in the mind of the Simpsons' fandom.
- 22 Short Films About Springfield has two:
- The entire "Skinner and the Superintendent" scene/sketch/segment, particularly the "Aurora Borealis" part, for its memetic status.
- The final skit with the tall driver in a small car punishing Nelson for mocking him is also pretty famous, as it's Nelson's ultimate comeuppance for mocking everyone in general.
- Marge's singing at the end of The Seven Beer Itch. For all the wrong reasons as many cite how Julie Kavner’s voice has changed with age as a sign that the show has gone on too long.
- Ship-to-Ship Combat:
- The debate over whether Edna Krabappel would've been better off with her original boyfriend Principal Skinner or her later husband Ned Flanders is a hot topic in some circles.
- Burnsmithers (Mr. Burns x Smithers) shippers are often targets of scorn from people who ship Smithers with anyone else, especially those who ship Smithers with Moe. A lot of them openly gripe about how prevalent Burnsmithers is in fanart and fanfiction circles, and claim that the idea of a relationship between them is inherently problematic (ignoring the fact that they’re both adults and Smithers wants to be with Burns more than anything else).
- So Okay, It's Average:
- Believe it or not, the post-Seasonal Rot episodes have their fans, even though their positive comments will often draw negative comparisons to the earlier seasons by fans of those seasons.
- The first season often garners this reaction nowadays. It's generally considered superior to anything after Season 10 and most fans will include it as part of the show's golden age, but it also has Off-Model animation, slower pacing, and general Early-Installment Weirdness that make it a little bit less popular than Seasons 2-8.
- Starboarding:
- Milhouse is sometimes thought to have a one-sided crush on Bart.
- Marge is sometimes suspected to have an unrequited crush on Ned.
- Superlative Dubbing: The show had a short lived Swedish dub which was of surprisingly high quality with actors such as Annica Smedius, Louise Raeder and Lena Ericsson giving strong performances such as Bart, Lisa and Marge respectively alongside many other actors. About the only real weak point was Per Sanborgh as Homer who tried a bit too much to sound like Castellaneta rather than playing to his strengths.
- Suspiciously Similar Song: The Stephen J. Cannell Productions logo jingle was parodied in "The Front" with the similar-sounding Itchy & Scratchy Productions jingle.
- The famous "Land of Chocolate" jingle is very similar to the opening music from Tucker: The Man and His Dream.
- The famous "Land of Chocolate" jingle is very similar to the opening music
T-Z
- Tear Dryer:
- In "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", Homer believes he has 24 hours to live after eating a bad blowfish, and near the end, he seems to pass away in the middle of the night. Marge is devastated... but then she notices his drool is warm, which means he's alive.
- In the first episode of Season 2, "Bart Gets An 'F'", Bart has been told that if he gets a failing grade on his upcoming test, he will be required to repeat the 4th grade. Bart actually cracks the books and studies, but reality hits Bart like a brick, and one Herculean effort does not make up for a lifetime of poor study habits. Bart gets an F. He breaks down crying, telling Mrs. Krabapple that he had really tried this time, and all she can do is try and comfort him. But then, just when it looks hopeless, Bart compares his loss to George Washington having to surrender to the French in 1754, an obscure bit of history. So impressed is Mrs. Krabapple about this applied knowledge, she gives him a bonus point on the test, which pushes him from an F to a D -, allowing him to pass.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- How longtime fans and animation students felt about the Title Sequence that has been in use since the LABFXX production season (i.e. Season 20 starting from "Take My Life, Please"). Two main instances stand out. The first one is Marge's animation during the supermarket scene, which went from elaborate movement to a simple turn of her head. It's understandable in context (her time was shortened in order to add in Gerald and Maggie fist shaking), but still. The second one is Homer getting hit by Marge's car and bursting through the door in the garage instead of him screaming at the sight of the car and running away from it via the same door.
- The recasting of several minority characters, such as Carl, Dr. Hibbert, Dr. Nick, and Bumblebee Man, with POC actors in 2020 caught some ire from longtime fans who had long since accepted their original voices as iconic parts of the show's identity and figured the show could get away with retaining them through the Grandfather Clause. And while some actors - notably Alex Désert as Carl - were at least roughly accepted as sounding almost exactly like the original actors, others - mainly Kevin Michael Richardson as Dr. Hibbert - were more controversial due to sounding very little like the original performances fans had grown accustomed to. Notably, even Harry Shearer disagreed with the changes, pointing out how a major part of acting is being able to step outside the actor's natural range.
- How longtime fans and animation students felt about the Title Sequence that has been in use since the LABFXX production season (i.e. Season 20 starting from "Take My Life, Please"). Two main instances stand out. The first one is Marge's animation during the supermarket scene
- Tough Act to Follow: Some of the criticism of the newer seasons comes from the extremely high expectations fans had after the first 8-10 seasons.
- In an unusual way, this ended up crossing with Follow the Leader. Classic-era Simpsons successfully juggled a bunch of different comedy approaches, sometimes in a single episode. The animated shows that followed in its wake often emphasized one particular approach that The Simpsons pioneered. Family Guy picked up on the fast-paced gags and pop culture parodies, South Park picked up on the topical satire and irreverence, and King of the Hill picked up on the dry wit, layered storytelling, and comedy-with-a-heart. It's not a coincidence that the much-vilified Scully years (Seasons 9-12) were the first period that The Simpsons had to compete with all three of those shows, and with three different competitors all successfully copying one particular Simpsons trademark, The Simpsons faced a huge identity crisis.
- Within Season 33, there's the case of "Boys N the Highlands". This episode is coming off the heels of "Pixelated and Afraid", near-universally considered to be one of the best episodes of post-classic Simpsons, if not potentially the entire show, and which also just so happened to revolve around someone from our titular family getting lost in the wilderness. "Boyz N the Highlands'' is still seen as a solid episode, but one that could've really benefitted from having some space between it and the much more acclaimed episode that came right before it.
- Toy Ship:
- Mary Spuckler almost married Bart, due to the Spuckler family's backwards marital traditions. She's also the only one of his many love interests to be featured prominently in more than one episode.
- Some fanfiction writers like the idea of Bart or Lisa ending up with Nelson or Milhouse in the future. Bart is also sometimes shipped with Sherri, Terri, or Martin.
- Ugly Cute:
- Moe. In-universe, he's stated to be horrifically ugly, and he does look very unusual compared to the other characters. However, a lot of fans find his appearance endearing and even kind of adorable.
- Mr. Burns, especially among Burns/Smithers shippers. While he was intended to look like a scrawny, decrepit old man with a beak-like nose and prominent teeth, some fans found him extremely cute- not only because of his goofy, so-ugly-it's-cute appearance, but because of his out-of-touch nature and endearing habits (especially in the episode "Rosebud", where it's revealed he still sleeps with a stuffed animal).
- Unconvincingly Unpopular Character: Bart Simpson gets this on the occasional episode. There's no doubt he's the coolest character on the show, but his popularity in school (or even with the rest of the town) runs the gamut from adored by everyone for how awesome he is, to being a loner whose only friend is Milhouse.
- Unexpected Character: "BUY CRYPTO, SUCKERS!"note
- Unintentional Period Piece: While hardly the only example of its time, the fact that Homer is shown to be able to afford a house for a family of five while working an entry-level job for an infamously stingy boss is very often used as an example of how much more expensive American housing has become since the 1980s.
- Unintentionally Sympathetic
- Bart Simpson can be this. Obviously, he's a brat and can be quite a Jerkass, but Homer strangles him constantly, he often feels ignored and useless in the face of Lisa's accomplishments, he's picked on at school, blamed for things other people have done, and occasionally gets hit with Disproportionate Retribution at the hands of other characters like Principal Skinner, Lisa, and Homer.
- Homer Simpson in "Homer's Enemy". We're supposed to side with Frank Grimes — the idea of the episode is that a "normal" person wouldn't be as amused with Homer's antics as the other characters are. The thing is, while Homer is an idiot and an incompetent employee, and he does initially do a number of callous things like steal Frank's lunch and office supplies, once he learns that Frank dislikes him for it, he spends the remainder of the episode trying to make amends. Meanwhile, Frank acts like a complete Jerkass towards him, and it's blatantly obvious that he's just jealous that Homer's life is better than his (as far as he knows, anyway), and notably part of what sets off this rant is Homer's family attempting to be kind to him by serving him a lobster dinner and being on their best behavior. Frank even goes so far as to claim that Homer doesn't deserve his happiness and attempts to humiliate Homer even after Homer tried to make amends. With 21st century wealth inequality surpassing the height of The Gilded Age, audiences today are a lot more likely to sympathize with Homer during Frank's "The Reason You Suck" Speech about what a Lazy Bum Homer is, as it's become apparent that Americans are among the world's most overworked people, lacking basic benefits that exist in other prosperous nations, like paid time off, suggesting that, despite what Frank says, Homer would probably have it easier in any other nation.
- Homer again in "Homer the Heretic." He opts to stay home from church one Sunday and when Marge and the kids go without him, he revels in having the house to himself for the first time in years. He enjoys it so much that he decides to stop going to church altogether. Marge, Flanders, and Reverend Lovejoy all try to get Homer to start attending services again, and he even dreams of being confronted by God himself. However, when you stop to think that Homer's duties as a full-time worker, husband, and father mean that he is never alone, it's hard to blame him for wanting just a few hours of me-time each week. And considering that when he does go to church, he often sleeps through the sermon (including at the end of the episode when he's convinced to go back), he's clearly not getting anything out of it anyway.
- Homer in "The Tell-Tale Pants". He's meant to be portrayed as an ungrateful Jerkass, but he doesn't come off that bad here. He misses a text from Marge, but it wasn't actually his fault; Moe had installed a Wi-Fi blocker that prevented him from getting the text in the first place, and he was genuinely concerned when he found out. Marge doesn't let him apologize and proceeds to act very passive-aggressive to him over a period of days. Later on, Marge gets even angrier when she finds out Homer didn't invite her to a baseball game, but Homer points out she doesn't even like baseball and she even admits she doesn't. Homer also got the tickets because he managed to save Springfield from nuclear annihilation and actually did his job well this time, which Marge doesn't acknowledge despite complaining about being underappreciated herself. The episode ends with Moe doing a Piss-Take Rap calling out Homer for his flaws and taking advantage of Marge, even though he blocked Homer's texts to begin with, and Homer apologizes to Marge once he realizes how ungrateful he is. Ultimately, though, Homer was blamed for something out of his control, and not taking Marge to something they both know she wouldn't have enjoyed is hardly the dealbreaker the story presents it as.
- Homer in "Ae Bonny Romance". He is treated like a killjoy who Marge gets impatient with and even drunkenly insults near the end of the episode. However, when you look at the situation from his perspective — he was forced to go on it last minute, he has a long history with bad destination weddings, he lost years of savings towards a trip he actually wanted to go on, and he doesn't even know anyone there, including the couple being married — it's pretty understandable why he wouldn't enjoy it.
- Bush in "Two Bad Neighbors". He is bullied and tortured by Bart and Homer all because he spanked Bart two times lightly, to the point of being nothing more than a pat, and because Bart had driven him to the point of annoyance due to destroying his memoirs. Bush becomes violent due to everyone getting mad and not discussing it with him, so it's hard not to feel bad for him, and the writers refuse to grant him any quarter despite offering up an apology for his own behavior and being fairly owed one for his mistreatment
- In "All's Fair in Oven War", Marge cheats to win a bake-off, and calls it off once she realizes she disappointed Lisa by being dishonest. This would make sense, except the other contestants were bullies who sabotaged her dish in the first place, with one of them going as far as to laugh at her betrayed tears for no reason other than to be a Jerkass. It was never a fair contest to begin with and it's easy to see the sabotaged contestants as getting their comeuppance, and Marge having no reason to apologize for what she did. Lisa even saw firsthand that the other contestants were sabotaging Marge before she retaliated, and still blamed her.
- Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
- The grotesque animation style of the earliest episodes (including the Tracey Ullman shorts) and in some episodes in which the Simpsons are depicted in another medium (claymation, live-action, as drawn by John Kricfalusi, as drawn by Bill Plympton, CGI, Lego, Robot Chicken-style stop-motion, etc)
- The real-world celebrity cameos can come off as this, as they're always drawn as realistically as possible which clashes with the semi-abstract designs of the main and recurring cast.
- Unpopular Popular Character:
- While the audience finds them lovable, it's made clear that most of the populace finds the Simpsons troublesome and/or dangerous. In the episode "Simpson Safari", this subtle exchange occurs:Homer: The Simpsons are going to Africa!
Family: Yay!
[In Africa, two tribesmen dance around a fire. Suddenly, one of them stops]
Tribesman: What is it, N'gungo?
N'gungo: Evil is coming.
Tribesman: What shall we do, N'gungo?
N'gungo: [puts his mask on the other tribesman's head] You are N'gungo now! [runs away screaming] - Milhouse is treated as a Butt-Monkey in-universe, but his fans treat him as a woobie.
- Same goes for Seymour Skinner. His inability to sustain a girlfriend, overbearing mother, and PTSD are Played for Laughs on the show, but are often Played for Drama in fan works.
- While the audience finds them lovable, it's made clear that most of the populace finds the Simpsons troublesome and/or dangerous. In the episode "Simpson Safari", this subtle exchange occurs:
- Viewer Gender Confusion: Kang and Kodos are brother and sister. Arguably justified as they are Starfish Aliens.
- Viewer Name Confusion:
- Some say that the Squeaky-Voiced Teen's real name is Jeremy Freedman, making Lunchlady Doris (who's implied to be his mother in one episode) "Doris Freedman". It's actually inconsistent - his first name has been given as Biff, Jeremy, Steve, and Andrew, while his last has been given as Freedman, Peterson, and even Teen.
- Milhouse's name is sometimes misspelled as Millhouse, Milhous, Melhouse, or Mulhouse, or misremembered as Milton.
- Abe Simpson goes by Grampa, but it's sometimes misspelled as Grandpa.
- Vindicated by History:
- The show's early internet fandom often regarded Seasons 1 to 4 as the show's "golden era", with 5 to 8 and onwards being highly contested. This orthodoxy was even acknowledged and discussed in the show. Today, it is uncontroversial to collectively hold up Seasons 1 to 8 as the show at its peak, with a fair few fans considering the second half of that period to be superior to the first half.
- Several of the show's most beloved episodes like "Kamp Krusty", "Itchy and Scratchy Land" and "Treehouse of Horror V" were heavily criticised when they first aired, but are now fondly remembered as part of the show's golden era.
- The voice actors all agreed that "Marge vs. the Monorail" was one of the worst episodes they had ever done. Nowadays, it's often remembered as one of the best by fans.
- Upon release, "Treehouse of Horror VI" was mostly remembered for the segment "Homer³", which featured 3D Visual Effects of Awesome that were rare for cartoons of the era, and was even nominated for an Emmy award. Nowadays, CGI cartoons are a dime a dozen, and views began to feel that the other two segments, "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores" and "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace, have better told stories that were that were overshadowed during the day.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: The first season's intro opened with a stratus cloud breaking away and dissolving into "The Simpsons" logo. The CGI effects from that era still hold up, even three decades later.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Thanks to the cartoonish, simplistic animation, sometimes wacky plots and generally light-hearted tone, it's easy to forget that The Simpsons is very much an adult cartoon, even with most episodes being given either a TV-PG or TV-14 rating. The series has been thought of by some as being a children's show, despite the frequent profanity, bloody violence (including occasional outright Gorn), sexual content, and the fact that it has dealt with numerous mature themes, such as animal abuse, child abuse, politics, alcoholism, sex, infidelity, religion, class inequality, suicide and juvenile delinquency. It was also trashed for corrupting the younger generation due to the subject matter and having Bart Simpson (who, back then, was written as a more destructive, 1990s spin on Dennis the Menace) as the main focus of the stories. The comics, early video games and toys being frequently advertised alongside children's toys make it that much harder to remember exactly what audience the show is supposed to be aimed at.
- The Simpsons was even, in 1991, declared by Channel 4 to be the Greatest Kids' TV Show ever, despite not actually being a kids' show.
- The Simpsons has consistently received Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nominations for Favorite Cartoon since 1996, with one win in 2002.
- Word of God says it was never meant to be a kids' show and the bright color scheme was meant as an attention-grabber for FOX executives and viewers who just happened to be channel surfing.
- Even actual children's shows referenced The Simpsons as if they were in the same category. When The Fairly OddParents! aired Channel Chasers, they parodied The Simpsons in a way only viewers would recognize... only some of it was cleaned up, like changing Flanders from a Christian to a bearded hippie and making the Barney Gumble expy a gross, belching slob instead of a drunk, though he does go inside a place called "Mike's" (a parody of "Moe's Tavern") when he gets hit with radioactive slime and becomes a superheronote .
- Before this, the characters made a cameo appearance in the celebrity version of the Sesame Street segment "Monster In The Mirror".
- At one point, The Simpsons even aired on Cartoon Network in the Philippines. No, not [adult swim], daytime Cartoon Network. When Teletoon got the rights, while the English version aired it at more apropriate prime-time hours, they were not above advertising it with their more child-appropriate fare like Pippi Longstocking in some of their promos. the French telecast didn't bother and simply aired it during daytime hours as well.
- This was done in-universe in the very first Treehouse of Horror, even though the subjects mentioned weren't actually for children.Homer: Oh, no, Marge! Come on, please!
Marge: Homer, I'm not sleeping with the lights on. They're just children's stories. They can't hurt you. - Not helping is that Simpsons shorts were played before Ice Age: Continental Drift and Onward.
- Even This Very Wiki has made this mistake, as at one point, the Parental Bonus page contained examples from The Simpsons.
- Win Back the Crowd: Season 33 saw a noticeable uptick in both critical and fan interest in The Simpsons. This season saw the well-liked long-time writer Matt Selman take over most of the showrunning duties, who many fans credit with the shift in the show's direction. Points of praise include an uptick in the number of heartwarming character-driven episodes while still balancing the satire, a much greater willingness to experiment with episode formats and presentations, a better incorporation of the show's always-modern setting while still paying full homage to its past, and a more positive relationship with the show's fandom.
- Woolseyism: The French-Canadian dub has a tendency to replace some America-specific references with ones Canadians are more likely to understand. One famous example of this is the famous Steamed Hams scene, where instead of claiming steamed hams are an expression from upstate New York, Skinner says it's used in Quebec's Lac-Saint-Jean district, with Utica and Albany being replaced with Jonquière and Alma.
- Writer Cop Out: Due to being a Long Runner in Seasonal Rot, this would be eventual.
- Many people were excited for "Clown in the Dumps", the premiere of Season 26, which had been hyped up for featuring the death of a major character. The character in question turned out to be Hyman Krustofski, a Satellite Character at best. A lot of people were colored disappointed by this and felt misled. The event was been compared to Family Guy's infamous "Life Of Brian" arc in terms of being a ratings stunt.
- "Every Man's Dream", the premiere of Season 27 was also a mixture of ratings stunt and this. Did you believe that Homer and Marge would separate? That Homer would start to date another woman? Nah, it's All Just a Dream. Or a tattoo. Or something.