The Simpsons (animation)/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Lisa: There's a AAA battery in my macaroni and cheese!
Doris: It counts as a vegetable.

    • This was also lampshaded in "Homer to the Max", when Flanders appeared with a difference voice: "Plus they can replace 'em [actors] and nobody will know the diddily-ifference!"
    • The cops Eddie and Lou had switched voices in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", which technically means both characters were initially voiced by somebody else.
      • Similarly, Lenny and Carl had swapped voices in "Brush With Greatness".
    • Maggie Simpson has been "voiced" by Nancy Cartwright most of the time, but Elizabeth Taylor provided her first word of "daddy" in "Lisa's First Word".
    • Roger Meyers Jr. was voiced by Alex Rocco in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", "The Day the Violence Died", and "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", while Hank Azaria voiced him in "The Front", "Lady Bouvier's Lover", and "Itchy & Scratchy Land".
    • Artie Ziff was voiced by Jon Lovitz in "The Way We Was", "Half-Decent Proposal", and "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", while Dan Castellaneta voiced him in "The Front".
    • Mary Bailey was originally voiced by Maggie Roswell in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", while she was voiced by Tress MacNeille in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade".
    • Bill Clinton has been voiced by Phil Hartman, Harry Shearer, and Karl Wiedergott.
    • Lurleen Lumpkin was originally voiced by Beverly D'Angelo in "Colonel Homer" (and later reprised her role in "Papa Don't Leech"), but was voiced by Doris Grau for a brief gag in "Marge vs. The Monorail".
    • Bleeding Gums Murphy was voiced by Ron Taylor in two of his appearances, but in "Dancin' Homer", his singing voice was by Daryl Coley.
    • Mona Simpson was voiced by three women: Glenn Close (the three episodes which prominently feature her), Tress MacNeille ("D'oh-in' in the Wind") and Maggie Roswell ("Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?").
    • Sylvia Winfield, a next-door neighbor to the Simpsons, is initially voiced by Tracey Ullman and later by Maggie Roswell.
    • An odd example: Troy McClure, usually voiced by Phil Hartman, was briefly voiced by Dan Castellaneta in "Bart's Dog Gets an F" while Santa's Little Helper is "channel-surfing".
    • An example early in the series: Christopher Collins voiced Mr. Burns in "Homer's Odyssey". He was quickly replaced by Harry Shearer.
    • Russi Taylor usually voices Martin Prince, but in some early appearances, he was voiced by Jo Ann Harris.
    • In "The Tell-Tale Head", Jimbo Jones was voiced by Tress MacNeille, but in all other appearances, he was voiced by Pamela Hayden.
    • Since Russi Taylor's death, Grey Griffin voiced Russi's characters.
    • Due to the George Floyd protests, characters of color had their original voice actors replaced by actors of the same race such as Kevin Michael Richardson as Dr. Hibbert.
  • The Other Marty: Christopher Collins originally voiced Moe in "Some Enchanted Evening", but his track was never actually used in the final episode; he was replaced by Hank Azaria.
  • Show Accuracy, Toy Accuracy: For years merchandise almost always had Bart with a blue shirt despite the fact he wears an orange one.
  • Reciprocal Fiction Paradox: The Simpsons and Futurama play with this in the TV show, with Matt Groening's cameos on each being the creator of the other.
    • Also, in the Simpsons episode Mayored to the Mob, Üter wears a Futurama shirt (this was long before anyone had heard anything about Futurama in the real world.) In an episode of Futurama, Bender eats the shorts off of a Bart Simpsons doll.
    • Also, thanks in part to certain trope-naming episodes of South Park, and innumerable references to each other, South Park, Family Guy, and The Simpsons are all fictional within each other's Universes.
  • Shown Their Work: In "The Spy Who Learned Me", Homer sustains a concussion on the job. Smithers states that Homer must be given time off, in compliance with contemporary research. In recent years, sports leagues have legislated whole sets of precautionary and disciplinary rules involving hits to the head.
  • What Could Have Been: If you ever listen in on the DVD commentaries, you'll find out that this show is the patron saint of missed opportunities at being better than it is. Some examples:
    • The "Robot Richard Simmons" scene from "Burns' Heir" was cut because the writers and test audience thought it wasn't all that great, but apparently, it was a rave at animation conventions and guest lectures at colleges.
    • "Kamp Krusty" and "Bonfire of the Manatees" were originally supposed to be plots for The Simpsons Movie, but the writers didn't know how to make them compelling enough for 90 minutes.
    • The episode where Homer meets a big, bald mental patient who looks, acts, and is voiced by Michael Jackson (under a pseudonym due to contractual stipulations) was supposed to have a sequel where that same big, bald mental patient now thinks he's Prince and encourages everyone in town to be free and open with their sexualities. Because Prince refused to do it, that script is now the only Simpsons episode that has been written, but never produced.
    • Before his death, Phil Hartman had pitched the idea of doing a live-action movie about Troy McClure (one of the recurring characters he voiced).
    • Marge was initially planned to become The Alcoholic out of boredom during "You Only Move Twice", having nothing better to do in a house she didn't have to upkeep. This was deemed too depressing, so in the final episode, in a Development Gag she just takes occasional sips of wine while the viewer is assaulted by Scare Chords and dramatic closeups.
    • The writers originally considered having Skinner wear a toupee, but they dropped it because apparently Matt Groening didn't like those types of jokes. Despite this, one image from "The Simpson's Guide to Springfield" (specifically one relating to King Toots) did have Skinner's top hair fly off in a similar manner to a toupee when covering his ears from Willie's bagpipe playing (implied to be awful).
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