The simpsons is my favourite television show, and I think it's so funny and so original, mostly because of the characters that Matt Groening has so wittily drawn up for us. So, this review is all about the characters in the Simpsons, and what makes them so great!

HOMER SIMPSON

Homer is the father of the family, he's overweight, bald and ugly, he's lecherous, rude and crass. He doesn't know how to do his job, and spends most of his time eating and drinking beer. His most famous catchphrase is "Doh!" which really sums him up in one little word. He's a clumsy idiot, and more than a little insane. So, why is it then, he has a beautiful wife? Three children and a great home. A well paying job in a nuclear power plant, and lots of friends. The comedy with Homer really does stem from how stupid he is, from how ironic this situation is. Homer Simpson is satire at it's best.

MARGE SIMPSON

Marge is a luscious woman, with four feet of blue hair. She is the most sane of the Simpson family, and is the one who is always there to hold them together. Nevertheless, she certainly has her place in displaying the stereotype of your american housewife. Every day she cooks and cleans, puts up with Homer, looks after the children, and still stays sane at the end of the day. However, she has sufferend nervous breakdowns before, and even considered having affairs with other men! Even whilst portraying the typical housewife, she manages to break all tradition, and manages to become a road rage maniac, a lobbyist against cartoon violence, a great artist, a great actor, and the owner of her own pretzel business!

LISA SIMSPON

Lisa is an eight your old genius, she seems almost the perfect daughter when you consider her mature attitude, love of learning and caring nature. The comedy with Lisa seems to stem from the fact that she's just a little TOO serious about everything, making dramatic poems such
as "Ode to Snowball" (her dead cat), joining Mensa and ruling Springfield for a short time, and upstaging fraudulent politicians. She is certainly not your average eight year old, and her main passion is playing the saxaphone. She aspires to become either a great Jazz musician, or the first female president. She is a stark contrast to the rest of the Simpsons family, yet still manages to fit in quite well.

BART SIMPSON

Bart is a hellraiser, he's a ten year old with a love of destruction, a lot of attitude, and constantly attempts to thwart all authority figures, usually by using catchphrases such as "Eat my shorts" and flashing his rather yellow bottom at the offending figure. Bart seems to get into trouble in every single episode, including almost starting a war between America and Australia, and wiping out the population of pidgeons by hand rearing exotic lizards.

One of my favourite parts of the Simpsons are actually the opening credits, where every time, Bart is in detention, writing lines on the blackboard. However, each episode, the line he is writing changes, and it's well worth trying to read what it says, they're often hilarious.

THE REST OF THE SIMPSON FAMILY:

The rest of the Simpson family include Maggie Simpson, who whilst being a member of the main Simpson family, doesn't say a lot, as she's too young to speak yet, so she only gets a small mention. She is best known for sucking her pacifier at all times, but was found guilty of shooting Mr Burns! Grandpa Abe Simpson, is your stereotypical old man, who always wants to talk about the past (which is often fantasy) and lives in a retirement home. He's an expert on complaining and telling stories that go absolutely nowhere, and have no relevance to anything. He has a tendancy to sleep mid conversation, regardless of what's happening, and is generally, a very grumpy old man! Then, there are Marge's sisters,
Patty and Selma Bouvier, who are fat, ugly, hairy and ill mannered. They hate Homer, and think Marge can do better for herself.

HOMER'S BEER BUDDIES

Homer spends a lot of time at the bar, which is owned by Moe Syzlak, who is the classic brunt of all Bart's crank calls, falling for them time, and time again, saying things like :

"Uh, is I.P. Freely here? Hey, everybody, I.P. Freely!"
"Hey, is there a Butz here? Seymour Butz? Hey, everybody, I wanna Seymour Butz!"
"Uh, Homer Sexual? Aw, come on, come on, one of you guys has gotta be Homer Sexual!"

Moe's best customer and one of Homer's best buddies is the alcoholic belching fatty, Barney Gumble. His regular source of cash is the Sperm Bank, and his occupation seems to be passing out! Other character that Homer meets in the bar, as well as from work are the pair who are always together, Carl and Lenny.

HOMER'S WORK

Homer works at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and his boss is the millionairre scooge Montgomery Burns. He's often the brunt of health problems, and can never remember Homer's name. He falls in love with Marge for a time, adopts Bart at another time, and even steals the Simpson's puppies to make a fur coat out them. His faithful side kick is Weyland Smither's, who is often thought to be gay, and in love with Mr Burns. The evidence for this accusation, is as follows:

When the Plant is about to suffer catastrophic meltdown. Burns remarks "I guess there's nothing left but to kiss my sorry ass good-bye." Smithers asks, "May I, sir?"

Smithers imagines a naked Burns jumping out of a cake and singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. Smithers."

His desktop image on his computer is of a naked Mr Burns, with the sound byte "Hello, Smithers. You're quite good at turning me on."

Quite good evidence if you ask
me…

THE OTHERS!

There are hundreds of other characters in the Simpsons, and I would love to go through them in detail, but I
fear very few people are still awake at this point.

Hopefully, just by looking at the main characters you can see the endless potential for constant jokes about life.

This show is for anyone, absolutely anyone, of any age, sex, race, etc. It's the greatest show on earth, and if you are one of the poor people who have never seen the Simpson's before, you should go watch it RIGHT NOW!