Ownership/Operating model (P1)
News Corp
News corp is a multinational media corporation originally from Australia which was founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1979 having taken over New limited. News limited sstill has ownership of the Australian brand with several newspapers there main piece of business. News corp has smaller companies in a variety of different media formats.
News corp is known as one of the six 'Medai giants' that own 90% of all media products like; TV and radio channels, books, newspapers, websites and films all around the world. The other five Media giants are; Disney, Time Warner, GE, Viacom and CBS.
During the summer of 2012, News corp Founder; Rupert Murdoch decided to split the corporation in to two businesses. One for media and one for publishing. The publishing side of the company kept the News corp name and the media side became 21st Century Fox.
Fox
Fox, is a group of TV channels owned by 21st Century Fox, that is available all over the world. It is well known for broadcasting a wide variety of TV programmes such as; news, sport and comedy. Fox is available in England alongside another set of TV channels owned by 21st Century Fox named Sky. Sky broadcasts a variety of Fox owned programmes and has expanded across all genres of television, most notably sports and movies.
The Simpsons is owned by the large American Conglomerate News corp, who also own Fox. Fox are the broadcasting company that show The Simpsons in America as well as several other countries. (P1)
Fox is a commercial company, this means that it is not a Public service. It uses advertisements to fund and advertise its programmes. A Public service is intended to benefit the user rather than solely provide a commercial product. Their TV programmes are also distributed on different channels, such as; Sky and Channel 4.
Sky
Sky is owned by 21st Centruy Fox, this is why Sky One show the newest episodes days after they are shown in America on Fox as well as showing several repeats daily, whereas Channel 4 can only show the repeats years after the episodes are originally shown due to contractual agreements.
Fox
Products (P1)
Fox films:
20th Century Fox is responsible for some of the world's most successful movies. These include, Avatar, Alien, Titanic and Planet of the Apes. Since the early 20th Century they have been one of the most successful companies in the Film industry. Until 2013 they were owned by News corp, when they switched to 21st Century Fox.
The Sun newspaper:
The Sun is one of the most popular newspapers in Britain, it is one of the three tabloid newspapers in Britain, alongside; The Daily Star and The Daily Mirror. It is a daily newspaper that offers the latest national and international news, weather, TV listings and sport, which featured; sport news, fixtures and results and news.
Sky TV:
Sky TV is owned by News corp, this is the company that owns The Simpsons. This is the reason that in Britain, Sky one show the newest episodes of The Simpsons before Channel 4 can. Sky TV also show many of the biggest sporting events from around the world, including; Football. Boxing, Tennis, Cricket and Rugby Union/League.
Sky also show the newest movies straight from the cinemas, covering all genres.
On their main channel they show a variety of American TV shows that are originally shown on Fox. These include; The Simpsons and Futurama.
Other TV
programmes made by Fox (P1)
The genre
of Animated Comedy is now typical of Fox, after The Simpsons there have
been a number of similar programmes that have been created by Fox.
However, Fox do make a variety of different programmes, below are two examples.
Before:
The Late show with Joan Rivers - 1986-1987
The Late
show was a comedy talk show, which involved Joan Rivers as the main
host, interviewing various celebrity guests. Some of the show's most
memorable guests include; Elton John and Cher. The show was the first TV
programme to be broadcast on Fox, it was an alternative and was meant
to directly compete with NBC's The Tonight show with Johnny Carson. Joan Rivers
was formerly a permanent guest host on The Tonight show, and caused controversy
when switching to Fox without telling NBC or Johnny Carson. The show was
hosted by Joan Rivers for just one year, with Arsenio Hall and Ross Schafer
hosting the show throughout the rest of the 1980s, along with Buck Henry
temporarily hosting the show during 1988.
Whilst
host of the show, Joan Rivers was asked to fire her husband. She refused and
resigned as host of the show. During her time on the show, Rivers caused
more controversy by revealing the phone number of Victoria Principal. As a
result, Principal sued her for $3 million. David Spade was offered Joan
Rivers' role as host after her resignation but he turned it down.
In 1987,
Joan Rivers was fired from the show with the name being shortened to The Late
show. Later in the year, the show was replaced by The Howard Stern show, which
was presented in the same format. Fox also showed The Arsenio Hall show during
this time, it was only aired for 13 episodes, with Hall having other
commitments. The show carried on through various guest hosts, with Ross
Schaffer taking over as host for a short time. However in 1988, the show was
cancelled due to lack of viewers.
The style
of TV shows that Fox normally broadcast, mainly focuses on sport, drama,
Sitcoms, reality shows and animated primetime shows. Since The Late show was
cancelled, Fox haven't really expanded into this genre of TV show. However,
they have continued to provide a large amount of comedy programmes on their
network. These include; their Sunday evening block called Animation domination,
(which includes; The Simpsons, Family guy, American Dad and Bob's Burgers), New
girl, Raising hope and The Mindy project. Fox has been one of the most
successful networks in terms of Comedy, because of the variety and quality of
their shows. Their Animation domination block on Sunday evenings bring in
a large audience each week, because the four shows in the block are all
quite similar and will appeal to the same audience.
After:
New Girl - 2011-present
New girl
is an American Sitcom that premiered on Fox on September 20th 2011. The series
is based on the story of Jess, who moves to L.A. following a break-up. She
moves into an apartment with three men; Nick, Schmidt and Winston. The show
also stars Jess' best friend Cece and new room-mate Coach. The show combines
comedy and drama elements as the characters, who are all in their thirties,
deal with maturing relationships and career choices.
The third
season premiered in September 2013. New girl is a single camera comedy and is
not performed in front of a live studio audience, unlike most American comedies
and does not use canned laughter. The show is not aimed at a specific
audience, it appeals to both men and women despite the majority of the episodes
are focused around Jess.
Ratings
The pilot
episode had 10.28 million viewers in the United States, this means that New
girl had the highest amount of viewers for a pilot episode of a Fox scripted
show since 2001. The record was previously held by the spin off of The X-files,
The Lone Gunman. The pilot of which had 13.23 million viewers. In season 1 in
the UK, New girl averaged 8.22 million viewers, with season 2 averaging 5.85
million viewers. Season 3 is currently underway in the UK, with the pilot in
September 2013 getting 5.53 million viewers, with the current season due to end
in May of 2014.
Season
|
Timeslot (ET)
|
# Ep.
|
Premiered
|
Ended
|
TV season
|
Rank
|
Viewers
(in millions)
|
18–49
rating
(average)
|
||
Date
|
Premiere
viewers
(in millions)
|
Date
|
Finale
viewers
(in millions)
|
|||||||
1st
|
Tuesday 9:00 p.m.
|
24
|
September 20, 2011
|
10.28[90]
|
May 8, 2012
|
5.61[91]
|
#61
|
8.22[92]
|
4.2/11[84]
|
|
2nd
|
25
|
September 25, 2012
|
5.35[93]
|
May 14, 2013
|
4.06[94]
|
#77
|
5.85[95]
|
3.2/9[95]
|
||
3rd
|
TBA
|
September 17, 2013
|
5.53[96]
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
|||||
Recent
debates
Over the
recent months two writers are suing Fox over the use of their product.
Elizabeth Meriwether and Jake Kasdan claiming that they had the original idea
for a series about a woman who moves into an apartment with three men and
called it 'Square one', with a script prepared for a pilot only to be sent away
by an independent producer, after being told it would be better as a movie.
While writing a movie version, 20th Century Fox produced a series based on
their original idea and then offered Meriwether and Kasdan £10,000 which was
declined. The pair want compensation and damages for their work, as well as
being credited with the original idea.
They also
claim that it was their idea that Zooey Deschanel would play the part of the
main character Jess. The two creators want inclusion in the show's
credits, and a public apology from Fox. They claim that the differences between
the two shows are so small they cannot be afforded copyright protection. Their
original idea is based on the real-life experiences of Meriwether when moving
in with her brother and two other men in his apartment.
Awards
The show
has been nominated for five Golden globes, and five Primetime Emmy
awards. They won a ASCAP award for Top Television series, a TV Guide award for
favourite actress (Zooey Deschanel) and a Teen choice award, Choice TV Breakout
Performance - Female which was given to Hannah Simone.
Recent
debates
Over the
recent months two writers are suing Fox over the use of their product.
Elizabeth Meriwether and Jake Kasdan claiming that they had the original idea
for a series about a woman who moves into an apartment with three men and
called it 'Square one', with a script prepared for a pilot only to be sent away
by an independent producer, after being told it would be better as a movie.
While writing a movie version, 20th Century Fox produced a series based on
their original idea and then offered Meriwether and Kasdan £10,000 which was
declined. The pair want compensation and damages for their work, as well as
being credited with the original idea.
They also
claim that it was their idea that Zooey Deschanel would play the part of the
main character Jess. The two creators want inclusion in the show's
credits, and a public apology from Fox. They claim that the differences between
the two shows are so small they cannot be afforded copyright protection. Their
original idea is based on the real-life experiences of Meriwether when moving
in with her brother and two other men in his apartment.
Awards
The show
has been nominated for five Golden globes, and five Primetime Emmy
awards. They won a ASCAP award for Top Television series, a TV Guide award for
favourite actress (Zooey Deschanel) and a Teen choice award, Choice TV Breakout
Performance - Female which was given to Hannah Simone.
Market
position/Ratings (P1)
The
Simpsons is shown in England on two different TV channels, Channel 4 and Sky
one. Channel 4 show one episode each weekday and two each on Saturdays and
Sundays. With Sky one showing five episodes per weekday, and they own the
rights to show the new episodes first in the UK. Due to being owned by
Simpson's creators Fox. Fox then sell the older episodes to Channel 4, this
brings in more money on top of what they make showing on Sky as well as
expanding their audience.
The
Simpsons hit its peak during the 1990s, when it was completely different to
anything else being shown at the time. It had been over two decades since there
was a animated comedy that could appeal to adults as well as children. During
this time, the series was extremely successful in merchandise and Video/DVD
sales and became one of America's largest representatives for the rest of the
world. Although, now it is not as popular as it was, it is still one of the
most successful Sit-Coms on TV all over the world.
On Sky 1,
The Simpsons averages around 405,000 viewers per episode, however, these
episodes include repeats and episodes that are new to England. So this may not
be a good example. Whereas Channel 4, who only show repeats of episodes which
have already aired on Sky 1. They average around 1.39 million viewers per
episode. Although, this large difference may have something to do with the fact
that everyone in the UK who has a TV has Channel 4, whereas Sky 1 requires a
paid subscription via one of the large TV providers (e.g. Sky, Virgin media or
BT). These statistics show that despite it's age, The Simpsons is still very
popular in the UK.
Despite a
lot of people now having such a large amount of different channels, both
Channel 4 and Sky 1 still bring in a large amount of viewers everyday with The
Simpsons. With every viewer having so many options, The Simpsons still brings
in a large audience regularly.
The table
below shows the overall ratings for The Simpsons for its first 21 seasons. It
shows that at the beginning of the series averaged around 7.8 million viewers,
this may be due to the popularity of the mini episodes on The Tracy Ullman
show. As the series went on, the number of viewers continued to rise until the
end of season 8, hitting its peak between season 6 and 8 averaging 9.4
million viewers. After this, the show began to dip in popularity, by
the start of season 11, the show was now getting just under 7.5
million viewers. The show then suffered another dip at the end of season 12,
and by season 14 the show was only getting 6.9 million viewers per episode.
From their onwards the show then consistently brought in around 7
million viewers over the next 7 seasons.
Channel
|
Average daily reach
|
Weekly reach
 |
Average weekly viewing
|
Share
|
||
000s
|
%
|
000s
|
%
|
Hrs:min per person
|
%
|
|
ALL/ANY
TV
|
45,950
|
78.5
|
55,378
|
94.6
|
26:39
|
100.0
|
BBC 1
|
29,040
|
49.6
|
47,590
|
81.3
|
6:07
|
22.9
|
BBC 2
|
13,038
|
22.3
|
34,939
|
59.7
|
1:30
|
5.6
|
ITV
|
18,434
|
31.5
|
38,832
|
66.3
|
3:35
|
13.5
|
ITV +1
|
2,379
|
4.1
|
10,744
|
18.4
|
0:15
|
0.9
|
ITV HD
|
2,213
|
3.8
|
6,693
|
11.4
|
0:21
|
1.3
|
Channel 4
|
12,155
|
20.8
|
35,014
|
59.8
|
1:19
|
4.9
|
Channel 4+1
|
2,613
|
4.5
|
12,048
|
20.6
|
0:13
|
0.8
|
Channel
5
|
8,625
|
14.7
|
27,498
|
47.0
|
1:00
|
3.8
|
Channel
5+1
|
984
|
1.7
|
5,208
|
8.9
|
0:06
|
0.4
|
Channel
5 +24
|
0
|
0.0
|
0
|
0.0
|
0:00
|
0.0
|
Sky 1
|
2,986
|
5.1
|
11,364
|
19.4
|
0:18
|
1.1
|
Sky 1 +1
|
149
|
0.3
|
845
|
1.4
|
0:01
|
0.1
|
Sky 2
|
588
|
1.0
|
2,981
|
5.1
|
0:03
|
0.2
|
Pick TV
|
2,168
|
3.7
|
8,226
|
14.1
|
0:13
|
0.8
|
Pick TV
+1
|
159
|
0.3
|
827
|
1.4
|
0:01
|
0.1
|
Sky
Arts 1
|
224
|
0.4
|
1,268
|
2.2
|
0:01
|
0.1
|
Sky 1
w/e 16 Feb 2014
000's
|
||
1
|
STELLA
(FRI 2100)
|
1,073
|
2
|
HAWAII
FIVE-0 (SUN 2101)
|
993
|
3
|
ROSS
KEMP EXTREME WORLD (TUE 2100)
|
568
|
4
|
DUCK
QUACKS DONT ECHO 60 VERSION (FRI 2201)
|
494
|
5
|
THE
SIMPSONS (WED 1900)
|
432
|
6
|
THE
SIMPSONS (FRI 1830)
|
425
|
7
|
THE
SIMPSONS/#MOES GOES FROM RAGS TO RIC (SUN 1900
|
405
|
8
|
THE
SIMPSONS/#THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO LITT (FRI 1900
|
401
|
9
|
THE
SIMPSONS/#BONFIRE OF THE MANATEES (WED 1830)
|
383
|
10
|
STORM
NATION SPECIAL/#STORM NATION SPECI (THU 2000
|
382
|
Sky 1 +1 (only available to Sky and not Virgin
Media)
w/e 16 Feb 2014
000's
|
||
1
|
STELLA
(FRI 2200)
|
66
|
2
|
HAWAII
FIVE-0 (SUN 2201)
|
63
|
3
|
MODERN
FAMILY (WED 1831)
|
28
|
4
|
FILM:
COMMANDO (1985) (SAT 2320)
|
26
|
5
|
ROSS
KEMP EXTREME WORLD (TUE 2200)
|
21
|
6
|
ASHLEY
BANJOS BIG TOWN DANCE (WED 2100)
|
19
|
7
|
THE
SIMPSONS/#POLITICALLY INEPT WITH HOM (FRI 1600
|
19
|
8
|
FUTURAMA
S5 (FRI 1701)
|
16
|
9
|
THE
SIMPSONS (FRI 1730)
|
15
|
10
|
FUTURAMA
S5 (FRI 1630)
|
15
|
Channel 4
w/e 16 Feb 2014
Millions
|
||
1
|
BENEFITS
STREET (MON 2103)
|
4.79
|
2
|
PETER
KAY LIVE & BACK ON NIGHTS (FRI 2101)
|
3.05
|
3
|
LOCATION
LOCATION LOCATION (TUE 1959)
|
2.40
|
4
|
FILM:
RED (2010) (SUN 2102)
|
2.37
|
5
|
24
HOURS IN A & E (WED 2101)
|
2.28
|
6
|
RESTORATION
MAN (WED 2000)
|
1.99
|
7
|
FOOD
UNWRAPPED (MON 2032)
|
1.70
|
8
|
BODYSHOCKERS:
MY TATTOO HELL (THU 2203)
|
1.68
|
9
|
WALKING
THROUGH HISTORY (SAT 2002)
|
1.51
|
10
|
JAMIE
AND JIMMY'S FRIDAY NIGHT FEAST (FRI 1959)
|
1.47
|
11
|
DISPATCHES:
BENEFITS BRITAIN: THE BEDROO (MON 1959
|
1.39
|
12
|
THE
LAST LEG WITH ADAM HILLS (FRI 2203)
|
1.38
|
13
|
SUPERSIZE
VS SUPERSKINNY (THU 1959)
|
1.37
|
14
|
COME
DINE WITH ME (SAT 1816)
|
1.36
|
15
|
COACH
TRIP (MON 1730)
|
1.32
|
16
|
COACH
TRIP (FRI 1729)
|
1.28
|
17
|
COACH
TRIP (WED 1729)
|
1.27
|
18
|
COACH
TRIP (THU 1730)
|
1.26
|
19
|
COME
DINE WITH ME (SAT 1744)
|
1.23
|
20
|
THE
SIMPSONS (MON 1801)
|
1.23
|
21
|
SCANDALICIOUS
(SUN 2001)
|
1.22
|
22
|
HOSTAGES
(SAT 2103)
|
1.21
|
23
|
HOLLYOAKS
(MON 1832)
|
1.18
|
24
|
COACH
TRIP (TUE 1729)
|
1.17
|
25
|
COME
DINE WITH ME (SAT 1712)
|
1.14
|
26
|
HOLLYOAKS
(TUE 1831)
|
1.14
|
27
|
HOLLYOAKS
(THU 1830)
|
1.13
|
28
|
DEAL OR
NO DEAL (WED 1559)
|
1.11
|
29
|
DEAL OR
NO DEAL (FRI 1559)
|
1.11
|
30
|
COME
DINE WITH ME (WED 1659)
|
1.09
|
Channel 4 +1
w/e 16 Feb 2014
000's
|
||
1
|
BENEFITS
STREET (MON 2203)
|
677
|
2
|
PETER
KAY LIVE & BACK ON NIGHTS (FRI 2201)
|
391
|
3
|
24
HOURS IN A & E (WED 2201)
|
344
|
4
|
SCANDALICIOUS
(SUN 2101)
|
289
|
5
|
FILM:
RED (2010) (SUN 2202)
|
267
|
6
|
RESTORATION
MAN (WED 2100)
|
235
|
7
|
THE
SIMPSONS (TUE 1901)
|
234
|
8
|
FILM:
SPY KIDS (2011): ALL THE TIME IN.. (SUN 1619
|
227
|
9
|
THE
SIMPSONS (THU 1902)
|
216
|
10
|
WALKING
THROUGH HISTORY (SAT 2102)
|
209
|
However,
the drop in viewers in the last few seasons may also be explained by a lot
people now being able to record the new episodes and then watch them later.
Anyone who does this does not count towards the amount of viewers so these
figures may not be completely accurate. A lot of people may also be watching on
Netflix or Fox's website. These are also figures that are not added to the
overall figures. Despite the amount of viewers of the newer episodes dropping,
The Simpsons is still one of the most watched TV programmes because of the
repeats that are shown on two different channels, several times per day.
The Simpsons Total
Franchise Revenue
Statistic Verification
|
Source:
20th Century Fox, IMDb, Encyclopedia of Television
|
Research
Date: 1.1.2014
|
The Simpsons Franchise Revenue Statistics
|
|
Advertising
revenue from The Simpsons primetime airings
|
$5.35
Billion
|
The
Simpsons Movie Ticket Sales
|
$527
Million
|
The
Simpsons Movie DVD Sales
|
$96.4
Million
|
The
Simpsons TV-DVD Sales
|
$894.25
Million
|
The
Simpsons Merchandise & Toy Sales
|
$4.6
Billion
|
The
Simpsons TV syndication revenue
|
$1.1
Billion
|
Total
Simpsons Franchise Revenue
|
$12.33
Billion
|
The Simpsons Statistics
|
|
Total
number of Simpsons Television seasons
|
23
|
Total
DVD units sold of The Simpsons Movie
|
5,698,883
|
Total
DVD units sold of The Simpsons television seasons
|
18.25
Million
|
Total
number of Primtime Emmy’s won
|
27
|
Amount
of Simpsons merchandise sold in 2008
|
$750
Million
|
Amount
main voice actor’s recieve per episode
|
$400,000
|
Number
of companies that have licensed the use of The Simpsons characters
|
500
|
Number
of states that have a city named Springfield
|
22
|
Average
amount of viewers during first season
|
13.4
million
|
Total
number of Simpsons episodes
|
500
|
Cost to
convert 11 of 7-Eleven’s stores into Kwik-E-Marts
|
$10
million
|
TV shows that influenced The Simpsons:
The Flintstones -
The Simpsons took great inspiration from The Flintstones, this is because The Flintstones was one the very first cartoons to appeal to adults. This is because of the satire humour it uses as well as mixing stone-age life with modern life especially with modern home appliances. Including daily newspapers that are carved into a stone and dishwashers made by using various objects.
The influence is clear because of a reference when using The Flintstones' intro to an episode (Marge vs. the Monorail), and the inclusion of The Flintstones family in one of their couch gags (from the Kamp Krusty episode). Both of these shows are focused around a dysfunctional family, and the challenges they get into each day, however in a different setting. There are various similarities between some of the characters, including; Homer Simpsons and Fred Flintstone who are stereotypical American working class men who are lazy and loud-mouthed characters. Marge and Wilma, who are the people who hold their families together and keep their husbands in check.
The Jetsons -
The Jetsons used many of the comedy styling's used in The Flintstones which (which was also created by Hanna-Barbera), were also used later in The Simpsons. The Jetsons was set in 2062, which was set 100 years after the show was created. It was based around an average American family from the future.
The Simpsons has frequently referenced The Jetsons, in one of their couch gags the floor becomes a treadmill and everyone makes it except for Homer. He falls on the floor and yells "Marge, stop this crazy thing, similarly to the way George Jetson did in in the end credits of every episode of The Jetsons. In some ways the characters of Homer Simpson and George Jetson are quite similar. This is due to their similar roles in their shows. They are both the fathers in their families, and try to keep their families in check. Also, their wives; Marge Simpson and Jane Jetson both help to keep their families together and keep them in check during each episode.
Tom and Jerry -
The Tom and Jerry series was an inspiration to The Simpsons because it influenced the slapstick comedy used in the series which is often used at Homer's expense. Tom and Jerry was able to take slapstick comedy a lot further than any live action TV show could ever do. Tom and Jerry has an obvious influence on the cartoon on The Krusty the clown show 'The Itchy and Scratchy show'. This is because of the slapstick comedy between a cartoon cat and mouse, Tom and Jerry also may have been the influence for The Simpsons writers to humanize the Itchy and Scratchy characters. They will occasionally have human traits such as talking to each other, watching TV and creating parodies of real events to name a few.
TV shows influenced by The Simpsons:
Family Guy -
It is clear that The Simpsons has had a large influence on Family Guy. However, Family guy has took the satire humour a lot further than The Simpsons did, this lead to a later air time and many complaints about controversial scenes that are directly aimed at some celebrities and groups of people. They often take observational humour and greatly exaggerate it.
It features a similar set out to The Simpsons, with a family of five as well as a pet dog. This includes; Peter, the father of the family and the show's main character, Lois, the loving mother, Meg, the unappreciated daughter, Chris the dim-witted oldest son, and Stewie, the youngest son who is incredibly intelligent and well-spoken (to those who hear him) for his age. There is also the family dog Brian. He has many human traits such as being able to walk and talk, and is best friend to the show's main character Peter.
However, there are also many differences in the two series. These include, in Family guy, Brian the dog can talk whereas the Simpsons' dog, Santa's little helper cannot and is more like a real dog. It is also well documented that in Family guy; Peter, the father of the family does not like his daughter Meg, whereas Homer loves his whole family.
Family guy bases a lot of its humour on cut-away gags, whereas The Simpsons mainly focus on the funny characteristics of their characters, such as Bart rebelling against what he is told and Homer embarrassing himself with his own stupidity and often not catching on very quickly to anything anyone says. The cut-aways in Family guy are used to parody real events and use satire humour, whereas this is done in a more subtle way on The Simpsons.
American Dad -
American Dad is an animated comedy from the creators of Family guy, it is based around the Smith family, Stan; a CIA agent, his wife Francine, son Steve, daughter Hayley, talking pet fish Klaus and Roger who is an alien who the family are hiding in their home.
It uses a similar style of humour and comedy to The Simpsons, but takes the humour and satire a lot further than The Simpsons can in their time slot. Like The Simpsons it focuses around a family and follows the different situations they get themselves into. Like The Simpsons, the show is based around the father of the family with many of the show's storylines focusing on Stan in the show.
The Cleveland show
The Cleveland show is a direct spin-off of Family guy, with it's main character; Cleveland Brown moving away from Quahog (and therefore Griffins) after breaking up with his wife Loretta.
He moved to Stoolbend to live with his high school sweet-heart Donna Tubbs. Cleveland brings his son Cleveland Junior with him, and Donna has a daughter called; Roberta and a son called Rallo.
It uses a similar style of comedy to Family guy with the use of several cutaway gags which are often completely unrelated to the overall storyline of the episode. After four seasons of the series, it was cancelled by Fox with repeats still being shown on several networks in England which include E4 and Fox, with it's repeats still being shown on TBS and on Cartoon network on their late night block called 'Adult swim'.
Competitors: (P1)
Family guy: 1999-2001, 2005-present (Fox)
Family guy is currently one of the most popular animated Sit-Coms in the world. It is a satirical parody of the American way of life, it is well known that Seth Macfarlane's most famous TV show takes their comedy a lot further than The Simpsons do. The series is an adult comedy, because of this they can be a lot more controversial in what they can say and do. However, because of the adult nature of the show, it is shown in a much later time slot to The Simpsons. The show is focused around the Griffin family, including Peter and his wife Lois, there three children; Meg, Chris and Stewie as well as their talking dog Brian. Who live in Quahog, a small town in Rhode Island.
South Park: 1997-present (Comedy Central)
South Park is an Adult animation, and is based around four main characters; Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick who all live in a fictional town called South Park. It uses dark humour and satirizes real world events. It came to popularity due to two short animations that went viral on the internet, this led to Comedy Central asking the show's writers (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) to produce a series. It became one Comedy Central's highest rated shows during the late 90s and early 2000s. It was originally produced using Cut-out animation and later was created by software that emulates Cut-out animation.
American Dad: 2005-present (Fox)
American Dad is a spin-off of Family guy, by Family guy creator; Seth Macfarlane. It is based on the Smith family from Virginia; Stan, the father of the family who is a CIA agent. His wife Francine, their daughter Hayley, son Steve, pet fish Klaus and an alien called Rodger. Rather than Family guy's style of using cut-aways and jokes aimed directly at celebrities and pop-culture. Instead it uses the characteristics and mannerisms of its characters for humour.
Futurama: 1999-2003 (Fox ), 2005-2013 (Comedy Central)
Futurama is a spin-off of The Simpsons, it is also created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening. It is set in the 31st century, and is based around Phillip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from the late 20th century who is cryogenically frozen until New Year's eve 2999. The cast also includes; Leela, who is a love interest for Fry, Bender, a robot who was created to develop technology and Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth. The show was broadcast on Fox until disagreements over time slots resulted creator Matt Groening moving the show to Comedy Central.
Channel
4's Competitors (P1)
BBC One
BBC One
is the most watched channel in the UK, and shows a variety of different
programmes including, unrivalled sports coverage for a terrestrial channel with
highlights of England's top four leagues and live Formula one coverage. They
are also well known for their drama programmes like Sherlock and Call the
Midwife. They also have there ever popular soap-opera; Eastenders which is
regularly one of the most highly viewed TV programmes each weekday.
BBC Two
BBC Two
shows some of the UK's most popular TV programmes such as the panel show; QI,
they also show Top Gear which is the most watched factual programme in the
world. BBC Two is the third most popular TV channel in the UK behind it's
parent channel and ITV.
ITV
ITV is
Britain's second most popular channel and shows a wide range of different TV
shows covering many different genres. They have two soap-operas, Emmerdale and
Coronation Street directly competing with BBC One's Eastenders. They also
air various different Drama series' such as Downton Abbey and Mr Selfridge.
Channel 5
Channel 5
are the fifth most watched TV channel in the UK and are well known for
showing a wide range of hit American TV shows. Channel 5 show the US hit dramas
The Mentalist and NCIS. They are the only terrestrial channel to show The
Walking Dead among many other shows.
Sky One's
Competitors
E4
E4, like
Channel 4 and 5, show many hit American TV shows. Programmes such as; The Big
Bang Theory, Desperate housewives, How I met your Mother, Rules of Engagement
and New Girl. They attract a large amount of the 18-49 audience with their many
American comedy programmes.
Fox
Fox are
the first channel in the UK to show The Walking Dead, showing new episodes
just days after the US. They also show some of the most popular animated
series. These programmes include; Family guy, American Dad and The
Cleveland show. Fox also show new episodes of NCIS before anyone else in
the UK.
UKTV
UKTV
is a group of both Freeview and paid TV channels and air some of the UK's most
popular TV programmes that were formerly shown on BBC and ITV. Their channels
include Freeview channel; Dave, paid channels; Gold and Watch amongst others.
Dave shows repeats of Top gear and Mock the week, as well as the American drama
'Suits' and Dave Gorman's: Modern life is goodish.
Gold show
many of Britain's most popular comedies from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Such
as; Only fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Last of the summer wine
and Vicar of Dibley.
One
of their other main channels; Watch, also shows repeats of popular programmes
such as; Doctor who, Babylon 5 and The Bill. They also show there own new
shows, these include there selection of Magic related shows; Dynamo: Magician
impossible, Derren Brown: Trick or treat and The Happenings.
Introduction (P2) The Simpsons is an animated comedy series based around a middle class American family from a fictional town called Springfield. It is written by Matt Groening and animated by David Silverman, Wes Archer, and Bill Kopp. The Simpsons debuted on an American variety show called The Tracey Ullman show on April 19th 1987 as a series of short animations, in which some of the main cast of The Tracey Ullman show starred in. These included Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner, with Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright added to play Lisa and Bart as well as Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer who joined to voice much of the extended cast.
After appearing in mini-episodes for the first three series of The Tracey Ullman show, The Simpsons was given a prime time half-an-hour slot of it's own on Fox. There have since been 24 series aired since the show started in 1989 as well as a full feature length movie.
Genre, Purpose and Audience: -(P2)
The Simpsons is intended to be suitable for all audiences, this is why it uses such a large variety of different characters of both genders, all ages, races and religions, therefore everyone around the world who watches the show has a character that they can relate to in some way. However, the show is also considered as a Sit-Com, having one primary storyline for the episode along with other smaller side stories along the way, The Simpsons has since became the longest running in this genre; taking over The Flintstones in February 1997. The Simpsons is also considered an Adult Animation, this is because it is one of the very few cartoons that appeals to adults because of the satire comedy used and their parody of American way of life, The American dream, a satirical view on the people of the country. This is intended to show the American people how everyone else sees them however exaggerated it may be. It also makes a mockery of the American media and Journalism industries that focus more on entertaining the viewers than actually informing them of the news.
Form and Style: -(P2)
The Simpsons is an animated Sit-Com, the focuses on one primary storyline for each episode. Each episode is in a half-hour slot, with new episodes aired once a week, usually on a Sunday. However, repeats are show several times everyday in many different countries. The Simpsons is created by using Cel animation, first it is hand-drawn by animators as the basis for each character. Then the raw drawings are put into a computer programme to bring them to life. The Simpsons is considered both a animation for the whole family, due to the child-like comedy that is used. It is also considered an Adult Animation, because of the satire humour used and the regular parodies of the American way of life.
Content and Meaning (P2) (M1)
The writers of The Simpsons are free to say anything that they want to because of an unusual contract written up by the show's producer; James L Brooks. This contract meant that Fox had no input in anything included in The Simpsons, which gave Matt Groening along with the show's writers a unique freedom which even meant frequent criticism of the Fox network.
Media is a recurring theme of satire on The Simpsons. It is known for its satire of American popular culture and particularly television culture. Since it began, The Simpsons has covered all types of media, such as Animation, Journalism, commercials, comic books, internet and music.
The series focuses on a typical American family who live in a typical American town. However, because it is animated, The Simpsons scope is larger and 'Springfield' acts as a complete universe for its characters. The town has its own Media, involving newspapers (Springfield shopper) and TV channels. These channels show local news presented by Kent Brockman, Troy McClure's documentaries and a children's TV programme presented by the town's clown; Krusty. All of these fictional TV programmes allow the producers to make jokes about themselves and the entertainment industry.
Most of The Simpsons media satire focuses on television. This is done by using the characters mentioned above; Kent Brockman, Troy McClure and Krusty the clown. Each of these characters have a career in a fictional TV programmes within The Simpsons. The Itchy and Scratchy show is a show within a show, which is used as a satire of animation and sometimes a satire of The Simpsons itself.
Topics range from censorship issues, plagiarism, unoriginal writing, to spoofs of shows and documentaries. A theme that comes up a lot is Journalism. The Simpsons has a fictional news team with Kent Brockman as the anchor who presents the fictional shows; 'Smartline' and 'Eye on Springfield'. However, Brockman is more interested in entertaining the viewers than informing them and through him, the writers can make commentary on the amplified and sensationalised nature of television news.
The Simpsons also deals with the tabloid media by making people look guilty without a trial, as well as using a complete lack of privacy, by setting up camp outside people's homes. When The Simpsons was first developed, James L Brooks negotiated an unusual contract, in which the producers prevented the Fox network from interfering with the show. This contract allowed them to write several jokes about both the Fox network and Fox news. Matt Groening has commented that this contract puts The Simpsons in a unique position and commentators have commented that it defies industry practices.
It could be argued that The Simpsons reaches into people's minds and has the potential to teach children and adults about media literacy.
The Simpsons is also famous for its large amount of guest stars over the years, these include; James Brown, Elizabeth Taylor, The Rolling stones, Sir Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and Leonard Nimoy amongst many others. The characters they represent normally become the main focus of the episode and help the family in their adventures.
The Production process (P2)
1)
A team of about 15 writers decide on plots
and throw around ideas for jokes and gags, then one or two writers are sent
away to write a full script for the episode. This script is then given a read
through by the voice artists, before making any final alterations. The main
voice actors are Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley
Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer. As well as any special guests
(the characters each Actor/Actress plays are in a list below. The episode is
recorded onto a voice track and sent to the animating team.
2)
The animators draw out story boards and
rough sketches for how the episode will look, followed by a set of black and
white drawings for the whole episode, called frames. These are then shot under
a camera, pieced together and combined with the voice track to give the writers
and director a rough overview of the episode. They can also make any last
minute changes needed.
3)
The drawings are put into a computer to be
animated, this is the point when the characters begin to look like they do
on the show.
4)
Finally comes the music. Alf Clausen and
his orchestra add music to give emotion and feeling to the episode. Everything
is combined together and the writers & producers can have their view
and opinion on the episode before it is aired. Therefore they can make a
last minute check that everything is as it should be, and the episode says what
they wanted it to (message, story).
5)
This whole process take about nine months
for one episode, for this reason the writers and producers are working on several
episodes at a time. The producers have said that they sometimes find it
aggravating that it takes so long. An episode for a sitcom is usually written
over two or three days, recorded the next day, and then aired a week later.
However, on the set of The Simpsons, an episode is written in two days,
recorded on the third day, then the final product is viewed six months later by
the producers and writers before it is broadcast.
Nevertheless, everyone who works on The
Simpsons agrees that "it's the best job in show business."
Analysis of a clip from The Simpsons (M1)
Treehouse of Horror XXIV
This clip is the couch gag from the Halloween special episode for season 25. It is a narrative theme typical of The Simpsons, it references TV shows, movies and books in practically every frame. This clip still focuses on the same basic format of the family on their way home from work, school and the shops. However, this version (like every Treehouse of Horror episode) is slightly different to the regular opening titles and couch gag. This is because it contains many references and parodies to Halloween and horror themed TV, films and books. The formal media conventions for The Simpsons stay the same, as in the length of the episodes remain 22 minutes long, the main characters are consistent and the style of dialogue remains the same.
As the viewer we are looking in as an observer, like we are looking in through a window into the character's lives. The Mise-en-scene of the clip includes every horror icon imaginable, and helps to create the scene. It also contains the main characters in a horror character form and the clip also references the underworld as well as skeletons and clips of Mr Burns and Mr Smithers in what looks like an underground lair.
It parodies many different TV shows, movies and books. These include; Game of Thrones, Night of the living dead, The Birds and The Shining.
It also contains references to its own history, with a clip from an older Halloween episode of The Simpsons with Lard lad from Treehouse of Horror VI, along with several photos in the clip referencing different Halloween specials from years gone by. As well as showing the drawings of the characters from the shorts on The Tracy Ullman show which in the scene are buried underground, to show that they have came a long way since the short episodes.
Demographics (P3/M3)
Relationship between media products and their target audience.
(Gender, Age and Lifestyle)
After The Simpsons' season 2 premiere, it was announced that it had equalled The Cosby show in the ratings, this lead to a study of the show's demographics. This helped to find out how popular the show was with each age group and which gender the show was most popular with. This would show if The Simpsons was getting its target audience of the whole family. The statistics show that; 56% of kids 2-11 and more than 50% of youngsters 12-17 tuned in 'The Simpsons'. This is on top of, 50% of men 18-34 and 42% of men 18-49 also watched the season premiere. The figures for female fans of the show were slightly lower but still impressive, 41% of females 18-34 and 36% of those 18-49 watched the show's newest episode. However, for the over 50 age group there was almost no audience for The Simpsons. With the show only making up 8% of the males in that category and only 6% of females in the category.
These statistics (from the launch of season 2, October 11th 1990) show that The Simpsons was more popular with men than it was with women during the time of the study. The show was most popular with the adult category aged between 18-49. However, with women between 18-34, The Simpsons made up 41% of the audience.
Apart from the under 18 demographic, who won't be financially independent, the majority of the audience of The Simpsons appears to be males aged 18-50. This group are most likely to be financially independent and upwardly mobile individuals. The Simpsons is primarily aimed at working class families who live a similar lifestyle to the family on the show. From this audience the show is focused at men aged 18-50 because of the show's main character Homer being based on the average American working class man. This will be identifiable to a large audience because he provides for his family and is neither rich or poor, he is in the middle like the majority of men in this age bracket.
The Simpsons tied with The Cosby Show in the key category of overall audience share with each show attracting 29% of the nation's viewers. That figure probably stunned the new Fox network as much as anybody. Cosby barely edged out "The Simpsons" by one-tenth of a point in total household ratings. But even an NBC source expressed amazement at the tight competition because NBC has 208 stations and Fox has lined up only 133 thus far.
Despite the whopping "Simpsons" performance, Fox still finished third for the night--not only behind NBC, but also ABC as viewers 50 and older went solidly for a two-hour Columbo with Peter Falk.
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-10-16/entertainment/ca-2464_1_bart-simpson statistics from here.
Spending power (P3)
The Simpsons has been the face of many different brands, mainly food based and confectionary brands, that appeal to the whole family. These ads include the show's long relationship with Nestle and their chocolate bars; Butterfinger. The Simpsons were in the Butterfinger ads between 1988, when the show was still on The Tracey Ullman show and 2002 when the show was still in it's prime. This had a large affect on both the Simpsons and the Butterfinger brand. These ads are aimed primarily at kids, this is because kids will bug their parents until they buy the chocolate bar because they will want to be like Bart and will buy whatever he advertises, this is known as Pester power and is a effective and popular tactic in advertising that has been used mainly by confectionery companies for decades.
Bart's slogan, 'Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!', is memorable and helps to appeal to fans of The Simpsons.
The Simpsons have also done ads for brands such as Burger King. This brand will appeal to both parents and their kids, this is because the parents will not have to cook the meal for the family, and possibly save money as well. Also, information from Think box (show information found) shows that parents watch shows like The Simpsons with their kids and have grown to like the show just as much as them. During the ads that were ran around the time of The Simpsons Movie, Burger King promoted their free toys as well as their meals, these toys were of Simpsons characters which helped to bring more younger people into the restaurant and therefore bring the rest of their family with them.
When The Simpsons becomes the face of a brand, it is normally a brand that can appeal to everyone, this is normally by advertising cheaper brands that everybody knows. These include; Coca Cola, Burger King, Butterfinger, CCs and KFC. These ads have aired in different places around the world and have helped to promote both the company and the show itself. Using several deals and promotions involving The Simpsons characters.
Distribution channels (P4)
Fox
Fox have the full rights to The Simpsons, because of this they show the newest episodes before anyone else in the world. This Channel is only available in America which means that anyone watching on Fox has exclusive first viewing of the latest Simpsons episodes.
Sky One
As part of Fox and therefore News corp, Sky show's new episodes of The Simpsons before anyone else in Great Britain. Sky One is a paid subscription channel, this means that only Sky and Virgin Media customers can access it. Sky has shown the series in the UK since the first season in 1990, and was the only channel to show it until BBC Two in 1996 who only showed repeats. Sky One are slightly behind Fox, because season 25 is shown on Fox in America but the newest episode to be shown on Sky so far is the finale of season 24.
Channel 4
Channel 4 is the only terrestrial British TV channel to show The Simpsons and bought the rights from BBC Two in 2002 and can show as far as season 21, which leaves them three seasons behind Sky One. Channel 4 have a relationship with Sky and with that Fox. They show the older episodes and bring in revenue for themselves (with the viewers), as well as Fox and Sky because Channel 4 pay them for the right to show the episodes.
DVD
The first 16 seasons and season 20 of The Simpsons have so far been released on DVD, one season is released each year with the twentieth season released to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the show beginning. The DVD box sets regularly include deleted scenes, ads they have done (CCs, Butterfinger etc.) and audio commentary on every episode. They are usually released around ten years after they are first shown on TV.
Cinema
The Simpsons has only ever had one release in cinemas, in 2007's The Simpsons Movie. The movie made $526 million at the box office having had a budget of $75 million.
Online
There is no way to watch full episodes of The Simpsons on the internet. Many websites such as Hulu and YouTube allow small clips from the series. However, there are no websites that offer the full episodes of the series. This may be because Fox, Sky and Channel 4 are still making money by showing the repeats daily. Also, an online presence on websites like Netflix and Lovefilm may not make money because they require a paid subscription when Channel 4 is free and the majority of people in the UK already have access to Sky one as well.
Piracy
Because of The Simpsons' near-constant availability on terrestrial and satellite channels it is likely that the show is not really a victim of piracy because it is already so easily and readily available everyday on two different channels. Episodes of The Simpsons are shown for free on Channel 4 and Sky one is a channel that the majority of people already have anyway and they show five or six episodes each day.
Marketing and distribution of The Simpsons (P4)
The Simpsons has been the face of many different brands from around the world. This has benefitted both the show and the brands involved. These ads often stem from a long relationship with another company. For example, their long-running ads with Butterfinger were aired regularly between 1988 and 2002, beginning when the show was still a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman show, and ending close to the end of the prime of the show.
CCs - The ads involved Bart having a bag of CCs (an Australian brand of crisps), making Homer do a dare to get them. This ad had six different variations which all result in Homer never getting the bag at the end. In 1998, when The Simpsons was still in its prime, the CCs ads began. The ads included Dan Castellaneta saying the CCs catchphrase 'CCs, you can't say...' with Homer then saying his catchphrase 'Do'h' instead of no.
Butterfinger & Butterfinger BBs - The ads for the Nestle chocolate bars, involved Homer getting close to getting one, with Bart making sure he just misses out each and every time. These ads capitalised on the success of the early Simpsons series. This helped both the show and the chocolate bars to be very successful. Each commercial would end with Bart saying Butterfinger's slogan 'Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger', Before taking a bite a then the famous crunch could be heard. The different ads were ran between October 1988 (while The Simpsons was still on the Tracey Ullman show) until January 2002. Another two ads were released around the time of The Simpsons Movie including; Bart and later Itchy and Scratchy.
MasterCard - These ads began during February 2004, and shows Homer using his MasterCard in various places around the town. He goes in many of Springfield's landmarks in the series. These include; Moe's and the Kwik-E-Mart as well as visiting the garage and getting a haircut. During the ad, they use an inside joke from the series, which involves Moleman always getting hurt in comical ways. In the ad Moleman gets hit when Homer pushes open the door of Moe's bar.
Burger King - The Burger King ad was released in 2007, around the time that The Simpsons movie was in cinemas. It involves everyone on the planet being changed into a popular Simpsons character by Kang and Kodos. The ad involves Homer, Chief Wiggum, Kent Brockman and Grandpa from the series. This helped to promote the movie, as well as Burger King capitalising on the movie's popularity.
The Simpsons episode and movie ads (P4)
Although the show has helped to promote several different brands, they have also used advertising to promote their own show. On various channels in many different countries.
Fox - Through each week between September and May, Fox promote their weekly back-to-back animated shows (Animation Domination) that are shown on Sunday evenings. It includes; The Simpsons, Family guy, American Dad and Bob's burgers. These ads are created to promote new episodes of all four of these series each week.
Fox - Animation Domination -
Animation Domination is a series of animated comedies shown on Fox on Sundays. This features; The Simpsons, Family guy, American Dad and Bob's burgers. It shows new episodes of all four of these shows back-to-back
Sky one -
The Simpsons impact and effect on the audience - (P5)
Because The Simpsons is a programme aimed at all audiences, audiences of different age groups will get different things from The Simpsons. The younger audience will enjoy the comic violence and Bart's mischievous behaviour. Whereas adults will understand the satire humour and parodies of the media, celebrities and other TV shows and possibly enjoy that more than the comic violence. However, like many other TV programmes, The Simpsons has became more controversial and shocking because of it's audience like many others is becoming increasingly desensitised to violence and controversy. In the Media there is a theory called the 'inoculation theory' which suggests that young people have became desensitised to violence in recent years and as a result The Simpsons has had to become more shocking and controversial to keep up with their competitors.
Satire
The Simpsons is world famous for it's use of satire comedy. This is mainly because of the willingness for celebrities to guest star on the show, knowing that they will be mocked and be the basis for a large amount of the jokes in the episodes. The Simpsons has had many world famous; actors, musicains and sports stars on their show over their 25 season run. Some of the most memorable include; Michael Jackson, Aerosmith and Dustin Hoffman.
One of the most prominent uses of satire in the show is the rich, old miser Mr Burns who is based on 21st Century Fox Founder Rupert Murdoch. It is joke amongst the writers of the series written in a tongue in cheek style, so not to be seen as offensive to their employer.
Representation/Representational
issues (P5)
The Simpsons family relationships/values
The Simpsons has a lot of different characters who represent different races, religions, genders and ages. This is part of the reason why the show is so successful all over the world.
The Simpsons main characters all represent different people in the show. Homer is a stereotypical middle-class American man who is very stupid and pays the price for this on a regular basis, this is intended to show middle-class American's how they are perceived by others.
Marge is the stereotypical housewife who holds the family together, and is intended to represent most Mothers who watch the programme with their family.
Bart is the mischievous prankster who is always seeking attention. However, to prevent children looking up to him and copying what he does, the show includes the consequences of his actions and shows him being punished.
Lisa is the intelligent and sometimes lonely middle child who is often rewarded for being so intelligent. Lastly Maggie is the often forgotten member of the family and is often nowhere to be seen when something exciting is happening (often saving the family without them even knowing).
The Simpsons also contains several characters who are of different religions and races. These include; the Flanders family who are devout Christians, Apu and his wife Manjula are both originally from India and are both Hindu. TV personality Krusty the Clown is Jewish along with his father Rabbi Krustofski. The Simpsons is often accused of being offensive. However, to be seen as Politically correct The Simpsons regularly offends every race, religion and minority group. As well as offending celebrities and creating parodies and satire of real-world current events.
The Simpsons family relationships/values
The Simpsons has a lot of different characters who represent different races, religions, genders and ages. This is part of the reason why the show is so successful all over the world.
The Simpsons main characters all represent different people in the show. Homer is a stereotypical middle-class American man who is very stupid and pays the price for this on a regular basis, this is intended to show middle-class American's how they are perceived by others.
Marge is the stereotypical housewife who holds the family together, and is intended to represent most Mothers who watch the programme with their family.
Bart is the mischievous prankster who is always seeking attention. However, to prevent children looking up to him and copying what he does, the show includes the consequences of his actions and shows him being punished.
Lisa is the intelligent and sometimes lonely middle child who is often rewarded for being so intelligent. Lastly Maggie is the often forgotten member of the family and is often nowhere to be seen when something exciting is happening (often saving the family without them even knowing).
The Simpsons also contains several characters who are of different religions and races. These include; the Flanders family who are devout Christians, Apu and his wife Manjula are both originally from India and are both Hindu. TV personality Krusty the Clown is Jewish along with his father Rabbi Krustofski. The Simpsons is often accused of being offensive. However, to be seen as Politically correct The Simpsons regularly offends every race, religion and minority group. As well as offending celebrities and creating parodies and satire of real-world current events.
Understanding
ethical, legal and regulatory issues associated with The
Simpsons (P5)
BBFC -
The
British Board of Film Classification (formerly The British Board of Film Censorship) was
formed in 1912 as an independent British non-government organisation to
classify and censor cinema films and work out how old you should have to be to
watch each individual film. Also, since 1984 the BBFC have also classified
videos and DVDs since the Recordings act was passed.
The
BBFC's impact on The Simpsons products
The
Simpsons Movie which was in cinemas in the summer of 2007, was given a PG
certificate by the BBFC. The majority of the DVD releases of the series have
also been given a PG certificate and because of the similar style of humour,
language and comic violence.
The BBFC
Insight stated that the series contains mild language, sexual innuendo and
comic violence and was passed uncut.
Rating
information
The
version of this work detailed above is rated by the BBFC under the Video
Recordings Act 1984 for use on any Packaged Media format (including DVD,
Blu-ray and VHS). This classification may also be used when the same work is
made available on Digital Video Platforms (including Video On Demand) provided
that the platform is licenced to use BBFC ratings.
Below is
an example of the BBFC ratings selected episodes were given. The ratings are
split between U, PG and 12 rating, depending on subjects like bad language
and comic violence. The majority of the episodes are given either a U or a
PG rating. With a small amount of the episodes given a 12 rating for various
reasons. These have included; 'The Cartridge family', which included a riot and
the use of guns, as well as one scene in which Homer points a gun directly at
Marge. The other example included below is 'Trash of the titans' which included
use of the word 'wankers' twice in the episode. Once by the episodes guest
stars U2 and another instance when used by Mr Burns later in the same episode.
Season
Two - An example of the ratings given by the BBFC
|
PEGI
PEGI is
a regulatory company, that is responsible for giving age ratings for video
games released in Europe. They use slightly different age brackets for
video games. Rather the traditional; U, PG, 12, 12A, 15 and 18 PEGI's age
ratings are; 3,7, 12, 16 and 18 but like the BBFC, there ratings depend on bad
language, violence, drug use and sexual content. 'PEGI is used and recognised
throughout Europe and has the enthusiastic support of the European Commission.
It is considered to be a model of European harmonisation in the field of the
protection of children.' Every game that is released in Europe is given a
PEGI age rating, this is so the game can only be played by the chosen age audience
based on the game's content.
Trailer
This
trailer for The Simpsons movie was given a PG certificate, which is the same as
the movie was given. This is as a result of the comic violence at the expense
of the famous protagonist; Homer Simpson. The trailer does not contain any
strong language, drug use or scenes depicting strong violence because they are
not included in the feature length film. The film also got a PG rating and the
trailer is an honest depiction of what happens in the film. The film is
intended for a family audience and the trailer helps to explain this. The
Simpsons has always been a show aimed at the whole family and this trailer is
therefore aimed at all of it's target audience.
Ofcom's
affect on The Simpsons
The age
rating given to The Simpsons is consistent, and therefore if a family view
the programme they know that is suitable for everyone. The Simpsons has
earned the trust of its audience having never being given an age rating
higher than 12.
Ofcom -
Ofcom,
is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority primarily
for the Broadcasting industry of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for
protecting the public from harmful and/or offensive content. This could be
strong language, drug use/references, strong violence or sexual content. It is
responsible for what can and cannot be broadcast on British TV and at what
time.
Legal and
ethical issues (P5)
The
Simpsons
Channel
4, 15 April 2008, 18:00
Introduction
This
episode featured a cameo appearance by the pop group U2 during which one of the
band members called his colleagues “wankers”. This incident was later
mimicked by the character Mr Burns in the closing credits of the episode. 31
viewers complained that this language was unacceptable in a programme which
appeals to children and was broadcast before the watershed.
Ofcom
asked Channel 4 for its comments against Rules 1.16 (offensive language must
not be broadcast before the watershed unless justified by the context) and 2.3
(generally accepted standards) of the Code.
Response
Channel 4
apologised for this offensive language and acknowledged that it was unsuitable
for broadcast at 18:00 . The broadcaster explained that it has robust
compliance procedures for The Simpsons. On this occasion, however, there
was an error by one of its compliance staff, who incorrectly certified the
programme as suitable to be shown from 18:00 and this mistake was not
subsequently corrected by the Acquisitions Department. Channel 4 regretted
these mistakes, and said it was the first time in over 10 years of its
compliance system being in place that an incorrect certification by a viewer
had resulted in a programme being transmitted in a wrong slot. They told Ofcom
that, despite the unlikely repeat of this unusual set of circumstances, the
Compliance and Acquisitions teams are reviewing their procedures to prevent any
similar recurrence.
Decision
Ofcom’s
research indicates that the word “wanker”, although quite mild to many people,
is clearly offensive language. Its use at 18:00 in a programme like The
Simpsons, with a clear appeal to children, and broadcast on the main
Channel 4 service, was not justified by the context and was not in line with
audience expectations – as Channel 4 has acknowledged.
Ofcom is
concerned about the compliance failure in this case. However Ofcom has taken
into account that Channel 4’s compliance procedures in relation to scheduling
before the watershed appear relatively robust, that this failure seems an
isolated incident, and that Channel 4 is reviewing its compliance procedures.
It has therefore decided to treat the matter as resolved on this occasion.
The
Simpsons - Domino's Pizza
In 2007,
The Simpsons ran an ad for Domino's Pizza which was banned by Ofcom because it
went against strict rules of advertising 'Junk food' during programming which
is predominantly watched by children. The original complaint came from the
National heart forum when the sponsorship was announced. the promotional ad was
shown before the start of each episode and at the beginning of each commercial
break during an episode during episodes that were broadcast on Sky One.
The advert was linked to childhood obesity and was discontinued shortly
after. The rules created by Ofcom state that food companies cannot advertise
any of their products that contain high amounts of salt, sugar and fat during
family programming. Fast food companies are able to advertise their brands, but
they cannot advertise their products during these times. This rule also applies
to several fast-food chains, breakfast cereals and cheeses.
Domino's
pizza later argued that the advert was promoting their delivery service and not
their actual products. They also stated that almost half of their products
should not be affected by these rules due to not counting as 'Junk food'. The
advert has since been replaced by 118 118 directory service and the channel
broadcasting the promotion was given a formal warning by Ofcom.
Extra
information about The Simpsons
The beginnings of The Simpsons
The Simpsons was originally a set of one minute shorts either side of the ad-breaks on Fox's variety show; The Tracey Ullman show. It first appeared on 19th April 1987, and included just the Simpson family and helped to build the personalities of the main characters before the series started.
The original idea was pitched by Matt Groening, who was in a meeting with Fox producer James L. Brooks. He was originally going to present his 'Life in Hell' comics until changing his mind at the last minute so he did not have to rescind publication rights for his entire life's work. He then decided to create a whole new range of characters based on his own family. He named the characters after his family members; his Dad Homer, his Mother Margaret which he changed to Marge. and his sisters Lisa and Maggie. He then based the character of Bart on himself using the name Bart because it was an anagram for brat.
He originally drawn rough drawings of the characters, expecting the animators to clean them up. However, they just traced his original drawings. This is why the characters look so different in the shorts to the main series. Due to the popularity of the shorts, The Simpsons got its own primetime half-hour slot in 1989. The first episode (Simpsons roasting on an open fire) debuted on 17th December 1989 as a Christmas special. Then beginning a 13 episode first season in 1990.
The show has since aired over 500 episodes and had a feature length movie. It is now the longest running Primetime animated series taking over The Flintstones in 1997.
The Simpsons family description
The series is based around a family of five; Homer, who is the father of the Simpson family and is based on the typical working class American man. He works as the safety inspector at Springfield nuclear power plant, despite the fact that he is an ignorant, lazy and clumsy character. Marge, who is the mother of the family and also she is the glue that holds the family together. Who must deal with the daily actions of her husband and children. There is also Bart, who is the ten year old mischievous eldest child of Homer and Marge. He is constantly rebelling against authority; both at home and at school. He is the main character to represent the show in other media such as video games and merchandise. Bart's character is a stark contrast to his younger sister Lisa.
Lisa is the middle child of the family and is also the brain box. She regularly receives the top grades at school and her intelligence vastly exceeds her years. and often helps her mother Marge to keep the family together. She sees herself as the outcast of the family because of her knowledge. Early in the series Lisa converts to Buddhism and becomes vegetarian because of Apu and his friends; Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney who are famous vegetarians and are dedicated to the welfare of animals both in real life and in the series.
The youngest member of the Simpson family is Maggie, because of the Simpsons having a floating timeline it means that the characters do not age and the episodes are always set at the same time. This is why Maggie still cannot walk or talk and remains the least seen of the main cast. However, the Simpsons still cover current events that are going on in the real world such as; a parody of the recent horror movie series 'Paranormal activity', with their spoof 'Unnormal activity' which aired as part of season 24 in 2012.
Secondary character descriptions
After 24 seasons The Simpsons has built up a considerable list of secondary characters. Many of them have became very popular with the show's fans, these include; Krusty the clown who hosts Bart and Lisa's favourite TV show, Grandpa Simpson Homer's Father who is often ignored by the family, Ned Flanders, Homer's neighbour and enemy, Nelson, the school bully, Chief Wiggum Chief of Police in Springfield, Mr Burns, a selfish billionaire who owns the Nuclear Power plant, Moe the bartender and Apu, owner of the Kwik-E-Mart. These characters have became vital to the success of the show and are responsible for some of the shows most memorable moments. These characters have been the basis for many of the show's episodes, including when Krusty the clown was framed by Sideshow Bob for an armed robbery and faced jail until Bart and Lisa's investigating resulted in evidence proving his innocence, albeit to the embarrassment of Homer, who is shown to have cowered away from danger instead of trying to help Apu who was held at gunpoint at the Kwik-E-Mart where the robbery took place (Krusty gets busted).
Mr Burns is the main character in the shows only two part episode (Who shot Mr Burns?). The first part was the last episode of Season 6, and left a huge cliff-hanger over the summer of 1995. The producers of the show used interactivity for this episode by letting the fans vote for who they thought shot Mr Burns. This was one of the first times a TV show incorporated use of the internet. However, no-one voted correctly and the correct answer was Maggie. Mr Smithers reveals that he believes he shot Mr Burns while he was drunk, until he recalls more from the night. After a gun is found in Homer's car, he is made prime suspect. After he is arrested, he escapes and confronts Mr Burns. After Mr Burns comes round while in hospital he reveals the shooter was Maggie. This completely goes against all of Lisa's leads.
Ned Flanders, who is the Simpson's neighbour, has had episodes based around him. These include, the episode where Marge begins writing a romantic novel (Diatribe of a mad housewife). In this novel she writes about a character very similar to herself, who falls out of love with her slob of a husband and begins to fall for a character very similar to Ned. When Homer learns that Marge is in love with Ned. It appears to everyone that he is going to get revenge. It actually turns out that he asks Ned for advice on how to be a better husband.
There is also an episode based around Apu (The two Nahasapeemapetilons). It begins with Apu entering a competition for eligible bachelors. Being the only one any of the women in the audience are interested in. He goes on dates with the five women who bid for him (Luanne Van Houten, Miss Hoover, Selma Bouvier, Ruth Powers and Lois Pennycandy. He then gets a phone call from his mother about his arranged to Manjula, the daughter of a family friend of the Nahasapeemapetilons. The Simpsons then host the wedding at their house and stick to Hindu wedding traditions.
Since 1989, The Simpsons has became one of the most popular American sit-coms in TV history, in that time it has won many awards due to its popularity. This includes, 28 Emmy awards, 30 Annie awards, 7 Environmental media awards, 5 People's choice awards and 3 British comedy awards. 10 episodes of the show have also won Emmy awards for Outstanding animated program (for programming 1 hour or less). Also, the Simpsons movie has won awards for its success. These include; winning 'best comedy film' at the British comedy awards in 2007, won best animated/family film trailer at the golden trailer awards in 2007, Best animation at the ITV National movie awards in 2007 and it also won Best movie at the UK Kid's choice awards in 2007.
Since it's humble beginnings in 1986, The Simpsons has came a long way. It began as a series of shorts before and after the ad-breaks on The Tracy Ullman show, and has now became one of the most recognisable brands all over the world. After appearing in shorts in the first two seasons of The Tracy Ullman show, it then expanded in the third season, by having their own full animated segments in between the live action sequences in season three. At the end of the third season, The Simpsons branched out and was given its own half-an-hour prime-time slot which they still have to this day.
Since 1989, The Simpsons has expanded enormously. It has had 24 seasons on Fox, and has been one of the most popular programmes in American television history and regularly brings in 10 million viewers per episode in America. In 2007, The Simpsons made their first full feature length movie, and its success shows how its popularity has grown and is still growing today. The Simpsons has since branched out into other forms of media; including video games and comics. which have became very successful because of the brand name that comes with them.
Permanent changes made in the series
Although The Simpsons is set in a Floating timeline, their are a few occasions in the series where a permanent change is made to a character or to the whole town. These include, the episode in which Lisa becomes a Vegetarian, in the episode 'Lisa the Vegetarian'. This episode includes guest appearances from Sir Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, who only agreed to take part if Lisa remained a Vegetarian for every episode afterwards. The producers of the show, agreed to this and it has remained this way since that episode.
Also, Maude Flanders, who was one of the first characters to be killed off permanently in the series. This is as a result of (in the episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily"), Maude died after being knocked off a grandstand by a shirt cannon at the Springfield Speedway, because Homer had made the Fan-demonium girls shoot right directly at him all at once. When this happened, Homer ducked down to pick up a bobby pin, causing Maude to get hit. According to Homer, he had parked in the ambulance zone, preventing any quick resuscitation. Her death crushed Ned Flanders as well as Todd and Rod Flanders, who, though used to some measure of hardship (their house getting destroyed and car crashes among them), assumed that they would always be together some day. Maude has returned to the series a number of times through flashbacks and as a ghost.
Also, Lisa has became a Buddhist in the series. After Springfield Church requires refurbishment, Mr Burns agrees to fund the Church's refurbishment, but after advertisements are put up in the Church to pay pack Mr Burns, Lisa disagrees with the commercialisation of the Church and seeks another religion. The writers thought that this would help to expand Lisa's personality and her conversion to Buddhism has been one of the few permanent changes to the series since the sixth episode of the show's thirteenth season.
In the 21st episode of the 23rd season, Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel reveal that they are married, when Ned is led into an ambulance after an unfortunate accident involving Homer and a Christian cross. This all happened after Ned auditioned for the role of Jesus in Passion play, for the fifth year in a row. However, the director does not think that he has the potential for the role. After Homer overhears this, he auditions and gets the role. Which leads to the cross snapping and falling on Ned. Edna is told that only family can go in the ambulance, when she reveals they got married in secret. Marge then offers to organise a party after the news spreads and they both agree. After a disagreement between Ned and Edna over how Rod and Todd have changed, he sees Homer and Marge fighting and realises there will always be things they will disagree on and decides to patch things up between them.
After the death of Maria Wallace, her character; Edna Krabappel was written out of the show, her final appearance is due to be aired at the end of season 25 or the beginning of season 26, which was recorded during 2013. Any remaining appearances from the character are brief cameos as a non-speaking roles. The Simpsons made a tribute to Maria Wallace and her character Mrs Krabappel, in one of Bart's chalkboard segments, when he wrote 'We'll really miss you Mrs K.' They also aired one of the episodes focused on Mrs Krabappel before airing the newest episode of the current season.
In the Halloween specials, Treehouse of horror, a lot of the
main cast are killed or they are changed in some way. However, anything that
happens in the Halloween specials does not affect the other episodes, as these
episodes are in their own storyline and are not connected to the main
series. These include; Marge, Milhouse, Lenny, Waylon Smithers Jr., Ned
Flanders, Bart, Mr Burns, Moe, Patty and Selma, Homer, Lisa and Krusty the
clown. Many characters who have died in the main series, have returned in the
Treehouse of horror episodes, often only to be killed off again.
Episode 1:
Simpsons roasting on an open fire is the very first full-length episode of
The Simpsons and is also a Christmas special. It aired on 17th December 1989
and was written by Mimi Pond. The episode is based around the lead up to
Christmas and how Marge and Homer deal with the money problems associated
with it. During the families Christmas shopping, Bart walks into a tattoo parlour and Marge has to spend all of the families Christmas money to have it removed. After Homer finds out about this, he keeps it secret that he didn't get a Christmas bonus. To get some extra money he gets a second job, as the Santa Claus in Springfield mall. After he gets his pay check he sees he has only earned a little over $10 and in a desperate attempt to please his family, he goes to the dog track in the hope of winning a large amount of money.
After he puts all his money on the worst dog in the race, believing his name to be a sign (Santa's little helper). After the race Santa's little helper is kicked out by his owner and Homer decides to take him in as the new family pet.
This episode was nominated for two Emmy awards and was seen by 13.4 million viewers.
Episode 500:
At long last leave is the 500th episode of The Simpsons and is the fourteenth episode of the twenty-third season and was written by Michael Price. After all of the trouble in the town caused by Homer and Bart, the rest of Springfield decide to have a secret meeting in which they decide to kick The Simpsons out of the town. While driving away from the town they find a small civilisation called the outlands which is full of people in a similar position to them.
After a few days of being kicked out of the town, Homer decides that him and Marge should go back to Springfield and disguise themselves as Mr Burns and Mr Smithers. After being caught they decide that they will stay away from Springfield, Lenny and Carl decide to join them in the outlands with the rest of the town soon following, with only Principal Skinner left behind. The episode ends with the town being re-built in the outlands and Bart going back to Springfield to pick up Principal Skinner and makes him hit various objects along the way.
Treehouse of Horror
The Treehouse of horror episodes are Halloween specials of the series that are split up into three different mini-episodes. The storylines in each of the mini-episodes are considered non-canon, and do not affect the characters and events in the regular episodes of the series. Like the regular episodes they contain many parodies of different things going on in the world as well as satire they use in the regular series. There have been 24 episodes so far, with the first airing as the third episode of the second season. These episodes are shown as close to Halloween as possible, normally the nearest Sunday therefore they are still relevant.
Christmas specials
The Simpsons has aired several Christmas episodes since it began in 1989, one of which being the show's first ever episode; Simpsons roasting on an open fire. Since then there have been a further eleven Christmas themed episodes of the series with the most recent one (White Christmas blues)airing on December 15th 2013, the episode was the last to be written by Don Payne who died on March 26th 2013. The Christmas episodes have been very successful parts of the series and have been an important part of the show's success since it began in 1989.
The Simpsons ride
-
The Simpsons ride, which opened on May 19th 2008 at
Universal studios in Hollywood and Florida is based on the TV series and features
many of the main cast. The ride features Computer generated 3D animation as
well as 2D animation to add to the projection on the screen.
The plot of the ride is based on the people in the ride sat
behind the Simpson family when Sideshow Bob attempts to kill the Simpsons
family, this leads to the ride falling apart and the family are thrown around
the various parts of the ride. Along the way the people on the ride are shown
several references to the show, and shows much of the extended cast in small parts.
It results in the Simpsons and the people on the ride being saved by Maggie and
then by the whole family when they fall on top of Sideshow Bob whilst on their
sofa.
The Itchy and
Scratchy show
Although this is a cartoon within a TV show within The Simpsons,
it is used effectively by The Simpsons writers to take their famous satire
humour to a whole new level. It parodies many TV shows and movies, mainly when
they use over the top cartoon violence. Also, Poochie (voiced by Homer), who
makes a number of appearances in the series, was created in an attempt to bring
back viewer interest. He is a parody of many cartoon characters from the 1990s,
because after the Teenage mutant ninja turtles in the late 1980s, a lot of
cartoon characters became wisecracking and arrogant and were the face of their
respective companies (e.g. Fox and Warner brothers).
The character of Poochie was so unpopular after all the hype
built around him by people like Bart and Lisa, the creators had to immediately
remove Poochie from the show. This resulted in the amount of viewers for
both The Itchy and Scratchy show and The Krusty the Clown show to vastly
improve.
This in itself is a parody of American television, as many
American TV shows have changed their cast in order to boost the show's
popularity. However, in most cases the show's creators have to go back on their
decision because fans will want the show to go back to the way it
was. Sometimes this will work positively and boost the popularity of the
original cast, and other times this can just speed up the downfall of a once
great TV show.
Global appeal
The Simpsons has been broadcast in several different
countries since it began as its own series in 1989, these include Great
Britain, France, Italy, Spain, China and Sweden. Many versions show in
different countries have to be dubbed so everyone watching knows what is
going on. Using different voice actors and also localising some of the humour
in the show to make it appeal to every audience. Also, some of the
character names are changed to names that are common in the country it is being
shown in so it is more relatable to every audience.
Analysis of a trailer
The Simpsons Movie trailer
In the lesson we looked at the how violence, drug use and bad language can affect the certificate of the film and the trailer. For example; if there is violence and bad language in the film and not the trailer, the trailer would be given a lower certificate than the film. Whereas, if there is violence and bad language is in the trailer then it might look bad out of context because these features may be very infrequent in the film.
The trailer begins with a parody of Disney movies (a bunny running around and smiling with flowers) and their style of having perfect world were all of the characters are happy and smiling. then Moe comes in on the films logo and crushes the bunny with Moe announcing proudly that the movie is in 2-D rather than 3D which was now popular with most movies. he then says to the camera that the bunny is no longer breathing. The trailer carries on by showing Homer in a large truck, and swings a wrecking ball at a truck in a hope to break it open. It makes minimal contact with the truck and swings back towards Homer, with the shadow getting larger Homer face goes from him smiling to him looking scared. The ball then hits Homer out of his chair, first he hits a large metal lumberjack (who has gas written across his chest), then hitting a fork, (which is on a billboard for The Zesty fork restaurant). The ball is then seen swinging between a rock and a bar called 'A hard place' with the chain on the ball then snapping and leaves Homer crushed underneath it.
The release date of the movie is then shown (27th July 2007) and then show the show's website 'thesimpsons.com'.
The trailer is designed to appeal to long time fans of the show, and it includes the same style of humour, parody and comic violence as the show does. However, it style of slapstick comedy will have encouraged people who are new to The Simpsons to go and see it. The film was given a PG certificate in the UK which meant it was intended for almost all audiences, and therefore all of the shows fans would have had the chance to see it either at the cinemas or when it was released on DVD. This also meant that it was a film that the whole family can see together which will have brought in large audiences. This film was approved in America for all audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Other media
The Simpsons movie -
The Simpsons which was released in July 2007 is the first feature length adaptation of the popular animated series. It features all of the original voice actors including; Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer.
It begins by showing the people of Springfield being warned by the EPA about their alarming pollution problem they have in their town. Despite the obvious warnings and preventions put into place by the Mayor and the rest of the town, Homer pollutes the Springfield river so he does not miss the free dohnuts that are being given away as Lard lad dohnuts is closing down.
This results in drastic action from the American government leading them to contain the Springfield in a giant dome to protect the rest of the country. Effectively cutting the Simpsons and their friends off from the rest of the world. This makes the rest of the town furious with Homer and the family are forced to flee the town only to return to save their friends and family.
The Simpsons game -
The Simpsons game which was released shortly after the feature length film in 2007, released over early November on different dates for different countries. With the majority of Europe getting the game on November 2nd 2007, and USA and Canada getting it a few days earlier on October 30th.
It was released to build on the recent revival of 'Simpsons mania' after the success of the movie over that summer. The plot of game focuses on a game manual that is found by Bart, after it fell from the sky.
The manual reveals that each member of the family has unique super-human powers; Bart has the ability to become Bartman (based heavily on Batman), Homer can turn into a giant ball, Marge can control a large mob, Lisa has the Hand of Buddha and can use her saxophone to help her. The family fight many different enemies including; Mr Burns' lumberjacks, the evil dolphins, Principal Skinner, Simpsons creator Matt Groening and God.
The trailer is designed to look like a big blockbuster
action film with the obvious Simpsons style humour a large factor.
Promotional poster
This image was released as part of the promotion of the season 25 premiere in September 2013. This poster was intentionally designed like a movie poster, because it is a direct parody of Homeland. It also helps to emphasise that this is the return of the series and is a big occasion that cannot be missed. They keep the image fairly simple with two characters that are instantly recognisable and associated with the series and this is why there is no need for the Simpsons name to be included anywhere on the poster. They also include a slightly blurred area in the image in the same style as was used with the Homeland promotional poster.
The poster is aimed at the dedicated fans of the show, who watch every episode. It lets than fans know it is coming back and gives the viewer a rough idea of what to expect from the episode because it is made clear it will be a parody of a popular TV series.
Target audience
The target audience of the programme and the film is the whole family, it is intended to entertain everyone at some level. With the comic violence appealing to the younger portion of the audience and the parodies and satire humour directed at people and groups in pop culture is aimed at adults who will understand the references. This style is used by The Simpsons in all forms of media they make (the TV series, the Movie, posters, comics etc.) which means that their is a constant theme throughout all of their media.
The Simpsons also has characters that represent all different types of people who watch the series. They have both male and female (Homer and Marge) characters that the episodes are centred around, along with big characters of all age groups (Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Grandpa).
writers/directors/producers
Writers (some of the most frequent):
Al Jean
Mike Reiss
John Swartzwelder
Mike Scully
David S. Cohen
Directors:
Neil Affleck
Bob Anderson
Mike B. Anderson
Wes Archer
Carlos Baeza
Brad Bird
David Silverman
Producers
Matt Groening - Groening began with a comic strip called 'Life in Hell'. After its success, he was contacted by James L. Brooks on behalf of Tracey Ullman. Brooks wanted Groening to make his comic strip into a series of animated shorts. However, at the last minute, Groening created a whole new set of characters based on his own family. He has since said in an interview that he panicked his Life in Hell characters would fail. He created The Simpsons in Brooks' waiting room minutes before an interview.
He has since went on to create another animated series called Futurama, which is animated in much the same way as The Simpsons, but is set in the far future. Groening is credited with the image of The Simpsons and the original idea of the show, Groening is now the show's main producer alongside others.
Al Jean - After graduating from Harvard university, he began to work on Johnny Carson's The Tonight show, ALF and It's Garry Shandling's show alongside Mike Reiss. Jean worked on The Simpsons for seasons three and four, before moving on to create his own show; The Critic. He also worked for Disney, creating Teen angel which was cancelled during season one. Jean came back to The Simpsons for season ten, and was given the role of show runner during season 13. He continued to work on The Simpsons and also helped to write the full-feature length movie which was released in 2007.
Mike Scully - Scully wrote many television Sitcoms before being brought in to work on The Simpsons in 1993. He was show runner between 1997 and 2001. He won three Primetime Emmy awards for his work between season nine and season twelve. During his early career he written jokes for Yakov Smirnoff, he used these skills he had developed to begin his own stand-up comedy routine. He began writing for several different Sitcoms including; The Royal Family and Out of This World. Before being brought to The Simpsons.
Scully has also worked on Everybody loves Raymond (as producer) and co-creating The Pitts (produced by Mel Gibson).
James L. Brooks
Voice actors
Dan Castellaneta -
Homer Simpson
Abe Simpson
Barney Gumble
Itchy
Krusty the clown
Sideshow Mel
Hans Moleman
Joe Quimby
Groundskeeper Willie
Julie Kavner -
Marge Simpson
Patty Bouvier
Selma Bouvier
Nancy Cartwright -
Bart Simpson
Nelson Muntz
Todd Flanders
Ralph Wiggum
Kearney Zzyzwicz
Maggie Simpson
Yeardley Smith -
Lisa Simpson
Hank Azaria -
Moe Szyslak
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
Comic book guy
Carl
Cletus
Professor Frink
Dr Nick
Harry Shearer -
Mr Burns
Mr Smithers
Principal Skinner
Ned Flanders
Otto
Rev. Lovejoy
Kent Brockman
Dr Hibbert
Lenny
Ranier Wolfcastle
Marcia Wallace -
Mrs Krabappel
Phil Hartman -
Troy McClure
Lionel Hutz
Pamela Hayden -
Milhouse Van Houten
Rod Flanders
Maggie Roswell -
Maude Flanders
Helen Lovejoy
Ms Hoover
Louanne Van Houten
Tress McNeille -
Agnes Skinner
Cat lady
Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon
Dolph Starbeam
Bernice Hibbert
Cookie Kwan
Class questionnaire on The Simpsons
1. Do you watch The Simpsons (if not why?)?
Male responses:
No, yes, yes, yes
Female responses:
sometimes, sometimes, yes, yes
2. What kind of audience do you think it is aimed at?
Male responses:
adult, mainly young children, young teenagers, everyone
Female responses:
family 7+, adult, family, whole family
3. How do you watch The Simpsons? (DVD, TV etc.)
Male responses:
TV and DVD, TV, TV, TV and DVD
Female responses:
TV, TV (Channel 4), TV and DVD, TV
4. When do you watch it?
Male responses:
I don't, twice a week, early evening, evening
Female responses:
all the time, not often, teatime, teatime
5. Who do you watch it with? (alone, with family/friends)
Male responses:
family, brothers, alone, family
Female responses:
family, husband and kids, family, family
6. Do you watch the new episodes as soon as they are shown, or just the repeats?
Male responses:
repeats, repeats, repeats, repeats
Female responses:
when its on channel 4, when its on channel 4, repeats, repeats
Findings from the questionnaire
From my questionnaire I have found out that after 25 years, The Simpsons is still quite popular with both male and female viewers, with many people still tuning in to the repeats on both Channel 4 and Sky one. Overall, 90% of those asked said they do watch The Simpsons, with four people saying that the show is aimed at the whole family and is something for the family to watch together, with others saying that it's intended audience is either adults or kids not both of them.
From those asked, everyone said that they watched it on TV, with three saying that they watch it on DVD as well. Most people who took the questionnaire said that they were not a regular viewer of the show, and didn't make a point of watching it everyday. However, one female who took part in the questionnaire said that she watches it all the time, rather than most of those who took part in the questionnaire who watch it in the evening or teatime, which is when it is shown on Channel 4. Out of those asked, five out of eight of them said that they watch it with their family, which further proves what most said in the second question that it is aimed at the whole family with only one watching it on their own.
For the last question, everyone asked said that they watch the repeats, mainly on Channel 4 (which is shown at 6PM on weeknights), as well as earlier shown, many also watch the repeats on DVD, which shows that The Simpsons is something that you can watch again and again. This questionnaire has shown that The Simpsons is still very popular amongst many different people, of all ages and both genders. The show still remains very popular and is one of the most successful shows in its genre.
