The Fox series debuted on December 17, 1989. It has aired more than 700 episodes. The Simpsons was the longest-running animated prime-time series in 1997, surpassing The Flintstones.
However, it wasn’t until 25 years later that creator Matt Groening finally revealed the truth about the Simpson family: their home.
Groening, 65 years old, said that Springfield was the name of Springfield, Oregon. He told Smithsonian magazine in 2012. Groening, a Portland native, has kept the location of the show secret over the years because he didn’t want to “repeal it for people” who believed it was in Massachusetts or Ohio.
Groening explained that the only reason was that the TV program Father Knows Best was broadcast in Springfield as a child. I was excited because it was near Portland, Oregon, which I grew up in. It was a fictional name that I discovered as a teenager. I discovered that Springfield was the most commonly used name for a U.S. city. In anticipation of the success, I thought, “This will be cool, everyone will think it’s Springfield.”
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D’oh! The Simpsons are almost 35 years old, but it seems like yesterday that we first met the cartoon family.
The Fox series debuted on December 17, 1989. It has aired more than 700 episodes. The Simpsons was the longest-running animated prime-time series in 1997, surpassing The Flintstones.
However, it wasn’t until 25 years later that creator Matt Groening finally revealed the truth about the Simpson family: their home.
Groening, 65 years old, said that Springfield was the name of Springfield, Oregon. He told Smithsonian magazine in 2012. Groening, a Portland native, has kept the location of the show secret over the years because he didn’t want to “repeal it for people” who believed it was in Massachusetts or Ohio.
Groening explained that the only reason was that the TV program Father Knows Best was broadcast in Springfield as a child. I was excited because it was near Portland, Oregon, which I grew up in. It was a fictional name that I discovered as a teenager. I discovered that Springfield was the most commonly used name for a U.S. city. In anticipation of the show’s success, I thought, “This will be cool, everyone will think it’s Springfield.”
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There have been many memorable performances and guest stars during its three-decade run on The Simpsons — some you may not remember.
The show has featured hundreds of guest stars and it set the Guinness World Record in 2016 for the “most guest stars in a TV Series”. The Simpsons makeover has been a huge success, with high-profile stars like Tom Hanks or Justin Bieber. But do you remember Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart being animated?
What about Paul McCartney and Meryl Steep . We don’t have enough guest stars to list, but we do have a list that includes some of the most prominent names you may not have heard of over the years like Johnny Cash and Michael Jackson.
Fans tune in week-after-week to see what the OG family (which includes Homer (Dan Castellaneta), Marge, Julie Kavner), Bart, Nancy Cartwright, Maggie and Lisa) get into. But the guests who visit Springfield are just as beloved.
Scroll down to see the high-profile actors or musicians that you may have missed on The Simpsons in the past 30 years.
Kerry Washington
Nearly 10 years after Marcia Wallace’s death, Washington will take over Bart’s classroom as Ms. Payton. This is almost 10 years ago. The Scandal alum said that she is a great teacher. She will also be adding her character to the sitcom’s long-running series. She knows, like all great teachers, that her students have as much to learn from her as she does. Teaching Bart is an exciting job that offers many growth opportunities.
Anne Hathaway
The Princess Diaries actress has played two characters on the cartoon. In the episode 2009 “The Good, the Sad and the Drugly”, Jenny, Bart’s schoolyard crush, was her first role. She reprised the role three years later, in “Moonshine River,” the 24th season premiere.
She was the Disneyesque princess Penelope, Krusty’s Clown, in “Once Upon a Time in Springfield” in 2010. In 2010, she won an Emmy award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance.
Daniel Radcliffe
The Harry Potter actor poked fun at Twilight by voice acting a teen vampire called Edmund in the 2010 Halloween episode of “Treehouse of Horror XXI.”
Zooey Deschanel
In three episodes, the Actress played Bart’s sweetheart Mary Spuckler: season 19, “Apocalypse Cow”, season 24, “Moonshine River” (season 24) and “Love Is a Many Splintered thing” (season 25).
Benedict Cumberbatch
In 2020, the Doctor Strange actor played a Morrissey like pop singer Quilloughby, in the season 32 episode “Panic on the Streets of Springfield”. Yes, that’s Cumberbatch performing the Quilloughby song “Everyone Is Horrid Except Me (And Perhaps You)” together with Lisa Simpson, the fake musician’s biggest supporter.
Seven years before, Cumberbatch had made his Simpsons début as the U.K. Prime Minster and Harry Potter’s Severus Snape, in season 24, “Love Is a Many Splintered thing.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumni appeared in the season 15 episode ‘The Wandering Juvie’ as Gina Vendetti. Gina Vendetti was a tween delinquent sent to the all girls’ jail after she pushed Snow White from her pedestal at Disneyland. It’s no surprise that she was Bart’s type of young woman. Gellar reprised Gina’s role in “Moonshine River”, nine seasons later.
Paul McCartney
The British singer appeared as himself in “Lisa, the Vegetarian” 1995 episode. He and his then-wife Linda McCartney helped Lisa make the transition to vegetarianism.
