Top 10 Shocking Simpsons Facts That Will Ruin Your Childhood

Maude was the first wife of everyone’s favourite left handed Springfield resident Ned Flanders. When she fell to her doom suddenly in the season 11 episode “Alone Again, Natura-Diddily,” many were shocked. So what happened? Maude’s voice actor Maggie Roswell had asked Fox for a raise from $2000 an episode to $6000 since she had to fly frequently to Los Angeles from her home in Colorado to do the show. Fox only offered an increase of $150, so Roswell retired. Simpsons producers decided to kill off Maude to open up new storylines for Ned. The dispute was eventually resolved and Roswell came back to the show in 2002. It’s unfortunate that a pay dispute led to the demise of a longstanding character.

“A Star Is Burns” is a classic episode that gave us the joy of “Man Getting Hit by Football” and the knowledge of Steven Speilberg’s non-union Mexican equivalent, Señor Spielbergo. What you might not know is that this is the only episode of “The Simpsons” without creator Matt Groening’s name attached to it. In the opening and closing credits, you’ll notice Groening’s name is suspiciously absent. This is because he was absolutely against the episode since it included Jay Sherman from the animated series “The Critic.” Groening was quoted as saying, “I feel this (encroachment of another cartoon character) violates the Simpsons' universe.” He even went so far as to air his grievances publicly to get the episode pulled.

Ah yes, after more than 30 years Maggie is still the baby of the family and we’re still waiting for her to say her first full sentence. We know, we know, she spoke the word “daddy” in “Lisa’s First Word” but she’s been pretty quiet outside of a few “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. Maggie is known for sucking on her pacifier... well that, and shooting Mr. Burns. Have you ever stopped and wondered who provides the pacifier sounds? It turns out that Matt Groening himself was the person who entered the recording booth to provide Maggie’s signature sound (along with, apparently, early “Simpsons” animator and producer Gábor Csupó). There’s just something unsettling about hearing a grown man sucking on a pacifier.

Sticking with Maggie, in the show’s opening credit sequence when she’s scanned at the grocery store, do you remember what price is displayed, however incredibly quickly? If you said “NRA4EVER” that was just a one time trivia gag for the “138th Episode Spectacular.” Maggie scanned at a cost of $847.63 until 2009 when the sequence was redone. In this update, the cash register originally displays a $243.26 total, but when Maggie is scanned the price doubles to $486.52. No confirmation was ever truly given for the change but the figures supposedly represent the relative, not absolute, increased cost of raising a child in America, given inflation. Given Homer’s low adjusted pay after tax, it really shows how expensive raising kids can be.

Who could forget this season 3 episode where Homer invents the Flaming Homer, a drink so good it’s like there’s a party in your mouth and everyone’s invited! Moe takes credit for the drink and as it becomes wildly successful Homer is left bitter and resentful given that he came up with it. This conflict is said to mirror one between creator Matt Groening and the late Sam Simon, the series’ first showrunners. Simon has been called the unsung hero and driving force behind the success of the show, as he developed many fan favourite characters and ideas for Springfield but Groening is the one consistently receiving the credit and accolades. It’s too bad how two of the creative forces for the show couldn’t quite get along.

It’s hard to believe it now, but there was a time when Bart Simpson was deemed a bad influence to a generation of impressionable youth. With slogans like “Underachiever and proud of it” and “I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?” found on T-shirts, it’s easy to understand the moral panic the show produced during the early ‘90s. With Bartmania in full swing, some cultural observers began to voice their concerns over Bart’s behaviour, due to his rebellious nature and a perceived lack of discipline or consequences for his actions. This led to Bart being viewed as a bad role model and it wasn’t unheard of for schools to ban T-shirts featuring his image. Don’t have a cow, man.

The moral panic around “The Simpsons” didn’t end with Bart. Conservative groups in the United States also took issue with the show as a whole, and saw it contributing to the decline of American values and culture. This went all the way to the White House. In a 1990 article in “People” magazine, former First Lady Barbara Bush called the show “the dumbest thing I had ever seen.” A few years later during a speech, former President George H. W. Bush called out the show, saying he wanted American families to be “a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons.” Hey, the Waltons was a great show, but that’s a burn.

Have you ever looked closely at Homer and Krusty the Clown? You might notice they look eerily similar to each other. It’s no coincidence. Early in the show’s development, creator Matt Groening wanted Homer to BE Krusty the Clown in disguise. The premise was deemed too complex, so the idea was dropped. It originally served as commentary on how Bart worshiped his idol Krusty, but at the same time had no respect for his father Homer. It would have been a weird twist to see the show handle such a deep and complex idea but we’re happy with how Krusty turned out without going down this road.

The Simpsons has garnered a knack for making some bold predictions. In the episode “Lisa the Greek,” Lisa predicts that Washington will prevail over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI. The episode was updated over the next 2 years with that year’s Super Bowl contenders and Lisa was always right. “When You Dish Upon A Star” features a sight gag of 20th Century Fox being owned by Disney. Aaaand, in 2017 Disney announced plans to purchase Fox. The prediction that got the most attention is future President Lisa’s passing comment of inheriting a budget crunch from former President Trump in “Bart to the Future.” It certainly raises a few eyebrows that a show can make amazing predictions with seemingly offhand gags.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are some honorable mentions.

Marge Appeared in Playboy
The Less Said About This the Better

Paul McCartney Forced Lisa to Stay Vegetarian, “Lisa the Vegetarian”
Paul and Linda Lent Appeared on the Condition that Lisa Remains Vegetarian

The Series Premiere Aired Was Not Meant to Be the First, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”
Animation Errors With Another Episode Led to This Christmas Special Airing First

Tragedy struck The Simpsons in 1998 when crucial series contributor Phil Hartman died. This deeply shocking and upsetting moment is the reason why Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz are no longer featured in the show. The characters were retired out of respect to Hartman. He was a favourite of the writing staff and they worked him into as many episodes as possible. In total he appeared in 52 episodes and voicing McClure was one of his favourite roles, with him once claiming: “I do it for the pure love of it.” It’s sad to think that we’ll never again hear a new “Hi, I’m Troy McClure, you might remember me from…” or witness the incompetence of Lionel Hutz in the courtroom.