The TheSimpsons franchise has been going on since April 1987, and it's really no surprise, given its status as a cash cow in the Dom-Com genre. So do you have what it takes to write the next Simpsons? If you think you can, then catch up on Write a Story for some basic advice. Most tropes that apply to Write a Dom Com also apply here, but this one is going to list tropes specific to The Simpsons.
(Note: Work is very much in process. Please expand on this if you can.)
Necessary Tropes
- Abusive Parents: A common theme with the Simpsons, Homer having strangled Bart since the first season. Then Homer learns he adapted the practice from his father Abe Simpson, and he genuinely tries to be a better father: Less strangling but still threatens Bart when there's a need to. Marge falls into the emotional abuse variety from tome to time.
- Adults Are Useless: While not every adult is useless, most adults on the show are fairly incompetent. Creator Matt Groening talks about many of the adult characters as morons, adding in an interview that authority figures aren't always quite as smart as they should be as even people like teachers and doctors have their flaws.
- Rule of Funny: The Simpsons has a few examples. After the first few seasons, the premise that it was simply an "animated sitcom" began to be interpreted a lot more loosely, with much more stereotypically "cartoon logic."
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show:
Choices, Choices
First is the core cast. Matt Groaning set up a Big, Screwed-Up Family, but there's the possibility of substituting it for other Ensembles. Regardless of which Ensemble you choose, understand what it means to every character involved. The Simpsons is, after all, about the Simpsons. How the characters interrelate is very important, and the Ensemble you choose will influence this. It is vital to understand how each pair of characters in your Ensemble interrelate, and how those relationships affect others.
Secondly, you need a supporting cast of eccentric characters.
Pitfalls
Potential Subversions
Writers' Lounge
Potential Motifs
- Theme Naming: Most of the surnames of The Simpsons' supporting cast from street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, such as Flanders, Quimby, Lovejoy, Terwillger, Burns(ide) and Van Houten (though Groening says it was a coincidence in that case). Kearney also got his first name from a Portland street.
Suggested Plots
Departments
Set Designer / Location Scout
Props Department
Costume Designer
- Contemporary clothing that reflects the setting.
Casting Director
The Simpsons, minus Maggie, form a Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Homer is Choleric: The hot-headed, fun-loving head of the family.
- Marge is Phlegmatic: The level-headed, no-nonsense housewife.
- Bart is Sanguine: The mischievous, rebellious first born.
- Lisa is Melancholic: The neurotic, intellectual middle child.
Then there's Abraham Simpson and Marge's sisters Patti and Selma along with family friends both adult and younger.
Now, pay attention, because this is a big one: They all care about each other. As much trouble is caused by Homer's stupidity or Bart's actions, they are still family. Even when they fight or split up, they always make up by the end of the episode storyline.
Stunt Department
- Notable fight scenes, plenty of chase scenes, and the famous "jumping over Springfield Gorge" scene from the second season.
Extra Credit
The Greats
- The Flintstones and The Jetsons - Both being influences to The Simpsons.
- The Simpsons - The one that started it all.
- Futurama and Disenchantment - The second and third cartoons made by Matt Groening, the former taking place in the distant future and the latter in a high fantasy setting.
- Family Guy - The first of Seth MacFarlane's cartoons that deconstructs concepts of The Simpsons and is running for twenty-something seasons.
- American Dad! - The second of Seth's cartoons that took everything insane about Family Guy and dialed it up to eleven, all while running for twenty-something seasons.
- Bob's Burgers- Distinguished by having both the mother and the father work at the same job (a family-run restaurant)
- King of the Hill - A More down-to-earth Slice of Life show, but with similar humor to The Simpsons.
- The Amazing World of Gumball - Utilizes a similar family dynamic.
- Phineas and Ferb - Utilizes similar humor.
The Epic Fails
- The Cleveland Show - A Family Guy spin-off that lasted four seasons and is subject of Take That! jabbing on its parent program.
- Duncanville - A series that three seasons and once described as an inferior version of Scully-era Simpsons.
