The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family

We Simpsons fanatics can be obsessive as we probe and prod into each episode to a ridiculous degree. The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family is certainly a must-own for any serious Simpsons fan. It was the first in a series of books that provides the kind of detailed information without which we could not survive. As the cover promises, it contains valuable information on all the beloved characters in Springfield, as well as some secret jokes that we have missed. It contains all of this and more.

The Simpsons is the longest running sitcom in the history of American television. To give you an idea of just how long Homer Simpson has been punctuating the events of his life with a "D'oh!" The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family covers less than half the episodes that have ever aired. This first entry in what has become a series features episodes from Season 1 through Season 8. Most fans consider this to be the Golden Age of the Simpsons.

What kind of information can you expect to discover in A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family? Every single episode gets at least a page devoted to it. These pages are heavily illustrated with both original drawings and clips from the show. A thorough synopsis explains what each episode was about, and with the episode count of The Simpsons currently over 350 in total, a gentle reminder is often necessary for even the most long-term fan. As loyal viewers know, nearly episode of The Simpsons has opened with Bart Simpson writing some kind of joke on the chalkboard. Each of those chalkboard jokes is reprinted here.

The bulk of each page features classic quotations from the show. No show in TV history has provided as many memorable quotes as The Simpsons through the years and a casual fan just may be reminded of one of his favorites that he long ago forgot. Depending on the episode, you may also find out such things you didn't know such as that a certain character made his first appearance in that particular episode, or how a sequence featured in the episode is actually an homage to a movie scene. (As of this writing, according to the commentaries on the DVDs, the movies which have had the most homages to them are such classics as A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather and Citizen Kane.)

In addition, each page also features a little box that contains The Stuff You May Have Missed. Included here is usually things like the funny names of stores and companies featured on the episode, animation jokes that may go by too quickly to catch them during viewing, pop culture references and meta-references to previous episodes.

Running down the side of each page are character sketches. If you are not familiar with The Simpsons, you may think the show revolves around the five members of the Simpson family. You couldn't be more wrong. The Simpsons has a cast of thousands and even one-line characters have been known to pop up in the background on subsequent episodes.

These character profiles do, of course, give information on the biggies, but here you will also discover such nuggets of informational goodness as the fact that Stampy the elephant's daily food bill is $300, or that the favorite show of Erin, the female friend Lisa made when the Simpsons stayed at the Flanders' beach house is Baywatch. Is there any price can you put on learning that kind of stuff?

Surprisingly, many people aren't aware that before The Simpsons because a weekly phenomenon, it began as a series of shorts that ran on The Tracy Ullman Show. Hopefully, one day these shorts will all make it to DVD, but until then if you want to know exactly what kind of adventures Homer, Bart and the gang got involved in on them, you can read capsule synopses of all 48 episodes.

Among the supplemental information included in this first volume is a list of all the times that Homer Simpson had ever said D'oh up to the point of publication, how many times he said "Mmmm…(fill in the blank)", a synopsis of all the opening title sequence couch gags, some funny signs seen around the town of Springfield, the plots and events of all the Itchy & Scratchy cartoons to that point (my favorite title is "Field of Screams"), a listing of which of the incredibly talented voice actors do which character (12 actors and over 150 characters!), and a listing of some of the products that have been endorsed on the show by Krusty the Klown (the Krusty Home Pregnancy Test remains my favorite after all these years).

The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family was the first in this series of volumes that provides necessary information on OFF to its gazillions of fans. Buying it will embiggen your consciousness. That's a guarantee^*

*Guarantee void in the Tennessee.