The Simpsons

The Simpsons is a American animated adult sitcom, created by Matt Groeningand Seth MacFarlane. Developed by James L. Brooks in collaboration with Matt Weitzman and David X. Cohen, the series serves as an innovation of the Sitcom media franchise. It centers on the Simpsons, an disfunctional family consisting of parents Homer and Marge; their children Bart, Lisa and Stewie, and their intelligent talking dog Brian. The show is set on the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. The show parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition as well as the exhibition of some of its humor in the form of cutaway gags that often lampoon pop-culture.

Characters
The Simpsons are a family who live in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. Homer Simpson, the father, is a bumbling yet well-intentioned blue-collar worker, working as a safety inspector at the Quahog Nuclear Power Plant, a position at odds with his careless, buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge, a stereotypical American stay-at-home housewife mother and piano teacher. They have three children: Bart, a ten-year-old devious troublemaker who is overweight, unintelligent and a younger version of his father in many respects; Lisa, a often-bullied precocious eight-year-old activist who is also constantly ignored by the family; and Stewie, their diabolical infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who has adult mannerisms and uses stereotypical archvillain phrases with an English accent. Living with the family is their witty, smoking, martini-swilling, sarcastic, liberal, English-speaking anthropomorphic dog Brian, though he is still considered a pet in many respects. Although the family is dysfunctional, many episodes examine their relationships and bonds with each other and they are often shown to care about one another. The family also owns a cat, Snowball V, renamed Snowball II in "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot".

Recurring characters appear alongside the Simpsons family. These include the family's neighbors: sex-crazed airline pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire; African American deli owner Cleveland Brown and his wife Loretta; paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson, his wife Bonnie, their son Kevin and their baby daughter Susie; bixseual actor cat and mouse duo Itchy and Scratchy; neurotic Jewish pharmacist Ned Flanders, formerly his late wife Maude, and their innocent children, Rodd and Todd; and elderly child molester John Herbert. Grandpa Abe Simpson, Homer's father, makes multiple appearances, although he does not live with the family, but rather on a retirement home. Moe Szyslak, owner of the Drunken Clam, the bar where Homer and his friends go to drink, makes multiple appearances, as well as Jerome Williams, who became Cleveland's replacement, after he came to star his own spin-off series because of his populality, and later a friend of Homer and his friends, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, owner of the local Kwik-E Mart, and his wife, Manjula. TV clown/comedian Krusty the Clown, news anchors Tom Tucker and Joyce Kinney, Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa, Mayor Adam West, the city's mayor who is named after well-known actor Adam West, who voiced him until his death in 2017, and fast speaking Blaccu-Weather meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. Actor James Woods guest star as himself in various episodes. Other recurring characters include Jillian Anderson, an extremely attractive but dumb blonde young woman, Consuela Estevez, a Mexican handmaiden with multiple jobs, Bruce Kenzler, a happily married homosexual man known for his sarcastic remarks and his multiple jobs, Ernie the Giant Chicken, an over-sized chicken who enters in constant violent fights against Homer, the Kool-Aid Man, the Kool-Aid mascot who appears when someone says "Oh no" three times, and Death.

Setting
The primary setting of The Simpsons is Quahog (/ˈkoʊhɒɡ/ [pron. ko-hog or kwo-hog]), a fictional district of Providence, Rhode Island. MacFarlane resided in Providence during his time as a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and the show contains distinct Rhode Island landmarks similar to real-world locations. MacFarlane and Groening often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with a news program on WNAC-TV, Channel 64 in Providence, stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.

Main Characters

 * Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is the patriarch of the Griffin household, an Irish-American blue-collar worker. Husband of Marge; father of Bart, Lisa, and Stewie, and owner of Brian. He is a lazy, immature, obese, laid-back, dim-witted, outspoken, eccentric alcoholic and mentally retarded. Homer's jobs have included working at the Quahog Nuclear Power Plant, the Duff Brewery, fisherman, football player, comic book artist, among others.
 * Marge Simpson (née Bouvier) (voiced by Julie Kavner) is Homer's wife and the mother of Bart, Lisa, and Stewie. She is a stereoytped French/Anglo-American housewife who cares for her kids and her husband, while also teaching children to play the piano. Marge is also very flirtatious and addicted to games.
 * Bart Simpson (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) is the oldest child and first son of Homer and Marge; brother of Lisa and Stewie. He is devious, mischievous, overweight, irresponsible, and emotionally effusive, enjoying to irritate his father. Despite his troublesome behavior, Bart is very intelligent and cares about his family.
 * Lisa Simpson (voiced by Yeardley Smith) is the middle child and only daughter of Homer and Marge; sister of Bart and Stewie. She is a Liberal activist, democrat, and pacifist, who finds herself embarrassed by her family. She is incredibly good at playing saxophone and has artistic aspirations.
 * Stewie Simpson (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is the youngest child and second son of Homer and Marge; brother of Bart and Lisa, but often behaves in adult ways such as speaking in an upper-class British accent. He is a child genius who frequently aspired to murder Marge and take over the world but has since mellowed out considerably. Stewie built a time machine with which he and Brian have traveled through time.
 * Brian Simpson (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is the family's anthropomorphic talking white Labrador Retriever dog and the best friend of both Homer and Stewie. He and Stewie are the center of some of the show's most critically acclaimed episodes, most notably the "Road to..." episodes, where he and Stewie go on road-trips together. Brian is portrayed as an intellectual—a Brown University attendee—who often serves as the family's voice of reason, pointing out how ridiculous Homer's ideas are, or how Bart's attitudes can get him into trouble. He is not-so-secretly in love with Marge and is an unsuccessful, unemployed writer.

Recurring Characters

 * Glenn Quagmire (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is the Simpsons' next-door single sex-addicted neighbor and one of Homer's best friends. He is an airline pilot for Spirit Airlines, but is best known for his extreme sexuality and always saying "Giggity" or "Alright". He is attracted to nearly every woman (especially Marge Simpson). His sister is Brenda Quagmire. In later seasons, he is revealed to have been Jack the Ripper in a past life. He has a soft side for cats and despises Brian from "Jerome is the New Black" and onward. His dad is Dan Quagmire/Ida Davis, who is a male-to-female transgender woman.
 * Joe Swanson (voiced by Patrick Warburton) is the Simpsons' neighbor and the best friend of Homer, Quagmire, Itchy, Scratchy, and Cleveland (before he moved). He is a paraplegic police officer who suffers from impotence and incontinence. Joe still proves to be an extremely skilled police officer, as he is constantly seen pursuing criminals or rescuing victims with the aid of his wheelchair and even goes so far as to abandon his wheelchair to complete his work. He is usually shown as being very tactful, but he also has severe anger issues.
 * Bonnie Swanson (voiced by Jennifer Tilly) is Joe's calm and soft-spoken wife who is the mother of Kevin and Susie Swanson, and the best friend of Marge. She is pregnant from her first appearance in "A Hero Sits Next Door" in season one until "Ocean's Three and a Half" in season seven. Her prolonged pregnancy is pointed out by Homer in the season four episode "Blind Ambition".
 * Kevin Swanson (voiced by Justin Roiland) is Joe and Bonnie's son and first child. Lisa had a crush on him. He was mainly seen in the first three seasons, only making a few occasional appearances after that with no speaking parts. In the episode "Stew-Roids", Joe said that Kevin died in the Iraq War. In "Thanksgiving", Kevin returns and tells them a story that he was in a coma following a bomb that had been placed inside a turkey during Thanksgiving years before and faked his own death in order to leave the war and return home.
 * Susie Swanson (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is Joe and Bonnie's infant daughter who was born in the episode "Ocean's Three and a Half". Stewie develops a crush on the newborn Susie and is seen practicing guitar to write a song about her and later shows Brian a music video he made of the song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams. In the episode "Stew-Roids", it is shown that Susie is strong enough to beat up Stewie.
 * Itchy (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is an anthropomorphic blue mouse who is a actor, the Simpsons' neighbor and the best friend of Homer, Quagmire, Joe, Scratchy, and Cleveland (before he moved). He usually the aggressor and the victor over people in his acts.
 * Scratchy (voiced by Harry Shearer) is a threadbare, dim-witted anthropomorphic black cat who is a actor, the Simpsons' neighbor and the best friend of Homer, Quagmire, Joe, Itchy, and Cleveland (before he moved). He is the victim of relentless abuse from Itchy, who acts with, but still good friends with him. As a recurring gag, he dies in almost every single episode where he appears before returning in the next without explanation.
 * Cleveland Brown (voiced by Mike Henry) is Homer's mild-mannered friend who formerly owned and ran a deli. He is a heavyset, mustached African-American male who is very polite to everyone and has a unique laugh. He is the father of Cleveland Jr. A running gag in the series is the front of his house being damaged, usually as a result of one of Homer's shenanigans, while Cleveland is in the upstairs bathtub. The tub always falls into the front yard with Cleveland exclaiming, "What the hell?! No, no, no, no, no, no!!!" Following his departure from Quahog, the character became the star of his own spin-off series The Cleveland Show during which he lived in Stoolbend, Virginia.
 * Loretta Brown (voiced by Alex Borstein) is Cleveland's late ex-wife, and the mother of Cleveland Brown Jr. She had a liking for cricket and the television program Friends. She treated Cleveland harshly, and cheated on him with, among others, Glenn Quagmire, leading the Browns to divorce. She takes Cleveland's house in the divorce and puts it up for sale, yet is still apparently living there some months later. However, she was later killed by Homer when he had accidentally destroyed the house while moving a dinosaur skeleton in the ending of "Museum and Bones".
 * Cleveland Brown Jr. (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is the son to Cleveland and Loretta Brown who is severely obese and somewhat lethargic. Because of the affair his mother had with Quagmire that led to his parents' divorce, Cleveland Jr. lost faith in God. When Cleveland became engaged to Donna, Cleveland Brown Jr. became the stepbrother of Roberta and Rallo. He is a good friend of Bart and Lisa.
 * Ned Flanders (voiced by Harry Shearer) is the good-natured, cheery next-door neighbor to the Simpsons family and is generally loathed by Homer and others. A devout Jew with an annoyingly perfect family, he is among the friendliest and most compassionate of Quahog's residents.
 * Maude Flanders (voiced by Maggie Roswell) – Ned's late wife who was a converted Jew. She met Ned via a video dating service during their youth, and they had their first kiss at age of fourteen while both of them were suffering from a head cold. Later in her life, one of her main recreations was watching old films along with the album Hotel California to find if any of them synchronize.
 * Rod Flanders (voiced by Pamela Hayden) is Ned Flanders' ten-year-old son. Rod prays often; first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He prays for God to watch over him and his younger brother, Todd, as well as for the success of his father's business. He also prays for all of the other children like his neighbor Bart, Lisa, and Stewie, who do not pray for themselves.
 * John Herbert (voiced by Mike Henry) is an elderly pederast often referred to solely by last name, who resides just down the street from the Simpsons family and distributes Popsicles to small children in his basement. He has a particular interest in Bart; in the episode "Play It Again, Brian", Bart finally realizes this and asks Herbert, "Are you a pedophile?", to no onscreen answer. Also, in "Spies Reminiscent of Us", Stewie refers to a "pedophile who lives down the street" about which nobody is taking any action "because he's so funny", clearly talking about Herbert.
 * Jesse (vocal effects by Frank Welker) is Herbert's very old dog, who is unable to use his hind legs.
 * Abe "Grampa" Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is the father to Homer Simpson, father-in-law to Marge Simpson and grandfather to siblings Bart, Lisa and Stewie. An obsessively devout Roman Catholic, he disapproves of his son's family's lifestyle, and frequently attempts to force his religious views on them. A World War II veteran, he was sent by Homer to the Quahog Retirement Castle by Homer.
 * Patty and Selma Bouvier (both voiced by Julie Kavner) are Marge Simpson's older twin sisters, who both work at the Quahog Department of Motor Vehicles, and who deeply hate Homer. Selma is the elder by two minutes, and longs for male companionship while her sister, Patty, is a lesbian. They have distinctive gravelly voices, cynical outlook on life, bitter and unpleasant personalities, and a love of cigarettes.
 * Montgomery Burns, or Mr. Burns for short, (voiced by Harry Shearer) is the mean-spirited, evil-natured, cruel and dictatorial-style owner of the Quahog Nuclear Power Plant and is also Homer Simpson's boss. He is assisted at almost all times by Waylon Smithers, his loyal and sycophantic aide, adviser, confidant and secret admirer. He is a stereotype of corporate America in his unquenchable desire to increase his own wealth and power, inability to remember his employees' names (including Homer's, despite frequent interactions – which has become a recurrent joke) and lack of concern for their safety and well-being. Reflecting his advanced age, Mr. Burns is given to expressing dated humor, making references to Jazz Age popular culture, and aspiring to apply obsolete technology to everyday life.
 * Waylon Smithers (voiced by Harry Shearer) is the consummate executive and personal assistant of Mr. Burns. Smithers is an obedient and sycophantic assistant to Mr. Burns, and the relationship between the two is a frequent running gag. In many ways, Smithers represents the stereotype of a closeted gay man, and numerous overt allusions and double entendres concerning his homosexuality are made.
 * Angela Neagle (voiced by Carrie Fisher until her death in 2016 and then by Colleen Clinkenbeard) is Homer and Opie's supervisor who is in charge of the Safety Inspection at the Quahog Nuclear Power Plant, whom was once in a relationship with Mr. Burns. She likes Opie far better than Homer, and treats Homer very coldly, repeatedly rewarding Opie as employee of the month. Homer tried to befriend her based on her love of animals, but ended up horrifying her by staging a bloody cockfight in her house. In "Homer-assment", Angela targets Homer with sexual lust after Homer takes his shirt off.
 * Opie (voiced by Mark Hentemann) is an mentally-challenged and gibberish-speaking co-worker of Homer at the Quahog Nuclear Power Plant and ward of the state. He has won "Employee of the Month" at least twenty times and has been promoted ahead of Homer. He seems to have mental retardation and never really does anything about it. He sometimes tells Homer to stick his finger in his mouth, only to bite it. He wears two different shoes on each foot. No-one other than Angela seems to understand what he's saying.
 * Principal Seymour Skinner (voiced by Harry Shearer) is the principal of Quahogd Elementary School, which he struggles to control, and is constantly engaged in a battle against its inadequate resources, apathetic and bitter teachers, abusive and vulgar students, and often rowdy and unenthusiastic students, Bart Simpson being a standout example. A strict disciplinarian, Skinner has an uptight, militaristic attitude that stems from his years in the United States Army as a Green Beret, which included service in the Vietnam War, where he was captured and held as a prisoner of war. He is quick to take orders from his superiors; chiefly his mother, Agnes, and Superintendent Chalmers.
 * Edna Krabappel (voiced by Marcia Wallace until her death in 2013 and then by Tress MacNeille) is the teacher of Bart Simpson's 4th grade class. Edna Krabappel holds a Master's from Bryn Mawr College. She is a grumpy and jaded caricature of the American public school system. In "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", it is revealed that she was once a very optimistic woman who genuinely wanted to help people in need. It would seem that after years of frustration thanks to the school, and Bart Simpson in particular, this wore away.
 * Milhouse van Houten (voiced by Pamela Hayden) is Bart's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Quahog Elementary School, is insecure, gullible, and less popular than Bart. Milhouse is often led into trouble by Bart, who takes advantage of his friend's naïveté, and he is also a regular target for school bullies Nelson Muntz, Connie D'Amico, Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney. He also has a crush on Bart's sister, Lisa, which is used as a plot element in many episodes.
 * Connie D'Amico (voiced by Lisa Wilhoit) is the head cheerleader and most popular girl in school. Connie is portrayed as extremely egotistical, shallow, promiscuous and vain. She is normally seen with her three best friends: Gina, Scott, and Doug. She shows great disdain toward Lisa for her intelligence and encourages her friends to bully her. However, she and her friends always end up reciving consequences for that (for example; "Dial Lisa for Murder", when a tough Lisa full a bag of full soda cans and she hits them with, cracking three of their skulls open and tongue-kissing Connie afterwards).
 * Dolph Starbeam (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is a bully and student at Quahog Elementary School. Dolph is recognized by his asymmetrical haircut which covers one eye; he wears cutoff shorts and basketball shoes. He is a 17-year-old, left-handed 6th grader, and does not talk as much as the other bullies. He usually comes across as very intelligent and speaks a variety of languages including Esperanto, Swahili, and Klingon.
 * Philip J. Fry
 * Turanga Leela
 * Amy Wong
 * Brunella Pommelhorst (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the gym teacher at Quahog Elementary School. Her name is a play on pommel horse, She has blond hair and usually wears a whistle and takes a tough-as-nails approach to teaching. In "Little Girl in the Big Ten", she decides that because of the oath she took on Xena, she has to fail Lisa but decides to let her make it up by taking private lessons. In "My Fair Laddy", she takes a leave of absence to get a sex-change operation and will return as "Mr. Pommelhorst", the new shop teacher and is replaced with Coach Krupt.
 * Krusty the Clown (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is the long-time clown host of Bart, Lisa and Stewie's favorite TV show, a combination of kiddie variety television hijinks and cartoons, as well as scenes of some of Itchy and Scratchy's films, despite these being for adults. Krusty is often portrayed as a cynical, burnt-out, addiction-riddled smoker who is made miserable by show business but continues on anyway. He has become one of the most common characters outside of the main Simpson family and has been the focus of several episodes, most of which also spotlight Bart.
 * Thomas "Tom" Tucker (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is the arrogant, baritone male news anchor at Channel 5. He was also an actor before moving to Quahog; he was in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Tom tends to insult everybody around him, particularly former co-anchor Diane Simmons. He disliked her and frequently traded insults with her on-air. His family includes his first wife, Stacy; his second wife, Sarah; and a son from his first marriage named Jake, whose face is upside down. He is shown to be protective of his son and dislikes people's use of the term "freak". Tom hardly speaks in completely normal sentences, instead using his news anchor dialect in regular conversation (e.g. "Back to you, [character]").
 * Diane Simmons (voiced by Julie Brown) is the news station's late former news co-anchor and talk show hostess. In "The King Is Dead", it was revealed that her birth name was Diane Seidelman. She and fellow anchor Tom Tucker often traded insults on the air. Her largest role on the show was when Homer hired her to play Anna in his version of The King and I; she quit after he kept changing everything. In "Patriot Games", it was revealed that she was the widow of an unnamed man who committed suicide after Tom Tucker asked, "Diane, didn't your first husband blow his brains out?"
 * Ollie Williams (voiced by Phil LaMarr) is the news station's Blaccu-Weather Forecast reporter. Ollie is a fast-talking black man who works at the Quahog News Station. Ollie rarely speaks for more than about 1–3 seconds. His news reports are always rapidly spoken and loud. The only time he was ever calm was in "420", having smoked marijuana and it was later revealed his hyperkinetic style was also influenced by alcoholism in the episode "Friends of Peter G."
 * Tricia Takanawa (voiced by Alex Borstein) Typically referred to as "Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa" by her colleagues, she speaks in a nasal monotone cadence. She is confirmed as being Japanese in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. In "Livin' on a Prayer", Tricia has a distrusting African-American boyfriend named Tyrone who gets suspicious of her when she has to work at night.
 * Moe Szyslak (voiced by Hank Azaria) is the proprietor and bartender of the Drunken Clam, a Quahog bar frequented by Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Glenn Quagmire, Joe Swanson, Itchy, Scratchy, Cleveland Brown, Sam, Larry, and others. Moe's personality includes a short and violent temper, which has also involved numerous suicide attempts. Other running jokes featuring him include being prank called by Bart Simpson, running illegal activities from his bar, unsuccessfully trying to get a girlfriend, and an ambiguous ethnic origin.
 * Mayor Adam West (voiced by Adam West until his death in 2017 and then by Ray Chase) is the Mayor of Quahog who is named after the actor who provides his voice. He is a highly odd and delusional politician. He has been shown to be good-natured but generally irresponsible. He also has a love affair with Selma in "Deep Throats". As of "Brothers & Sisters", he marries Selma thus making him Homer and Marge's brother-in-law and the uncle-by-marriage of Bart, Lisa and Stewie.
 * Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (voiced by Hank Azaria) is the Indian immigrant proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Quahog, and is well known for his catchphrase, "Thank you, come again."
 * Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon (voiced by Maggie Roswell) is the wife of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and the mother of their octuplets. She first appeared as a little girl in Apu's flashback in the seventh season episode "Much Apu About Nothing", in which Apu tells her that he is sorry that their arranged marriage will not happen, before getting on a plane departing for the U.S. to pursue the American Dream.
 * Comic Book Guy (voiced by Hank Azaria) is the proprietor of a comic book store, The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop. He is based on "every comic book store guy in America" and represents a stereotypical middle-aged comic-book collector. He is well known for his distinctive accent, disagreeable personality and his catchphrase, "Worst [blank] ever!"
 * Doctor Elmer Hartman (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is an inept quack physician, and a satire of incompetent medical professionals. Upon entering a scene, Dr. Hartman's catchphrase is "Hi, everybody!", with the characters present immediately responding (often in chorus) "Hi, Dr. Hartman!".
 * Kirk Evelyn van Houten (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is the father of Milhouse, and the ex-husband of Luann. He is friends with Homer, Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland. Kirk bears an identical resemblance to his wife, and wears glasses just like her and their son. He first appeared in the season 3 episode "Bart's Friend Falls in Love", but it wouldn't be until season eight's "A Milhouse Divided" that Kirk would be portrayed as a stereotypical middle-aged male loser and deadbeat dad. Much of his character revolves around his extreme emotional depression after his divorce from his wife Luann.
 * Luann Van Houten (voiced by Maggie Roswell) is the promiscuous single mother of Milhouse and ex-wife of Kirk, who pushed her successful love life in the face of Kirk. She first appeared in "Homer Defined", as a concerned mother who barred Milhouse from being Bart's friend due to Bart being a bad influence.
 * Professor Rupert Farnsworth (voiced by Billy West) is Quahog's elderly nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely intelligent, though somewhat mad and socially inept. Farnsworth often tries to use his bizarre inventions to aid the town in its crises but they usually only make things worse. His manner of speech, including the impulsive shouting of nonsensical words, has become his trademark.
 * Scruffy Scruffington (voiced by David Hermann) – A mustached man who speaks with a calm, raspy voice, as well as occasionally smacking his lips before a sentence. He has been seen with a variety of jobs including a deacon, gun shop owner, fisherman, a therapist, a medium, a lawyer, a masseur and a barman. More recently, he was seen working at the bowling alley selling rental shoes as seen in "The Splended Source", refereeing the boxing match where Marge fought Deirdre Jackson in "Baby, You Knock Me Out", and working at Quahog Laser Tag in "Forget-Me-Not". Scruffy is often accompanied by his "roommate" Jeffrey.
 * Consuela (voiced by Mike Henry) is a maid who is the head of the Maids' Union. She is Hispanic and speaks very broken English. She usually says "No, no, no...", whenever asked to do anything. She first appears in "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air" demanding Lemon Pledge in a court case. She is seen answering the door as Superman's maid at the Fortress of Solitude in "Stewie Kills Marge" telling Joe and the police officers that Superman is not home.
 * Ernie the Giant Chicken (voiced by Danny Smith; vocal effects by Frank Welker) is an anthropomorphic, human-sized chicken that often fights violently and suddenly with Homer, usually interrupting some unrelated event. The fight scenes are often long and melodramatic, involving the destruction of large sections of Quahog and sometimes killing bystanders. Homer always wins every fight by apparently killing the Giant Chicken, but it is then shown that he is still alive. This rivalry begins in "Da Boom" when the Giant Chicken gives Homer an expired coupon, which angers Homer.
 * Captain Seamus Levine (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is a tough fisherman with two peg-legs as well as two peg arms. He wears a black eye-patch over his right eye. He makes his first appearance in the episode "A Fish Out of Water". While spending time with Homer and the gang in a steam room, it is revealed his whole body from the neck down is wood. He tends to (unsuccessful) warn Homer of danger. Seamus had his own talk show in "Perfect Castaway". In his premiere episode, he jokes that his father was a tree, but in the episode "And Then There Were Fewer" he blames his condition on James Woods.
 * The Greased-up Deaf Guy (voiced by Mike Henry) is a naked man covered in grease who first appears in "The Thin White Line". His speech is indicative of someone with prelingual deafness. He is always shown running; even when stopped, he will continue to run in place, flailing his arms. In "North by North Quahog", he mentions that he used to be a lawyer. The reason for his condition was revealed in "Yug Ylimaf" where an accident with Stewie's time machine caused Brian and Stewie to witness him on his way to work hurrying past a grease truck that explodes, burning off his suit, and covering him in grease.
 * Kang and Kodos (Kang - voiced by Harry Shearer; Kodos - voiced by Dan Castellaneta) are aliens from the planet Rigel VII who seek the domination of Earth and enslavement of the human race. The duo has appeared in all Road to... episodes and in at least one segment of all Treehouse of Horror episodes. Sometimes their appearance is the focus of a plot, other times a brief cameo.
 * Evil Monkey (voiced by Danny Smith) is a monkey living in Bart's closet, who scares Bart whenever he jumps out of the closet by pointing at him with an evil grimace and a strange tremble (which the monkey claims is due to a copper deficiency). For much of the series, the family believes the Evil Monkey is a figment of Bart's imagination.
 * Kool-Aid Man (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is the mascot for the popular drink Kool-Aid, is parodied in several episodes. In "Death Has a Shadow" and "Stewie Kills Marge", when each family member exclaims "Oh no!" to the Judge's sentencing of Homer, the Kool-Aid Man breaks through the courtroom wall yelling "OH YEAH!", then backs away awkwardly.
 * Mona Simpson (voiced by Phillys Diller until her death) is the ex-wife of Abe, mother of Peter, and paternal grandmother of Bart, Lisa, and Stewie. She is the mother-in-law of Marge. She is 82 years old, has gray hair and noticeable wrinkles below her eyes, and wears purple earrings and a purple bead necklace. She is a heavy smoker. Unlike Francis, she is generally friendly and personable, and gets along well with Marge.
 * Jasper (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is Brian's flamboyantly homosexual cousin. Brian stays with him in Hollywood. Jasper later marries a Filipino dog named Ricardo. Jasper also makes a short appearance in "E. Peterbus Unum" during a flashback of Peter getting something the family doesn't need (in this case, a new dog—one that looks like a flamboyantly gay version of Brian). He also appeared in "Brian's Play", when he was seen chatting to Brian through a webcam.
 * Bertram (voiced by Wallace Shawn) – The son of a gym teacher and her partner through artificial insemination. Bertram's biological father is Homer. Bertram appears in "Emission Impossible", "Sibling Rivalry" and "The Big Bang Theory". In "Emission Impossible", Bertram is a sperm inside Homer's testicles. He enters combat with Stewie in order to prevent his destruction, as Stewie wishes to remain the baby of the family. The two became frenemies, and Stewie changes his mind on a new family member. In "Sibling Rivalry", it is revealed that a mishap prior to Homer receiving a vasectomy caused Bertram to be part of a sperm donation used to impregnate a female gym teacher's partner. After he is born, he begins playing at the same park as Stewie, and the two fight over who will rule the playground. Multiverse.
 * Artie Ziff (voiced by Jon Lovitz) is a narcissistic Internet entrepreneur who is infatuated with Marge Simpson, his former high school classmate. Animator David Silverman based Ziff's appearance and body language on a former high school classmate.
 * Buzz Killington (voiced by Danny Smith) is a man who dresses and acts as if he is a 19th-century British man of means. His name is based on the term "buzzkill". He is a stereotype of a socially popular person in the late 19th century, but by today's standards would be regarded as a "buzzkill". He is typically introduced into otherwise fun situations, such as a wild party, but his contributions (showing etchings, telling stories) bring the party (and fun) to a grinding halt.
 * Barbershop Quartet (voiced by Jon Joyce, Bob Joyce, Rick Logan, and Randy Crenshaw) – A group of four men that sing close harmony songs in specific episodes, usually alongside Homer.
 * Duffman (voiced by Hank Azaria) is the mascot for the Duff Corporation that sells Duff Beer, and is based on Budweiser's former mascot Bud Man. Duffman is a muscular actor, dressed in a superhero costume who spouts slogans while he thrusts his hips. Duffman's thrusts were first acted out by Brad Bird. His catchphrase, "Oh, yeah!", is a nod to the Yello song "Oh Yeah".
 * Al Harrington (voiced by Danny Smith) is the owner, president, and CEO of "Al Harrington's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubeman Emporium and Warehouse". In an advertisement, he speaks at an incredibly fast rate and could be described as "in-your-face", but just in that friendly-annoying way, as described by Homer.
 * Jillian Russell (voiced by Birtanny Murphy until her death in 2009) is Brian's sexy, bulimic, and dimwitted ex-girlfriend who is portrayed as a stereotypical blonde. She is quite ignorant; for example, she does not understand that Adolf Hitler was defeated decades ago. She first appeared in "Whistle While Your Wife Works". She is the only girlfriend that Brian has dated for more than one episode, and was a recurring character in Season 5. He stays with her purely for sex, though after they split, he felt strong feelings of love for her.
 * Jake Tucker (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) – Tom Tucker's deformed son and Chris' former classmate. Jake's many appearances show him with an "upside-down face"; a mouth near the top of his head and eyes near the bottom. In "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", he gets a normal face, via toxic waste. Although typically depicted as a demanding and obnoxious brat, Jake craves his father's attention, which he rarely gets.
 * Disco Stu (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a man who is mentally stuck in the disco era. He is normally featured wearing a rhinestone-encrusted leisure suit. Stu was introduced as the punchline to a joke in "Two Bad Neighbors". In a garage sale, Homer attempts to sell a jacket on which he had once tried to write "Disco Stud" in rhinestones, but having made the letters too big he did not have room for the final "d". After Marge remarks that nobody would ever want to buy a jacket that read "Disco Stu", another customer recommends it to Stu, but Stu replies, "Disco Stu doesn't advertise."
 * Crazy Cat Lady (voiced by Tress MacNeille), real name Eleanor Abernath is a woman with the appearance and behavior of a stereotypical mentally ill person. She first appears in "Girly Edition". Abernathy is always surrounded by a large number of cats, and in every appearance she screams gibberish and/or throws cats at passersby. She gives Lisa one of her cats, Snowball V, who looks exactly like her original Snowball II. Despite appearing older by her white hair and careless appearance, she is the same age as Marge, Homer and Quagmire.
 * Troy McClure (voiced by Phil Hartman until his death in 1998 and then by Billy West) is a stereotypical Hollywood has-been. He was a star in the early 1970s, but his career went downhill due to rumors of a paraphilia involving fish. In most of his appearances in the show, he hosts short video clips that other characters watch on television or in a public place. He often presents educational videos and infomercials. McClure introduces himself by saying, "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such [films, educational videos, voiceovers, etc.] as...," mentioning two titles that are similar to his current performance.
 * James Woods (voiced by Kyle Hebert) is an actor whose fictional persona becomes a criminal sociopath. In "Homer's Got Woods", he is invited by Homer to help deal with a local high school being named for Woods, i.e. James Woods Regional High School. While Brian's attentions are turned to his girlfriend, Homer becomes friends with Woods. This friendship ends when Woods becomes jealous of Brian. Homer and Brian lure Woods into a crate, forgetting to make holes for air, and ship him off to be studied by "top men".
 * Lionel Hutz (voiced by Phil Hartman until his death in 1998) is a stereotypical ambulance chasing lawyer in Springfield with questionable competence and ethics. He is nevertheless (or thus) often hired by the Simpsons. Following Hartman's murder in 1998, Hutz was retired out of respect; and his final speaking role was in the season nine episode "Realty Bites" five months earlier.
 * The Blue-Haired Lawyer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is Quahog's most prominent and powerful lawyer. He first appeared in the second season episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". He is known for his blue hair and nasal New York accent. He also occasionally appears to serve as a prosecutor. Unlike Lionel Hutz or Gil Gunderson, he is competent, although not necessarily ethical.
 * Fat Tony (voiced by Joe Mantegna) is a Italian gangster and the underboss of the Quahog Mafia. His henchmen include Legs and Louie, and he answers to Don Vittorio DiMaggio. The character somewhat resembles real-life mobster "Fat Tony" Salerno. His rackets included illegal gambling, cigarette smuggling, and bootlegging. In "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson", Homer contracts with the mafia to drive out Marge's rival snack food distributors. Fat Tony took out a hit on Mayor Adam West in "Mayored to the Mob" in retaliation for a raid on their rat milk facility, which Quimby opposed, as they had promised him "dog or higher".
 * Legs and Louie (Legs - voiced by Maurice LaMarche, Louie - voiced by Chick Vennera) are the two Quahog Mafia hitmen who accompany Fat Tony at all times. The two lack any real definitive characteristic and are almost always seen together. Legs has a dark blonde short haircut and raspy voice. Louie has a slight black afro and a more high-pitched, even squeaky tone.
 * Death (voiced by Norm MacDonald) is the Grim Reaper. When people die, he comes to collect them. He is a mama's boy who lives with his mother and finds it hard to interact with women, likely because during his teen years he is shown to have a habit of killing girls while with them. He has asthma, hates the fact that he is dead and that he has no buttocks.
 * Santa Claus (voiced by Bruce McGill) also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or simply Santa, is the legendary and figure who brings gifts to the homes of the nice children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24 or on his Feast Day, December 6.
 * Frank Sinatra Jr. (voiced by himself) was a singer, songwriter and conductor who meets Brian Griffin in "Brian Sings and Swings" following his near-death experience. Frank gives him some words of wisdom before taking the stage at the Quahog Cabana Club. Brian and Frank start to sing together, and eventually Stewie Griffin joins them, forming the "New Rat Pack".
 * Jesus Christ (voiced by Matt Stone) also known as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure of Christianity. Christians view him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament and as the Son of God, who provided salvation and reconciliation with God to humankind by dying for their sins, then raising himself from the dead.
 * God (voiced by Harry Shearer) is, according to many monotheistic religions, the Almighty Ruler and creator of the Universe. He resides in Heaven. His face is never shown on screen, except for a couple of occasions. He is a unique character who have five fingers, as opposed to all other characters in The Simpsons Guy.
 * Satan (voiced by Trey Parker) is a recurring character, based on the Abrahamic figure of the same name. He presides over Hell and is constantly at war with God, but is often depicted as a sensitive and emotionally vulnerable person who has suffered from dependence on relationships. Many of Satan's appearances on The Simpsons (as well as his role in the film The Simpsons: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) focus on his romantic attachments, all of which so far have been homosexual.
 * Akira (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a Japanese-American waiter at The Happy Sumo, a Japanese restaurant in Quahog. He first appeared in the second season in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish". Actor George Takei originally voiced Akira in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish".
 * Max Weinstein (voiced by Peter Riegert) is a Jewish accountant who first appeared in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". He was the Jew that Homer inadvertently called upon when he sang "I Need a Jew", enlisting his help in getting back the money that he used to buy volcano insurance. He later becomes the Simpson family "Jewish advisor".
 * Blinky is a three-eyed orange fish featured primarily in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish". Likely mutated by toxic waste from the Quahog Nuclear Power Plant pouring into the river, Blinky became a major news story when he was caught by Bart. Mr. Burns defends the fish, arguing that his extra eye is merely the next step in evolution.

Episodes
List of The Simpsons Guy episodes

Humor
The show's humor turns on cultural references that cover a wide spectrum of society so that viewers from all generations can enjoy the show. Such references, for example, come from movies, television, music, literature, science, and history. The animators also regularly add jokes or sight gags into the show's background via humorous or incongruous bits of text in signs, newspapers, billboards, and elsewhere. The audience may often not notice the visual jokes in a single viewing. Some are so fleeting that they become apparent only by pausing a video recording of the show. Kristin Thompson argues that The Simpsons Guy uses a "flurry of cultural references, intentionally inconsistent characterization, and considerable self-reflexivity about television conventions and the status of the programme as a television show."

One of Bart's early hallmarks was his prank calls to Moe's Tavern owner Moe Szyslak in which Bart calls Moe and asks for a gag name. Moe tries to find that person in the bar, but soon realizes it is a prank call and angrily threatens Bart. These calls were apparently based on a series of prank calls known as the Tube Bar recordings, though Groening and MacFarlane have denied any causal connection. Moe was based partly on Tube Bar owner Louis "Red" Deutsch, whose often profane responses inspired Moe's violent side. As the series progressed, it became more difficult for the writers to come up with a fake name and to write Moe's angry response, and the pranks were dropped as a regular joke during the fourth season. Likely, much of the series' earlier humor was focused was directed towards Stewie's "super villain" antics, such as his constant plans for total world domination, his evil experiments, plans and inventions to get rid of things he dislikes, his successfull attempts to make Lisa's life miserable, and his constant attempts at killing Marge. As the series progressed, Groening and MacFarlane agreed that his personality and the jokes were starting to feel dated, so they began writing him with a different personality.

The Simpsons Guy often includes self-referential humor. The most common form is jokes about Fox Broadcasting, and occasions where the characters break the fourth wall by addressing the audience. For example, the episode "She Used to Be My Girl" included a scene in which a Fox News Channel van drove down the street while displaying a large "Bush Cheney 2004" banner and playing Queen's "We Are the Champions", in reference to the 2004 U.S. presidential election and claims of conservative bias in Fox News.

The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have them. Notable expressions. Notable expressions include Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" and "Freakin' sweet", Stewie's "What the deuce!", Quagmire's "Giggity giggity goo", Joe's "Bring it on!", Mr. Burns' "Excellent" and Nelson Muntz's "Ha-ha!" Some of Bart's catchphrases, such as "¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!" and "Eat my shorts!" appeared on T-shirts in the show's early days. However, Bart rarely used the latter two phrases until after they became popular through the merchandising. The use of many of these catchphrases has declined in recent seasons.

Treehouse of Horror episodes
The special Halloween episode has become an annual tradition. "Treehouse of Horror" first broadcast in 1990 as part of season two and established the pattern of three separate, self-contained stories in each Halloween episode. These pieces usually involve the family in some horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting and often parody or pay homage to a famous piece of work in those genres. Although the Treehouse series is meant to be seen on Halloween, this changed by the 2000s, when new installments have premiered after Halloween due to Fox's current contract with Major League Baseball's World Series, however, since 2011, every Treehouse of Horror episode has aired during the month of October.

Road to episodes
The "Road to" episodes are a series of hallmark travel episodes. They are a parody of the seven Road to... comedy films starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. These episodes have always involved Stewie and Brian in some foreign, supernatural or science-fiction location, unrelated to the show's normal location in Quahog. The first, entitled "Road to Rhode Island", aired on May 30, 1990, during the second season. The episodes are known for featuring elaborate musical numbers, similar to the Road films. The episodes contain several trademarks, including a special version of the opening sequence, custom musical cues and musical numbers, and parodies of science fiction and fantasy films.

Critical reception
The Simpsons Guy was the Fox network's first television series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows. In 1995, Homer, Bart and Stewie quickly became three of the most popular characters on television. In the late 1990s, millions of T-shirts featuring Bart and Stewie were sold; as many as one million were sold on some days. Believing both to be bad role models, several American public schools banned T-shirts featuring the characters next to captions. The Simpsons Guy merchandise sold well and generated $2 billion in revenue during the first 14 months of sales.

Catherine Seipp of National Review Online described it as a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. Caryn James of The New York Times called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" that "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies". The Sydney Morning Herald named The Simpsons Guy the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 1990, hailing it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece". Frazier Moore from The Seattle Times called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He thought it was "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He summarized it as "rude, crude and deliciously wrong".

Empire continuously praised the show and its writers since Season 1 for creating really hilarious moments with unlikely material. They commented that one of the reasons they love the show is because nothing is sacred—it makes jokes and gags of almost everything. Robin Pierson of The TV Critic praised the series as "a different kind of animated comedy which clearly sets out to do jokes which other cartoons can't do."

The series has attracted many celebrities. Robert Downey, Jr. telephoned the show production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode's creation, as his son is a fan of the show; the producers subsequently created a character for Downey. Lauren Conrad met Groening and MacFarlane while recording a Laguna Beach clip for the episode "Prick Up Your Ears" (season 15). She has watched The Simpsons Guy for years and considers Stewie her favorite character. Commenting on his appearance in the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" (season 8, 2010), actor Dwayne Johnson stated that he was a "big fan" of The Simpsons Guy. Johnson befriended MacFarlane after he had a minor role in Johnson's 2010 film Tooth Fairy. R&B singer Rihanna has admitted to being a fan of The Simpsons Guy, as has pop singer Britney Spears; she tries to imitate Stewie's English accent. Spears, who was mocked for her personal problems in the South Park episode "Britney's New Look" in 2008, offered to appear in a cameo to hit back at the similar animated show, but MacFarlane declined, stating that he did not want to start a feud with the series.

Controversies
The show's frequent depiction of taboo subject matter, accessibility to younger viewers, disregard for conservative sensibilities, negative depiction of liberal causes, and portrayal of religion, race, and sex for social criticism and comical effect have generated controversy and debate over the course of its run. The Parents Television Council (PTC), a conservative, non-profit watchdog, has attacked the series since its premiere and has branded various episodes as "Worst TV Show of the Week". In May 2000 the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network in an effort to persuade the network to cancel the show. The PTC has placed the show on their annual lists of "Worst Prime-Time Shows for Family Viewing" in 2000, 2005, and 2006. The Federal Communications Commission has received multiple petitions requesting that the show be blocked from broadcasting on indecency grounds. Tucker and the PTC have both accused the show of portraying religion negatively, and of being racist. Because of the PTC, some advertisers have canceled their contracts after reviewing the content of the episodes, claiming it to be unsuitable.

Various episodes of the show have generated controversy. Brian and Stewie visit Australia in "Brian and Stewie vs. Australia" and the whole family visit Brazil in "Blame It on Lisa", and both episodes generated controversy and negative reaction in the visited countries. In the latter case, Rio de Janeiro's tourist board—which claimed that the city was portrayed as having rampant street crime, prostitution, drug dealing, kidnappings, rape, slums, and monkey and rat infestations—went so far as to threaten Fox with legal action. In "420", Brian decides to start a campaign to legalize cannabis in Quahog; the Venezuelan government reacted negatively to the episode and banned The Simpsons Guy from airing on their local networks, which generally syndicate American programming. Venezuelan justice minister Tareck El Aissami, citing the promotion of the use of cannabis, stated that any cable stations that did not stop airing the series would be fined; the government showed a clip which featured Brian and Stewie singing the praises of marijuana as a demonstration of how the United States supports cannabis use. In "Extra Large Medium", a character named Ellen (who has Down syndrome) states that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska, which strongly implies that her mother is Sarah Palin, the only woman to have served in the office of governor in the state. Sarah Palin, the mother of a special-needs child, criticized the episode in an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, calling those who made the show "cruel, cold-hearted people."

"The Principal and the Pauper" is one of the most controversial episodes of The Simpsons Guy. Many fans and critics reacted negatively to the revelation that Seymour Skinner, a recurring character since the first season, was an impostor. The episode has been criticized by Groening, MacFarlane, and by Harry Shearer, who provides the voice of Skinner. In a 2001 interview, Shearer recalled that after reading the script, he told the writers, "That's so wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience."

Ban
The show has been taken off the air in several countries. China banned it from prime-time television in August 2006, "in an effort to protect China's struggling animation studios." In 2008, Venezuela barred the show from airing on morning television as it was deemed "unsuitable for children". The same year, several Russian Pentecostal churches demanded that The Simpsons Guy, Peanuts, Rick and Morty and some other Western cartoons be removed from broadcast schedules "for propaganda of various vices" and the broadcaster's license to be revoked. However, the court decision later dismissed this request.

Declining quality
Critics' reviews of early The Simpsons Guy episodes praised the show for its sassy humor, wit, realism, and intelligence. However, in the late 1990s, around the airing of season 10, the tone and emphasis of the show began to change. Some critics started calling the show "tired". By 2005, some long-term fans had become disillusioned with the show, and pointed to its shift from character-driven plots to what they perceived as an overemphasis on cutaway gags, who once related to the story, and zany antics. Jim Schembri of The Sydney Morning Herald attributed the decline in quality to an abandonment of character-driven storylines in favor of and overuse of celebrity cameo appearances and more references to popular culture. Schembri wrote: "The central tragedy of The Simpsons Guy is that it has gone from commanding attention to merely being attention-seeking. It began by proving that cartoon characters don't have to be caricatures; they can be invested with real emotions. Now the show has in essence fermented into a limp parody of itself. Memorable story arcs have been sacrificed for the sake of celebrity walk-ons and punchline-hungry dialogue."

In 2010, the BBC noted "the common consensus is that The Simpsons Guy's golden era ended after season eleven", and Todd Leopold of CNN, in an article looking at its perceived decline, stated "for many fans ... the glory days are long past." Similarly, Tyler Wilson of Coeur d'Alene Press has referred to seasons one to eleven as the show's "golden age", and Ian Nathan of Empire described the show's classic era as being "say, the first twelve seasons." Jon Heacock of LucidWorks stated that "for the first eleven years [seasons], the show was consistently at the top of its game", with "so many moments, quotations, and references – both epic and obscure – that helped turn the Simpsons family into the cultural icons that they remain to this day.

The Cleveland Show
Groening and MacFarlane co-created—alongside Mike Henry and Richard Appel—The Simpsons Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, which premiered September 27, 2009. They began discussing the project in 2007. Appel and Henry served as the show's executive producers and showrunners, handling the day-to-day operations, with limited involvement from Groening and MacFarlane. Henry and Appel conceived the show as "more of a family show, a sweeter show" than The Simpsons Guy. The first season consisted of 22 episodes, and the show was picked up by Fox for a second season, which consisted of 13 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009, before the first season began. It was extended to a full second season. Appel signed a new three-year, seven-figure deal with Fox to continue serving as showrunner on The Cleveland Show in 2010. Fox chairman Gary Newman commented: "What is special about him is his incredible leadership ability." The show follows The Simpsons Guy character Cleveland Brown, who is voiced by Henry, as he leaves the town of Quahog and moves with his son to start his own adventure.

Other Media
The Simpsons Guy: Back to the Multiverse, which is centered around the episode "Road to the Multiverse", was released on November 20, 2012. The game received mixed reviews, averaging 50% favorable reviews for the Xbox 360 version, and 51% for the PlayStation 3 version, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game received praise for its humor, voice acting for the returning cast members, and faithfulness to the series, but was criticized for its short p