The Simpsons is a highly successful long-running animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical parody of the "Middle American" lifestyle epitomized by its title family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, and lampoons many aspects of the human condition, as well as American culture, society as a whole, and television itself.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening sketched an outline version of a dysfunctional family, and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name.[1] The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987.[2] After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show.

The Simpsons was an early hit for Fox, and won several major awards. Time magazine's December 31, 1999 issue named it the 20th Century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000 it was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons is currently the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American animated program. Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has been cited as an influence on many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has aired 400 episodes over eighteen seasons. As of March 20, 2006, it was renewed for a nineteenth season due to be aired in 2007–2008, premiering on September 23, 2007. The eighteenth season finale, aired on May 20, is the 400th episode, and 2007 marks the twentieth anniversary of The Simpsons franchise. A feature-length film, The Simpsons Movie, was released July 27, 2007. I remember when The Simpson's first aired, and Christians all over America were apalled it's content. I have noticed that we seem to have accepted The Simpson's and many parents allow their children to watch it unsupervised. Newer cartoons such as The Family Guy and South Park make The Simpson's look like The Brady Bunch. I also remember being taught that movies theaters were evil and that Christians shouldn't go there. I have since come to learn that movie theaters are no more evil than the television set that most preachers have in their homes. What is evil is the content of the movies that play in those theaters. I just wanted to remind myself, and anyone else who reads this what we are accepting when we promote and watch things like The Simpson's Movie. Here is a review:

Homer's always outrageous antics have to take on even bigger, movie-size proportions here, so instead of accidentally falling off a cliff or dozing on the job at the nuclear power plant, he's got to do something that doesn't just imperil himself, his house or his neighborhood. Its got to threaten the whole town—even the whole world.

That something triggers an environmental catastrophe the likes of which the U.S. government has never before seen. So President Schwarzenegger sends in the Environmental Protection Agency to do damage control. The EPA, led by the power-crazy Russ Cargill, airlifts in a giant, transparent dome to cut off Springfield from everything that surrounds it. (Maine, Kentucky, Ohio and Nevada are all said to be within eyeshot from a high hill.)

When the trapped townsfolk find out Homer's to blame, they gather to lynch him and his family (wife Marge, children Lisa, Bart and Maggie). And if not for a sinkhole that becomes a secret passageway under the edge of the dome, they'd all be done for. Next stop: Alaska, where the views are poster-perfect and they pay you $1,000 when you arrive so you won't complain about the oil companies ravaging your backyard.

Meanwhile, back in Springfield, time is running out. The EPA has decided the dome isn't enough. And a bomb is lowered down through a hole in the top. The town is to be obliterated. This, of course, sets up a moral conundrum for Homer. Should he go back to try to save the people who tried to kill him?

Driving Homer's decision to go back to Springfield is an "epiphany" obtained while he's being cared for by a medicine woman of sorts. She prompts him to "cleanse your spirit through the ancient art of Inuit throat singing." After he slides into a trance and his body is pulled apart by the reaching hands of the trees in his vision, he suddenly realizes, "Other people are just as important as I am! In order to save myself, I have to save Springfield."

When Homer has to go to church for a funeral, he protests, "Why can't I worship the Lord in my own way, like praying like h--- on my deathbed?" And he complains about churchgoers being "too busy talkin' to their phony-baloney God."

In church, Grampa Simpson gets hit with a beam of light (from heaven), has a vision and falls, writhing, to the floor. He "prophesies" that the town will face a great calamity. Told to deal with his possessed-looking dad, Homer rifles through a Bible, then discards it saying, "This book doesn't have any answers."

God and His "intelligent design" take one in the (figurative) eye when Flanders identifies the (literal) eyes of a grossly mutated creature as divine handiwork. As if that weren't enough, there's always plenty of sexual content to go around in the cartoon.

One final comment:

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. -- Psalm 101:3