The Simpsons: A Pop Culture Beacon Celebrates 20 Years

By TheImproper, January 10th, 2010

Homer-Simpson “The Simpsons” will air it’s 450th show, marking its 20th Anniversary tonight (Jan. 10). Cast members are revealing a few show secrets, and some of them aren’t pretty.

Tonight’s episode, aptly titled, “Once Upon a Time in Springfield,” touches on all of the elements that have made the show a beacon of pop culture for the past two two decades.

The show has had a slew of big name guest stars over the years and this episode will feature Anne Hathaway as the voice of Krusty the Klown’s love interest Princess Penelope.

In what sounds all too much like today’s vapid television,station executives want Krusty to take on the princess because his ratings among girls, a key demographic, are in the tank.

Krusty wants no part of it. “I work like I drink – alone, or with a monkey watching me.”

But the suits prevail and Krusty gets a partner in more ways than one. It would have been more fitting if he were sued for sexual harassment.

Hathaway is a delight, but not all of the show’s celebrity guests got it.

Hank Azaria, who voices Chief Wiggum, Apu and Moe among other characters, recalls meeting the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger at the door when he showed up for his guest appearance.

“I said, ‘Hey, Mick, we’re thrilled to have you here.’ And he kind of blew right by me like I was the greeter, and went, all dismissively, ‘Yeah, we’ll get it.’

“It made me a little bit annoyed. I knew it was going to get awkward, because I was about to walk upstairs and record with him,” Azaria said.

But not every celebrity gets their star turn on the show. Soccer star David Beckham was turned down because the show’s producers didn’t think he was famous enough in the United States.

Krusty the Klown falls for Princess Penelope

Beckham, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, former Spice Girls singer-turned-fashion designer Victoria , is known the world over, but that wasn’t good enough for the Simpson’s creators.

“We get a lot of requests from celebrities, and it’s always a shame when we have to turn people down,” said Al Jean, the show’s principal writer and executive producer.

“I had to phone [Beckham] up and tell him ‘sorry’ but I didn’t want him on the show right now. I didn’t think he was a big enough star for an American audience.

“I got a lot of grief about that. Some people got really angry about it and I was told, ‘I bet you would have put George Best on.’ I can pretty much say I would have turned him down, too.”

While Beckham didn’t make the cut, the show’s guest stars include a Who’s Who of celebritydom.

They include Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Bob Hope, Elizabeth Taylor, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep, Beatles George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and a slew of sports figures from Michael Jordon to Joe Frazier.

“The Simpsons” 450th episode is titled “Once Upon a Time in Springfield.” It will be followed by an hourlong documentary from Morgan Spurlock (“30 Days,” “Super Size Me”), fancifully titled “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice.”

The show will mark the Simpsons as the longest running scripted night-time television show in the history of television.

“I think we could do it for another 20 years, actually,” Matt Groening, the “Simpsons” creator, told The Associated Press at a recent “Simpsons” tribute in Los Angeles.

The cast includes Dan Castellaneta as Homer, Julie Kavner as Marge, Nancy Cartwright as Bart and Yeardley Smith as Lisa.

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