In all of our years binge-watching “The Simpsons” as young teens, never before have we thought too much about why the iconic characters are bright yellow. Until now.
According to the much-loved US animation’s creator, Matt Groening, there is a good reason why Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie (and every other character on the show for that matter) are all as bright as the sun.
Why The Simpsons characters are yellow
According to reports, when Matt was in the early stages of creating the cartoon with his talented team of animators, they were determined to push out something that looked and felt completely different from what was already on TV.
That’s when the idea of giving the characters yellow skin came up.
“An animator came up with the Simpsons’ yellow and as soon as she showed it to me I said, ‘This is the answer!’,” Matt shared in an interview back in 2007.
Having yellow characters not only meant that it was different, but it was also something that was catchy for potential viewers.
“When you’re flicking through channels with your remote control, and a flash of yellow goes by, you’ll know you’re watching The Simpsons,” Matt added.
Another point of difference was giving the characters four fingers. Also something we didn’t necessarily notice until now.
The Simpsons’ biggest blunder
Speaking of things people might’ve never noticed, die-hard fans will remember the episode ‘And Maggie Makes Three’ in season six of The Simpsons where Marge breaks the news to Homer that she’s pregnant with their third child.
The episode actually hosts one of the biggest blunders the show has ever seen and it was spotted much later by executive producer, Matt Selman.
Back in 2018, the EP took to Twitter (now X) to share the gaffe – a photo of Maggie in the background of the pregnancy announcement scene.
“Maggie is in photo on wall behind Marge telling Homer she’s pregnant with Maggie,” he tweeted along with a screengrab of the clip.
The news came as a shock to many fans of the series who couldn’t believe they missed the editing fail, which first went to air in 1996.
