The Simpsons

Premise Characters Homer , the father, works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant , a position at odds with his careless, buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge ( née Bouvier), a stereotypical American housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart , a ten-year-old troublemaker and prankster; Lisa , a precocious eight-year-old activist; and Maggie (named by Bart), the baby of the family who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a pacifier. 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 greyhound , Santa's Little Helper , (who first appeared in the episode " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire ") and a cat, Snowball II , who is replaced by a cat, also named Snowball II, in the fifteenth-season episode " I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot ". Extended members of the Simpson and Bouvier family in the main cast include Homer's father Abe and Marge's sisters Patty and Selma . Marge's mother Jacqueline and Homer's mother Mona appear less frequently. The Simpsons sports a vast array of secondary and tertiary characters.

The show includes a vast array of quirky supporting characters, which include Homer's friends Barney Gumble , Lenny Leonard , and Carl Carlson ; the school principal Seymour Skinner and staff members such as Edna Krabappel and Groundskeeper Willie ; students such as Milhouse Van Houten , Nelson Muntz , and Ralph Wiggum ; shopkeepers such as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon , Comic Book Guy , and Moe Szyslak ; government figures Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby and Clancy Wiggum ; next-door neighbor Ned Flanders ; local celebrities such as Krusty the Clown and news reporter Kent Brockman ; nuclear tycoon Montgomery Burns and his devoted assistant Waylon Smithers ; and many more . The creators originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokes or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and subsequently starred in their own episodes. According to Matt Groening, the show adopted the concept of a large supporting cast from the comedy show SCTV .