Broadcasting of The Simpsons: Wikis

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The Simpsons has originally been shown at the Fox network in the United States. It has been widely syndicated in the United States and distributed internationally afterwards.

English

Australia

In Australia it airs on Network Ten, and for those with Cable TV it airs on FOX8. Network Ten used to air the episodes everyday, but have removed it from the Sunday schedule. On FOX8 it aires everyday and on Saturdays and Sunday 5 episodes from The Simpsons air from 9:00 to 12:00, which is called "The Super Simpsons Weekends".

Canada

The Simpsons air on the Global Television Network (and its predecessor Canwest Global System before 1997), usually in the same timeslot as Fox. Repeats air weekday afternoons on CBC Television and nightly on The Comedy Network.

New Zealand

In New Zealand it airs on two channels, sometimes at the same time. TV 3 show it at 5pm, and Sky 1 at 7pm, with the occasional three hour 'marathon' on Sunday mornings.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom it first aired on the satellite station Sky One, one of the first countries outside the United States to do so. Despite not being available on the more mainstream, publicly funded channels such as the BBC or ITV, it was hugely popular in a similar way to the United States and releases of the series on VHS sold well. When it eventually made it to the BBC in 1996 the viewership broadened and it once again enjoyed healthy ratings. Sky One airs the most recent episodes with a delay ranging from a week to a few months between the UK and US schedules, and the advertising funded Channel 4 continues to show the older episodes.

United States

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Fox programming history

All times Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5)

Season 1 (1990), 8:30 p.m. Sunday

Season 2–5 (1990–1994), 8:00pm Thursday

Season 6–present (1994–present), 8:00pm Sunday

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The Simpsons has originally been shown at the Fox network in the United States, but is widely syndicated. The versions in syndication sometimes differ from the version shown at Fox, usually because of advertising. The syndicated versions may cut to commercials at a different time than at Fox, which gives an abrupt feeling watching the show. Scenes from the episode can also be taken out to get more space for adversiting.

Arabic

The program finally made an official debut in Arabic-speaking markets in September of 2005, under a title that transliterates as "Al-Shamshoon" (In Arabic, الشمشون) In addition to being dubbed in Arabic (with subtitles provided for shots including written English, such as the chalkboards), references to alcohol (Duff Beer & Moe's Tavern), pork (bacon & hot dogs), and numerous other themes have been deleted or significantly modified. For instance, Homer drinks soda-pop instead of beer and eats beef sausages as opposed to pork, while some characters, notably Apu, Reverend Lovejoy and Krusty the Clown were omitted from the shows altogether, presumably due to their religions, Hindu, Christian and Jewish, respectively. The characters were also given typical Arabic names such as Omar, Mona and Abar for Homer, Marge and Bart respectively as part of the retooling, while voices were provided by leading actors including Egyptian film star Mohamed Heneidi as "Omar".

French

The Simpsons has been dubbed into the French language twice, once in the Canadian province of Quebec and again in France. In both versions, the show is named Les Simpson, as last names are not pluralized in French.

It is one of only a handful of American television shows that have wholly separate versions in Quebec and France, and a number of studies have been made comparing them. In France all the characters speak standard French, with the exception of the ethnic minorities: Apu is given the Arabic accent common to French shop keepers while Carl, who has no accent in the American version, also speaks inflected French. In the Quebec version only the town elite, such as Principal Skinner and Reverend Lovejoy, speak International French. The Simpson family and most of the townsfolk speak with a strong Québécois accents. In the Quebec version the minorities also have accents. Apu speaks in a creole while Carl has the accent of a Black immigrant from Africa or the Caribbean.

The episodes are often not direct translations with local idioms sometimes being adopted. On occasion American cultural and political references are replaced with local ones. For instance a reference to Newt Gingrich in Quebec becomes one to Mike Harris. Almost all the recurring characters keep their English names in both French versions. Two exceptions are Sideshow Bob and Sideshow Mel who is known as Tahiti Bob and Tahiti Mel in France as the word sideshow has no direct translation.

The episodes are dubbed by a team of voice actors, similar to the one that does the original. The team does about two episodes per day. In general these voice actors also do the characters who were voiced by celebrities in the American version. In the French version, on occasion, official dubbers are brought in. For instance for the episode where Mulder and Scully from the X-Files appear the voice actors who do their voices on the French version of the X-Files guest starred.

The animation of the show is not changed, and what is in writing in English appears in English in the French versions. One important exception is the blackboard joke at the beginning of each episode. The Quebec and France versions share these French language blackboard scenes.

France

In France episodes are produced by FOX France and broadcast on Canal and generally appear about a year after they air in the United States. For unexplained reasons three episodes from the sixth season were skipped by Canal : Another Simpsons Clip Show, 'Round Springfield, and A Star is Burns. These were not dubbed until the season was released on DVD in 2002.

The French voice actors are:

Homer Simpson: Philippe Peythieu

Marge Simpson: Véronique Augereau

Lisa Simpson: Aurélia Bruno

Bart Simpson: Joëlle Guigui

Ned Flanders: Patrick Guillemin (seasons 1 to 9), Pierre Laurent (from season 10)

Moe: Gilbert Levy

Seymour Skinner: Michel Modo

Edna Krabappel: Martine Meiraghe (seasons 1 to 6), Régine Teyssot (from season 7)

The dialogue is adapted by Juliette Vigouroux and Alain Cassard

Artistic direction by Christian Dura