16 Obscure Facts About ‘The Simpsons’ Fans Never Knew

4. Keeping It In the Family

At the last minute — like, waiting in the lobby for the pitch meeting, last minute — Groening decided not to use Life in Hell on Ullman, so he adopted the idea for a dysfunctional family. In a pinch for names, Groening named the characters after the members of his own family. He changed only the son’s name to an anagram of “brat.”

5. The Pay Scale

For nearly the first decade of the show’s existence, the show’s primary performers were only paid $30,000 per episode, which is pretty bottom of the barrel for performers on a mainstream sitcom. It wasn’t until 1998 that the actors got a pay bump, only after they threatened to sue. These days the voice artists make more than $300K per performance.

6. Best. Fan Film. Ever.

Here’s a measure of the loyalty that The Simpsons fans feel for the show. Over the course of the program’s run, Rainier Wolfcastle — the burly, vaguely German-sounding movie star — has stood in whenever a vain movie star or a kickass action hero was needed. The clips of Wolfcastle’s films have actually been edited into a coherent four-minute McBain short by the show’s fans.