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The Simpsons Get 'Stamping Ovation' to Tune of 1 Billion Stamps

"Ay, Carumba!" A 'stampede' of one billion Simpsons stamps began escaping from America's 34,000 Post Offices and infiltrated the nation's mailstream following the issuance of The Simpsons stamps and postal cards on May 7, 2009.

The first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony took place at Twentieth Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles.

There, The Simpsons Creator and Executive Producer, Matt Groening, along with Executive Producer James L. Brooks join the voices behind the famous characters appearing on the stamps (Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith) in conjunction with the Postal Service in celebrating the stamps.

Hank Azaria and other voice actors from The Simpsons will be in attendance to lend their support. The longest-running primetime comedy in television history has become a cultural and ground-breaking phenomenon since the series launch in 1990. This honor solidifies their place in history.

The Postal Service is reminding the world to visit www.usps.com/simpsons to vote early and often for their favorite Simpsons stamp. Results of the ballot stuffing that ends May 14, 2009 will be announced shortly thereafter.

We're looking to encourage a younger generation to develop an interest in stamp collecting by creating stamps they can relate to," said U.S. Postal Service Vice President Ground Shipping James P. Cochrane. "The Postal Service commemorates Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa and Maggie as The Simpsons is are currently in its 20th year as a regularly scheduled half-hour series in 2009, making it the longest-running comedy in the history of American prime-time television."

The show is a critical and popular favorite and has won multiple Emmy awards, a Peabody Award and numerous other accolades.

"It's an incredible honor to be on a U.S. postage stamp," said Matt Groening. "I honestly can't believe it. I thought the Pillsbury Doughboy would come before us."

Joining Cochrane and Groening in dedicating the stamps were The Simpsons Executive Producer, James L. Brooks, actor Kelsey Grammer, and Chairman of 20th Century Fox Television, Gary Newman.

"It's only supposed to be dead people on stamps," said James L. Brooks. "Somehow we were able to overcome that."
Elie Dekel, Executive Vice President of Fox Licensing and Merchandising added, "After 16 years in development, we are so proud to have reached this major milestone for The Simpsons. An amazing accomplishment for a show that the world has loved and laughed at for twenty years, and counting."

The Simpsons Beat the Odds

The U.S. Postal Service receives approximately 50,000 suggestions for stamp subjects each year, yet only about 20 topics make the cut. The Simpsons is the only television show to be featured as the sole subject of a stamp set while still in prime-time production. Sesame Street and Monday Night Football were in production when they were honored on stamps as part of the Celebrate the Century: 1970s series issued in 1999. Seinfeld aired throughout the 1990s. The Seinfeld stamp was issued in 2000 as part of the Celebrate the Century: 1990s series.

Other stamps commemorating TV shows that were not in production as part of the 1999 Celebrate the Century series included: I Love Lucy, Star Trek and All in the Family. Jim Henson, the Man Behind the Muppets was honored in 2005. The Muppet Show aired from 1976 to 1981. LOS ANGELES, May 7, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Simpsons go Blarney on Paddy's Day!

DUBLIN, Ireland - Many a world statesmen, literary giant and Hollywood legend has performed the ritual and now TV's favourite yellow bellied character Homer Simpson is set to kiss the infamous Blarney Stone, when The Simpson's visit Ireland this St. Patricks Day.

The video will be posted here when released by Fox.

St Patrick's Day 2009 will be celebrated with a special "Oirish" episode of The Simpsons which will be screened in Ireland ahead of its transmission in the US for the first time in the 20-year history of the show.

Ireland's patron saint of bookies, Paddy Power, has wasted no time coming out with some animated bets on the one-off episode and are betting 6/4 that Homer leans back to kiss the gift of gab wall.

However the cheeky bookie isn't ruling anything out with the clumsy character and are also offering odds on him holding baby Maggie out to kiss the wall at 6/1. The odds on Homer writing graffiti on the wall are just 8/1 while it's 25/1 he mistakes the word 'kiss' as 'p%*s' and urinates on The Blarney Stone!

In what promises to be a paddy packed episode of all things Irish Bookies Paddy Power are also speculating on what famous Irish cliche Homer utters first. 'O Beggorah' is the the bookies favourite at 8/1, followed by 'Top O' The Mornin' To Ye' at 9/1, 'To Be Sure To Be Sure' at 10/1 and crude quote 'as gaeilge', 'Pog Mo Hon' also at 10/1.

Paddy Power said: "We're no strangers to betting on The Simpsons. We're still feeling the pain from the massive payout we faced when baby Maggie shot Mr Burns all those years ago! The Simpsons don't miss a trick so there's bound to be lots of Irish colloquialisms and paddy whackery to watch out for!"

The episode was broadcast on Sky1 St Patrick's Day, Tuesday 17th March at 7.30pm (GMT).

Source: Paddy Power Plc
March 12, 2009/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --