Couch gag
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The couch gag is a running visual joke in the opening credits of the animated television series The Simpsons. The couch gag changes from episode to episode, and usually features the Simpson family's living room couch. A typical gag features the Simpson family running into the living room, only to find some abnormality with the couch; be it a bizzare and unexpected occupant, an odd placement of the couch, such as the ceiling, or any number of other situations. In more recent seasons, the couch gags have tended to be more outlandish and surreal.
Generally, between one-half and two-thirds of the couch gags used in a season are new, while the remaining couch gags are repeats. Most couch gags are used at least twice, with a second occurrence in the same season as the first. In all, thirteen episodes do not feature couch gags. Most of these are Halloween episodes.
Notable couch gags
The first couch "gag" was not really a gag. In the first produced episode, "Some Enchanted Evening", the family simply ran into the living room and sat on the couch. However, the episode was delayed and therefore, this couch gag was not the first to be aired.The first episode of the series to air, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (episode 7G08), did not feature a couch gag. The second episode (aired and produced), "Bart the Genius," features the first couch gag to be aired. When the family sits down on the couch, Bart is squeezed off the couch and pops up into the air. During the shot of the television set following the couch shot Bart is seen falling back down in front of the TV. This is the only couch gag that continues into the closing shot of the TV.
The most-used couch gag in first-run primetime airings, first used in "Lisa's First Word," involves the family forming a chorus line with a group of dancers. The living room background makes way to reveal unicyclists and elephants in a large production number. Used a total of eight times to date, this extra-long couch gag has mostly been used when episodes were in danger of being too short. The extra length of the gag compensated for a shorter episode. This has become less common in later seasons as the required length for each episode has reduced.
However, in syndication, the most used couch gag has the Simpson family unable to sit because an identical family is already sitting on the couch. Like most shows, "The Simpsons" is shortened in syndication to make time for more commercials. 33 episodes which had their openings shortened for syndication also had their original couch gags replaced with this couch gag. Why this couch gag in particular is used so often in syndication is unknown, as it is no shorter than most of the couch gags it replaced. Oddly enough, in first-run primetime airings, this couch gag was only used once, in episode 1F01, "Rosebud."
The longest couch gag to date is "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner"'s 45-second spoof of the short film Powers of Ten. After the family runs in and sits on the couch, the camera pans through the roof and continues pulling back - past Springfield, the United States, Earth, the Solar System, Kang and Kodos outside their broken spaceship, and finally the entire Milky Way galaxy. As the scene continues receding, the galaxies turn into atoms, which become molecules, which become strands of DNA, which become skin cells, which become Homer's head. Homer then says "woooow" (later changed to "cool" in subsequent airings.) The whole sequence takes place with Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra in the background.
Another extra-long couch gag debuted in "Marge's Son Poisoning," where the family went to sit on the couch, but it came to life, sprouted teeth and proceeded to attack and attempt to eat them. The family runs outside to discover that everybody's couches and chairs are doing the same thing. We then see shots of various people being attacked by couches: Sherri and Terri get swallowed by theirs, Eddie and Lou get trapped in their police car by them, Professor Frink has lasers shot at him by his space-age couch, and Moe uses a shotgun to fight off the booths and barstools in his tavern. It then cuts to Homer running up the street, deciding to take shelter in a local store. Unfortunately, the store turns out to be "Couch World", and Homer is attacked by several couches. Many people thought that this was meant to be part of the previous week's Treehouse of Horror episode, as during the shot of the TV afterwards it had Halloween-esque music playing.
One of the more memorable couch gags involves the Simpsons arriving to find The Flintstones sitting on the couch — a nod to The Simpsons' antecedent.
Another of the more self-refential couch gags includes the family rushing in to sit on the couch, though the opening music stops suddenly. Nothing happens, until Lisa addresses the viewer, "What, can't we sit on the couch without something happening?" Homer is then impaled by a long spear, followed by a D'oh!. The opening music then resumes.
See also
External links
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