Bart Simpson's first televised appearance, via Wikipedia
There’s no point to this, no theme. It’s just useless trivia, some of which I’ve been carrying around for decades:
- Bart Simpson is older than Adele. “The Simpsons” began as a series of shorts on “The Tracy Ullman Show” in 1987. Adele was born in ’88.
- Lois, of the comic “Hi and Lois,” is Beetle Bailey’s sister. Beetle visited his sister’s family once.Hi and Lois got their own strip in ’54.
- The longest-running comic strip is “The Katzenjammer Kids.” It started in 1897 and still runs in about 50 newspapers.
- No one knows why, but I’m betting it’s inertia on the part of newspaper editors.
- The longest-running TV show is “Meet the Press” — 64 years and counting.
- Again, inertia. Plus, it’s cheap to produce.
- The Skipper on “Gilligan’s Island” had a name — Jonas Grumby. The Professor’s was Roy Hinkley. Lovey Howell’s given name was Eunice. Gilligan, though was just Gilligan.
- Last week’s No. 1 show was the Academy Awards. It was seen by 39.3 million people. The U.S. population is about 311.6 million, meaning only 12.6% of Americans watched the show. This means the majority, also known, statistically, as “normal people,” did something else.
- Roughly the same number of Americans as watched the Oscars think Congress is doing a good job.
- That should tell you something.
- The median age in the U.S. is 36.8. This means most Americans were not only were born after the first moon landing (43 years ago) but also after the last moon landing (39 years ago).
- It also means most Americans can’t remember when the original “Star Wars” came out 35 years ago.
- Roughly 234,000 of your fellow Americans went to hospital emergency rooms in 2008 after injuring themselves in the bathroom, according to a CDC report. The most common injury occured ”in or around the tub or shower,” which is understandable, I guess, while the second most common injury occured “on or near the toilet.”
- The report doesn’t say, and I don’t think I want to know.
Who thinks Congress is doing a good job? I want their names and phone numbers.
I don’t know, but I think they’re the kind of people who wind up in the ER on a Saturday night with a toilet-related injury.
I watched part of the Oscars. Due to February-induced inertia, my tv stayed at the same channel for several weeks.
I tuned in just about the time Angelina Jolie was striking a pose (I thought I was missing out on a joke from earlier, but apparently she was serious) and then the guy after her mocked it.
It was the high point of February.
Not my favorite month, either. It’s the month you hunker down and think, OK, let’s get this over with so we can get to spring. The guy mocking the Jolie was the guy who plays Dean Pelton in Community.
Community? That must be on a different channel.
I don’t know how people get hurt on the toilet. I do know a lot of people go there, and never ever get up.
Such as Elvis.
Damn, I just missed that median age by a couple months. Nowhere to go but down now, huh?
I remember watching The Simpsons when they were on Tracy Ullman. Damn, and now I feel old. Thanks, Todd.
Remember when parents and educators claimed Bart was a bad role model because he was on T-shirts that said, “Underachiever (and proud of it)”? Now, the Simpsons are about as mainstream as you can get.
This is the kind of info that gets lodged in my head for decades. Didn’t realize the Meet the Press was longest show. Good trivia. btw Todd, I launched a new & improved movie tournament for this year. Protagonists this time and a real entry form w/ bracket! Love to have you if you’re interested.
I’m so there.
I love this fun kind of trivia Todd. It’s a nice lighthearted diversion from bad republican candidates, $4 gas and all the other regular news.
Whoa! Older than Adele