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Eat my shorts... because other shows definitely did! Join us as we count down the most memorable times animated series borrowed a page — or a whole chapter — from "The Simpsons"! From iconic gags to entire show concepts, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Springfield has inspired more than you'd think!
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00:05Welcome to WatchMojo! And today, we're counting down our picks for the most memorable allusions
00:11to The Simpsons from other shows. Minor spoilers to come.
00:15I think I speak for all of us when I say, I am over The Simpsons!
00:21Number 10. Days Without an Accident DuckTales
00:26This gag is so ubiquitous nowadays that it's hard to believe one of its early iterations
00:32arguably comes from The Simpsons. The show revamped its iconic opening scene to include
00:37Lenny and Carl changing the days without an accident sign and getting knocked over.
00:47Other shows followed suit, but the 2017 remake of DuckTales is by far the most memorable.
00:52In this episode, Louie's harp-be-gone company is compromised when Donald Duck lets the
00:58harpies out of his closet in a peek.
01:06Huey sees the chaos and calmly changes the sign accordingly. It's a Simpsons nod, alright.
01:14Number 9. Puberty Demon Hormone Monster, Big Mouth
01:20This adult comedy features puberty, literally. Middle schooler friends Nick Birch and Andrew
01:26Glauberman, among others, struggle with their raging hormones, depicted as shoulder angels.
01:32Puberty Fairy? Puberty Fairy? I'm the hormone monster! I'm not a fairy!
01:38Maurice Maury Beverly is the hormone monster, haunting Andrew and, later, other boys, representing
01:44male puberty in all its inglorious ignominy. This premise sounds relatively unique, so it's
01:51astonishing to realize that The Simpsons did it first in Season 26.
01:56Do it! Enter the world of body spray, wiry hairs, and wondering what boobs feel like!
02:02Do you know? Sure, sure, of course I do.
02:07Bart goes to a middle school dance and is faced for the first time with his puberty demon.
02:11He and Maury definitely swapped tips… at some point.
02:23Number 8. The Vignette Format, Futurama
02:28Of course Futurama and Simpsons show creator Matt Groening would reuse his own creative plot
02:34structure. This classic Simpsons episode, 22 short films about Springfield, functions as
02:40a loose parody of Pulp Fiction, with its interconnected stories taking place during one day.
02:46I thought we were having steamed clams.
02:49No, no, I said steamed hams. That's what I call hamburgers.
02:53You call hamburgers steamed hams?
02:55Yes, it's a regional dialect.
02:57One of the most memorable and memed moments is the famous steamed hams segment,
03:03although the straightforward Pulp Fiction parody is also great.
03:07For Futurama, the chaos begins with the $300 rebate issued to every citizen by Earth
03:13President Richard Nixon. That's right, I've sent you each 300 buckaroos in the form of a Tricky
03:20Dick Fun Bill. Knock yourselves out!
03:25I'm slightly richer!
03:27The episode follows each Planet Express crew member spending the money how they please,
03:32with Fry using the money to drink 100 cups of coffee, and Bender steals a $10,000 cigar. Both are
03:39good.
03:40The Grand Cigar, she is mine! And with absolutely no consequences!
03:46Number 7. Simpsons Did It
03:49South Park On more than one occasion, Trey Parker and
03:54Matt Stone have come up with an idea for South Park only to realize The Simpsons already did it.
03:59This finally prompted them to make an episode where Butters repeatedly realizes that his world
04:04domination plots are all recycled Simpsons episodes. Soon all people will have to live like moles!
04:11They will live only to remember with sorrow how great the sun used to be!
04:14Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!
04:16Cool, it'll be just like on The Simpsons!
04:20Huh?
04:20They did that on The Simpsons! I think it was the Mr. Burns character he tried to block Springfield from
04:25the sun!
04:25In the ultimate ironic twist, the episode contains a subplot where a society of little creatures
04:31believes Cartman is their god. Stone and Parker couldn't believe it when they learned that The
04:37Simpsons did this too in a Treehouse of Horror episode. Tiny little people!
04:45My god, I've created life!
04:48They suddenly found that this was a happy accident, offering a natural bridge between
04:52the episode's A plot and B plot. Plus, Twilight Zone technically did it first.
04:59What do you got?
05:01A man. A tiny little man.
05:04Why, you crushed me, Death.
05:06I didn't mean to.
05:086. Internal Monologue Battle – The Critic
05:11Created by previous writers on The Simpsons, this series definitely has some
05:16Simpsons DNA. One gag they share is their internal monologues. In this show, New York
05:23critic Jay Sherman often converses with his organs, particularly his stomach, and those organs talk
05:30back. Hey, as long as they put bread on the table, I didn't ask questions. Well, I've got some
05:35questions. How about some butter with that bread? And maybe a nice chunk of ham? Patience, my pet.
05:41Jay, honey, who you talking to? Uh-oh, they're on to me.
05:46In The Simpsons, Homer's stomach is also a major character, but even his head is a character all to
05:52itself.
05:53Uh-huh. Oh, $20. I wanted a peanut.
05:57$20 can buy many peanuts. Explain how.
06:01Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
06:03Jay Sherman appears on The Simpsons in a delightful crossover with Jay and Homer's wills
06:08and stomachs battling for dominance. Who knew these two leads could be so much alike?
06:25Number 5. Prank Call
06:27The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius
06:31One of the most wholesome gags from The Simpsons has to be Bart's prank calls to Moe's Tavern,
06:37in all their punny glory.
06:39Yeah, Moe's Tavern, Moe speaking. Is Jacques there?
06:42Who? Jacques, last name Strap.
06:45Uh, hold on. Uh, Jacques Strap. Hey guys, I'm looking for a Jacques Strap.
06:54It's such a specific gag, though, you wouldn't think it would or could be replicated by another
07:01show. The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius has one decent prank call gag, though.
07:07Here, Jimmy's evil clone is the one pulling the prank calls all over Retroville. He even calls the
07:13UN Security Council, asking for Ivana Shake My Booty.
07:31Jimmy finally manages to capture his evil clone in the Dark Matter dimension, but the damage of
07:37the prank calls has already been done. Maybe he and Bart could exchange punny ideas.
07:43You're not gonna get away with this, Whippy Dip! You can't keep an evil clone down! I'll be back!
07:52Number 4. Slow Walk Into The Hedge
07:56Bob's Burgers
07:58In this classic Simpsons episode, Homer becomes good friends with Ned Flanders,
08:03even appearing where he isn't welcome, much to the latter's eventual consternation.
08:08The scene where Homer slowly walks back into the foliage is now a beloved internet meme.
08:15Uh, Homer, we're gonna visit the boy's grandmother. Family only, you know?
08:19Right, no reporters.
08:21No, I mean just the Flanders family.
08:26Oh, okay.
08:30It's such a memorable moment that Bob's Burgers decided to take a whack at it too. When Bob and
08:37the other tenants organize a strike against a rent hike, landlord Fish Odor announces a water balloon
08:43fight. I'm playing the game! Is this what you people wanted? Huh? Huh? Although Bob wants the tenants to
08:50keep striking, once his wife Linda gets struck, Bob goes on a rampage. You can even see the exact
08:56moment when the soul of Homer Simpson briefly possesses him. It's classic indeed.
09:02Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon? Would you like to glide?
09:10Number 3. Morty's Mind Blowers
09:13Rick and Morty
09:14Rick and Morty. One aspect original to The Simpsons was their Halloween anthology specials,
09:20Treehouse of Horror, comprising three self-contained segments. Parodying horror,
09:26fantasy and science fiction films and media, it's one of the show's most beloved segments.
09:32And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted nevermore.
09:46So, naturally, Rick and Morty decided to take a leaf out of their book with this third season
09:53episode. Morty's Mind Blowers has a similar structure, directly referencing Treehouse of Horror.
10:00Here's one I call Morty's Menagerie. They don't all have titles though, it's not a Simpsons Halloween
10:05special, more like a clip show made of clips you never saw. In this episode,
10:10Rick reveals he has been removing traumatic or simply embarrassing memories from Morty's mind
10:15and storing them in a room. And this isn't even the only time Rick and Morty and The Simpsons have
10:22collided either. Hey Morty, little tip. Don't clean DNA vials with your spit. Let's go. I'm driving this time.
10:31Uh, no more guest animators, man. Number 2. Vegas Style Opening Credits
10:38Family Guy. This show's Walter Murphy composed theme song is a bop alright,
10:44and it even snagged an Annie Award nomination. He's a Family Guy.
10:53But what if we told you the big band showcase was allegedly inspired by The Simpsons. In 2025,
11:02a Simpsons writer accused Family Guy of copying season 4's couch gag. The circus line gag with
11:08The Simpsons doing a kick line to a swing arrangement of their theme song was in fact
11:13used multiple times over the following years.
11:23It seems inevitable that Family Guy would take its cue from its very close inspiration.
11:29Good to know.
11:37Ow! What the hell? That really hurts!
11:40No, it doesn't. I do it to my son all the time.
11:43Number 1. The entire series. The Samsonases.
11:48When it comes to Simpsons rip-offs, nothing beats this short-lived Georgian series.
11:59From the theme song to the yellow skin designs to the fact that it also follows a family with a
12:05dumb
12:05working-class patriarch, this show is basically The Simpsons, but Georgian.
12:17Bank worker Gela is the homer. Dodo the Marge and Shirena and Gia are the
12:23kids. The Samsonases didn't last long due to its derivative nature and truly rough animation,
12:30but this uncanny valley imitation has its charm. It's a wonder The Simpsons themselves
12:36haven't acknowledged this thing of darkness that they have inadvertently inspired,
12:41but the Family Guy jabs are still going strong.
12:51Which Simpsons illusion from other shows still lives rent-free in your mind? Let us know in the
12:58comments below.
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