Arguably the world's most famous dysfunctional cartoon family, The Simpsons, celebrate their twentieth birthday today.
The now distinctive yellow characters of Homer, Maggie, Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie first burst onto American TV screens on December 17, 1989.
The Fox network show's influence on popular American culture was highlighted when 'The Simpsons' were idolized on US postage stamps earlier this year, and in November Marge Simpson was the cover girl for Playboy magazine.
The gravely-voiced Marge, whose upswept blue hair-do defies gravity, became the first cartoon character to grace the cover of the magazine.
The show's success has surprised even creator Matt Groening, who said earlier this year at a TV press conference in Cannes: "I knew that the show would be a success, but I didn't know that it would be so big, last so long and become a global phenomenon".
The multi-award winning series is now the longest running comedy in US television history.
In 2007 they hit the big screen for the first time with a feature-length film 'The Simpsons Movie', which took four years to complete.
Responding to queries about a follow-up, Groening said: "I suppose someday there might be a sequel, but not yet."
Fox is planning to mark the 20th birthday with a special documentary about how the world views The Simpsons to be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, star of 'Super Size Me' and '30 Days'.
Speaking about the film, Spurlock said: "When they first called me about this, I thought it was a prank and I hung up".
"And then my agent called back and said, 'No, no, this is for real,' at which point I fainted. Then when I woke up, I called everyone I knew because it was the coolest thing I could ever get to do in my career."
The documentary 'The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3D on Ice' will air stateside on 10 January.
