The Simpsons is undoubtedly a global phenomenon. Its comedy and occasional moments of heartwarming familial love transcends cultural differences, although sometimes you have to have a working knowledge of the intricacies of the American pop culture and politics of the writers' youth to have any chance of understanding some of the jokes. So it goes. D'oh is pretty universal, however, as is strangling children, as is a fat bald man accidentally riding a skateboard off a cliff. For all its sharp writing, sometimes the visual gags are the best in The Simpsons. It doesn't look like the show, which just entered its 26th (Christ) season is going anywhere any time soon - although arguably it really, really should - and that's not just down to its success on American television. The show has caught on in every corner of the globe, with dubbed or otherwise localised versions bringing Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Maggie into the living rooms of discerning television viewers on all continents. It's never been properly remade or adapted, save for when it made its way over to the Middle East. You see, the Quran forbids a lot of things. A lot of those things are vital parts of The Simpsons. A large part of the Arab world follows the teachings of the Quran. You can see where the issues lie. When Al Shamshoon began airing in the Middle East, it was in a severely edited form that would try its best not to offend the local cultures - which, when you've got a show about an all-American family, is probably no easy task - which means that, amongst other things, pretty much every risque joke was censored, Homer's love for alcoholic Duff was substituted for soda, and Moe's Tavern just never appeared. Which probably made for some continuity nightmares and, even worse, meant that Middle Eastern audiences never got to see any of Bart's prank calls. Is that really The Simpsons at all? Apparently audiences didn't think so, because of the 52 episodes made to air on Dubai's MBC station (starring Omar and Mona Shamshoon with a son named Badr), only 34 were shown before the show got canned.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
