10 Things You Didn't Know About The Making Of The Simpsons

3. The Length Of The Couch Gag Depends On How Long Each Episode Is

The Simpsons is renowned for its opening credit-based gags that change with almost every episode. The first has Bart writing something comical on the chalkboard at Springfield Elementary, whilst the second - known simply as "the couch gag" - depicts the entire family in a hilarious scenario or moment of parody as they take their seats in the living room. Some couch gags are a few seconds long, whilst others come in close to a minute. But how do the showrunners decide the length of any given couch gag? Well, it's based on the length of any given episode, actually. If an episode is running short, a longer couch gag will be devised to make up those precious seconds. And if an episode is on the longer side, the implemented couch gag will be as brief as possible. It's simple, but all totally true - and something that most people probably wouldn't have even even given a second thought to after all these years watching the show.