Non English versions of The Simpsons. The animated TV show The Simpsons is an American. The animated TV show The Simpsons is an American English language animated sitcom which has been broadcast in the United States since 1989 on FOX. English language animated sitcom which has been broadcast in the United States since 1. FOX. In other countries, the TV show started broadcasting later than 1. Watch The Simpsons: The Longest Daycare Free' title='Watch The Simpsons: The Longest Daycare Free' />The Simpsons is an American adult animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of workingclass life. It never fails. For every act of heroism during a national disaster another act of piracy is waiting in the wings. USCERT, the US governments chief agency. By languageeditThe show was first broadcast in the area in English with Arabic subtitles on networks like Showtime Arabia and Dubais One TV, where it received a following in the area. The show was finally dubbed into Arabic in September 2. Al Shamshoon Arabic, translit. Shamshn, lit.  The Shamshoons. In addition to being dubbed in Arabic with subtitles provided for shots including written English, such as the chalkboards, references to alcohol, pork, and numerous other themes have been deleted or significantly modified. For instance, Homer drinks soda pop instead of beer, eats beef sausages and hot dogs as opposed to pork, while shots of him eating bacon and pork rinds were removed entirely, eats kaak instead of donuts, and all references to Moes Tavern were cut. References to Rabbi Krustofsky, Krusty the Clowns father, were removed as well. According to Richard Poplak of the CBC, an ex Disney employee in Lebanon told him that, in Poplaks words, if a TV station can help it, theyll excise references to Judaism from shows meant for the pan Arab market. Badih Fattouh, MBC 1s acquisitions and drama commissioner head, said, You must understand that we did not simply dub, but we Arabized the concept, and we toned it down a bit. We toned down the language we Arabized it in the cultural sense. MBC 1, a company owned by Saudi Arabiansheiks, created the Arabic adaptation. Amr Hosny, a scriptwriter who frequently adapts works for the Arab world, served as the writer. The creative personalities behind Al Shamshoun were Egyptian. The producers decided to adapt the classic episodes, beginning with Season 4, rather than starting with the original episodes. The Full Tarzan & Jane Cartoon. The characters were also given typical Arabic names such as Omar, Mona, Beesa and Badr for Homer, Marge, Lisa and Bart, respectively, as part of the retooling, while voices were provided by leading actors including Egyptian film star Mohamed Henedi as Omar. Their hometown Springfield was called Rabeea Arabic for spring and made it look like an American town with a major Arab population. Poplak said, Although Fattouh and MBC will give no figures, the licence fees from 2. Century Fox could not have been cheap. About the original series, Hosny said, I loved it. I take off my chapeau they are very good artists. And the writers are unbelievable. I loved the character of Homer. There is something very strange about this character. Its very close to the Egyptian point of view. Hes a very simple and kind person from some points of view you feel that hes incredibly stupid, and from some points of view you feel he is wise. Sometimes I felt I was talking about an Egyptian person. Nothing is certain and taken for granted its not ipso facto and this makes good art. Hosny said that the sheiks who owned MBC interfered in the creative process, making the show more edited and less comprehensible. For instance, Hosny wanted to make a Little Arab Town where it would be explained why there were many Arab people living in the middle of the United States. The sheiks rejected Hosnys suggestions. Poplak said, Instead, Springfield remained, and there was no coherent explanation given as to why a full Arab community exists within the middle of Middle America. Hosny wanted Homer to drink sheer, a non alcoholic malt drink, so dubbing would be easy. The sheiks insisted that Homer drink juice. Hosny also stated that he tried to underemphasize Waylon Smitherss homosexual attraction for Mr. Burns. Poplak said, Through a steady process of cross cultural attrition no bacon sandwiches, no Moes Tavern, church becomes masjid mosque The Simpsons was whittled down to a shadow of itself. The show debuted after al Iftar on October 4, 2. Ramadan. The show overall had a poor reception. Fattouh said, The show was not a big success. Otherwise, of course, we would have continued to do another season. I would say it was fairly received, but average. This made us reconsider. Poplak said, Thats putting it mildly. MBCs core viewers were baffled. From most accounts, the show was incoherent. The MBC show had a poor reception in the Saudi Arabian market, described by Poplak as all important. Cartoons in Saudi Arabia are perceived as being for children, and adults, puzzled at why cartoons were airing during the post Iftar time, chose to watch other channels. Arabs who were fans of The Simpsons also had a negative reaction. Asad Abu. Khalil, a professor at California State University, Stanislaus and a blogger who operates the Angry Arab News Service, Arabic said that after he saw a promotional segment, This is just beyond the pale. It was just painful. The guy who played Homer Simpson was one of the most unfunny people I ever watched. Just drop the project, and air reruns of Tony Danzas show instead. Fattouh added You see, culturally, it didnt cross very well. Maybe the sense of humour is too North American. Comedy is especially a culturally sensitive matter. What you can define as funny is an outcome of learnings, habits, doings, local behaviour it is the sum of so many factors. Drama is one thing, but with comedy, it is black and white. Deep inside, either you laugh or you say, No, this is not funny. They did not think this was funny. As a result, only 3. Poplak said, It is a lesson in cross cultural adaptation, and a warning of how delicate a powerful piece of television art like The Simpsons actually is. The show in its unedited form currently airs on Fox Series with Arabic subtitles. The Simpsons in Czech is broadcast in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The late actress Helena tchov provided the voice of Lisa Simpson. Marges voice actor is a popular Czech actor Ji Lbus. The Simpsons has been dubbed into the French language twice, once in the Canadian province of Quebec and again in France. The show is titled Les Simpson in both regions, following local orthography standards. The French audio on most Region 1 DVDs is the Quebec dub, although very early releases used the European French dub instead. It is one of only a handful of American television shows that have wholly separate versions in Quebec and France, and a number of studies have been made comparing them. In France all the characters speak standard French, with the exception of the ethnic minorities Apu is given the Indian accent, while Carl, who has no accent in the English version, also speaks affected French. Kirk Van Houten is given a stereotypical Brussels accent, as Van Houten is a name which can be assumed to be Belgian. In the Quebec version, only the town lite, such as Principal Skinner and Reverend Lovejoy, speak with a French accent. The Simpson family and most of the townsfolk speak with a strong Quebec accent. In the Quebec version the ethnic minorities also have accents. Noticeably, Carl has the accent of a Black immigrant from Africa or the Caribbean. Local idioms are occasionally adopted in place of direct translation. American cultural and political jokes are occasionally replaced with local references. For instance, a reference to Newt Gingrich in Quebec is generally replaced with one to Mike Harris. Most of the recurring characters keep their English names in each French version. Two exceptions are Sideshow Bob and Sideshow Mel, who are known as Tahiti Bob and Tahiti Mel in France, as the word sideshow has no direct translation. In Quebec, the title sideshow is kept as an Anglicism. Video News CNNChat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out whats happening in the world as it unfolds.