List of recurring characters from The Simpsons

This article contains a list of recurring characters from The Simpsons with descriptions.

Lovejoy Family

• Reverend Timothy Lovejoy (voiced by Harry Shearer) is the local minister.
• Helen Lovejoy is his judgmental, small minded, moralistic, and gossipy wife. Helen's catchphrase, delivered in times of civic crisis (moral or otherwise), consistently asks, "Will someone please think of the children?"
• Jessica Lovejoy (guest-voiced by Meryl Streep), is their daughter, a troublemaker who briefly dated Bart.

Rev. Lovejoy is the Reverend of the Church (of uncertain Protestant denomination, mentioned as the "Western Branch of American Presbo-Lutherism" in one particular episode) that seemingly every non-African-American Christian in Springfield attends. His sermons vary between dreary recitations of the more opaque parts of the Old Testament, to the occasional "fire and brimstone" scaremongering about Hell - and very little of the love and joy that the Reverend's surname, taken from the name of a street on the north side of Matt Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, makes comment on. Bart and Homer, particularly, find it extremely difficult to pay attention during church. If his congregation begins to drowse off, Lovejoy can awaken them by pressing a button on his lector which plays pre-recorded sounds, including an eagle, an ambulance, and a Disco whistle.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Old Testament - Fire and brimstone - Hell - Matt Groening - Portland, Oregon - Lector - Eagle - Ambulance - Disco

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An episode points to how he first came to Springfield eager and full of idealism in the seventies, but has since become cynical and disillusioned about his flock and his ministry, mostly due to Ned Flanders, who constantly pesters the Reverend with such non-emergencies as coveting his own wife.

Related Topics:
Seventies - Ned Flanders

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Lovejoy then dispatches these, and the concerns of other parishioners, with as much brevity as he can manage so that he can go back to what seems to be his true passion - his model trains. "I just stopped caring", he explained to Marge. " fortunately, by then it was the eighties, and no one noticed." The producers of The Simpsons have said Lovejoy is one of the least corrupt and most decent characters in Springfield.

Related Topics:
Model train - Eighties - The Simpsons - Springfield

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However, Lovejoy has often been portrayed as an extreme conservative Christian. In She of Little Faith, he calls Lisa a "devil-daughter".

Related Topics:
Conservative Christian - She of Little Faith

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The church itself is a clone of the one seen in The Graduate.

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Quote: "There's more to being a minister, than not caring about people."

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The name Lovejoy is derived from Lovejoy Street, in the city of Portland where Matt Greoning spent much of his youth as a resident of nearby Beaverton.

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