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In the animated cartoon series The Simpsons, the Flanders are a family consisting of Ned, Maude and their two sons Rod and Todd.
Their home phone number is 555-8904.
Ned Flanders is voiced by Harry Shearer. Ned, along with the rest of his family, is a deeply devout Christian, and is often used to satirize the sheer niceness of doggedly upbeat born-again evangelicals. Homer once said that Ned is even holier than Jesus. The Flanders family lives next door to the Simpsons. They are often held up as a caricature of the "perfect family", in contrast to the Simpsons. Homer's envy of Ned and his family is a recurring subtext. Homer's slow-motion lunge to prevent Bart's river baptism by Flanders was a prelude to a segment-ending Simpson group hug.
Ned has the habit of attaching "diddly" and other nonsense phrases to sentences ("Hi-diddly-ho"). He quit his earlier career as a pharmacist to open a store in the mall called The Leftorium, which specializes in products for left-handed people. Ned presumably named his sons Rod and Todd because both names rhyme with God. Despite an outward appearance of exceeding meekness, Ned has an exceptionally well-built physique under his sweater-vest. This is even more impressive upon considering that Ned is actually a very young-looking senior citizen.
Ned was raised by two nihilistic beatniks whose terrible parenting skills made him a childhood terror. He was eventually put on an experimental eight-month spanking therapy program (the University of Minnesota Spankological Protocol) which taught him to suppress all feelings of anger.
Despite his firm religious beliefs, Ned is quite timid and often insecure. He is obsessed with following the bible as literally as possible, "even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff" and is easily shocked when someone challenges his beliefs. His sons are very sheltered and raised in an extremely strict climate of hardcore Christian morality. Most entertainment enjoyed by the family involves religion in some way.
There was a relative of Flanders who served in World War II. He was a superior to Sgt. Abe Simpson. (Note: When Abe threatened to report Pvt. Burns to Flanders, Abe indicates that his rank was commander, which isn't a rank in the United States army)
Family
Maude Flanders was a devout Christian who attended Bible camp to learn to be more judgmental. She died in a sporting accident — she was knocked off a grandstand when a volley of gift T-shirts shot from compressed-air cannons struck her while Homer was distracted from catching the shirts, due to finding a bobby-pin. Her dream of opening a Christian-themed amusement park was posthumously realized by the grieving Ned, who memorialized her with the motto: "She taught us the joy of shame and the shame of joy."
It is rumored that Maude was killed off because her voice actress demanded more money, and was denied; other sources say the actress was tired of multi-state commutes for only occasional work.
Rod Flanders is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, while Todd Flanders is voiced by Pamela Hayden. In the earlier episodes they are shown as students of Springfield Elementary, but in the later episodes they are shown as being Home Schooled.
The Greenbelt Christian arts festival sometimes runs a Ned Flanders lookalike contest in tribute to one of TV's best-known Christians.
One little known fact about Ned is that he was a huge fan of The Beatles. Over the years, he collected a large amount of Beatles memorabilia, which include the band's Ed Sullivan show suits and novelty drinks. This collection was kept in the basement of the Flanders' house; however, it was destroyed when Bart and Milhouse broke in and panicked when police came.
"The Adventures of Ned Flanders"
The Adventures of Ned Flanders was a short that appeared at the end of the episode "The Front". Here, the Flanders dedication to religion and perfect family niceness is yet again highlighted when Ned almost scolds his kids, who refuse to get ready for church, only to soon realise that it is Saturday.
The short featured a theme song titled Everyone Loves Ned Flanders.
- Hens Love Roosters
- Geese Love Ganders
- Everyone else loves Ned Flanders
- Not me! (spoken by Homer)
- Everyone who counts loves Ned Flanders!
"Everybody Hates Ned Flanders"
The song Everybody Hates Ned Flanders was a torch song Homer wrote in episode "Dude, Where's My Ranch?". In the beginning, Homer tries to write a Christmas song when Ned comes in and irritates him by trying to assist in the song. Homer then created the song which starts...
- Everybody in the USA,
- Hates their stupid neighbor,
- He's Flanders and he's really, really lame,
- Flanders tries to wreck my song,
- His views on birth control are wrong,
- I hate his guts and Flanders is his name
See also
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