List Of Couch Openings

Last updated by Don Del Grande (del_gran@ix.netcom.com) on May 18, 1997

Episode numbers indicate the couch scene used when the episode was shown for the first time; in some cases, the one used in Canada is listed where it was "original" and the USA one was repeated

The couch openings are also used in syndication except when marked:
* 1F01 couch opening is used
= 7F14 couch opening is used
Italics indicate a sixth or seventh season episode not shown yet in syndication; note some episodes may be shown in syndication in Canada before syndication in the USA

• 7G02*,7G07* - Bart is squeezed off and pops into the air; during the shot of the TV, he is seen coming down
• 7G03*,7G10* - The couch falls apart when everybody is on it
• 7G04*,7G13 - Homer is squeezed off his side of the couch
• 7G06*,7G12 - Maggie is squeezed off and pops into the air; she comes right down into Marge's arms
• 7G09,7G01 - Everybody fits on the couch
• 7F03,7F12,7F22,9F06* - The couch falls through the floor
• 7F02,7F13,7F23 - The "Simpson Shuffle" (see notes)
• 7F01,7F15 - The couch unfolds into a bed
• 7F05*,7F16* - Maggie ends up in Marge's hair
• 7F08,7F14* - Everybody fits, including Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II
• 7F07*,7F17* - Grampa is lying on the couch sleeping
• 7F06=,7F18 - Homer tips the couch over sideways; Maggie falls off, but lands on a couch cushion which is on the floor
• 7F09,7F19 - The couch is gone; everyone looks around the empty spot
• 7F10*,7F20* - Homer bumps the others off the couch
• 7F11,7F21* - The couch tips over backwards; Maggie pops up from behind it
• 7F24*,8F22 - The couch tips over backwards, and everybody crashes through the back wall
• 8F01,8F12 - They sit, then Homer pulls Santa's Little Helper out from beneath him
• 8F03*,8F14 - Everybody forms a pyramid
• 8F04*,8F16 - A space alien hears them coming, pulls a cord, and disappears through a trap door in the floor
• 8F05,8F15* - Bart lands on everyone's lap
• 8F06*,8F17 - Homer gets to the couch first and lies on it; the others sit on him
• 8F07,8F19 - The seat cushions are missing; when they sit, they "fall into" the couch
• 8F08,8F20 - Two burglars are holding the couch as everybody sits on it; they are dumped off and the couch is carried away
• 8F09,8F21 - Santa's Little Helper is on the couch and keeps everyone else off
• 8F10,8F23 - Everybody cartwheels to the couch (Maggie falls in her attempt and hops there) and strikes a "Ta-Da" pose
• 8F11 - Everybody bounces up and down on the couch; Homer bounces from one side to the other
• 8F13* - Everybody except Maggie bang their heads together and lie unconscious on the floor
• 8F24 - Everybody stops as the couch is occupied - by the Flintstones
• 8F18,9F15* - The couch swallows everybody as it transforms into a monster
• 9F01*,9F12 - The couch rotates 180 degrees through a secret door in the wall; an empty couch takes its place
• 9F02*,9F14* - As Maggie is already seated, Homer, Marge, and Bart run "past the edge of the film" and scurry back to the couch
• 9F04 - Simpson-sized skeletons sit on the couch
• 9F03 - The couch deflates (as if filled with air)
• 9F05,9F17 - Everybody has somebody else's head, which they remove and switch
• 9F07,9F18* - There's a wooden chair in place of the couch; the adults share it, with the children on their laps
• 9F08*,9F13*,9F16*,9F22*,2F08 - Everybody forms a chorus line, which turns into a large production number
• 9F09,9F20 - Everybody is "miniature" and must climb the "giant" couch; Maggie has to be pulled up
• 9F10 - Everybody sits, just before the room is filled with other regular characters
• 9F11,9F19 - Everybody gets caught in a net that was spread on the floor
• 9F21a,1F08,1F21 - Everybody runs into each other and shatters on the floor; Santa's Little Helper examines the damage
• 9F21b*,1F11 - Everybody runs into each other and end up on the couch as a five-headed "blob"
• 9F21c*,1F09*,1F20 - Everybody runs into each other and there's an explosion; eventually, the pacifier lands and bounces away
• 1F02,1F12,2F33 - Everybody, plus the couch, is crushed by a foot that is reminiscent of how "Monty Python's Flying Circus" opens
• 1F01 - Everybody stops as the couch is occupied - by an identical Simpson family
• 1F04 - A Zombie Simpson family crashes through the floor from below and sits on the couch
• 1F03 - The couch is painted on a wall, which everybody runs through
• 1F05,1F13 - A fat man takes up most of the couch; everybody squeezes into the tiny spot remaining
• 1F06,1F15,2F02*,2F04 - The room is dark as five pairs of eyes go to the couch; light reveals that it's only eyes, as eyeless bodies quickly enter, sit down, and reattach to the eyes
• 1F07*,1F19* - Everybody sits, then notice they're on the set of "Late Show with David Letterman" as "Dave" turns face forward
• 1F10 - Everybody pokes their head up from behind the couch (Maggie does it from behind a cushion on the couch)
• 1F14 - Everybody sees two couches, then they each split into two halves, each half sitting on a couch
• 1F16 - Everybody is shaped like a ball and bounces around before landing on the couch and returning to normal
• 1F18 - Everybody sits, then Homer gets up, rips the FOX logo from the screen corner, and they all stomp on it
• 1F22,2F12 - Everybody begins seated as if on an invisible couch; the couch comes in in pieces and forms itself atop them, causing them to fall to the floor
• 1F17,2F13 - The floor is well underwater, and only the tops of everybody's heads are visible until they reach the couch (Bart is using a snorkel)
• 2F01,2F14* - Everybody is "beamed aboard" the couch in original "Star Trek" style (complete with sound effect)
• 2F03 - Everybody enters with a mismatched head and limbs (for example, one of Bart's legs is now Lisa's right arm, and Lisa's arms are where her legs should be)
• 2F05,2F15 - Everybody bounces up off the couch and gets their heads stuck in the ceiling
• 2F06,2F18 - Everybody chases the couch as it, along with the back wall, moves backwards away from them
• 2F07,2F16 - Everybody runs by the same TV and couch again and again, all except Maggie grinning the whole time
• 2F09,2F19 - Everybody runs to the couch from a different side (Marge runs down the side of a wall) in an M.C. Escher-style house
• 2F10,2F21 - The "James Bond" film opening, only with Homer in front of the couch firing the gun
• 2F11,2F22 - In black & white, everybody (wearing Mickey Mouse gloves) waves their hands in circles
• 2F31,2F32 - A giant Maggie, a slightly smaller Lisa, and so on down to a tiny Homer, sit on the couch
• 2F20 - As the couch moves aside, everybody lines up in front of a police lineup height chart
• 2F17,3F12,3F22 - The couch acts like a FAX machine, and a sheet with a picture of everybody (in couch-sitting position) comes up from the back and slides beneath it
• 3F01,3F13 - Everybody, including SLH, Snowball II, and Grampa, appear in eight squares "Brady Bunch" style (with the couch in the middle); all but Grampa run to the couch
• 3F02,3F14 - Everybody is wearing fezzes and drives around in minicars like Shriners
• 3F03,3F16 - Everybody runs to the couch, entirely gray; the colors are then spray-painted on them
• 3F04 - Everybody drops from above, hanging from their necks by nooses; Maggie still manages to suck her pacifier
• 3F05,3F15 - Everybody is a wind-up doll
• 3F06,3F17 - Everybody is put on the couch by a pinsetter, after Snowball II is scared off by the pin-clearing bar
• 3F08,3F18 - Everybody is a sea-monkey and swims to a couch made of clam shells to stare at a treasure chest
• 3F31 - A sequence of openings: 8F18, 9F02, 9F10, 9F09, 8F09, 1F02, 2F31, 2F09, 2F06, 1F17, 2F11, and 9F08
• 3F07,3F19 - Homer pulls a drain plug from the floor, and everybody and everything is sucked down the drain
• 3F10 - Everybody sits, then inside a mouse hole, a mouse family sits on an identical couch
• 3F09,3F20 - A big game hunter sits on the couch, with a "Homer-skin rug" on the floor and the others' heads on the wall
• 3F11,3F21 - Everybody sits, bathed in flourescent "black light", until Homer turns on the lamp
• 4F02 - As Death begins on the couch, everybody runs up to the couch and falls over dead
• 3F23,3F24 - Everybody lands on the couch via parachute except Homer, who lands on the floor with an unopened chute
• 4F03,4F15 - Everybody is in western gear as they sit on the couch, when then gallops away into the desert
• 4F05,4F09 - Everybody is a clear balloon, which float onto the couch and then pop
• 4F06,4F12 - A takeoff on the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• 4F04,4F19 - Bart is green; Homer changes TV channels, turning Bart red; Homer slaps Bart on the head, turning him normal
• 4F01,4F14,4F21 - Everybody and everything is upside-down, until everybody falls off the couch and onto the "ceiling"
• 4F07,4F18 - Homer puts a coin in the "Vend-A-Couch", then bangs the back wall; the couch then falls on him
• 3G01 - Everybody flies in on jet-packs; Maggie flies in last and lands on Marge's lap
• 4F08,4F17 - Everybody is involved in a giant game of Whack-A-Mole; Homer ends up getting whacked
• 4F10,4F16 - Grampa is sleeping in a convertible bed, which they convert back to a sofa (with him in it) and sit on it
• 3G03 - The couch remains empty while everybody waits outside as Homer struggles to open the front door
• 4F11 - The couch is in an "America Onlink" window, which takes its time loading everybody before being interrupted
• 4F13 - The couch is sliding on the deck of a ship; when everybody (in raingear) sits on it, they are covered by a wave

The "Simpson Shuffle": everybody is in a line in front of the couch; they do two "Egyptian struts" (right arm up, left arm down, wrists at 90-degree angles) in one direction, then two in the other, then sit on the couch with arms in a "ta-da" position.

9F04, 1F04, 2F03, 3F04, and 4F02 are Halloween Special couch openings.

9F21 used three openings (shown in order 9F21a, b, c); between openings, a clapboard marked "Couch Gag - Take 2 (3)" appeared, and someone shouted "Take Two (Three)"