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Season 36 of The Simpsons certainly hasn’t shied away from bringing back random characters that many viewers forgot all about during the Clinton administration. For example, the White Lotus parody episode “The Yellow Lotus” featured the return of sketchy salesman Nick Callahan. And the series premiere, “Bart’s Birthday,” was chock-full of cameos from decades-old minor characters like Larry Burns, the real Seymour Skinner, that guy with the big hand and even Homer’s coyote spirit guide/Guatemalan insanity pepper hallucination.

The show continued the trend with this week’s episode “Full Heart, Empty Pool,” which found Homer and Grampa inventing a brand new sport called “Noodleball.” The game, basically pickleball with pool noodles, is played in empty swimming pools. But once it takes off, Noodleball becomes a target for angry swimmers, one of whom points out that “even the very tall need a place to swim.”

Disney

Of course...

Although The Simpsons did bring back Hank Scorpio more than once, his repeated returns never dented his status as the shows funniest one-off character. After 35 years on the air, The Simpsons has a cast of thousands. Most episodes of the show introduce a new character or two and, after over 740 episodes, this has resulted in a massive, sprawling cast for the animated sitcom. The Simpsons season 36 is likely to make this cast list even bigger, but not all the show's characters are created equal. There are some one-off guest stars who viewers will never forget.

Related 10 Great Movies I Cannot Watch Without Thinking About The Simpsons

The Simpsons has spoofed many movies over the years, but sometimes the show's references and parodies end up supplanting the original movies.

Some of the best one-off characters in the history of The Simpsons elevated their respective episodes and turned them into all-time classics.

“WWE Evil,” the first WWE original series for Peacock, will premiere March 24, the streaming service announced Thursday.

Created and hosted by WWE wrestler and actor John Cena, the eight-part docuseries examines the stories of notable “heels,” or villains, in the WWE’s history. Each episode dives into the career of a different heel, including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sasha Banks and Roman Reigns.

The trailer previews all of the episodes of the series, showcasing both archival footage of notable events in the various performers’ WWE history, as well as interviews that dive into the psychology behind the people playing the heels.

“I’m not playing the character, I am the character,” Roman Reigns says during a talking head interview included in the trailer.

Cena executive produces “WWE Evil” with Micah Brown, who directs and showruns. Additional executive producers include Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn for WWE Studios and Julie Pizzi,...

A&e is doubling down on its hit police series Live Pd and has ordered a live treasure format fronted by Jeff Foxworthy and series searching for WWE memorabilia.

The cable network is taking the total number of episodes of Live Pd to over 450 with the bumper renewal. The three-hour live show hosted by Dan Abrams, which is produced by MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment, will hit its 300th episode this summer.

Live Pd is exec produced by Dan Cesareo, Lucilla D’Agostino and John Zito for Big Fish and Elaine Frontain Bryant, Shelly Tatro, Sean Gottlieb, and Brad Abramson for A&e.

What’s It Worth? Live is a treasure format hosted by comedian and collector Jeff Foxworthy. Across eight two-hour episodes, the show, broadcast live from Atlanta, will see viewers given the chance to bid of and purchase an array of extremely rare, intriguing and valuable personal treasures, sold by...

In lieu of a traditional upfront presentation, A+E Networks announced its slate of programming across all networks on Thursday. Among the new shows are a handful of History channel docuseries centered on American presidents, a new unscripted series about WWE memorabilia for A&e and a new lineup of Lifetime Original Movies.

On the flagship A&e Network, the new greenlights include the Jeff Foxworthy-hosted live auction series “What’s It Worth? Live” and “The Quest for Lost WWE Treasures,” which will follow Stephanie McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque as they go on a hunt for rare WWE collectibles.

History will expand its relationship with “The Food That Built America’s” Adam Richman with the new series “American Made” about the creation of America’s most groundbreaking inventions. The network has also ordered three limited docuseries about American presidents from historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way.

20th Century Fox

Since the late 80s Springfield and its many weird, wonderful and wacky inhabitants have had us in uncontrollable fits of laughter. In the many years it has been running Matt Groening and his band of merry cartoon-weaving geniuses have crafted an intricate web of interlinking backstories for all the characters which enables audiences to perceive Springfield as a real town – our vibrantly colourful home away from home. From Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and his quest to be accepted in the country he loves to Larry Burns’ desire to finally get approval from his father, every character – no matter how major or minor – has their own history, dreams and fears.

The detail with which each character’s backstory have been rendered means that there are many inhabitants of Springfield who have a surprisingly dark past. The show may ostensibly be a comedy but it is shocking just how many of...

Exclusive: CAA has signed comedian Jeff Foxworthy and will represent him in all areas. Foxworthy is a big earner in the heartland: He’s the biggest-selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy Award nominee, author of more than 26 books. He’s also a founding member of the Blue Collar Comedy group, which did one of the more successful stand-up tours ever. Foxworthy, who had been repped by Paradigm, is also an avid outdoorsman who has built a merchandising empire based on his blue collar brand. The agency will rep Foxworthy Outdoors, the lifestyle and branding company headed by CEO Larry Burns. Related: UTA Signs Top Touring Comedian Jeff Dunham In film and TV, Foxworthy most recently reprised his voice role of Handy Smurf in The Smurfs 2 for Sony Pictures Animation, and he is hosting the third season of The American Bible Challenge for Gsn. He’s coming off...

Jared Loughner, the man who killed six people and wounded 13 - including Gabrielle Giffords - in a 2011 shooting spree outside of a Tuscon, Ariz., grocery store, was sentenced on Thursday to seven consecutive life terms and 140 years in prison without parole. "Her life has been forever changed ... immeasurably altered," Giffords's husband, retired astronaut, Mark Kelly, said in court on Thursday with his wife by his side. "Every day is a continual struggle to do those things she was once so ... good at." Giffords suffered a single gunshot wound through the brain. Although news reports at the time initially indicated the shot may have been fatal,...

• Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, the two leading credit-rating agencies, have warned that they might downgrade the United States’s triple-a rating because of the country’s deteriorating fiscal situation. Yes, these are the same ratings agencies that helped cause the country’s deteriorating fiscal situation by giving triple-a ratings to dodgy subprime-mortgage-backed bonds (but they had a good excuse—they were being paid to do so by the banks issuing those bonds!). [Wall Street Journal] • In a stirring speech last night at the University of Arizona, President Obama hoped that the tragedy in Tucson would “usher in more civility in our public discourse” and warned against “simple explanations.” He also announced that Representative Giffords opened her eyes yesterday for the first time since her shooting. [NY Times] • All of Arizona’s federal judges have been ordered to recuse themselves from the Jared Lee Loughner cause, since among his alleged victims was one of their own,...

Executives from Gm and Segway took to the streets today to demonstrate their collaborative electric vehicle on Manhattan's blustery west side. Before an audience of camera shutters and television reporters, the two-seat transporter--dubbed Project Puma--zipped up and down West 18th street carrying two passengers belted in with racing-style harnesses. While the Puma didn't hit its 35 mph top speed during the demonstration, it did flaunt its punchy acceleration, turn-in-place agility and almost eerie ability to "bow" much the way city buses do, giving its passengers easier access.

Segway CEO Jim Norrod was on hand to stress that the design we see here is but a sketelal prototype of the pre-production version that will be shown off later this year. Note the docking station for a smartphone on the steering wheel below. Your smartphone will act as the vehicle's dashboard, and also power what Gm calls vehicle-to-vehicle social networking: your Puma vehicle...

Every year, more people worldwide flock to cities, where congestion and pollution are quickly becoming intolerable. Gm and Segway have teamed up to build what they believe is the solution: a two-seat, two-wheeled Segway with zero emissions that could create an entire new category of urban motorized transport.

Unveiled this afternoon in New York, the project has produced one prototype vehicle to date--the buggy you see here--but Gm and Segway are promising pre-production versions by autumn. They expect the yet-unnamed urban transporter to get its finalized look-and-feel by early next year, meaning sales could start as soon as 2010--and while the executives at today's event were loath to name a ballpark price, Gm's VP of Research and Development Larry Burns did point out that because the 700-pound vehicle will require 80% fewer materials than the average car, it stands to reason it could be about 80% cheaper than a car, too.

The...