Maggie Simpson Maggie's occasional speaking parts and other vocalisations are currently provided by Nancy Cartwright, but she has also been voiced by guest stars James Earl Jones, Elizabeth Taylor and Jodie Foster, and by series regulars Yeardley Smith and Harry Shearer. Maggie has appeared in various media relating to "The Simpsons" – including video games, "The Simpsons Movie", "The Simpsons" Ride, commercials and comic books – and has inspired an entire line of merchandise. "The Simpsons" uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age, and as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year.
The Simpsons the first successful animated program in American prime time since "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" in the 1970s. During most of the 1980s, US pundits considered animated shows as appropriate only for children, and animating a show was too expensive to achieve a quality suitable for prime-time television. "The Simpsons" changed this perception, initially leading to a short period where networks attempted to recreate prime-time cartoon success with shows like "Capitol Critters", "Fish Police", and "Family Dog", which were expensive and unsuccessful. "The Simpsons" use of Korean animation studios for tweening, coloring, and filming made the episodes cheaper. The