Every Character In The Simpsons Has Four Fingers — Except One

Every fan knows that characters on "The Simpsons" have four fingers. But there's one character who has a full 10 digits: God. The almighty has appeared numerous times on TV's longest-running primetime scripted series, and remains the only character in the show's history to have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot.

It's hard to imagine but long before Disney acquired Fox "The Simpsons" was actually quite a subversive show. The animated sitcom took aim at every aspect of culture and rarely made apologies for it. During its early years it was even met with pushback from the likes of George Bush Sr. who in 1992 famously said he wanted American families to be "a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons." The show responded directly, with Bart calling attention to the weak U.S. economy under Bush's presidency by saying, "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the depression, too."

Religious groups also spoke out against the show. When "The Simpsons" debuted in 1989, schools took the bizarre step of banning a T-shirt featuring the phrase, "Bart Simpson 'Underachiever': And Proud of It, Man!" and believers took the opportunity to weigh in. Founder of Christian organization Focus on the Family, James Dobson, wrote in his book "Dr. Dobson's Handbook of Family Advice" that the offending shirt was merely encouraging "hard-core underachievers who seem determined to fail in school." It was ridiculous at the time, but even more so looking back. This is, after all, a show about a family who regularly attends church and which even depicts God himself. What's more, "The Simpsons" gave God the privilege of being the only character with a full set of digits.

Many cartoon characters have four fingers, from Mickey Mouse to Homer Simpson himself. There are several reasons for the emergence of this unwritten rule, but as you might expect, much of it came down to streamlining the animation process. Much like the decision to have so many cartoon characters wear white gloves in order to make hands easier to draw, animating four fingers simply saved time. It was also a byproduct of the fact that many early cartoon characters were animals, and so didn't need to be anatomically correct. There are other reasons and explanations, but the point is that cartoon characters have had four fingers for as long as animation has existed.

That's no different with "The Simpsons," which as creator Matt Groening explained during the BBC documentary "The Simpsons: America's First Family," operates on "rubber-band reality." This refers to the fact there are strict rules in-place that govern the way the show is animated, but that these rules can be bent when needed. It seems an exception was made for one of the most inflexible rules in the case of The Almighty, who remains the only character on the show to have ten fingers and ten toes... most of the time.

God's first appearance came in 1992's "Homer the Heretic", which debuted the same year "The Simpsons" was taking flak from George Bush Sr. In the episode, Homer decides he's not going to attend church any more, prompting a visit from God himself during a dream sequence in which he accuses Homer of forsaking his church. We don't ever see his face but we can clearly see he has four fingers and a thumb on each hand and five toes on each foot.

"The Simpsons" was never supposed to run for more than 13 episodes but has now been on the air for a full 36 seasons. During that time, the heavenly father has appeared enough times that he's arguably one of voice actor Harry Shearer's best characters on "The Simpsons." What's more, 32 seasons after his first appearance, God remains the only character to have consistently been represented with ten fingers and ten toes — though Jesus has also appeared multiple times and on certain occasions has also been drawn the same way.

Interestingly enough, in "Homer the Heretic" we do see God with only four fingers during a scene near the episode's conclusion. But it seems that this was just a mistake. On the DVD commentary for the episode, director Jim Reardon revealed he'd been asked multiple times about why God has five fingers the first time we see him, and four fingers in the final shot. "People have ascribed all manner of religious theory to it," he said, "and I tell them, 'It just slipped past me completely.'"

From almost the very beginning, then, God has been a significant part of a show that initially faced significant criticism for its attitude towards religion. As creator Matt Groening said during the BBC documentary, "They want families who have God in their lives. Not only do the Simpsons have God in their lives, we actually show God, and yet they're not thankful!"