Rod prays.
He prays first thing in the morning and last thing before bed.
He prays for God to watch over him and his little brother, Todd.
He prays for the success of his father's business.
He also prays for all of the naughty little boys and girls, like his neighbor Bart Simpson, who are too bad to pray for themselves.
Aside from praying, Rod enjoys playing wholesomely with his brother and eating lots of nachos, Flanders-style ("That's cucumbers with cottage cheese!").
His one regret is that he cannot pray at school.

<b>Bart Simpson</b>

Bart Simpson is misunderstood.
Wrongly pegged as an underachiever and troublemaker, Bart would like to remind the world of some of his decent qualities:
He looks out for his sister, Lisa;
he's befriended outcasts and misfits like Milhouse Van Houten and Ralph Wiggum;
he's injected romance into the life of his teacher, Edna Krabappel;
and he brought down an illegal French winery during his brief semester abroad.
So what if he's also befouled the Springfield Community Church with phony hymns or prank-called Moe's Tavern several times a day for the last few years?
It all balances out, right?
At age 10, Bart has managed to live out a number of dreams: He has starred in his own short-lived TV series (with his idol, Krusty the Clown), spotted and named a deadly comet that nearly destroyed his town, and almost snagged the role of Fallout Boy in the Radioactive Man movie.
He couldn't have done any of those things without the help and support of his best friend, Santa's Little Helper.

<b>Marge Simpson</b>

Marge Simpson is a happy homemaker and mother of three.
Her prides and joys are Bart (her "special little guy"), Lisa and Maggie.
She's also very proud of her husband, Homer, even though he frequently loses his keys and needs her to find them.
Marge also has strong relationships with her sisters, Patty and Selma, and with her father-in-law, Abe Simpson.
But she also has secrets: She has been tempted to stray from her husband by a charming bowler and was nearly seduced into a life of crime by her one-time neighbor,
Ruth Powers.
Aside from her duties at home, Marge has flirted briefly with a number of careers ranging from police officer to anti-violence activist.

<b>Lisa Simpson</b>

Lisa Simpson can't wait for college.
She's only 8 and already reads at a 14th grade level, and has written a number of application-quality essays, one of which won her family a free trip to Washington, D.C.
Her favorite activities include playing her saxophone, attending school and reading Non-Threatening Boys Magazine.
A fan of Malibu Stacy, Lisa tried unsuccessfully to create her own talking doll, Lisa Lionheart.
Unfortunately, no one wanted to buy a talking doll that was as judgmental as Lisa.
Lisa wants everyone to know that she is a vegetarian and that if she could have one thing (besides world peace), it would be a pony.

<b>Patty Bouvier</b>

Patty Bouvier resents the suggestion that her life is empty and boring.
First, she has her sisters Selma and Marge, but foremost, she has Richard Dean Anderson, aka MacGyver.
She passes her days as a clerk at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles, administering eye exams and approving people for driver's licenses.
She spends her nights at home, watching <b>MacGyver</b> and smoking cigarettes.
Many, many cigarettes.
Patty prides herself on being less desperate than her twin sister, Selma, who has been married and divorced twice.

<b>Waylon Smithers</b>

How many people can say they love their jobs as much as Waylon Smithers?
As the personal assistant to C. Montgomery Burns, Smithers enjoys an intimacy with power that most people will never experience.
His responsibilities include driving Mr. Burns, peddling him on a tandem bike, cleaning and maintaining his denture collection (including Burns' prized fang dentures) and calling employees into Burns' office to be fired.
Outside of work, Smithers spends his time collecting Malibu Stacy dolls, using his computer (with its Mr. Burns screensaver) and going on vacation at men's singles resorts.
His greatest ambition is for Mr. Burns to respond to his loving devotion; short of that, he'd like to own the latest life-size Malibu Stacy outfit.

<b>Monty Burns</b>

C. Montgomery Burns, Springfield's richest man, built his atomic energy fortune from the ground up after inheriting his father's atom-splitting factory.
As owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he has been able to control local elections, manage a championship-winning baseball team, hold a chair on the board of Springfield University and build a contraption large enough to block out the sun and plunge the town into complete darkness.
After a near-fatal shooting by Maggie Simpson and a brief bankruptcy almost ended his empire, Mr. Burns returned to the seat of power where he resides to this day.
More misunderstood than evil, Mr. Burns may possess unparalleled power in Springfield, but he can barely lift a baseball bat.
His hobbies include money fights with his assistant, Waylon Smithers, cultivating a wardrobe made entirely of innocent animals' pelts and courting some of Springfield's most eligible seniors like Jacqueline Bouvier (otherwise known as Marge Simpson's mother).

If you look up "burnt-out" in the dictionary you might find a picture of Otto.
Though frequently involved in random collisions, Otto remains true the Bus Driver's Pledge: "never crash the bus on purpose," and stands proudly by his record of fifteen crashes without a single fatality. But Otto is not just a schoolbus driver.
His wide-ranging career includes stints as the Springfield Bloodmobile driver, Springfield Seniors Gambling Junket Bus driver, and operator of the Springfield Poolmobile.
Otto has trouble with authority, beginning with his father, "the Admiral," and continuing to this day.
Otto doesn't flout authority so much as unwittingly bump into it, which results in his feeling constantly hassled by "the man." Yet Otto has a warm rapport with the school kids.

<b>Apu Nahasapeemapetilon</b>

Apu seems to work at the Kwik-E-Mart 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But please don't be thinking it's only work that Apu is having on his mind, my goodness, no!
He manages to spend some of his free time with his wife Manjula and his brother Sanjay.
Apu peddles the usual Kwik-E-Mart fare (at remarkably high prices): luscious heat-lamp dogs, chewy frozen microwave burritos, and the ever popular squishee.
Apu himself doesn't eat any of this stuff himself since, in keeping with his Hindu beliefs, he is a strict vegan.
To Apu's great disappointment, his attempt to bridge the gap between East and West with tofu dogs, curry crullers, and chutney Squishees met with resounding disinterest from customers.

<b>Barney Gumble</b>

Barney Gumble could've been somebody.
A prodigious student with his sights set on Harvard, he could've been a contender instead of a bum, which is what he is.
But say what you will about Barney, he's a man who knows love--love for beer.
Barney has been known to drink beer directly from the tap, out of used ashtrays and from other places you probably don't want to know more about.
He also knows success: In between lengthy sits on his regular bar stool at Moe's Tavern, Barney sang for the Be Sharp a-capella group, directed and starred in an award-winning film shown at the Springfield Film Festival, owned and operated his own snow-plowing business, became an astronaut and, during one of his few lucid periods, dated Linda Ronstadt.
In addition to these exciting jobs, Barney has also worked as a leaflet-distributing big baby and sold his sperm to the Springfield Sperm Bank.

Oh, and he drank beer. Lots of beer.

<b>Maggie Simpson</b>

Maggie Simpson has done a lot in her one year of life.
She's learned to spell her own name with an Etch A Sketch, she's wandered the town of Springfield all by herself, and she's shot Springfield's richest man because he attempted to steal her lollipop.
Eventually, she'd like to learn how to speak and walk without falling down.

<b>Sideshow Bob</b>

You might not be able to tell it from his narrow frame, but "Sideshow" Bob Terwilliger has one huge chip on his shoulder.
After years of being Krusty the Clown's sidekick and foil for his sadistic antics, Sideshow Bob finally snapped and attempted--unsuccessfully--to frame his tormentor.
After a stint in prison, Bob tried to reform by marrying Selma Bouvier (they divorced after he tried to explode her), murdering the Simpson family, running for mayor of Springfield and blowing up the town.
One possible reason for Bob's hostility may be displeasure with his early career choices.
An erudite, urbane scholar-type, Bob was never really cut out for Krusty's foolish gags and bits.

<b>Sideshow Mel</b>

Not much is known about Sideshow Mel outside of his fondness for bones (worn in his hair) and his long-running career as Krusty the Clown's sidekick.
Mel rose to prominence on The Krusty the Clown Show after Sideshow Bob was arrested for robbing the Kwik-E-Mart.
(Sideshow Bob, back in the day, got his job after Sideshow Raheem left the show for undisclosed reasons.)
Mel's talents include playing the slide whistle and taking pies in the face.