Van Houten family

In the animated series The Simpsons, the van Houten family consists of the father Kirk, the mother Luann, and their son Milhouse. Of the three, Milhouse has the largest role within the show. All three look alike: cobalt-blue hair, coke-bottle glasses, and giant toucan noses.

Milhouse van Houten is Bart Simpson's best friend, and is most distinctive for his extreme nearsightedness requiring thick glasses to correct. He is constantly led into trouble by the wilder Bart.

Milhouse harbors a most hopeless crush on Bart's younger sister, Lisa. In truth, the nature of his sexual orientation is actually left rather ambiguous, as the running joke about Milhouse is that he's gay. (Lisa thinks of him "more like a big sister.")

It is rumored that Milhouse was based on the famous "Paul" on the show The Wonder Years, as well as Milhouse's mother and father. He was named for Richard Nixon (whose middle name was Milhous) and, apparently, Manson follower Leslie van Houten[?].

Kirk van Houten works at the cracker factory, in middle management, while Luann is a normal, boring homemaker. Later in the series, Kirk and Luann got divorced. When Luann leaves, Kirk tries to start a new career as a singer-songwriter. His demo tape, "Can I borrow a feeling" has Homer in hysterics. Meanwhile, Luann is now using her freedom as a single mom to live life in the fast line.

See also: List of characters from The Simpsons