Characters in the film and television show "The Simpsons" pose for photographers in Springfield, Vermont July 21, 2007.

"The Simpsons" will be immortalized on stamps to be issued by the U.S. Postal Service this year.

The 44-cent first-class mail stamps, designed by Simpsons creator and executive producer Matt Groening, will feature Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson, the nuclear family at the center of the animated Fox series.

The stamps, a sneak peek of which will be unveiled April 9, also will help celebrate the longest-running primetime comedy's 20th anniversary this year.

Of the 50,000 stamp suggestions the Postal Service receives each year, only about 20 ideas make the cut.

(China Daily/Agencies, April 1, 2009)