Los Angeles  - The Simpsons television show celebrated its 20th anniversary Monday with racy pictures of matriarch Marge in Playboy magazine, a day after a "yellow carpet" event in Santa Monica, California brought out many of the stars who contributed to the show over the years.

The men's magazine featured a naked Marge on the cover with a chair in the shape of a Playboy bunny concealing her private parts. Inside the magazine Marge appeared in sexy lingerie, while Homer's approving shadow lurks in the background. In another pic the family matriarch dons a see-through negligee as she serves her husband a plate of his favourite donuts.

The series is the longest-running US sitcom and the longest prime time scripted show.

"I thought the show would be successful but the fact that we're still standing here some 20 years later is very peculiar, but very happy," said Simpsons' creator Matt Groening.

Not everyone was pleased with Marge's Playboy appearance however. The conservative American Family Association said that the combination of the kid-friendly icon with the legendary soft
-porn magazine could have a destructive effect on America's youth.

"The cover will create the kind of curiosity that can easily lead children into an addictive porn habit," a spokesman for the group said. "This is not what American families want to see in their neighbourhood convenience store."(dpa)