Short answers, pulled from the story.
Bart Simpson first appeared on television on the 19th of April 1987, in a short called "Good Night" on The Tracey Ullman Show. After two years of shorts, the Simpson family received their own half-hour series on Fox, which premiered on the 17th of December 1989.
Bart Simpson is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, who originally auditioned for the role of Lisa before switching to Bart. Cartwright was the only one of the six primary Simpsons cast members with formal voice-acting training before joining the show. By 2016, she was earning $315,000 per episode, which Variety identified as placing her among the highest-paid voice actors in the industry.
"Eat my shorts" was improvised by voice actress Nancy Cartwright during an early table reading for The Simpsons. The phrase originated from an incident at Fairmont High School, where Cartwright performed with the marching band, which chanted it instead of their standard school cheer. The phrase also appears in The Breakfast Club (1985), in which John Bender says it to the school's principal.
Bart Simpson was criticized by parents, educators, and public figures for his "underachiever and proud of it" attitude, which educators warned posed a threat to children's education. U.S. drug czar William Bennett, President George H. W. Bush, and comedian Bill Cosby all publicly criticized the character. Producer James L. Brooks defended Bart, arguing that real life rarely offers the abundance of role models critics expected television to provide.
Bartmania was a cultural phenomenon that peaked around 1990, when Bart Simpson became one of the most prominent figures in American popular culture. Millions of Bart-themed T-shirts were sold, Simpsons merchandise generated $2 billion in revenue in its first 14 months, and Bart debuted as a giant helium-filled balloon in the 1990 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Entertainment Weekly named him Entertainer of the Year for 1990.
Matt Groening created Bart Simpson in 1987 while waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks's office. Rather than adapt his existing comic strip Life in Hell, which would have required surrendering its publication rights, he sketched a new dysfunctional family on the spot. He chose the name "Bart" rather than his own first name, judging that "Matt" would not go over well in a pitch meeting; Bart is also an anagram of brat.