The Simpsons
Matt Groening sat in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office on a day in 1987, sketching a dysfunctional family that would become The Simpsons. He had originally planned to adapt his Life in Hell comic strips, but realized he could not do so without losing publication rights. Instead, he hurriedly drew Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa, and Maggie, naming them after his own relatives while swapping his name for Bart. These sketches became animated shorts that aired as part of The Tracey Ullman Show starting the 19th of April 1987. The animation was crude because animators simply traced Groening's rough drawings rather than refining them. Georgie Gyorgyi Kovacs Peluce, the colorist, decided to make the characters yellow since they lacked hairlines and flesh tones looked strange. The shorts ran for three seasons before Fox Broadcasting Company greenlit a half-hour primetime series. The show premiered the 17th of December 1989, with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." It quickly became Fox's first series to rank among the top thirty rated shows during the 1989, 1990 season.
Homer Simpson works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a job that clashes with his careless personality. His wife Marge Bouvier is a stereotypical American housewife who often tries to keep her family together despite their flaws. Their children include ten-year-old troublemaker Bart, eight-year-old activist Lisa, and baby Maggie who rarely speaks but communicates through her pacifier. The family owns a greyhound named Santa's Little Helper and later a cat called Snowball II. Supporting residents include Homer's friends Barney Gumble, Lenny Leonard, and Carl Carlson. School staff includes Principal Seymour Skinner and Groundskeeper Willie. Shopkeepers like Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Comic Book Guy, and Moe Szyslak populate the town. Government figures such as Mayor Joe Quimby and Clancy Wiggum appear regularly. Ned Flanders lives next door as the family's neighbor. Krusty the Clown serves as a local celebrity while Kent Brockman reports news for the community. Montgomery Burns runs the nuclear plant with Waylon Smithers as his devoted assistant. Despite yearly milestones passing in storylines, characters never age due to the show's floating timeline. Episodes generally take place in the year they are produced rather than following strict chronological aging.
The animation process began domestically at Klasky Csupo before switching to Film Roman in 1992. Fox subcontracted production to international studios including AKOM, Anivision, Rough Draft Studios, USAnimation, and Toonzone Entertainment. Traditional cel animation transitioned to digital ink and paint starting with season fourteen episode "Radioactive Man" in 1995. The first high-definition episode aired the 15th of February 2009, titled "Take My Life, Please." Each episode takes approximately six months to produce from storyboard to final delivery. Writers meet every December to propose ideas which develop into scripts over several months. George Meyer was active until 2004, often inventing the best lines even when other writers received script credits. John Swartzwelder wrote sixty episodes making him the most prolific writer on the series. Conan O'Brien contributed during the early 1990s before hosting Late Night. Ricky Gervais became the first celebrity both to write and guest star in an episode called "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife." Voice actors Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer have all won Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. Main cast members earned $30,000 per episode until 1998 when they negotiated raises up to $400,000 before accepting a pay cut back to just over $300,000.
Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" entered the Oxford English Dictionary without an apostrophe after being borrowed from James Finlayson in Laurel and Hardy comedies. The phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" appeared in National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg's writing about France's opposition to Iraq invasion. Words like "embiggen" and "Kwyjibo" found their way into scientific journals and dictionary entries respectively. Internet memes emerged from lines such as Jasper Beardley's "That's a paddlin" and the Steamed Hams scene from season seven. Critics noted that The Simpsons took over from Shakespeare and the Bible as culture's greatest source of idioms according to Mark Liberman. The show changed perceptions about animated programs suitable for prime-time television since Wait Till Your Father Gets Home in the 1970s. Networks attempted to recreate success with shows like Capitol Critters and Fish Police but failed due to high costs. The Simpsons used Korean animation studios to lower production expenses which enabled other adult animated series to emerge. Shows including Beavis and Butt-Head, South Park, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Futurama, and The Critic followed this model. Seth MacFarlane stated that The Simpsons created an audience for prime-time animation that had not existed before. Live-action shows like Malcolm in the Middle adopted sight gags without laugh tracks after debuting the 9th of January 2000.
The Simpsons received 34 Primetime Emmy Awards and 34 Annie Awards alongside two Peabody Awards throughout its run. Time magazine named it the twentieth century's best television series in a 1999 issue celebrating arts and entertainment achievements. Bart Simpson became the only fictional character included on Time's list of the century's 100 most influential people. On the 14th of January 2000, the family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Entertainment Weekly ranked Homer as the greatest character of the last twenty years in 2010. TV Guide listed The Simpsons as the tenth greatest show of all time in 2013 while Empire called it the greatest TV show ever made. Rolling Stone placed it second-greatest overall in 2022 and Variety ranked fourth in 2023. Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz declared it the greatest American TV series in their 2016 book TV (The Book). Nielsen Media Research reported fifteen point eight seven billion minutes of watch time for the program during 2022 alone. Disney announced in December 2025 that one billion hours streamed on Disney+ had been accumulated by the series.
Educators claimed Bart represented a threat to learning due to his underachiever attitude and negative view toward education. Bill Cosby described him as angry, confused, and frustrated in a 1991 interview which prompted Matt Groening to defend the character's rebellious nature. President George H. W. Bush stated families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons on the 27th of January 1992. The nuclear power industry criticized portrayals of Mr. Burns and Homer Simpson as bungling idiots lacking safety measures. Sam Simon apologized to the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness acknowledging offense caused to energy sector workers. Episodes set in Australia and Brazil generated negative reactions from visited countries with Rio de Janeiro threatening legal action over crime depictions. Fans reacted negatively to "The Principal and the Pauper" episode revealing Seymour Skinner was an impostor. Harry Shearer called the story arbitrary and disrespectful after reading the script in 2001. China banned the show from prime-time television in August 2006 while Venezuela barred morning broadcasts deemed unsuitable for children. Russian Pentecostal churches demanded removal citing propaganda of vices though courts dismissed requests. Critics began calling the show tired around season nine when tone shifted from character-driven plots to zany antics.
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Common questions
When did The Simpsons first air as animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show?
The Simpsons first aired as animated shorts starting the 19th of April 1987. These sketches were part of The Tracey Ullman Show before becoming a standalone series.
Who created The Simpsons and when was the show officially premiered by Fox Broadcasting Company?
Matt Groening created The Simpsons after sketching the family in 1987. The half-hour primetime series premiered the 17th of December 1989 with the episode Simpson Roasting on an Open Fire.
Which animation studios produced The Simpsons and when did the show switch to digital ink and paint?
Animation began domestically at Klasky Csupo before switching to Film Roman in 1992. Traditional cel animation transitioned to digital ink and paint starting with season fourteen episode Radioactive Man in 1995.
How many Primetime Emmy Awards has The Simpsons won and what recognition did Time magazine give it?
The Simpsons received 34 Primetime Emmy Awards throughout its run. Time magazine named it the twentieth century's best television series in a 1999 issue celebrating arts and entertainment achievements.
Why did President George H. W. Bush criticize The Simpsons and which countries banned the show from prime-time television?
President George H. W. Bush stated families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons on the 27th of January 1992. China banned the show from prime-time television in August 2006 while Venezuela barred morning broadcasts deemed unsuitable for children.