This year marks the 20th anniversary of America’s longest-running sitcom, The Simpsons.
In fact, this week way back in 1989, creator Matt Groening and his team were hard at work on the first season. Unbeknown to them, they were about to unleash a yellow-tinged phenomenon that would assault pop culture for the next two decades…
1. The Tracey Ullman Years
In 1987, James L Brooks – veteran TV producer (Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and award-winning writer/director (Terms Of Endearment, Broadcast News) – was brought in to produce The Tracey Ullman Show for the fledgling Fox network.
A half-hour sketch show showcasing the characters of Brit comedian Ullman, Brooks needed a device to break up the skits. Having been impressed by Groening’s Life Is Hell comic strip, he decided that a series of animated segments was the way to do it.
Unwilling to hand Fox the rights to his own popular satire, Groening instead offered to create new characters for Brooks’ show, based on his own family (dad Homer, mum Majorie, sisters Lisa and Maggie). And so The Simpsons were born…
Brooks and Groening recruited Ullman Show regulars Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge respectively. Squeaky-voiced actress Yeardly Smith nabbed the role of Lisa, while professional voice artist Nancy Cartwright was a shoe-in for Bart (“That’s it. That’s him. That’s Bart!” Groening declared immediately after meeting her).
With the voice cast and animation studio Klasky-Csupo on board, Groening set to work on a series of minute-long ‘bumpers’ – stopgaps that would end up getting the biggest laughs of the show…
Next: Simpsons go primetime
Comments
TheTingler
Oct 23rd 2009, 0:29
I loved The Simpsons for most of its first ten years, but then I just started to get bored with it - the laughs just seemed to get more and more forced and watching less and less frequently. Then one day I was watching an episode (I can't remember which episode exactly, I think it was somewhere in Season 12) and I didn't laugh ONCE in the entire episode. At this point I just clapped my hands and said "I'm done". I enjoyed The Simpsons Movie, and still all of the first ten seasons on DVD, but I will never watch the show ever again. Thank god Futurama's coming back.
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bentgaga
Oct 23rd 2009, 4:00
i laugh in every episode.. the simpsons will always be the best television show ever to me.. everything i want for my viewing entertainment is in this show.. although family guy is a great show as well, the simpsons is something completely different to me.. i get excited just thinking about watching it, regardless of whether i have seen the episode before or not.. i will never say i am done with this show, ever! favourite character, homer. favourite episode, whacking day. worst episode, none!
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BondFanatic
Oct 23rd 2009, 7:57
I will still sit down and watch The Simpsons whenever I get the opportunity. I do get annoyed sometimes with the more recent episodes, that do seem to go of into surreal territory - there's no question that the best episodes are the ones where the plot comes before the humour. But that's not to say I don't enjoy the new episodes, and the comedy they provide is still sometimes MILES better than any other comedy on TV.
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