The Simpsons creator Matt Groening celebrates 71 today
The Simpsons are the longest-running primetime-television series and longest-running animated series in the U.S TV history and a worldwide hit ever since its first episode in 1989
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening celebrates 71 today
Born in Portland, Oregon on February 15, 1954, the cartoonist and writer Matt Groening is mostly associated to his most famous creation, The Simpsons.
The longest-running primetime-television series and longest-running animated series in the U.S TV history, and a worldwide success ever since its first episode in 1989, The Simpsons brought Groening popularity and recognition as a cartoonist. Other memorable works by Groening are he comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012), Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013), and Disenchantment (2018–present).
How it all begun for The Simpsons
The first episode of “The Simpsons” aired on December 17, 1989, on FOX. 36 years later, the Simpson family and their fellow Springfield residents are still going strong. Let’s look back at where it all started “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” This would also be the first independent episode of “The Simpsons”, with the previous episodes, the Ullman Shorts, having only been aired as part of “The Tracey Ullman Show”. The episode was originally planned to premiere earlier in the fall of 1989, but because of animation problems, the series began on December 17 with “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” (aka “The Simpsons Christmas Special”). The original pilot, “Some Enchanted Evening,” later aired as the season finale. The episode lacked the now-famous opening sequence, which was added in the second episode, “Bart the Genius,” because creator Matt Groening thought a longer opening sequence would mean less animation. The episode begins as Homer hastily drives Marge and Maggie, in the family car, to watch Bart and Lisa’s Christmas pageant at school. But it looks like it’s going to be a not-so-merry Christmas for the Simpsons when Mr. Burns decides to cut the Christmas bonuses and Marge has to spend the family’s Christmas savings to erase a tattoo Bart thought would make a great Christmas present. In order to hide the fact, he did not get the bonus, Homer takes a second job as a mall Santa. Fox considers the episode as a special, so it was one of two episodes from the first season to be nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Series.
By Ken Warren
Watch the first episode of “The Simpsons,” “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”
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