History of The Simpsons

Lore & Background

Matt Groening grew up with an interest in cartooning from his father, Homer Groening. After college in Oregon, he moved to Los Angeles, working odd jobs, and in 1977 created the comic series Life in Hell while employed at the record store Licorice Pizza. The strip gained a cult following and was later self-published with Deborah Caplan, then distributed nationally by Pantheon Books. In 1985, producer James L. Brooks, who had co-created The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, invited Groening to a meeting after receiving a Life in Hell drawing from producer Polly Platt. By 1986, Brooks had founded Gracie Films at 20th Century Fox and helped develop The Tracey Ullman Show. Ken Estin, a co-creator of that show, asked Groening to use Life in Hell characters for animated bumpers, but Groening declined to avoid relinquishing publication rights. Producer Richard Sakai then asked if Groening had other characters; Groening sketched a dysfunctional family, naming them after his own family members, substituting 'Bart' for his own name (an anagram of 'brat'). Fox negotiated a deal giving Groening a large portion of merchandising revenue, a lucrative arrangement as few TV programs had been licensed for merchandising at the time.

Accounts differ on how quickly the characters were created: Fox president Garth Ancier stated Groening designed the family at home and brought drawings the next day; animator Phil Roman recalled Groening developing them during the drive to the studio; Groening himself said he conceived them hurriedly while waiting in Brooks's lobby. Estin claimed Groening was dismissed after refusing merchandising rights, but Brooks and Sakai remained open to new concepts. The shorts were animated by Klasky Csupo, a small studio that provided full-color animation at low cost. Three young CalArts graduates—Bill Kopp, Wes Archer, and David Silverman—adapted Groening's basic sketches, which were largely traced directly, contributing to the crude early appearance. Colorist Gyorgyi Peluce chose the characters' distinctive yellow hue, and Silverman established standardized drawing rules. The shorts were recorded in a makeshift studio on The Tracey Ullman Show's soundstage, with Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner voicing Homer and Marge, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith voicing Bart and Lisa. Homer's voice in the shorts was a loose impression of Walter Matthau.

Reader's Guide

The Simpsons has had a significant cultural impact, marked by both popularity and controversy. From its early seasons, some parents characterized Bart as a poor role model, leading several U.S. public schools to ban Simpsons merchandise and T-shirts. In January 1992, President George H. W. Bush, during his re-election campaign, said, 'We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons.' In 2002, the show was nearly sued by the Rio de Janeiro tourist board for creating an unreal image of the city. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in July 2007 after previous attempts failed due to lack of a script of appropriate length and crew. Producers Brooks, Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, and Richard Sakai began development in 2001; the script was rewritten over a hundred times, and animation began in 2006. The film was a box office success with overwhelmingly positive reviews. The series became the longest-running American sitcom, longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series. As of its 37th season premiering on September 28, 2025, the show continues to broadcast.