Who created The Simpsons?
The Simpsons was created by cartoonist Matt Groening. It first appeared as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 and became a half-hour series on Fox in December 1989.
Groening created the Simpson family while waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks's office. He named most of the characters after his own family: his father Homer, his mother Margaret, or Marge, and his sisters Lisa and Maggie. Bart is an anagram of brat. Groening developed the series with Brooks and Sam Simon.
The show follows the Simpson family in the town of Springfield and satirizes American culture, politics and family life. It became a huge success and helped make the Fox network famous. Characters like Homer, with his catchphrase D'oh!, became pop culture icons.
Records
The Simpsons is the longest-running American animated series and sitcom, with more than 750 episodes. It has won dozens of Emmy Awards. The Simpsons Movie was released in 2007. The show is famous for jokes that later seemed to predict real events.
Did You Know?
Groening also created the animated series Futurama and Disenchantment.