via press release:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17: "THE Simpsons" AT 20
Thursday, December 17th. One of America's favorite -- if not entirely functional -- families first appeared on its own half-hour television show on this day 20 years ago -- "The Simpsons." Cartoonist Matt Groening's characters Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie soon had popularity unusual for an animated feature, and created a legion of loyal fans who wouldn't miss one of the shows. Aside from the wide range of souvenir items generated by the program, some of the character's sayings -- especially Bart's -- have become part of the language, such as "Don't have a cow." When "The Simpsons" first went on the air, there were 193 million television sets in U.S. homes -- today, the number is more than 300 million.
The Simpsons first appeared in 1987 as a series of 30-second shorts produced by Groening for the FOX series “The Tracey Ullman Show.” The first of these shorts aired on April 19, 1987, during the third week of primetime broadcasts on FOX. Soon they had their own series, premiering on FOX as a half-hour Christmas special on Dec. 17, 1989, and then as a regular series on Jan. 14, 1990.
man these guys are older than I am
Congrats on the longevity… But boo on the freefall of quality. Family Guy is utter brilliance compared to the Simpsons today. Eek!
It’s time to let go Homer, it’s time to let go.
Hurray to the Simpsons! I hope it will have another decade!
I used to watch it regularly and very rarely. For my animation fix, I tend to watch Family Guy, Venture Brothers, and Total Drama Action.
Oops. Meant to type “…and now very rarely.”
jeremy… too bad you don’t like it… but i find it awesome and still funny. unfortunately family guy has lost it’s mojo… it’s been boring, unfunny and just plain flat for 2 years now. not sure what happened. maybe seth stretched himself too thin. i still watch it but am amazed how little i even smile… and i was there with family guy from the start. just hoping now it comes back. never had a real prob with the simpsons.
one of the reasons some people i think trash on simpsons is that when it started it was anti-establishment… but after 20 years it’s hard to be anti anything. they are now the establishment. so they’ve lost the edge which i think comes naturally… but it’s still a solid funny show. when i show to people (ages 20-25) who hear from interneters that the show’s not funny then i show them recent episodes and they all laugh and have the same reaction which is they don’t get the criticisms.
i still remember seeing that first x-mas episode. i was a kid but it was awesome. i’m glad it’s still around.
Happy Birthday Simpsons! They still make me smile every now and then.. but South Park FTW!
The Simpsons is the Greatest show ever Created, Its my favorite show and its still kicking butt after 20 years of being on the air.
Props to “The Simpsons” for blazing trails not seen before in primetime.
With that said, I stopped watching the show years ago once they started relying more and more on celebrity cameos. I mean, a Joe Mantegna “Fat Tony” character is one thing, but once I tuned in and found *NSYNC appearing on the show, I knew in my book that they had jumped the shark.
‘The Simpsons’ on FOX opened strongly, getting a 14.5HH rating that night at 8:30 pm coming in second behind CBS’s ‘Murder She Wrote’ at 18.9HH, but beating ‘Sister Kate’ on NBC (9.6HH) and Homeroom on ABC (5.2HH).
Congrats to the Simpsons. The show has been great this past year and I still drop at least one quote from the early seasons each day.
For a show that’s been on for TWENTY years, all things considered it’s still pretty fresh and relevant in 2009 – definitely not an easy feat.
Happy Birthday Simpsons!
Perhaps this show will be around by the time I’m in a rocking chair with my grandkids watching it.
Congrats to the Simpson’s and I hope you have many more years. To those who feel the need to trash the Simpsons in order to praise Family Guy let see where your show is at in 20 yrs.
Happy Birthday Simpsons!
Hopefully by the time I’m old and gray it’ll still be on.
chrisjozo, considering Family Guy is coming up on 11 years this January (subtract the cancelled years if you like, it’s still 7 or 8), I think it’ll see the same longevity as The Simpsons, quality or not.
If you meant 20 years from now (which is how it sounded), then that’s certainly not fair.
The Simpsons was quality only for the first 8 seasons since then it’s gone downhill. The movie was decent at least.
I’m just surprised Google didn’t give them a logo for the day
Simpsons were brillaitn till Season 17. Now it sucks!
Family Guy won’t make it to a 20th season. Southpark and Simpsons are the best animated comedies. Simpsons still delivers 2/4 really good episodes… that is hard after 20 seasons. Southpark has 3/4 really good episodes and is a bit more edgy… However, Southpark always has that one disgusting episode every season ~_~
With Family guy, episodes are slightly funny or bland. I don’t appreciate the endless pop culture references and the best episodes are the ones with few cutaway scenes. Family Guy shouldn’t be on broadcast primetime, I’m no prude, but little children watch this stuff ~_~