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 ~_~
Happy anniversary to a show that once was the greatest thing ever on TV but that now is ‘just’ a good and solid half hour of comedy.
Happy Birthday you rock!
I meant 20 seasons so yes subtract the years it was canceled. I seriously doubt it’ll be on for another 12-13 yrs. If it is still on I doubt it’ll still be as successful as the Simpsons after such a period of time.
Bill and Robert, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but, is there a section where you could compare ratings of shows performances in previous years. Or if it doesn’t exist… would you consider adding such a section? For instance, if I wanted to know how The Simpsons did in their 8th season compared to Family Guy this season… episode by episode numbers would be great but even a season average would be helpful. If possible, comparing shows in the database or comparing seasons of the same show. I realize this has little significance on renewal/cancellation of current shows… so feel free to tell me off for being addicted to numbers or something.
Watched it the night it premiered. Who knew then it would still be on today. Certainly not the people who created it…
Edward, we don’t have anything like that on the site, and while it does sound like the kind of thing I might do on a whim once to see the comparison (not that it would really be meaningful), it’s *way* too much work (even if we had the data, which in most cases we wouldn’t) compared to the likely reader interest it would generate.
Congrats to the show for making twenty years. The first seven/eight seasons were epic but it’s well past time to put it out to pasture.
@DuMont (three hours earlier)…
WOW. The flashbacks. “Sister Kate”… “Homeroom”… How bland was Sunday night primetime back then, huh? Anyone remember what the lead-ins for these shows, as well as “The Simpsons” on 12.17.89? If I recall correctly, the lead-in on ABC was “Free Spirit.”
Family Guy definitely won’t ever enjoy the same success as The Simpsons. Where Family Guy is beloved by a younger audience, The Simpsons was always an all-around crowd pleaser, young and old.
But I still think Family Guy will reach that 20 year mark, no matter from when it’s measured. At least The Simpsons used to have strong storylines in each episode. Family Guy hasn’t really ever done that, so it can live and die on a series of jokes threading a loose plotline every episode.
@Edward
Have you seen Family Guy’s age demo rating? They have one of the best number on Fox and compared to the other network shows. Family Guy DVDs sell through the roof. Seth Macfarlane has 3 shows airing with Family Guy and signed a major deal with Fox. Family Guy will most likely be around another 10 years.
That’s what I guessed you’d say. D.J. seems to have an interest
Anyway, thanks for the response.
This is wonderful!
@Marc: You fail to realize how long 12 years is in Broadcast TV… Only the rarest of the rare make it to 12 seasons… let alone 12 seasons after 8. Family guy gets what… around 3.8-4.1? That makes it Fox’s #3 show in the demo… Glee is right behind family guy and may pass it in the second half. In any case… The Simpsons pulled off a 3.2 last Sunday versus Family’s 3.8. I find it hard to believe Family Guy will be getting a 2 come season 20. In twelve years those young people would have grown and won’t find tired gags and references so amusing… and there will be no new youth to replace them. They’ll be watching whatever that new fad is in 2022. Good writing and good plots, however, are timeless.
Congrats to The Simpsons. I was one of the viewers of that first airing, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I dressed as Homer Simpson for Halloween Dance at my high school in 1990 (my gf was Marge, and the couple we doubled with were Bart and Lisa).
The Simpsons looks downright consistent as far as quality next to Family Guy these days. I’d actually say this last season (really half a season) that the Simpsons is the best animated show on television. I never thought I’d say that, but Fam Guy, South Park and even American Dad have been really poor lately.
The creators just never run out of ideas
..how many episodes have there been?
20 years today! Yes!!! I’m very happy that it’s been around for so long. Even in the season that weren’t that great, I still laughed a lot. As someone said earlier, it’s hard to be what it originally was because it has become it with such popularity. But even still, the show has been able to adapt to its popularity and still put forth a great product. I also saw someone say that when the say N*SYNC on the show that’s when they jumped the shark. Well, Michael Jackson was on the show back in one of the first few seasons in “Stark Raving Dad.” And I think we can say that Michael Jackson is a bit more popular than the boy band, so that’s not really jumping the shark, or even relying on celebrities too much. I mean, if you wanted to point out an episode of relying on celebrities, why not point out the episode that had nine baseball players in it? But I digress.
Point is that the show is still doing great work, whether it be from the animation standpoint or stories or both. I hope it’s around for a long time after this because it’s really good.
There may be people reading this thread, and commenting, who are younger than The Simpsons. Yoinks!
Hopefully their third decade is better than their second.
Perhaps the longevity of the Simpsons is simple – it’s a funny sitcom that happens to be animated that allows it to do things a normal sitcom can’t do – but does it in such a way that it’s not too far feched.
Ahh a show that pre-dates the world wide web.
Ahh… since the middle of the 20th season The Simpsons has been in HD. How could we have forgotten that
I rather enjoy the new HD episodes for the appreciation of the art crafted over 20 years. Remember what Homer looked like in season 1? 
I forgot to congratulate the show.
Happy Birthday to Matt, Dan and the rest of the writers and cast. And while The Simpsons will never reach the heights of 33.6 million viewers when Bart got an F or when you beat the Cosby show with Homer at Bat, your show will be loved so long as there are people who appreciate good tv.
The Simpsons is a shadow of its former self but it has its moments still. The main reason it sucks is because of how stupid Gen Y is (tv shows recruit new writers fresh from the Ivy Leagues). The parody and satire is non-existent now and themes and jokes are reused all the time nowadays. The show also has an extreme liberal bent now whereas before it satirized both sides.
That being said the simpsons had 9 amazing seasons before it jumped the shark.
That being said the simpsons still has its moments. It’s just hard to stomach if you are a long-time fan how much the series has deterioated. Out of all the major animated shows, except for maybe Futurama, the Simpsons is really the only one that ever had heart (at least for those first 9 stellar seasons ). It’s sad that it doesn’t aspire to those same standards today and jump shamelessly on the bandwagon of shallow plots replete with one-line pop culture references.
I find it Interesting that everyone seems to think that it got worse at a different time.
Spongebob will outlived them all
Seriously, congrats to The Simpsons!
It’s become a safe little mantra to say The Simpsons sucks now–actually, it’s still fresher and funnier than 90% of the comedies on the air now. It has its ups and downs, but I’d take the worst episode of this season over any episode of 30 Rock or The Big Bang Theory–shows that The Simpsons may well end up outliving, as it has so many other upstarts.
The ratings are lower mainly because it’s on constantly. Why worry about catching it in first-run when it’ll be repeating forever?
Ullman shorts, Christmas show, Marge’s fling, Homer’s bro,
Bart in well, Flanders fails, Whacking snakes, monorail,
Mr. Plow, Homer space, Sideshow Bob steps on rakes,
Lisa’s future, Selma’s hubby, Marge not proud, Homer chubby,
Homer worries Bart is gay, Poochie, U2, NRA,
Hippies, Vegas, and Japan, Octuplets, and Bart’s boy band,
Marge murmurs, Maude croaks, Lisa buddhist, Homer tokes,
Maggie blows Burns away, What else do I have to say?
They’ll never stop The Simpsons, Have no fears, we’ve got stories for years,
Like, Marge becomes a robot, maybe Moe gets a cell phone,
Has Bart ever owned a bear or, How ’bout a crazy wedding?
Where something happens, and doo doo doo doo, doo
Sorry for the clip show, have no fears, we’ve got stories for years.
nice one troy….happy birthday simpsons, i’ll always be your follower till i die…this show has influenced me and my family alot..i love you guys!!!!!!!especially lisa:)
Speaking of 20th anniversaries, “America’s Funniest Home Videos’” is coming up on January 14. (Granted, ABC’s already celebrated it. But I digress.) The previously-mentioned “Homeroom” (good theme song, bad show) was cancelled to make room for it. And the previously-mentioned “Free Spirit” (great theme song, horrible show) was cancelled after one entire airing after it. (Bob Iger needed to make room for the “Elvis” show, so he could cancel that too.)
I’m surprised people are defending Family Guy on a Simpsons post… Family Guy’s quality has become worse than the Simpsons at their worst. Even a bad Simpsons episode will illicit a smirk, not so with Family Guy which has become borderline unwatchable (although to be fair, American Dad is actually quite funny).
I would like to see just one post about The Simpsons somewhere on the internet that does not also mention Family Guy and South Park (two words, by the way). Can’t you just give The Simpsons some props for making it this long, whether you still like the show or not?
Are you for real? Family guy is not brilliant at all. Its good, its funny, but is just about the dumbest kind of funny you can get. Its like if an Adam Sandler movie had sex with Beavis and Butthead and was adopted by Tom Greene.
I like family guy, but as far as creative or smart or thoughtful goes, Family guy is a so much worse than Simpsons. (Besides, without simpsons, what are the chances there would be a 2hr block of prime time cartoons on network tv?)
Basically, if you look up Cartmen’s rant against Family guy… thats what I’d say to someone telling me how smart and creative Family guy is.
Congratz to the Simpsons but the quality has certainly dropped in quality after the 10th series hopefully this will not happen to Family Guy because it is funny now but i hope it doesn’t follow the same pattern i really hope Simpsons revives in it quality. But Simpsons ten years ago OWNS Family Guy now.