2026-04-19

Premiere of The Simpsons in 1987

The Simpsons

On this day in 1987 The Simpsons created by Matt Groening first appeared as a series of animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. These first efforts were typically less than a minute in length.

Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie would evolve into the highly polished iteration I watched for many years until I figured I was too old and mature to continue this childs play.

Who could guess that monster of entertainment they would ultimately become. The shorts were produced by Klasky Csupo and featured a much rougher, sketch-like animation style compared to the later, polished series.

These shorts ran for three seasons before being spun off into the half-hour series in 1989. The very first Simpsons short, was entitled "Good Night,"

And thusly the legend began ...