The Simpsons Research Paper

As of the 12th November 2017, the Fox Network will have been running The Simpsons for a total of 28 years and will have aired 628 episodes, dropping another major milestone for primetime animation and sitcom television. From its early beginnings, the show has faced criticism and controversy, for its parodical social commentary of the world, and its views on politics and the news, in particular. This is an element of the show’s success that has never changed, during its 29 seasons. This essay will look at how and why The Simspons has gone on to become not only the world’s longest-running sitcom but also one of the most important television programmes.

Before Fox Network launched, and introduced The Simpsons to prime-time television, another

Through the years of 1987-1989, Matt Groening created The Simpsons to be screened as shorts before and after ad breaks. They were an immediate cult favourite, and producer of the show, James L. Brook, along with Matt Groening decided to transform them into a half-hour sitcom. They pitched it to FOX Network, where Groening landed a deal where he would make a lot of the income from merchandising. Matt Groening said that one of the reasons The Simpsons managed to get on the air was that “there were finally some executives who remembered watching The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Jonny Quest at night as children.” (Matt Groening, cited in Tahmankera 2014: 112) Wendy Hilton-Morrow and David McMahan emphasize that, as well as “improved animation quality” and “the production of non-Saturday morning animation”, the most important factor to The Simpsons being brought on the air was the “introduction of a new network”;

Originally, The Simpsons was aired on Sunday nights at 8:00 pm, at the same time on Thursday nights where The Cosby Show would usually be. Some of The Simpsons’ producers weren’t happy with the idea, as they had managed to be in the top 10 highest rated shows on Sundays, and thought changing schedules would ruin that. When The Simpsons made its debut, prime-time television had not seen an animated sitcom since 1960’s The Flintstones. What followed from the very successful Christmas first episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”, is one that television history will see as one of television’s greatest successes. At the time of the show’s release, the show had a comedic advantage over other sitcoms, because it was animated. If the writers of the show could draw a joke or a gag, the joke would be made on the show, which leads to some of The Simpson’s most hilarious gags. But, the writers decided not go down the route of any other cartoon show, where the impossible could