Kurupt Posted May 30, 2006 Posted May 30, 2006 (edited) The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening. It is the longest-running American sitcom and longest-running American animated program of all time, with 17 seasons and 378 episodes since it debuted on December 17, 1989, on Fox. The Simpsons is the highest rated animated series of all time, and at one point in time averaging higher than 25 million viewers.[1] The television series is a spin-off of a series of animated shorts originally aired 19 April 1987 on The Tracey Ullman Show. The show has now been renewed for a nineteenth season, which will take place in 2007 and 2008. In May 2007, it will celebrate its 400th episode.[2] A feature-length movie is now being produced simultaneously with the television series, to be released on July 27, 2007. It is produced by Gracie Films for 20th Century Fox. Additionally, The Simpsons will be celebrating its 20th anniversary as a franchise in 2007. Highly satirical, the show lampoons many aspects of the human condition, but primarily parodies the "Middle American" lifestyle epitomized by its titular family, as well as American culture, society, and even television itself, particularly its own Fox Broadcasting. It has had a significant influence on post–Cold War popular culture[3]. The Simpsons has also been cited as an influence on many adult-oriented cartoons in the late-90's, such as South Park, King of the Hill and Family Guy. Matt Groening first conceived of the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. He had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts, and had intended to pitch his Life in Hell series. Upon realizing that he would need to rescind his publication rights for his life's work, and needing to create a new idea from scratch, he hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family. He named the characters after his own family and made them yellow so that they'd stand out to channel surfers The Simpson family first appeared in animated form as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, with the first short, "Good Night," airing on April 19, 1987. Matt Groening admits the reason that they were so crudely drawn in the beginning was because he could not draw well and the animators traced over his drawings. The shorts were aired by the BBC in the U.K. the first time the shows were broadcast, but not subsequently, though some of them, including "Good Night," were included in a Simpsons anniversary episode. The Simpsons was converted, by a team of production companies that included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house, into a series for the Fox Network in 1989 and has run as a weekly show on that network ever since. The first full length episode shown was "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", however the intended first episode was "Some Enchanted Evening", but when the episode was completed it was rejected due to poor animation, so Fox aired "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" first. The Simpsons was the first true TV series hit for the Fox Network; it was the first Fox show to appear in the top twenty highest-rated shows of the time. It also sparked controversy, as Bart Simpson was portrayed as a rebel who caused trouble and got away with it. Parents' groups and conservative spokespersons felt that a cartoon character like Bart Simpson provided a poor role model for children. When a Simpsons T-shirt was marketed featuring Bart and the legend "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')" as well as "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?," Simpsons T-shirts and other merchandise were banned from public schools in several areas of the United States. The outcry against Bart was reflected in the second season opener, featuring an episode called "Bart Gets an F" where Bart's school wants to make him repeat the fourth grade. In this episode, the school counselor quotes the controversial T-shirt by stating, "He is an underachiever... and proud of it." The Simpsons made an appearance on a 1991 episode of Sesame Street, where the family, along with Ray Charles and other celebrities performed the Wubba Wubba Wubba song with the character Grover. In 1995, Western Pacific Airlines repainted a Boeing 737 jet with Simpsons characters to promote the series. The creator Matt Groening and some of the writers didn't go for the plane's first trip as they feared it would crash, and they would die with the Simpsons. On February 9, 1997 The Simpsons surpassed The Flintstones as the longest-running prime time animated series in America. In 2004 it replaced The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952 to 1966) as the longest-running sitcom animated or live action ever in the United States. In October 2004, Scooby Doo, a Hanna-Barbera animation, overtook The Simpsons with 350 episodes, with the Simpsons count at 335. In April 2005, Scooby-Doo was cancelled again, and ended with 371 episodes, whilst the Simpsons have over 370 by their seventeenth season. Scooby-doo has been renewed again under a new name airing in Kids WB in 2006 giving it another chance to catch up to The Simpsons. A few qualifiers also come into play, namely that Scooby-Doo had experienced several incarnations with each one arguably being a separate show while The Simpsons had been in continuous production since becoming its own show. While this is a large number of episodes for an American animated show, some foreign animated shows, most notably Japanese anime series, including Dragon Ball and Pok Edited May 30, 2006 by OriginalSin Quote
Rogue Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 This should be a hot topic. I mean, the Simpson is an all time favourite and the longest running cartoon ever regardless of whether the sorty lines are beginning to suck more and more.I never liked Family Guy half as much as I love the Simpsons. Quote
Kurupt Posted June 1, 2006 Author Posted June 1, 2006 i know but people have to relize that they are the Best and no cartoon can take that away from them :) Quote
mylovelyangel Posted June 2, 2006 Posted June 2, 2006 yeah but I think it is time for it to go away, cause they repeating things, using things from other shows, honestly I love the show but stopped wathcing it all the time about 2 seasons ago Quote
Kurupt Posted June 5, 2006 Author Posted June 5, 2006 its true..they said officialy that after the movie it would be over.. Quote
sanja Posted June 5, 2006 Posted June 5, 2006 I've downlaoded from the internet seasons 1-17, I just adore this show! Quote
Kurupt Posted June 6, 2006 Author Posted June 6, 2006 I've downlaoded from the internet seasons 1-17, I just adore this show!where???!!! :evil: Quote
sanja Posted June 6, 2006 Posted June 6, 2006 You can find them in torrent file herewww.mininova.orgwww.demonoid.comYou just need a programm Azureus to downlaod torrent files!!!! Quote
Rogue Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 it's going to be OVER? :anger: I'm so fucking tired of all the good shows going of the air while they leave us with left over crap! All of my favourite shows are gone.... what is wrong with the world!! !! Quote
mylovelyangel Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 it's going to be OVER? :anger: I'm so fucking tired of all the good shows going of the air while they leave us with left over crap! All of my favourite shows are gone.... what is wrong with the world!! !! it sucks , hopefully your not just learning this Quote
Rogue Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 I am... I'm always the last to find out this sort of things Quote
mylovelyangel Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 I am... I'm always the last to find out this sort of things Quote
OriginalSin Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 I am... I'm always the last to find out this sort of things I didn't know either I mean I knew it was going to happen soon just because well...it has been what? 17 years? But I didn't realize it had been announced that it would happen after the movie. ah well Quote
Rogue Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 omg ... I'm really sad now !!! But we'll have those re-runs GROUP hug Quote
Rogue Posted June 13, 2006 Posted June 13, 2006 awww, thanks MLAso ... does anyone have a favourite simpsons episode? Quote
mylovelyangel Posted June 13, 2006 Posted June 13, 2006 The one when they did it like VH1 Behind the Laughter Quote
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