History of The Simpsons

This is a history of the animated television series "The Simpsons". The show was created by Matt Groening, who conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name.The family debuted as shorts on "The Tracey Ullman Show" on April 19, 1987. In 1989, the shorts were spun off into the series "The Simpsons" which debuted on December 17, 1989. Since then, the series has aired 400 episodes, over 19 seasons and a film was released in 2007.

The Tracey Ullman shorts

Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his "Life in Hell" series. However, when Groening realized that animating "Life in Hell" would require the rescinding of publication rights for his life's work, he chose another approach and formulated his version of a dysfunctional family.] Homer's voice sounds different in the shorts compared to most episodes of the half-hour show. In the shorts, his voice is a loose impression of Walter Matthau, whereas it is more robust and humorous on the half-hour show, allowing Homer to cover a fuller range of emotions. [] "The Simpsons" was the Fox network's first TV series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows.] Many of the producers, including James L. Brooks, were against the move because "The Simpsons" had been in the top 10 while airing on Sunday and they felt the move would destroy its ratings.] Al Jean later explained that two Cajun characters were supposed to walk out of the theater in disgust, but none of the voice actors could provide a convincing Cajun accent.Mark Lorando. "'Simpsons' takes a shot at Crescent City." "The Times-Picayune". 1992-10-01. p. A1.]

Before the premiere of the fourth season, the producers sent two episodes to critics: "Kamp Krusty" and "A Streetcar Named Marge". A New Orleans critic viewed "A Streetcar Named Marge" and published the song lyrics in his newspaper before the episode aired. Many readers took the lyrics out of context, and New Orleans' Fox affiliate, WNOL, received about one hundred complaints on the day the episode aired. Several local radio stations also held on-air protests in response to the song. [Mark Lorando. "Fox apologizes for 'Simpsons'. "The Times-Picayune". 1992-10-02. p. B1.]

The "Simpsons"' producers rushed out a chalkboard gag for "Homer the Heretic", which aired a week after "A Streetcar Named Marge". It read, "I will not defame New Orleans." The gag was their attempt to "apologize" for the song and hopefully bring the controversy to an end. "We didn't realize people would get so mad," said Al Jean. "It was the best apology we could come up with in eight words or less." [ Mark Lorando. "Bart chalks up apology for New Orleans song." "The Times-Picayune". 1992-10-08. p. A1.] The issue passed quickly, and a person in a Bart Simpson costume even served as Krewe of Tucks Grand Marshal at the 1993 New Orleans Mardi Gras. ["For Silver Celebration, Tucks 'Lov-A-Da Music." "The Times-Picayune". 1993-02-21. p. D7. 1993-02-21.]

Tracey Ullman lawsuit

Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit in 1992 , claiming that her show was the source of "The Simpsons" success and therefore should receive a share of the show's profit. "I breast-fed those little devils," Tracey Ullman once said of "The Simpsons". She wanted a share of "The Simpsons"' merchandising and gross profits and believed she was entitled to $2.5 million of Fox's estimated $50 million in 1992. The Fox network had paid her $58,000 in royalties for "The Simpsons" as well as $3 million for the 3 1/2 seasons her show was on the air. Eventually the courts ruled in favor of the network.]

Rio de Janeiro controversy

In 2002 Rio de Janeiro tourist board found the season 13 episode "Blame It on Lisa" so offending for the Brazilian people that they threatened to sue the producers. The board's exact word were "What really hurt was the idea of the monkeys, the image that Rio de Janeiro was a jungle ... It's a completely unreal image of the city".Turner, p. 326] Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso found it to be "a distorted vision of Brazilian reality". [Turner, p. 325] Rio de Janeiro had just spent millions promoting the city internationally. Their reputation was already damaged because of an outbreak of dengue fever a few years earlier. The producers apologized and the issue did not go any further. However it was international news for a while.

Later seasons

In Season 14, production switched from traditional cel animation to digital ink and paint. []

At the end of 2007 the writers of "The Simpsons" went on strike together with the Writers Guild of America. The broadcasting of The Simpsons was not be affected by the strike. Since it takes a long time to produce an episode of an animated show, the episodes are ready up to a year in advance. So the strike had to go on for a while if they should run out of new episodes. [] "The Simpsons Movie" grossed a combined total of $74 million in its opening weekend in the US, taking it to the top of the box office, [cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2007&wknd=30&p=.htm|title=Weekend Box Office July 27–29, 2007|accessdate=2007-07-29|publisher=Box Office Mojo] and set the record for highest grossing opening weekend for a film based on a television series, surpassing "Mission Impossible II". [cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20048748,00.html|title=Raking in the d'oh! |author=Joshua Rich|accessdate=2007-07-30|publisher="Entertainment Weekly"] It opened at the top of the international box office, taking $96 million from seventy-one overseas territories — including $27.8 million in the United Kingdom, making it Fox's second highest opening ever in that country. [cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2936859520070730|title="Simpsons Movie" rules foreign box office|accessdate=2007-07-30|date=2007-07-29|author=Frank Segers|publisher=Reuters] In Australia, it grossed AU$13.2 million, the biggest opening for an animated film and third largest opening weekend in the country. [cite news | author = Patrick Kolan | title = Simpsons Movie Breaks Records | publisher = IGN | date = 2007-07-30 | url = http://movies.ign.com/articles/809/809446p1.html | accessdate=2007-07-31] As of November 23, 2007 the film has a worldwide gross of $525,267,904. [cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=simpsons.htm|title=The Simpsons Movie|accessdate=2007-11-23|publisher=Box Office Mojo]

blog|author=Jenn Dolari]

References

ources

*cite book|last=Richmond |first=Ray|coauthors=Antonia Coffman|title= |year=1997 |publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|id=ISBN 0-060-19348-4
*cite book | last=Turner | first=Chris | title= |publisher=Random House of Canada |id=ISBN 0-679-31318-4

Notes