The Simpson household consists of five family members. The father, Homer, is a none-too-bright safety inspector for the local nuclear power plant in the show's fictional location, Springfield. A huge blue beehive hairdo characterizes his wife, Marge, often the moral center of the program. Their oldest child, Bart, a sassy ten-year-old and borderline juvenile delinquent, provided the early focus of the program. Lisa, the middle child, is a gifted, perceptive but sensitive saxophone player. Maggie is the voiceless toddler, observing all while constantly sucking on her pacifier. Besides the Simpson clan, other characters include Moe the bartender; Mr. Bums, the nasty owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant; and Ned Flanders, the Simpsons' incredibly pious neighbor. These characters and others, and the world they inhabit, have taken on a dense, rich sense of familiarity. Audiences now recognize relationships and specific character traits that can predict developments and complications in any new plot.

     The Simpsons is the creation of Matt Groening, a comic strip writer/artist who, until the debut of the program, was known mostly for his syndicated newspaper strip life in Hell. Attracting the attention of influential writer-producer and Gracie Films executive James L. Brooks, Groening developed the cartoon family as a series of short vignettes featured on the FOX variety program The Tracey Ullman Show beginning in 1987.

     A Christmas special followed in December 1989, and then The Simpsons became a regular series. Despite  its  family   sitcom   format,  The Simpsons draws its animated  inspiration  more from Bullwinkle J. Moose than Fred Flintstone. Like The Bullwinkle Show, two of the most striking characteristics of The Simpsons are its social criticism and its references to other cultural forms. John O'Connor, television critic for the New York Times, has labeled the program "the most radical show on prime time," and, indeed, The Simpsons often parodies the hypocrisy and contradictions found in social institutions such as the nuclear family (and nuclear power), the mass media, religion, and medicine. Homer tells his daughter Lisa that it is acceptable to steal things "from people you  don't like." Reverend Lovejoy lies to Lisa about the contents of the Bible to win an argument. Krusty the Clown, the kid-vid program host, endorses dangerous products to make a quick buck. Homer comforts Marge about upcoming surgery with the observation that "America's healthcare system is second only to Japan's ... Canada's ... Sweden's ... Great Britain's ... well, all of Europe."

     The critical nature of the program has been at times controversial, especially early in the show's run. Many elementary schools banned Bart Simpson T-shirts, singling out those with the slogan, "Underachiever, and Proud of It." U.S. President George Bush, Sr., and former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett publicly criticized the program for its subversive and anti authority nature. After President Bush commented that families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons, Bart responded in one episode with, "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too."

     In addition to its ironic lampoons, The Simpsons is also one of the most culturally literate entertainment programs on prime time. Viewers may note references to such cultural icons as The Bridges of Madison County, Ayn Rand, Susan Sontag, and the film Barton Fink in any given episode. These allusions extend far beyond explicit verbal notations. Cartoon technique allows free movement in The Simpsons, and manipulation of visual qualities-often mimicking comic strip perspectives and cinematic manipulation of space­ creates an extraordinary sense of time, place, and movement. On occasion, The Simpsons has reproduced the actual camera movements of the films it models. At other times, the cartoonist's freedom and ability to visualize internal psychological states such as memory and dream have produced some of the program's most hilarious moments.

     The unique nature of The Simpsons reveals much about the nature of the television industry. Specifically, the existence of the show illustrates the relationship of television's industrial context to its degree of content innovation. It was a program that came along at the right place and time, and it appealed to the right demographic groups. Groening has said that no other network besides FOX would have aired The Simpsons, and in fact conventional television producers had previously turned down Groening's programming ideas. The degree of competition in network television in the late 1980s helped open the door, however. Network television overall found itself in a more competitive environment in this period because of cable television and VCRs. The FOX network, specifically, was in an even more precarious economic position than the "big three: (American Broadcasting Company [ABC], Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS], and National Broadcasting Company [NBC ]). Because FOX was the new, unestablished network, attempting to build audiences and attract advertisers, the normally restrictive nature of network television gatekeeping may have been loosened to allow the program on the air. In addition, the championing of The Simpsons by Brooks, an established producer with a strong track record, helped the program through the industrialized television filters that might have watered down the program's social criticism. Finally, the fact that the program draws young audiences especially attractive to advertisers also explains the network's willingness to air such an unconventional and risky program. The "tween" demographic, those between the ages of 12 and 17, is an especially key viewing group for The Simpsons as well as a primary consumer group targeted by advertisers.

     The Simpsons was a watershed program in the establishment of the FOX network. The cartoon has been the FOX program most consistently praised by television critics. In the 1990s, The Simpsons won five Emmys for Outstanding Animated Programming (one hour or less). In its December 31, 1999, "Person of the Century" issue, Time magazine chose The Simpsons as the best television program ever made. It was the first FOX program to reach the top ten in ratings despite the network's smaller number of affiliates compared to the big three . When FOX moved The Simpsons to Thursday night in 1990, it directly challenged the number one program of the network establishment at the time, The Cosby Show. Eventually, The Simpsons bested this powerful competitor in key male demographic groups. The schedule change and the subsequent success signaled FOX's staying power to the rest of the industry, and for viewers it was a powerful illustration of the innovative nature of FOX programming when compared to conventional television fare.

     The Simpsons is also noteworthy for the enormous amount of merchandising it has sparked. Simpsons T­-shirts, toys, buttons, golf balls, and other licensed materials were everywhere at the height of Simpsons mania in the early 1990s. At one point, retailers were selling approximately 1 million Simpsons T-shirts per week. The Simpsons also inspired its own line of comic books, Bongo Comics.

     The big three networks attempted to copy the success of the prime-time cartoon, but these efforts failed to duplicate The Simpsons' innovative nature and general appeal. Programs such as Capital Critters, Fish Police, and Family Dog were all short lived on the webs. However, FOX and cable networks have been able to find ratings success with such prime-time animation programs as King of the Hill (FOX) and South Park (Comedy Central). Groening was also a creative force behind Futurama, another FOX prime-time animated program that debuted in 1999. Such programs are one legacy of The Simpsons. Another is that with a two-year renewal provided by FOX in 2003, The Simpsons is positioned to become one of television's longest-running series in any genre, assuring its place in all future histories of the medium.