when did the first episode of the simpsons air
The Simpsons (season 1) The Simpsons' first season originally aired on the Fox network between December 17, 1989 and May 13, 1990, beginning with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The executive producers for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon.[1]
Captain Underpants September 1, 1997 - August 25, 2015 (main series)
American Dad! American Dad! had a mid-season debut. Its first episode, titled "Pilot", was originally shown directly following Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005. The rest of the first season, however, would not launch until May 1, 2005, on Fox's Animation Domination lineup which had its debut on that date.[6][9][19] Initially, it was a replacement for the originally failed series Family Guy (1999â€“2002). American Dad! was originally intended to be Fox's answer to the hordes of fans left behind from the original failure of MacFarlane's previous animated venture.[2] Just three short months after American Dad!'s debut however, Family Guy was revived, leaving American Dad! with a formidable expectation: whether the series could distinguish itself from its counterpart and succeed on its own merits.[2] Instead of taking over creative direction of the series, MacFarlane left the job largely in the hands of Barker and Weitzman so as to distinguish American Dad![7]
The Simpsons (season 5) The season started off with "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" which was chosen as the season premiere because it guest starred George Harrison. The Fox executives had wanted to premiere with "Homer Goes to College" because it was a National Lampoon's Animal House parody, but the writers felt "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" would be a better episode because of Harrison's involvement.[7] Even though the episode aired during the beginning of the fifth season, "Cape Feare" was the last episode written by the original team of writers and guest starred Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob.[2] Compared to previously produced episodes, the episode featured several elements that could be described as cartoonish.[1] This was a result of the staff's careless attitude towards the end of season four as the majority of them were leaving which, combined with the shortness of the episode, led to the creation of the rake sequence, became a memorable moment for this episode.[8] "Cape Feare" and "Rosebud" were both broadcast early in the season and are amongst the series' most acclaimed episodes, both having placed highly on Entertainment Weekly's list of the top 25 episodes.[1] The episode "Deep Space Homer" was the only episode to be written by David Mirkin and was controversial amongst the show's writing staff when the episode was in production. Some of the writers felt that having Homer go into space was too "large" of an idea. Matt Groening felt that the idea was so big that it gave the writers "nowhere to go". As a result, every aspect of the show was worked on to make the concept work. The writers focused more upon the relationship between Homer and his family and Homer's attempts to be a hero.[9] "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" was the series' 100th episode. It was chosen because it heavily featured Bart and was promoted as "Bart's biggest prank ever," even though Bart did not actually pull any pranks in the episode;[10] rather, Bart accidentally let his dog loose, eventually resulting in Principal Skinner's firing. Cletus Spuckler and the Rich Texan were the only recurring characters to be introduced this season, first appearing in "Bart Gets an Elephant", and "$pringfield" respectively.[11] Other minor characters who first appeared this season were Luigi and Baby Gerald. Two more episodes, "Bart of Darkness" and "Lisa's Rival" were produced as part of the season five (1F) production run, but both aired the following season.[12]