The Simpsons (franchise) In 2008, $750 million worth of "The Simpsons" merchandise was purchased worldwide. Peter Byrne, Fox executive vice-president of licensing and merchandising, called "The Simpsons" "without doubt the biggest licensing entity that Fox has had, full stop, I would say from either TV or film." Matt Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Brooks, the producer of the sketch comedy program "The Tracey Ullman Show", wanted to use a series of animated cartoons as bumpers between sketches. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts, and had intended
The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, a.k.a. The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series or The Wally Gator Show, was a syndicated television package of animated cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, starting in 1962. The series included three unrelated short cartoon segments featuring funny animal characters: The package consisted of fifty-two episodes, each with three individual segments and no bridge animation. Each individual cartoon segment, had its own opening theme and closing title. The title "The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon series" was an off-screen promotional title to distinguish this package from other Hanna-Barbera cartoons (such as "Ruff and