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 Rebel (2016 TV series) The Rebel (2016 TV series) The Rebel is a 2016 British comedy series on Gold starring Simon Callow in the title role. The show is based on "The Rebel" cartoon in The Oldie magazine by Andrew Birch. It began airing in June 2016. In total, 9 episodes have aired as of May 2018. The cast includes Anita Dobson, Bill Paterson and Amit Shah. The show follows 70 year old Henry Palmer, a widowed resident of Brighton who is an anarchic, anti-establishment pensioner. The Rebel is based on Andrew Birch's cartoon strip for The Oldie. Vadim Jean is the director of