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
Dogtown (The Simpsons) arctic explorers." "Dogtown" scored a 0.9 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.14 million people, making "The Simpsons" the second most watched show on Fox that night. Dogtown (The Simpsons) "Dogtown" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series "The Simpsons", and the 618th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on May 21, 2017. This was the last of "The Simpsons" to be scored by composer Alf Clausen, who had scored the show since 1990 before being fired in August 2017. Homer