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 Ren & Stimpy Show show's adult spin-off. Another episode, "Sammy and Me / The Last Temptation", aired on MTV on October 20, 1996, almost a year after the original Nickelodeon run ended. "The Ren & Stimpy Show" received widespread critical acclaim. Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons", praised the show for its outrageousness and called it "the only good cartoon on TV" other than "The Simpsons". Terry Thoren, former CEO and president of Klasky Csupo, said that Kricfalusi "tapped into an audience that was a lot hipper than anybody thought. He went where no man wanted to go before – the caca, booger humor".