The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' is an American

animated sitcom An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ''Family Guy'' are four of ...

created by

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...

for the

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an Television in the United States, American Commercial broadcasting, commercial terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by Fox C ...

. It is a satirical depiction of a

dysfunctional Abnormality (or dysfunctional behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as rare or dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when it is atypical or out of the ordinary, consists of u ...

middle-class American lifestyle starring the eponymous

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, Marge,

Bart Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

, and Maggie. Set in the town of Springfield, the show lampoons both

American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...

and the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...

. Later released on the 2001 DVD ''The Simpsons – The Complete First Season'' by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of

animated shorts A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

with producer James L. Brooks. Groening named each character (other than Bart) after members of his own family. The shorts became part of the Fox series ''

The Tracey Ullman Show ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following '' Married... with Children'', and ran until May 26, ...

'' on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour primetime hit show. The show holds several American television longevity records. It is the longest-running primetime animated series and longest-running sitcom in the United States.Owen, Rob (January 21, 2003).
TV Notes: 'Simpsons' breaks record with contract renewal
". ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Alle ...

''. Retrieved January 22, 2022. With its 21st season (2009–10), the series surpassed '' Gunsmoke'' (which had 20 seasons) to claim the spot as the longest-running American primetime scripted television series, and later also surpassed ''Gunsmoke'' (which had 635 episodes) for episode count in this category, starting with the 29th-season episode " Forgive and Regret" on April 29, 2018. Episodes of ''The Simpsons'' have won dozens of awards, including 31 Emmys (ten for Outstanding Animated Program), 30 Annies, and a Peabody. ''

The Simpsons Movie ''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American Animation, animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman (animator), David Silverman and star ...

'', a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and 27, 2007, and grossed US$526.2 million worldwide. The first 20 seasons are available on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

1, 2, and 4, with the twentieth season released on both DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

in 2010 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series. On April 8, 2015, showrunner

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

announced that there would be no more DVD or Blu-ray releases, shifting focus to digital distribution, although this was later reversed on July 22, 2017. Almost two years later, on July 20, 2019, it was announced that Season 19 would be released on December 3, 2019, on DVD. On March 3, 2021, ''The Simpsons'' was renewed for seasons 33 and 34. On February 19, 2012, ''The Simpsons'' reached its 500th episode in the 23rd season.Snierson, Dan (January 30, 2012).
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to guest on 'The Simpsons'
". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

''. Retrieved January 22, 2022. It reached its 600th episode on October 16, 2016, in its 28th season. On March 21, 2021, ''The Simpsons'' reached its 700th episode in its 32nd season. Season 34 premiered on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

on September 25, 2022. On January 26, 2023 The Simpons was renewed for seasons 35 and 36

Tracey Ullman Shorts

Series overview

*Seasons 1–11 are ranked by ''households'' (in millions). *Seasons 12–33 are ranked by ''total viewers'' (in millions).

Notes

# Until the 1996–97 television season, ratings were calculated over 30 weeks from September to mid-April. Episodes that aired after mid-April were not part of the overall average and ranking. # Season one had approximately 13.4 million viewing households. Season two dropped 9%, resulting in an average of approximately 12.2 million viewing households. # Season three had an average rating of 13.0 points. For the 1991–92 season, each point represented 921,000 viewing households, resulting in a total average of approximately 12.0 million viewing households. # Season four had approximately 12.1 million viewing households. Season five dropped 13%, resulting in an average of approximately 10.5 million viewing households.

List of episodes

Seasons 1–20 (1989–2009)

Seasons 21–present (2009–present)

Film

Shorts

Theatrical

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

Miscellaneous

Specials

Ratings

With its first season, ''The Simpsons'' became the Fox network's first series to rank among the top thirty highest-rated shows of a television season. Due to this success, Fox decided to switch ''The Simpsons'' timeslot in hopes of higher ratings for the shows airing after it. The series moved from 8:00 p.m. eastern time on Sundays to the same time on Thursdays, where it competed with ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

'', the number-one show at the time. Many of the producers were against the move, as ''The Simpsons'' had been in the top ten while airing on Sunday, and they felt the move would destroy its ratings. Ratings-wise, new episodes of ''The Cosby Show'' beat ''The Simpsons'' every time during the second season, and ''The Simpsons'' eventually fell out of the top ten. At the end of the season, ''Cosby'' averaged as the fifth-highest-rated show on television, while ''The Simpsons'' was thirty-eighth. The show continued in its Thursday timeslot until the sixth season, which is when, in 1994, it reverted to its original slot on Sunday. It has remained there ever since.

References

External links

* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpsons episodes, List of The

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek ...

Lists of American adult animated television series episodes Lists of American sitcom episodes