Behind the scenes, 1989 was chaos. Voice actors—Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith—recorded in a cramped studio. Animators in South Korea worked from rough storyboards. The show’s budget was modest; the jokes were razor-sharp. No one expected it to last past one season.
But the kids knew. The college students knew. Even some parents secretly knew: The Simpsons wasn’t mocking family—it was mocking everything. Consumerism, religion, network TV, marriage, work, school, the environment, and above all, itself. It was All in the Family drawn in canary yellow. year the simpsons started
But on December 17, 1989, after months of hype (“The Simpsons are coming!” read T-shirts and billboards), the Christmas special “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” aired. No one was killed. No nuclear meltdowns. Instead, Homer, desperate for Christmas cash, lost his bonus and ended up at a dog track. He bet on a losing greyhound named Santa’s Little Helper. The dog lost. Homer took him home anyway. Behind the scenes, 1989 was chaos
We did. And we’re still hungry.
The Simpsons had arrived.
Here’s a short feature story on the year The Simpsons began—1989—and what that moment meant for television and culture. D’oh! The Year America Met Its First Family The show’s budget was modest; the jokes were razor-sharp
December 17, 1989