The Simpsons

‘The Simpsons’ is, incredibly, on its 28th season. Let’s look at the history of the show and pull out the most interesting facts and figures related to America’s favorite cartoon family. The Simpson family first appeared in a series of 48 one–minute shorts that aired during The Tracy Ullman Show.

The first episode of The Simpsons TV series aired on December 17, 1989. Season one pulled in over 13 million viewers per episode, making it the first FOX series to rank in the top 30 for viewership. Season one was a critical hit too, winning one Emmy and receiving five nominations. Since then, the show has aired more than 600 episodes over 28 seasons. In 2000, The Simpsons accurately predicted Trump would be president, 16 years before he was elected! FOX renewed the show for Seasons 29 and 30, setting it up to become the longest–running scripted TV series in history at 662 episodes!

The Simpsons is broadcast in over 90 countries and has been translated into nearly 50 languages. Many famous writers worked on the early staff, including Conan O’Brien, who penned four episodes. The Simpsons Movie grossed over $525 million in theaters, and another $100 million in DVD/digital sales. To promote the film, eleven 7-Eleven stores were transformed into Kwik-E-Marts at a cost of $10 million. Total franchise revenue, including merchandise and TV syndication is estimated to be about $13 billion.

The main cast currently pulls in $300,000 per episode, or about $6.6 million each season. To watch all 602 episodes back to back you’d have to stare at your TV for about nine straight days… and all 794,640 seconds of it would be worth it!