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.
It was weirdly tender. And then, a week later, the second episode—the one with the family road trip, a runaway pariah, and Bart famously telling Homer, “You’re a sad, strange little man”—proved the show had teeth. Bartmania exploded. “Eat my shorts,” “Don’t have a cow,” and “Ay caramba!” became playground scripture. Teachers shuddered. Parents worried. President George H.W. Bush would later declare that American families should be “more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.” year the simpsons started
That Christmas of ’89, viewers got a present they didn’t know they wanted: a family more dysfunctional, more loving, and more human than anything else on television. And they’ve been watching ever since. But on December 17, 1989, after months of