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As devoted fans and ancient people who were alive in the 1980s are well aware, prior to the premiere of The Simpsons, Homer and his family made their TV debut in the sketch series The Tracey Ullman Show. Matt Groening’s animated shorts were a staple of the short-lived comedy series, although, today, they play about as well as Worker & Parasite.

But Ullman wasn’t always the biggest fan of the now-iconic cartoon characters. According to Ken Estin, the co-creator of The Tracey Ullman Show, “she was not fond of any of the bumpers, because she didn’t think they were the quality of her show.” Still, Ullman did end up guest starring in a Season Two episode of The Simpsons, playing the uptight obedience school instructor in “Bart Gets an F.”

Despite her prominent role in the show’s origins and prodigious talent for voicework, she never returned for...

Frasier's revival captures Kelsey Grammer's brilliance, but the reboot differs in tone, humor, and setting from the classic original. The new Boston setting, revamped supporting cast, and traditional sitcom dialogue distinguish the reboot from the original series. Frasier's character has evolved to be less of a curmudgeon in the reboot, along with changes to his workplace and fame status.

Frasier came back to the small screen last year with a revival series on Paramount+, and the reboot does a lot of things differently than the classic original show. Although the reboot received mixed reviews from critics, one aspect has been praised for living up to the original: Kelsey Grammers performance in the title role. Grammer slipped back into this character so seamlessly that it was almost as if two decades hadnt passed. All these years later, Grammer effortlessly embodies Dr. Crane with razor-sharp line deliveries and a boatload of comic charisma.

In 2022, it's quite difficult to explain the deathly tight grip that "Married... with Children" had on American culture. The show, which first aired in 1987, was generally constructed like the 30-some years of sitcoms that came before it. There was a working-class father (Ed O'Neill), a doting mother (Katey Sagal), and a pair of precocious teen kids. They even had a stock "nosy neighbor" (Amanda Bearce). The gag of "Married...," however, was that the characters were all the most awful people you've ever seen. Dad was a slobby misanthrope who hated his family with open disgust, Mom's only survival trait was curt mockery of her slovenly husband, and the kids were various levels of idiotic, each pursuing sex and money with only the dimmest perception of the world around them. What's more, they often celebrated their own shortcomings. They were the below-average, all-American family you loved to hate.

The 1980s was...

Before "The Simpsons" aired as its own show in December of 1989, it was originally a recurring short on "The Tracey Ullman Show." After appearing occasionally in season 1, the popularity of the segments led to Matt Groening's "The Simpsons" getting a spot in every single episode of seasons 2 and 3. By season 4, "The Simpsons" were no longer part of the variety show, as by that point Fox had promoted the family to their own half-hour time slot as an animated sitcom. 

Now on its 34th season (or 734th episode), "The Simpsons" owes a lot to Tracey Ullman, whose show got the soon-to-be iconic family on TV for the first time. It's why it's a little surprising to learn that Tracey herself wasn't that big of a fan of their original shorts. "Tracey was not fond of The Simpsons," said Ken Estin, a TV producer who co-created "The Tracy Ullman Show." "She...

As of this writing, "The Simpsons" is 33 years old, which is, in TV years, closer to 110. The startling continued longevity of the animated sitcom has been enthralling to witness. The film will rise in quality, it will fall, it will rise again. It seems to be heading toward a conclusion, then throws open another curtain to reveal a further four-season plan. And still it lives, that keen and heavenward flame. 

Due to said longevity, "The Simpsons" has transformed into an institution. It's difficult, then, to recall how revolutionary, how daring, and how subversive "The Simpsons" once was. It was an all-American sitcom, but skewed. The characters were yellow skinned, oddly shaped, and crass. They said "damn" on the air. They attempted to live a typical, clean, successful sitcom life, but were slaves to their grounded, base, below-average-ness. Bart (Nancy Cartwright) was a legitimate troublemaker who was proud of his underachiever status.

When Jimmy Fallon comes back to Los Angeles, he often flashes back to the lean early days of his career, when he wondered whether he’d ever make it.

“I just don’t miss those things,” Fallon said of awkward auditions and soul-crushing rejections.

“There was a Carl’s Jr. parking lot by Universal that I remember crying in,” he recently recounted to Variety‘s “My Favorite Episode” podcast. “‘This is over, I’m not gonna make it. I can’t crack it. I have no money, I don’t even know if I have a future.'”

Of course, Fallon eventually made it back east on “Saturday Night Live,” and now, “I have my own ride at Universal! How cool is that?”

Even back then, Fallon would relish visiting studio lots like Paramount, where he’d go on auditions but also geek out on pop culture history. Now, he gets...