"The Simpsons" at 15
It started as a brief vignette on the "Tracy Ullman Show" drawn by Matt Groenig. It became the anchor of a fledging TV network called Fox. It grew into an international icon of culture. "The Simpsons" is now fifteen years old, and the initial fears that this program was too smart, irreverent and entertaining to survive have been unfounded.
In its first season, "The Simpsons" upset the sensibilities of many as it protrayed life more as it is rather than as it should be. It was a risk that ABC, CBS and NBC would never have taken, but newly born Fox was desperate for attention; like Bart Simpson, it may not have understood the difference between good attention and bad attention. The weekly visit to Springfield, followed by the general awfulness of the Bundy's on "Married with Children" and the downright dangerous humor of "In Living Color" woke up US broadcast TV from the appalling 1980s.
"The Simpsons," though, had the advantage of being a cartoon. Not only did this mean that the characters never aged (which has wrecked countless family sitcoms) but it also meant that the program could not be taken quite as seriously as a social threat. Like the jesters of medieval monarchies or the clowns at the Moscow Circus under communism, Homer and his family are allowed to say and do things that no one else can because they are in the official role of buffoons for America.
Moreover, the town of Springfield has a population that over the three hundred plus episodes has grown into a plausible facsimile of a real place in the US. Mr. Burns, Moe, Barney, Principle Skinner, Milhouse and the rest are a supporting cast that are, in many ways, better developed than some of the lesser characters in Shakespeare (who after all, never had three hundred episodes of his work staged).
What truly amazes is the fact that the show hasn't gone stale. Bart, as the underachiever who doesn't give a damn, may have lost his edge, or perhaps, the audience is merely used to him by now, but the social satire and outrageous cultural criticism remains razor sharp. The reason behind this is the care with which each episode is crafted. It takes a year to produce one from start to finish, and the script is revised seven or eight times. No live show could ever hope to match it. Which is a pity, really.
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