 Although Brooks "never meant" to return to television, he was helping Tracey Ullman start The Tracey Ullman Show and when she could not find another producer, he stepped in. On the suggestion of friend and colleague Polly Platt, who gave Brooks the nine panel Life in Hell cartoon entitled "The Los Angeles Way of Death" which hangs outside Brooks'Gracie Films office, Brooks asked Life in Hell cartoonist Matt Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts to appear on The Tracey Ullman Show. Groening initially intended to present an animated version of his Life in Hell series. However, when Groening realized that animating Life in Hell would require the rescinding of publication rights for his life's work, he chose another approach and formulated his version of a dysfunctional family in the lobby of Brooks'office. After the success of the shorts, the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1989 commissioned a series of half-hour episodes of the show, now called The Simpsons, which Brooks produced alongside Groening and Sam Simon. Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content. According to writer Jon Vitti, Brooks contributed more to the episode "Lisa's Substitute" than to any other in the show's history. The Simpsons garnered critical and commercial acclaim, winning numerous awards and is still producing original content after 20 years. In a 1998 issue celebrating the 20th century's greatest achievements in arts and entertainment, Time magazine named The Simpsons the century's best television series. In 1997, Brooks was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
