Script for the first episode of the animated television series The Simpsons
date: label: date made
content: 1989
name: label: maker
content: Pond, Mimi
label: maker
content: Jean, Al
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This script is likely the sole extant original copy of the final script for the first episode of the television series The Simpsons. The episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” was written by Mimi Pond based on characters created by Matt Groening and first aired December 17, 1989 on the Fox television network. This copy of the yet-to-be-titled episode (referred to here as "Simpsons' Christmas") was owned by staff writer and consulting producer Al Jean, who made copious notes in blue ink on its pages. The script is printed in black ink on white paper with two brass brads holding it together in holes punched at its left edge.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The script helps illustrate the creation and early creative process behind The Simpsons, the evolution of the characters, and the roots its the irreverent take on modern American life and family that generated controversy and provoked conversation, especially in the long-running show’s first decade on the air. In the episode, originally titled “The Simpsons Christmas Special,” the eponymous family struggles with multiple crises around the holiday season, including Lisa’s foiled desire to ask for a pony for Christmas, Bart getting a tattoo and draining the family’s savings to get it removed, Homer learning that his employer won’t be issuing a holiday bonus, imperiling the family’s finances, and the adoption of an abused greyhound as a family pet, Santa’s Little Helper. In its original American broadcast, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" finished in thirtieth place in the weekly ratings for the week of December 11–17, 1989, viewed in approximately 13.4 million homes. It was the second-highest-rated show ever aired Fox up to that point.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Simpsons is an animated television sitcom that has aired on the Fox network since 1989, becoming one of the longest-running and most critically acclaimed television series of all time. The first adult animated series to air on primetime TV in 30 years (since The Flintstones in 1960-1966), The Simpsons originally generated controversy for its irreverent look at family, community, religious, and work life. It first debuted April 19, 1987 as a series of animated segments on Fox’s fledgling sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show based on characters created and designed by alternative comics artist Matt Groening. After gaining favorable reviews, the show was picked up as a 30 minute series by Fox, which brought on television veterans James L. Brooks and Sam Simon to adapt the idea for a family sitcom. Unlike the mild, saccharine family situation comedies of the era, The Simpsons broke the mold with its self-aware, cynical, and subversive sense of humor, its broad and deep cultural references, and its depiction of a somewhat dysfunctional, albeit traditional and well-meaning, American family.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
topic: label: Subject
content: Animation
label: Subject
content: Family
label: Subject
content: Television
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0137.01
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0137.01
label: accession number
content: 2023.0137
objectType: label: Object Name
content: script
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (brads material)
label: Physical Description
content: printed (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 8 1/2 in x 1 in; 27.94 cm x 21.59 cm x 2.54 cm