Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: The Simpsons shorts are a series of 48 one-minute shorts that ran on the variety show The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons , before the characters spun off into The Simpsons , their own half-hour prime time show .
Simplified: The Simpsons shorts is a series of one-minute television shorts that ran on the variety show The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons .