How "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" Set "The Simpsons" Up as an Unexpected Phenomenon 30 Years Ago

In a Rolling Stone interview, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening celebrated the show's 300th episode by making the statement that felt novel at the time. He wanted to make 365 episodes so that there could be one for every day of the year. That was 2003, and the show has 672 to its credit. There's a lot to celebrate about the show, but it would be too labor-intensive to fit all in one essay. That is why it's interesting to look back at the episode that started it all: "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," released on December 17, 1989, as the first animated show in primetime. By today's standards, it's a bit slow and the animation is (to put it nicely) a bit choppy. However, it was the introduction that the show needed to present its crazy worldview. Even then, it was a snow globe based on what they would develop within the 30 years that followed. It was about more than one family by the end. It was about the modern American perspective.

During interviews in 2019, composer Danny Elfman admitted that he was surprised that the show was still on. He claims to have written the theme song for a show that he didn't expect to last. That makes perfect sense given how high the stakes were stacked against Groening's most beloved creation. The show started as bumper material for The Tracey Ullman Show and was created by the man behind the one-eared rabbits of the "Life is Hell" comics. There wasn't much of clout, save for maybe involvement from Oscar-winning producer James L. Brooks, who was renowned for his work on shows like Taxi and Cheers. It's easy to take for granted what The Simpsons was in 1989 because of everything it paved the way for. It was the first animated show airing in primetime since The Flintstones three decades prior. It was also on a no-name network called Fox, who would soon become known for edgier entertainment like Married... with Children and reality shows like Cops. It was the dark alternative to networks like CBS and NBC, which tended to air more on the side of caution.

All of this makes The Simpsons' origins all the more fascinating. As an introduction to the world, it's fairly tame. The story opens with Homer Simpson driving his family to a recital at Springfield Elementary. By all accounts, it appears that they're running late. What follows is a strange mix of moments and introductions. For most of the characters, they will not be formally introduced for several more episodes (in the case of Springfield Nuclear employee Waylon Smithers, even his racial color will change). Still, what should be admired is that for a show that will fill every pixel with a different character that a lot of the core group is here and their dynamics are completely formed. Homer is jealous of his neighbor Ned Flanders (the religious subtext will come later). His boss C. Montgomery Burns is already holding back money from Homer to help make a plot that is rather familiar (desperation for money). Even Moe Syzlak is there giving Homer advice. The dynamics may grow, but considering how most pilots edit characters in and out or change entire motives, The Simpsons is a miracle that goes beyond its holiday special gimmick.

Then there's Bart Simpson. He's a character based on Groening himself and became the notorious face of the franchise in the early run. He's the figure that helped spawn backlash from President George H.W. Bush and became considered "America's bad boy." Bart was a walking time bomb since his first line. The boy who will come to do some foul pranks and say such controversial lines as "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?" started the show as part of a choir. Even though the harmonious voices, his rendition of "Jingle Bells" that feature references to Batman smelling and Robin laying eggs, there is the sense that he's going against the grain. The Simpsons up to that point don't seem like much of a stray from the sitcom conventions of the 1980s. Then again, there hasn't been enough time beyond watching kids perform ritual Christmas traditions (if there's one thing that would change if written later is, Lisa Simpson, performing a tribal dance that seems too wild for her, even then her existential philosophy in a later scene feels fitting). The show lulls you into a community before introducing the heart of the show.

The Simpsons was built as a show about a middle-class family that has the same problems everyone else does. True, that will come to feature such wild episodes as "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "Trash of the Titans," but at the heart of things is the reality that they need money to survive. In 2019 their economic status may be questionable, but in 1989 they were quintessentially struggling. Homer had to take up a job as a mall Santa after Bart blows the money on a killer "Moth" tattoo and Mr. Burns refuses to give his employees a bonus. It's the antithesis to Christmas cheer and has since become the norm for holiday comedy specials. There are weariness and a need to be happy through conventional means of a father bringing home the check and taking care of his family. What happens when that doesn't fall through? Maybe it's that Brooks pushed to have more of a sentimental side to the show, but even the early outings would prove that there were ethics that people obsessed with Bart's hellish presence would ignore. At the end of the day, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" would resonate because middle-class families had to sacrifice so much just to get by, and Homer had his heart in the right place. When money falls out, the last-minute reveal that the family loves Santa's Little Helper, a last-place race dog that they picked up at Springfield Downs, it creates the twist. It's different, but it still has that penchant sweetness.

What does The Simpsons have in their inaugural episode that would resonate 30 years later? While the show has gone on quite the journey of redefining itself over the years, there was a sense of family at the center. Bart could be a screw-up, but there was always the sense that he loved his family, caring for them and protecting his sister from bullies. Homer would always try to pay off his debts and prove to Marge Simpson that he mattered. It's the struggle most will continue to face so long as the job market exists. There is an American desire to have money be the defining aspect of success, and "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" understood that fully, even managing to paint Mr. Burns (himself a parody of Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane) as a villain just because he's greedy. The first episode had those background gags that make rewatching worthwhile, though it will still be a few years before they perfect the art. Background characters are poorly drawn and even the pupil-to-eye ratio wouldn't be defined until a few seasons in. However, it understood how cruel the job market was in a way that has (sadly) not gone away.

To Elfman's point, who could've predicted that this show would still be around? The first season would be quaint and full of solid episodes. However, the animation was uneven, sometimes caused by a lack of quality control with the Korean animation house that was later fired. There was no sense that it would be the phenomenon that it was, even if Bart was clearly a figure of renowned acclaim, managing to inspire every bad boy character in the 1990s media and several black market t-shirts that illegally used his image. Still, who could predict that it would have a theme park at Universal Studios, own the record for longest TV marathon, release a movie that grossed over $700 million, and even a sold-out run at the Hollywood Bowl called The Simpsons Take the Bowl? There's so much that is incredible but unexpected from this one episode. Still, everything both sentimental and weird is in here, and the satire of 80s sitcom would soon evolve into skewering the American perspective.

The Simpsons would have several more Christmas specials, including several that better encapsulate the show's core values than this. With that said, it all had to start somewhere, and this was a pretty great place to start. Before things changed radically, there was the need to get to a holiday recital and watch Bart butcher "Jingle Bells." It was the perfect introduction to a franchise that hasn't thought to say goodbye. It may be more divisive now and the sharpness is nowhere near as strong, but as a start 30 years prior, the unexpected success of this spin-off proved that animation could be more sophisticated than it had been perceived for decades. By the end of the 1990s, it would have a lot of competition for that title with shows like Beavis and Butt-head and South Park going even more deranged. Still, what separates it from what follows is not that it's a satire of family life, but one of the few honest takes that resonates on a human core.