From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Good Night" is the first Simpsons
short that appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show.[1]
It originally aired April 19, 1987, during the third episode of
The Tracey Ullman Show and was the first appearance of the
Simpson family
on television. After three seasons on Tracey Ullman, the shorts would be
adapted into the animated show The Simpsons. Good Night has
since been aired on the show in the episode "The Simpsons 138th
Episode Spectacular", along with several other Ullman shorts,
and it was also included in the Season 1 DVD
set.
Synopsis
Homer and Marge say goodnight
to their kids but all does not go according to plan. Bart philosophically
contemplates the wonders of the mind, Lisa hears Marge say "Don't let the bed
bugs bite" and fears that bed bugs will eat her, and Maggie is traumatized by the lyrics of "Rock-a-bye
Baby". Ultimately, all of the kids decide to sleep with their
parents.
Origins
Groening first conceived of the Simpsons in the lobby of James L.
Brooks' office. He had been called in to pitch a series of
animated shorts, and had intended to present his Life in Hell
series. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would
require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work,
Groening decided to go in another direction.[2]
He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family,
and named the characters after his own family. Bart was modeled
after Groening's older brother, Mark, but given a different name
which was chosen as an anagram of "brat."[3]
This short was written and storyboarded by Matt Groening.[4]
The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic
sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up;
instead they just traced over his drawings.[2]
The animation was produced at Klasky Csupo,[5]
with Wesley Archer, David Silverman, and Bill Kopp being
animators.[4]
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