When the “Simpsons” went on air for the first time, the Berlin Wall was still standing, the CD was just overtaking the vinyl record as the most popular recording medium and Thomas Gottschalk hosted “Wetten,dass…?” for the first time. The world has changed somewhat since 1987. Just like the famous family from Springfield, which was shown in a somewhat awkward two-minute look on the Tracy Ullman Show – a great success.
“The Simpsons”: Created an empire with $13 million
The Fox broadcaster put together $13 million and all of its courage to produce a series from the short clips – and created a bombshell success. A year after the first season started in 1989, the makers of “The Simpsons,” “Brooks, Groening and Co., were millionaires,” says Alexander Braun. The founder of the “German Academy of Comic Art” curated a “Simpsons” exhibition in Dortmund to mark the 35th series anniversary.
The anniversary coincides with creator Matt Groening’s 70th birthday. According to Braun, he didn’t have much to do with the script writing and animations, but he reserved the right to veto every sentence and every shot. “The Simpsons are the product of a collective. Groening’s greatest achievement is that he kept The Simpsons subversive,” says Braun.
Original scripts, storyboards, production slides
The inventor, his origins and his comic work outside of the yellow family are primarily covered in the 170-page accompanying catalogue. In the exhibition itself you can see tons of originals: scripts from the first season, storyboards, colored production films. “We take a look at comic production, explain how an episode is created and have collected rare and eccentric merchandise,” says curator Braun.
The exhibition “The simpsons – It doesn’t get any yellower” runs until October 27th in the Dortmund showroom: Comic and Cartoon, Max-von-der-Grün-Platz 7, every day except Monday.