The story of TV’s longest-running sitcom and the characters who created it, marking twenty years on the airThe Simpsons will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this fall. No other TV show has had the enduring popularity or cultural influence that The Simpsons has. When it premiered in 1989, the enthusiastic reaction to its subversive humor was instantaneous. It is one of the most astounding successes in TV history. John Ortved’s unauthorized history—the first ever to look behind the scenes of this pop culture phenomenon—tells how the series grew from a controversial cult favourite to a mainstream powerhouse thanks to a group of intense, thoughtful, and creative people who came together to make something unique in the history of American culture