The Simpsons shorts

The Simpsons made their first TV debut on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987..

During the first three seasons of the television variety show The Tracey Ullman Show, two different series of animated shorts were run before and after commercial breaks. One was created by cartoonist Matt Groening featuring a family known as The Simpsons and another was a lesser known series by M.K. Brown named Dr. N!Godatu.

The Simpsons

Good Night

"Good Night" was the first ever Simpsons short to air on The Tracey Ullman Show. The five main family members - Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie - were first introduced in this short.

Synopsis:

Homer tucks in Bart assuring him that he need not worry about the human brain. Marge tucks in Lisa telling her not to let the bed bugs bite, to which Lisa becomes frightened. As Marge tucks in Maggie, she sings Rock-a-Bye Baby while Maggie imagines falling to her death from a tree. When Marge and Homer go to bed, they feel satisfied, not realizing the kids have become too distraught to sleep as a result of them. They invite the kids to get in the bed with them, and everybody falls asleep shortly thereafter...

Notes:

Maggie can be heard saying "good night", something that has happened rarely throughout the run of the series.

Quotes:

Bart: Um dad, what is the mind? Is it just a system of impulses or is it something tangible?
Homer: Relax. What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. (laughs)

Marge: Good night Lisa. Sweet Dreams. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite.
Lisa: Bed bugs?!

Homer: We may be the best parents in the world.
Marge: Mmm, good night dear.
Homer: Good night.
(the children enter the bedroom screaming)
Marge: All right, climb in.

Watching TV

Synopsis: Bart and Lisa quarrel during comercial breaks over what channel they'll watch. Repeatedly Maggie comes up to the television and changes the channel. Later Homer is saying some sppech about family matters then stops when the show comes back on.

Notes: A piece of music from the Tracey Ullman show plays at one part or another during the short.

Quotes: Lisa: "This is a dorky show, Bart. Change the channel."

Homer: "Well, here we are. The whole family. All together. Sharing, getting to know each other, exchanging ideas, stories and laughs, snuggling up, bonding togethr as only a tightly knit family can. Why we're more than a-"

Bart(interrupting): "Dad, you can stop now. Commercial's over and the show's back on.

Homer: Oh. Oh yeah."

Jumping Bart

Synopsis: Homer makes several attempts to have Bart jump into his arms. Each time Bart jumps Homer is distracted and fails to catch him.

Notes: Towards the end of the episode boxing gloves are delivered, presumably the ones used in the episode Punching Bag.

Quotes: Homer: "Leap, Leap boy, leap like you never uh leap like you never whats the past tense of leap? lept, leaped that doesn't sound right.(Goes to check dictionary while Bart falls to the floor) What do you know? they're both right."

Football

Homer teaches Bart about the importance of Football.

Space Patrol

Bart, Lisa and Maggie play a game of "Space Patrol" while Homer and Marge are out.
Lisa plays a superhero with Maggie as her sidekick, while Bart puts a jug on his head with the pretense of it being the helmet of an alien warlord.
However, his head accidentally plops into it and the jug is left stuck on his head.
Lisa "frees" Bart from the jug using a croquet mallet. Lisa and Maggie then hide, allowing Bart, stumbling in a daze amongst pieces of the precious broken jug lying on the floor, to take the blame.

The Perfect Crime

Marge bakes a batch of delicious cookies. Bart attempts to steal them, but burns his fingers trying to pick them up. Everyone except Bart and Maggie leave the kitchen to let them cool down, and Bart takes this opportunity to swipe them, muttering to himself "Aha! The perfect crime!"
Homer and Marge come back to find the tray empty. Homer suspects Maggie of eating the cookies, but as a witness she knows exactly who took them and guides them along a trail of cookies running across the floor.
His family catch him lying on his back in his bedroom amidst a pile of cookie crumbs. Looking up at them with his stomach full, he groans, "There is no perfect crime." His head bangs back down on the ground and Maggie, secretively, snacks on an uneaten cookie.

Punching Bag

Bart, Lisa and eventually Marge take out their frustrations on a punching bag with Homer's picture on it.

External Links

• Watch Simpsons shorts
• The Dr. N!Godatu web page