10 Amazing TV Shows That Began As Mid-Season Replacements

2. The Simpsons

If you want to get all technical about it, The Simpsons was created long before it was actually a show. The beloved yellow family first popped up on The Tracey Ullman Show, where the family featured in a series of shorts. When they were adapted into a sitcom-length television show, they made their prime time debut as a Christmas special, halfway through the traditional TV season. And the rest was history. The Simpsons' popularity has waxed and waned over the years, but it's widely regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. It's certainly one of the most successful, having been on the air for an astonishing 26 seasons and showing no signs of stopping. Each of the characters has attained iconic status, especially the eldest Simpson child, Bart, who inspired a bizarre fan craze during the mid 1990s in the form of Bartmania.