10 Ways The Simpsons Changed The World

Before The Simpsons, animated shows were almost entirely children's entertainment. Cartoons came in the form of Disney shorts, the adventures of Scooby-Doo and the gang and the longest-running animated show was The Flintstones - something that The Simpsons knowingly commented on as it overtook that record.

But from episode one, the show took as much if not more from classic situational comedy than anything else. 1989's Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire, the show's premiere, deals with real-life themes and struggles, such as financial woes in the lead-up to Christmas. Sure, the episode has a couple of tame slapstick moments too but at its core it's about a very relatable, modern struggle - something that the stone-aged Flintstones could never quite manage the same.

This first episode is the impetus for what The Simpsons would eventually become: stories from a deeply flawed American family, giving the different perspectives of each character that audiences of different ages could empathise with. For as many jokes that landed with the younger audience, there was also a lot of humour that was nestled in just for adults to understand. As the show grew, it quickly dared to push the envelope by including soft or implied cursing, plenty of sexual innuendo, and referential humour.

Whilst later shows like South Park, Family Guy, and Ricky and Morty would take this more adult edge and make it the market share of their audience, they could never have crossed that bridge without The Simpsons laying the groundwork.

Come the turn of the millennium, animation was viewed completely differently.