The Simpsons: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Season 1
8. A Woman’s Touch
The Simpsons has been home to many incredible talents over its long history.
Future stars like Conan O'Brien and Brad Bird cut their teeth on the show and writers like John Swartzwelder and David S. Cohen are heralded as geniuses by fans.
One name that rarely features in conversations about Simpsons writers is Mimi Pond, despite the fact that she played an integral part in the show's history.
She is the person responsible for writing the very first episode of The Simpsons .
Pond, who was already a successful cartoonist and TV writer, was a friend of Matt Groening's and took him up on his offer to write for the show.
However, despite Pond's episode being nominated for two Emmy awards, she was never invited to work on The Simpsons again.
According to Mimi herself, this is because showrunner, Sam Simon, was going through a divorce at the time and, as a result, didn't want any women to be involved in the show's creative process.
If this is true, then it does not paint Simon in a good light. Prohibiting anyone from working because of their gender is an utterly awful thing to do and one that, thankfully, would not fly today.