<P> The half hour series premiere debuted on December 17 , 1989 with `` Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire '' a Christmas special . The next episode `` Bart the Genius '' was the first to feature the series ' full title sequence , including the chalkboard gag and couch gag . Matt Groening developed the lengthy sequence in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode , but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week . Groening , who had not paid much attention to television since his own childhood , was unaware that title sequences of such length were uncommon by that time . As the finished episodes became longer , the production team were reluctant to cut the stories in order to allow for the long title sequence , so shorter versions of it were developed . </P>
<P> The half hour series premiere debuted on December 17 , 1989 with `` Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire '' a Christmas special . The next episode `` Bart the Genius '' was the first to feature the series ' full title sequence , including the chalkboard gag and couch gag . Matt Groening developed the lengthy sequence in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode , but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week . Groening , who had not paid much attention to television since his own childhood , was unaware that title sequences of such length were uncommon by that time . As the finished episodes became longer , the production team were reluctant to cut the stories in order to allow for the long title sequence , so shorter versions of it were developed . </P>
when was the first episode of simpsons aired
when was the first episode of simpsons aired
December 17 , 1989
December 17 , 1989