Not Just for Kids.

At the end of the decade, what was the longest-running situation comedy in prime time? The Simpsons. With the success of this show, television executives learned that cartoons were not just for kids on Saturday morning. By the end of the 1990s, FOX, MTV, and WB were all running prime-time cartoons. While The Simpsons was by far the most consistently excellent animated series, several other shows provided prime-time laughs and acquired devoted followings.

The Simpsons.

Cartoonist Matt Groening introduced The Simpsons in 1987 on The Tracey Ullman Show (1987— 1990). Before creating The Simpsons, Groening was best known for his Life in Hell comic strip that first appeared in 1977 and became syndicated in more than 250 newspapers worldwide. Following their stint on The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons got their own Christmas special in 1989, and a prime-time series was launched...