35 Years Ago, The Simpsons’ Very First Christmas Special Almost Wasn’t the Premiere

The Simpsons first premiered with Fox on December 17th, 1989, and it’s been 35 long years since that day. As one of the only few animated programs to air in a primetime slot at the time (following in a rare path set by The Flintstones), The Simpsons was an immediate hit that went on to be such a massive success that there are still new episodes airing to this day. The series is now in the midst of Season 36, and The Simpsons even celebrated this 35th anniversary with a brand new, double length Christmas episode now exclusively streaming with Disney+.

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Premiering as The Simpsons Christmas Special, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” is the perfect first impression for The Simpsons overall. Though many things have changed over the years since that premiere in terms of how it looks, and which characters are still around, this premiere quickly establishes the Simpson family dynamic that fans would love for decades. But funny enough, it wasn’t originally going to be the first episode that fans ever saw. It was originally the eighth episode ever made and was going to air much later in the first season.

How The Simpsons First Aired on TV

Although it’s hard to imagine now, but The Simpsons originally began as a series of shorts that aired during The Tracy Ullman Show. With series creator Matt Groening getting the attention of producer James L. Brooks for his Life in Hell comics, Groening eventually attended a meeting with Brooks at Fox. Famously creating new characters on the spot in order to maintain the rights to Life in Hell’s characters, the rest is history as The Simpsons ran as shorts with The Tracy Ullman Show for two years. And in 1989, a full series finally made its debut.

While it’s been noted on DVD commentaries for the series that Fox originally was anxious about the length of each episode (and instead suggesting shorts), they agreed to a 13 episode debut season. Originally planned to air some time in Fall 1989, The Simpsons’ premiere was delayed when the first test runs of the originally intended premiere, “Some Enchanted Evening,” didn’t quite meet the animation standards that Fox had set and needed to be almost completely redone before it aired as the season finale.

Thanks to the next available episode not being as bad, and having issues that were easy to adjust, The Simpsons’ premiere was then moved to December 17th and “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” served as the first episode of the series overall. But it was actually made much later in the original production pipeline, and its why some of its established bits of continuity don’t match up with the episodes seen after. It’s why Homer’s already seen as a Nuclear Safety Technician, and why Santa’s Little Helper essentially disappears after this for a while.

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The Simpsons’ Accidentally Perfect Series Premiere

When watching “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” it’s hard not to imagine that it wasn’t originally the series premiere since it captures so much of what The Simpsons would then expand on in future seasons. Although it doesn’t come with the series’ traditional opening (which first made its debut in the second episode, “Bart the Genius” as a creative way to save money on animation each episode), it’s got the best look for the series when compared to some of the episodes later. Because it was made so late in the production, character designs and personalities were pretty much solidified by this point.

Homer was a terse, but kind father. Bart was a rambunctious, but hopeful kid. Lisa was an incredibly smart little girl, and Marge was loving, trusting, and supporting of the rest of the family. With this premiere, fans got to see a great first impression of each of the members of the cast along with some of the other side characters we’d come to love in the rest of the series as well. “Some Enchanted Evening” was originally going to premiere the series and introduce all of its core characters, but it ended up as a solid finale instead.

Things just worked out with “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” and it’s clear over the years that The Simpsons only continues to get better with time. It’s clicking in a whole new way in the current era, so going back all the way to the beginning also reveals how much has actually stayed the same. The Simpsons has always been open to change while somehow maintaining its own unique kind of status quo, and it’s all thanks to the accidentally perfect start that helped to get it all started all those years ago.