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Matt Groening

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Matt Groening
Matt Groening by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Groening in 2010
Born
Matthew Abram Groening

(1954-02-15) February 15, 1954 (age 69)
Alma materEvergreen State College (BA)
Occupations
  • Cartoonist
  • writer
  • producer
  • animator
Years active1977–present
Known for
Spouses
  • Deborah Caplan
    (m. 1986; div. 1999)
  • Agustina Picasso
    (m. 2011)
Children10
AwardsFull list
Signature
Matt Groening Signature.svg

Matthew Abram Groening (/ˈɡrnɪŋ/ GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954)[1] is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012) and the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023–present[2]), and Disenchantment (2018–present). The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime-television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom.

Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde magazine Wet in 1978. At its peak, the cartoon was carried in 250 weekly newspapers. Life in Hell caught the attention of American producer James L. Brooks. In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening about adapting Life in Hell for animated sequences for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening created a new set of characters, the Simpson family. The shorts were spun off into their own series, The Simpsons, which has since aired 744 episodes.

In 1997, Groening and former Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999, running for four years on Fox, then picked up by Comedy Central for additional seasons. In 2016, Groening developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which premiered in August 2018.

Groening has won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, 11 for The Simpsons and 2 for Futurama, and a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.

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Life in Hell

Life in Hell

Life in Hell is a comic strip by Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, Futurama, and Disenchantment, which was published weekly from 1977 to 2012. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. The comic covers a wide range of subjects, such as love, sex, work, and death, and explores themes of angst, social alienation, self-loathing, and fear of inevitable doom.

Futurama

Futurama

Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. In 2008, the series was revived by Comedy Central. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. Fry finds work at an interplanetary delivery company, working alongside the one-eyed Leela and robot Bender. The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox.

Disenchantment (TV series)

Disenchantment (TV series)

Disenchantment is an American animated satirical fantasy sitcom created by Matt Groening for Netflix. The series is Groening's first production to appear exclusively on a streaming service; he previously created The Simpsons and Futurama for Fox. Set in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Dreamland, the series follows the story of Bean, a rebellious and alcoholic princess, her naïve elf companion Elfo, and her destructive "personal demon" Luci. Disenchantment stars the voices of Abbi Jacobson, Eric André, Nat Faxon, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Matt Berry, David Herman, Maurice LaMarche, Lucy Montgomery, and Billy West.

James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks

James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, The Simpsons, Broadcast News, As Good as It Gets, and Terms of Endearment.

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company

The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and additional offices at the Fox Network Center in Los Angeles and the Fox Media Center in Tempe. Launched as a competitor to the Big Three television networks on October 9, 1986, Fox went on to become the most successful attempt at a fourth television network. It was the highest-rated free-to-air network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2012 and again in 2020, and was the most-watched American television network in total viewership during the 2007–08 season.

Simpson family

Simpson family

The Simpson family are the fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge and their three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town of Springfield, United States, and they were created by cartoonist Matt Groening, who conceived the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted on Fox on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" and were later spun off into their own series, which debuted on Fox in the U.S. on December 17, 1989.

List of The Simpsons episodes

List of The Simpsons episodes

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of a dysfunctional middle-class American lifestyle starring the eponymous family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the town of Springfield, the show lampoons both American culture and the human condition. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with producer James L. Brooks. Groening named each character after members of his own family. The shorts became part of the Fox series The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour primetime hit show.

David X. Cohen

David X. Cohen

David Samuel Cohen, better known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He began working on Beavis and Butt-Head, has written for The Simpsons, and served as the head writer, showrunner and executive producer of Futurama and a producer of Disenchantment.

Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American adult-oriented basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming in the form of both original, licensed, and syndicated series, stand-up comedy specials, and feature films. It is available to approximately 86.723 million households in the United States as of September 2018.

Netflix

Netflix

Netflix, Inc. is an American media company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it operates the over-the-top subscription video on-demand service Netflix brand, which includes original films and television series commissioned or acquired by the company, and third-party content licensed from other distributors. Netflix is a member of the Motion Picture Association—having become the first streaming company to become a member.

Primetime Emmy Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. The award categories are divided into three classes: the regular Primetime Emmy Awards, the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards to honor technical and other similar behind-the-scenes achievements, and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for recognizing significant contributions to the engineering and technological aspects of television. First given out in 1949, the award was originally referred to as simply the "Emmy Award" until the International Emmy Award and the Daytime Emmy Award were created in the early 1970s to expand the Emmy to other sectors of the television industry.

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, directors, producers, musicians, theatrical/musical groups, fictional characters, and others.

Early life

Groening was born on February 15, 1954,[3][4] in Portland, Oregon,[5] the middle of five children (older brother Mark and sister Patty were born in 1950 and 1952, while the younger sisters Lisa and Maggie in 1956 and 1958, respectively). His Norwegian American mother, Margaret Ruth (née Wiggum; March 23, 1919 – April 22, 2013),[6] was once a teacher, and his Russian Mennonite father, Homer Philip Groening (December 30, 1919 – March 15, 1996),[7] was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist.[8][9] Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Plautdietsch-speaking family.[10]

Matt's grandfather, Abraham Groening, was a professor at Tabor College, a Mennonite Brethren liberal arts college in Hillsboro, Kansas, before moving to Albany College (now known as Lewis and Clark College) in Oregon in 1930.[11]

Groening grew up in Portland[12] and attended Ainsworth Elementary School[13] and Lincoln High School.[14] Following his high school graduation in 1972,[15] Groening attended the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington,[16] a liberal arts school that he described as "a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew every weirdo in the Northwest."[17] He served as the editor of the campus newspaper, "The Cooper Point Journal," for which he also wrote articles and drew cartoons.[15] He befriended fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry after discovering that she had written a fan letter to Joseph Heller, one of Groening's favorite authors, and had received a reply.[18] Groening has credited Barry with being "probably [his] biggest inspiration."[19] He first became interested in cartoons after watching the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians,[20] and he has also cited Robert Crumb, Ernie Bushmiller, Ronald Searle,[21] Monty Python,[22] and Charles M. Schulz as inspirations.[23] Groening graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1977.[24]

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Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous county in Oregon. As of 2020, Portland had a population of 652,503, making it the 26th-most populated city in the United States, the sixth-most populous on the West Coast, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest, after Seattle. Approximately 2.5 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area, making it the 25th most populous in the United States. About half of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area.

Birth order

Birth order

Birth order refers to the order a child is born in their family; first-born and second-born are examples. Birth order is often believed to have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development. This assertion has been repeatedly challenged. Recent research has consistently found that earlier born children score slightly higher on average on measures of intelligence, but has found zero, or almost zero, robust effect of birth order on personality. Nevertheless, the notion that birth-order significantly influences personality continues to have a strong presence in pop psychology and popular culture.

Main Centre, Saskatchewan

Main Centre, Saskatchewan

Main Centre is a hamlet in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Listed as a designated place by Statistics Canada, the hamlet had a reported population of 5 living in 3 of its 4 total private dwellings in the Canada 2011 Census.

Plautdietsch language

Plautdietsch language

Plautdietsch or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word Plautdietsch translates to "flat German". In other Low German dialects, the word for Low German is usually realised as Plattdütsch/Plattdüütsch [ˈplatdyːtʃ] or Plattdüütsk [ˈplatdyːtsk], but the spelling Plautdietsch is used to refer specifically to the Vistula variant of the language.

Hillsboro, Kansas

Hillsboro, Kansas

Hillsboro is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. Hillsboro was named after John Gillespie Hill, who homesteaded in the area in 1871. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,732. Hillsboro is home of Tabor College, which had 766 students enrolled in Fall 2014.

Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon)

Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon)

Lincoln High School is a public high school located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. It was established in 1869 as Portland High School.

Evergreen State College

Evergreen State College

The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a pre-determined path of study. Full-time students can enroll in interdisciplinary academic programs, in addition to stand-alone classes. Programs typically offer students the opportunity to study several disciplines in a coordinated manner. Faculty write substantive narrative evaluations of students' work in place of issuing grades.

Olympia, Washington

Olympia, Washington

Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is 60 miles (100 km) southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.

Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry

Linda Jean Barry, known professionally as Lynda Barry, is an American cartoonist. Barry is best known for her weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek. She garnered attention with her 1988 illustrated novel The Good Times are Killing Me, about an interracial friendship between two young girls, which was adapted into a play. Her second illustrated novel, Cruddy, first appeared in 1999. Three years later she published One! Hundred! Demons!, a graphic novel she terms "autobifictionalography". What It Is (2008) is a graphic novel that is part memoir, part collage and part workbook, in which Barry instructs her readers in methods to open up their own creativity; it won the comics industry's 2009 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work.

Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel Catch-22, a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice. He was nominated in 1972 for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians

One Hundred and One Dalmatians

One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. The 17th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi and Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, and features the voices of Rod Taylor, Cate Bauer, Betty Lou Gerson, Ben Wright, Lisa Davis, and Martha Wentworth. The film's plot follows a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by the villainous Cruella de Vil ("deVille"), who wants to make their fur into coats. Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, set out to save their puppies from Cruella, in the process of rescuing 84 additional ones that were bought in pet shops, bringing the total of Dalmatians to 101.

Ernie Bushmiller

Ernie Bushmiller

Ernest Paul Bushmiller Jr. was an American cartoonist, best known for creating the daily comic strip Nancy, which premiered in 1938 and features the title character who has remained in print for over 85 years. His work is noted for its simple graphic style. In 1976, he received the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society for his work on Nancy.

Career

Early career

In 1977, at the age of 23, Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer. He went through what he described as "a series of lousy jobs," including being an extra in the television movie When Every Day Was the Fourth of July,[25] busing tables,[26] washing dishes at a nursing home, clerking at the Hollywood Licorice Pizza record store, landscaping in a sewage treatment plant,[27] and chauffeuring and ghostwriting for a retired Western director.[28][29]

Life in Hell

Cover of Life in Hell No. 4, published in 1978
Cover of Life in Hell No. 4, published in 1978

Groening described life in Los Angeles to his friends in the form of the self-published comic book Life in Hell, which was loosely inspired by the chapter "How to Go to Hell" in Walter Kaufmann's book Critique of Religion and Philosophy.[30] Groening distributed the comic book in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked. He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978.[30] The strip, titled "Forbidden Words," appeared in the September/October issue of that year.[26][31]

Groening had gained employment at the Los Angeles Reader, a newly formed alternative newspaper, delivering papers,[15] typesetting, editing and answering phones.[27] He showed his cartoons to the editor, James Vowell, who was impressed and eventually gave him a spot in the paper.[15] Life in Hell made its official debut as a comic strip in the Reader on April 25, 1980.[26][32] Vowell also gave Groening his own weekly music column, "Sound Mix," in 1982. However, the column would rarely actually be about music, as he would often write about his "various enthusiasms, obsessions, pet peeves and problems" instead.[17] In an effort to add more music to the column, he "just made stuff up,"[25] concocting and reviewing fictional bands and nonexistent records. In the following week's column, he would confess to fabricating everything in the previous column and swear that everything in the new column was true. Eventually, he was finally asked to give up the "music" column.[33] Among the fans of the column was Harry Shearer, who would later become a voice on The Simpsons.[34]

Life in Hell became popular almost immediately.[35] In November 1984, Deborah Caplan, Groening's then-girlfriend and co-worker at the Reader, offered to publish "Love is Hell", a series of relationship-themed Life in Hell strips, in book form.[36] Released a month later, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. Work is Hell soon followed, also published by Caplan.[15] Soon afterward, Caplan and Groening left and put together the Life in Hell Co., which handled merchandising for Life in Hell.[26] Groening also started Acme Features Syndicate, which initially syndicated Life in Hell as well as work by Lynda Barry and John Callahan, but would eventually only syndicate Life in Hell.[15] At the end of its run, Life in Hell was carried in 250 weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, including School is Hell, Childhood is Hell, The Big Book of Hell, and The Huge Book of Hell.[12] Although Groening previously stated, "I'll never give up the comic strip. It's my foundation,"[37] the June 16, 2012 strip marked Life in Hell's conclusion.[38] After Groening ended the strip, the Center for Cartoon Studies commissioned a poster that was presented to Groening in honor of his work. The poster contained tribute cartoons by 22 of Groening's cartoonist friends who were influenced by Life in Hell.[39]

The Simpsons

Creation

The design of the Simpson family, circa 1987
The design of the Simpson family, circa 1987

Life in Hell caught the attention of Hollywood writer-director-producer and Gracie Films founder James L. Brooks, who had been shown the strip by fellow producer Polly Platt.[35][40] In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation on an undefined future project,[9] which would turn out to be developing a series of short animated skits, called "bumpers," for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Groening feared that he would have to give up his ownership rights, and that the show would fail and take down his comic strip with it.[41] Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family: Homer, the overweight father; Marge, the slim mother; Bart, the bratty oldest child; Lisa, the intelligent middle child; and Maggie, the baby.[41][42][43] Groening famously named the main Simpson characters after members of his own family: his parents, Homer and Marge (Margaret or Marjorie in full), and his younger sisters, Lisa and Margaret (Maggie). Claiming that it was a bit too obvious to name a character after himself, he chose the name "Bart," an anagram of brat.[41][44] However, he stresses that aside from some of the sibling rivalry, his family is nothing like the Simpsons.[45] Groening also has an older brother and sister, Mark and Patty, and in a 1995 interview Groening divulged that Mark "is the actual inspiration for Bart."[46]

Maggie Groening has co-written a few Simpsons books featuring her cartoon namesake.[47]

The Tracey Ullman Show

The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.[41] The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.[48] When Groening originally designed Homer, he put his own initials into the character's hairline and ear: the hairline resembled an 'M', and the right ear resembled a 'G'. Groening decided that this would be too distracting though, and redesigned the ear to look normal. He still draws the ear as a 'G' when he draws pictures of Homer for fans.[49] Marge's distinct beehive hairstyle was inspired by Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore during the 1960s, although her hair was never blue.[8][50] Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. The number was later limited to nine spikes, all of the same size.[51] At the time Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that [Bart] would eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes that appear to be an extension of his head.[52] Lisa's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Maggie shares her hairline.[53] While designing Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles".[54] When designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".[55] Groening storyboarded and scripted every short (now known as The Simpsons shorts), which were then animated by a team including David Silverman and Wes Archer, both of whom would later become directors on the series.[56]

The Simpsons shorts first appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987.[57] Another family member, Grampa Simpson, was introduced in the later shorts. Years later, during the early seasons of The Simpsons, when it came time to give Grampa a first name, Groening says he refused to name him after his own grandfather, Abraham Groening, leaving it to other writers to choose a name. By coincidence, they chose "Abraham", unaware that it was the name of Groening's grandfather.[58]

Half-hour

Although The Tracey Ullman Show was not a big hit,[59] the popularity of the shorts led to a half-hour spin-off in 1989. A team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house. James L. Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content.[60] Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching.[61] The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989, with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", a Christmas special.[62] "Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it did not broadcast until May 1990, as the last episode of the first season, because of animation problems.[63]

The series quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, to the surprise of many. Groening said: "Nobody thought The Simpsons was going to be a big hit. It sneaked up on everybody."[17] The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. Groening and Simon, however, did not get along[59] and were often in conflict over the show;[26] Groening once described their relationship as "very contentious."[42] Simon eventually left the show in 1993 over creative differences.[64]

Like the main family members, several characters from the show have names that were inspired by people, locations or films. The name "Wiggum" for police chief Chief Wiggum is Groening's mother's maiden name.[65] The names of a few other characters were taken from major street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, including Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby and Kearney.[66] Despite common fan belief that Sideshow Bob Terwilliger was named after SW Terwilliger Boulevard in Portland, he was actually named after the character Dr. Terwilliker from the film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.[67]

Although Groening has pitched a number of spin-offs from The Simpsons, those attempts have been unsuccessful. In 1994, Groening and other Simpsons producers pitched a live-action spin-off about Krusty the Clown (with Dan Castellaneta playing the lead role), but were unsuccessful in getting it off the ground.[29][68] Groening has also pitched "Young Homer" and a spin-off about the non-Simpsons citizens of Springfield.[69]

In 1995, Groening got into a major disagreement with Brooks and other Simpsons producers over "A Star Is Burns", a crossover episode with The Critic, an animated show also produced by Brooks and staffed with many former Simpsons crew members. Groening claimed that he feared viewers would "see it as nothing but a pathetic attempt to advertise The Critic at the expense of The Simpsons," and was concerned about the possible implication that he had created or produced The Critic.[46] He requested his name be taken off the episode.[70]

Groening is credited with writing or co-writing the episodes "Some Enchanted Evening", "The Telltale Head", "Colonel Homer" and "22 Short Films About Springfield". He also co-wrote and produced The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007.[71] He has had several cameo appearances in the show, with a speaking role in the episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding". He currently serves at The Simpsons as an executive producer and creative consultant.

Futurama

David X. Cohen and Groening at the Futurama panel of Comic-Con 2009
David X. Cohen and Groening at the Futurama panel of Comic-Con 2009

After spending a few years researching science fiction, Groening got together with Simpsons writer and producer David X. Cohen (known as David S. Cohen at the time) in 1997 and developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000.[19][72] By the time they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and storylines; Groening claimed they had gone "overboard" in their discussions.[72] Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of [his] grown-up life."[19] The show premiered on March 28, 1999. Groening's writing credits for the show are for the premiere episode, "Space Pilot 3000" (co-written with Cohen), "Rebirth" (story) and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" (story).

After four years on the air, the show was canceled by Fox. In a situation similar to Family Guy, however, strong DVD sales and very stable ratings on Adult Swim brought Futurama back to life. When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four straight-to-DVD films – Bender's Big Score (2007), The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Bender's Game (2008) and Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009) – would be produced.[73][29]

Since no new Futurama projects were in production, the movie Into the Wild Green Yonder was designed to stand as the Futurama series finale. However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the Futurama franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film.[74] In an interview with CNN, Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know... We're having discussions and there is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me".[75] Comedy Central commissioned an additional 26 new episodes, and began airing them in 2010. The show continued in to 2013,[76][77] before Comedy Central announced in April 2013 that they would not be renewing it beyond its seventh season. The final episode aired on September 4, 2013.[78]

On February 9, 2022, the series was revived at Hulu, set for a 2023 release.[2]

Disenchantment

On January 15, 2016, it was announced that Groening was in talks with Netflix to develop a new animated series.[79] On July 25, 2017, the series, Disenchantment, was ordered by Netflix.[80] He described the fantasy-oriented series as originating in a sketchbook full of "fantastic creatures we couldn't do on The Simpsons".[81] The cast includes Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, and Nat Faxon.[82]

Other pursuits

Groening in his studio, 1987
Groening in his studio, 1987

In 1994, Groening formed Bongo Comics (named after the character Bongo from Life in Hell[83]) with Steve Vance, Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison, which publishes comic books based on The Simpsons and Futurama (including Futurama Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis, a crossover between the two), as well as a few original titles. According to Groening, the goal with Bongo is to "[try] to bring humor into the fairly grim comic book market."[46] He also formed Zongo Comics in 1995, an imprint of Bongo that published comics for more mature readers,[46] which included three issues of Mary Fleener's Fleener[84] and seven issues of his close friend Gary Panter's Jimbo comics.[85]

Groening is known for his eclectic taste in music. His favorite artist is Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention and his favorite album is Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart (which was produced by Zappa).[86] He guest-edited Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing 2003[87] and curated a US All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in 2003.[86][88] He illustrated the cover of Frank Zappa's posthumous album Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute (1996).[89] In May 2010, he curated another edition of All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, England. He also plays the drums in the all-author rock and roll band The Rock Bottom Remainders (although he is listed as the cowbell player), whose other members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Stephen King, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry and Greg Iles.[90] In July 2013, Groening co-authored Hard Listening (2013) with the rest of the Rock Bottom Remainders (published by Coliloquy, LLC).[91]

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Ghostwriter

Ghostwriter

A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, or other written material.

Life in Hell

Life in Hell

Life in Hell is a comic strip by Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, Futurama, and Disenchantment, which was published weekly from 1977 to 2012. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. The comic covers a wide range of subjects, such as love, sex, work, and death, and explores themes of angst, social alienation, self-loathing, and fear of inevitable doom.

Los Angeles Reader

Los Angeles Reader

Los Angeles Reader was a weekly paper established in 1978 and distributed in Los Angeles, United States. It followed the format of the (still-active) Chicago Reader. The paper was known for having lengthy, thoughtful reviews of movies, plays and concerts in the L.A. area.

Alternative newspaper

Alternative newspaper

An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Its news coverage is more locally focused, and their target audiences are younger than those of daily newspapers. Typically, alternative newspapers are published in tabloid format and printed on newsprint. Other names for such publications include alternative weekly, alternative newsweekly, and alt weekly, as the majority circulate on a weekly schedule.

Harry Shearer

Harry Shearer

Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The Credibility Gap, a radio comedy group. Following the breakup of the group, Shearer co-wrote the film Real Life (1979) with Albert Brooks and worked as a writer on Martin Mull's television series Fernwood 2 Night.

John Callahan (cartoonist)

John Callahan (cartoonist)

John Michael Callahan was an American cartoonist, artist, and musician in Portland, Oregon.

Gracie Films

Gracie Films

Gracie Films is an American film and television production company founded by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company is primarily responsible for producing its long-running flagship animated series The Simpsons, as well as the films Big, Broadcast News, and Jerry Maguire.

James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks

James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, The Simpsons, Broadcast News, As Good as It Gets, and Terms of Endearment.

Dysfunctional family

Dysfunctional family

A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such a situation is normal. Dysfunctional families are primarily a result of two adults, one typically overtly abusive and the other codependent, and may also be affected by substance abuse or other forms of addiction, or sometimes by an untreated mental illness. Parents having grown up in a dysfunctional family may over-correct or emulate their own parents. In some cases, the dominant parent will abuse or neglect their children and the other parent will not object, misleading a child to assume blame.

Homer Simpson

Homer Simpson

Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Homer was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks's office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip Life in Hell but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He named the character after his father, Homer Groening. After appearing for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, the Simpson family got their own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989. The show was later acquired by Disney in 2019.

Bart Simpson

Bart Simpson

Bartholomew Jojo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip, Life in Hell, but instead decided to create a new set of characters. While the rest of the characters were named after Groening's family members, Bart's name is an anagram of the word brat. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for two years, the Simpson family received its own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every Simpsons episode except "Four Great Women and a Manicure".

Lisa Simpson

Lisa Simpson

Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child and most accomplished of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa was born as a character in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed her while waiting to meet James L. Brooks. Groening had been invited to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic Life in Hell, but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He named the older Simpson daughter after his younger sister Lisa Groening Bartlett. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family were moved to their own series on Fox, which debuted on December 17, 1989.

Personal life

Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986[27] and had two sons together, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe,[44] both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. The couple divorced in 1999.

In 2011, Groening married Argentine artist Agustina Picasso after a four-year relationship, and became stepfather to her daughter Camila Costantini.[92] In May 2013, Picasso gave birth to Nathaniel Philip Picasso Groening, named after writer Nathanael West. She joked that "his godfather is SpongeBob's creator Stephen Hillenburg".[93] In 2015, Groening's daughters Luna Margaret and India Mia were born.[94] On June 16, 2018, he became the father of twins for a second time when his wife gave birth to Sol Matthew and Venus Ruth, announced via Instagram.[95] In 2020, their daughter Nirvana was born.[96] In January 2022, Groening's tenth child Satori was born.[97]

Matt was the brother-in-law of Hey Arnold!, Dinosaur Train and Ready Jet Go! creator, Craig Bartlett, who was married to Groening's sister, Lisa, until they divorced in 2015.[98] Bartlett used to appear in Simpsons Illustrated.[99]

Groening is a self-identified agnostic.[100][101]

Groening was mentioned in a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre over allegedly being forced by sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to massage Groening's feet while on Epstein's jet in 2001.[102]

Politics

Groening has made a number of campaign contributions, all towards Democratic Party candidates and organizations. He has donated money to the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of Democratic candidates Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, as well as previously donating to Kerry's Massachusetts senator campaign. Groening also collectively donated to the Democratic senatorial campaign committee and to the Senate campaigns of Barbara Boxer (California), Dianne Feinstein (California), Paul Simon (Illinois), Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts), Carl Levin (Michigan), Hillary Clinton (New York), Harvey Gantt (North Carolina), Howard Metzenbaum (Ohio), and Tom Bruggere (Oregon).[103] He also donated to the now-defunct Hollywood Women's Political Committee, which supported and campaigned for the Democratic Party. His first cousin, Laurie Monnes Anderson, was a member of the Oregon State Senate, representing eastern Multnomah County.[104]

In an interview with Wired from 1999, he stated that if he was president, his first act would be "campaign finance reform", stating that it is "a real detriment to democracy".[105]

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Hey Arnold!

Hey Arnold!

Hey Arnold! is an American animated television series created by Craig Bartlett that aired on Nickelodeon from October 7, 1996 to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandparents in an inner-city tenement in the fictional city of Hillwood, Washington. Episodes center on his experiences navigating urban life while dealing with the problems he and his friends encounter. Many episodes however, focus on other characters, including major, secondary, supporting, and even minor characters.

Dinosaur Train

Dinosaur Train

Dinosaur Train is a CGI-animated preschool musical television series aimed for preschoolers ages 3 to 6. Created by Craig Bartlett, who created Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!, the series features a curious young Tyrannosaurus rex named Buddy who, together with his adopted Pteranodon family, takes the Dinosaur Train to explore his time period, and have adventures with a variety of dinosaurs. It is co-produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with the Infocomm Media Development Authority, Sparky Animation, FableVision, Snee-Oosh, Inc., Reel FX, and Sea to Sky Entertainment. As of September 2018, PBS Kids had ordered 11 more episodes, taking the total number of episodes to 100. A film based on the series from Universal Pictures and Universal 1440 Entertainment titled, Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island premiered on April 12, 2021.

Craig Bartlett

Craig Bartlett

Craig Michael Bartlett is an American animator. He wrote, directed, created, and produced the Nickelodeon television series Hey Arnold! and the PBS Kids television series Dinosaur Train and Ready Jet Go!.

Agnosticism

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."

Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, with his brother Mark began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, despite lacking a college degree. After his dismissal from the school, he entered the banking and finance sector, working at Bear Stearns in various roles; he eventually started his own firm. Epstein developed an elite social circle and procured many women and children whom he and his associates sexually abused.

Democratic Party (United States)

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main political rival has been the Republican Party since the 1850s, with both parties being big tents of competing and often opposing viewpoints. Modern American liberalism — a variant of social liberalism — is the party's majority ideology. The party also has notable centrist, social democratic, and left-libertarian factions.

Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election, losing to George W. Bush in a very close race after a Florida recount.

Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign

Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign

The 2000 presidential campaign of Al Gore, the 45th vice president of the United States under President Bill Clinton, began when he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Carthage, Tennessee, on June 16, 1999. Gore became the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election on August 17, 2000. As of 2020, he is the most recent sitting vice president to run for president.

John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 under Barack Obama and as a United States senator from Massachusetts from 1985 to 2013. He was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2004 election, losing to incumbent President George W. Bush.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current Chair is Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, who succeeded Nevada‘s Catherine Cortez Masto after the 2020 Senate elections. DSCC's current executive director is Christie Roberts.

Barbara Boxer

Barbara Boxer

Barbara Sue Boxer is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. representative for California's 6th congressional district from 1983 until 1993.

Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Hair High Dill (voice)
Comic Book: The Movie Himself Cameo
2006 Tales of the Rat Fink Finkster (voice)
2007 The Simpsons Movie Writer and producer
Futurama: Bender's Big Score Direct-to-DVD
Executive producer
2008 Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs
Futurama: Bender's Game
2009 Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder
2012 The Longest Daycare Short film
Writer and producer
2013 I Know That Voice Himself Documentary
2015 I Thought I Told You to Shut Up!! Himself Short documentary
2020 Playdate with Destiny Short film
Writer and producer
2021 The Force Awakens from Its Nap Short film
Producer
The Good, the Bart, and the Loki
The Simpsons | Balenciaga
Plusaversary
2022 When Billie Met Lisa

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1987–1989 The Tracey Ullman Show 48 episodes; writer and animator
1989–present The Simpsons Creator, writer, executive producer, and creative consultant
Also appeared in 3 episodes as himself
1996 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself Episode: "Glen Campbell"
1999 Olive, the Other Reindeer Arturo (voice) TV special; executive producer
1999–2003;
2008–2013;
2023
Futurama Creator, writer, and executive producer
Also appeared in Episode: "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" as himself
2015 Portlandia Himself Episode: "Fashion"
2018–2022 Disenchantment Creator, writer, and executive producer

Video games

Year Title Voice
2007 The Simpsons Game Himself
2014 The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Music video

Year Title Artist Notes
1990 "Do the Bartman" Nancy Cartwright Executive producer

Theme park

Year Title Notes
2008 The Simpsons Ride Producer

Discover more about Filmography related topics

Hair High

Hair High

Hair High is a 2004 American adult animated horror romantic comedy film by American filmmaker Bill Plympton. The film is a spoof of late-50s and early-60s high school movies.

Comic Book: The Movie

Comic Book: The Movie

Comic Book: The Movie is a 2004 direct-to-DVD mockumentary starring, co-written and directed by Mark Hamill.

Futurama: Bender's Big Score

Futurama: Bender's Big Score

Futurama: Bender's Big Score is a 2007 American adult animated science fiction comedy-adventure film based on the animated series Futurama. It was released in the United States on November 27, 2007. It was the first Futurama production since the original series finale "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings". Bender's Big Score, along with the three follow-up films, comprise season five of Futurama, with each film being separated into four episodes of the broadcast season. Bender's Big Score made its broadcast premiere on Comedy Central on March 23, 2008. The film was written by Ken Keeler, based on a story by Keeler and David X. Cohen, and directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill.

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs is a 2008 American direct-to-video adult animated science-fiction comedy-adventure film based on the animated series Futurama, and the second of four straight-to-DVD films that make up the show's fifth season. The film was released in the United States and Canada on June 24, 2008, followed by a UK release on June 30, 2008 and an Australian release on August 6, 2008. The title refers to a euphemism for sexual intercourse—"the beast with two backs". Comedy Central aired the film as a "four-part epic" on October 19, 2008. The movie won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Home Entertainment Production".

Futurama: Bender's Game

Futurama: Bender's Game

Futurama: Bender's Game is a 2008 American direct-to-video adult animated science fantasy comedy film and the third of the four Futurama films that make up the show's fifth season. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 4, 2008.

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder is a 2009 American direct-to-video adult animated science fiction comedy-adventure film based on the animated series Futurama, and the fourth and final of the direct-to-DVD films that make up the show's fifth season. The film was written by Ken Keeler, based on a story by Keeler and David X. Cohen, and directed by Peter Avanzino. Guest stars include Phil Hendrie, Penn Jillette, Snoop Dogg, and Seth MacFarlane, who sings the theme song. In the movie, Leela becomes an outlaw when she and a group of ecologically-minded feminists attempt to save an asteroid of primitive life forms and the Violet Dwarf star from being destroyed, while Fry joins a secret society and attempts to stop a mysterious species known as the "Dark Ones" from destroying all life in the universe. The title itself is a reference to the U.S. Air Force Song, the main chorus of which describes reaching "Into the wild blue yonder".

I Know That Voice

I Know That Voice

I Know That Voice is a documentary film about American voice acting. It premiered on November 6, 2013, at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. The documentary was narrated by John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender on Futurama and Jake on Adventure Time, and stars DiMaggio and many other voice actors, including Billy West, Tara Strong, Tom Kenny, Grey DeLisle, June Foray, Rob Paulsen, Rachael MacFarlane, Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Robin Atkin Downes, and Pamela Adlon.

I Thought I Told You to Shut Up!!

I Thought I Told You to Shut Up!!

I Thought I Told You to Shut Up!! is a 2015 Canadian short documentary film by Charlie Tyrell about Reid Fleming, "the world's toughest milkman", a cartoon character created by David Boswell.

Playdate with Destiny

Playdate with Destiny

Maggie Simpson in "Playdate with Destiny" is a 2020 American animated short film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film features Maggie Simpson. It is the first Simpsons short film released after the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Studios.

The Force Awakens from Its Nap

The Force Awakens from Its Nap

Maggie Simpson in "The Force Awakens from Its Nap", known simply as The Force Awakens from Its Nap is an animated short film based on the television series The Simpsons. The short was released on May 4, 2021, on Disney+ in celebration of Star Wars Day.

Plusaversary

Plusaversary

The Simpsons in Plusaversary, or simply Plusaversary, is an American animated short film based on the television series The Simpsons produced by Gracie Films and 20th Television Animation, debuting on streaming service Disney+'s 2nd anniversary in 2021. It is the fifth short film in The Simpsons franchise, and the third promotional short produced for Disney+. The short was directed by David Silverman and released on November 12, 2021 – Disney+ Day. In the short film, there is a Disney+ party at Moe's Tavern and everyone is invited except Homer.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated comedy late-night talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. It is the first TV show to be produced by Williams Street, the company to start up Adult Swim in the early 2000s. In contrast to the original 1960s series, Space Ghost, which aired as a standard Hanna-Barbera Saturday-morning superhero cartoon, Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a reboot and sequel of the series intended for teens and adults, reinterpreted as a surreal spoof talk show and animated using the original series' artwork. Early seasons are more of a parody of late-night talk shows, while later seasons rely more on surrealism and non-sequitur humor.

Awards

Groening has been nominated for 41 Emmy Awards and has won thirteen, eleven for The Simpsons and two for Futurama in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or less)" category.[106] Groening received the 2002 National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000.[107] He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.[108] In 2007, he was ranked fourth (and highest American by birth) in a list of the "top 100 living geniuses", published by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.[109]

He was awarded the Inkpot Award in 1988.[110]

He received the 2,459th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.[111]

Discover more about Awards related topics

List of awards and nominations received by Matt Groening

List of awards and nominations received by Matt Groening

The following is a list of awards and nominations received by American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator Matt Groening.

Emmy Awards

Emmy Awards

The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with their own set of rules and award categories. The two events that receive the most media coverage are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards, which recognize outstanding work in American primetime and daytime entertainment programming, respectively. Other notable U.S. national Emmy events include the Children's & Family Emmy Awards for children's and family-oriented television programming, the Sports Emmy Awards for sports programming, News & Documentary Emmy Awards for news and documentary shows, and the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for technological and engineering achievements. Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizing excellence in local and statewide television. In addition, the International Emmy Awards honor excellence in TV programming produced and initially aired outside the United States.

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph, known online and elsewhere as The Telegraph, is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as The Daily Telegraph & Courier. Considered a newspaper of record over The Times in the UK in the years up to 1997, The Telegraph has been described as being "one of the world's great titles".

Inkpot Award

Inkpot Award

The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual convention, the San Diego Comic-Con. Also eligible are members of Comic-Con's Board of Directors and convention committee.

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, directors, producers, musicians, theatrical/musical groups, fictional characters, and others.

Source: "Matt Groening", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 19th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Groening.

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Bibliography
References
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