In Groening's version, the boy dies from his head injury and returns as a ghost every Halloween, a morbid tale that surprisingly became the winning entry. Patricia was an art dealer. The show went on to become the longest running US primetime TV series and earn multiple awards. A thousand years in the future -- a wry, bleak version of a future where suicide booths and celebrity heads preserved in jars are part of the landscape -- work is still hell. [33] Among the fans of the column was Harry Shearer, who would later become a voice on The Simpsons. Before, Groening was married to his first wife Deborah Caplan. A fan of science fiction, he had been thinking about creating a show about the future for some time. Homer and Abe were their two sons. In high school, he drew cartoons for the school newspaper until he was kicked off the staff. He found some work along those lines, whipping up slogans for horror movies, but also took on. "The excuse was that the networks never let you get away with anything," he said. [64], Like the main family members, several characters from the show have names that were inspired by people, locations or films. After attending Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., Mr. Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer, but he didn't really have any idea how to get started. Eventually, it was moved to Sundays at 8 p.m., but although Fox recently ordered 18 more episodes for next season, Groening, thinking like the businessman that he is, still feels the show could benefit from more aggressive promotion and a better time slot. Published a month later, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions, you are probably a fan of Matt Groening. In 1997, he and retired Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999, ran for four years on Fox, then picked up by Comedy Central for more seasons. The couple has two sons, Homer and Abe. View Matt Groening results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Life in Hell comic strips were published in over 250 weekly papers and they were later collated in a series of books titled: School is Hell, Childhood is Hell, The Big Book of Hell, and The Huge Book of Hell. Perhaps, were he to walk in off the street, he could get a job as a writer on the show. Brooks contacted him in 1985 about adapting Life in Hell for animated sequences for the Fox variety shows The Tracey Ullman Show. Spouse/Ex-: Agustina Picasso, Deborah Caplan, siblings: Lisa Groening, Maggie Groening, Mark Groening, Patty Groening, children: Abe Groening, Homer Groening, Nathaniel Philip Picasso Groening, Ancestry: Norwegian American, Canadian American, Notable Alumni: The Evergreen State College, Founder/Co-Founder: Bongo Comics Group, Zongo Comics, The Curiosity Company, Quotes By Matt Groening | So the story goes, and it has, as they say, legs. Matt has a son with his wife, Argentinian artist Agustina Picasso, and two children with his former wife, Deborah Caplan. Matt is stepfather to Agustinas daughter, Camille. In 2016, he developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which began in August 2018. 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. They had 2 children. After marriage, he became step father to Augustina Picasso's daughter Camille. Matt Groening (1954-) biography on Film Reference. Le fils de pre Homer Philip Groening et mre Margaret Ruth est comdien de stand-up, crivain & caricaturiste, anno 2023 clbre pour The Simpsons & Futurama. He is also a father to five more children. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde magazine Wet in 1978. Needless to say, the life-affirming executives at Fox worried that the show was too dark and negative. 4) Disagreeably damp and jittery? Illustrated commentary for ", Groening, Matt. Bob Cesca Show, Bio, Wiki, Age, Married, Salon, Salary, And Net Worth, Mark Blyth Political Scientist, Bio, Wiki, Age, Height, Wife, Books, Podcast, and Net Worth, Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes, List of States in the US, Alphabetical list of States in the U.S., and Abbreviation of States in United States. [103] He also donated to the now-defunct Hollywood Women's Political Committee, which supported and campaigned for the Democratic Party. Reader hired sales rep Deborah Caplan, who observed that the Life in Hell strips were "a major selling point" of the paper. The duo left the newspaper company and Matt Groening founded the Acme Features Syndicate that distributed Life in Hell. 5) Are you worried you might have accidentally minimized your potential? Or rather, he is the struggling, penurious pre-"Simpsons" Matt Groening. Groening said: "Nobody thought The Simpsons was going to be a big hit. His first cousin, Laurie Monnes Anderson, was a member of the Oregon State Senate, representing eastern Multnomah County. A self-published anthology of "Love Is Hell" led to a deal with Pantheon Books, and eventually Caplan began running Life In Hell Inc. Groening has received 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, 11 for The Simpsons and 2 for Futurama, and a British Comedy Award due to outstanding contribution to comedy in 2004. Life in Hell caught the attention of American producer James L. Brooks. All rights reserved. Groening became stepfather to Agustinas daughter named Camila Costantini. The same year his direct-to-video film Futurama: Bender's Big Score earned him the Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment. He studied at Evergreen State College and edited the campus newspaper. creator, Craig Bartlett, who was married to Groening's sister, Lisa, until they divorced in 2015. [12] Although Groening previously stated, "I'll never give up the comic strip. But in any case, Groening allowed the series to evolve under the tutelage of his writers, the undisputed champions of television comedy. However, he began doing a series of odd jobs while at the city. Groening was born on February 15, 1954, in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. But mainly, he is Matt Groening. Despite the unprecedented success of "The Simpsons," the process of getting "Futurama" on the air has been described by Groening as "the worst experience of my adult life." He befriended fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry and, finding no real authority to rebel against, he turned to cartooning in earnest. And the idea of creating a show on his own appealed to him. In the mid '80s, renowned producer James L. Brooks approached Groening about using the characters from "Life in Hell" on a new show he was developing for comedian Tracey Ullman. Brooks selected his longtime colleague Sam Simon to help Groening develop the animated series, and The Simpsons dynasty began on December 17, 1989, when the first episode aired. 6) Are you trapped in a loveless cubicle? It is six years since "The Simpsons" made its debut as a 20-second segment in "The Tracey Ullman Show" and three years since it became its own series on Fox Broadcasting. The Simpsons is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The final episode aired on September 4, 2013. [81] The cast includes Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, and Nat Faxon. In a strange coincidence, they discovered that their parents were friends and that they both attended neighboring high schools in Philadelphia. They have two sons, Homer and Abe, now 13 and 10.). Realizing that he would lose the rights to his Life in Hell characters with the deal, Groening quickly created a new cartoon family named after his own siblings and parents, albeit with a "Bart" in lieu of a character named after himself. Matt and Deborah married in 1986, and had 2 sons Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe, both who Matt portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. Some of the funniest jokes, he says, can only be caught on a still frame. [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. [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. The goal of the company, she told Newsweek, was to "keep the machine of Matt going." He was born in Portland, Oregon, 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). Deborah Caplan and Matt Groening are divorced after a marriage of 13 years. In 2004. When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. He also enjoyed a happy home life, with his dad, Homer, mom, Margaret, and four siblings, including younger sisters Lisa and Maggie. Groening decided that this would be too distracting though, and redesigned the ear to look normal. The Longest Daycare (2012) I vowed I would never forget what it was like.". [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. He hates having to choose among them, he says, because doing one means not doing the others. ------------------------------------------. Writer/director Deborah Kaplan met partner, writer/director Harry Elfont, at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts' prestigious film school. He winds up working for an intergalactic delivery service, with a crew of misfits including Leela, the ship's one-eyed alien captain and Bender, a corrupt, vice-addled, disgruntled robot. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Work is Hell soon followed, also published by Caplan. In 2002, Groening received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award due to his work on Life in Hell. In 2013, the couple had a son named . His other role model was cartoonist, Charles Monroe Schulz, who was known for his comic creation Peanuts. [89] In May 2010, he curated another edition of All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, England. Matt Groening received the British Comedy Award for his Outstanding contribution to comedy. Hair High (2004) as Dill But the conformity of a suburban existence soon proved dull, even to a young Groening. ", See the article in its original context from. Groening worked as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which Groening also wrote articles and drew cartoons. Groening was one of four children. Despite his status as an ultimate insider, Groening's writing has always been that of an outsider. [36] Released a month later, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. The show, according to Groening, was "buried." But for now, at least, it continues to thrive; it is consistently the most-watched show in its time slot, Thursday at 8 P.M., and is Fox's No. Meanwhile, Groening was up to his old tricks of rocking the boat, writing silly reviews of bands based on their publicity photos and even making up phony acts to cover. Beginning 1987, he worked in the Traccy Ullman Show for two years as writer and animator. The following year he founded Zongo Comics to target mature comic readers. Matt Groening is married to Deborah Caplan in 1986. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. 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. Groening is the brother-in-law of the creator of Hey Arnold !, Craig Barlett, who is married to his sister Lisa. "[17] The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. His son Leroy."' They divorced in 1999, after 13 years of marriage.Following this, Groening was in a six-year commitment with dating expert Lauren Frances. Maratona Especial Os Simpsons (since 2017). [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. Matt Groening created the show The Simpsons, and two of the principal characters, a husband and wife, are named Homer and Marge. [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. Homer was a cartoonist, advertiser, writer, and a documentary filmmaker. He ran for student body president on the "Teens for Decency" ("If You're Against Decency, What Are You For?") After the two became romantically involved, she established a business to promote her future husband's work, negotiating syndication arrangements with other publications and a book deal with Pantheon. Matt Groening married Deborah Caplan in 1986. His then-girlfriend and co-worker at the Reader Deborah Caplan offered to publish Love is Hell, a series of relationship-themed Life in Hell strips, in book form. Therefore, Groening has accumulated a decent fortune over the years. Ever since his syndicated comic strip "Life in Hell" -- that series of nihilistic but cuddly dispatches from the epicenter of gloom -- first appeared in 1980, Groening has been raising the dampened spirits of the fashionably alienated by dunking Binky, his rabbity, buck-toothed proxy, into a weekly bog of self-pity, anxiety and existential despair. And I always say, 'Whatever offends you the most.' They had two sons together, Homer and Abe. Choosing Los Angeles because it was the place where a writer was most likely to be overpaid, Groening answered a "writer/chauffeur wanted" ad in the L.A. Times. Le 15-2-1954 , Matt Groening (surnom: Matthew Abram Groening, Bat Groening, Mad Groening) est n Portland, Oregon, United States. Post years of research in science fiction, in 1997, Matt Groening along with producer, David X Cohen, created an animated series project titled Futurama, about life in the year 3000. Quote Of The Day | Top 100 Quotes, See the events in life of Matt Groening in Chronological Order, (Cartoonist, Writer and Producer Known for His TV Series The Simpsons, Futurama and Disenchantment), https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/matt-groening-netflix-in-talks-report/, http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/01/17/simpsons-creator-matt-groening-in-talks-with-netflix-for-new-animated-series/, http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/matt-groening-netflix-comedy-talks/, http://www.shannonmcclean.com/new-pagemosaics/. Unlike most shows, which he finds sluggish, "The Simpsons" is written to move at a manic pace. "And to be honest, the whole 'Simpsons' project was a project to see how far I could go in the mainstream. (Statements like these, of course, set off fits of right-wing apoplexy, much to the amusement and delight of everyone else. AT WORK WITH: Matt Groening; The Fun of Being Bart's Real Dad, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/25/garden/at-work-with-matt-groening-the-fun-of-being-bart-s-real-dad.html. ", .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}James Cameron Keeps Smashing His Own Records, The Cocaine Bear Drug Smuggler Was a Real Person, Meet The Last of Us Creator Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us Cast Guide: Actors and Characters, Biography: Jon Stewart (Community Heroes), Biography: You Need to Know: Dorothy Arzner. "He was a deviant.". 6, the list of recipients had grown from 20 to 500. Groening won a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012. Matt Groening sa constellation est Verseau et . "Teachers, principals, clergymen, politicians -- for the Simpsons, they're all goofballs, and I think that's a great message for kids." "I showed it to the editor of the Los Angeles Reader," he once told an interviewer, "and he hired me immediately -- to deliver newspapers." In 2009, the show beat Gunsmoke to become the longest-running entertainment show on primetime TV. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. In 1988, James L. Brooks, looking for a filler in the television show, The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), turned towards a framed "Life in Hell" strip on his wall and contacted Groening. However, the couple divorced in 1999 after thirteen years of marriage. he said in a Mother Jones interview. He won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production for his animated series The Simpsons during three consecutive years i.e. The PJs (1999-2001) He rose to fame with the comic strip Life in Hell; and his animated television series The Simpsons. Matt Groening (full Name: Matthew Abram Groening) is a popular American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. They divorced in 1999 and Groening . 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. Playdate with Destiny (2020) [78], On February 9, 2022, the series was revived at Hulu, set for a 2023 release. He is not. His Norwegian American mother, Margaret Ruth (ne 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. A few years earlier they had set up their own syndicate, ACME Features, to distribute the strip. I like the idea of trying to be successful on some level, at least reaching an audience enough so that you can sustain it and keep on going." Most importantly, The Simpsons retained the subversive undercurrent that has driven its creator since he was a bored grade school student. He donned the role of an executive producer for animated films Futurama: Bender's Game (2007), Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Futurama: Bender's Game (2008), and Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009). In order to avoid insulting another family member by making him the namesake of a Simpsons character, he left Homer's father unnamed. [8][9] Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Plautdietsch-speaking family. [30] Groening distributed the comic book in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked. Homer Groening (born 1991)
Matt Groening is well known for his cartoon characters, comic strips and animated television series. Good Grief, Charlie Brown: A Tribute to Charles Schulz (since 2000) Matt's grandfather Abram was born in Hillsboro, Kansas. 1 program. Groening went to Ainsworth Elementary School and Lincoln High School. Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986 and had two sons, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe. Groening and his wife Agustina Picasso welcomed a baby in May 2013 named Nathaniel Philip Picasso Groening, named after writer Nathanael West. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/matthew-abram-groening-2308.php, 20th Century Film & Theater Personalities, 21st Century Film & Theater Personalities, 20th Century American Film & Theater Personalities, 21st Century American Film & Theater Personalities, Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour), Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less). He wasn't serious. His father Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Mennonite, Plautdietsch-speaking family. [95] In 2020, their daughter Nirvana was born. In the early days of "The Simpsons," Mr. Groening used to preside over all aspects of production, from scripts to story boards to voice-overs to animation. [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. Acting out in school, he recalled having to write "I must be quiet in class" 500 times on at least one occasion and having his doodles torn up by teachers. The comic strip Life in Hell was a huge success. In 2013, the couple had a son named Nathaniel Philip Picasso. Were it not for the clueless executives, the inane network decisions, the petty betrayals at the hands of people who benefit from his success, he might have stagnated by now. '", Sharing one inane series of meetings, he told the magazine, "I said, 'Look, I told you "Futurama" is not going to be bland and boring like "The Jetsons." George Bush once famously regaled the nation with the suggestion that American families should aspire to be "more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons," prompting Bart to retort, "But we're just like the Waltons -- we're both praying for an end to the depression."). While working on his animated series Futurama, he took up multiple roles like voice actor, creator, writer and executive producer of the show. Groening has said that due to his limited drawing ability, it's unlikely he could get a job as an animator on "The Simpsons" today. [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". In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. His father, Homer Philip Groening, was a writer, filmmaker and advertiser and his mother, Margaret Ruth, was a teacher. 2) Disappointed? At its peak, the cartoon was carried in 250 weekly newspapers. He also made appearances in episodes of television series The Pitts, Portlandia and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. They had 2 children. After graduating in 1977, Groening headed to Los Angeles with the idea of pursuing a writing career. I may be going to hell, but I did embrace all the stuff -- the T-shirts, the Bart phone, the chess set, all of it.". The early iteration of The Simpsons was a crude, Neanderthal version of the family that would become ubiquitous in pop culture; both Bart and Lisa were troublemakers, and Homer was a barely controlled cauldron of rage. It sneaked up on everybody. "I think Matt likes the fact that this is more his baby," Rich Moore, supervising director of Rough Draft, the company that animates "Futurama," told Spin magazine. From teachers who forced him to rip up his cartoons in front of the class, to the petty tyranny of bosses ("I was told that I would never get a job in the Pacific Northwest in journalism after my disgraceful stewardship of the Cooper Point Journal," Groening told the graduating class in a commencement address at his alma mater, Evergreen State College. [63], The series quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, to the surprise of many. "I wanted to write something they couldn't teach in high school because it had too much foul language," he said. Following this success, came his next work, Work is Hell, also published by Deborah Caplan. [106] Groening received the 2002 National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000. Then Fox moved "Futurama" to Tuesday night, and audiences fell to about 8 million. So it is not surprising that when people learn that the creator of America's favorite dysfunctional family, the Simpsons, named the characters after his closest relatives, they want to know if he is, well, you know, a little hostile. 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. "But I don't consider 'The Simpsons' a compromise in any way. Deborah Caplan: Groening has been in a relationship with Deborah Caplan since 2006. [110], He received the 2,459th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012. [46] He requested his name be taken off the episode.[70]. However, the show's collection of memorable supporting characters and winking, multilayered nods to popular culture, arguably owes more to Simon and the original stable of writers than to Groening. A self-published anthology of. Groening and Deborah divorced in 1999. [85], Groening is known for his eclectic taste in music. The show premiered under the Fox Broadcasting Company banner, in 1999. Upon seeing his work in the comic strip, producer and writer, James L Brooks, expressed his interest to involve Matt Groening in the creation of an animated series to run on comedy series The Tracy Ullman Show. (2015) Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986 and had two sons, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe. The two married in 2011 after a four-year relationship. [17] He served as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which he also wrote articles and drew cartoons. For a man who has become famous on the strength of his dark musings, starting with "Life in Hell," his weekly comic strip, Mr. Groening (it rhymes with complaining, his publicist says) comes off in person as surprisingly benign: big, bearish and still a bit astonished to find his jokes getting so out of hand. Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008) Before proceeding to the informational portion of this essay, please take a moment to complete the following questionnaire: 1) Are you disillusioned? The message? Later, Groening attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., which was known for its extremely liberal (no grades, no core requirements) liberal arts program. Matt's paternal grandfather was Abram Arthur Groening (the son of Abraham Groening and Aganetha Klaassen). Matt Groening has made appearances in films and documentaries, such as, Comic Book: The Movie (2004), The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005), The Seventh Python (2008) and I Know That Voice (2013). 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. It was Mr. Groening's girlfriend, Deborah Caplan (now his wife), who in 1984 gave the comic strip its first lift by forming a small company to publish a collection of his cartoons, "Love Is Hell." The couple divorced in 1999. [109], He was awarded the Inkpot Award in 1988. He is a man of above-average stature. He described life in Los Angeles to his friends in the form of the self-published comic book Life in Hell, which became loosely inspired by the chapter How to Go to Hell in Walter Kaufmanns book Critique of Religion and Philosophy. Groening's rough-and-tumble early days in Tinseltown provided endless fodder for a comic he titled Life in Hell, featuring the anthropomorphic rabbit Binky. They were created when James L. Brooks, the producer of "The Tracey Ullman Show," asked Mr. Groening to create animated segments for the program. She was Groenings long-time girlfriend before she married him in 2011. Tags: Geek (1), Animation (1), Cartoons (1 . Many members of the Simpson family are named for members of his own family: Homer, Marge, Maggie, Lisa and Patty. The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime-television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom. In 2011, he married artist Augustina Picasso, with whom he had been in a relationship for four years. The Simpsons was mostly a satire aimed at politicians, teachers, police and other authorities. He married Agustina Picasso 2011 . In 1987, Groening married fellow Weekly staffer Deborah Caplan. [53] While designing Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles". [107] He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. And yet he speaks like the kid who just made it big, who still can't believe his luck. [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. Its first ten episodes premiered on the streaming service in August 2018, with the remaining ten episodes of the initial order scheduled to air in September 2019. The pilot episode of "Futurama" was scheduled to air in the coveted slot between "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files" on Sunday night, and was watched by 19 million viewers. However, Matt and Deborah divorced in 1999. [30] The strip, titled "Forbidden Words," appeared in the September/October issue of that year. But for a few brief moments in the early '90s, the idea that anything "alternative" could suddenly overtake the mainstream was still surprising. [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). It may simply be, he speculates, "that people don't get it.". In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening about adapting Life in Hell for animated sequences for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. She married Groening in 1987 and they got divorced in 1999, after 13 years of marriage. Matt Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986 and have two children: Homer (who goes by the name of Will) and Abe. Groening is married to his wife Agustina Picasso an Argentine artist. [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. "Life in Hell" was also sold in the punk corner of the store, where the punks sometimes ripped them up.