One of the most popular shows of all time, and easily the most popular animated show is The Simpsons. From its first appearance on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, The Simpsons has entertained millions. But, here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: The Simpsons.

1. The Simpsons debuted as an animated short production on the Fox television series The Tracey Ullman show. After its success as its own series, Tracey Ullman sued Fox saying that a large part of The Simpsons success was due to her show and she deserved some of the profits. The suit was dismissed by the courts.

2. Famous singer Tony Bennett was the first guest star to appear on The Simpsons as himself.

3. In the December issue of Time Magazine, The Simpsons was named the 20th century’s best television program.

4. The initial drawings of The Simpsons characters were issued by creator Matt Groening as sketches that he assumed would be “cleaned up” in production. Animators assumed this was the desired style and this is the reason for the characters’ even more crude appearance in the initial short episodes.

5. Homer Simpson’s famous “D’oh” has since been added to most dictionaries.

6. The first celebrity to both guest star and write an episode of The Simpsons was English comedian and actor Ricky Gervais.

7. Famous late night talk show host Conan O’Brien was a writer for The Simpsons during its early years.

The Simpsons have built up a huge following over their more than 20 years on television, and nothing appears to be slowing them down anytime soon.

Monday Night Football is an institution in America. Some of the biggest professional football games and moments have happened on this, the NFL’s biggest regular season stage. But, here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: Monday Night Football.

1. The first Monday Night Football game happened in 1970 and had the Cleveland Browns defeating the New York Jets.

2. There has only been one tie game in Monday Night Football history, it happened in 1984 and was between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants.

3. The fewest points ever scored in a Monday Night Football game in history happened in 2007 when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Miami Dolphins by a score of 3-0.

4. The team holding the record for the most shutouts in Monday Night Football history is the Seattle Seahawks who have shutout their opponents five times.

5. The news that John Lennon had been murdered was broken to the nation by Monday Night Football announcer Howard Cosell during a football game in 1980.

6. The first female broadcaster to join the Monday Night Football broadcast team was Lesley Visser who became a sideline reporter in 1998.

7. The first sponsor that Monday Night Football had was Marlboro Cigarettes.

Monday Night Football has recently moved to the ESPN network after a very long run on ABC. Many people questioned the decision to put professional football on television during primetime on a weekday, but the decision really paid off and will continue to do so.

The animated television series The Family Guy is a popular show that looks at one dysfunctional family lead by the father Peter. The show has done immensely well in DVD sales and many of its episodes and sayings have become common knowledge in the general public, but here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: The Family Guy.

1. The Family Guy was the first show to be resurrected based on its high DVD sales after it had been canceled. This actually happened twice, it was first canceled in 2000 and then again in 2002.

2. Lacey Chabert, famous for her role as Claudia in the drama Party of Five, was the original voice of Meg (first 15 episodes), but was never credited due to contractual problems.

3. During The Writers Guild of America strike of 2007-2008, Fox continued producing The Family Guy episodes without creator Seth MacFarlane’s approval of scripts or production.

4. Famous comedian Carol Burnett once sued 20th Century Fox and the producers of The Family Guy over copyright infringement for their use of her Charwoman cleaning character. The judge ruled it to be a parody which was protected under the First Amendment.

5. The character of Death has been voiced by two different actors. In Death’s first appearance he was voiced by comedian Norm McDonald, subsequent appearances have had comedian Adam Corrola doing the voice work.

6. There was a controversy involving the opening title sequence and theme song. Stewie has a line where he sings “Laugh and cry”, but many people thought he was singing “Effin’ Cry”. For a time the song was censored in the UK so that only the word “cry” was heard. During season 3 the song was rerecorded to more clearly sound like the intended words. The original recording has returned to the show since then though.

7. Seth MacFarlane not only created The Family Guy series, he also voiced many of the main characters: Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire.

The Family Guy continues to entertain and offend many viewers on a weekly basis… one can only think that this is the exact intent of its creators.