Before The Simpsons, Matt Groening drew cartoons for Apple computers.
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There was a cable network called The Puppy Channel that, for 3 years, broadcast only broadcast footage of puppies playing.
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On April Fool’s Day, 1976, the BBC convinced many listeners that a special alignment of the planets would temporarily decrease gravity on Earth. Phone lines were flooded with callers who claimed they felt the effects.
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In 2005, there was a TV show in Germany called “Sperm Race” where contestants’ sperm was raced towards an egg. The winner got a Porsche.
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The Simpsons are responsible for popularizing the word 'meh'.
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John Swartzwelder, a writer for the Simpsons, used to write episodes while sitting in a booth at a coffee shop "drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking endless cigarettes". When California passed an anti-smoking law, he bought the diner booth and installed it in his house.
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HBO passed up "The Walking Dead" because they thought it was too violent. They also passed up "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men".
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