Birth and Success of an 'Alternative' Cartoon "The Simpsons" is one of North America's most popular television shows, ranking as the number one television program for viewers under eighteen years of age. However, the ideals that "The Simpsons" portrays are not always beneficial and sometimes not even in good taste. Thus, it seems inevitable that "The Simpsons" affects children. Matt Groening, the creator, took up drawing in 1977 to escape from his troubles. At the time, Groening was working for the L.A. Reader, a free weekly newspaper. He began working on Life in Hell, a humorous comic strip consisting of people with rabbit ears. The L.A. Reader pic