Good Night

"G-good night!"

- Maggie Simpson

"Good Night" is the first Simpsons short of the first season of the Tracy Ullman shorts, and was the first one made. It was first aired as a commercial bumper for the third episode of the The Tracy Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. It was also the Simpson family's first ever debut.

Synopsis
Homer and Marge say good night to the kids and what they say to them worries the kids in the night.

Plot
Homer tucks Bart into bed and says good night to him. Bart then questions to him about "the mind" and how it works. Homer replies that it is not something to be worried. Homer then turns off the lights and Bart becomes worried.

Marge tucks Lisa into bed, saying good night, and to sleep tight. Marge then tells Lisa, "Don't let the bedbugs bite!" Lisa then becomes worried and thinks that bedbugs are harmful to her.

Marge heads off to Maggie's room to sing Rock-a-bye Baby to her. Following with the lyrics, Maggie imagines she is in a crib on a tree, a tree branch with the crib on snaps and Maggie collapses off the tree. Marge that wishes sweet dreams to Maggie, currently traumatized by the song's context. Maggie's bedroom lights are then turned off.

Marge and Homer then go to bed only to think that they are the best parents in the world and for thinking they lulled the kids to sleep soundly. Bart, Lisa, and Maggie come to Marge and Homer's bedroom in a panic. Bart worried about "the mind", Lisa worried about bed bugs and Maggie non-verbally complains about the Rock-a-Bye Baby song. Marge and Homer allow the three to climb into bed with them to sleep. The lights turn out and Maggie takes out her pacifier to say good night to the audience.

Production
Matt Groening was invited by James L. Brooks to animate bumpers of his comic strip, ', between the advertisement breaks of '. With only a few minutes left until the meeting, Groening thought about if this all went wrong and then Fox would own his characters. So, he hurridly drew up what is now known as the Simpson family. He used names from his family to name the characters, substituting Bart for his name, an anagram for "brat". This short was written and storyboarded by Groening. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up, but instead they just traced over his drawings. The animation was produced at Klasky Csupo, with Wesley Archer, David Silverman, and Bill Kopp animating the short.